Poems

at last unveiled
he sees a little boy
feeding an ugly duckling

Author notes: wc 12 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785498-Brevity---15-words-or-less

to paraphrase Jesus:
the rich will always be with us
what matters is:
1. the way they got rich
2. the way they stay rich
3. their proportion in society
there are no societal structures that get a better mark on these than capitalism.
and there will never be, so long as humans are humans

the open window
signaled new possibilities
new encounters
new horizons to conquer
silent, the mosquito flew in

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785459-MAX-6-lines---PHOTO-is-prompt

It stands there, on a vast and windswept plane
A mighty temple, wonder of the world
To measure time and space and preordain
The flow of seasons, stories would be told
A mystery of ancient wisdom’s reach
Its architects the wisest in the land
Oh but to hear the shriveled shaman preach
To get a glimpse, so we could understand
Fragment by fragment, we expose its past
When will the day come, when we know at last
It stands there, on a vast and windswept plane
Patiently waits for someone to explain

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785075-Image-prompt-of-Stonehenge--12-to-16-lines

Mark Antony
fell in love with those eyes
but Caesar's shadow
hovered over them
until the end

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785243-Eyeshadow image from CNN

this, less threatening version
of the Prometheus engineer
was ultimately rejected
by Ridley Scott

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785293-Surreal-images-57 https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Engineer

play
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
song
twice

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785449-7k---Best-4-line-stanza--One-word-title-on- The context is a 4 line stanza using all letters, but each no more than twice, to describe a "goal" for the year. English being what it is with vowels, a limitation of 2 max felt too restrictive here.  But this works, though the goal is "modest" there are words that have letters repeating only once, they're called heterograms

He loves his Mercedes
Her last name not Benz
Returning from Hades
The victim of friends
The Count, Monte Cristo
Dantès is his name
Used money, not pistols
To gather his fame
Avenging betrayal
With plot after plot
Dumas’ shrewd portrayal
unties every knot

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785368-Bibliophiles--4-The-Count-of-Monte-Cristo image from Amazon

loveless encounters and dynastic marriages
spacious apartments, ornate gilded carriages
absolute power’s diminishing thrill
princes, unscrupulous, vie for your will
still, if I’m pressed, I’ll admit to one thing
that on the whole, it is good to be king

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784877-Kings

seducing Zeus with a disguise
she poisons him, and reigns supreme
observing us with slitted eyes
her nightmare overtakes our dream
the Gorgon can’t be turned to stone
no magic trick, no magic pass
the truth, which we have always known
we are Medusa, she is us

the ad said:
Cute Topless Chicks in Short Skirts
fell for it
still think we did better
than the group that went to
Long Studs Nail You

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784898-BREVITY-Cute-Topless-Chicks-in-Short-Skirts

forgive me, Lord Almighty
but this here Aphrodite
did make me drop my phone
a well augmented clone
of the Miloan Venus
(or some related genus)
a California bust
discuss it, if you must

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2785349-Get-Ekphrastic-II