The shortest poem
The poem arrives in the middle of the street
It travels across the lines that should be crossed
It moves blindly absent of danger
Avoiding the warnings
Stepping out at the red light
Side stepping into side streets
Finding a secret turning
The poem travels the distance of the sun
Lifting clouds apart
Cartwheeling in parks
It feeds the grass under tired feet
It sings on the swings
where the children are playing
It sits silently down
Beside an old lady praying
It is in the hands you have shaken
The smiles you have taken
From a stranger
It arrives unexpectedly
Without looking
It leaves unseen
By the back door
It is in the gift of one day
Soon passed
It is the love that goes on living
Peace that will last
poem by Yvette Smith
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Traveller
Reply to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘He travels the fastest who travels alone.’
Who travels alone with his eye on the heights,
Though he laughs in the day time oft weeps on the nights;
For courage goes down at the set of the sun,
When the toil of the journey is all borne by one.
He speeds but to grief though full gaily he ride
Who travels alone without love at his side.
Who travels alone without lover of friend
But hurries from nothing, to naught at the end.
Though great be his winnings and high be his goal,
He is bankrupt in wisdom and beggared in soul.
Life’s one gift of value to him is denied
Who travels alone without love at his side.
It is easy enough in this world to make haste
If one live for that purpose – but think of the waste;
For life is a poem to leisurely read,
And the joy of the journey lies not in its speed.
Oh! vain his achievement and petty his pride
Who travels alone without love at his side.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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True Love Travels On A Gravel Road (Takes 6,7)
How many girls choose cotton dress worlds
When they could have satins and lace
And stand by her man, never once letting shade touch her face
How many hearts could live through all the winters
We've known and still not be cold
True love travels on a gravel road.
Love is a stranger and hearts are in danger
All through streets paved with gold
For true love travels on a gravel road.
Down through the years we've had hard times and tears
But they only helped our love grow
And we'll stay together no matter how strong the wind blows
Not once have I seen your blue eyes filled with envy
Or stray from the one that you hold
Oh true love travels on a gravel road.
Love is a stranger and hearts are in danger
All through streets paved with gold
For true love travels on a gravel road.
Yeah, true love travels on a gravel road. Mmmm
True love travels on a gravel road.
True love travels on a gravel road.
song performed by by Elvis Presley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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True Love Travels On A Gravel Road
(words & music by frazier - owens)
How many girls choose cotton dress worlds
When they could have satins and lace
And stand by her man, never once letting shade touch her face
How many hearts could live through all the winters
Weve known and still not be cold
True love travels on a gravel road.
Love is a stranger and hearts are in danger
All through streets paved with gold
For true love travels on a gravel road.
Down through the years weve had hard times and tears
But they only helped our love grow
And well stay together no matter how strong the wind blows
Not once have I seen your blue eyes filled with envy
Or stray from the one that you hold
Oh true love travels on a gravel road.
Love is a stranger and hearts are in danger
All through streets paved with gold
For true love travels on a gravel road.
Yeah, true love travels on a gravel road. mmmm
True love travels on a gravel road.
True love travels on a gravel road.
song performed by by Elvis Presley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Okaerinasai
this is the stranger
dusty face and muddy
feet
caulked
he still holds the key
to the old room
his room
opens it
he was away for months
his dog is dead
inside the bathroom
the whole house
stinks
all lines are cut off
it is dark
he arrives at night
dogs are howling
the trees have no leaves
the winds are cold
the path is
grassy and wild
the squirrels left
when he arrives
nuts
the rats stand at
the door watching
his every move
there is a mirror
at the veranda
at the side of the
door
it is hazy
it could be me
in this
horrible
thought
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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About the War Poem
This poem is about
The impossibility of writing
A poem about the war
Now don't go getting disappointed
You probably know everything
You really need to know
About the war
There's nothing more a poem could tell
Than what's in the lines of the dailies
That you read between so carefully
Nothing I could show you
That you haven't seen already
In your nightmare dreams or when
Your eyes are open
Nor could I shed enlightenment
On all the things we may not be
At liberty to mention
The silent tortured prisoners
Assassinations, smears and lies
And all the secret crimes
You know are passing by
There are some more events of war
Give me a minute to recall
I'm a little sleep-deprived
I learned with snakes and scorpions
Don't threaten them or step on them
It works with all kinds of people too
I know there is no other side
Everyone is born a child
The other side is only in the mind
I hear justice is on our side
It's somewhere here apparently
Check in your back pocket for me please
Well if it could, the poem would claim -
Before the subject's forced to change -
That peace is firmly on our side
Peace, well there's a useful thought.
I'm sure that we all could run with that.
This is no more a poem
About a poem about the war.
poem by Frank Bana
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Im Stepping Out
Woke up this morning blues around my head
No need to ask the reason why
Went to the kitchen and lit a cigarette
Blew my worries to the sky
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
If it dont feel right you dont have to do it
Just leave a message on the phone and tell them to screw it
After all is said and done you cant go pleasin everyone
So screw it...
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
Im stepping out baby
Im stepping out
Babys sleeping the cats have all been blessed
Aint nothing doing on tv (summer repeats)
Put on my space suit I got to look my best
Im going out to do the city
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
Im stepping out babe
Im stepping out (boogie)
Im stepping out (hold it down)
Im stepping out
Im stepping out
Gotta gotta gotta gotta get out
Im stepping out babe
Just awhile
Aint been out for days...
song performed by by Lennon John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Stepping Stones
Baby youve been up, broken down
Every man knows your name in this whole damn town
In every bar they know your drink, what should I think
I turned around to look and you gave some dude a wink
I thought Id be happy with a woman like you,
But you walked on my pride and my manhood too
I dont know too much but one thing I know
A man stuck on you is like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
What you forgot to mention, what was your real intention
Did you want a man to love, or someone to prop and carry you up
To a higher status, but the matter of fact is, your detachment
Will bring you further down and now youre all used up
Dont bother coming round
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Well, I remember back to waht you put me thru
I keep thinking to myself
Whats wrong with you
Aint it enough to have a man for a lover and a friend
Tear him up and leave him when the moneys spent
Well, youre just like delilah sittin in her den
You take the strongest man and break em down again
But I have gained some knowledge
Go on pack your things and move back to college
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
Because you keep using me like a stepping stone
song performed by by G. Love & Special Sauce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Poem About The Poem About The Poem
THE POEM ABOUT THE POEM ABOUT THE POEM
The poem about the poem about the poem
Written in dream
And forgotten in sleep
Comes back to me slowly now
As if it had been away on a long long journey
And is reluctant to come home-
I write it
But it really writes me
And when I try to make sense of what it means
It tells me its ambiguities
Are more important and interesting
Than my clarity-
The poem about the poem about the poem
Written now
May not be a poem about a poem about a poem at all
But may merely be my own playing with words
Which take the place in my life
Of really living-
A poem about a poem about a poem?
Surely this is a mysterious thing
If it exists at all.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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To A Friend On The Other Side Of The Earth...
you write and i listen to each word.
you are faraway. You speak in repetitive lines.
there are standards of art.
a poem must be so and so. so does a short story.
unity of plot, choice of words,
fixing the mood and
fortifying the contextual feel.
you are mumbling poetry in winter
inside a train that travels on a speed greater than light.
tomorrow it will be at ten in the morning
when the bullet arrives at its destination
you write.... breathtaking views, flashes of memories.
i listen to a chant. i chant myself.
speaking to speaking speaking.
we are all alone. yet we cope up without any
help from them, damn carpets and
dripping roofs.
whether what you write is poetry or prose
it is not important anymore.
you are a poem that i care for.
i do not know you but there is a shadow
it is enough for me.
damn biters. damn arrivals.
i do the same. Sit back and write.
senselessly. desperately seeking what we still do not know.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
You're trying to make your mark in society
Using all the tricks that you used on me.
You're reading all those high fashion magazines
The clothes you're wearin' girl are causing public scenes.
I said
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
Not your stepping stone,
Not your stepping stone.
When I first met you girl you didn't have no shoes
Now you're walking 'round like you're front page news.
You've been awful careful 'bout the friends you choose
But you won't find my name in your book of Who's Who.
I said
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
I I I I I'm not your stepping stone
Not your stepping stone,
Not your stepping stone
song performed by by Monkees
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Poem Is Just A Poem
a poem is just a poem and if it is just a poem
it must be just a poem just like another poem
a poem is nothing but just a poem otherwise
it cannot be my poem; it may speak about
anything, or something, or about everything,
but my poem is just a poem just like anybody's
poem, which is just but a poem, like any other
poem, for a poem to be a poem it must just be
a poem: it has nothing to do with my love, and death
my life, or bliss, but as i have told you, once, twice
thrice, eat some rice, and be that wise, a poem is
just a poem, just like your poem. Why do you insist
on asking, what is happening to me? I am not a
poem, for i am but just the composer of the poem,
need i tell you again, that a poem is just a poem?
just like any other poem, which is just a poem
it is just a voice in my head that i have heard
someone comes and speaks and i listen so
this poem is not actually my poem but the poem
of someone else's: theirs not mine, from a mind.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stranger
(clarke / sylvester / hicks)
Down down down town, east side of the river
Bowery boys are living off the street
There stands a stranger all dressed in black
Hes looking for someone - hes gonna knife em in the back
Hit man, g-man, con man, watch it man, he might be from the cia
Sneaky petes using his feet, getting off the street cos
Hes got something to hide
Danger, theres a stranger
Intruding in your own backyard
But stranger, theres a danger
Dont come across nobody hard
So tough mixing it rough down in harlem
Theres no honky boys for miles around
But theres that stranger all dressed in white
Hes looking for someone
Hes gonna show em the light, yeah
Hes gonna show em the light, oh yeah
Dont feel safe using the face of fifth avenue
Pin stripe suits aint no disguise if youre not a man thats true
Hit man, g-man, con man, watch it man, he might be from the cia
Sneaky petes using his feet, getting off the street cos
Hes got something to hide
Chorus
song performed by by Hollies
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Steppin' Stone
(i'm not your) steppin' stone
By tommy boyce and bobby hart
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
You're trying to make your mark in society
Your using all the tricks that you used on me.
You're reading all them high fashion magazines
The clothes you're wearin' girl are causing public scenes.
I said
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
Not your stepping stone,
Not your stepping stone.
When i first met you girl you didn't have no shoes
Now you're walking 'round like you're front page news.
You've been awful careful 'bout the friends you choose
But you won't find my name in your book of who's who.
I said
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
I i i i i'm not your stepping stone
Not your stepping stone,
Not your stepping stone.
song performed by by Monkees
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Im Stepping Out
A one, a two, a one, two, three, four!
This here is the story about a househusband who, you know,
Just want to get out of the house, has been looking at you,
You, know, the kids, days and days, hes been watching the
Kitchen and screwing around or whatever it has to be till
Hes gone crazy!
Woke up this morning, blues around my head.
No need to ask the reason why.
Went to the kitchen and lit a cigarette,
Blew my worries to the sky.
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, yeh!
If it dont feel right, you dont have to do it.
Just leave a message on the phone and tell them to screw it.
And after all is said and done,
You cant go pleasin evryone so screw it.
Uh-uh-uh,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, baby,
Im stepping out.
Babys sleeping, the cats have all been blessed,
Aint nothing doing on tv. (some old repeat!)
Put on my spacesuit, I got to look my best,
Im going out to do the city.
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, babe,
Im stepping out.
Boogie!
One more!
Im stepping out, hold it down,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta get out!
Im stepping out, babe, just for a while.
Aint been out for days! got to do it tonight!
Give me a break! give me a break! gotta get out!
Gotta get out!
Just for a while, just for the night.
Ill be in before one, or two, or three.
Goodbye.
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Im Stepping Out
A one, a two, a one, two, three, four!
This here is the story about a househusband who, you know,
Just want to get out of the house, has been looking at you,
You, know, the kids, days and days, hes been watching the
Kitchen and screwing around or whatever it has to be till
Hes gone crazy!
Woke up this morning, blues around my head.
No need to ask the reason why.
Went to the kitchen and lit a cigarette,
Blew my worries to the sky.
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, yeh!
If it dont feel right, you dont have to do it.
Just leave a message on the phone and tell them to screw it.
And after all is said and done,
You cant go pleasin evryone so screw it.
Uh-uh-uh,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, baby,
Im stepping out.
Babys sleeping, the cats have all been blessed,
Aint nothing doing on tv. (some old repeat!)
Put on my spacesuit, I got to look my best,
Im going out to do the city.
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out, babe,
Im stepping out.
Boogie!
One more!
Im stepping out, hold it down,
Im stepping out,
Im stepping out,
Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta get out!
Im stepping out, babe, just for a while.
Aint been out for days! got to do it tonight!
Give me a break! give me a break! gotta get out!
Gotta get out!
Just for a while, just for the night.
Ill be in before one, or two, or three.
Goodbye.
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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For a Lost Poem
Dedicated to the poem 'Moon Light' that was written a few years back.
For a Lost Poem
A poem written long ago –
disappeared on the face of the earth
as if it never existed – but somewhere
beyond this skyline it did;
where the moon sits, and shines its light –
this poem has been erased from history,
from where it was put into storage.
Oh poem, I feel a loss for you!
Where have you gone? Oh where have you gone?
Moon Light, once many people read,
and praised me for such delicacy,
now she is gone too.
As if death has to come with:
the darkening sky, oh ye poem –
ye selfless poem come back and
let the light shine upon you.
A poem has gone, but where?
poem by Celine Berghmans
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Poem Of The Sea Is For Me in Tel Aviv Today
THE POEM OF THE SEA IS FOR ME IN TEL AVIV TODAY
BET CHOL HAMOED PESACH 5762
The poem of the sea is for me today
The poem of longing and beauty
It is the poem of light
Of distance
It is the poem of waves unceasing
And colors dreaming their changes faster than they can be named-
The poem of the sea is for me
On this day
A poem of return and happiness
A poem of being with my family-
It is too a poem of memories
How thirty- five years ago just beginning
I came to the same sea alone
And wondered how
If I would ever have a family of my own
Then young in love
And later losing love
And then returning alone
And now again here
With a daughter her husband and my granddaughter
The poem of the sea is for me
On this day
A poem of Love and Gratitude to God
Of longing and beauty of light of distance
And happiness.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Vagabond by Meena Mustafa
Ask the one who travels
What he seeks to find?
He roams the naked earth
To find his peace of mind.
Tortured and torn from reality
He packs his bag and leaves…
On a journey to nowhere
Where he can find his peace
He is a Vagabond…
Who roams through the streets at night
In dirty old jeans and a can of beer
For he has no guiding light
He looks shabby and haggard
His hair looks like straw
His over grown beard and mustache
Is now an attention to draw;
A wanderer and a loner
Who plays on the harp
Gathering pennies by his songs
That comes from his heart
Home is now that stretches
Miles far away…
On his feet he travels, and then ends his day.
poem by Meena Mustafa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Walk And Wait For A Poem
I WALK AND WAIT FOR A POEM
I walk and wait for a poem
What else do I have but a poem?
The schoolchildren by the side of the road
Are helped by their father into the car.
Yeats had ‘schoolchildren’ in his poem-
But I am not Yeats.
I stop and write these lines down
A poem is not enough
A small poor poem
Is not enough.
But what else do I have but a small poor poem
And the memory of my children
The children I love so much-
When they were schoolchildren
So long long ago?
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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This is a poem....
This isn't a poem of one direction,
This is a poem about perfection.
This isn't a poem about who won the election,
This is a poem about correction.
This isn't a poem of getting it right,
This is a poem of standing up to fight.
This isn't a poem of being lost like a kite,
This is a poem about trying to find the light.
This isn't a poem of running tears,
This is a poem about chasing your fears.
This isn't a poem of love and hate,
This is a poem of destiny and fate.
This isn't a poem of the end,
This is a poem of a heart unable to mend.
This isn't a poem of cruilty and pain,
This is a poem of a thng i need to gain.
This isn't a poem of shame,
This is a poem of fame.
Thsi isn't a poem of the life i let loose,
THIS IS A POEM OF THE TRUTH.
poem by Tammie LilAimo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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