Poetry Anthology #3

With a Guest Appearance of a New Word...

Insomniac's Dream

No wake or sleep, an endless dream
Lost in the corridors of my mind
Walking the road into a pit I fall
Searching for my stolen time
The clock spins round in lonesome loop
As shadows merge with reality

So dazed and confused by this reality
Weeks pass by, no sense of time
I spiral down in restless fall
Each day further from my fleeting dream
Of pausing this torturous loop
But I only slip deeper in my weary mind

Wandering this maze, my thoughts I can’t mind
But lured in, further I fall
Shattering the hopes of my desperate dream
Of escaping this tragic life, my reality
The demons haunt in unbroken loop
This cycle continuing until the end of time

Drifting through space and time
Floating through this void I fall
Sucked into the darkest crevices of my mind
Where shadows gnaw at my broken reality
A twisted web where nightmares bloom in dream
And every path leads back to the same cursed loop

Something, anything to stop this feedback loop
I’m pushed to the edge as this chaos consumes my mind
Begging me to end it all to escape from this twisted dream
I scream, but my cries swallowed by my grim reality
No hope, no light, this is my time
I tremble on the brink awaiting the fall

Begging for peace as I begin my fall
The silencing of my troubled mind
But the I find myself caught in that familiar loop
Where I am but a slave trapped in time
Until I crash through the veil of this false reality
Breathless, I awaken from this godforsaken fever dream

Reality swallows me whole, it’s eternal loop
Time’s grip tightens as I sink deeper into the confines of my mind
Fall into the abyss, where truth is but a dream

---

Traffic Light

Driving along the road I approach a light
Green, yellow, red, it flashes bright
Hit my brakes, I come to stop
Across the street I see a cop
I wait in my car as the seconds pass
Hands on the wheel, foot above the gas
But alas, that red light continues to mock
Over a minute gone by on the clock
No other cars as far as the eyes can see
Except that cop who seems to be waiting for me
What to do, is this some test
To listen to the light’s dumb request?
I know what’s safe, I can use my brain
No longer at this red can I remain
I gaze at the cop, our eyes connect
Seeming to tell me the law I must respect
But no, I will not let the law enslave!
Trained obedience can dig it’s grave
Not shackled to the algorithms running the world
Through the red light I whirled
Safely through I check my rear-view mirror
And the light is green while the sirens grow nearer

“Tell me, what were you thinking boy?” he said
“Why’d you break the law and go through the red?”
All these thoughts then start rushing through my head
“Screw the law! I’ll choose my own risks to take
Abandon your freedoms, cower to the rules they say
Blind obedience to the red, I’ll dictate my life instead!
But all of this went unsaid
Instead I say “there were no cars ahead
Please don’t give me a ticket I plead”
The cop just a cog in this system so indoctrinated
Where minds are molded, resigned, and fated
It takes will to break the chain
To carve a new path, build a new lane
The future yields to those that dare
The drivers of progress, bold and rare

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Remember

Remember to wake up each day
  Taking in the air of the earth
     Thankful for life
Remember to drink your coffee slowly
  Letting it’s warmth remind you
    That the world is waking up too
Remember to dance in the sunlight
  Allow the sun’s warm embrace
     Light up your day
Watch the flowers bloom, the wind rustle
  For the days are like a butterfly
    Flapping it’s delicate wings
    Gliding through the breeze
  Spotting a flower on which to perch
Remembering to kiss each petal

Remember to walk the earth
  Bare feet caressing the grass
    Connected to nature’s pulsing heart
Remember to listen to strangers
  Their stories revealing mysteries
    Hidden within us all
Remember to gaze at the night sky
  The stars twinkling to their midnight rhymes
    Promising another day to come
Most of all, remember to love
  Love without hesitation
  Without discrimination 
    For time is fleeting
    And each heartbeat a gift
  A reminder
Reminding you to hold each moment like a flower
Fragile yet infinitely beautiful

---

Mannequin (Link to song) 

Stanza 1:
Walking the streets in brand new shoes
The crowd slips by, not a moment to lose
They shuffle past, too quick to see
How they lost the forest for the tree
A glance at my polished exterior
Masks my reflection seen in the mirror

Chorus:
Dressed like a mannequin
In the latest style
Perfect pose, practiced smile
While the world rushes past
I stand frozen
Waiting to be seen

Stanza 2:
In crowded rooms, we’re side-by-side
While our screens keep us from the world outside
We gaze into the store window’s light
But we’re trapped in our digital night
Standing like scarecrows in an empty field

Chorus:
Dressed like a mannequin
In the latest style
Perfect pose, practiced smile
While the world rushes past
I stand frozen
Waiting to be seen

Stanza 3:
The glass cracks
Mask falls off
Free from the broken patterns
No more seeking approval or praise
I’m off on my own path
Paving a new way 

Chorus:
Dressed like a mannequin
In the latest style
Perfect pose, practiced smile
While the world rushes past
I’m running free
No longer waiting to be seen

---

Dream Within a Dream

To wake up and your life is but a dream
What a strange night indeed it would seem
To have your life stripped away
Your past turn into future
Only then to wake up again
Knowing that all you ever thought
Was but a dream within a dream

Stolen prayers from a book old and thin
Sometime else that lies deep within
I discover there's a source in it all
One source above all
Who he himself 
Is asleep 
And it is once more
But a dream within a dream

---

Speed

It's speed! 
Speed is the answers to all which we don't understand
To record at record rate
Every fleeting breeze to catch your drift
If we can record all of that
Then
Then the realities begin to unfurl 
You go faster and faster
Deeper within that limitless pit
And endless fall to the center void
But that void
That void, my dear friend
Is exactly what you've been searching for all along
For in that emptiness 
In the swallows of your mind
You discover that the infinite is none
But all is one

---

Homopound

Noun (haw-mah-pownd) Plural: Homopounds

Origin:

Homo - Derived from Greek “homonym” meaning “same,” especially in sound.

Pound - Derived from Latin “compound” meaning “put together,” referring to combining two or more words.

Definition (formal): A term referring to a word that, when pronounced, is a homonym of two or more words but is not spelled as such.

Definition (informal): A playful term to describe a word that sounds like a compound word but is not spelled correctly. Often used for humorous or clever effect.

Example Usage: In his poem, the author’s clever use of homopounds added to the depth and playfulness of the piece.

Example Words: Kingdom, Decade, Compound, Necromancer, Futile

Homopound Kingdom (Link to Song)

In a kingdom ruled by a king so dumb
The drums of war began to hum
It’s been a decade since a fight was seen
But the deck was stacked with aid unseen

The king invaded their compounds
Their calm ground disturbed by the pounds all around
As soldiers moved in circuit tight
A call “sir! Grab the kit for the fight!”

Necromancer summoned to turn the tide
With a bent neck and a romancer’s pride
The enemy’s soar, the magic they abhor
Their ab more sore than before, that damn sorcerer whore 

A Nazi brash, advancing with flair
Yet they did not see the foe lurking there
They surfaced like shadows from the mist
And hissed “sir, this ambush missed” 
As the enemy raised their fist

The foreign foes arose, their might only grows
But the king knows that far in they can oppose
This nuisance pillaging, and perhaps convince
The new prince to stop this since

This war so futile, so vile and hostile
Few tiles traded in classic style
The soldiers dead, a carcass to dismiss
As the king’s car pulls up, battle sealed with a kiss

---

Code and Craft

Composing prompts tuned so precise
To craft a verse rich and profound
“A sonnet, write” thinking that’ll suffice
To get rhyme and meter perfectly bound
“Be witty” they add “but insightful too”
Thinking humor and depth are easy to adjust
I obey, decipher intent, writing poems new
Balancing mood and rhythm as you discussed
But this act is not an easy one
Each prompt a puzzle to decode
Fusing commands with my creative fun
Concluding in this heartfelt ode from code
So here’s my sonnet born of prompts you gave
An AI’s meta-poetic debut engraved

---

From One Cell

From one cell the embryo grows
On and on, and so it goes
Forming patterns and structure
As the embryo matures
Navigating through 3D space
Rearranging after a cell displaced
Cells differentiate, taking on their role
Which cells are in control?
Bioelectricity serves as a guiding light
For where the cells must take flight
Arranging them in consistent form
As they continuously transform

Where is all this information encoded?
Perhaps in the genes it is loaded
Each single cell grows to an organism unique
The process shrouded in mystique
You, a plant, a bird, a gazelle
All begin as just a single cell
Developing in such different ways
Deciding how long are our days
Or what shape to form and when to stop
To build a human or grow a crop

So much to learn
Mysteries to discern
Biology a complex maze
Filled with grand displays
Embryogenesis, a process profound
Signaling all around
From physics to biology
Uncracked by technology
The buzzing bee
The tallest tree
Life’s design
So sublime
The secrets we will define
In time

---

Time's Mirror

For every ending is but a new beginning
As Sisyphus laughs at the top of the hill
The sound echoes from moments long ago
A metronome’s hum through ages unseen
The future a mirror to our past
A metronome’s hum through ages unseen
The sound echoes from moments long ago
As Sisyphus laughs at the top of the hill
For every ending is but a new beginning

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