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Best Poems Written by Michael Wise

Below are the all-time best Michael Wise poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Michael Wise Poem

If God Gives Me Tomorrow

If God gives me tomorrow
I'll try to stop crying
unlike this dark night
where I fear that I'm dying

If He gives me tomorrow
I'll let go of today
I'll hold onto the good things
and the rest throw away

In the grass I'll walk barefoot
and make friends with a bird
A deaf ear I shall turn to
any harsh, evil word

I will look through the skin
to search out the soul
for therein lie the treasures
that make someone whole

If God gives me tomorrow
a new song shall I sing
with the heavenly choirs
our voices will ring

Won't waste time with worry
and neither will fret
No more whiling my hours
in pools of regret

Each day is a do-over
a brand new start
to expressing your love
and unlocking your heart

So much to accomplish
new seed to be sown
in ground lying fallow
where good crops are grown

I'll do what I can
to ease someone's sorrow
by sharing a smile ~

if God gives me tomorrow

Details | Michael Wise Poem

Cyber Life

The little mouse is scrolling
as the ocean waves are rolling
and they beckon me to come down to the sea

The screen before me glowing
while outside the flowers growing
have a fragrance that is calling out to me

The keyboard keeps me busy
at the same time I am dizzy
yet the birdsongs out my window sound so sweet

While the gigabytes are loading
my poor eyeballs are exploding
and the circulation doesn’t reach my feet

One last video, I say
then another makes its way
interrupting my intentions to go out

One more minute, then I’ll quit
one more hour, here I sit
I’ve forgotten just what life is all about

There is work and there is play
but somewhere along the way
all my play times are so few and far between

Push a button, L O L
while my spirit goes to hell
as I live my cyber life upon a screen

Details | Michael Wise Poem

Press '1' For English

I grew a beard
while waiting for you
it looks more and more
like I'll never get through

My left ear was aching
I switched to my right
This perpetual holding
has no end in sight

I wish I'd have noticed
before such great cost
that your phone number spells out
800-GET-LOST

Though I pressed '1' for English
I am thinking now
pressing '12' for Braille
might work better somehow

My friends have all passed on
my children have grown
while I have been sitting here
holding this phone

Your toll-free number
is anything but
with pulse-pounding migraine
and a pain in my butt

Yes, I was clean shaven
when this number I called
but now I'm all wrinkled
and dammit I'm bald!

My bones they will find
still sitting right here
the telephone clenched
where once was my ear

And your endless recording
monotonous, dull
will be amplified through
my cold empty skull

Details | Michael Wise Poem

An Ode To Coffee

O, black and potent beverage
each morning that I rise
you give me greater leverage
you make me strong and wise

O, elixir of higher thought
rejuvenate my mind
I percolate you in my pot
through dark beans that I grind

With sugar some would sweeten you
and lighten you with cream
but black and strong will be my brew
like women in my dreams

O, steaming dark deliciousness
please keep me wide awake
and bring me higher consciousness
upon my coffee break


© Mike Wise
 3/23/14

Details | Michael Wise Poem

The Things We Gain

We overthink the things we lose
but overlook the things we gain
ever mourning fire and flood
never praising gentle rain

We sidestep blessings every day
to favor troubles with our care
like little orphans left behind
our lonely blessings languish there

Days, months and years go by
and from our minds are never far
the memories of times and things
and people that no longer are

Images of things gone by
deep within our thought life swell
but we should never stay there long
for there we are not meant to dwell

Our eyes ought never be so cast
too far behind nor far ahead
that we lose sight of what's at hand
be thankful for what's here instead

Look around and you will see
your life is graced by lovely things
no reason for the past to long
no need to fly on desperate wings

If you should think on loved ones past
remember them with joy and laughter
but for those here with you today
spare not your love which they seek after

Loved ones gone would never ask
for you to stay among the dead
the good old days were sometimes bad
you had your share of tears to shed

Wisdom never comes with youth
it's learned through years and often pain
but once you have it then you'll see
not what you've lost, but what you've gained

Details | Michael Wise Poem

A Town He Once Called Home

Like a beacon on a hill
The white church steeple gleaming still
For all the many years gone past
It marks the path for home at last

Up and down each tree-lined street
Where childhood friends and neighbors meet
In history and memories rich
The blue jays sing in perfect pitch

The corner stores of now and then
From delis to the five and ten
From music shops to shoe repair
Each one has had their moments there

Familiar faces come and go
Each one within my heart I know
From time to time they visit me
And haunt my fading memory

For some I cannot place a name
And neither had they any fame
Beyond the outskirts of the town
That beckons me to write this down

The puddingstone constructed walls
And scenic rocky waterfalls
Enhance the landscape near and far
That one can see by foot or car

Though weather-beaten and so scarred
The tressel rusting, standing guard
Above the waters down below
Through decades of the river’s flow

Another sentry stands alone
The old Arch Bridge all made of stone
To Indian Rock her pathway leads
A longtime site of teenage deeds

And there’s the Wall, still standing straight
Where people used to congregate
For kids on Main Street long ago
It used to be the place to go

Depending on your stomach’s mood
Pizza, subs or Chinese food
Will satisfy the appetite
While ice cream cones complete the night

The Darress that was once The State
That grand old theater is great
Next door you might find books of poems
Inside the library called Holmes

Nostalgic for the times I sat
Inside that corner laundromat
Across the street Martancik’s store
Had Swedish Fish and so much more

And down Division Street was Drew
That factory that we once knew
Further past that neighborhood
A Shop Rite supermarket stood

Del’s Village down to Boonton Lanes
Through winter snows and summer rains
Kindergarten to high school
The lives we lived were rich and full

In parks and playgrounds did we roam
Within this town that we called home
Imagining our childhood schemes
Adventuring by tracks and streams

How I’d love to walk once more
Inside Newberry’s corner store
I’d spend my time way in the back
With toys and models by the stack

The Boonton Opera House of old
Is where my life did first unfold
Brought up with love to grow and thrive
Since nineteen hundred sixty five

I have walked her every street
They’re etched upon my heart, so sweet
The sights and sounds of yesterday
Are with me to my dying day

Of all the lovely friends I made
Some have gone but most have stayed
Through all the years we’ve kept in touch
I love them all so very much

Somewhere, right now, a child plays
Where I once did in good old days
And soon this town shall let him see
The magic things she shared with me

And he will carry in his heart
The lovely things she did impart
Perhaps he’ll write it in a poem
About a town he once called home


© Mike Wise
11/8/18

Details | Michael Wise Poem

Nothing More To Say

I've nothing more to say
I think I've said it all
I'm out of thoughts and clever rhymes
no words I can recall

I've covered every season
of life and in the earth
I've written about love and loss
and death and even birth

I think I brought you laughter
I know I drew some tears
I've done the very best I could
recounting all the years

So is there any reason
to write another line?
Will you even take a look
or shall you just decline?

All the best is written
All the rest is done
I'm much too weary to repeat
a race already run

A hundred years from now
will my poetry be read?
Will it survive the centuries
long after I am dead?

It's not for me to know
nor do I really care
I put my words down line by line
for dreamers everywhere

I've nothing more to say
I shall not even try
and with these last few sentences
I bid you all goodbye

Details | Michael Wise Poem

This Klutz For Hire

I’ve picked it up a hundred times
yet dropped it just once more
So I give up, the blasted thing
can lay there on the floor

And stepping out onto the porch
I hit the ice and slipped
As I walked back into the house
I stubbed my toe and tripped

While dancing round in pain
I then collided with a table
For when it comes to graceful moves
I’m really quite unstable

Perhaps there is a simple way
to turn this all around
My clumsiness could work for me
each time I hit the ground

I could be a klutz for hire
stumbling for cash
I’ll charge my clients by the slip
the flip, the flop, the bash

If you need something dropped and broken
clearly I’m your man
If anyone can smash your stuff
this klutz for hire can

Perhaps you have a wall or door
that needs a good hard thump
Just be aware my going rate
is seven bucks per lump

I could knock your sister down
or trip into your aunt
Or I can make a great big mess
and kick your potted plant

And if your pets are underfoot
and adding to the drama
I’ll have to charge you extra
if I suffer blunt force trauma

There’s nothing quite as comical
and what a sight to see
as goldfish bouncing on the floor
It is my specialty

And when I fall I scream out loud
to add to the effect
I’ll see you get your money’s worth
when your whole house is wrecked

So call my number any time
My estimates are free
It’s 1-800-S T U-
M B L and E


© Mike Wise
1/30/19

Details | Michael Wise Poem

Born Once Again

The gift of a new day
holds the promise of a new way

A new way of seeing
A renewed way of being

The shedding of old skin
A fresh place to begin

Resurrected once more
for the treasures in store

A farewell to the old
A chance for the gold

The sunshine above
Another day to love

With strength in your flesh
and a mind that is fresh

New ideas to conceive
with more grace to receive

To dance in the dawn
and forget what is gone

To sing like a bird
and speak a new word

To celebrate when
you are born once again

Details | Michael Wise Poem

The Infinitesimal and Cosmic All

Just how small can the smallest things be?
Is there anything even smaller to see?

Down where tiny particles are giants
discovered, observed and studied by science

Does the subatomic go in as far
as the universe's most distant star?

And from even a molecule's point of view
are there things even more minute to pursue?

Does infinity truly stretch both ways
without and within, or let me rephrase

Does the microscopic go on forever
in a vast and endlessly inward endeavor?

Are protons and neutrons the equals of
the planets and galaxies up above?

Whether grandiose or inconsequential
may your regard for each be reverential

For all creation should be held in awe
with its perfect alignment of physical law

From Canis Majoris to a hydrogen bond
and everything in between and beyond

We each are a part both great and small
of the infinitesimal and cosmic all