Thread: May-June challenge

I have heard back from our winner, LadyS., and the subject for our next challenge is to be

A Mysterious Place

There will be two weeks to post entries in the thread below. Entry is open to everyone, of course, so flex the brain cells and see what you can do. Good luck everyone.

Closing date - June 1st.

Ooooooo. How mysterious. Okay, here's mine... based off of a story I was too lazy to finish. Oh, and it's my 100th post! Yay!

The Faded Plaza

Sent to these ruins for God knows what reason--
I think it was some sort of diplomatic mission
To rejuvenate a nation from deadly stagnation--
We’re adrift in this plaza for a brief duration.

Elegant old buildings play leapfrog
In our indistinct vision obscured by white fog.
Like a heart, the square is empty and aches,
With the phantom of crowds, songs, vendors selling cakes.

Parades filed through these streets long ago
When the vapor wasn’t here and the sun would glow
Kings fell; princes fell; now they’re all gone
But we’ll crown ourselves, my darling, anon…

You, my princess with your smile so pretty
Dance with me in this abandoned city.
Let it be known that we shared our first kiss
In this faded plaza, surrounded in mist…

Woohoo...100th post also!

A Remarkable Occurrence in an Unknown Location Witnessed by a Handful of Beings Who Most People Say Don't Exist

There's a place that no human has seen
In the depths of a forest, pristine.
In a range called "Cascades,"
A great shyness pervades
In the lair of the Sasquatches' queen.

An event will be soon taking place
Of import to the whole Sasquatch race.
In a dimly lit cave,
Mrs. Squatch, being brave,
Has a look of concern on her face.

All six Sasquatches came here to meet,
And behold the new face they will greet.
Finally, it begins.
The queen gives birth to twins.
In existance are now eight Bigfeet!

What goes on in that head of yours?

5, 4, 3…
Ground control to the placenta wall
Hold blast off on the Ovum IV!!
There’s still more cells that need to board
Then we’ll count again for the final call.

Roger that!

A division of the Brain Cell
Heavy Artillery section
Lumped together jumped
Onboard, their numbers swelled;

Protein pills and helmets on,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Into the blastocystic dawn,
set the controls for the heart of mum!

Affirmative!

After nine months they returned
from their deep space probe
and they had gained
a miracle never to be reproduced again.

Hippocampus, cerebral cortex, two fat lobes

of one newborn, David Bowie’s brain.

The Raggedy Man

Beside the broken down stone wall
of the old ruined fort
sat the tired old raggedy man,
staring out at the sea.
Waves rolled in over the cold rocks
at his feet, while he sang,
as the wind blew his long matted hair.
With an occasional groan, he crooned
a lament of a life,
where lost loves had left him to grieve.
Shrill screeches from the gulls
and the whisper of the chill wind
accompanied the song,
as the twilight shadows grew long
and began to embrace
the old man, to make him as one
with their growing darkness.

As I saw the moon rise,
the man turned to look straight at me;
the light in his dark eyes,
as his song stopped, will haunt me;
I blinked and looked again
but there was nothing left to see,
just shadows, the cold rocks
and the moon’s light reflected
in the waves of the whispering sea.

removed at authors request.

Moses of the Mojave


Icy embrace of night,
no cloud conceals the stars,
neither neon glow nor halogen spark
intrudes against high desert dark.

Colours lost in black and grey
with hours until the dawning day,
the slightest sound can rend the still;
distant diamond-back rattle carries...

A voice is heard
to speak within,
Spirit calls,
awakening

something that was quite unknown,
solitary, not alone,
tells of peace and talks of home.

Far off howl of a coyote;
Moses of the Mojave
stands beside a Joshua tree
and sees God face to face.

In a leafy cathedral
Behind a crumbling façade
In a void of blackness
Four walls hide what light never betrays
Nature creeps beyond all that man surveys
But here

In this dark confessional
A century is no time
For the secrets it keeps
They stay within but it is not their home
There is not one, they are not alone
Not here

I visit this chapel although I have no god
It matters not here
This is not a church for men
Not many listen when they pray
What would these walls say?
I fear

Please remember that it is against the rules to edit poems after they have been posted, for this reason I shall not be including poems by Saucerful of secrets or NeoCaesar in the poll. I am minded to leave obi_have's entry in as the edit did not affect the poem.

Posts other than entries should not be made in this thread until after the poll is closed, I have made this exception under the exceptional circumstance of three poets editing their posts.

Once again I'll speak out loud
divulging truth as I had vowed,
continuing my moral path
in this ungodly aftermath.

I will allow others to view
the life I so shrewdly pursue
when passing through life's shady groves
like a sturdy vessel from a tranquil cove.

No more mindless, needless, cruel shame,
who knows from where this cataclysm came?
As vicious thieves, one by one,
their hostile stint has just begun.

Being blinded by life's thick briers
I could lose all of life's desire,
beset with mysterious discord,
life may be filled with tiny rewards.

I'll enjoy the days the sun shines through,
dismissing the tales that are taboo,
what is here and now is at best,
finding my path in life's deep forest.

Stream of conscious after an intense brain-melt.
_________________________________________

You are center stage for a completely unfathomable being.
Yet, you can comprehend this being…how is that possible?
It is because the unfathomable being is you.
You are a character, imagined in the head of a human.
We pull what we imagine from what we know.
The most outlandish creatures conjured up still stay within the realms of what we know.
It’s not possible to know what we don’t know.
So, is it so hard to imagine that you are in the imagination?
That you are part of the cycle?
The cycle that is said to exist in the universe.
The cycle that says the universe is infinite.
That forms a loop.
That borrows.
Like a brain.
Your brain.
You are inside of a brain.
Your brain.
The universe is you imagining yourself imagining.
Picture within a picture.
The planets are a consensus of knowledge.
It is agreed that 2+2 is always four.
The mysteries of the universe, the varying arguments on its purpose and origins.
Common discrepancies between people.
Your brain cell is a universe.
What creatures live there?
How do you function as a god?
What tortures do you put your citizens through?
They are real and they need you.
They are there to ask you questions.
And if you think that makes you insane, just imagine what you are doing to your god.
Is he locked up in a padded cell?
Too many voices flowing in?
There truly is purpose.

A Beautiful Mysterious Place

I took a deep breath
Collapsed backwards off the boat
Consumed by the cool of the water
Bubbles all around me
Oxygen warming my lungs
Head first I dive
Deeper into this world
Reaching the bottom
I adjust my gear
Floating above a world unknown
Colours engulf me
Movement from every angle
Tides carrying me along
Warm currents sweep past me
Along with the beautiful life
Eels, rays and Moorish Idols
Leave a vibrant sketch in my mind
This mysterious place
Holds so many wonders
That many will never know or see.

Title: When Night Had Come Around


Oh how I had went to the rolling hills and
made my way above heaven

I saw a sea of darkness
with boats of lights
swimming in its depth.

The wind then howled,
oh yes how it howled,
and see now that I was not afraid
for these signs
were good tidings from the Lord himself.

I inhaled this wind and let it fill
my lungs
that were hidden in my fragile frame.
The grass moved
in a direction of its
own accord and language,
and I look down upon the Earth once more and saw

It was all a peaceful night.

This was the beginning of time,
when nothing at all was complicated
when all was happy and simple

I laughed to the heavens
and felt euphoria in my heart
for I was now seeing creation
as it was tended to be
in Times of Old

Nothing was supposed to be complicated.
Nothing was supposed to be intertwined
with hatred.

I heard music echoing from the darkness
and a chorus joining in

a snap of time,
and I danced in the cold wind.
the clouds swished
back and forth with their dark appearance
and the grass followed suite
and the sound had grown
so much louder
even when no light of new were there.

Oh yes, they were reuniting with their Creator.

Oh yes, come; I shall wait
and be happy and sad When the times return back,
but for now the music,
grass,
clouds,
people,
everything,
would celebrate for a time…

Divinely Destined to Dig


In the hearts of humans
hides a place of peace
hard to access
as it's buried so deep

most don't know
that it exists
and those who do
often resist

agreeing to dig
preferring to live

or rather to die
by gun or by sword
each one tethered to ruin
by putrid umbilical cord

the poison of which
seeps inside pulsing veins
creating septic souls
seeking havoc and pain

whom all agree
things would never be good
sans defiling
all that they could

each of their days
by battles consumed
busy hands too bruised
to begin to exhume

tranquility

misled mankind shirks
responsibility

if only we were born
with shovels in hand
and maps in our minds
to the hidden heartland

of peace

then skirmishes
would cease

all of our differences
could be cast aside
if we dug deep enough
unearthing gifts inside

that God has provided
to all
worldwide
for of each human born
none have been denied

What am I?

I'm not violent I'm not deadly
I'm just unpredictable,
I tear through your fields
and eat up all your cattle

You do not see me coming
only because you are warned to late,
I sound a lot like your average train
running wildly off the tracks

If you catch my eye then you'll know
to stand clear of all around
best you hold on to something
for my temper isn't the best

The skies do not hold me
the ground cannot keep me
the sea cannot sink me

My stomach is an empty void
I'll eat all your lands
and still be hungry for more

Before I arrive you will here
my rumbling roar and if you are lucky
you wont feel my static touch

What am I?