Poetry competition CLOSED 7th May 2022 5:16pm
WINNER
wallyroo92
wallyroo92
NaPo 2022 Poetry as Peaceful Protest Prompt Comp
Jean-Dominique
Stuck in a prison of the body
Jean-Dominique still had freedom of the soul
With the blink of one eye
He took us on a journey
He still had a story to be told
Deep in the recesses of minds
Every single memory still lives on
It’s those that come up to the surface
That we treasure and hold dear
And the rest are never really gone
And Jean-Dominique treaded on
Every single letter
Every single word
A memoir showing that the human spirit
Is always free
Jean-Dominique Bauby
1952-1997
Written by wallyroo92
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Prompt #7
Existential
Free to exist without a care,
yet would we not stay standing there
or would we wander far and wide
to find whatever we lacked inside.
Once begun can not retrace
or view reflected our own face
trapped in solace as we turn
to every other place and learn
what escaped as we remained
held in our own heart reframed
dreaming on our languor long
holding on to every song.
Somehow peace itself is free
and silent courage hopes to be
if only it could find a way
in some small manner still it may.
#25
(a non-entry)
Free to exist without a care,
yet would we not stay standing there
or would we wander far and wide
to find whatever we lacked inside.
Once begun can not retrace
or view reflected our own face
trapped in solace as we turn
to every other place and learn
what escaped as we remained
held in our own heart reframed
dreaming on our languor long
holding on to every song.
Somehow peace itself is free
and silent courage hopes to be
if only it could find a way
in some small manner still it may.
#25
(a non-entry)
Anonymous
<< post removed >>
The Some in All Parts
How can I be free is a part of me is confined?
While the rest of me struggles to move ahead
Is the total really complete if portions are lacking?
Unable to walk the path I wish to tread
If one of the sections is dragging and lagging
Will the rest of the group be just as good?
Every moving part should be well balanced
Otherwise it’s a moot point that’s misunderstood
If a piece of us bound how can we stand our ground?
The dissonance is sure to place us in shame and disgrace
And while people are oppressed and struggle to be free
What does that say about society and the human race?
Written by wallyroo92
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Prompt # 8
THE ART of WAR
Did Sun Tza convince you that there's an art to war?
Was he referring to the battlefields or inside our doors?
I, for sure, have warring emotions raging within
Using them to create art that I impart with my pen
To pin more wins onto my walls along my halls of mirrors
Using them as weapons of introspection to see clearer
To remember my triumphs and lessons from my losses
From fields of deferred dreams seen with epitaphs & crosses
Prompt #32
Did Sun Tza convince you that there's an art to war?
Was he referring to the battlefields or inside our doors?
I, for sure, have warring emotions raging within
Using them to create art that I impart with my pen
To pin more wins onto my walls along my halls of mirrors
Using them as weapons of introspection to see clearer
To remember my triumphs and lessons from my losses
From fields of deferred dreams seen with epitaphs & crosses
Prompt #32
A.E.R.O
Awakening
Recovering fully from cradles of deep sleep
Resurrecting from a cognitively, comatose state
Enlightening
Escaping from the depths of darkness' ignorance
Soaring higher with desires to elevate
Resisting
Declining what is being offered up on the hook
No longer consuming anymore of their alluring, poisonous bait
Overcoming
Maneuvering around all the obstacles
Avoiding chores that alter one's gait
Prompt #30
Awakening
Recovering fully from cradles of deep sleep
Resurrecting from a cognitively, comatose state
Enlightening
Escaping from the depths of darkness' ignorance
Soaring higher with desires to elevate
Resisting
Declining what is being offered up on the hook
No longer consuming anymore of their alluring, poisonous bait
Overcoming
Maneuvering around all the obstacles
Avoiding chores that alter one's gait
Prompt #30
Tainted World
It was a nation that thrived on knowledge
On education
On the understanding that every citizen had a responsibility
To learn and grow and share their wisdom
And they thrived
Every resident kept to their promise
Working with the each generation
Teaching them ways that were truly synergistic
Harmonious and altruistic
Elevating them to a new level
Theirs was a state of scholars and craftsmen
Poets and scientists
Artists and Engineers
Historians and thinkers who sought out truth and purpose
Everyone knows that with scientific thought
Knowledge grows
And here was a society which flourished
Without greed or avarice
Happiness was attained by love and brotherhood
Some centuries later
Settlers discovered their land
And upon reaching their shores
They brought with them a darkness
War and disease
Tainting the land and their hearts
The colonizers
Not understanding these ways
Destroyed most of the evidence
Giving way to a new
Tainted world
Written by wallyroo92
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Prompt # 9
Compliance & Nonviolence (Suffering In Silence)
They killed a man who preached nonviolence
And are still demanding that we suffer in silence
Met with threats of violence for taking a knee
So tell me why do you sing O' say can you see?
Can you not see the hypocrisy in any of this?
Historically, revolutionaries have used their fists
As a means to resist so we ALL can live free
From the tyrannical oppression of evil entities
Quoting Stokely, an enemy must have a conscience
In order for nonviolence to have a fighting chance
There's no romance between beauty & the beast
Bring that fairytale nonsense to an immediate cease
It's played out like a crease in denim jeans
Obtain your sense of peace by any means
It was all a dream when thirteen was ratified
Prisons profiting means that they surely lied
Been taken for rides since the transatlantic trips
Just no longer cargo at the bottom of their ships
Get a grip on reality where political fallacies reign
So casualties won't be family's blood in the drain
Incessant pain remains that makes it hard to breathe
Mentally, physically & spiritually causing us to seethe
Grinding our teeth as they keep denying justice
Raising closed fists as we continue to resist
Prompt #31
PoetsRevenge said:It seems the world around us is full of metaphors for our own struggles, if we dig deep we see them there, keep digging deep, peeps, you are panning for and finding poetic gold !
Worldly metaphor is definitely ripe for the picking. I am immensely enjoying these entries and seeing through the eyes of poets.
Worldly metaphor is definitely ripe for the picking. I am immensely enjoying these entries and seeing through the eyes of poets.
Encoded in Fire
…and so it was, that the poets from all around the world
Had been detained by the Governmental Oath Peremptory
All their works, whether on paper or virtual were seized
And they were to be re-educated under the new authority
First they were stripped of all their rights and civil liberties
Especially those of academic accomplishments and artistry
Scholars were subjected to regulation and domination
To the point that they even lost their intellectual property
Those who opposed this autocratic administration
Were imprisoned and given relentless non-stop shock therapy
And if they were still resistant to this kind of treatment
They were then given a temporal, radical lobotomy
Their words, their poems, everything was being stolen
Many were silenced in the darkness lost in incoherency
Memories erased purposefully like paralyzing dementia
Unless they claimed their loyaly to the new authority
Meanwhile the autocrats and cronies read all the works
Absorbing every word as if to burn them into ashes
Applying their views and beliefs in their despotic ways
Then twisting and distorting the truth to rule the masses
But there was one man, who sent out a message
Encoded in fire that others could see, hear, smell and feel
As his name would appear in the flame of every blaze
A ghost writer is coming, and it’s hell on two wheels…
Written by wallyroo92
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Prompt # 10
Ahavati said:
Worldly metaphor is definitely ripe for the picking. I am immensely enjoying these entries and seeing through the eyes of poets.
Me too, I am seeing fire in the silence, when you hear nothing you see everything, and when you can't speak and shout to anyone who understands, poetic form erupts like a spewing volcano.
I'm feeling the beautiful burn of reality through different eyes, poetry refuses to wear a mask to catch the virulent globules of enlightenment :)
Worldly metaphor is definitely ripe for the picking. I am immensely enjoying these entries and seeing through the eyes of poets.
Me too, I am seeing fire in the silence, when you hear nothing you see everything, and when you can't speak and shout to anyone who understands, poetic form erupts like a spewing volcano.
I'm feeling the beautiful burn of reality through different eyes, poetry refuses to wear a mask to catch the virulent globules of enlightenment :)
Unblumeing
Does God know I'm smiling
under this hot, opressive thing
and does it matter how pretty I am
when it's too hard to even sing
I try to smile with my eyes,
but does it work, I just want to
connect, is that so weird
and just look happy
so it will help me be free
I don't want misery defining this
time or any other worrying.
I want to breathe better,
not be stifled and shamed,
my periforal vision always restrained.
Why must so many bear
the mistakes of the few,
why must everyone suffer
just because of some rules.
I want to have hope, wear lip gloss,
smirk as I roll my eyes,
make someone laugh
even just to share a common smile.
#19
(a non-entry)
Does God know I'm smiling
under this hot, opressive thing
and does it matter how pretty I am
when it's too hard to even sing
I try to smile with my eyes,
but does it work, I just want to
connect, is that so weird
and just look happy
so it will help me be free
I don't want misery defining this
time or any other worrying.
I want to breathe better,
not be stifled and shamed,
my periforal vision always restrained.
Why must so many bear
the mistakes of the few,
why must everyone suffer
just because of some rules.
I want to have hope, wear lip gloss,
smirk as I roll my eyes,
make someone laugh
even just to share a common smile.
#19
(a non-entry)
BENJAMIN'S ENDS
The FBI, the CIA, the NSA & the KKK
Conspired to take our freedom away
A Chessmaster's play was the war on drugs
Imprisoned super predators & ruthless thugs
Bugs placed in rooms of prominent leaders
Planted infiltrators who cleverly deceived us
The U.S. excluded US from the pursuit of happiness
Riding the back of the bus wasn't just happenstance
They love to see us dance for their entertainment
Do more than catch a ball, there's discontentment
Won't pay recompense for their father's crimes
Although it filled their coffers with plenty of dimes
Their crimes get whitewashed in history books
Plundered all the castles like they were rooks
Crooks' faces are on our country's currency
It's all about the Benjamins they tell you & me
My country tis a thee; sweet land of liberty
When singing of being free, did it include me?
From what I can see, we are still in need of change
History repeats itself & seems to return with a bang
PROMPT#19
The FBI, the CIA, the NSA & the KKK
Conspired to take our freedom away
A Chessmaster's play was the war on drugs
Imprisoned super predators & ruthless thugs
Bugs placed in rooms of prominent leaders
Planted infiltrators who cleverly deceived us
The U.S. excluded US from the pursuit of happiness
Riding the back of the bus wasn't just happenstance
They love to see us dance for their entertainment
Do more than catch a ball, there's discontentment
Won't pay recompense for their father's crimes
Although it filled their coffers with plenty of dimes
Their crimes get whitewashed in history books
Plundered all the castles like they were rooks
Crooks' faces are on our country's currency
It's all about the Benjamins they tell you & me
My country tis a thee; sweet land of liberty
When singing of being free, did it include me?
From what I can see, we are still in need of change
History repeats itself & seems to return with a bang
PROMPT#19
