April's Diamonds

[Ganyu]

April's Diamonds
~ A Collection of Poetry by Ghostwriter ~

So I haven't been writing a lot of poetry lately and I just happen to come across a poetry challenge (http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-challenge-2016) that requires a poem to be written every day, based off a given prompt. I just wanted a place to track my daily progress and I guess posting them somewhere works somewhat as a form of motivation. IDK. Guess you'll have to put up with whatever crap I'm writing.

1. Fooled
They never expected it. They had it coming.
They should have known
that when mellow March was gone,
feisty April would come out to play.
Her art of lying so perfected,
Her schemes carefully executed.
They fell for the contrived,
screaming and cursing as they realized
that the doors were made of glass,
and that the veils were paper thin,
that the pitfalls had always been laid
bare beneath their noses,
if only they had cared to check the calendar.

April loves to spring mischief.
Some victims bristle their breeches,
and looking more the fool.
Some humor our sweet jester,
and bracing themselves for more.
But they all learn quickly,
for she's a good tutor,
to appreciate the silly, the folly,
the wacky and the cockamamy,
and most importantly,
to let go.

2. The insignificant musings
He said words that never existed,
words that could not be heard,
words that could not be fathomed.
When he spoke, the words came out
through stolen glances and bright blushes,
through lingering gazes and handshakes,
through trembling fingers and lip bites.
The words were velvet curtains draped over windows,
shrouding the room in saccharine shadows.
The words were winter’s ephemera printed on glass,
rivulets trickling away under the summer sun.
They were written in the ink of ashes,
on the blank bones bound in codices,
narrating what the universe whispered to him
about life and death, love and loss,
the sun and the moon, and the stars
he always saw when he closed his eyes.
They showed to him how one small word
could contain the immaculate infinities.

3. The Three Brothers
Their origins singular,
Their differences many.
From the same essence,
they were meant to balance.

One was quiet and dark
Like the event horizon, the abyss whose
gravity swallows all light and sound.

One was fickle and moody
Like the pulsating supernovas that
sculpt galaxies with nebulas.

One was firm, strict and stern
Like the orbits of stars, the spine
of the universe, giving eternal pause.

[Ganyu]

4. Between heaven and earth
Separated by an endless blue,
by labyrinths of concrete and asphalt,
by the rivers of time, the racetracks of the sun and moon,
we are dust, scattered across the ends of the world,
specks of insignificance that gaze at the skies in awe,
our glow diminished by the starlit cosmos.
We can only speculate the nature of the universe's bride,
the truth behind the astral veil unfathomable to us,
the wedding between time, space and darkness
held in a cosmic church where angels are real
and we are but illusions conceived by the greatest conjurer.

[Chibi Altaria]

Glad to see you start another poetry thread. C: I always do enjoy it.

You have such a way with words, I really hope you'll write more for us!

[Suicune's Fire]

Very cool. c: Maybe I should take a leaf out of your book and write every day as well. xD Does it provide you with a prompt or do you create your own?

I loved the one about the brothers and the one before that. In the brothers one, you wrote "event horizon" which I assume is meant to be "even."

[Ganyu]

Glad to see you start another poetry thread. C: I always do enjoy it.

You have such a way with words, I really hope you'll write more for us!
Aww thanks!

Very cool. c: Maybe I should take a leaf out of your book and write every day as well. xD Does it provide you with a prompt or do you create your own?

I loved the one about the brothers and the one before that. In the brothers one, you wrote "event horizon" which I assume is meant to be "even."
Prompts are issued out everyday, just click on the poetry challenge link and you'll be able to view all prompt posts.

Event horizons are in layman's terms, black holes or the point of no return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_horizon

[Suicune's Fire]

Prompts are issued out everyday, just click on the poetry challenge link and you'll be able to view all prompt posts.

Event horizons are in layman's terms, black holes or the point of no return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_horizon
Oh awesome. c: Sounds cool. Have you done anything like it before?

My bad! XD Thought I'd picked up on a typo. Awesome. ;3

[Ganyu]

Oh awesome. c: Sounds cool. Have you done anything like it before?

My bad! XD Thought I'd picked up on a typo. Awesome. ;3
Nope, this is my first time ever taking a hand at a poetry challenge. :3

[Suicune's Fire]

Nope, this is my first time ever taking a hand at a poetry challenge. :3
Oh nice! 8D Well, I look forward to more. c:

[Ganyu]

5. Grinding
A goblin, a slime,
Another thing to slay.
It's an endless process,
It's a mindless game.
Wanting to be the very best,
Wanting to be above the rest,
We clean through dungeons
slaughtering dragons.
Looting and farming
for intangible digits
just to level up.

Even in reality, we go through the grind,
putting words, without life, on paper,
always crunching the numbers.
The dungeons are now that diner
in which you worked part-time at,
that internship at a law firm,
those college summer classes,
the inter-state robotics competition.
The dragons are now those who
convert minutes into money,
sitting atop the corporate ladder
like Smaug in Lonely Mountain,
who see you as a piece of loot,
a satchel of gold coins,
a bunch of experience.

6. Horizon
http://s1.zerochan.net/Pok%C3%A9mon.600.399596.jpg

Today's chapter ends;
Tomorrow is a new page.
The sunset bookmark.

Together we write
our story on the skyline.
Crepuscular words.

Friendships forged along
our journey through time and space.
A new dawn awaits.

A/N: The prompt was to write an ekphrastic poem so I chose one of my favorite PMD fan art pieces.

7. Doodle
A doodle
starts off with a line,
a scribble, a scrawl,
perhaps a few dots here and there,
with vague shapes and ideas slowly
taking form,
like a lump of clay on a turntable,
sculpting itself into a sketch, a prototype.
It builds itself up, the minute details are added,
the skeleton solidifies, the sternum set in place, the femur formed.
The body is complete yet empty;
a shell, a silhouette,
a dress ready for fitting
simply waiting to be worn.

[Ganyu]

7. Urban Wanderlust
Midnight city escapades
Alleyway adventures

City skyline twinkles
Motorway constellations

Lost in the concrete jungle
Follow the trail of signposts

Bright billboards illuminate overhead
Vagabonds swaddled in cardboard

Sirens singing on the streets
Underground subway gigs

Drunk in a parking lot
Passed out on asphalt

Street lamps flicker out
First light breaks

Ghostly wanderers chase their souls
Back into suburban sepulchers

9. Bibliotheca
Surrounded by worlds within words,
by people within pages,
by font-clad thoughts,
by dreams dressed in metaphors,
by the smell of paper and ink,
of vellum and leather.

This is my silent sanctum.
This is my tranquil temple.
Where heroes are immortalized
alongside galleries of rogues.
Where steam whales fly in the sky,
and shamans read signs in the stars.
Where snow-bearded dictators rule,
and clocks strike thirteen in April.
Where serif shadows clash against papyrus light.
Where saints are sinners and sinners are saved.
This is my clandestine church,
where I pray in poetry and prose.
Paying homage to Alexandria,
hidden from the world.

[Ganyu]

10. Hate
River of rancor bursts forth,
dam broken.
Vitriolic venom
corrodes through the land,
seething like a caustic cauldron
that boils with blood and bile,
fumes of malevolence spread
their asphyxiating arms,
like a plague of locusts,
the vindictive storm raging,
Death and destruction run rampant.

[Chibi Altaria]

Either I'm counting wrong, or you went straight from seven to nine. xD POOR NUMBER EIGHT.

Any time I see something PMD related I instantly tear up. ;n; That was pretty! Good job. <3

[Trainer17]

10. Hate
River of rancor bursts forth,
dam broken.
Vitriolic venom
corrodes through the land,
seething like a caustic cauldron
that boils with blood and bile,
fumes of malevolence spread
their asphyxiating arms,
like a plague of locusts,
the vindictive storm raging,
Death and destruction run rampant.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160412/372ad8b31e2e2fedd46d7db0f6248608.gif

Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk

[Ganyu]

Either I'm counting wrong, or you went straight from seven to nine. xD POOR NUMBER EIGHT.

Any time I see something PMD related I instantly tear up. ;n; That was pretty! Good job. <3
OMG I left out a poem. D: Thanks for noticing; I may not even have realized...

PMD is so emotional; it's a vast source of poetic inspiration.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160412/372ad8b31e2e2fedd46d7db0f6248608.gif

Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk
https://media.giphy.com/media/WqrVJqXEMIaPu/giphy.gif

[Suicune's Fire]

https://media.giphy.com/media/WqrVJqXEMIaPu/giphy.gif
I can just see you doing this and it's amazing.

I absolutely loved #9 and #10. The one about writing was relatable; I loved how you included all of those fonts! XD Brilliant. I especially liked this line: "Where saints are sinners and sinners are saved." Very nice.

The one about hate was awesome. I can certainly relate to that one as well. It's such a complex emotion. Well, I suppose all emotions are complicated to a degree, but hate seems to have layers, breaking points, and such power. It's so easy to feel it sometimes, and other times, so difficult. Anyway, I loved how it was written. <: You're truly a master with words, my liege!

[Ganyu]

11. For Myself
Writing is such a lonely craft.
No one seems to understand
or be able to fully appreciate
the words in their true form.
I have to defend my walls of words
from the impositions slung by the masses
from the stinging nettles of nitpickers
who dare to challenge the grammar when they cannot fathom what is structure
and what is irony and subversion – chaos with purpose.
Critics will spend years and years squabbling
over the slightest symbol, crafting theories and theses
that amount to nothing but what ifs;
breeding superficial intellect like mosquitos in mere.
To defend is my raison d'etre
taking a leaf out of William Zinsser.

Added in the missing poem (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?9316-April-s-Diamonds&p=181724&viewfull=1#post181724) too.

[Ganyu]

12. I'm Trying To Be Serious
Can't you tell?
When I ring the bell,
I mean to address
Under duress.
Face straight
blank slate.
Whitened knuckles
hold back chuckles.
Conceal.
Don't feel.
Be like the ice queen,
Let no emotion be seen.
Speaking the vernacular,
Jargon so spectacular
no one can decipher.
Well, me neither.
Sleight of hand,
Legerdemain,
smoke and mirrors
of modern sorcerers.
Vertigo in black and white,
Language that's so trite;
Makes your mind a muddle,
a cloudy cerebral puddle,
Addled by too much information,
Driven to discombobulation.

A/N: It's weird and probably insensible, I know. The prompt was to write a serious and/or silly poem so I took the toughest challenge which was making it both serious and silly. xD I doubt I pulled it off though.

13. Last Hour
At the toll of the midnight bell,
the day crumbles away,
as the iron gates are shut
and the drawbridge lifted.
The fortress is still in the dark,
Patiently waiting for what is to come.

Every night, within the walls,
a mother can tuck her children into bed.
A man can return home to a warm meal and bed.
Girls can walk the streets without fear,
Boys can run up and down, and roam freely.
They can all sleep peacefully and wake up
to a new tomorrow full of rising hope.

Every night, within the walls,
the sounds of the monsters outside can be heard.
Ominous creaks, splashes in the murky deep of the moat,
persistent scratching, growls, guttural noises.
We take up our blades,
Light and steel are our allies,
Our armaments against the dark.
We never rest. We never sleep.
Always out of sight
but in everyone's mind.
We keep watch
For in Man's last hours,
no one else will.

14. Time Out
I am horizontal
finally. After what seems like eternity
though in reality, five days of drudgery,
my body and soul finds respite
in a mattress sanctuary.
The sky breaks out a sigh above me,
planting kisses of clouds on my cheeks,
the earth is my pillow, my bed and my spine.
Bolster me against the doldrums of life,
Hide me in the bastion of dreams.
A rock in the river of time
slowly eroded by the currents;
Falling into slumber, I am now dust.

[Ganyu]

15. Material Girl
My man in black
loved to lavish,
making it rain
green paper
all over my brolly.
He gave me gaudy, fantasy, and Gucci,
He gave me rings, diamonds and jewelry,
He gave me Louboutins and Givenchy.
I was Opulence;
He was Providence.
I was the Pearl of the Far East,
living in la ville de l'amour,
within my palace of dreams.
He was the desert, the hot sun,
and when he left, the oasis
was but a mirage and my empire
lost to the sands of time.


A/N: The challenge was to incorporate somehow the words ring, gaudy, lavish and paper.

[Ganyu]

16. Concept Cafe
Blossom of cream on liquid brown,
Rainbow trapped in a flour fantasy,
Pancakes coated in sugary ichor,
Coloured snow with fruit purée.
Looks too unreal to be eaten
like a painting of Mona Lisa
only to be seen, not touched.
pixel-framed and preserved
for posterity's view through
noir-tinted glasses and hipster filters.

17. Haiku
syllable-counting
just to write about nature–
such rigidity

additional since I was bored:
how to write haikus:
five-seven-five is the form–
get it right people.

[Ganyu]

18. Overtime
From nine to five,
noise is my ambience.
Clattering computer keys,
endlessly ringing phones,
machines that spit out inked paper
are the bass and rhythm to drudgery–
the clerical clarion call.

After opening hours,
the busy sea of bureaucracy
is now to a drop of quiet
whereas the paper mountain on-desk
is now the alps of administration.
My ambience is now that lone light
in the darkness, and the late-night thoughts of takeaway stewing at the back of my mind.

19. Trying To Be Cool
drinking iced beer
rising body temperature
to a fever of passion
skin flushes scarlet with
blood of the pumping fist
hurled against cheekbones
glass shards on the floor
tables toppled in the arena
the gladiators' glory and gore
broken teeth are medals of gold
laurels tattooed in blue and black
mint julep testosterone
another boys' night out spent
behind bars

20. Telepathy
Breathe, don't speak,
Our eyes meet.
The thought forms in your mind
and diffuses like a bubble
drifting through space
into cerebral collection.
Astral communion,
we need no words,
experience ties us tighter
than material bonds and blood
and we are of the same covenant
soul-sworn, life-linked.
We are Gemini.

[Ganyu]

21. Response to War Photography
In the black room,
Death is captured
then developed in stark white.
What remains of Life
is painted in monochrome.
Flesh loses all colour
in this two-dimensional void.
This is artistry in motion,
reality stopped still,
in solution trays of immortality.

A/N: This was the hardest prompt to handle. I'd to write a response poem to another poem. God I hope I didn't disgrace Carol Ann Duffy with this. X:

22. Stardust
All stars eventually die:
their existence culminating
into a lucent singularity,
a final spark,
a nova's swan song
that echoes throughout space,
leaving behind churning
nebulas of stardust.
Stardust –gilded remnants,
precious as a millennium comet –
that people would cling onto
till the end of time,
an eternal shadow.
I hope that one day
I'll leave this universe
in the exact same way
with a big bang.

[Ganyu]

23. Bought And Thrown Away
Sole-worn shoes
left in the corner,
caked in mud,
insides sculpted
by sweat and toes,
laces loose.
Their time served,
now stored in shadow.

On the doormat,
bright white kicks
squeak loudly as
they venture into the
great outdoors,
stepping into spring.

[Ganyu]

24. Odontology of Friends
Baby steps, baby teeth;
Learning how to grow,
how to chew, how to gnaw.
We crawl towards one another,
like converging jaw lines.
Our pearly whites beaming
like the new morning sun.

Tiny teeth falls out as the sky darkens;
a drizzle culminating into a cloudburst.
Our gums are bloody and raw,
as our world is uprooted.
The empty void between our lips,
swallow echoes of broken bridges.
Too late to cherish what is gone,
now is the time to bury the bone.

Mature teeth replaces what we lack,
they are sharper and polished
like fangs that we learn to bare,
bite our tongues and grit with.
Extremely cautious
and never carious,
they will not succumb
to the demonic plaque.
They are our new white friends,
Together forever till dentures do us part.

25. Exercise
An exorcism
of ripping out
the demons of
gluttony and sloth
from your body,
anointing with
perspiration
and lactic acid.

26. The Tempest
In the storm's eye,
two of hearts beating.
Hot coals in the fire,
blazing with passion.

Within the calm,
their hearts rage
like the winds howling
feverishly above the land.

Their love crackles
with lightning and thunder.
Primal elements
tearing the heavens asunder.

Nature's wrath
churns the earth.
In the storm's aftermath,
new mulch nourishes growth.

[EmeraldSky]

Skimmed over the first page of your collection, and I really like these lines from your first one:


They should have known
that when mellow March was gone,
feisty April would come out to play.

That sums up April Fool's Day right there, IMO

[Ganyu]

27. Now Dreaming: D7
Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen.
Today's flight will be a little over eight hours.
We are expecting a fairly smooth flight today, with no turbulent weather.
Feel free to move about the cabin as much as possible. The seat belt signs have been turned off.
If you do wish to stay in your seats, please fasten your seat belts snugly tight.
All our flights are fitted with smoke detectors so do try not to get caught.
In the meantime, please sit back, relax and enjoy your flight. Thank you for choosing to fly with Dream Flight.

28. Important People
Me.
Not you.
My friends.
Not you.
My family.
Not you.
Those who appreciate me for who I am.
Not you.
Those who understand where I'm coming from.
Not you.
Those who have been with me through thick and thin.
Not you.

This list
does not have
you.
Unimportance
deserves no
acknowledgment.

[Ganyu]

29. My Haphazard Brain
Like an attic full of knickknacks,
scattered all over the floor in mosaic,
fragments of ideas – little baubles of worlds and characters – lie like
strands of spaghetti buried in tomato blood.
Torn pages from sketchbooks;
balls of crumpled-up doodles;
drawings never coloured;
a script for a song never sung;
a poem unfinished, lacking punctuation;
an anthology of chaos, of thoughts broken down, of writer's block and of distractions.
Overloaded silos of memories,
threaten to short the creative motherboard,
buzzing every second as nerve impulses flicker and connect:
two dots making one line, which in turn joins to another,
laying out the tracks for the train of thought
to travel across the lobes,
and eventually terminate at the
depot of my haphazard brain.

30. Dead End
We boarded the bus
Let it drove us
On an endless highway
Across the country.
Brakes jammed,
emergency lever yanked,
we were suspended in air,
free-falling through glass,
crashed
arrived
before an empty estate.
A village devoid of life,
a garden in full bloom.
When night falls,
sounds from nowhere echo
footsteps in the fog
danger
whisper the winds
We paid no heed
to the warning,
wandering around
in the dark,
seeing visions of
our shadowy pasts,
our nightmares.
No matter where we ran,
we came back to the same place,
like a hamster in its wheel.
Trapped in the village
of the lost,
damned forever
within the veil
between worlds.

Author's Note: 30 days. 30 poems. It's been a creative ride, forcing myself to write. I feel quite satisfied that I've managed to complete the challenge, and I think, this really helps in breaking down the wall that is writer's block. Many of the poems' titles were the prompts themselves, though some I chose to gave a "proper" title (and here I pose a challenge, which is to guess what the prompt(s) may have been :P). Hope y'all enjoyed reading~