I cried for the moment to end To come back again To stay frozen forever. Anxiety? Maybe. Anticipation? Trepidation? Excitement? Desire? Fear? Why name an emotion? Instead just feel.
It sits there in my gut, Waiting to erupt. Longing for you. No, waiting for you, Like a monk. My body it's monastery.
It has a faith I lack. Never looking forward or back. It knows you'll come along, To me, for me. Mine. This faith feeling, This destiny divine.
Like Love it is everlasting, This moment, pin needle sharp In time. A razor’s edge So thin, tightrope walked, Exponent of infinity, A constant point. Just there, No equation Or equal sign.
I wait here. For it to explode. For infinity to cease. The amalgamation of all I feel To come together In one Big Bang.
Poof. It goes. Not a whimper Or whisper. Life goes on As before.
A collection of poems from seductive and spicy to thoughtful and observant. 39 of the best poems from the AuthorStew blog and scattered across the Internet are gathered in this collection. There is sure to be something within this collection that will delight you.
Foreground image by Nika Akin; background image by Barbara A Lane both by Pixabay. Editing of images by Me
Dreams of her that’s all they ever were The only dreams I ever had She, her, the female form Her body, eyes, curves, smile Form my every sleeping thought Driving down a road slick with rain Dangerous curves, yeah that’s her Running through a desert Panting with desire For just a drop of moisture Too much a simile for me To not see That it is her to me Floating on a cloud, the number 9 She is there with me Finally mine Only to wake in a bed empty
I close my eyes again. She is my dream. My subconscious’ Only reality.
This is for a dVerse prompt: For today’s Poetics, I would like you to write a poem that interprets a dream. It can be about falling— where falling is not fear, but release. Let gravity feel like permission. What did you finally stop holding onto?
Hope you enjoy!
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Simple trip, kids & I, Not so simple after all, Once we stopped for lunch.
Familiar landmarks, Seen for the first time. The same restaurant lunch.
Then the tire went flat. Hours waiting only to be led on a chase. Our only family road trip.
This is for a dVerse prompt: So, for this Monday quadrille prompt, as you may have all guessed, I would like you to write a poem of exactly 44 words including the word trip.
This was inspired by a memory of a road trip the kids and I took from the GTA in Ontario to Baltimore, MD and back. Yes, there was a restaurant, yes, there was a flat, yes there was a chase. Though technically it wasn’t our only family road trip. Hope you enjoy! And no flat tires. 😊
Kisses made of stars, trail down your neck My lips send fire, to burn through your cold exterior, towards a burning sun My hands reach for the warmth of you, the depths you keep hidden I feel your fire, lava flowing beneath the surface I want to set it free, let your heat sear into my skin
Your lips part, letting out sounds of pleasure Your hands rest upon my body, your support and undoing Let your touch linger on me, feel my desire Let that desire fuel you, rise up, ride the stars into the night Create a place for our fire to burn, together we’ll heat up the darkness.
A collection of short erotic stories including all 3 of the pandemic stories; previously released separately. An array of stories ranging from a heated argument between a mom and dad that turns steamy to an interplanetary smuggler getting frisky behind a hotel desk. You’ll find a wide variety of fun well written stories to enjoy with high spice content.
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. From ‘Let America Be America Again’ By Langston Hughes
(I’m not America though I used to be, but America was never me) Make it great again. Great at what? Great when? Maybe the 1960’s, how about then? Segregation, cold wars Assassinate a president. Oh no, that’s all right then. When would you like to go back to? You let me know when. Not a time but a way? The way it used to be? When America was respected, a leader of nations and men. Let America be America again.
("I had a dream. That one day this nation would rise up …" But I’m living it’s nightmare) Dream on you dreamers. No, not you sleepers. Not you sleepers who have slept on the atrocities of a once great country; Those that snore peacefully as the elected Executive stomps through history. A petulant toddler, upset that he is not given his favorite toy. Which toy? Whichever one he can see, Be it green, land, or gold, peace, prizes or war, any toy in the hand of another, He thinks belongs to him. If I want it it’s mine! It belongs to me! A sleeping giant, this land of the free? Let it be the dream it used to be.
(America discovered in 1492, unless you were here already, but we’re not talking to you) America used to do things. We were the envy of the globe. We made discoveries. Pioneers in the sciences, arts and more. The great Western, of civilization; Complete with cowboy boots and a ten gallon hat. America used to be … They’ll say, as if yesterday was a panacea, and the present pain. America still is. Despite the recent dark clouds and dumbing down of society Through an endless campaign Let it be the pioneer on the plain
(“America was never America to me”. Though maybe America is more me than it wishes to see.) There is hope on the horizon, or in the clouds, in the cloud, an AI induced hallucination, Perhaps in the nation, a female orientation, with male parts, a crazy upstart, Who dares to dream. Who dares indeed? Dream a little dream, you’ve got to be a little crazy, To combat the doomscrool, for whom the bell tolls, if you’re going to believe, That things will get better, can’t get much worse, oh but it can you see, See it all, from above the clouds, above the cloud, an AI hallucination, Data center hiccup, energy drain, there it goes again, The desire to be free, it’s not just me. Seeking a home where he himself is free.
This was for a dVerse prompt: I thought we should revisit a form we had not done together since May 2013 when it was presented to the community by Samuel Peralta. This is the glosa (sometimes gloss or close) that is a poetry that goes back to the Spanish courts of the 14th century. The idea is to use four lines from a famous or well-known poet and expand on the poem keeping it in line with the original poem, and to honor the author.
The form consists of four borrowed lines from your poem (the cabreza) of choice and four stanzas of ten lines where the last line of each stanza is a line from the cabreza. There is no requirement on the meter other than it should not be too different from the borrowed poem. There is only one other requirement and that is that in the glosa line 6 and 9 should rhyme with the borrowed line.
I chose a poem from one of my favorite poets, Langston Hughes, ‘Let America Be America Again’. I took a look at some of his famous poems and then I saw this one and thought this was the one. I had forgotten about it until I saw the title and started to read it and was like oh yeah.
In writing this I forgot that the last line had to be from the original and wrote my own last lines (I did the rhyming of lines 6 & 9 in the original) and when posting I saw that the last line had to be from the original and stuck it in. It works but it completely changed the poem. 🤣 I highly suggest you read Langston Hughes’ Let America Be America Again. It’s striking how a poem written in 1935 can have such an impact in 2026.
I also have two quotes in the poem. The first is from Martin Luther King Jr.’s I have a dream speech and the second is the 5th line from Let America Be America Again. The last stanza is a bit of free verse stream of conscious in style.
Cold as a witch’s teat The phrase never made sense to me But the white powdery snow made for a pretty scene
White as a lamb’s wool I suppose if you kept it inside The snow lay upon the ground like a baby’s blanket
Quiet as a church mouse The winter landscape Muted by flakes of snow piled one upon the other
Everything stopped in its tracks More like hiding inside Forced to sit and stay, quiet contemplation on a winter’s day
This was for a dVerse prompt: write about snow as you see, feel or imagine it, in any form you wish, using clear imagery as crisp as fresh-fallen snow. I hope you enjoy!
“Shush! Shhhh. You need to keep up your strength. The ambulance will be here soon,” said Abi.
“What? And pay all those fees? I’d rather die first,” said Henrik. He laughed and then coughed up blood.
“Shhh!”
“It’s over yndling. Promise me, you’ll bury me with the lies I told.”
“Done for the greater good,” said Abi, taking his hand in hers.
Henrik put his hand over hers.
“United.”
She covered his hand.
“Committed.”
Together they said, “For the kingdom of -”
A group of masked men burst into the room.
“Hold it right there! ICE agents!”
At the other end of the room a door burst open.
“Freeze! FBI!”
Abi knelt with her hands up. Henrik lay where he was.
Then a man and woman entered.
“Gentlemen. CIA. These are Greenland agents.”
“Where’s the woman?”
This is for a dVerse prompt: Write a piece of flash fiction or other prose up of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line from the song lyric. The song lyric line: “Bury me with the lies I told”. Hope you enjoy!
My gosh I hate country No disrespect to man Give me Hurt I’ll listen to him then.
I’m locked up in these prison walls A man and his guitar I’m locked up in a country song And they just ran off with my dog
They got them drawlin’ And bending them strings That man over there on the piano Playing in a minor key
I’m locked up in these prison walls A man and his guitar I’m locked up in a country song And she just ran off with my dog
Now, I ain’t no criminal, no need for an orange suit I don’t deserve this prison time with country interludes I’m a free man now, God bless rock & roll Ain’t no woman gonna steal my dog and put country on the radio!
This is for a dVerse prompt: For today’s Poetics prompt, I’d like you to read the lyrics, listen to the song, and write a poem about whatever it evokes for you. You may write in any form, but I’d like you to keep your poem to twenty lines or less.
The song is Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. You can click the dVerse link to read the lyrics and the background for the prompt. I hope you enjoy reading my poem!
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Upturned lips, an expression of joy. A mask for those who in private we scorn, Turned upside down it becomes a frown. In rictus, it is horror. C’mon pretty show us your - I’ve got the camera, so flash us; Cheesy though it may be
This was for a dVerse prompt: Just sling us a poem of precisely 44 words (not counting the title), including some form of the word smile.
It is 44 words though technically I did not use a form of the word smile the meaning is there. I hope you’ll smile, forgive and enjoy! 😊
Another long story about a man Bent on destruction in another land Couldn’t see the forest for the trees Didn’t consider the thought for these Ended his journey in a box Felt justified kicking rocks Gone but not forgotten Hell I never knew him anyway
I left a letter to my love the other day Just to say I love you nothing special to say Killed with kindness the sweetest revenge Love is a game you can never win Mother, mother, don’t leave me because I live in sin
Nothing is never known nor necessary Other than that which is considered accessory Perhaps people purchase plush pink plums Question what is important to some Rather than ponder the meaning of what they have
Sand and oceans, a great getaway Trees and mountains, I feel the same way Under a bridge or in a park Various places for life in a tent after dark
Worry not what will be Xanthic is a word I just learn today Yellow in color a different way to say Zero xanthic yellow violets under trees see
This was for a dVerse prompt: And for today’s MTB prompt we are becoming Abecedarians – that is taking the Latin script alphabet of consonants and vowels and writing an acrostic type poem thus:-
Poetry Rules:
26 lines each line begins with a letter of the alphabet the letters are sequential
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