Poems

in fertile pastures
rusty trucks sleep, forgotten
all that is now deer

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784701-Brevity---15-words-or-less

there should be a rule
a horse is a mule
when it's missing critical parts

this rule is maintained
when horses are trained
in racing and other fine arts

but this one, this Ed
got up out of bed
and thought: "I think something is missing"

he later discovered
they're not in his cupboard!
the ladies rejected his kissing

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784681-Picture-Prompt.

sails torn by shrapnel, she groans as she turns
hell below decks as the gun powder burns
smoke blinding eyes, hiding old skull and bones
no longer jolly, is our Davey Jones

gone are the days of the main Spanish threat
vanquished by speed, by the British corvette
galleons, heavy with wine and with loot
tortured by ships that are faster afoot

here goes the mast, Massachusetts' best pine
so much for racing the ships of the line
is this the end, he is forced to admit
Davey is staring at certain defeat

suddenly, as if by Neptune's decree
monstrous tentacles rise from the sea
terrible screams as the water does churn
ships torn asunder from bow to the stern

and sink below, to their watery graves
the smoke clears at last, Jolly Roger yet waves
proud as its ever been, old Skull and Bones
serving its master, the feared Davey Jones

Author notes: Image from Nerdist https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784707-Old-century-Ships-Gentleman-only

she said: I'd love to have you over for dinner
who turns that down?
In the middle of the meal
I feel drowsiness overtake me
and now I'm sitting here, tied to this chair,
muzzled like a pig for the roast,
apple in my mouth.

Annabelle the Cunning Belle, she calls herself.

God, I hear the sound of knives being sharpened in the kitchen

Author notes: horror, humor, pun

she attempts escape,
but the parasitic ghosts of her
memories etch themselves
into her flesh, grabbing her
predatory rose vines they are,
siphoning off her vitality
and giggling evilly as they play

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784687-Write-To-Image---8-only-

wait.
which one did the alien infect???
dammit, I can never tell

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784741-Sci-Fi-Image-Haiku-Welcome-Contest-

to err is human, to forgive divine
I heard that from a poet friend of mine
An altogether decent sort of trope
if you maintain the patience of a pope

I don't forgive, forgive my being so
instead, recount, revisit, blow by blow
and to forget??? please let me dash their hopes
I'll leave forgiving and forgetting to the popes

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783719-Lyric-Prompt- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope https://allpoetry.com/An-Essay-on-Criticism

chiseling these words
into meaning
clearing the excess mass
of others readily available
one can work up a sweat.

luckily there's punctuation.

Author notes: wc 22 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784746-Sculpt---22-Words

the goddess Electra
asked the moths:
how many poets does it take
to screw in a lightbulb
but the moths ignored it
since the light wasn't on

Author notes: wc 27 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784715-Write-to-Image---8-Only-

sumptuous morsels swallowed whole
unlike mommy's casserole
flavors medley, and the bar
frozen vodka, caviar

that my friends is canape
and dessert served aflambé

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784748-Canap%C3%A9---24-Words

the note reads 1921
the lock clicks loudly
inside -- flying cars
trips to mars
on the dot

Author notes: wc 18 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784747-Capsule---18-Words image from Etsy

the cobble stones show signs of wear
the patter of a myriad feet
that stomped both up and down each stair
for news of the returning fleet

they know of worry and of pain
of ships that sailed into the void
the sudden jolt, the steady strain
of lives both broken and destroyed

the bloody stains of sacrifice
no longer paint the ancient rocks
but they remember knives that slice
obedient throats out by the docks

but all is quiet now, the stones
are just a footpath, no more quests
excursions, tales of ancient bones
are popular among the guests

Author notes: wc 99 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2784612-Fantasy-1028