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CoolBec 08-04-2013 09:46 AM

Bec's Poetry Corner
 
I've wanted to start a poetry journal for sometime now. I don't write that much or that often, but the pieces I've done are all very personal and I'm pretty attached to some of them. At least maybe some of my writing will help people get to know me a little better.

I also plan to post some of my favorites by other people, and I hope everyone will feel free to add their own stuff. I'm very fond of love sonnets, especially the sapphic and erotic variety.

If you repost anything you see here, always give appropriate credit out of respect other people's intellectual property!

To get things started, here's a little something I wrote to the love of my life.




You should feel jealous, but you don't
Because you know I'd never hurt you
You should feel mad, but you don't
Because you know I didn't mean to
You should feel smothered, but you don't
Because you know how I crave your touch
You should feel slighted, but you don't
Because you know I love you so much
You know me too well

You shouldn't do all those little things, but you do
Because you know they melt my heart
You shouldn't accomodate me so, but you do
Because you know I hate being apart
You shouldn't even have given me a chance, but you did
Because you'd been hurt so bad before
You shouldn't have loved me back, but you did
Because you knew my soul was yours
You know me too well

by Becky P.

djchameleon 08-04-2013 01:12 PM

Nice poem but the only issue I see is with your tenses in the last two lines. You used past tense then the next line should be past tense as well.

CoolBec 08-04-2013 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon (Post 1353135)
Nice poem but the only issue I see is with your tenses in the last two lines. You used past tense then the next line should be past tense as well.

To explain as best I can DJ, this is not a past love, we are still together and she (yes, she) presently knows me better than anyone else in this world because of our shared past. Make sense??

In other words, I am speaking to her in the present about something that happened in the past.

She was a tough nut to crack because I caught her on the rebound (long story). That's what 4 of the last 5 lines of the poem refer to. Guess maybe it makes a little more sense if you know that.

CoolBec 08-04-2013 02:08 PM

Posted this earlier on Katsy's thread but I wanted to include it here too. It's not mine.




Love's Acolyte

Many have loved you with lips and fingers
And lain with you till the moon went out;
Many have brought you lover's gifts!
And some have left their dreams on your doorstep.

But I who am youth among your lovers
Come like an acolyte to worship,
My thirsting blood restrained by reverence,
My heart a wordless prayer.

The candles of desire are lighted,
I bow my head, afraid before you,
A mendicant who craves your bounty
Ashamed of what small gifts she brings.


Elsa Gidlow

djchameleon 08-04-2013 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1353138)
To explain as best I can DJ, this is not a past love, we are still together and she (yes, she) presently knows me better than anyone else in this world because of our shared past. Make sense??

She knew you too well when she met you. That's why I feel that it should be past tense but it's your poem do as you like. :P

Just giving constructive criticism.

I used to have issues with switching tenses often throughout my work.

CoolBec 08-04-2013 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon (Post 1353153)
She knew you too well when she met you.

No..she didn't know me at all when she met me, and because of some issues she'd experienced at that time she was very reluctant to let me in. It wasn't until I, through much perseverance, proved that "my soul" was totally her's and no one else's that she finally let me in and "loved me back".

The catch phrase (or hook I guess you could call it) of the poem which is used at the end of both stanzas, represents how I've shown her more of myself than I've ever shown anyone else.

Anyway, guess from my point of view maybe I never realized how obfuscated my intent was, but the change of tense you see was done consciously and on purpose.

Quote:

I used to have issues with switching tenses often throughout my work.
Being as I'm a language arts major and a high school English teacher, I've got a fair grasp of the whole tense thing.

djchameleon 08-04-2013 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1353162)
Being as I'm a language arts major and a high school English teacher, I've got a fair grasp of the whole tense thing.


Boo, I hate your kind! lol

My high school English teachers made me hate English.

CoolBec 08-04-2013 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon (Post 1353164)
Boo, I hate your kind! lol

My high school English teachers made me hate English.

Oh my! I hope I'm not one of "those" English teachers DJ. :)

Don't feel too bad though...sometimes I'm not too fond of English myself. ;)

CoolBec 08-05-2013 12:03 PM

Something with a little more spice?




Dance with me
by Becky P.

Dance with me
Our warmth intertwined
Breast to breast
Our hearts beat in time
Cheek to cheek
My lips find your neck
Thigh to thigh
Our hot souls connect

Dance with me
Our mouths gently kiss
Lips to lips
We both feel the bliss
Tongue to Tongue
My knees just went weak
Skin to skin
Your dampness I seek

Dance with me
Our passion is keyed
Sigh to sigh
My kiss finds your need
Breath to breath
You find your release
We begin again
Now it's your turn to please

butthead aka 216 08-05-2013 02:04 PM

wow i like the sexual nature of that and i would read part 2 for sure

CoolBec 08-05-2013 03:07 PM

Glad you enjoyed it. I've got a few like that. I like to think that they're sensual without being graphic, but I guess some of them get pretty borderline. ;)

CoolBec 08-06-2013 07:03 AM


Snow Angel
by Karen Godson (aka Sapphos_Poet)

My eyes trickle over your sculpted hips
like cool spring water caressing
sun-warmed river rocks.
I marvel at the purity
of your ivory skin.
Your body,
so long untouched
is flawless like the landscape
after a midnight snowfall.
I want to walk across it
with feather-light fingertips;
careful to leave no blemish,
no sign I was ever here.
Only, we would know.

Blarobbarg 08-06-2013 08:04 AM

I like your work, CB. It's very pretty language, especially the last one you posted. A lovestruck, sensual poem is pretty much classic no matter how you look at it, but do you have anything on any other topics? I'd like to see what you can do with another idea beside love.

(Not that your work on love is bad, it's not, I just like to see a variety of work from writers.)

CoolBec 08-06-2013 09:57 AM

^ Well, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm pretty much a one trick pony when it comes to writing poetry. My muse only works when I'm writing about something that moves me emotionally, and most of my stuff is very personal.

I really should try to branch out though shouldn't I? Maybe you've inspired me! :)

CoolBec 08-06-2013 11:55 AM

Here's something a little different. I prefer poetry with some kind of structure to it, but there are ways to give structure to a verse besides just rhyming, like haiku for example. I'm intrigued with coming up with unique ways to give a poem structure.

It's still a love sonnet though...kinda :)




The Lifeboat

Sequestered by the waters of life, trapped on an island of despair
my horizon barren of hope
going nowhere...

Stripped of the clothing of contentment, naked on a cay of anguish
my days barren of expectation
it comes to me!

Shrouded in moralistic servitude...had it been there all along?
my heart barren of perception?
Love is my lifeboat!

(Becky P. 2013)

CoolBec 08-07-2013 03:58 PM

I found this one on the web and really loved it. There was no author listed.



Morning sunlight cascaded onto golden tresses
hypnotic,
inviting.

I watched the sway of her hips
as she sauntered past old woodland trees
beneath now leafy canopies.
They swung… they swayed….
calling me;
calling to my senses,
…..come this way.

Eyes darkly dilated with lustful dreams and fantasies
I captured her
and sought sweet lips beneath my own,
exploring….
tasting….
Our tongues entwine
dancing to loves melody….
beneath old leaves and vine.

One finger trailed deftly between her breasts
and I felt her heart ...
…it quivered
..it fluttered
and beckoned me,
so I pushed her back gently
palms pressed flat between her knees.
and forced her wide….
(undenied).

The flower of my dreams opened
and my gaze now settles
on her bud of fragrant petals
...swollen
.....pulsing
......wanting…
and her moist nectar gleamed
like a rainbow
beneath a stray
sunbeam.

I teased her ,
softly....
gently...
then firm and fast
(she would not last)
and eased my fingers
deep inside her velvet heat....
encased
… graced…
I relished her honeyed taste…
….so sweet.

Her legs weighed heavy on my shoulders
as I rose and held her pinned,
my amour
undimmed,
and gently took her on my fist.
Sweet torture…
she rode me harder
(with ardour)
Our bodies now
sun-kissed…

So…
my concerto was composed
when I played a song of love
beneath natures veils
(my adoration prevails)
and as my lady sang
old woodland trees rang
with her cries
of wanton pleasure
(my treasure... my treasure).

~Author unknown

CoolBec 08-08-2013 04:27 PM



I see it in your eyes
a struggle to understand
this gift that I must give of myself
unto your loving hands.

A demon inside
fires my devient need
that though you long to please
you're reluctant to feed.

You see it in my eyes...
my longing gaze, never avert
as you tend my desire.
If you love me, make it hurt

(Becky P. 2013)


CoolBec 08-10-2013 01:33 PM

Needless to say, song lyrics often make very good poetry.

In 1883, French composer Leo Delibes wrote what is today a fairly famous opera named "Lakme". But more famous than the opera itself, is a very beautiful duet from the piece which has come to be know as "The Flower Duet". Though it is known for the beauty of it lovely and lilting melody, unbeknownst to those who don't speak French it also has a very moving lyric. Even in a rough translation, the words still stir the soul.


Under the dense canopy where the white jasmine blends with the rose

On the flowering bank, laughing with the morning, come let us drift down together

Let us gently glide along it's enchanting flow and follow it's fleeing current

On the rippling surface with a lazy hand

Come let us go to the shore where the spring sleeps and the birds sing

Under the white jasmine, let us drift down together



================================================== ===========

Here's what it sounds like. Even if you're not an opera fan, give this a chance. It's quite lovely!




CoolBec 08-11-2013 09:25 AM

Some experiences are life changing...

==============================================



Innocence Lost
by Becky P.


What made me want this...where's my self-worth?
A life of moral dogma preached daily since birth
My own private men's club in a cheap motel.
Shouting to my brain, "You're surly going to hell!"

The first one up I didn't know from a thief
He was in me in an instant, his knife into my sheath
A daggar thrust deep into the naive soul
Of the innocent girl I used to know

One after another, I was used to completion
An endless assault of carnal contrition
Would I miss the girl that walked through this door?
My mind screamed "No!...this is you...to the core "





Astronomer 08-11-2013 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1353827)

The Lifeboat

Sequestered by the waters of life, trapped on an island of despair
my horizon barren of hope
going nowhere...

Stripped of the clothing of contentment, naked on a cay of anguish
my days barren of expectation
it comes to me!

Shrouded in moralistic servitude...had it been there all along?
my heart barren of perception?
Love is my lifeboat!

(Becky P. 2013)

I love this one, Bec. I like the rhythm of the syllables as well!

CoolBec 08-11-2013 07:21 PM

Aw thanks..glad you liked it. Finding the right person to spend my life with really did pull me out of a dark time in my life, so that's what it's about.

If you have any of your own please post something.

Btw..I'm really enjoying your journal. As a piano player who also plays a little guitar now, I can relate. And your festival tips brought back fond memories of SXSW.

CoolBec 08-16-2013 07:39 PM

This is a popular piece by Robert Frost. It's about a person who loves nature and the outdoors and longs for more time in their busy life to enjoy it. I can so relate!!
============================


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening`

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep


Blarobbarg 08-16-2013 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1353907)
Here's something a little different. I prefer poetry with some kind of structure to it, but there are ways to give structure to a verse besides just rhyming, like haiku for example. I'm intrigued with coming up with unique ways to give a poem structure.

It's still a love sonnet though...kinda :)




The Lifeboat

Sequestered by the waters of life, trapped on an island of despair
my horizon barren of hope
going nowhere...

Stripped of the clothing of contentment, naked on a cay of anguish
my days barren of expectation
it comes to me!

Shrouded in moralistic servitude...had it been there all along?
my heart barren of perception?
Love is my lifeboat!

(Becky P. 2013)

This is probably my favorite of all the poems you've posted so far. Personally, I actually prefer poetry that is rhythmic rather than rhyming. It may come from my love of percussion, I'm not really sure. Anyway, that's a non sequitor. Great work with this one, I love that it's a love poem, but takes a completely different direction that your other work.

CoolBec 08-17-2013 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blarobbarg (Post 1358047)
This is probably my favorite of all the poems you've posted so far. Personally, I actually prefer poetry that is rhythmic rather than rhyming. It may come from my love of percussion, I'm not really sure. Anyway, that's a non sequitor. Great work with this one, I love that it's a love poem, but takes a completely different direction that your other work.

Glad you liked it B. As I've said before, my best muse is personal experience. It's always been difficult for me to get "poetic" about something unless I have strong feelings connected to it, so I guess that's why most of my stuff is about love...or lust..lol. :)
========================================


Flower of Love

by Becky P.

The perfume of your arousal heightens my sense.
I want not wine; your fragrance looms
in the moment, rare...tense
Your flower blooms

Its petals tempt my amorous lips
Its crimson heart is radiant now with dew
Touched gently with fingertips
O flower of love! I give myself to you


katsy 08-18-2013 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1358003)
This is a popular piece by Robert Frost. It's about a person who loves nature and the outdoors and longs for more time in their busy life to enjoy it. I can so relate!!
============================


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening`

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep


Love this. I was quoting this the other day on our eight hour drive home. "And miles to go before I sleep."

katsy 08-18-2013 10:39 PM

Another favorite nature poem(or it is for me):

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

djchameleon 08-19-2013 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katsy (Post 1358875)
Love this. I was quoting this the other day on our eight hour drive home. "And miles to go before I sleep."

argh I knew that I knew that line what's his face kept quoting in Death Proof.

That's the poem ugh.

CoolBec 08-19-2013 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katsy (Post 1358877)
Another favorite nature poem(or it is for me):

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

Yeah, that's a lovely piece. Whitman and Kilmer are two of my faves for that kinda stuff. Thanks for posting!

Dr. Boo Bear 08-19-2013 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1353907)

It's still a love sonnet though...kinda :)


The Lifeboat

Sequestered by the waters of life, trapped on an island of despair
my horizon barren of hope
going nowhere...

Stripped of the clothing of contentment, naked on a cay of anguish
my days barren of expectation
it comes to me!

Shrouded in moralistic servitude...had it been there all along?
my heart barren of perception?
Love is my lifeboat!

(Becky P. 2013)

Heavy on the "kinda," seeing as both traditional sonnet forms--the Italian and English--have 14 lines and are written in iambic pentameter. There are, of course, many variations, such as Hopkins' curtal sonnet, the caudate sonnet popularized by Milton and the emerging sonnetoid form--just to name a few. But your poem doesn't really share any of the well-established traits of the sonnet form, the primary being that a "problem" is established and then finally resolved by the end of the poem.

The sonnet, historically speaking, was written by a man for an unobtainable woman. While many have played with this form (think Donne's Holy Sonnets or even Anne Bradstreet's poems for her husband, children, and grandchildren), this poem, I would be hard-pressed to say, is anything near a sonnet. This poem really doesn't convey any sort of meaningful rhetoric, isn't written in meter, and doesn't have a volta that segues into a resolution. This poem falls closer in line to being a free verse poem.

Yours in Christ,

Dr. Boo Bear

CoolBec 08-20-2013 04:34 AM

Hence the "kinda"

You're of course technically correct. But the term "sonnet" has also come to be fairly generic in its contemporary usage, especially in an informal context.

Dr. Boo Bear 08-25-2013 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1359275)
Hence the "kinda"

You're of course technically correct. But the term "sonnet" has also come to be fairly generic in its contemporary usage, especially in an informal context.

Uh, no it hasn't. A sonnet has a very precise definition. Look it up. I can call a dog an elephant but that still doesn't make it so. Even if the "informal context" you're referring to is a free-verse sonnet, which is called a sonnetoid, the very basic component is 14 lines.

People tend to believe that poetry is just a willy-nilly construct since they've heard, somewhere, from the preface to Lyrical Ballads that poetry was the "spontaneous overflow of emotion recollected in tranquility," as though no craft or technique or thought was ever put into a piece of writing. I mean, that's probably true for bad poetry, but good poetry is not just words thrown down on a page (not suggesting that yours is of this ilk).

I teach literature and I'm very frustrated with my student coming out of high school believing that there are no rules to poetry. There are.

CoolBec 08-25-2013 11:31 AM

^ I don't have to look it up, I know full well what a sonnet is thank you very much. As I've said, I was using the term in a very generic and informal context, so we'll just have to agree to disagree...m'kay?!

(Btw...I also call all copier machines Xerox's, which is also technically incorrect) ;)

Dr. Boo Bear 08-30-2013 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolBec (Post 1361231)
^ I don't have to look it up, I know full well what a sonnet is thank you very much. As I've said, I was using the term in a very generic and informal context, so we'll just have to agree to disagree...m'kay?!

(Btw...I also call all copier machines Xerox's, which is also technically incorrect) ;)

If you did, you wouldn't be calling your poem a sonnet then, now would you?

I call all facial tissue "Kleenex" and all cotton swabs "Q-tips" too. But when a brand name becomes completely synonymous with an entire product type is hardly the same as just calling something by the wrong name. If I called a villanelle a sonnet, it would be wrong.

CoolBec 08-30-2013 08:18 PM

Hey...dude!! I know what a freekin sonnet is just as well as you do!!!!

I acknowledged that you were correct and that my usage was technically incorrect and my reasons for said usage! Twice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now how bout you pull your fukin panties out of your g'dam a$$ crack and go use someone else's journal to try to impress us with your self-perceived superior knowledge!!!!

Drak 09-01-2013 11:35 AM

CoolBec, do you do any songwriting? Or just poetry? Just curious...

CoolBec 09-01-2013 02:11 PM

Just poetry Drak. I've never really tried, but I think to do song lyrics I'd have to have some music first.

Drak 09-01-2013 04:45 PM

I always write lyrics before music. You should give it a shot.


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