Poetry For Supper
'Listen, now, verse should be as natural
As the small tuber that feeds on muck
And grows slowly from obtuse soil
To the white flower of immortal beauty.'
'Natural, hell! What was it Chaucer
Said once about the long toil
That goes like blood to the poem's making?
Leave it to nature and the verse sprawls,
Limp as bindweed, if it break at all
Life's iron crust. Man, you must sweat
And rhyme your guts taut, if you'd build
Your verse a ladder.'
'You speak as though
No sunlight ever surprised the mind
Groping on its cloudy path.'
'Sunlight's a thing that needs a window
Before it enter a dark room.
Windows don't happen.'
So two old poets,
Hunched at their beer in the low haze
Of an inn parlour, while the talk ran
Noisily by them, glib with prose.
Submitted by Andrew Mayers
poem by Ronald Stuart Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Our Poetry Critics
Our poetry critics ageing males on saturday evenings from six to nine
Meet at the literary room of the Lions Club to do what suits them fine
To talk of poetry and poets each to their point of view
Though they agree on one thing that good poets only few.
Well educated gents of course and they could not be rude
But contemporary rhyme poets only poetasters and them they exclude
From their talk of poets and poetry and in their literary knowledge they take pride
And who is or who is not a poet seems their right to decide.
They never talk about bush poets such verse they see as slipshod
And they see them as the children of the lesser poetry god
And for their years in Uni they have their degrees to show
And of poets and of poetry so much they think they know.
To them a poem is not a poem unless it reads like prose
And a ballad different from true verse as a weed is from a rose
And true poets only write for the privileged few that's what they do imply
And never for the ordinary, people like you and I.
Our poetry critics at the Lions they meet on saturday
And who is a good poet and what is a good poem each like to have their say
And if you wish to become a member of their club you must have your Uni Degrees
For if not to them you are not qualified for to talk about poetry.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Preachers Turn To Poetry
preachers turn to poetry
which is a most natural thing to do
since most revelations are in verse;
preachers, like the wily snake in Paradise,
look for cunning new ways: and so they turn to poetry sites
and take on the roles of poets
and disguise sermons in verse
and Stalin-style Revelations of Guilt and Sin
and Fearful Humility as poems;
and in Ppreachers turn to poetry
which is a most natural thing to do
since most revelations are in verse;
preachers, like the wily snake in Paradise,
look for cunning new ways: and so they turn to poetry sites
and take on the roles of poets
and disguise sermons in verse
and Stalin-style Revelations of Guilt and Sin
and Fearful Humility as poems;
and in Paradise these will sit as Poet Laureates
winning Eternal Fame
churning out Infinite Praise in standard and approved stock and phrase;
and poets who talk about being human
and the beauty of the morning
and who so cannot make The Big Wizard smile
these wretched poets will bark doggerel in Hell...
poem by Raj Arumugam
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Woman Of Rhyme
She is not what you'd call beautiful though still in her prime
And to those who know her she is known as The Woman of Rhyme
In Local Literary circles not even one of note
As she does not fit the bill of the Modern Poet.
But the rhyme from her gushes and it races along
And in five minutes flat she can pen you a song
And though not classified as a poet her verse is not doggerel
And with her gift of rhyme one might say she does well.
Some fifty years ago she would have known fame
And her's would have been a great Literary name
But rhyme it would seem has passed it's use by date
And what's now seen as old fashioned was once seen as great.
Even the best of the Local modern poets seem strangers to renown
But then such is life in a football mad Town
In the pubs the names of famed poets and artists they never recall
Their small talk mostly of sports, footballers and football.
For what she is good at she is not recognized
But having said that I am not really surprised
since rhyme verse has long passed it's glorious time
And none to applaud the young Woman of Rhyme.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Free Verse or Prose
Sadly, to me
This thing they call Prose
Is naught but just talk,
And often verbose;
I think it's too easy
And honestly, I'm
Just wanting to say
I much prefer rhyme.
And almost the same is the
Form called Free Verse,
It isn't for me, I'm not keen,
And what's worse:
Explaining the differences
Should be a breeze,
But even amongst the 'experts'
No one agrees.
Now I'm no academic
But I won't be fooled
By the 'cleverer' people,
By the so-called, 'well-schooled';
I favour good rhyming
O'er Free Verse or Prose,
And I'm calling to mind now
The Emperor's New Clothes.
poem by John Carter Brown
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Autobiograpical Poem
I am a simple poem,
It's plain for all to see.
No haiku, limerick or sonnet,
Just simple rhyme for me.
I'm on my second verse just now,
So soon it will be three.
Uncomplicated, very plain,
So easy, Oh! so free.
There are no causes I espouse,
For nothing I campaign,
I do not speak of love or lust,
I never speak of pain.
Some people say that I'm just words,
They don't know how I thrive.
I tell them I am born each day,
I'm very much alive.
I'm winding down towards the end,
Just another verse to go,
I've avoided all controversy,
I just went with the flow.
So here I am, sixth verse at last,
It's still plain for all to see
That if you keep it simple
You'd be a poem just like me!
poem by Joe Hughes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Song Of A Rhyming Man
I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
This modern verse too much for me it's way above my head
Though modern poets are now the rage and Rhyme is with the dead.
I love the sound of rhyming words, I love the verse that rhyme
To blank or free or non rhyme verse prefer it every time
And there's many who will disagree and most will say I'm wrong
But give me ballad or rhyme verse or good old rhyming song.
You may say I am limited and with you most will agree
That I'm not into modern verse of twenty first century
But I've been an old style rhyming man since nineteen seventy three
And I am in my sixties now and there's no changing me.
I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
And I am guilty of no sin and I can't see no crime
In liking sound of rhyming verse and loving words that rhyme
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Poet's Thirst
Why do I thirst to pen a verse?
Would prose not do as well?
The rhyme is music to my ears
and the lyrical swell
can never be found in prose
and so I say to those.
'Write your story in novel form
or fictionalize your book.
I will pen my verse instead
and capture you with my hook.'
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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When I Want To See Beauty
When I want to see beauty I need not travel far
Not even for a short drive in a car
Outside my window on flowering callistemon tree
A natural thing of beauty there to see.
The new holland honeyeater in his dark and gold
A bird of beauty lovely to behold
He chirrups loud amongst the leafy bowers
And take his fill of nectar from the flowers.
When I want beauty all I have to do
Is walk near my home down shady avenue
Where white backed magpie on the tall gum sing
In Nature beauty is a natural thing.
For beauty money I don't have to pay
Or purchase flight ticket to far away
At night I see it in the starry sky
A thing of beauty is a thing of joy.
And the finest of beauty you don't pay to see
Like a red rosella on a sunlit tree
In Nature's garden living wild and free
And you won't see any prettier than he.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Walked In The Rain
I've been away
High on a breeze
Tasted the salt of the seven blue seas Verse 1
Washed upon shores
Sun in my eyes
Stayed long enough just to say my goodbyes...
I walked in the rain
Wet me through and through
Following rainbows that lead me back to you Chorus
I've always believed
In what I've been told
Where rainbows end there's a pot of gold...
I'll read the stars
Talk to the moon
Stop when I hear somebody playing our tune Verse 2
Any excuse
And you'll see me
Drifting back home to the place I should be...
Some people say
Listen to me
Mostly I find that I disagree Verse 3
They tell me to change
Set myself free
I'm not convinced I don't want to be me
Maybe I'll stay
Maybe I'll go
Maybe I'll stick around I don't know Verse 4
One thing for sure
This I can say
I'm coming back; I've been so far away
song performed by by UB40 from Cover Up
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Can Contribute A Verse
Contribute a verse, contribute a verse,
Who can contribute a verse?
Contribute a verse, contribute a verse,
You can contribute a verse.
You may be an underpaid lab’rer,
Streetsweeper or overworked nurse,
A migrant without any papers,
But you can contribute a verse.
You left school at sixteen with no GCSEs?
Did you graduate from Oxford with a First?
Makes no diff’rence, not one bit, for you both are fully fit,
Well-equipped to lay before the world a verse.
You may have no notes in your wallet,
You may have no coins in your purse,
No shoes on your feet, no breakfast to eat,
But you can contribute a verse.
Are you feeling sad and lonely,
In the depths of misery?
Do you feel this Life we’re living
Is not worth the entrance fee?
Are you sure that things will not get any better?
Quite persuaded they will go from bad to worse?
No great problem, drama, crisis, doesn’t matter,
As long as you can come up with a verse.
And it’s possible you’ve heard that our days upon this earth
Are not many, are not many, precious few.
We have hardly enough time to take in all of the sights,
Or do the things that we would like to do.
For we’ve barely crawled out of the cradle,
Then they cart us away in a hearse.
So, in the meantime don’t be idle:
Be sure to contribute a verse!
27/9/06
poem by Denys E. W. Jones
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Wonderful Day
Ref:
It's a wonderful day
The night fades away
See the sunrise in the sky
It's a wonderful day
Wake up don't stay
Spread your wings and fly away
Verse 1:
Children in the sun
Playing games of fun
See the beauty of this world
Time is running fast
Thinking of the past
Find your way and see the light
Verse 2:
Love is what we share
Friends are everywhere
See the beauty of this world
Sunlight guides your day
Try to find your way
See the life in your own eyes
song performed by by DJ Bobo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Poem Is Life
A poem is life, a being in verse,
A body traveling a minstrel's way,
Devouring all things for better or worse
With a rhythmic pulse that knows not the day.
As its chorus of words trembles with breath,
This organ of life travels on.
Like the undying conscience that gnawed at Macbeth
Long after the knife had been drawn.
An immortal being, a god of the page
This inspiration in verse shall remain
Living on and on with men and their age
As long as there's life to sustain.
poem by Gregory Huyette
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Children's Song
We live in our own world,
A world that is too small
For you to stoop and enter
Even on hands and knees,
The adult subterfuge.
And though you probe and pry
With analytic eye,
And eavesdrop all our talk
With an amused look,
You cannot find the centre
Where we dance, where we play,
Where life is still asleep
Under the closed flower,
Under the smooth shell
Of eggs in the cupped nest
That mock the faded blue
Of your remoter heaven.
Submitted by Andrew Mayers
poem by Ronald Stuart Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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T.b. Sheets
Now listen, julie baby,
It ain't natural for you to cry in the midnight.
It ain't natural for you to cry way into midnight through,
Until the wee small hours long 'fore the break of dawn,
Oh lord, huh uh ha. ha.
Now julie, an' there ain't nothin' on my mind
More further 'way than what you're lookin' for.
I see the way you jumped at me, lord, from behind the door
And looked into my eyes.
Your a little star struck innuendos
Inadequacies an' foreign bodies,
And the sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane
Numbs my brain,
And the sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane
Numbs my brain, oh lord.
Ha, so open up the window and let me breathe.
I said open up the window, shh shh shh shh shh and let me breathe.
I'm looking down to the street below, lord, i cried for you,
Ha ha, i cried, i cried for you, ha ha. oh, lord.
The cool room, lord is a fool's room.
The cool room, lord is a fool's room.
And i can almost smell your t.b. sheets
And i can almost smell your t.b. sheets
On your sick bed.
I gotta go, i gotta go
And you said, "please stay, i wanna, i wanna,
I want a drink of water, i want a drink of water,
Go in the kitchen get me a drink of water."
I said, "i gotta go, i gotta go, baby."
I said, "i'end, i'll send somebody around here later.
You know we got john comin' around here later
With a bottle of wine for you, baby - but i gotta go."
The cool room, lord is a fool's room,
The cool room, lord, lord is a fool's room, a fool's room.
And i can almost smell your t.b. sheets,
I can almost smell your t.b. sheets, t.b.
I gotta go, i gotta go.
I'll send around, send around one that grumbles later on, babe.
We'll see what i can pick up for you, you know.
Yeah, i got a few things gotta do.
Don't worry about it, don't worry about it, don't worry.
Huh uh, go, go, go, i've gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go,
Gotta go, gotta go, huh uh, all right, all right, huh huh huh.
I turned on the radio,
If you wanna hear a few tunes, i'll turn on the radio for you.
There you go, there you go, there you go, baby, there you go, huh.
You'll be all right, too, huh huh, ha ha, yeah.
I know it ain't funny, it ain't runny at all, baby,
Always laying in the cool room, man, laying in the cool room,
In the cool room, in the cool room.
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Infiltrate
Chorus:
Woman nuh waan nuh bait
Dem Naah guh feel violate if yuh accelerate pon a date
Dem waan yuh infiltrate
Woman dem waan yuh tear dung dem wall an dem gate
Yuh nuh hear whey mi state
Repeat
Verse 1:
Woman nh waan nuh coot, from a knock boots
Whey yuh waan yuh fi tell har fi tear off di suit
Dem nh waan nuh dude, whey never inna di mood
An dem nuh waan nuh little bwoy wid nuh gal attitude
Mi say, a nuh nutten fi wi hide
Inna di gal dem pathway man a slide and a glide
Is a natural ting fi wi collide
Bedroom argument, leg fi divide, catch di ride
Chorus
Verse 2:
Natural like a fruit pon di tree
Gal a get ripe, so rudebwoy forward nuh badda flee
Now she say she name Queen Bee
But yuh mek har beg an wait pon har knee an a plee,
Well She want har clothes fi tear
Need a little loving an she waan yuh draw near
But yuh fear, inna yuh heart yuh nuh waan fi guh there
Disappear and Sean Paul will appear
Yuh nuh hear
Chorus
Verse 3:
No time fi debate, dem dont want fi wait
Dem want a little loving fi dem appreciate
Dem want a good man, fi caress dem han
Di gal dem want a man wid the rightful program,
Well Yuh fi listen to the Dutty
Gal dem deh deh wi haffi tek it an wuck it
So nuh badda talk bout mi mind too smutty
Sean Paul, mi got a lot a sweat fi wi bussi
Dem nuh mussi
Chorus
song performed by by Sean Paul
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Little Bit Of Sunlight
Tears would fall like the falling rain,
There would be a sea.
But you dont have to cry to prove your love,
Just believe in me.
cause a little bit of sunlight is all that I want from you,
A little bit of sunlight,
Is all that I want,
All that I want,
All that I want from you.
A man who cant live with cloudy skies,
Should only wait and see.
Soon all the clouds will disappear,
And leave just you and me.
cause a little bit of sunlight is all that I want from you,
A little bit of sunlight,
Is all that I want,
All that I want,
All that I want from you.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Human Nature (feat. Claudette Ortiz)
[Verse 1:]
Looking out
Across the night-time
The city winks a sleepless eye
Hear her voice
Shake my window
Sweet seducing sighs
[Verse 2:]
Get me out
Into the night-time
Four walls won't hold me tonight
If this town
Is just an apple
Then let me take a bite
[Chorus:]
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
If they say
Why, why, just tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
[Verse 3:]
Reaching out
To touch a stranger
Electric eyes are ev'rywhere
See that girl
She knows I'm watching
She likes the way I stare
[Chorus:]
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
If they say
Why, why, just tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
I like livin' this way
I like lovin' this way
[Verse 4:]
Looking out
Across the morning
The city's heart begins to beat
Reaching out
I touch her shoulder
I'm dreaming of the street
[Chorus:]
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
[Chorus:]
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
If they say
Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
song performed by by Boyz II Men
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Reckless
Thanks to [email protected] for these lyrics.
From Breakin'.
Intro
Hey, boy!
Verse 1
Once upon a time a DJ's task
Was just to play records, what more could you ask?
But then came remixes, scratching and cuts
Which was too much for many, drove some DJ's nuts
But the DJ named Glove has reigned supreme
As the turntable wizard of the hip-hop scene
So listen to him, check him out, but remember this
When The Glove's on the wheels of steel he's Reckless
Verse 2
This high-powered music is truly unique
As The Glove cuts the rhythm to the hip-hop beat
He moves like a madman as he spins his disc
He's the number one scratcher on the DJ list, he's Reckless
Verse 3
Now I've seen DJ's, too many to name
Some gained recognition and even fame
But when you talk of MC's, Ice-T is the best
And when you talk of DJ's, forget the rest, Glove's Reckless
Verse 4
So listen very closely as The Glove throws down
He cuts like a razor to the big beat sound
Dave's layin' down a groove that we know you'll like
With The Glove on the turntables and Ice-T on the mic, we're Reckless
Verse 5
So listen to the music, let your mind feel free
Realize you're with the master G-L-O-V-E
Dave and MC Ice-T, you know you're with the best
Because when we're in the mix you know the groove is fresh
and Reckless, Reckless, Reck-Reck-Re-Reckless
song performed by by Ice T
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Verse-Making Was Least of My Virtues
Verse-making was least of my virtues: I viewed with despair
Wealth that never yet was but might be--all that verse-making were
If the life would but lengthen to wish, let the mind be laid bare.
So I said, "To do little is bad, to do nothing is worse"--
And made verse.
Love-making,--how simple a matter! No depths to explore,
No heights in a life to ascend! No disheartening Before,
No affrighting Hereafter,--love now will be love ever more.
So I felt "To keep silence were folly:"--all language above,
I made love.
poem by Robert Browning
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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My Masters
Of Poetry I've been accused,
But much more often I have not;
Oh, I have been so much amused
By those who've put me on the spot,
And measured me by rules above
Those I observe with equal love.
An artisan of verse am I,
Of simple sense and humble tone;
My Thesaurus is handy by,
A rhyming lexicon I own;
Without them I am ill at ease -
What bards would use such aids as these?
Bad poets make good verse, they say;
The Great have not distained to woo
The modest muse of every day;
Read Longfellow and Byron through,
The fabric test - much verse you'll see
Compared with what is poetry.
Small blame; one cannot always soar
To heights of hyaline sublime;
Melodious prose one must deplore,
And fetters of rebellious rhyme:
Keats, Browning - that's another tale,
But even Giants fail and fail.
I've worshipped Ryley, Harte and Field,
And though their minstrelsy I lack,
To them heart-homage here I yield,
And follow with my verseman's pack:
To them with gratitude I look,
For briefing me to make this book.
poem by Robert William Service
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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