Epitaphs in Verse - Reflections in the Eyes of a Poet
The eyes behind a head inclined reflect a universe
Of shanty towns and kings in crowns and parties in a hearse,
Of heaping mounds of coffee grounds and pennies in a purse,
Of heart attacks in shoddy shacks, of motion in reverse,
Of reasons why pale kids must die, quite trite and curtly terse,
Of puppet people at the steeple, kneeling down averse,
Of tinkle tones and megaphones with empty words and worse,
Of life's begin' in utter sin and other things perverse,
Of lewd taboos and residues contained within the Curse,
While poets blind, in gallows' rind, carve epitaphs in verse.
poem by Terry O'Leary
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Terse Verse
Terse little verse, gold from beauties purse
In my soul thou so give
And on its worth my life I live
Terse little verse, gold from beauties purse
Love is a morsel of thine treasure
In one ounce is my immense pleasure
Terse little verse, gold from beauties purse
Sing like a muse
and in poetry fuse
my soul into verse from beauties purse
poem by Kevin Michael Murphy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Never Land
PREFACE
This yarn is a fabric woven of several earlier warped works, lightly laced together with additional braided tales of human frailty. The looms were purling frantically... Some pearls may be found wonting, hanging loose, dangling free within a fuzzy flight of fancy... These untethered strands may be fastened, or be forgotten, or be hidden by the readers in the corners of their minds... Some may end up in stitches, others all torn up or ripped apart, others may just say ‘made of hole cloth', ‘sew what' or ‘I don't seam to get the needle point'... This wanton web is yours to spin...
Some have said that such strange things ‘have Never happened in our Land', such quaint things ‘could Never happen in our Land'', such murky things ‘will Never happen in our Land''... and this may be true... such is the gossamer that veils the human mind... and thus ensues the title of this Fantasy...
NEVER LAND
An ancient man named Peter Pan, disguised but from the past,
With feathered cap and tunic wrap and sabre's sailed his last.
Though fully grown, on dust he's flown and perched upon a mast
Atop the Walls around the sprawls, unvisited and vast -
And all the while with bitter smile he's watching us aghast.
As day begins, a spindle spins, it weaves a wanton web;
Like puckered prunes, like midday moons, like yesterday's celebs,
We scrape and grope, we seldom hope - he's watching while we ebb:
The organ grinder preaches fine on Sunday afternoons -
He quotes from books but overlooks the Secrets Carved in Runes:
'You've tried and toyed, but can't avoid or shun the pale monsoons,
It's sink or swim as echoed dim in swinging door saloons'.
The laughingstocks are flinging rocks at ball-and-chained baboons.
While ghetto boys are looting toys preparing for their doom
And Mademoiselles are weaving shells on tapestries with looms,
Cathedral cats and rafter rats are peering in the room,
Where ragged strangers stoop for change, for coppers in the gloom,
Whose thoughts are more upon the doors of crypts in Christmas bloom,
And gold doubloons and silver spoons that tempt beyond the tomb.
Mid Uzi shots from vacant lots, that strike and ricochet
A painted girl with flaxen curl (named Wendy) 's on her way
To tantalise with half-clad thighs, to trick again today;
And indiscreet upon the street she gives her pride away
To any guy who's passing by with time and cash to pay.
(In concert halls beyond the Walls, unjaded girls ballet,
With flowered thoughts of Camelot and dreams of cabarets.)
The alley ways within the maze are paved with rats and mice.
Evangelists with moneyed fists collect the sacrifice
From losers scorned and rubes reborn, and promise paradise,
While in the back they cook some crack, inhale, and roll the dice.
A bum called Boe has stubbed his toe, he's stumbled in the gutter;
With broken neck, he looks a wreck, the sparrows all aflutter,
The passers-by, they close an eye, and turn their heads and mutter:
'Let's pray for rains to wash the lanes, to clear away the clutter.'
A river slows neath mountain snows, and leaves begin to shudder.
Though rip-off shops and crooked cops are paid not once but thrice,
The painted girl with flaxen curl is paring down her price
And loosely tempts cold hands unkempt to touch the merchandise.
A crazy guy cries 'where am I', a schizo titters twice,
And double quick a lunatic affects a fight with lice.
The jungle teems, a siren screams, the air is filled with meth.
The Reverent Priest and nuns unleash the Holy Shibboleth.
And Righteous Jane who is insane, as well as Sister Beth,
While telling tales to no avail of everlasting death,
At least imbue Hagg Avenue with whisky on their breath.
The Reverent Priest combats the Beast, they're kneeling down to prey,
To fight the truth with fang and tooth, to toil for yesterday,
To etch their mark within the dark, to paint their résumé
On shrouds and sheets which then completes the devil's dossier.
Old Dan, he's drunk and in a funk, all mired in the mud.
A Monk begins to wash Dan's sins, and asks 'How are you, Bud? '
'I'm feeling pain and crying rain till soon there is a flood.
And no god's there who seems to care I'm always coughing blood.'
The Monk, he turns, Dan's words he spurns and lets the bible thud.
Well, Banjo Boy, he will annoy with jangled rhymes that fray:
'The clanging bells of carousels lead blind men's minds astray
To rings of gold they'll never hold in fingers made of clay.
But crest and crown will crumble down, when withered roots decay.'
Now, Railroad Bob has lost his job, he's got no place for working,
His wife, she cries with desperate eyes, their baby's head's a' jerking.
The union man don't give a damn, Big Brother lies a' lurking,
The boss' in cabs are picking scabs, they count their money, smirking.
A pregnant lass with eyes of glass has never learned to cope.
Once set adrift her fall was swift, she slid a slipp'ry slope -
She casts the Curse, the Holy Verse, and shoots a shot of dope,
And stalks discreet Asylum Street her daily horoscope -
The stray was struck by random truck which was her only hope.
Well, Banjo Boy, with little joy, he strums her life entire:
'The wayward waif was never safe; her stars were dark and dire.
Born midst the rues and avenues where lack and want aspire
Where no one heeds the childish needs that little ones require;
Where faith survives in tempest lives, a swirl within the briar,
Infinity grinds as time unwinds, until the winds expire.
Her last caprice? The final peace that no one could deny her -
Whipped by the flood, stray beads of blood are spattered on the spire;
Though beads of sweat are cool and wet, cold clotted blood is dryer.'
Though broken there, she's fled the snare with dying thoughts serene.
And now she's dead, the rumours spread: her age? a sweet 16,
With child, unwed, her soul dyed red, her body so unclean.
A place is sought where she can rot, avoiding churchyard scenes,
In limey pits, as well befits, behind forbidding screens;
And all the while a dirge is styled on tattered tambourines
Which echo through the human zoo in valleys of the Queens.
Without rejoice, in hissing voice, near soil that's seldom trod
'In pious role, God bless my soul', was mouthed with mitred nod,
Neath scarlet trim with black, and grim, behind a robed facade -
'She'll burn in hell and sulphur smell', spat Priest and man of god.
Well, angels sweet with cloven feet, they sing in girl's attire,
But Banjo Boy, he's playing coy while chanting in the choir:
'The clueless search within the church to find what they desire,
But near the nave or gravelled grave, there is no Rectifier.'
And when he's through, without ado, he stacks some stones nearby her.
A sodden dreg with wooden leg is dancing for a dime,
To sacred psalms and other balms, all ticking with the time.
He's 22, he's almost through, he's melted in his prime,
His bane is firm, the canker worm dissolves his brain to slime.
With slanted scales and twisted jails, his life's his only crime.
The eyes behind the head inclined reflect a universe
Of shanty towns and kings in crowns and parties in a hearse,
Of heaping mounds of coffee grounds and pennies in a purse,
Of heart attacks in shoddy shacks, of motion in reverse,
Of reasons why pale kids must die, quite trite and curtly terse,
Of puppet people at the steeple, kneeling down averse,
Of tinkle tones and megaphones with empty words and worse,
Of life's begin' in utter sin and other things perverse,
Of lewd taboos and residues contained within the Curse,
While poets blind, in gallows' rind, carve epitaphs in verse.
Bob walks the streets and begs for eats or little jobs for trying
'The answer's no, you ought to know, no use for you applying,
And don't be sad, it aint that bad, it's soon your time for dying.'
The air is thick, his baby's sick, the cries are multiplying.
The backyard blight is hid from sight, it's covered up and bland,
The beggar clump beside the dump has pencil box in hand.
With sightless eyes upon the skies he's lying there unmanned,
With no relief and bitter grief too dark to understand.
The backyard blight is hid from sight, it's covered up and bland,
And Robin Hood and Brother Hood lie buried in the sand.
While all night queens carve figurines in gelatine and jade,
Behind a door and on the floor a deal is finally made;
The painted girl with flaxen curl has plied again her trade
And now the care within her stare has turned a darker shade.
Her lack of guile and parting smile are cutting like a blade.
Some boys with cheek play hide and seek within a house condemned
Their faces gaunt reflecting want that's hard to comprehend.
With no excuse an old recluse is waiting to descend.
His eyes despair behind the stair, he's never had a friend
To talk about his hidden doubt of how the world will end -
To die alone on empty throne and other Fates impend.
And soon the boys chase phantom joys and, presto when they're gone,
The old recluse, with nimble noose and facial features drawn,
No longer waits upon the Fates but yawns his final yawn
- Like Tinker Bell, he spins a spell, in fairy dust chiffon -
With twisted brow, he's tranquil now, he's floating like a swan
And as he fades from life's charades, the night awaits the dawn.
A boomerang with ebon fang is soaring through the air
To pierce and breach the heart of each and then is called despair.
And as it grows it will oppose and fester everywhere.
And yet the crop that's at the top will still be unaware.
A lad is stopped by roving cops, who shoot in disregard.
His face is black, he's on his back, a breeze is breathing hard,
He bleeds and dies, his mama cries, the screaming sky is scarred,
The sheriff and his squad at hand are laughing in the yard.
Bob's wife's in town, she's broken down, she's ranting with a fury,
Their baby coughs, the doctor scoffs, the snow is all a' flurry,
Their life of sin has done them in, they skirmish, scrimp and scurry.
It's getting late, Bob's tempting fate, his choices cruel and blurry,
His midnight dreams are filled with screams, he knows he needs to hurry -
He chooses gas, they breathe their last, there's no more cause to worry.
Per protocols near ivied walls arrayed in sage festoons,
The Countess quips, while giving tips, to crimson caped buffoons:
'To rise from mass to upper class, like twirly bird tycoons,
You stretch the treat you always eat, with tiny tablespoons'
A learned leach begins to teach (with songs upon a liar) :
'Within the thrall of Satan's call to yield to dim desire
Lie wicked lies that tantalize the flesh and blood Vampire;
Abiding souls with self-control in everyday Hellfire
Will rest assured, when once interred, in afterlife Empire'.
The words, they weave the make believe, while slugs in salt expire,
Baptised in tears and rampant fears, all mirrored in the mire.
It's getting hot on private yachts, though far from desert plains -
'Well, come to think, we'll have a drink', Sir Captain Hook ordains.
Beyond the blame and pit of shame, outside the Walled domains,
They pet their pups and raise their cups, take sips of pale champagnes
To touch the tips of languid lips with pearls of purple rains.
Well, Gypsy Guy would rather die than hunker down in chains,
Be ridden south with bit in mouth, or heed the hold of reins;
The ones that plot are in a spot, the boss man he complains:
'The gypsy soul, I can't control, my patience wears and wanes;
They will not cede to common greed, one only way remains,
In boxcar bins, with violins we'll freight them out in trains,
And in the bogs, they'll die like dogs, and everybody gains.'
Arrayed in shawls with crystal balls, and gazing at the moons,
Wiled women tease with melodies and spooky loony tunes
While making toasts to holey ghosts on rainy day lagoons:
'Well, here's to you and others too, embedded in the dunes,
Avoid the stares, avoid the snares, avoid the veiled typhoons
And fend your way as every day, 'gainst heavy heeled dragoons.'
The birds of pray are on their way, in every beak the Word
(Of ptomaine tomes by gnarly gnomes) whose meaning is obscured;
They roost aloof on every roof, obscene but always herd,
To tell the tale of Jonah's whale and other rhymes absurd -
With shifty eyes, they're giving whys for living life deferred.
While jackals lean, hyenas mean, and hungry crocodiles
Feast in the lounge and never scrounge, lambs languish in the aisle.
The naive dare to say 'unfair, let's try to reconcile.
We'll all relax and weigh the facts, let justice spin the dial.'
With jaundiced monks and minds pre-shrunk, the jury is compiled.
The Rulers meet, First Ladies greet, the Kings appear in style.
Before the Court, their sins are short, they're swept into a pile;
With diatribes and petty bribes, the jurors are beguiled.
The Herd entreats, the Shepherd bleats the verdict of the trial:
'You have no face. Stay in your place, stay in the Rank and File.
And wait instead, for when you're dead, for riches after while';
Aristocrats add caveats while sailing down the Nile:
'If Minds are mugged or simply drugged with philtres in a vial,
Then few indeed will fail to feed the Pharaoh's Crocodile.'
The wordsmiths spin, the bankers grin and politicians smile,
The riff and raff, they never laugh, they mark a martyred mile.
The rituals are finished, all, here comes the Reverent Priest.
He leads the crowds beneath the clouds, and there the flock is fleeced
With crossing signs and bloody wines and consecrated yeast,
'The last are first, the rich are cursed.' (The leached remain the least.)
His step is gay without dismay before his evening feast;
He thanks the Lord for room and board and bows to Eden East;
He doesn't sigh or wonder why the sins have not decreased.
The sinking sun is now undone, the sky is fading red.
A spider black hides in a crack and spins a silken thread
And babes will soon collapse and swoon, on curbs they call a bed;
With vacant eyes they fantasize and dream of gingerbread,
And then are freed, though still in need, from anguish of the dead.
While midnight bats are gnawing gnats and feasting free unseen,
A toddler's fed from garbage sheds an elegant cuisine.
Along the trails in distant dales a lonesome wolverine
Feigns appetite on fogy nights and days of crystalline.
The circus gongs excite the throngs in nighttime Never Land -
They swarm to see the destiny of Freaks at their command,
While Acrobats step pitapat across the shifting sands
And Lady Fat adores her cat and oozes charm unplanned.
The Dwarfs in suits, so small and cute when marching with the band,
Ask crimson Clowns with painted frowns, to lend a mutant hand,
While Tamers' whips with withered tips, throughout the winter land,
Lure minds entranced through hoops enhanced with flames of fires fanned.
White Elephants in big-top tents sell black tusk contraband
To Sycophants in regiments who overflow the stands,
But No One sees anomalies, and No One understands.
At night's demise, the dither dies, the lonely Crowd disbands,
Down dead-end streets the Horde retreats, their threadbare rags in strands,
And Janes and Joes reweave their woes, for thoughts of change are banned.
The Monk of Mock has fled the flock caught knocking up a tween
(She brought to light the special rite he thought to leave unseen) .
With profaned eyes they agonise, their souls no more serene
And at the shrine the flutes of wine are filled with kerosene
By men unkempt who once had dreamt but now can dream no more
Except when bellowed bellies belch an ever growing roar,
Which churns the seas and stirs a breeze that mercy can't ignore,
And in the night, though filled with fright, they try to end the War.
The slow and quick are hurling bricks and fight with clubs of rage
To break the chains and cleanse the stains of life within a cage,
But yield to stings of armoured things that crush in every age.
At crack of dawn, a broken pawn, in pools of blood and fire,
He washes wounds, in blood festooned - the waves flow nigh and nigher;
The ghetto towns are burning down - the flames grow high and higher -
And in their wake, a golden snake is rising from the pyre,
Her knees are bare, consumed in prayer, applauded by the Friar.
And soon it's clear the end is near - while magpie birds conspire,
The lowly worm is made to squirm while dangling from a wire.
The line was crossed, the battle lost, the losers can't deny,
The residues are far and few, though smoke pervades the sky.
The cool wind's cruel, a cutting tool, the vanquished ask it 'Why? ',
And bittersweet, from Easy Street, the Pashas' puffed reply:
'The rules are set, so don't forget, the rabble will comply;
The grapes of wrath may make you laugh, the day you are to die.'
The down and out, they knock about beneath the barren skies
Where homeward bound, without a sound, a wretched raven flies.
Beyond the Walls, the morning calls the newborn sun to rise,
And Peter Pan, a broken man, he tilts his head and cries.
poem by Terry O'Leary
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Free Verse
I admire all the aims of Free Verse,
‘tis explicit in all that I do
in shaping the stress to converse
with a rhyme-scheme restricted to two.
That I stay with this number is true, -
a linguistic abuse, maybe worse,
how it weighs and encumbers the view! -
but French art needs its aid, though perverse.
Else the Muse would be dumb to a curse,
for to accent, the lingo’s deaf too, -
though what can one do? All’s averse
to fantasy rhyme calls on cue!
May Free Verse’s aims bring joy unto
the young sparks who chance meanings coerce -
whose mental gymnastics’ fun value
is the fire to inspire hopes they’d nurse.
They’re young colts who green pastures traverse
with gravity worthy their virtue,
though mad they’re superb, and no hearse
they’d inherit! Free Verse tempts! You too?
poem by Paul Verlaine, translated by Jonathan Robin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Ballade of Ultimate Necessity, An Encore - Parody Author Unknown
You ask again, I'm feeling even worse,
again the morning mail has brought more bills,
their influence on mind I find perverse
while work falls kind of outside all my skills.
The sinews stiffen, blood once warm soon chills,
with checkbook cancelled, debts the soul submerse,
one cannot bless these monetary ills,
and therefore compensate with this poor verse.
The times are bleak, I cannot reimburse,
the bank foreclosure cries, with fear instills.
The world’s a stage but aptly who’d rehearse,
though roles are many, all the bitter pills
to swallow when one’s pale about the gills
and grievance nurse from cradle to the hearse
as what is given, - Time takes back and kills –
which we anticipate in further verse.
In days of old when bard could gold disburse,
and magic casements oped on sunny rills,
the happy mind could roam with ample purse,
and feathered nest. ... The flight of fancy fills
a further page for sharpening Life’s quills
before to earth it tumbles with a curse
ere butter melts in mouth, before milk spills.
ENVOI
Time smiles, the sickle rises, then it kills.
The scene, once acted out, none may reverse.
The world spins onwards, careless of Man’s wills, -
I cannot find the will to write more verse!
poem by Jonathan Robin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Perverse Poem
................................................. ...........The
diversity in imagination, while fully awake, is but a fractional
inverse of the degree of freedom available to the dreamer. Sadly this
adversely impinges on aspects of creativity. Reason is our
reimbursement for the loss. An ideal state, is to hover magically
immersed in semi-dream, directing the show, yet still believing. But
transverse strictures of habit cast a net by day and bind me to
nursery rhyme simplicity in poetry. Of course, far
worse than dullness would be madness. Yet, there exists between
obverse and reverse maybe, a place where wild plots spring
unrehearsed. Dallying here, my goal would be to
traverse strange terrains with brevity, since the
converse of pedantry is pith. But I'm
submersed in wishful thinking. Time to
purse petulant lips then, and spit
subversive wit knit grit- stop!
Curse this rhyme-riddled mind.
Coerce fixed neurons
averse to change.
Disperse with
terse, taut
verse.
poem by Diane Hine
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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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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Am I prejudiced?
I am a slave to poetry.
I do not wish to be set free
a willing prisoner happily.
Constrained by strict parameters.
Which form the rules for formal verse,
to discipline I’m not averse.
Though modernists all claim to be
Poets. I find I can’t agree.
Their work has small appeal for me.
I can’t commit to memory
One single piece of free form verse.
In my opinion even worse
they are deliberately perverse.
Delighting in obscurity
contemptuous of clarity.
Yet still they claim it’s poetry.
9-Oct-07
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Old Shanty Town
With the heat of the sun,
As it fiercely beats down,
There's no shade to be won,
In this old Shanty Town.
The rough row of shacks,
To be seen up and down,
Are riddled with cracks,
In this old Shanty town.
The winds, blowing hard,
Send the tumbleweed down,
To take over a graveyard,
In this old Shanty Town.
And weird echoes resound,
Through doors broken down,
And no welcome is found,
In this old Shanty Town.
Once a horse and its rider,
Came sauntering down,
In the hope of cool cider,
In this old Shanty Town.
That's when there were folk,
Who walked up and down,
And slept and awoke,
In this old Shanty Town.
But these times have flown,
And it's drab and rundown,
And one's all on one's own,
In this old Shanty Town.
poem by Ernestine Northover
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
As your body floats down third street
With the burn-smell factory closing up
Yes its sad to say you will romanticize
All the things youve known before
It was not not not so great
It was not not not so great
And as you take a bath in that beaten path
Theres a pounding at the door
Well its a mighty zombie talking of some love and posterity
He says the good old days never say good-bye
If you keep this in your mind:
You need some lo-lo-loving arms
You need some lo-lo-loving arms
And as you fall from grace the only words you say are
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Ads up in the subway are the work of someone
Trying to please their boss
And though the guys a pig we all know what he wants
Is just to please somebody else
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
It would be a better thing for everyone involved
And we wouldnt have to cry
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Memo to myself: do the dumb things I gotta do
Touch the puppet head
Quit my job down at the carwash
Didnt have to write no-one a good-bye note
That said, the checks in the mail, and
Ill see you in church, and dont you ever change
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
Ill see you after school
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Inside The Puppet Head
As your body floats down third street
With the burn-smell factory closing up
Yes its sad to say you will romanticize
All the things youve known before
It was not not not so great
It was not not not so great
And as you take a bath in that beaten path
Theres a pounding at the door
Well its a mighty zombie talking of some love and posterity
He says the good old days never say good-bye
If you keep this in your mind:
You need some lo-lo-loving arms
You need some lo-lo-loving arms
And as you fall from grace the only words you say are
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Ads up in the subway are the work of someone
Trying to please their boss
And though the guys a pig we all know what he wants
Is just to please somebody else
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
It would be a better thing for everyone involved
And we wouldnt have to cry
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Memo to myself: do the dumb things I gotta do
Touch the puppet head
Quit my job down at the carwash
Didnt have to write no-one a good-bye note
That said, the checks in the mail, and
Ill see you in church, and dont you ever change
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
Ill see you after school
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Infuse Life To Fly
The poet can take particle to the sky
And may infuse life in death to fly
Vicious verse will declare him a sly.
As long as there is glow in the sun
Poetry will keep the lives full of fun
Lovers of poetry exclaim “Well done! ”
Mind your words are lovely dark and deep
Welfare of the human beings do keep
Lofty thoughts of no use if sigh and weep
Mind over words as mirror of your thought
Vision, mission or poison have wrought
Let your readers never feel thoughts were bought
Vice or virtue boldly mark your verse
Metaphor or similes utter in terse
Grand style with cynicism is source of curse
Let not take the help of sacred poetry
To prove right injustice and bigotry
It is poet’s poetry to show gallantry
Who is in the world to protect poetry?
As we define it – is the voice of God
Time fears absence of essence calls it fraud.
Farce words, lewd thoughts seem shocking banality
Ribald passion eclipses its vitality
Need tempest to uproot urge of new gen with agility
Display your thoughts of a fragrant vase
That soothes the mind glare smile on the face
Such sorts of verve harbinger of grace.
poem by Shujaat Hussain
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Talking To The Universe
Hey, yoko!
Imagine a grapefruit and squeeze it on me.
Ah!
You say mustnt do this and that,
You say cant do this and that
While youre losing your pants in a bullet-proof car,
Losing your hair in a downtown bar.
Oh, forget it, just forget it,
Its the curse, youre my curse, it could be worse.
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Ooh - listen!
You say mustnt have this and that,
You say cant have this and that
While youre losing your apple and squeezing our balls,
Losing your mind and crawling up the walls.
Oh, forget it, just forget it,
Its the curse, youre my curse, it could be worse.
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Ooh -
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Ooh - listen!
Ooh -
Oh yeah, do you wanna touch me, oh yeah
Do you wanna break your mind, boy?
?
Youre a dildo, Im a whore,
Im a barbie, youre a hore.
Living in a glass house, having fun,
Lying in a glass house watching the sun.
Forget it, just forget it,
Its the curse, you are my curse, it could be worse.
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Im just talking to the universe,
Ooh -
Ooh -
Ooh -
Ooh -
Ooh -
Ooh -.......
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Curse
What if for you, I could place a curse
Upon your enemy to make his life worse
To have him suffer both in pain and woe
Wouldn't you be happy, if I would do so,
If you like it, I could cause him to lose his hair
Or I could have him believe GOD is not there
I could rip out his tongue so he could never speak
Then asking for help, he could never seek,
Wouldn't you be happy if I would curse your foe
Just nod your head and I will strike the blow
I will cause him suffering and I will give him pain
He will lose all that he has and he will go insane,
I could close his ears so he could not hear
So he couldn't hear the joy, but see only the tear
If you ask me I could even curse his arm
And the one that he had left he could do no harm,
I could even curse him to lose his leg
Wouldn't you be happy to see him crawl and beg
I could even blind him so he will not see again
Then I could make him angry and cause him to sin,
Just tell me what type of curse you'd like it to be
And happily I will place it upon your enemy
If you would like it, I could have him dead
But only if you asked me for a curse on his head.
Then I looked upon evils ugly face
I shook my head with pity and utter disgrace
As for your offer presented to me, it I will shun
And for enemies and foes, thank GOD I choose none.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Vainly Irreverent
So many words used in vain, especially, God's Awesome Name,
For God doesn't damn things, as an empty phrase of man rings,
He damns nations and countries, all the lands found in the seas,
And the peoples in each land, who against God take their stand.
This goes with 'Oh My God', in spiritually empty lands men trod,
An empty phrase used by people, even in houses with a steeple,
Dismissing reverence for His Name, as it's used so often in vain,
Unpunished, men shall not be, for using God's Name irreverently.
Such is the mindset of today, knowing not what God has to say,
Or know not God's Only Son, or that soon to earth He will come;
So the vanity gets even worse, when using His Name as a curse,
And not used simply by a few, but even by men like me and you.
Hell even used as an interjection, is just more of man's rejection,
Of The Lord God's ultimate Truth, of which, they will see reproof,
Dismissing Truths in God's Word, all their rejection isn't unheard,
By The Lord God, Who is over all, lands and men, big and small.
According to God's Revelation, He'll judge every man and nation,
By the authority of God's Own Son, Who came to save everyone,
As all who have come to Christ, shall be ushered into Eternal Life,
But all talking irreverently of God, will see judgment with His Rod.
Look To You
Look to you
I sit and stare but my vision is blurry
I settle down to gaze but my eyes see not what's clear
They are drowned and drenched in the tears from deep within
Tears of the pain and sorrow of my broken heart
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall
All the kings' horses and all the kings' men couldn't put humpty back together again
Ashley's heart sat on a wall, my heart in one lifetime took a great blow
No king's horses, no kings men but you alone ohh God put it back together again
So I know even a blind man can my eyes" I'll look to you
A friend loves at all times, a brother is born for adversity
If you hear not these words, let me say it again
A friend shows their love at all time, true relatives share the troubles
But who are my friends
When the ones who claim to love me leave as soon as trouble rings the door bell
Are we related ye scribes and Pharisees when you leave me on the road to die
Or maybe my blood is linked to the "sinner' who saved me, the Samaritan who came to help me
Not because I deserve it but because God loved me
So I'll live and say "ohh God I'll look to you"
I take a seat to reflect on life but it never seems to add up
I lie down to clear my head and hear my thoughts
But they sound like the nonsense I heard from people
Echoes and noisy gongs but empty sounds
I wish they made sense but they never do
Self centered, minds made up, hearts deceived
I'll shake my head for none of it makes sense but even when none of this makes
I'll open your word for I know it will make sense
So I'll look to you
poem by Sir T.A.E.P.S
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Bible Verse
I asked the child why did she curse
Her answer was, she knew not a Bible verse
She never went to church or knew how to say a prayer
So all that she knew, was how to curse and swear,
I was told that her mother had taught her well
But never taught her about heaven or even hell
And all that she knew is from what she had read
While listening to the words that her mother had said.
I asked the child why did she lie
Her response to me, it is better than to cry
As things got bad and then they turned worse
That's all that she knew, and she knew not a Bible verse,
Her mother had told her the things not to do
But then they differed from other's points of view
And all the child knew was from what she had seen
As she watched her mother, which was unforeseen.
I asked the child why did she steal
Taking from others for a terrible ordeal
She answered me, as she placed the goods in her purse
'It is the way that I am', and I know not of a Bible verse
Someday soon I will probably smoke and drink
Spoke the child to me as she began to think
But then am I not the girl that my mother did raise
And every day to my mother, I give her praise.
I asked the child why did she fight
She then said to me, it's better than being polite
Her mother's honor again she had to defend
And fighting is all that she could comprehend
So the child then wiped the pain off of her face
As she slowly walked away in sadness and disgrace
The last thing she said to me as we did converse
She said, I truly wish that I knew a Bible verse.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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When you 'LOVE' to hurt
Anguish and pain revolts feelings the keep us emotionally insane. We find ourselves inlove and yet nothing to gain. Heartache and abhorrence that lead us astray. Subconciously I've met you in a parallel universe, were you and I are inlove yet in reality in reverse. Our love is dead, re-defined death see it pass with a hearse. At once you stole my heart like a thief and a purse. I guess if I was still happy I wouldn't be writting this verse. They say never think with your brain think with your heart, its a pity ones heart doesn't consist of a brain. Ironically I'm dying and you are the one keeping me alive. I'm stuck within my own mind, in retrospect I'm in a votex that has swollowed my life. Tears dripping down my face your can't see them through this mask, or is because emotionally I'm in a cask, or just bleeding inside. How can one win a war when they haven't started to fight. NO! , I'm sorry, you can never gain anything from a fight. Hence my love for you has gone below like. I can't hurt no more all for the sake of love. I can't hurt no more, at times love is just not enough. I loved you once, no doubt, not anymore I just can't. When you LOVE to hurt, you realize how much it hurts to love.
poem by Kgagamatso Chimelwane
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hear My Call
Hear my call i am crying
it feels like my heart is slowly dying
i know im loved but some times its like they are lying
i am burning and bleeding infront of their eyes
this is why i cannot utter the words goodbye
standing here crying with a flame in my hand
and a flame in my heart
but everyone i love is ripping me appart
like a fresh flesh wound my wrists bleed
my broken heart increases pulsing speed
nothing is going right
everything is going wrong
even that shooting star cant help
i come to find everything happends for a reason
even when everything is messed up and stays that way
there is no such thing as a perfect happy day
people die all over so for some people in the world
everything seems hopless
everything seems dead
and people say its all in there head
it isnt its all around
its like getting lost and never being found
and as my heart starts to pound
everyone gets these feelings
everything goes around
its not just carma
some times things just happen
weather it is for betteror for worse
even the best of us feel like this
but there is always someone worse off then you
no matter how you look at it
life is like being bit
it could heal and be good
or it can get infected and be bad
all you need is someone there
to hold you up so you dont fall
teach you how to walk
teach you how to crawl
and everything else in life
but some times all someone could have
is themselves and they learn things the hard way on their own
they are people too and they have a heart and soul
just like everyone else
so now matter how you look at it things can be diferent
or just stay the same but really for the bad no ones to blame
and stuff may never change but always keep the ones you love close
and keep your head held high and i promise everything will be something
so treasure everyday, everysecond and every moment on this earth
no matter who you are, how bad your life is or how bad you feel
cuz one day could be your last
treasure every pleasure, moment and joy
hear my call i have spoken out
poem by Sandy Vanity
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Be Gentle With Words
Anger is directly proportional to the opponent
Yes it’s true we fight with the feeble
Today I saw this man shout and curse
I have known him for years, he is a rat
Only can speak behind peoples back
His gestures now is forever worse
Why can’t people control anger when put to test
Hurting words, that you can never reverse
Why can’t we be gentle with words than curse?
Control your anger for its nothing great
Hold back your anger for it’ll only break
Let the fragrance of our words, spread as rose
poem by Jibin Joseph
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Drunkard's Funeral
"Yes," said the sister with the little pinched face,
The busy little sister with the funny little tract: —
"This is the climax, the grand fifth act.
There rides the proud, at the finish of his race.
There goes the hearse, the mourners cry,
The respectable hearse goes slowly by.
The wife of the dead has money in her purse,
The children are in health, so it might have been worse.
That fellow in the coffin led a life most foul.
A fierce defender of the red bar-tender,
At the church he would rail,
At the preacher he would howl.
He planted every deviltry to see it grow.
He wasted half his income on the lewd and the low.
He would trade engender for the red bar-tender,
He would homage render to the red bar-tender,
And in ultimate surrender to the red bar-tender,
He died of the tremens, as crazy as a loon,
And his friends were glad, when the end came soon.
There goes the hearse, the mourners cry,
The respectable hearse goes slowly by.
And now, good friends, since you see how it ends,
Let each nation-mender flay the red bar-tender, —
Abhor
The transgression
Of the red bar-tender, —
Ruin
The profession
Of the red bar-tender:
Force him into business where his work does good.
Let him learn how to plough, let him learn to chop wood,
Let him learn how to plough, let him learn to chop wood.
"The moral,
The conclusion,
The verdict now you know:—
'The saloon must go,
The saloon must go,
The saloon,
The saloon,
The saloon,
Must go.'"
"You are right, little sister," I said to myself,
"You are right, good sister," I said.
"Though you wear a mussy bonnet
On your little gray head,
You are right, little sister," I said.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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