Series of Poetry

Haiku #1

The Element of Fire

Flames controlled by hands,

Igniting war infernos,

Bringing heat and light.

Haiku #2

The Element of Water

Submerged in fresh waves,

Manipulated by palms,

Controller of streams.

Haiku #3

The Element of Air

Let the whirlwind guide,

An atmospheric, swift flight

Alter the gust's flow.

Haiku #4

The Element of Earth

Entering these woods,

Flourished trees call me by name;

Witch of the terrain.

KEY:
Personification: Line 2- "flourished trees call me by name"

Haikus about the Picasso Painting The Old Man and the Guitar
Unforgettable Piece
A peaceful tune strummed
faint, delicate melody,
repeats through our ears.

Willingness of the Blind
Lowered and dipped head
with eyes shut and unknown sights
still able to play.

Mellifluous Song
Fragile, soft fingers
dance across the strings and make
harmonious chords.

Angular Posture
Skeletal body,
elongated, confined limbs
cramped, yet can function.

Limerick #1

A Crazy Elf Named Bud

There once was a fellow named Bud
who got in a strife with a cub.
He fights and he fights,
Despite his grand height,
He lost and then fell in the mud.



Limerick #2

Fat Photogenic Nick

There once was a fellow named Nick,
who couldn't stop taking his pics.
He tucked out his chin,
showed too much of skin,
Too bad he's infested with ticks!


Quatrain #1

Her Little Ghost

Never born, yet was innocent as a dove,
Dearly held close to his parents' tender hearts.
They build a small memorial in a grove,
Cherishing the obelisk, their finest art.

Disturbed nights since the moment of his passing,
Haunted by her child; now a deceased ghost.
Delighted even if he was trespassing,
Wanting to encounter him the very most.

He appeared just as she imagined him to;
Entirely resembling his dearest father.
She wished he could always remain in their view;
Not considered a belittling bother.

They had one more role as parents to a ghost;
Let the stoned tomb enter an official rest.
They had to give up on being their son's host.
Even if it wasn't perceived as their best.

KEY:
Rhyme and Meter- Each stanza follows the rhyme scheme ABAB, each line containing 11 syllables.
Line 1: Simile- "innocent as a dove" - the woman, despite her pregnancy resulting as a miscarriage, as motherly instinict, knows that her child, whether he made it or not, would be innocent and tranquil as a dove.
Line 4: Metaphor- the stone pillar/memorial the two parents built for their unborn child was so beautiful that it is compared to a fine art. While they may have not ever physically seen their son, they remembered him through the grave and made it as if it was an art project.
Line 12- Alliteration: "belittling bother."
Line 14- Personification: "stoned tomb enter an official rest"- the grave cannot sleep or rest. It is the ghost of the toddler that truly needs to return to its eternal sleep.
Quatrain #2

The Blood Moon

A scarlet shade envelops the moon,
Vermillion ashes clouding the sky.
Bodies of beasts awaken as loons,
Wanting the hero to fall and die.

The moon calls out to her troops in a scream,
All creatures aroused by her hostile voice.
A vengeance boiling within their bloodstream.
Armed with weapons, attacking him by choice.

Heroic champion, courageous jaguar,
Wielder of a blade that conquers all evil.
Like a wounded dandelion with a scar,
During the nights of this great war upheaval.

Blood stains his tunic at the end of the battle,
Hardly able to maintain balance on his feet.
His sword and shield drop and produce a great rattle,
Moon, now ivory, after the monster's defeat.

KEY:
Rhyme and Meter: Each stanza follows the rhyme scheme ABAB. The first stanza has 9 syllables, signifying that the blood moon forms and rises at 9 p.m. Each stanza continues on, adding one syllable; the second stanza has 10 syllables, the third stanza has 11 syllables, and the final stanza has 12 syllables. This symbolizes the continuation of time until midnight, where the redness of the moon dissolves and vanquishes before returning to its normal ivory color.
Lines 1 and 3: Alliteration- "scarlet shade" and "bodies of beasts"
Line 3: Simile/Personification- the beasts were slain by the hero of the wild during the day. However, their corpses return to life, waking up when the blood moon is in the sky. They are compared to loons; or silly and foolish people. This is because when they return to their bodies, they act like a foolish or silly person; fighting with lack of skill before their boost of strength and morale hits.
Line 5: Personification- "the moon calls" - also giving the moon a gender by calling it "her"
Line 9: Metaphor- "heroic champion, courageous jaguar" - the hero of the kingdom, who is currently within the wild, possesses an unspeakable amount of courage, thus compared to a jaguar, an animal of great strength and mighty morale.
Line 11: Simile- "like a wounded dandelion" - often, dandelions are used as symbols for healing from a physical pain, surviving through all challenges, or thriving through difficult situations. The hero is compared to this flower because of his strength in fighting and sustaining his injuries.

Sonnet #1

Solitude to Endearment

Black rose, containing darkness and beauty,
Wanting to please her own alluring needs.
She yearned love; making that her duty,
Despite being known for her evil deeds.
She had to be an angel for the day.
Who would love her as a witch in disguise?
After her change, there was a man to stay,
One with a shoulder for her weeps and cries.
But, now she accomplished her long love quest,
A beloved beauty like never before;
No longer possessing sin on her chest,
Her new life healing her internal core.
         Never did she expect her heart to dance,
         The moment she was offered one last chance.

KEY
Line 1: Metaphor- The female in which the poem is referring to is compared to a black rose. While she was formerly a dark person, she possesses the beauty of a rose. Other than death, sadness, and lacking mortality, the black rose is seen to symbolize "the death of old habits." This fits perfectly because the speaker, years before she found true love, was trying to steal the lover from her rival(who is now her friend).
Line 6- Simile The female character is compared to a witch. She wants to obtain love, but is difficult because of her cruelty towards others. Despite acting like a witch on the inside, she is a natural beauty on the outside.
Line 10- Alliteration: "beloved beauty like never before."
Line 13- Personification"never did she expect her heart to dance", her new life with love brings her so much joy that her heart dances

Sonnet #2

The Ability to Love Again

He was a broken mirror once she died,
Unable to bear his own reflection.
He could disintegrate his bed as he cried,
Memories replayed like a projection.
His love for his child will never change,
Though, his trauma from the event vanish;
Reaching the stage where he was not deranged.
The love doctor curing him of anguish.
But, even when he had found love once more,
A cherished, parental bond still within.
Every time he would visit by the shore,
He gazed at the watchful waves with a grin.
         He then decided to go to her grave,
         The tombstone whispering to him; "be brave."

KEY:
Line 1: Metaphor- The male in the poem is compared to a broken, shattered mirror. This is because he lost all hope after the loss of his young daughter.
Line 3: Hyperbole/Overstatement- The male character cannot literally cry to the point where his bed would begin to fall apart and become dilapidated.
Line 4: Simile- The male character, after the death of his daughter who he held so closely to him, his disorders(PTSD and Schizophrenia) returned to him. He began having flashbacks of not just the accident he was in as a child, but happy moments he had with his daughter before her death. With these memories, they flashed and replayed in his mind like a projection.
Line 12: Alliteration- "watchful waves."
Line 14: Personification- "the tombstone whispering."


Sonnet #3
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴

Fragments of glass plummet to the bare floor,
Resembling the vows I once made to her,
And the marital covenant I swore,
The lovely years were nothing but a blur.
My beloved, let me count all the ways,
In which I displayed my love towards you.
Within the flower fields during the days,
Observing the blooms and grass as they grew.
But, my pleasant princess’s purity,
Yet, was wild like a yodeling boar,
Lost her due to my immaturity
Living without her, wanting her much more.
         You trusted me with your whole, mortal heart
         Now, the two of us forever apart.

Sonnet #4
Sirius A
Celestial diamond, shining ever so bright,
With a task of vanquishing her darkness, anguish, and rage
Comforting and loving her through the desired everlasting night
Forever and always, through each passing age.
From the very start, to the very finish.
Her adoration for him was just as strong,
What she didn’t know was that he would diminish,
And the love between two of their kind cannot belong.
But, there was an unknown truth,
Within the heavens, away from the temporal land,
A place where there is eternal youth,
Endlessly holding each other’s hands.
         Every night she went outside and gazed upon the dog star,
         Remembering that she and her lover were distances far.

Sonnet #5
Winter Woman
A pure mask falls before me,
Captivated by beauty and grace.
Her peaceful touch is the key,
Shielding her secrets by covering her face.
Even with her relatively quiet nature,
Her past is a tumultuous storm,
She is known as a chaotic glacier,
Using multiple layers to cover her true form.
But, despite her history
Her delicacy was still within,
Ignoring each and every terrible mystery,
And all of her previous sins,
         No matter what she has done before,
         He would love her forevermore.

Free Verse #1

The Shadow is my Friend

some people are too weird to have friends,

and i happen to be one of them.

i can live with that, it's alright,

even if it means living a lonely, loser life.

i can bear with it,

being as pathetic as a mouse,

and getting stuck in every abusive trap.

distracted by every piece of cheese in my path,

and hearing them calling me an outcast.

you don't need friends to live a good life.

i was outside one day, admiring the beauty,

and that is when i realized there was a friend with me all along;

my shadow, my inner self.

he smiled and spun every time he saw me.

he was a dog on a leash, always connected to my body,

my greatest friend,

my only friend,

i was his owner.

i loved him, my dear shadow,

i never wanted him to leave.

but during the night he was just like a criminal,

hiding, refusing to show himself in the moonlight.

even if he doesn't show himself during the night,

i wake up the next day and rush outside.

i look down at the ground while the sun is out,

and my shadow is there to play again.

KEY:
Capitalization: The young boy, which is the speaker, uses all lowercase letters because he is unworthy of having friends. He is insignificant to other groups of children, being seen as an outcast, small life, one that is hardly seen because he is different.
Line 4: Alliteration- "lonely loser life"
Line 6: Simile- "being as pathetic as a mouse."
Line 13: Personification- "he smiled and spun"- the speaker refers to his shadow.
Line 14: Metaphor- "he was a dog on a leash, always connected to me." ~ the boy speaker compares his shadow to a dog connected to a leash. Wherever he goes, he follows. That's the greatest friend anyone could ask for.
Line 18: Personification- "him"- giving a personal pronoun to a shadow.
Line 20: Simile- the speaker compares his shadow to a criminal. This is because his shadow vanishes in the night because the sun is no longer out. The speaker thinks his shadow is out doing evil deeds in the night, that is, since he cannot see him.

Free Verse: #2

The Threat of the Firestorm

Conflagration.
The current threat to our entire community.
It is a risk to my life if I jump within.
Then I remember,
There is no question about it.
This is my duty.

I look at the fire before me,
Massive in size, raging with incredible heat.
The flames laugh at me,
Establishing his superiority.
I stop hesitating,
Laugh back at the face of the flames,
         And run.
         

I made it into the lion, the beast of flames,

         

The roars echo like thunder.

         

Choking on the ash,

         

Blinded by the smoke,

         

Yet motivated to save lives.

         

Fiery flames flow at an uncontrollable rate.

         

The buildings, and now my clothes, ablaze.

         

A family remains in the corner.

         

I hurry to their rescue.

I remember,

This is my duty.

I hardly made it out of there alive.

Mother, father, sisters, and brothers,

All thankful to be alive.

Here I am wondering,

If I will make it back to mine.

Even if I die,

I remember;

This is my duty.

KEY:
Line 9: Personification: "the flames laugh at me"
Line 14: Metaphor- "I made it into the lion"- the speaker, who is a firefighter, compares the massive fire(which is burning down an apartment building) to a lion, a powerful beast that is conquering the land.
Line 15: Simile- "the roars echo like thunder" ~ the firefighter compares the roars of the lion, or the sounds coming from the dilapidated and ablazed house is as deafening as thunder in a storm.
Line 20: Alliteration- "Fiery flames flow"
Repetition: "This is my duty'- establishes emphasis on how important his job as a firefighter is to him.
Poem Alignment: The poem starts left aligned, the firefighter setting the scene of an apartment that was on fire, and that he had to risk his life in order to save the individuals inside. "And run" is slightly tabbed, signifying that the firefighter begins his battle with the fire. The text that is aligned in the center signifies that the speaker, or the firefighter, entered the building and is fighting against the fire and its effects. He meets the family in the home, saving them. The final section of the poem is right aligned. This is where the firefighter makes it out of the house, injured and struggling with the injuries he is enduring. He doesn't know if he will die, but he thinks about his family, who he may never see again.

𝐿𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒲𝑜𝓁𝒻
He cried through the night of the full moon,
echoing far and wide from the mountaintop.
He recalled his moment of banishment,
considered as an outcast, casted away from
the remainder of the pack.

How he longed to return to the family,
with the alphas and omegas,
and the pups and the approaching litter.
Now he was sulking and sobbing,
until he fell into a slumber that night.

The next morning he rose,
the isolation within his weary eyes.
The hunt began early,
struggling to kill amounts that would satisfy
his underfed stomach.

The watchful and wary wolf waited,
wondering if he would ever receive a chance
to pounce and feast like he did
during his age of prosperity.
He lost his moment of thunder,
formerly like a powerful and raging storm.
Without a meal he was weak,
losing his motivation to continue on.

He howled once more before his dying breath,
remembering that he was a loyal guardian of his renewed life.
Now he was a star that lit through the night,
guiding his former pack members through their hunt.