"knarled" poems
Heavy beast and heavy burden
Burned into growing feet,
a mile above all great sentiments of
Home, clouds settle into molds
Carved inside carnivorous minds.
There is no quadrant on this island
You could go
Where I could not see who you created
In me, fiery and dormant, whirlwind
Of silence and fear. I see you everywhere,
In every line on my face,
You exist.
I exist amongst a million cold dandelions in a weary field.
Inescablable youth, river stones wrapped to knarled knees
To ground me to three separate waterfalls,
All who whisper of the dead
To creatures who eat the love from out the backs of children’s heads.
I own a million fragments of a life
And nowhere have I found the one
Who makes them whole.
Feb 23, 2021
Feb 23, 2021 at 9:41 PM UTC
Mist drapes itself
Round stoic hills
Whilst hues of delicate bruises
Sugar roses
Watch on, dewy eyed
Frost bitten fields
Kissed by orange streams
Interrupted by knarled hands
Thrown to the air
Jan 24, 2015
Jan 24, 2015 at 5:36 AM UTC
As the wind cavorts among the Palo Verde limbs,
blossoms leap, float away, according to natures whim.
Landing within the waterfall, passed from rock to rock.
Or decorating pebbled paths, tiny yellow dots.
All along, unawares, of the blooms adventure.
The Palo Verde stands its ground, knarled, strong and sure.
Yet, by bending, yielding, to a strong winds desire,
the Palo Verde won't end up upon a camp bonfire.
The next time you find yourself headstrong in opinion,
so sure you are right, that you create undue tension,
think back to the Palo Verde and its sacrifice.
Give in a bit, so cooperation you will entice.
Let new ideas dance round like wind in your mind and grow
Don't let your bullheadedness be all that you show.
Allow yourself to not be rigid, learn how to bend,
you will find standing tall so much easier in the end
Jun 16, 2010
Jun 16, 2010 at 8:21 PM UTC
The tree's knarled,
melted bark dripped down
the warm, burnt umber
in its spokes, dropping mellowed honey as we climbed the branches.
We spoke of sweet things
like the kind frosts creeping into the valleys of misted bloom, as the silver crescents rise higher by day,
entangled by wreathes of smoke.
We spoke of that very oak tree and how it's palsied trunk had witnesses so many fires.
We spoke of love and how (despite the cliche) we can not live without each other. We together will beat on through the charms of the cold thistle.
We dance round the dusky colonnades as the stars shatter around us and the moon's cancerous head rides higher.
Apr 24, 2014
Apr 24, 2014 at 11:28 AM UTC
TRAPPED
T
R
A
P
P
E
D
In an illusion of myself
Caught between the past and my own selfishness
Isolated between four walls that are caving in
Hearing the whispers of the unloved
Left alone with just memories to haunt me
No one could hear my cries for help
Nails digging in my back
Slowly puncturing my delicate skin
Feeling my blood seep afloat and slowly stream
Just the right amount of pain
One face left to clench my stomach
Her piercing green eyes in the rage they stayed
Her lips formed into a knarled, derranged twist
Her words cutting like daggers all over my body
Her hair flowing like a monster's
Isolated
I try to scream but it is caught in my throat
Flashing back to the age of six
The monster ontop of me
Enjoying every little cry for help
A man who was suppposed to be a father
Corrupting an innocent child for his own twisted pleasure
He does not know how much he isolated me in my own little world
He laughs at my attempted cries for help
I will Never be the same
Corruption
Purging because of my thoughts
The concept was introduced to me
I Never thought I was beautiful
I never really had the chance to be beautiful
Corrupted by uncontrollable words
I don't understand
Looking into the mirror at the monster that I have become
Twisted
Always hid the razor a place where no one would find it
The one thing that I could always rely on
Something that would stay with me
Just wanted someone to love me
Someone to care
Feel the razor slice across my skin
Tears mixing with the blood
Wishing I were never born
Or accomplished my attemped suicide last year
TRAPPED in the thoughts inside my own head
Isolated in the unheard tears I have been crying
Corrupted by the surrounding people
Twisted in my own thoughts and actions
Feb 6, 2014
Feb 6, 2014 at 9:17 AM UTC
I have never seen
a world as dark as this
its shadows create monsters
knarled teeth and clashing fingers
i have never seen
a world as bright as this
warmth that grabs the heart
and pushes fears away from you
i have never seen
a world as gray as this
where words are two dimensional
and people drift like the northern wind
i have never seen
a world such as this.
May 21, 2016
May 21, 2016 at 9:14 AM UTC
Meet me,
Deep in the arboretum,
Between those majestic orants,
Praising the sun and air.
Wait under that crumbling arch,
The one whose body shivers
At the first touch of wind.
Sing softly that succulent tune,
(The one that blurs my eyes
with thoughts of home)
So the wind can whisper your arrival.
Do not take long,
Or you may miss me.
Time, that ancient thief of youth and vigor,
May clasp his knarled hands around us both.
And we many never become free from him again.
Jun 3, 2012
Jun 3, 2012 at 11:07 PM UTC
You live in a cul de sac
Every house is built exactly the same
Just painted different
Some butter yellow and bright
Some a ripe tomato's skin
You don't know any of your neighbors
You don't know who lives right next to you
They have kids or something
Maybe
The newspapers are kept in a locked safe in the middle of the neighborhood
You use your digital code to pluck one out
After walking outside in the hot summer sun
You return home
Read the headlines
And smoke *** in the dining room
It takes a little while to peak
The kids come home from school
The Wife's home from work
You're spinning
You have span
You hath spun
The dust of the angel
Has blessed you with wings
They sprint away for their lives
Your three kids and only wife
But you're too fast
First you chase down your youngest
Too young and weak to even have a chance at escape
You grab him by the ankles and split him apart with your bare hands
You're out the door and tearing across the asphalt
You hear their screams but no one else is outside
And no one cares to leave their house
The middle child is no where to be seen
But the oldest is hopping over the stucco brick walls
You follow
Lawns and patio furniture
Dogs and small swimming pools
Just frightening blurs
The oldest son trips over the knarled stump of a shrub
And once again you hold both ankles
His skin and bones part
His whole body gives way
And you're a rusty plow to the wet earth
You're the sharp sickle to the golden wheat
There's only one left
You can't even remember a middle child
Was there another child
The wife is just a sprint away
Holding ancient technology
A payphone
There shouldn't be any of those left
You dig your toes in
The rubber of your boots melts and reeks
Your wife's form bends in the burning heat
But now you're there
Face to face
And instead of the ankles
You're just staring into her eyes
You see a verdant land
Green with live growth
Covered in compost and fertilizer
Trash and feces
A beautiful
Wonderful land covered in ugly waste
To flourish and bloom
To be bought and sold
You're holding her tight and sobbing
I'm scared
I'm so scared
I'm scared
She reaches in her pocket and withdraws her nine milimeter
She shoots you through the chest and your heart bursts
Your last thoughts are just drivel
The angels smile while they ruin your ******
Dec 5, 2018
Dec 5, 2018 at 4:10 PM UTC
You found beauty in my disconsolate eyes.
Seeing right through me and my lies you comforted my miserable outcries.
A fortress was built to protect my heart from agony and disappointment,
But you molded a door through my scars and viewed me as heaven sent.
Embracing my imperfections, you kissed them with reassurance,
You became my mirror on the wall and developed a tolerance.
I was not the beauty but indeed the beast,
Yet you made love to mind and engulfed my soul with adoration none the least.
Taming my pessimism that overflowed like Niagara falls,
You chained them them to happiness and hope although they had brawls.
Your beauty became the stars and the moon in my darkness,
The dark knarled and hissed at the idea of love but eventually filled with bliss ,
I found peace, the best thing I missed.
Becoming the energy from your light, the radiance choked my chaotic mind until it quenched for sight
It overdosed me in seeing what's right instead of hallucinating in "what might"
It made me realize your love was worth the fight.
Your smile poisoned me with a kiss of forever ,
Your eyes blossomed sunflowers from my veins I thought would never grow
Your arms carved an imprint of your love on my body that gave me a glow
Your heart shot me with bullets of consistency I thought I'd never know,
Your personality was alcohol that kept me spinning and made me not want to go.
Mirror mirror on the wall you're my reflection,
I undergo many selection but you gave the best impression although family became the most fraustration our love conquered because it's from another dimension.
With you I can face anything, I am complete,
You see me for me,
Acknowledging the beast , you transform the negativity to positivity with ease
You allowed me to be Destiny without judging me.
It was not a true love kiss that awakened me,
It was your beauty that stripped me naked without me taking off my clothes,
It was your compassion that saw an aching soul,
It was your words that stiched the empty hole,
It was the person you are that rescued me from the cold.
You are my true love.
You are the beauty to my beast and
I love you with all of me.
-dpk
Jun 16, 2017
Jun 16, 2017 at 2:39 AM UTC
I am a tree - old and knarled.
I shall open my arms,
whisper to my seedlings
just how things might be.
May 24, 2016
May 24, 2016 at 2:02 PM UTC
Knarled fingers, time etched between the creases
Of broken flesh that with grace, unfurls a yellowing heart
Down upon the ash covered wood.
Through the curling haze contented countenance
Crows with rasping indulgence, knowing once again
Victory will be won with a *****
In the grass of Lunan Bay the weathered eye
Sketches absently, a distraction from realization-
To care too much is not nearly enough.
Lustrous tones emblazon the fruitless complexion,
Black and blue, beaten with malevolence down
Onto paper that trembles amidst the tempest.
When shall we three meet again?
Dour silence conflicts proclamations,
To do right is to be wronged and the wrong is never put right.
Till the battle is both lost and won,
The lasting spell of time is thine enemy-
Helpless to those who were once freely chained to you.
Only in death does one preserve existence,
Reflections alter with age but the truth is never forgotten.
As I look out to the tranquil sea; life now cold
With unknown depths, endless to optimistic minds-
Through the delicate hands of a child does your
Ashes dance down to their watery grave.
Defending against the neglect of a name do I grasp the torment,
Of never being able to bid you goodbye.
22.06.2010
Anna Elizabeth Rose ©
Nov 27, 2010
Nov 27, 2010 at 8:42 AM UTC
.
Teems in the whirling grasses,
Fire in the daisies, littlest suns
Becoming patchworks of stars
Above the hallowed loams of soil,
The black ants shine in the light,
Spiders construct their silk laces,
Line by line as the wind unweaves
In the crepes, even in round dew,
One can see the globe of waters,
Watching itself in minnows' eye,
The insects, fly, iridescent gods
Floating sparkles, burst, buzzing
Wings, the stems of green ferals
Flowers flagging them into grace,
With chalice, tasting cup in blood
Of the petals, to thirst and quench
Ambrosial nectar, freshness, new,
Sweet in the tendril vines embrace,
The songs of colours, lowly birds,
Even higher, sing, above, choirs
Of the knarled and ancient twig
Branches that flame into briars
With leaves of yellow, feathers
So fair, water cresses in pools
Of the meadow and the violets
And buttercups spun, painted
With splattered, arts, confetti
Whirl, world in meadow sun.
Aug 1, 2015
Aug 1, 2015 at 6:21 PM UTC
.
Teems in the whirling grasses,
Fire in the daisies, littlest suns
Becoming patchworks of stars
Above the hallowed loams of soil,
The black ants shine in the light,
Spiders construct their silk laces,
Line by line as the wind unweaves
In the crepes, even in round dew,
One can see the globe of waters,
Watching itself in minnows' eye,
The insects, fly, iridescent gods
Floating sparkles, burst, buzzing
Wings, the stems of green ferals
Flowers flagging them into grace,
With chalice, tasting cup in blood
Of the petals, to thirst and quench
Ambrosial nectar, freshness, new,
Sweet in the tendril vines embrace,
The songs of colours, lowly birds,
Even higher, sing, above, choirs
Of the knarled and ancient twig
Branches that flame into briars
With leaves of yellow, feathers
So fair, water cresses in pools
Of the meadow and the violets
And buttercups spun, painted
With splattered, arts, confetti
Whirl, world in meadow sun.
Mar 29, 2016
Mar 29, 2016 at 1:51 PM UTC
Wait on me, as I wait on you.
Worship me back cuz I got feelings too.
Encompass me with particulars,
determined passion to adorn all I do.
Treat me like you give 3 *****
and I'm stuck to you like glue.
Treat my words like they give life
and I guarantee these lips
will only form words around
the likes of you.
Look me in the eye when our souls sing,
otherwise we're just *******
I don't like that.
I want to feel your gaze lock me down,
like there's silk bounds spooled up in your irises.
I want to feel your being rush inside me.
No matter how knarled and rampant our roots,
I want your spirit subdued,
dying back to life with each sigh
until morning dew breaks over your face,
beaming anew like the sun rising.
Good morning to you too.
Dec 14, 2014
Dec 14, 2014 at 12:57 AM UTC
I do not wish to be scarred, thickened, hardened
I do not wish to become knarled
I want, and I only want
to stay tender and soft
energetic
and naïve
my whole life.
May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014 at 7:54 PM UTC
I have come to a fork in the road
*two paths ahead of me
as different as night and day*
One appears as such
*Pristine
Flat
Golden
Boring
Unhappy*
in its gold gilded glitter
The other as thus
**Overgrown trees
Knarled roots protruding from the blackened ground
Hard
Strenuous
Exerting
Treacherous**
Adventure
I take the path less traveled
into the lion's mouth I go
**Suddenly wicked clouds block the moons glow
Lightening flits across the sky
Dancing it's chaotic tango
I seek shelter under one of the majestic oaks
Finding a knot hole large enough for my body
Not a moment too soon
Rain comes down in waves
Hail pelts the ground where I had stood
Covering the darkened earth in white
Wind whips through the trees
****** them of their leaves**
*It rips through my soul
Tearing from it the doubts
This is the path for me
One of hardship*
**Mercy
Hard love
Chaos**
*As suddenly as the storm came it leaves
the path is still treacherous
My head held high
My shoulders back*
**I let fear stay at my feet to keep me grounded
Hope at my head to keep it up
Peace at my core to wield off doubt
Defiance as my sword to cut down passiveness
I will remain strong in this chaos**
as I continue my journey into the mouth of the lion
May 17, 2016
May 17, 2016 at 11:45 AM UTC
On the Outskirts of a college campus
there is woods that seprerate the campus
from the hustle and bustle of the high way
near the tennis courts there is an opening
that leads you down a path
take a quick right, jump over the large puddle,
take the left path at the cross roads
Watch out for the hanging tree limb.
Follow straight.
Off on your left you will see a delapetated clearing
with a Large Tree, and knarled roots poking out of the ground.
Walk over to this tree, appreciate all its beauty.
And if you're lucky you just might see
Initials of lovers carved into its bark
ND hearts MS.
Those woods
that clearing
They mean so much to me
It's where I fell head over heels in love with you
It was in that clearing that I knew
I wanted to spend the rest of my life
With You
Jun 23, 2014
Jun 23, 2014 at 12:05 PM UTC