"sustaining" poems
1995 saw the start of Generation Z,
the ‘iKids’ with a knack for this new-fangled technology,
Millennial 2.0,
caught in the limbo of the World Wide Web development and Rose Gold iPhones.
They say we’re adaptable,
but apparently we can’t make our own decisions about anything.
They say that we don’t care about anything
except for our tiny little screens,
but they forget who put them in our hands,
and they forget who they run to for help
when they forget how to troubleshoot.
They forget what kind of technology we need to keep sustaining life in the Information Age,
Caught in a crossfire because
Yeah, we’re 90s kids—but the 90s never really actually ended until 2006,
the only difference between two decades being
how much neon versus how much chrome,
and just how expensive accidentally opening the internet app on your mom’s blackberry phone was.
We’re nostalgic for all the things we can’t quite remember,
and half these high schoolers weren’t actually born until 2000 or 2001.
Most of us aren’t old enough to even remember 9/11, nothing outside of the news clips that our teachers show us in history class every single September.
I was born in the same year as the Columbine shootings.
The United States has not been at peace for a year of my life.
We are always fighting— fighting for everything.
Human equality,
posing arguments about micro aggressions and refugees, seeing the inhumanity in the past that we’re living.
None of us are older than 21,
under such hard scrutiny while Baby Boomers Wave 2 still run our country.
We inherited the Millenial’s exhaustion,
the generation before us spending our childhood fighting for all the things that we have never really believed in.
Fairytales.
Generation Z.
The ‘iKids’ who are going to one day be making leaps and bounds with technology,
the generation to nurse this dying planet back to health,
Millennials 2.0 who know how to learn from our forerunners’ mistakes,
who know how to adapt from Sidekicks to iPhone 6S Plus in less than a decade.
We’re the kids who have realized that fun is found in safe spaces rather than invading each other’s personal spaces.
They say we’re too sensitive,
but at the same time they claim that we’re desensitized.
And I thought we were the generation that couldn't make decisions.
Apr 11, 2016
Apr 11, 2016 at 9:21 PM UTC
The sun is coming up so big and bright and bold that it feels like I could just reach out and grab it and put it in my pocket for later. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it later.
I think he took his sun away for good. I tried to keep his sun shining. I tried so hard to keep it lit. But no matter how hard I stoked the fire, he kept me in the dark.
Somehow, I got so busy sustaining his solar energy that I didn't notice my own sun going out. His appeared so bright that I forgot I needed the warmth of my own. I don't know how long it will take my sun to heat up again.
Now it's as if I'm stumbling around a dark house during a power outage, searching for the emergency flashlight and hoping the batteries aren't as dead as we are. I think he used it last, and he never puts things back the way he found them. Good thing I grabbed the sun this morning and put it in my pocket for later.
May 26, 2014
May 26, 2014 at 7:01 PM UTC
friendship buds and blossoms.
just like a summer rose.
friendship brings an abundance.
of happiness and joy.
friendship cant be stored away.
with being shared it grows.
friendship is sustaining .
as autumne leaves do fall.
nurse that friendship gently.
its worth its weight in gold.
keith Wilson 2015
Dec 29, 2015
Dec 29, 2015 at 10:04 AM UTC
You're just a tiny bit minimalist in your own unique way
a white star I have to squint to see in daytime sky
not a Mercedes five point but a Nissan Micra car
you park neatly in a three point turn by my netsuke
and put a circular dent on my platonic furniture
Your two humble rooms devoid of any bold sculpture
except a fold-out table and a miniature bubble chair
and a futon for a bed which is troublesome to share
you draw the line at adornments but allow a wallflower
A bulb in a bowl is your ornamental garden feature
mealtimes a nibble on grated carrot celery cucumber
you run so long on empty you're an eco friendly teacher
stretching out the energy is a passion of my lover
engaging in lessons on sustaining a resourceful nature
Your shoes two pointe ballet slip ons easy to care
barely there g-string thin cotton underwear
nothing loud to upset your understated figure
slight as a pin drop your bottom's semi-derrière
sits so light on feet I'd swear you float on air
I rarely get to hear you come before you're in my hair
with a voice pitch high as a smitten kitten's purr
your upper reaches get a score sized single 'A'
nice when it fits into our schemes of feng shui
I carry your bundle home on the roadway rivers of light
yet you only burn one ray of candle power at night
born of scintillating atoms which flow along each vein
containing so much love without clutter in your frame
a brave star small as wings formed of minuscule wire
flutters in your eyes with minimal flare
but deep desire
Jul 24, 2014
Jul 24, 2014 at 12:54 PM UTC
Some -
thus not all. Not even the majority of all but the minority.
Not counting schools, where one has to,
and the poets themselves,
there might be two people per thousand.
Like -
but one also likes chicken soup with noodles,
one likes compliments and the color blue,
one likes an old scarf,
one likes having the upper hand,
one likes stroking a dog.
Poetry -
but what is poetry.
Many shaky answers
have been given to this question.
But I don't know and don't know and hold on to it
like to a sustaining railing.
Translated by Regina Grol
Wislawa Szymborska
Mar 27, 2017
Mar 27, 2017 at 11:44 PM UTC
You carry a weight that's so heavy
A caravan filled with so many
You journey along, the sand is your song
And heat filled with sun rays aplenty
With your guidance we soon will become
Unified with God's grace and God's love
Your knowledge is great, sufficient in strength
Standing small as you tower above
You feel pain just the same as we do
You will cry tears of sadness for you
Tune into the light, your spirit is bright
You reflect what sunlight shines in you
Teaching us to heal and to move on
Even dark times when sadness has won
To listen up close, is what I have chose
Especially when life comes undone
Spirit Camel, you never run dry
Capabilities keep you alive
You're a natural at heart, playing the part
Mother Nature intended you by
To ride on with you makes me feel safe
With you there is no rush and no haste
Taking our time, learning how to decide
With a rhythm of peaceful-like pace
Self sustaining without an ego
Spreading love every place that we go
We survive day and night, sharing your plight
We are one with your wandering soul
As your milk provides food for your calf
You have cared for us on your behalf
Without a complaint, and in your restraint
It appears that you smile and laugh
You must see how humans sometimes seem
Like a nightmare and not like a dream
Yes we can be, idiotic you see
We have so much to learn from your scheme
I am honored to know you great one
May your message be carried with love
Through winds and life's storms, may we be reborn
With your courage and gentle wisdom
© tHE tERRY tREE
Dec 4, 2014
Dec 4, 2014 at 5:22 PM UTC
How many marbles can you fit into a bowl until you say you can't count them?
I do not want events layered upon events.
Birthdays toppling over birthdays:
a layer cake of responsibilities that aren't 'responsibilities'.
That do not count.
That cannot be measured or described as taxing or numerous.
I am outnumbered by numberless nonsense.
I am outweighed by weightless wafting pleasantries;
and opportunities;
and life-sustaining things;
that bowl me over.
My womb is a desert called Death Valley and you wish to comb it for antique glass bottles.
I care not.
I cannot partake in any more suggestions of what I might do with my 'free time'.
But you're not feeling the tingling sensation in your gut every time you wake up and the lights don't turn on.
The wheels don't work.
The mechanical arms don't move like they are supposed to.
Like the parts of you you're supposed to have on automatic have just given up the ghost and abandoned you.
You're alone and miserable and none of it rings any bells.
None of it gives out any signs.
None of it counts.
I'm crying because the milk spilled and there isn't any milk left anywhere in the world.
We're out.
We're just the land of Honey now.
Apr 21, 2016
Apr 21, 2016 at 12:43 AM UTC
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I didn’t know what I was looking for**
Searching the Earth for to fill my need
Sloth and envy and pride, jealousy lust and greed
Money, popularity, status, possessions; the life I lead
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I didn’t find what I was looking for**
Looking for love in all the wrong places
Never one to stay for long in any case
Living life at a breakneck pace
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I couldn’t find what I was looking for**
Leaving me hungrier; wholly unsatisfied
Nothing helped. There wasn’t one thing I hadn’t tried
So elusive it was: true happiness and joy I was denied
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
But I wouldn’t find what I was looking for**
The world had nothing left for me; I gave up hope
And at the bottom of a very steep and slippery slope
Nowhere left to run and ready to die.
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I never found what I was looking for…**
Down to me came a rope. Taking that rope my life changed forever that day
The light in my dark, show me the right way
What happened I couldn’t really say.
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I might have found what I’ve been looking for**
I still fall and lose my way. God knows I’m not perfect
It’s a long hard road, but God believes I’m worth it
And I know you have a plan for me. Still not sure where I fit
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I think I found what I’ve been looking for**
Life giving water, sustaining bread, and solid ground
Love, joy, and peace. New life I see all around
What I’ve always been looking for, I’ve finally found
**All my life I’ve been searching for something more
Something missing; an emptiness down in my core
And I (Finally) found what I’m looking for!**
Thank You Jesus!
AMEN
Oct 22, 2013
Oct 22, 2013 at 11:59 AM UTC
there is a darkness
that the silver song
of soft illusion lights
in symbolic equivalents
of images real
it is a light
brutally interrogative
magnifying with dazzling rays
the breakage
at the jagged edges of the world
and lays hostage to impersonation
that resembles fragments
of smashed oval shaped mirrors
reflecting pieces of broken
brown terracotta soldiers
and causes the eyes to hurt
with a watched inner holocaust
of disturbing coloured detonations,
implosively autonomous
given to a deceived departure
a departure from reality
given by the advocacy
of ideological rationalism
that sees three kings
with blood on their crowns
in amplified convulsions
call mustre for
disturbance, disorder, destruction
and death
as blood stains the Balkan streets
and all emotional impulse
is volatilized
and a sinister, stuporous, stagnancy
stalks the land
where sustaining minds
are subject to a brutal insensitivity
that dazzles on the edge of a spiral vertigo
it is a light
brutally interrogative
magnifying with dazzling rays
a vocabulary of incoherence
like the rancid stains of *****
that inhabit the jagged edges of the world
Apr 24, 2014
Apr 24, 2014 at 1:25 PM UTC
Stuffed seals.
Sits shelf,
soaking sunshine,
standing sentry,
soliciting smiles.
Shoppers smitten,
strike smiles,
spending silver.
Storied seals,
send shoppers shrilling.
Somewhere,
seamstresses
stitch supplementary shipments,
shaking store,
sustaining sales.
Sales staff splendidly stock shelf.
Seamlessly.
Such salvation, seals seeks.
Successfully, seashells.
Logan Robertson
8/1/2018
Aug 1, 2018
Aug 1, 2018 at 7:53 PM UTC
False prophet.
Web of lies.
Preying, grooming, seducing and sustaining
with the delusions of your own mind.
Grooming.
Grooming.
Dec 25, 2012
Dec 25, 2012 at 10:14 PM UTC
from
On the Infinite Universe and Worlds
(DE L'INFINITO UNIVERSO ET MONDI)
by GIORDANO BRUNO
1548 – 17 February 1600
burned at the stake in Rome's Campo de' Fiori
THREE SONNETS
Passing alone to those realms
The object erst of thine exalted thought,
I would rise to infinity: then I would compass the skill
Of industries and arts equal to the objects.
There would I be reborn: there on high I would foster for thee
Thy fair offspring, now that at length cruel
Destiny hath run her whole course
Against the enterprise whereby I was wont to withdraw to thee.
Fly not from me, for I yearn for a nobler refuge
That I may rejoice in thee. And I shall have as guide
A god called blind by the unseeing.
May Heaven deliver thee, and every emanation
Of the great Architect be ever gracious unto thee:
But turn thou not to me unless thou art mine.
Escaped from the narrow murky prison
Where for so many years error held me straitly,
Here I leave the chain that bound me
And the shadow of my fiercely malicious foe
Who can force me no longer to the gloomy dusk of night.
For he who hath overcome the great Python
With whose blood he hath dyed the waters of the sea
Hath put to flight the Fury that pursued me.
To thee I turn, I soar, O my sustaining Voice;
I render thanks to thee, my Sun, my divine Light,
For thou hast summoned me from that horrible torture,
Thou hast led me to a goodlier tabernacle;
Thou hast brought healing to my bruised heart.
Thou art my delight and the warmth of my heart;
Thou makest me without fear of Fate or of Death;
Thou breakest the chains and bars
Whence few come forth free.
Seasons, years, months, days and hours --
The children and weapons of Time -- and that Court
Where neither steel nor treasure avail
Have secured me from the fury [of the foe].
Henceforth I spread confident wings to space;
I fear no barrier of crystal or of glass;
I cleave the heavens and soar to the infinite.
And while I rise from my own globe to others
And penetrate ever further through the eternal field,
That which others saw from afar, I leave far behind me
Jul 7, 2015
Jul 7, 2015 at 8:09 PM UTC
Eyes on Ancient times in going back and intriguing the mind
Hercules pillar being his strength
Challenging all odds
A man being his own mode
Hercules strength in conquering evil
Deceit of destruction confined to the Devil
The Greek Gods that sit above
They have spiritual divined powers thereof
The Gladiators have come to attack
But the Greek Gods have Hercules back
The pillars of evil Kingdoms have steadily come down
The rattle of the chains and the demons that remain
Hercules the conquer with the strength of solid bound
A man of force with the lean sound
Hercules stands on a throne with lightening bolts on both sides
The sun casts a shadow with the man of victory
It’s Hercules labours of sustaining history
The mystery of challenges of an unknown tomorrow
The enemy being defeated in sorrow
Hercules legacy with having moral of morrow and eyes keen like a sparrow.
Sep 13, 2014
Sep 13, 2014 at 5:02 PM UTC
Buffalo abound
Providing all with one hunt
Sustaining the tribe
Apr 25, 2015
Apr 25, 2015 at 10:32 AM UTC
when we first met
i likened you to wine
intense, intoxicating
after years of marriage
you are now
like everyday rice
plain
simple
warm
comforting
nurturing
(i wanted to say caring, guiding, protective, devoted, kind, tender, gentle, affectionate, loving -- but they nowhere define rice)
sustaining
white ****
just some basic can't-live-without-you & never-gonna-leave-ya
irresistible (like rice) kind of love
slow cooked by fire
Mar 31, 2012
Mar 31, 2012 at 8:44 AM UTC
My:
Belonging to or being associated with the speaker
Love:
An intense feeling of romance or ****** attraction towards an object.
Of:
Expressing the relationship between a part and a whole
Life:
A condition that distinguishes the active and self-sustaining.
Is:
Exist
Defined:
To state or describe the exact nature of an object
By:
Identifying the agent performing the action
Moments:
A very brief measure of time.
Of:
Expressing the relationship between a part and a whole
Happiness:
A state of being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
Nov 14, 2012
Nov 14, 2012 at 1:15 AM UTC
Success can only take place if you have fulfilled achievement
You must think positive in voice
Later incorporating your own concepts being your choice
The Graduation Cap being your thinker
Your Graduation Gown being the Copper and Gold Ticker
Education that took time
Research, Lectures and Concepts that were all combined
You learned discipline in what it takes to succeed
It’s all up to you in how you will proceed
Education gave you the tools of solution base
As you leave the school for the final time you have become the institution trace
You are the pride and honor of any school
Yet you will be the asset and the fine tool
Your eye on endeavors
But it’s no time to sit back sliver
This will be your time to deliver
Think wise and be clever
However, there is no word being never
Step up means step out
Always hold your head up
Dignity being your pursuit
There will be times when struggles come through
Education and Education alone would have shown you in what to do
A moment being your time
Having a smile will be just fine
But never forget during while
Your life has just begun, but think theory and beyond
Education was like an endless mile, but it involved understanding during while
Remember, education is an continuing entity in being ahead and sustaining the learning process
Knowing when
Establishing how
But use all the resources from education
Careers are chosen categories
But you will become the new success story
Your far off has reached today
Yet these will be the words you might say
“I have achieved even when I had doubt, but education helped me see my potential, and I know I can excel”.
Jun 6, 2017
Jun 6, 2017 at 4:05 PM UTC
Mist moves through early morning
Swirling a top the remaining craggy Gods
Standing tall to form the Appalachia
PawPaw trees hang heavy
Laden with fruit, ripened by Eastern sun
Precious ecosystem sustaining what shouldn't grow in this hemisphere
What's left that has not been removed
By blasting coal extraction
Towers above us still, breathing deep
Guarding us in silent repose
Footsteps weave to and fro
Sweet grass brushing sensitive skin
My laughter echo's through the Old Oaks
Honey bees gather pollen
Buzzing happily by my side
We must protect this special place
Turn away from stripping her of her glitter
Of her shine
Clean air, healthy soil
She can recover, she will survive
Aug 4, 2014
Aug 4, 2014 at 11:08 AM UTC
She fabricates variance in the same picturesque sky
Mauling two birds with one stone-cold, self-sustaining lie
If happiness blots itself upon perspective,
then I was merely one musing of a momentarily hung canvas
dangling dull under the noose of your
cautiously composed independence
-
"Independence"
she doth protest
While in dependence,
she doth ingest
She flees towards East evermore, infatuated under the intoxication of dissimilar skies, ceasing to remember that all worlds eventually become spherical.
We, abreast, left the nest;
I, digress, detest the West.
Feb 21, 2014
Feb 21, 2014 at 2:52 AM UTC
The days come
They seem to make
My flesh weak
My strength fade
But as I ponder
God never gets tired
In sustaining strength
It is new every morning
He is faithful in making me strong
I will be faithful in making Him happy
As it was stated
"The joy of the Lord is my strength"
Aug 9, 2015
Aug 9, 2015 at 1:25 AM UTC
Decrepid
I watch you spy their futures
Scooping dreams with sillky fingers
Far too frail to dig,
Fear not,
The sweat from my brow will bring us life.
Sustaining and sweet
Care not,
Though you can not see them.
The huming birds sing
Mar 22, 2016
Mar 22, 2016 at 8:25 AM UTC
many times I danced around the Glast festival
and I travelled in a van living
but in the end when reality set
I knew I had to make for the North Isles
a sustaining freedom where the Stone Circle of Stenness
Is a place to lay your head whatever the season
And Stonehenge sits alone in its field
a forlorn rebuffed dancing circle ended
Jun 21, 2014
Jun 21, 2014 at 4:10 PM UTC
The search within is one’s ability
But from the story will be from the greatness letters
In order to be great, one must bring in the goodness
Greatness requires responsibility
Yet, this comes being the one’s reality
Later follows excellence
But added with essence
However, greatness established assurance
Greatness in the teaching
Also nurturing in the seeking
Having the characteristics to excel
But don’t dwell in Oh Well
Once greatness is administered, you are now a success
But it is acknowledging sustaining with a confess
Then finally, the end result reaching satisfaction
But there were nine functions in greatness that required action
I had stated adding to the indication
But it was all part of persuasion
So you are looking to be great but show the greatness of you
Examine all the words I established and carefully go through
The greatness is waiting for you to open
Are you confident, feel your ability and assured?
Now it is up to you to make it happen, but following your own accord.
Mar 12, 2018
Mar 12, 2018 at 10:44 AM UTC