"unassumingly" poems
Resplendent rose, luminous green,
Lucid paradisaical palette,
The jewel delivers
It's dyed, distinctive sheen
Graciously, unassumingly
Casting a pink and emerald crewel
Coalescing into traces,
Cuisine for sunbeams
Brushing nature's easel --
Bedecking the constellation lighting on earth,
Realizing among tureens:
Scalloped edge profusions offering
The spoonbill waif
Sweet adrenaline,
Fueling it's sojourn in the atmosphere.
Bird of prey, humming minstrel,
Airy, iridescent meddler
Between red blooms,
Distant gem's sparkle
Gracing redolent, languid afternoons
Cloaked in shimmering velveteen,
Beating velocious wings, remaining still.
Aug 13, 2010
Aug 13, 2010 at 9:11 AM UTC
The cobwebs were hanging in the corners of the room.
While I'll confess I was lost within the masquerade,
of a dance full with the intent of death;
swirling till we sung with how to die alone.
In our ballroom, is what I need;
Step by step; unassumingly.
I'll wait for you there, locked in our rhythm.
I'll wait for you there, till time stands still.
And on death row, I will continue on with a smile.
My mask molding into my face-
Like the harlequin, dancing endless steps-
slipping down the path of the pagan.
I will pray to the god's and anyone listening.
To return me to my heavens.
To a place, I'll recall;
wasn't I just there---
In our ballroom, is what I need;
Step by step; unassumingly.
I'll wait for you there, locked in our rhythm.
I'll wait for you there, till time stands still.
And on I dance, until the days were done.
And then, there I sat with regrets...
Cobwebs hanging over shattered glass.
All the things I've never achieved...
For all I've done, for all I've been.
In dreams until my death, I wonder on.
Feb 11, 2013
Feb 11, 2013 at 1:43 PM UTC
“You’re beautiful,” he says,
his voice a gin-soaked amalgamation of every
listlessly aging boss,
lonely husband in the shoe department,
loveless 3a.m.-hard-cocked stranger.
“Why don’t you smile?”
I widened my eyes
in an attempt to appear likable,
yet felt my mouth
straightening,
my upper lip sealing
the bottom like
a Tupperware lid.
I willed them to curl
upwards, unassumingly;
I wanted to smile the way
women seem to smile
while masking
ill-fitting intentions.
My mouth remained
firmly rooted,
obstinate railroad tracks running
the shortest distance
between the two plotted points of
left cheek and right cheek.
Behind these pretty lips lay
two rows of crooked teeth,
a cigarette-stained skyline
against the starless horizon of
tongue and epithelial tissue, ugly
and wholly my own.
To smile
would be a betrayal
of my own trust,
and if any man
were worth that
it certainly wasn’t
this one.
Dec 28, 2013
Dec 28, 2013 at 1:06 AM UTC
Each day dawning would
gift me new eyes of wonder,
right from my childhood
a friend, from this lone and lonely tree,
I'd fervently hope for something different,
rushing to the window,
I view that elegance
as the first auspicious thing
to gaze at, as the custom suggests.
After the morning light creates a pool
above the verdant hills at the east,
yet again a regular ritual,
the tree is my magical yard stick
by which I measure myself,
a mysterious pact between us
existed, deep in mind, I had felt
only we know between us
even if the breeze says, that aloud often.
In her presence every thing becomes clear.
As I watch the tree, as usual
after the repetitions of long
years of rain, shine and mist in between,
what I saw that moment was different:
On every branch seeking light,
bristled flowery wonders
songbirds, absent till the day before
in droves sat all over the crown,
in unison singing her paeans sonorously,
purple rays of morning sun
adorned each leaf, in colorful embrace.
Wasn't it the moment I was yearning for?
I stood filled with it's effulgence,crown to root
the connection in an instance, becomes clear,
there is no secrets left unsaid between us any more--
In a flash , a golden window opens in inner chamber
I feel free from, the bindings of all mundane desires
as one rows the boat, the miseries of Samsara,
the treacherous rapids, are left behind for ever.
Isn't it enlightenment, at the moment
seeking me unassumingly through my open windows?
Jun 28, 2017
Jun 28, 2017 at 2:49 PM UTC
Harrowed by this most singular form, we are a
Coalescence of two
Pedals in cathedral stained glass windows
In glorious form
And resting on tables
Placed seemingly, unassumingly
Placed in insurmountable space
Seen by seers and filled by philosophers,
Nonetheless echoing through cavernous halls
Patterned textures of a Parisian tablecloth in my hand
While my other holds yours in its softness
Recusing sonneteers’ burdens,
Varied recollections of a ringing sound
Excusing intelligent ponderings,
Echoes of faltering and exaltation
With a kiss, we speak soundly
Amplifying what we’ve heard all our lives,
But its crimson is of our origination
To be heard once by us and hence,
Echoed to be heard throughout
Dec 28, 2012
Dec 28, 2012 at 10:11 PM UTC
They are always laid on their backs,
hands folded delicately, almost
as if in bedtime prayer,
over their still bosoms -
as was custom to call it
then in that undefined
historical time in which all
sleeping princesses forever dream.
I am reminded of them now
as you lie there, my drowsy prince
in a comforter castle. You
who lie there so unassumingly,
your quivering lips impetus enough
to embolden anyone, knight or otherwise,
to scale the stony towers of
your blanketed confinement.
But as i watch you i find
that i am no princess, and
far from the gallant savior
your fairy tales promised.
I have no sword with which
to save you, and no beast
to save you from beyond
the snoring dog at your feet.
There's no poisoned spool or fruit
to trap you, no wicked witch's scheme,
just a heavy head and a warm
pillow beneath it,
And how foolish i look now,
worn pajamas replacing the
silver armor i should have on.
so sleep my dear prince,
and dream of the hero you want
me to be, and i'll stand guard
by the door, trying my best
to keep the dust bunnies and
dragons at bay.
May 30, 2011
May 30, 2011 at 4:35 PM UTC
I saw your wife at the coffee shop
You know the one I always talk about
It's up East Main, la-la-la-left on Crane
You should join us some time
You do love your caffeine
Your wife reads cook books
Did you know that?
I can't even fry an egg
Green brown sunny side up or
Unassumingly most usually down
Even with her gray hairs,
She looks younger without you around
what a shame.
Did you know that if I could find a reason,
I'd slink out of my chair and I would say,
"Nice to meet you, I don't believe I know your name."
As I think about introducing myself
It dawns on me,
She probably knows who I am by now
so that won't be necessary. Besides,
nothing makes me feel like
I'm wearing glass shoes
more than you
Honestly, Honey..
*I don't want to destroy the last page of the storybook
you've written for yourself and what happiness I've found
what teeny-weensy little bit..
suddenly meaningless.*
I put the shoes back in her closet
Woman's eight, half size too big
Shut the light as I leave
None of this ever belonged to me
Not literally or figuratively
Put the keys in the ignition
and I'm home free
Nov 16, 2011
Nov 16, 2011 at 1:30 PM UTC
I am like the wind - always around unassumingly but never noticed by your naked eye.
Until one day, when spring heats up, you long for me, the gust of wind, your wind of life.
Jan 21, 2015
Jan 21, 2015 at 7:02 AM UTC
Im not one of those people
The ones that yell on the cliff
And wave their arms all about
Not one who demands your attention
Claiming it as my own
Im one of those people who stands
Quietly and unassumingly
Next to you
And whispers “hi I am here
Im thinking of you
Maybe you could think of me?”
Im one of those ones
Waiting to be noticed
For someone to see
The me who takes a bit of searching
To find
Who would love you forever
And be totally devoted
If you so much as asked me to
But instead I stand
Unassumingly
Over there
Hoping you remember
But unsurprised that you don’t
After all
I not standing on a cliff
Shouting out your name
Nov 29, 2013
Nov 29, 2013 at 12:08 PM UTC
Sometimes everything clicks –
Just a glimpse and I know it’ll be gone.
In the midst of the chaos and confusion,
the sun set on the “almosts”
and led to this golden dawn.
There you were,
unassumingly + perfectly placed in my world;
waiting for me.
I don’t remember how it started, or how exactly I was led to you,
But you make sense.
In the middle of it all –
Fire alarms, crowds of people,
You found me.
There are only flashes of everything else --
Brown eyes, your shirt, the color green, drunken conversations about Parks and Rec,
a piece of gum, the way you looked back at me when you got in the car…
a sureness that I’d see you again.
Here we are in this golden hour.
I know this epiphany won’t last forever --
I'll hold it close while it does.
You overwhelm me with this feeling
that everything is falling into place.
Even if it’s all gone by sunset,
I’m glad it all led to you --
right now.
(a.g.)
Oct 10, 2018
Oct 10, 2018 at 5:52 PM UTC
Sitting up
On the shelf
Between the cucumbers and zucchini
Delicate vegetables in hues of yellow
Longing to be returned to the garden.
Gazing down
At me,
Little squash
Freshly taken from a crate
In the back of the refrigerated truck
On a long journey from what was familiar.
Far traveled, the linoleum strikingly different
From the warm soil baked by the sun,
Your kin next to you, safe and sprinkled
With the earth.
Plucked from the branch,
Swept away from the flowery buds
Unassumingly awaiting your same fate.
Dragged through the air,
Your once carefully placed existence,
Groomed to perfection,
Basking in the life of the warm garden,
No longer holds you to it.
In the market,
The mist sweeps down,
Reminding you of home.
Reminiscent,
You long of the same thunderstorms that captivate me,
Feeling the earth and her tears from heaven on my skin.
Absorbing,
As if you were
A sponge
Taking in your surroundings,
Holding them dear and flourishing
In your environment,
Only to be rung out,
Waiting to take in more,
Never of the same matter.
Jun 17, 2025
Jun 17, 2025 at 10:03 AM UTC
My body pressed down by stacks of dictionaries and thesauruses
And people desperate to iron out my creases before they need to use me,
I lay flat against the map of the town, my cheek brushing a tree’s branches.
The paper town is pretty to perfection, all done down in diffused pastels
It’s long and tall, but it has zero broadness to its name-
A perfect match for me in those days leading up to a stint in rehab
But SHHHHH!! We’re aren’t allowed to talk about rehab.
The river that flows unassumingly through town traces a line across my thighs,
Covering up with its blue murk the lil red scratches that paint my skin
But SHHHHH!! We’re aren’t allowed to talk about those problems either.
The paper town is quiet and quaint on the face,
Which is good given there’s not much else to see here.
The infinities wasted here linger below like the taste of peanut butter
But anyone could see from a glance the lives frozen in one serene moment
What they can’t see, the part that’s hidden under the soil, the second layer of paper
Is that the moment is surely fading into a photograph
And slowly, slowly, slowly… the paper town is home only to pathetic paper people.
Picture perfect. Perfect picture.
I can feel my heart disintegrating with each passing day I can’t give it any meaning
And I can feel my blood boiling with each day the powers that be control me and I don’t know why
I can’t find any rhyme or reason that works for me, I can’t find a meaning to be me, or being this
I’m made of paper, blowing in the wind wherever it wants to take me
I’m a powerless slip of paper with a painted on smile fading in the brilliant sunlight I’m driving into.
I fade. I’m not even a fresh paper anymore.
But I feel doomed to be a paper forever. So I fade.
Jan 3, 2018
Jan 3, 2018 at 5:33 PM UTC
The motion of the never ending cold waters makes me sick, sometimes
It bobs up and down and by now it’s hard to tell when I’m breathing and when I’m not
The weight of the deep waters presses on my chest when my head’s above water
The air stings my throat and eyes and the remnants of the water surrounding me reside in my lungs
It’s so much easier to let go
To let the ever present waves consume me as I sink down further
To swim in shadows below and drown unassumingly
To me and everyone around me
Oct 24, 2019
Oct 24, 2019 at 10:16 AM UTC