Friday, July 13, 2012

The Song of Ker-plop...another Skeltonic poem




I love the plip-plop
Of a little rain-drop
Kissing the crop
All shriveled and shrunk
Until the grand ker-plunk
When every flower is drunk
In the beautiful splash
As the cloud-tears wash
The dusty sash
On a thirsty earth
Suddenly filled with mirth
For the priceless worth
In the little plip-plop
Of a lovely rain-drop
That will not stop
But alas, alas
The garden, the grass
Are but a scorched mass
All tinder-dry
And we don’t know why
That big old sky
Will not pop its top
For the glorious ker-plop
Of a little rain-drop

© Janet Martin

Shadow-Tango...a Skeltonic Poem


 Image Source: woodcraftplans.com

Poetic Blooming Challenge; Skeltonic Poem

 Skeltonic verse is named after the poet John Skelton (1460-1529).   It consists of short rhyming lines that just sort of flow on from one rhyme to the next for however long one chooses.  Skeltonic verse generally averages less than six words per line.  The challenge is to keep short rhymes moving down the page, in an energetic and engaging way.


It is no small thing
When our pulses sing
As we absorb the thing
That thrills our souls
Filling us completely
And ever so sweetly
Fitting quite neatly
Into life’s little holes
For pleasure as this
Is a rare sort of bliss
A soft, sudden kiss
As it leaps from its place
Rousing desire
And fanning a fire
Its passion leaps higher
As its lines we trace
For the movement of quill
As it curves to the will
And the want of the thrill
Is an intimate dance
A tango of blood
A heart and mind flood
Oft misunderstood
By the hurrying crowd
But oh, ecstasy
When it’s just you and me
The poet; the poetry
I smile out loud

© Janet Martin

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Madrigal of Life



The evening melds its long blue bars of dusk across the land
The sweltering orb of middle-day resigns
Pale moon, half-circle whisper on an oceanic strand
Breathes grace into the gasp of our designs
While monumental miracles hold galaxies in place
Reminding us of Oracles beyond this temporal space

Our triumph and our failure on life’s battlefields are strewn
Yet, in the end what little still we know
As twilight slips its coral robe across the azure noon
And midnight snuffs eve’s silk and satin glow
Still, grace in immortal supply
Fills every space twixt earth and sky
 
Seasons expand and overflow draining to fathoms past
A folding over ever-folding climb
And just as twilight cannot halt the long blue shadows cast
So too, no one can pause one gasp of Time
But simply marvel that such grace
Should suffer for the human race

As long as time remains the kings of things will rise and fall
The rich and poor alike return to dust
The wind across the grave will moan one common madrigal
Above the termination of our lust
And only what we’ve stored beyond earth’s thorn and thistle bowl
Will endure through eternity while ceaseless ages roll

© Janet Martin



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Love Times Two...dedicated to would-be Housewives


Here’s to those who would love to be
Stay-at-home housewives
But the sting of debt’s eternity
Alters their envisioned lives
Where drawers of monthly bills reside
Ignorant of hope’s backward slide
After multiple addition and subtraction
Leaving but one inevitable option
She must go to work another year
And spurn the wish of staying here
With her children and her house
With balls and books and Mickey Mouse
Privately, her teardrops fall
She does her best and that is all
That anyone can hope to do
The rind and grind of love times two
They push beyond their weary grief
To give the best that they can give

© Janet Martin


Someone left a comment today on my  Allotment of Bliss poem that I simply cannot forget . This poem is to the brave, unsung heroes of those 'would-be housewives'. God Bless~

Merely Miles and Such...



My dear, they are merely miles
and such...
mountains,
oceans,
eons,
...nothing that prayer
cannot touch

Janet Martin

Only Love




By this all men
Will surely know
That we are His disciples
Throughout the land
Its proof will show
From people unto people
By this all men
Cannot deny
The Truth of whom we follow
Throughout the world
His Light will shine
As we love one another

One tiny spark
Will pierce the dark
One act will fill an ocean
No one can quell
The holy swell
That pours from love’s devotion
And none can dim
The Light of Him
Its halo is unshaken
Its power pure
Its hope secure
Its enemy o’er-taken

By this all men
Will surely know
That we are His disciples
For as we love
Thus we will prove
The I AM infallible
And then all men
Will surely know
The One True God of Heaven
For only love
Will truly show
That we have been forgiven

Only love
Yes, only love
Will prove our tongue’s confession
And only love,
Yes, only love
Is heaven’s sacred passion
And only love
Yes, only love
Will witness to the people
By this all men
Will truly know
That we are His disciples

© Janet Martin





Wednesday Words on Love




There is no power whose strength exceeds
Love

There is nothing without limits but this…
Love

There is a universal language without words…
Love

There is an arm that cannot be out-reached…
Love

There is a message not easily misunderstood…
Love

There is nothing in existence without this…
Love

Beauty shines in one simple word…
Love

Take time for others; take time to…
Love

The only thing we receive as we give is…
Love

We could all use a little more…
Love

…therefore we should all give a little more…
Love  

We cannot pretend…
Love

© Janet Martin

By This One Thing...




Not in great knowledge we may boast
Nor by the words we say
Not through stiff laws that we enforce
Nor lengthy prayers we pray
Not by the wisdom we may glean
Or monetary gifts
No, this is not what will be seen
By hungry souls adrift

Not by the food we choose to eat
Nor by our clothes or car
Not through some grand and glorious feat
Will men know who we are
Not by a staunch, religious show
Of solemn piety
No, this is not how they will know
Who follows faithfully

Not by a ceremonial chant
Or what we’ve sacrificed
Nor by tradition’s rigid rant
Will we be recognized
But by one trait and one alone
We prove our difference
After the chaff from wheat has blown
Remains the evidence

And by this humble surety
Will be the single proof
Of they who follow faithfully
And do not stand aloof
Not by some impassable request
Will we reflect our Father
But purely, clearly, simply this

© Janet Martin

What is Love?







Wordless Epiphany




If bird could put in word
The melody that paints the dawn
And spills from wooded columns of the earth
T’would awe the mortal passer-by
To hear its message known
As they pour out the fullness of their worth

The poet with its little pen
Would realize at last
That there will ever be elusive thoughts
Even a sparrow understands
His mission is to pass
From mouth to men what its Master allots

And neither does the dull-clad throng
Seal up its melody
To envy the devotion of the lark
Oh list, the myriad of song
That sets the midnight free
And tunes the morning while it yet is dark

If bird could put in word
The praise that surges from its beak
T’would be a glorious epiphany
Of worship in its purest form
Not by the words we speak
But unbounded thanksgiving flowing free

© Janet Martin

The dawn was full of bird-song…
From crow to lark!



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Of Reluctant Relinquishments...




…and so then, when the sun comes up
Glazing with gold the dangling leaf
And the dew-lipped earth; a silver cup
Mirrors its eons of passion and grief
When the song-bird flits from its shady perch
To herald the morn awakening fair
From maple and willow, from elm and birch
They warble and fill the virgin air
With their song; you will not be here

…and just because I taste your name
Where once your kisses filled my mouth
And just because all seems the same
Against my east, west, north and south
And just because there is no grave
On which to shed my silent screams
And just because the heart is brave
In spite of torn and tattered dreams
That once we shared; you will not be here

…and all the ‘something mores’ we crave
If the raw, raging truth were told
And all the blessings that we have
Will not keep us from growing old
And all the ‘never mores’ we knew
Meld into fabrics of the heart
Where they remain, an avenue
Strewn recklessly with precious art
Called memories; you will not be here

…but you will be where all the rest
Like you have gone to fill the past
Briefly my love, you were the best
But now your void is iron-cast
I held you closely and we danced
But quietly you slipped away
Without a tender backward glance
You disappeared into the gray
And come what may you will never be here again
...for you are Yesterday

© Janet Martin

Righteous Brothers; Unchained Melody
J~




Beautiful Blanket of July




Beautiful blanket of July
Sunflower, lily and butter-fly
Queen Ann’s lace in the wild hedge-row
Wheat fields rippling with golden flow

Beautiful blanket of July
Quilt beneath an azure sky
Locust and cricket serenade
Sweet-tea on throws of dappled shade

Beautiful blanket of July
Sultry minuet sparkling by
Of bare toes skimming clover-mead
Of fair rose dripping petals, red

Beautiful blanket of July
Heavenly splendor pleases the eye
Summer perfection pinned to the sky
Oh, beautiful blanket of July

© Janet Martin