Hello Poetry
Submit your work and get some sparkles! Create free account
"riposte" poems
passion thirst hurt ephemeral physical cold heat hunger water walking brutally real physical skin colors words spontaneous devious planned desire desired, physical concrete parchment thin muscled strong catch a caught physical making creating cresting cannot live without physical electric shocking eclectic varied realized why? stop here? eyed fingered tongue tasted, ear sensual dreamt famous buried tragic comedic gaming played unsafe at any speed languorous fire immolating physical chest pains, incurable incumbent to possess otherwise, death fingernails poking knuckle kissing lips wetting blood exchanging oh yeah physical foreign native young old permanently temporary infinitely finite definitely unending nowhere no expression dying dreams best better agonizing agonizing unrequited offer everything receive shoulder colder than hell defensive offensive cape laid walk on me chivalry until we hold each others fingers knotted until I stroke your hair unexpectedly, until we agree to hell with all the rest until we say the say the same thing simultaneously until we come together when we have satisfied each and every one of the above, freely confess know nothing of love but the picayune details that make us greater greater than greater, greatest, then and only then we, might have a few clues
0
Sep 16, 2025
Sep 16, 2025 at 9:47 AM UTC
revised riposte: know nothing of "love"
Once again a still sunrise, Quite too much to my surprise; Now no longer the same reprise, Never believing in fate's demise. Once again awaits the sun, Otherworldly; waits for none; Terrestrial battles with wars unsung, The time is now, and has begun. Once waves of calamity striking the coast, Now sinking caravels with swift riposte; This paves the insanity to roads of most, No graves on marvels without a host. My ambiguous ocean, bounds not to the throes, An effluent river asks not where it goes; But through frigid winters it finally froze, Yet two rigid reasons -- it once again flows. Your guess is as mine, for nobody knows, This mess is divine, and to us it bestows; Thrown into disaster, yet much room for prose, We are the ship-masters -- and everyone rows. So set my oars down, and go for the sails, Open your eyes, ears & mind; there is no trail; Wandering didactic wisp you will find, futility of 'fail', Galactic inhale, cosmic exhale, maybe then will the true path unveil. So leave nasty mates; abandon the ship, No mutiny required, just let the wreck tip, As though through spread fingers they suddenly slip, Though red feelings linger, you find your own grip. Then leave folly habits -- straight at the shore, Shut it & lock it, and close the **** door; There always are options -- endless possibilities to explore, Just activate your wings, open wide--soar. Glad once again, for another sunset, What you pursue is what you will get; So forget calumet, anisette & cigarettes, Simply don't fret -- paint vignettes with no regrets.
0
Oct 20, 2012
Oct 20, 2012 at 1:17 AM UTC
Sceni(deli)c Horizons
Once again a still sunrise, Quite too much to my surprise; Now no longer the same reprise, Never believing in fate's demise. Once again awaits the sun, Otherworldly; waits for none; Terrestrial battles with wars unsung, The time is now, and has begun. Once waves of calamity striking the coast, Now sinking caravels with swift riposte; This paves the insanity to roads of most, No graves on marvels without a host. My ambiguous ocean, bounds not to the throes, An effluent river asks not where it goes; But through frigid winters it finally froze, Yet two rigid reasons -- it once again flows. Your guess is as mine, for nobody knows, This mess is divine, and to us it bestows; Thrown into disaster, yet much room for prose, We are the ship-masters -- and everyone rows. So set my oars down, and go for the sails, Open your eyes, ears & mind; there is no trail; Wandering didactic wisp you will find, futility of 'fail', Galactic inhale, cosmic exhale, maybe then will the true path unveil. So leave nasty mates; abandon the ship, No mutiny required, just let the wreck tip, As though through spread fingers they suddenly slip, Though red feelings linger, you find your own grip. Then leave folly habits -- straight at the shore, Shut it & lock it, and close the **** door; There always are options -- endless possibilities to explore, Just activate your wings, open wide--soar. Glad once again, for another sunset, What you pursue is what you will get; So forget calumet, anisette & cigarettes, Simply don't fret -- paint vignettes with no regrets.
Continue reading...
36
Those of you who sleep at nite, Maybe unaware of the riff raff Of poets who, two if by night, Riff each other All Night Long, Trade barbarous compliments, Hipping and dipping, jiving & shucking (Yes I am outdatedly old, yes I know) Slipping in scepters of sly verse, Interspersed with an occasional curse, Riposte and repost each other, Always seeking a word edgewise, Or the last word (Even better) Whipping, sticking and licking Each other's poems With jabs of kind words, & That seldom are heard, In fact a never-land rule, A contemptuous thread, And it's off with your head, And you gotta be there, To believe, But its ok, sleep well, And leave the S(word) play To those who live and die By the coda Only the young-at-heart-poets never get olda, So there!
0
Jul 19, 2025
Jul 19, 2025 at 3:35 AM UTC
Trading Poems (You sleep, it's OK!)
There's this guy who constantly gives me grief online as if I need a reminder that I am not funny or smart that I am incapable of posting any story without his remark as if he should impart and bestow all of social media with his divine and seraphic academia: what is with that? He posts comments about how illiterate my poetry is how it doesn't follow the rules; the do-nots and the do's pontificates how its not properly punctuated as if I should give up altogether and just shine shoes and forget trying to construct sentences just wander in the carousel of nebula's eternally seeking the tentacle of enemas: what is with that? This guy enjoys winding me up like a persistent hobby the reverent devilment of sadistic entitlement pushing my head under water for a digital baptism that I should thank him for his rhetoric enlightenment as if he was blessed with a correspondence talisman: what is with that? This isn't even a poem. I am letting off steam like an overused kettle fed up of his mortar forever rammed in my pestle the temples are raging and my brain is just draining to explode on cue on the next digital heckle the cracked and broken vessel into a vengeful steam-driven projectile: what is with that? This, < here > , is my only escape and creative cathartic vent I'll post this lament with the stench of discontent and tag his name and then just wait for his feverish malcontent that I should dare to prevent his God-like dissent: memo to self to a digital antagonist and his verbose verbal cyst and the keyboard of twists when you push sometimes you get a big shove back so don't be surprised by my riposte and this poetic attack.
0
Jul 8, 2014
Jul 8, 2014 at 8:56 PM UTC
Digital Antagonist V2
There's this guy who constantly gives me grief online as if I need a reminder that I am not funny or smart that I am incapable of posting any story without his remark as if he should impart and bestow all of social media with his divine and seraphic academia: what is with that? He posts comments about how illiterate my poetry is how it doesn't follow the rules; the do-nots and the do's pontificates how its not properly punctuated as if I should give up altogether and just shine shoes and forget trying to construct sentences just wander in the carousel of nebula's eternally seeking the tentacle of enemas: what is with that? This guy enjoys winding me up like a persistent hobby the reverent devilment of sadistic entitlement pushing my head under water for a digital baptism that I should thank him for his rhetoric enlightenment as if he was blessed with a correspondence talisman: what is with that? This isn't even a poem. I am letting off steam like an overused kettle fed up of his mortar forever rammed in my pestle the temples are raging and my brain is just draining to explode on cue on the next digital heckle the cracked and broken vessel into a vengeful steam-driven projectile: what is with that? This, < here > , is my only escape and creative cathartic vent I'll post this lament with the stench of discontent and tag his name and then just wait for his feverish malcontent that I should dare to prevent his God-like dissent: memo to self to a digital antagonist and his verbose verbal cyst and the keyboard of twists when you push sometimes you get a big shove back so don't be surprised by my riposte and this poetic attack.
Continue reading...
46
AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL? Were you aware that our nation opposed Haiti's revolution for democracy in the early 1800s; that our nation's war against Mexico that began in 1846 resulted in our taking half of Mexico for ourselves; that our nation defeated Spain ostensibly to liberate Cuba, but actually established a military base on the island and furtively gained de facto control of its puppet government; that our nation seized Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Guam; that our nation had fought a brutal war to subjugate the Phillipines; that our nation had opened Japan for trade with us with threats and gunboats; that our nation created an "Open Door" policy with China to exploit it economically; that our nation engineered a revolution against Colombia to create the nation of Panama so we could build the canal through it; that our nation sent 5,000 Marines in 1926 to Nicaragua to counter their democratic revolution; that our nation in 1916 intervened in the Dominican Republic for the fourth time; that our nation in 1915 intervened in Haiti for the second time, and so on. Imperialism, not democracy, steered our nation's decisions and movements. Did any of you learn about, let alone study extensively, any of these flagitious Ameican acts and policies as you sat and squirmed in your high school American history class? My surmise is that you did not. But I bet you were required in at least one of your classrooms sometime between 1st and 12th grade to stand at attention, as it were, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance as you saluted the flag in the corner. My riposte: What does it matter if our flags are waving, if our spirits are flagging? Epilogue: Most importantly, never forget that it was the two evils of slavery and genocide that propelled our nation into what once was the most influential nation on Earth. Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
0
Jun 26, 2020
Jun 26, 2020 at 8:52 PM UTC
AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL?
AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL? Were you aware that our nation opposed Haiti's revolution for democracy in the early 1800s; that our nation's war against Mexico that began in 1846 resulted in our taking half of Mexico for ourselves; that our nation defeated Spain ostensibly to liberate Cuba, but actually established a military base on the island and furtively gained de facto control of its puppet government; that our nation seized Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Guam; that our nation had fought a brutal war to subjugate the Phillipines; that our nation had opened Japan for trade with us with threats and gunboats; that our nation created an "Open Door" policy with China to exploit it economically; that our nation engineered a revolution against Colombia to create the nation of Panama so we could build the canal through it; that our nation sent 5,000 Marines in 1926 to Nicaragua to counter their democratic revolution; that our nation in 1916 intervened in the Dominican Republic for the fourth time; that our nation in 1915 intervened in Haiti for the second time, and so on. Imperialism, not democracy, steered our nation's decisions and movements. Did any of you learn about, let alone study extensively, any of these flagitious Ameican acts and policies as you sat and squirmed in your high school American history class? My surmise is that you did not. But I bet you were required in at least one of your classrooms sometime between 1st and 12th grade to stand at attention, as it were, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance as you saluted the flag in the corner. My riposte: What does it matter if our flags are waving, if our spirits are flagging? Epilogue: Most importantly, never forget that it was the two evils of slavery and genocide that propelled our nation into what once was the most influential nation on Earth. Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
Continue reading...
5
My Traitor’s Heart I cut your heart open with a knife, And drink you up like the elixir of life. My body would now be the perfect host To house the remnants of your ghost Forestalling your indignant daily riposte. At the dining table, I compulsively realign Silverware. I take a crystal glass, pour red wine, Knowing I’ve committed a murderous sin Goosebumps form on every inch of my skin Dark memories resume within. You spoke to me of girls undreamed-of You taught me lessons of absent love Such stories only fed my vengeance, And now my body pays it's penance; Flesh laid bare. A life sentence. Tonight, I trace with fingers, tramlines of Forgiveness; my Mourning Dove. I am now so pure, and Satan Cannot punish me with rattan Palm. I was never part of his grand plan. © Sia Jane
0
Mar 29, 2015
Mar 29, 2015 at 7:20 PM UTC
My Traitors Heart
First Contact "How did I get here,I can't remember, my brains burning out like a dwindling ember, are those tears in my eyes?-no its pourin' rain, I'm lying on my back in the bottom of a stormdrain, hunted like an animal,but still I'm deadly, like a wounded lion,you better bet ye, will lose more men than I've already taken(taken sample), the hunter hunted? I think you're mistaken, I'm a one man army,armed or not, you didn't bring enough manpower,have you forgot?, that the sandman(badman,phantoms in the dark) has more in his bite than you do in your bark, it's getting dark now,tables turning, tyger,tyger,my eyes are burning, better keep your guard up,I've been confronted... but how can you tell who's hunter or hunted? 16. Riposte Better count your sentries,I think ones missin, when you see his blood glistenin your pants your ****** in, should have been listenin,I gave you a chance, now its time for the Sandman to do his dance, like a praying Mantis I move so swiftly, bullet's fly like locusts,but each one missed me, the Locus and Focus of my 3rd eyes movin, got your sentries rifle,but I won't even use it, taunt you haunt you,flaunt skills I honed, from a broken home,to the streets to battlezones, catch you alone,smash your skull with a hanbo, appear behind you from the mud like Rambo, bodies placed like hannibal,a deadly scene, you're a ****** housecat and I'm wolverine, told your boss you could get me now you know you fronted, cat and mouse reversed-YOU'RE the one who's hunted. Denoument Now I know who you are,and I know where you live, and in this line of work I can't forget or forgive. We were partners once now you've betrayed my trust, taught you everything you know,now it's ashes and dust your bodyguards are good,but they know I'll get ya, more ghost than man,a modern day ninja, leave you injured,begging for mercy, but you know the concept is alien to me, grabbed the bull by the horns,my hand you forced, you're a moveable object,I'm unstoppable force, force feed your limbs til you beg for death, line your family up and slowly take their heads, then I'm in the wind,gone like keyser sozey, the word is spread,don't try to **** me, you were my friend,but you crossed the line, try to hunt the Sandman,"you're all ****** dyin"
0
Mar 27, 2016
Mar 27, 2016 at 3:36 PM UTC
Hunted.
First Contact "How did I get here,I can't remember, my brains burning out like a dwindling ember, are those tears in my eyes?-no its pourin' rain, I'm lying on my back in the bottom of a stormdrain, hunted like an animal,but still I'm deadly, like a wounded lion,you better bet ye, will lose more men than I've already taken(taken sample), the hunter hunted? I think you're mistaken, I'm a one man army,armed or not, you didn't bring enough manpower,have you forgot?, that the sandman(badman,phantoms in the dark) has more in his bite than you do in your bark, it's getting dark now,tables turning, tyger,tyger,my eyes are burning, better keep your guard up,I've been confronted... but how can you tell who's hunter or hunted? 16. Riposte Better count your sentries,I think ones missin, when you see his blood glistenin your pants your ****** in, should have been listenin,I gave you a chance, now its time for the Sandman to do his dance, like a praying Mantis I move so swiftly, bullet's fly like locusts,but each one missed me, the Locus and Focus of my 3rd eyes movin, got your sentries rifle,but I won't even use it, taunt you haunt you,flaunt skills I honed, from a broken home,to the streets to battlezones, catch you alone,smash your skull with a hanbo, appear behind you from the mud like Rambo, bodies placed like hannibal,a deadly scene, you're a ****** housecat and I'm wolverine, told your boss you could get me now you know you fronted, cat and mouse reversed-YOU'RE the one who's hunted. Denoument Now I know who you are,and I know where you live, and in this line of work I can't forget or forgive. We were partners once now you've betrayed my trust, taught you everything you know,now it's ashes and dust your bodyguards are good,but they know I'll get ya, more ghost than man,a modern day ninja, leave you injured,begging for mercy, but you know the concept is alien to me, grabbed the bull by the horns,my hand you forced, you're a moveable object,I'm unstoppable force, force feed your limbs til you beg for death, line your family up and slowly take their heads, then I'm in the wind,gone like keyser sozey, the word is spread,don't try to **** me, you were my friend,but you crossed the line, try to hunt the Sandman,"you're all ****** dyin"
Continue reading...
51
Should I become a middle school math or English teacher? Leave my bed early in the morning and return with test papers to grade. With what authority will I persuade those kids to sit still and perform       calculations and interpretations. I won’t be allowed to teach A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Nope, it’ll be       Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies and Slaughterhouse Five. Novels       that annoy. Poems and math are magic. Words and numbers are things no one has       ever seen or heard or touched. But the administration keeps them separate. The curriculum’s       determinate. The kids are beautiful but combustible. When middle school lets out at       the periapsis of Earth’s orbit, that’s the face of joy. The purpose of school is to introduce us to the world’s innumerable       wonders. The periodic table, World Wars I and II, Huckleberry Finn       and Jim. Once a gaggle of teenage girls bet whether I wore boxers or jockeys. I felt       ambushed and unlucky. Also a bit afraid. There’s little love lost between the students and the teachers. Expect to       forget and be forgotten. Information. I remember Mr. Killian my chemistry teacher. So boring about something       I now find so interesting and important. He wasn’t boring; I was       boring. I remember Mr. Christensen my history teacher. He was fat and funny but       taught as little as possible. I was known to laugh so hard I cried. I remember Mr. T my calculus teacher. He dressed everyday exactly like       Gene Kranz in mission control. I was confused past help so he didn’t       help. I remember Tone Kwas my music teacher. He said I was the worst       trumpet player he’d ever tried to teach and switched me to       sousaphone. He was right but so what! Playing badly is the best       riposte.
0
Mar 2, 2022
Mar 2, 2022 at 6:40 AM UTC
Middle School Math Teacher
Should I become a middle school math or English teacher? Leave my bed early in the morning and return with test papers to grade. With what authority will I persuade those kids to sit still and perform       calculations and interpretations. I won’t be allowed to teach A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Nope, it’ll be       Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies and Slaughterhouse Five. Novels       that annoy. Poems and math are magic. Words and numbers are things no one has       ever seen or heard or touched. But the administration keeps them separate. The curriculum’s       determinate. The kids are beautiful but combustible. When middle school lets out at       the periapsis of Earth’s orbit, that’s the face of joy. The purpose of school is to introduce us to the world’s innumerable       wonders. The periodic table, World Wars I and II, Huckleberry Finn       and Jim. Once a gaggle of teenage girls bet whether I wore boxers or jockeys. I felt       ambushed and unlucky. Also a bit afraid. There’s little love lost between the students and the teachers. Expect to       forget and be forgotten. Information. I remember Mr. Killian my chemistry teacher. So boring about something       I now find so interesting and important. He wasn’t boring; I was       boring. I remember Mr. Christensen my history teacher. He was fat and funny but       taught as little as possible. I was known to laugh so hard I cried. I remember Mr. T my calculus teacher. He dressed everyday exactly like       Gene Kranz in mission control. I was confused past help so he didn’t       help. I remember Tone Kwas my music teacher. He said I was the worst       trumpet player he’d ever tried to teach and switched me to       sousaphone. He was right but so what! Playing badly is the best       riposte.
Continue reading...
32
Yesterday, a cloud burst in mythologies and the rain fidgeted over the retreat of a tidal pantheon; deities swept away by a current, and we stood awhile, watching the moon elbow out the dusk. Breathing is burdensome when cars float on water and corpses leak out of cavernous basements. Every tablet, etched, in the cold heart of building code was read again and then again. It wasn't enough to blame Aeolian whim or the raging riposte of Apollo, now that we had marvelled away Gaia's ozone skirt. Her amnion always leaked in folkloric floods each time she birthed a parable. She once asked Noah to build an ark so he could ride her waves and we scrape the sky to impale her in shards where her womb is soft and yielding, as we sour the air and burn the water and strip her of her emerald sigh and melt her hills and silt her wetlands. Mostly it was the asphalt plastering her yearning that calcified her veins and arteries, as she died slowly under our feet. We could hardly fathom her sorrow for the tears rolled off her torso like an oil slick and rode far into the subway for sewers.
0
Sep 15, 2021
Sep 15, 2021 at 4:29 PM UTC
A Warm September Rain
Got that feeling in the gut? Tummy stuck deep in a rut, try and think of other things, not of spewing up my ring. Bleugh! Give up almost right away, cannot fight or hide today, belly brewing like a storm. Here it is, thick and warm. gruggle (sound effects) Tastes real bad up the wrong end, whizzes round the toilet bend. Like Senna and that Alain Prost, my tummy has the last riposte. Wuk, wuk, wurg.(I am NOT anorexic) Shall I try a biccie now, maybe milk out of a cow, perhaps a swig of orange juice? Whats the point, it's no use. There's a demon in my guts, giving duodenal butts, feel it having so much fun, did it get in through my *** Have to get the pills in soon, hope that I can keep them down, sat here shaking like a jelly, heres some more, wow that was smelly! Since I came here past the border, exported with my gut disorder. Need a rapid puke solution, to end my Solway Firth pollution!
0
Dec 13, 2010
Dec 13, 2010 at 10:13 AM UTC
Head Down, Tail Up!
Your use of words of late, I have noticed, seize the cold light of day snowball the pack ice send a shudder down the spine hail the dawn of an audible ice age lest if only One would listen that loquacious nature left to stew in the freezer the embodiment of toxic wine your preferred after taste; the sediment of choice demands a selective palate we have bulldozed The Garden of Eden now only the Snake remains offering the bitter-sweet apple to those who oblige pave the way for emotions to argue their objections a subjective nature in acerbic tones fierce and unwavering; the adulation of the Other A raised eyebrow denotes a self-centred assuredness that anyone else with a deft hand for art or language is clearly a copy of the blueprint your ingenious creation; such is the intellect you abide by that of your own reckoning Your argument is the passing of an iceberg perhaps fleeting the early evening; the disingenuous melt of your carbon-cloaked temper My riposte will be your undoing defeat by the warmth of the passing Sun; embrace that which you chase see what you dont see agree to disagree is the sympathy for your antipathy
0
Nov 28, 2012
Nov 28, 2012 at 1:52 PM UTC
Agree to Disagree
This home is becoming Like a weathermast of the soul Beaten into responding silence. To awaken here again And to only wear this armour As a riposte sufficient to self-assurance And to rise, out of lazy eyelids and Consider the opposing wind turrets Laid as the proposition All slack and starkly Poised on the trapeze The wallpaper durability of family headaches ; The spurned lover's recurring luminosity The marked and re-imagined lists Detailing personal no-shows and defeats Bookended by The passing on of friendly eyes. Assuming the universal, and in doing so, blindly holding out for the miracle : For falling out of love is completely plausible Whereas letting go of shame is mostly incomprehensible
0
Jul 7, 2014
Jul 7, 2014 at 1:44 PM UTC
Clipped
how do I tell what we’ve long ignored the bell in the heart the knock at the door how do I speak with tongue too raw to severed ears like nails from claw? like tooth from bite like eyeball from sight yeah atom from bomb yet all buttoned up with Enlightened Aplomb? all Buttoned Up so suave and swift dashing your slash with riposte in fist? like butcher dressed in Sunday best drips unseen fat on his stained undervest you chomp at the shells of my words, spit the rest.
0
Apr 28, 2012
Apr 28, 2012 at 9:01 AM UTC
To the Self-Satisfied Atheist
people always talk too much and I try to sleep anyway but silence is hard to come by and you must silence everything with a knife. (purebred aggressiveness is preferable to casual ****** even when solace arrives in the morning, as punctual as the mail, your bloodstained hands have still come away empty and you still want to be held. (too bad you don't let nobody touch you, too bad they get the idea after the riposte to the heart) Of course they have survived it; we lived in a civilized day and age, after all,but they will still steal furtive glances at you, like they're waiting for something to drain away the remaining time until you next explode. it's a fair price to pay for the skill to breathe words like mere ambient gases, for free thought and a good pen. at least , I fell for it. I was never good at bartering, and what more could I ask than to wield words? and so the cycle continues! life,death,ashes to egg,egg to firebird, firebird to ashes. people will continue to misjudge where they've stabbed you and you will continue to obediently burn all letters and end up listening to Thom Yorke sing about cheap *** and sad films.
0
Mar 2, 2016
Mar 2, 2016 at 2:35 AM UTC
burnt letters
By T. A. Beale I was working my garden on a warms summers day, When a robin flew by, from across the way, His wings tipped with silver, black brows over his eyes, His robins red breast, you might have guessed, but upon his cheek, a dark mark he could not disguise, I laughed and I smiled as I cried aloud, "Tis brave Robin Black-Cheek, a bird most renowned!" He bowed and sang, “Good day to you sir! My chicks need a feeding!" I nodded and said, "There's food underground, just follow around while I do the weeding!" So we set to work, and into each hole that I dug, Mr Robin flew, and emerged bearing worms or a fat wriggling bug! Time after time, with a beak full of grubs he'd return to his nest, As the day grew long, I could not go on, I lay down my shovel, I needed a rest! Mr Black-Cheek hopped on my boot, and danced an impatient jig, He looked at me and sang, "My chicks are still hungry! Why won't you dig?" "Rest a while, lets take a moment to speak, tell me how you got that black scar on your cheek!" "Very well. But I warn you now, 'tis not a tale for the meek!” I was guarding my garden when a rogue robin rival reproached me and said, "I shall end your life, then take your wife, she will thank me when you're dead!" I swooped down to meet him, I perched on the fence, I puffed my red breast and angrily sang, “Let battle commence!” The scoundrel soared up, beak shining like steel in the sunlight, and he sliced my cheek! Staggered and stunned I spun round, but soon I steadied, stood straight and showed my beak! “T'was but a slight!” I swung at him, and continued the fight! We ****** and we pecked, we riposte and we parried, “Leave while you can! Too long have you tarried!” We flew and we dashed, and in mid-air we clashed, In a flurry of feathers we fought, a final fell blow and the foul fiend was fallen, I sang with glee; for he was forced to flee! I returned to my tree, now no one would dare challenge me! He bowed again once his tale was told, “Now dig me more grubs, afore this day grows old!” I gladly obliged, for I'd made a new friend, and we worked all day, until the end. © Thomas A. Beale 2015
0
Sep 4, 2015
Sep 4, 2015 at 9:56 AM UTC
The Tale of Robin Black-Cheek
By T. A. Beale I was working my garden on a warms summers day, When a robin flew by, from across the way, His wings tipped with silver, black brows over his eyes, His robins red breast, you might have guessed, but upon his cheek, a dark mark he could not disguise, I laughed and I smiled as I cried aloud, "Tis brave Robin Black-Cheek, a bird most renowned!" He bowed and sang, “Good day to you sir! My chicks need a feeding!" I nodded and said, "There's food underground, just follow around while I do the weeding!" So we set to work, and into each hole that I dug, Mr Robin flew, and emerged bearing worms or a fat wriggling bug! Time after time, with a beak full of grubs he'd return to his nest, As the day grew long, I could not go on, I lay down my shovel, I needed a rest! Mr Black-Cheek hopped on my boot, and danced an impatient jig, He looked at me and sang, "My chicks are still hungry! Why won't you dig?" "Rest a while, lets take a moment to speak, tell me how you got that black scar on your cheek!" "Very well. But I warn you now, 'tis not a tale for the meek!” I was guarding my garden when a rogue robin rival reproached me and said, "I shall end your life, then take your wife, she will thank me when you're dead!" I swooped down to meet him, I perched on the fence, I puffed my red breast and angrily sang, “Let battle commence!” The scoundrel soared up, beak shining like steel in the sunlight, and he sliced my cheek! Staggered and stunned I spun round, but soon I steadied, stood straight and showed my beak! “T'was but a slight!” I swung at him, and continued the fight! We ****** and we pecked, we riposte and we parried, “Leave while you can! Too long have you tarried!” We flew and we dashed, and in mid-air we clashed, In a flurry of feathers we fought, a final fell blow and the foul fiend was fallen, I sang with glee; for he was forced to flee! I returned to my tree, now no one would dare challenge me! He bowed again once his tale was told, “Now dig me more grubs, afore this day grows old!” I gladly obliged, for I'd made a new friend, and we worked all day, until the end. © Thomas A. Beale 2015
Continue reading...
41
Inside us all, we wish for The One that we have Ideas of falling endlessly down a blue tinted sky with. In a Myriad of a countless mind, perfection lies dormant inside. Vile…the horrors of loneliness in time, and All lands and waters cannot hold its meaning. And if meandering glances could speak, Of Antioch and withered Troy, My sweet, fabled Helen would be my goddess. The love I killed without realization… Remaining requiem lead to devastation, I solemnly ridicule myself over again, And riposte, is still there paradise in Eden? Incredulous, it happens that I know life will not Pass by my eyes, Sirens will not command their rot, I live now until entombed, the morgue has never scared me, But bereft of her, I am a hollow shell that suffers cruelly.
0
Jul 21, 2013
Jul 21, 2013 at 9:17 PM UTC
Hidden Meaning.
My words are my armour, my blade, my security. I use their definitive purpose to strike, to wound, to **** I have no need to use an actual knife, my rapier bladed tongue cuts with an accuracy of a surgeons scalpel. If you have no parry, or riposte, I'll Épée a thrusting word like the sword. Your entire being is a valid target, I cannot fight with fists, I cannot crush you physically, but mentally I will make you my target for words. "Sticks and stones may break my bones! but words will never hurt me" Oh, but they will hurt. Long after a scar has healed, a cut has scabbed, words will linger, haunt and remind your every waking moment of the day you picked a fight, a dalliance if you will with a lexicographer.
0
Jul 30, 2014
Jul 30, 2014 at 9:45 AM UTC
Word fencing
I wage war for your embrace I have said my peace So shut me up with your darling kisses Calm my storms fury upon your shores with your gentle touch End my tornado of chaos and emotional turmoil with your warm breath Riposte my fresh forged sword with your r&r; concern Tame my lightning with your smooth body Stop my earthquakes with your pristine soul End my fires with the flame you have for me
0
Sep 12, 2016
Sep 12, 2016 at 2:15 AM UTC
force me to surrender, I beg of you
He stood tall and straight arisen from a heavy slumber once begun as shelter from an overwhelming deluge of impossibilities which had collapsed into a prison of his own construction until his limbs petrified by abandonment climbed his way to vertical leaning only to balance his steps forward
0
Jul 15, 2013
Jul 15, 2013 at 7:05 PM UTC
Angle of Riposte (apologies to Wallace Stegner)
and it's a thought I've entertained, because there's something intangible about the way you let my name slip from your mouth, and if I could hear you smile when you feed into silly jokes (that I sometimes never know how to finish,) with a sprightly riposte and a laugh— well, no man would know as charming of a night song as I would. so I often smooth out an endless atlas of all the routes and maxims that would escort you to the comfort of my being; and I find myself ready until I remember that I am guilty of never carrying a compass most days, and counter every instinctive emotion with a thought and a doubt, and I keep forgetting to not travel about with the shaming fear of mistaking moments of selfishness for those of tenderness. which explains why I've pinched my tongue with my teeth every time I think to admit that getting enough sleep hasn't really done much since some nights, I am lonely, and being able to let every tired limb wander and stretch across the entire bed makes other nights a little tougher. I swear I don't mean to adore you—but I do, and I think it would be nice to see you again; I've been thinking about that most days, too (because it does sound nice,) but if you didn't know that was where I was coming from, I'm hoping on the next chance we get to meet somewhere in the middle of the lives we zip through so briskly, that now you do. you can give me a call, it doesn't have to be soon; and it's only if you've been thinking about it, only if you been meaning to catch the sound of my smile behind an eager hello before you ready your compass and ask... “It's been a while, what are you doing next weekend?”
0
Mar 19, 2014
Mar 19, 2014 at 2:47 AM UTC
I've been thinking about calling you
and it's a thought I've entertained, because there's something intangible about the way you let my name slip from your mouth, and if I could hear you smile when you feed into silly jokes (that I sometimes never know how to finish,) with a sprightly riposte and a laugh— well, no man would know as charming of a night song as I would. so I often smooth out an endless atlas of all the routes and maxims that would escort you to the comfort of my being; and I find myself ready until I remember that I am guilty of never carrying a compass most days, and counter every instinctive emotion with a thought and a doubt, and I keep forgetting to not travel about with the shaming fear of mistaking moments of selfishness for those of tenderness. which explains why I've pinched my tongue with my teeth every time I think to admit that getting enough sleep hasn't really done much since some nights, I am lonely, and being able to let every tired limb wander and stretch across the entire bed makes other nights a little tougher. I swear I don't mean to adore you—but I do, and I think it would be nice to see you again; I've been thinking about that most days, too (because it does sound nice,) but if you didn't know that was where I was coming from, I'm hoping on the next chance we get to meet somewhere in the middle of the lives we zip through so briskly, that now you do. you can give me a call, it doesn't have to be soon; and it's only if you've been thinking about it, only if you been meaning to catch the sound of my smile behind an eager hello before you ready your compass and ask... “It's been a while, what are you doing next weekend?”
Continue reading...
38
tired of my drooping Hanes, my slept-in choice for greeting a new morning tad overexposed, my weekend breakfast table body's accoutrement, "coverup" she deemed accurately as in-suffice, my nighttime slept-in choice for welcoming the new morning as a single continuum, exposing my true colors, thus declaring biblically, "Let there be night, let there be day," in a manner of speak she-woman wryly declares over her slim sizing yogurt Greek and half of a laugh of a banana downsized, "You need some loungewear" pondering this ponderosa-sized ponderosity, grasping its monstrosity insulting me, coffee pouring, Eye, a first responder contemplate irresponsibly, thinking to reply with bravado, that on said day, when Eye accrete such a class of clothing so nomenclatured as "loungewear" upon my person, or in my ward-so-unrobed found, unasked for, Eye will require transgendering but my tongue bites me, so instead draw down on my John Donne, on the subject of food, good taste and being unclothed, and instead He-poet bequeath the she-woman this riposte... *"Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee; as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be to taste whole joys.* wisely retreating than be defeating, not wanting a world war conflicting, with coffee mugged, Eye return/hide, under the bed's blanketing comforter, thinking of the taste of whole joys of her body unclothed, when later, she creeps in next to me, to practice the serious art of lounging...
0
Apr 18, 2015
Apr 18, 2015 at 9:30 AM UTC
Loungewear
and we went for coffee at the cafe round the corner where the guy who served us looked like a wannabe rock star, where the seats were cold, a buttermilk colour. I remember your lips were strawberry red - I wore a liquorice jet-black jacket that was too small for me. Then somehow like a shirt in the wash the conversation changed to the other side of things, what we both had written over the days of dying summer. 'Plenty, you?' is what you said sipping from the white mug. 'Not much, no surprise' my riposte, glasses harassed by caffeine-full clouds as I drank. Then the fog cleared, I could see again sinking into your seawater eyes and I muttered how I'd scrawl down something about you sometime. This isn't it. Here’s to another day.
0
Oct 29, 2012
Oct 29, 2012 at 6:25 PM UTC
It Was a Wednesday I Think
*"Avant nous, D'autres amants ont dit : "Je t'aime." Comme nous... Avant nous, D'autres ont souffert, ont trahi même"* Edith Piaf --- You presented the evidence Cards filled the table Jack, King, Queen You even threw The Joker. I laughed at your attempts To pacify a self you so Resolutely dismissed until You realised I'd actually Gone. Profanities crossed Across the desk separating us And you owned your side Dispersing blood on Your hands. I sat still with a snigger A stare in my eye so wild You feared my retort A riposte shedding your Ego. My final offering Twisting the knife Plundered into my back Before this poker game Even began. I remained silent As you screeched My own voodoo doll With pleasure I watched your Pain.    © Sia Jane
0
Dec 2, 2014
Dec 2, 2014 at 7:48 PM UTC
Avant Nous