Beetles creep & earthworms writhe
In soil and leafage mould
Where men, in towers' ivory
Broach loud and souls are sold.
Honesty and purity
Enflower places plain
But pompousness and leather hearts
Merely promulgate distain.
Distancing the words, effete,
Conjure portals cold
Whilst wallowing in self esteem
Seldom glints of gold.
Instead the psalms of simple chime
The bells of true release,
Where meek and mild and unposessed
sweat blood and bleed for peace.
Where the stroke of brush, unfettered,
Lets the masterpiece unfold,
And children sit enthralled, only,
When tales of truth are told.

M.

Autonomous you don't wanna miss
Synonymous with anonymous
Alcoholics drinking like the glass is bottomless
Lost confidence and gained higher consciousness
Now doing opposite to avoid consequence
Pertinent providence prominence
Profits from the pompousness of old profits of our fifth
They were out prophets then
Now it's promises
Back to provenance of our populous
No predominance
More contentedness with our documents with what's cognizance
And the monument of spiritual opulence
Wheather hypothesis
Or is what it is
To remain in the violence
Or turn optimist
All your perogative
Wish you well
Wish you rocket to the fourth dimension ****
But most of all wish you to close your eyes to hear what it says
Cause that you don't wanna miss
It could be your bliss
Reminisce but remember they're remnants
Fragments
Resentment you keep in your sentence
Is your penance
What you recieve is your resemblance
No regrets for pass but remembrance
Your true presence is endless
Practicing temperance
Life is tremendous

A true stranger
Bedazzling in your mysteriousness
One could wonder the secrets you tombed in
The taste of a new world? Perhaps?
Or just another common jewel
Being traded frequently at the market

The air you give in
Exotic, really
The colours you draw in
Flows with uniqueness
But the way you sway
The way you mingle
Limited to certain
Could it be?

Well, that's just great
The beauty of an angel
But her pompousness is in the way
A bitter taste to a delectable cake
A mighty spoil to a great scenery
Perhaps I been aiming high
Time to start from the bottom again

Why are hearts so disconnected?
Why is hate so persued and
love so neglected?
Why are smiles so rejected while a
grimace is thoroughly respected?

How is it that common courtesy
Is so hard to be projected?
When rudeness and pompousness
are praised and erected?

Why are good deeds and hard work scrutinized
and dissected?
When selfishness and greed are voted on and elected?

Why do the needs of the many go so undetected?
While the wants of the few are sought out and collected?
Why are the rights of some being constantly injected,
while the rights of others are going unprotected?

I guess humanity has been misdirected.
Technology has replaced what really makes us
socially connected.
Is there any way for the family unit to be resurrected?
For us ...the human race to truly be interconnected?

I don't know...Why is life never what is expected?

Porridge be forsworn, the lemons escaped again!
If mules had rags, they would be plums, and not
A fig would shriek. In all dreamy pompousness the
Voodoo doll is a whimsical wine beggar in tips,
Before the cart of chocolate dairy pigs get a spank
For having left my wing in a toasting lower than
It SHOULD HAVE BEEN. And don't forget the doorknob
Has feelings for Mrs. Fairy-Warts, GOD HELP THEM
ALL!!! And moose, do you smell something burning?
I'll be a pin cushion, you've grown a flaming
Donkey's nose! Only three and five inches long...

Amongst robes of satin and gold,
Stood three men of stories told.
There a wise man, of no reputation
Holds before them, behold! Such elation!

In his hand thrice a curious box,
So the men exchange in outrageous talks.
"What joke is this? Off with your head!"
And forcefully arrest him in his stead.

But this man of origin ignoble,
Without struggle of position immobile
Surrenders each a box to these bureaucrats
For each in size of one cubic inch at that.

And before the sound of earshot fades,
"Beware when you open of what cascades!"
So the man is silenced into his tomb,
Leaving mystery lingering upon the room.

Each a man such such ferocity,
Inquires upon the box with curiousity.
Without caution the first man tears it agaze
So the mind's eye bursts into bountiful blaze

And so, what **!  It is with your haste!  Your pompousness, your distaste!
I shall pry your sight to show you light, yet ne'er a way into your heart's blight!
So much so even the sun's fusion surrenders in succession to stiffly cold ice,
Forever forgotten, forever forewarned of your fervent fear and greed and vice.

So his mind comes about, facing reality
Shrugging his fate of ultimate finality.
Such the second man tosses it aside,
Yet it flies open, where he cannot hide

So you, your apathy, your content in nothing!  Shall you idle forever true.
Knowledge has tainted you, pride stricken you, you stand tall a pillar of stone.
For stone you are, and stone you shall be!  So much a pillar of salt of the the sea.
Tossing aside the weak and the encumbered to cares of yourself outnumbered.

Fear is struck in the heart of this,
No longer for such a heart in bliss
And the third, the final acutely aware
To open the box with everso care.

Thee the third, the final, your pleas!  Absorbed and plowed by evil's devotee.
Hold your heart true, all prayer endue a baby's flesh shall imbue thine heart!
For I know your deeds, and you unlike no other!  Yet let them smother you not.
For seek and you shall ascertain, knock to make the truth before you naked.

So fallen in reverence upon the knees
A chill rendered without cold breeze.
And the three transformed by man ignoble
Yet not simply here, but to judgment global.

Alas, remember this time of year,
A time to hold dear and cheer.
The time to recount first breath,
Yet a time to celebrate death,
Defeated.

I looked into the eye of the crow
& all I saw was-black
I knew the beast had consciousness
Only reality he lacked...

He had a sort of pompousness
Which I think is misunderstood
Because he's filled with emptiness
He must portray that he's good

& yet I find it rather odd
Whenever I do see
A twinkle in the distance
That reminds myself of me

& I guess that's why I stick around
This dark & cold abyss
I hope one day his consciousness
Can help him find his bliss...

But I predict he'll never change
He'll never see what he can be
& just like that all my life
Will be shattered by my dreams...

Ladies and Gentleman, esteemed friends and collaborators, we find ourselves beset once more by a particular individual's overwhelmingly perverse actions of self-aggrandizement. Yes indeed, there is a stranger here among us, a purveyor of hate and dismissal, lauding his own horrifying mimicry of poetry as the makings of a legend. I will not foul my words by speaking his thrice-accursed name, and in truth, there is no need. Any one of us who has found our heart-wrought pages smeared by the childish, aristocratic and may I say it, disgusting blabberings of this ill-begotten rake shall know exactly of whom it is I speak. And I speak in ernest, terrible ernest, against this self-proclaimed genius against whom we worthless ants are compared as to a god. And in the name of humanitas and libertas we tolerate his vile ravings and insensate curses thrown toward us as if we were nothing but cattle. Why? Because we believe in something that he will never be able to understand or appreciate, the very concept of a community throws him into confusion and fear. People are dying in the streets in the name of everything that we here stand for and he has the audacity, nay, the pompousness to assault my friends in the only haven some of them have ever known. Some of you may retain your hope for him and your patience in light of his narcissism. I however, have lost my patience and will tolerate it no longer. I consider it my duty to counter his message of hate wherever I find it. I urge you all to do the same.

Had I once been able to see through those eyes,
All that’s hidden in contemptible lies,

I would have known not to get clashed in,
To that brutal ‘street’ of such cold-blooded compassion.

But it is not to the eyes that one would suspect,
What a deep sword in the back two confidants could inject.

Instilled my impeccable faith, friendship- Love even,
Yet such a confiding fault of my own for once believin’

That a rearing so heavy on pompousness and asset,
Could teach fidelity with a sensible mindset!

Now these cutting words, incased in lies,
Leave a sickening pit betwixt my stomach, in a jealous disguise.

Nothing left but wondrous memories turned to dust,
As I rip up the pictures in utter disgust.

But I stop myself and then realize,
That by pursuing this grief, a piece of me dies.

So live and let go, wipe the tears that I shed,
There are faithful crowds I have yet to equate,

And a promising future ahead.

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss aka Theodor Seuss Geisel)

Green eggs and ham is what I pick
I like my poems un-iambic.

To much pomp and circumstance
Has me gazing quite askance.

I ask your patience Sam I am
For poetic posing I must slam.

My poetry I like to rhyme
In simple form and simple time.

And have it held with just the same
Respect and even mild acclaim.

A birthday card I shall not ****
For that to me would be a sham.

Nor baptism or bar mitzvah
I just do not have the chutzpah.

No wedding notice or get well
Poetic arrogance we must quell.

Each greeting billet I shall defend
As one of our true brethren.

Yes poetry indeed I’ll slam it
No synecdoche* or enjambment.*

I’ll have no Haibun* or Kyrielle*
No Triversen* or Villanelle*.

Is simple rhyme anymore silly
Than didactic forms we praise so shrilly?

I do not like to follow forms.
I do not like these contrived norms.

It is the freedom of poetry
that first attracted me to thee.

And why can’t all poetics be
Of an equal equality.

Perhaps it’s not the forms I hate
But the pompousness they doth dictate.

I will not stand for Seussian abuse
I relish odes to eggs chartreuse.

And so I say to thee dear Sam
My poems are happy as they am.

© Copyright 2018 Robert C. Leung

Words are the feathers I stuff into my mouth
Sealing the tomb where I buried my best intentions

Like a peacock bereft of its feathers
All fluff and pompousness stripped away

When the truth is laid bare
It turns out I’m just a skinny bird trying to find another mask

From ashes we arose
humanity brimful with incompetence
Contentment in minds closed
humility dominated by pompousness
egotists swiftly defy any opposed

prioritize this main concern
must benefit future generations
to ensure humanity is preserved
before Earth's cataclysmic retaliation
observes as the populous burns
with impeccable acceleration
to ashes we shall return

-Ajm

side-stick drummer
let’s get this **** to an earnest place
I’ve heard enough embellishment
to shell me in for several days
I’ve meddled in pretentiousness
& settled that my selfish ways
are nothing but a governor
rain & thunder on an ember’s blaze

So strip me of the pompousness
that clouds an artist’s sharpened heart
& strike me with the poignancy
of purpose in a work of art
& make me feel like I don’t need a reason
to invoke a start
& help me fall in love with who I am
before my light goes dark

Son of sacred heart supreme
Doth imagine deep in dream
A future encumbered by hatreds creed
Thinks in fathoms for future freed

He is the sublime, cherished steed
Cantering on a wanderlust hoof
Plants in minds a peaceful seed
His Beauty to lesser souls, aloof

He maketh my heart aligned
To creed of love, activity refined
Surpassing matter, the magic of mind
John shows righteous path unwind

Foolish, blundering, evil hacks
Haven't for Beauty got the knack
So they try to sully his shine
They can try forever, his rose contrast to their brine

One fateful day taken by a fool
Who fortified his heart when they shot it so cruel
Their pompousness the mind appals
May they ever be bereft of gold heavenly laurels