"choka" poems
i can't breathe without
suffering from the fear of
drowning in the air.
i am an underwater
creature and this air
is poisonous to my lack
of lungs. i need you.
you are the water in this
stale air. i need you.
you take away my fear of
breathing. with you i can breathe.
-----
i do not know why
you are not like air to me.
why are you like my
water? you are just a boy
and i am just an
underwater creature. i am not
worthy of you at-
tention. i don't deserve to
breathe you everyday.
i wish you were the air so
you would be like my poison.
May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014 at 12:25 PM UTC
It was the day of the wedding of Mr and Mrs Epithalamium they looked quite the Heroic Couplet and full of Romanticism until the Englyn Prose-d the Questionku ‘ Do you take this woman’ … then in a wavering Iambic Pentameter voice the groom whispered ‘I do not know’ ….Mrs Epithalamium felt quite Dizain and tried to scratch out his Ruba’I, the Clerihew stepped forward to comfort her but tripped over some Concrete and felt like a right Cowboy. The brides father, the Russian Chastushka, grabbed the groom and with a Carpe Diem attitude threatened to Choka him.
The guests all gathered in an Enclosed Rhyme with the best man making quite a Dramatic Monologue, the brides mother had her Hybronnet knocked off her head and the chief bridesmaid had her Kimo torn in the affray. The young flower girls Haibun and Hamd both burst into tears as their Crown of Sonnets were totally destroyed.
The Rev. Pantoum pleaded for calm, then repeating his plea for the melee to stop started making a List of the damage, quick as a Ghazal and with great Imagism he protected the Crystalline glass from smashing into Ninette pieces. Meanwhile the poor bride was in a state of Nonet anxiously trying to get past the twins Munaajaat and Musaddas, her Idyll life had been turned upside down, today was the day she had hoped to change her Name to Triolet.
Alliteration watched while women wept, then stepped forward and with a Lyric in his voice asked people to calm down, he told everyone he had Naat come here to watch a display such as this and suggested they went for a hot Canzone to discuss the next move, Tanka and Tyburn readily agreed as they were very hungry and particularly as it was Free Verse it meant they could eat as much as they wanted. The nearly bride couldn’t give a Sijo if she never saw her ex again she was sick of being Kyrielle to and did not want anyone else’s Epyllion and with a final Than-Bauk stormed out of the club…
© 6/4/2013
Apr 6, 2013
Apr 6, 2013 at 5:31 PM UTC
It is splendid Queen Anne's Lace
Curling inward her "birds' nest",
Closing her umbel upward,
With spines of love fruits,
White like snow, with pink shyness,
When she touches lips of sun.
These lips are bees and
He drinks her nectar, his teeth
Are caterpillars eating
Her leaves with passion.
Each white flower has two seeds
Making him desire her
And her hairy stem
After blooming in clusters.
Nov 20, 2012
Nov 20, 2012 at 7:10 PM UTC
Everywhere you go
Everybody sees a mask;
Self-proclaimed image,
What you want them all to see;
And you're just like me.
I've worn my mask for so long
That I believe it.
I've buried it all so deep —
So you can't see it —
But I can't see it, either.
What if I showed you
What's behind this mask of mine?
You'd be my mirror—
You could tell me what I am,
Since I can't see it.
Maybe I will find myself
And remove my mask.
But it is clearly too much
To ask of you, sir.
So, I'll be content with this:
With only seeing your mask.
Aug 26, 2015
Aug 26, 2015 at 2:09 PM UTC
I.
Ngozi yangu ni nyekundu
Choka wanaochukua kama mfuo
Bila ushunda na heshima
Waichezea kama kikapu cha samaki
I.
My exotic melenated skin is dark
Pasted with chalks that crease in mist
The world that sails with no justice and politeness
A sifted clan put in a basket like the unwanted fish
II.
Wainukia hii fedha, kwani sina mkopo
Hizi ndamu nyekundu zalia pilipili
Kwa uchungu umeomwangwa duniani
Haya si maneno ya sifa wala ya hatari
II.
Don’t smell at this treasure, for I have no debt
The bloods that pour in crimson and burn in hot pepper
The pain streamed from faces, a tainted worldly existence
Let these words not be seen as a praise and neither a threat
III.
Binadamu ulimwenguni wakifu
Kama mfalme mwenye hana taji
Umoja madada, pamoja makaka
Mkono tushikane kwa usawa, mdogo mdogo
III.
Humanity is a concept weft from the universal strains in cobalt abstracts
Lost in illusion like a king who is prided by invisible crowns
Together sisters, brothers, daughters and sons
Hold hands, spread the love in a united mesh, little by little
May 3, 2016
May 3, 2016 at 12:05 PM UTC
All the years gone by
Numbness fills the heart like smog
Slowly creeping in
Filling the space between smiles
Choking out the joy
Smothering love with each beat
Hoping for a change
Fighting to save what once was
One side fights alone
The other watches the smog
Numb down to the core
Is one to fight for the past
Or is there nothing to save?
Apr 29, 2011
Apr 29, 2011 at 7:57 PM UTC
It rains heavily...
Roofs leaking, water seeping
Bless'd against my will...
As the tropical storms rage
Causing chaotic...
Rattled windows, doors and gates
All over the house...
Creating theatrical effects
As lightning flashes...
And thunder follows behind
Children play outside...
Trivializing the weather
A good one for sleep...
Except for the leaking roofs
New holes emerging...
Brings to mind a nursery rhyme,
***"Rain, rain go away,
Come again another day"***
Back then reasons were...
"Little children want to play"
I can't help but sigh!
With the aftermath in view...
Soaked beds, sheets and drapes...
Smelly rugs for days to come
Wrecked roofs and ceilings...
Flooded streets mixed with sewage.
Showers of blessings indeed!
© Raphael Uzor
Mar 23, 2014
Mar 23, 2014 at 7:17 PM UTC
He's a streamlined man,
now on the road to return.
The spirit farmer,
taking breakfast in the fields,
found his sister soul
and his woman of the world.
He was running blind
with no aerial boundaries.
To communicate
he would watch his life go by
because it was there,
the taproot, the naked stalk.
Free swinging soul, with
silent anticipations.
A Phoenix fire
torched, is once again spring buds.
And ready or not,
the Gospel, the Oracle.
Mar 5, 2013
Mar 5, 2013 at 11:25 PM UTC
I've reached the point
where all I want to do
is scream; curse the world;
cry until no tears are left.
Girls who told me lies:
"no boy will come between us"
"we're friends forever."
How silly of me to think
they meant those bound words?
My heart hurts because of them
I loved them like kin
But how quickly they've left me
because of a bruise:
a small mark on my neck's side.
It's just a hickey.
But they don't want to be friends
with a **** like me.
It's not my fault they're lonely
not my fault I'm loved.
I want to blame jealousy,
but I'm just running
to the arms of Patriarch
crying in His sleeve
begging for His forgiveness.
Because this hickey,
the same ****** mark as
scratches on men's backs,
marks me as a ***** ****
and him as a man.
But we're friends forever, right?
Or was that before
I had the gall to love him?
But that shouldn't matter, right?
Because something like
a boy won't separate us.
How stupid am I
to actually believe
I thought I found friends?
Girls are such terrible things
we deal in weapons
of silence, gossip, and blame:
things that do not show
things that will bleed the heart dry.
My heart is bleeding out: D R Y
Jul 28, 2014
Jul 28, 2014 at 7:43 PM UTC
Yearning for sunlight
In this warm summer daydream
My stem reaches out
From the moist earth around me
Into the sunshine
I reach out for the heavens
Just learning to sprout
In the breath of the morning
Down by the river
With the crisp air around me
I bask in the glow
In the still of the daylight
Warmed by its bright rays
Mesmerized by the dewdrops
I can now cast my shadow
Aug 24, 2017
Aug 24, 2017 at 12:51 AM UTC
Bubblegum rainbows
In pastel hues of happy
Color perception
Transforming the monochrome
Bending reality
Into something beautiful
And it's all because of you
Dec 28, 2013
Dec 28, 2013 at 12:29 PM UTC
क्यों प्रेम किया
क्यों निभा रहे तुम
बसंत बने
ज़ख्म भर जो रहे
क्या दे सकती
मृत प्रीत मेरी है
नासूर मेरे
विष वमन करें
ये विषपान
सह लोगे क्या तुम
शिव मेरे हो कर
~~रश्मि किरण
Why you loved me
Why you are fulfilling
Like spring
You are healing my wound
What I can offer you
I have my dead love with me
My canker sores
Vomiting poison
Those poisonous drink
Can you sustain within
Becoming my lord Shiva
(English translation of the above poem )
~~ Rashmi Kiran
Feb 18, 2018
Feb 18, 2018 at 6:51 AM UTC
He stops to recoil
She leans forward to help him
A bluebird flies by
Silently she tries again
With air thick as smoke
Mothers cry a world away
Boys too young to fight
He opens himself to her
The battlefield rages on
Apr 27, 2021
Apr 27, 2021 at 11:44 AM UTC
I’m one tiny seed
For a little while longer.
My hope is to grow
And present you a flower.
I don’t need much care
But I need to be watered.
Illuminate me;
Let me bask in the sunshine.
Rejuvenate me;
Let me waltz in the moonlight.
I’m one happy seed.
Contemplate me completely.
Just plant me and watch
As I grow in your garden,
As I greet you each morning.
May 23, 2017
May 23, 2017 at 11:36 AM UTC
Slowly fades today
lost in chronicles of time
only memories
grey ashes of yesterday
haunting me with pain
tomorrow so futile seems
stabbing me with fears
longing brokenly for hope
and lost yesterdays
hoping God may somehow blend
morrow with sweet yesterday
~Hilda~
Aug 24, 2014
Aug 24, 2014 at 5:29 PM UTC
if this ship will sink,
i would rather you be at
fault than it be mine.
i would rather you be on
board with me than sat
at the docks with some other
lady trying to
sell her body to you. but
with you i feel that
we are capable of great
things; babe, we'll never go down.
Apr 13, 2014
Apr 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM UTC
Starlight is fading
As you surrender your dreams
To warm sun rising
O’er the landscape you're flying
Locked deep in your mind
In the breadth of each moment
Time drifts slowly by...
Here in the sunlight…streaming
Memories are fleeting
But the world is breathing
Your vibrant rainbow
Tosses many reflections
Gleaming in sunlight
Your deep vision remembers
As heaven descends
In the still of the morning
Dancing with daylight
The whole world is unfolding
A melody is growing
Aug 27, 2017
Aug 27, 2017 at 3:37 PM UTC
Love Of My Life by Nate Munson
Choka
Let these words be the
First thing your sleepy eyes see
When the sun rises
Over the expanse of the
Horizon, where dreams
Become day-dreams, and the birds
Sing with wonderful
Splendor; the kind only found
In the proud souls of freed men.
Tanka
Where light meets darkness,
I’ll be waiting there for you,
Ready to embrace
You with Love as strong as lions.
You are the Love of my Life.
Jan 11, 2013
Jan 11, 2013 at 1:50 AM UTC
You have soulful eyes
Wondering dreams dancing there
I see them and dare
To get lost in your vision
Your beautiful stare
Our love waltzes the moonlight
Your music flows free
We’re so wrapped up in magic
It’s hard to believe
In the song that we're singing
The stars are aware
Of the dreams we are making
The dreams we believe
They're revealing the sunshine
Leaving the darkness
As we walk through the garden
We're skipping through time
As another dream rises
On the horizon of your eyes
Sep 26, 2017
Sep 26, 2017 at 4:53 PM UTC