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Famous Jerk Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Jerk poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous jerk poems. These examples illustrate what a famous jerk poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Frost, Robert
...wizard
By all I tell; but so's the moon a witch.
From the high west she makes a gentle cast
And suddenly, without a jerk or twitch,
She has her speel on every single lizard.
I fancied when I looked at six o'clock
The swarm still ran and scuttled just as fast.
The moon was waiting for her chill effect.
I looked at nine: the swarm was turned to rock
In every lifelike posture of the swarm,
Transfixed on mountain slopes almost erect.
Across each other and side...Read more of this...



by Hunt, James Henry Leigh
...my own jaws, and tear a trout's with steel; 
To troll him here and there, and spike, and strain, 
And let him loose to jerk him back again. 
Fancy a preacher at this sort of work, 
Not with his trout or gudgeon, but his clerk: 
The clerk leaps gaping at a tempting bit, 
And, hah! an ear-ache with a knife in it! 
That there is pain and evil is no rule 
That I should make it greater, like a fool; 
Or rid me of my rust so vile a way, 
As long as there's a single manly play....Read more of this...

by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...thing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; and turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He spring to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of site--
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night....Read more of this...

by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...ing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night. 




NOTES: 

In the year 2000, Don Foster, an English ...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...th your coming.
There have been times
I feared to walk down the street
Lest I should reel with the wine of you,
And jerk against my neighbours
As they go by.
I am parched now, and my tongue is horrible in my mouth,
But my brain is noisy
With the clash and gurgle of filling wine-cups....Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...ve gazed at them depictions in the glossy magazines,
Uv modern Art an' darned if I can make out what it means:
Will any jerk to-day outstand a thousand years of test?
Why, them old Pagans make us look like pikers at the best.
An' maybe, too, their minds was jest as luminous and clear
As that immortal statoo o' Appoller Belvydeer.

An' all yer march o' progress an' machinery as' such,
I wonder if, when all is said, they add up to so much?
An' were not these old fellers...Read more of this...

by Silverstein, Shel
...the Polka, he did the Twist,
He bent himself into a pretzel like this.
He did the Dog and the Jitterbug,
He did the Jerk and the Bunny Hug.
He did the Waltz and the Boogaloo,
He did the Hokey-Pokey too.
He did the Bop and the Mashed Potata,
He did the Split and the See Ya Later.
And now he's down upon one knee,
Bowin' oh so charmingly,
And winkin' and smilin'--it's easy to see
Danny O'Dare wants to dance with me....Read more of this...

by Flynn, Nick
...I go back to the scene where the two men embrace
& grapple a handgun at stomach level between them.

They jerk around the apartment like that
holding on to each other, their cheeks

almost touching. One is shirtless, the other
wears a suit, the one in the suit came in through a window

to steal documents or diamonds, it doesn't matter anymore 
which, what's important is he was found

& someone pulled a gun, and now they are holding on,
awkwardly dancing thro...Read more of this...

by Rich, Adrienne
...fe has never allowed.
I know you are reading this poem by the light
of the television screen where soundless images jerk and slide
while you wait for the newscast from the intifada.
I know you are reading this poem in a waiting-room
of eyes met and unmeeting, of identity with strangers.
I know you are reading this poem by fluorescent light
in the boredom and fatigue of the young who are counted out,
count themselves out, at too early an age. I know
you are rea...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...enozha, 
"Take the bait of this rude fellow, 
Break the line of Hiawatha!"
In his fingers Hiawatha 
Felt the loose line jerk and tighten, 
As he drew it in, it tugged so 
That the birch canoe stood endwise, 
Like a birch log in the water, 
With the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 
Perched and frisking on the summit.
Full of scorn was Hiawatha 
When he saw the fish rise upward, 
Saw the pike, the Maskenozha, 
Coming nearer, nearer to him, 
And he shouted through the water, 
"Esa! esa...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...Porter of Malmaison. Pull off your cap, my man, 
this is your master,
the husband of Madame. Faster! Faster! A 
jerk and a jingle
and they are arrived, he and she. Madame has red eyes. Fie! It 
is for joy
at her husband's return. Learn your place, Porter. A 
gentleman here
for two months? Fie! Fie, then! Since 
when have you taken to gossiping.
Madame may have a brother, I suppose. That -- all green, 
and red,
and glitter, with flesh as dark as...Read more of this...

by Taylor, Ann
...s
In opening such a box as this? " 

So thumb and finger went to work 
To move the stubborn lid,
And presently a mighty jerk
The mighty mischief did; 
For all at once, ah! woful case, 
The snuff came puffing in her face. 

Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, beside
A dismal sight presented; 
In vain, as bitterly she cried, 
Her folly she repented. 
In vain she ran about for ease; 
She could do nothing now but sneeze. 

She dash'd the spectacles away, 
To wipe her ting...Read more of this...

by Hudgins, Andrew
...ble escapes
from his invisible pipe. It make me think,
sometimes, of you. What makes me think of me
is the poor jerk who wanders out on air
and then looks down. Below his feet, he sees
eternity, and suddenly his shoes
no longer work on nothingness, and down
he goes. As I fall past, remember me....Read more of this...

by Duffy, Carol Ann
...o yellow peepers in an owl.
Wow. I fix the grin of Crocodile.
Spiv. I sew the slither of an eel. 
I jerk, kick-start, the back hooves of a mule.
Wild. I hold the red rag to a bull.
Mad. I spread the feathers of a gull.

I screw a tight snarl to a weasel.
Fierce. I stitch the flippers on a seal.
Splayed. I pierce the heartbeat of a quail.

I like her to be naked and to kneel.
Tame. My motionless, my living dol...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...leet bell tower, what a shower of shooting stars! And 
a breeze
all of a sudden, jarring the big leaves and making them jerk up 
and down.
Dr. Morgan's hat is blown from his head, the horse swerves, and 
curves away
from the sign-post. An oath -- spurs -- a blurring of 
grey mist.
A quick left twist, and the gelding is snorting and racing
down the Tilbury road with the wind dropping away behind him.
The stake has wrenched, the stake has started, 
the body,...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...nd to jelly my excellent wits.
Come, come, Martin, you mustn't shirk.
`The night cometh soon' -- etc. Don't jerk
Me up like that. `Essence de la Valliere' --
That has a charmingly Bourbon air.
And, oh! Magnificent! Listen to this! --
`Vinaigre des Quatre Voleurs'. Nothing amiss
With that -- England, Austria, Russia and Prussia!
Martin, you're a wonder,
Upheavals of continents can't keep you under."
"Monsieur Antoine, I am grieved indeed
At such lev...Read more of this...

by Taylor, Edward
...t for
show. I am thinking of his private bathing cap, which in all hon-
esty wasn't much different than the one any jerk might buy at a
corner drugstore now, except for two minor eccentricities. The
first one isn't even funny: Simply it was a white rubber bathing
cap, but too small. Napoleon led such a hectic life ever since his
childhood, even farther back than that, that he never had a
chance to buy a new bathing cap and still as a grown-up--well,
he didn't real...Read more of this...

by Estep, Maggie
...The stupid jerk I'm obsessed with
stands so close to me
I can feel his breath
on my neck
and smell
the way he would smell
if we slept together
because he is the stupid jerk I'm obsessed with
and that is his primary function in life
to be a stupid jerk I can obsess over
and to talk to that dingy bimbette blonde 
as if he really wanted to hear about her
manicures and
ped...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...to ring or call: I am distant and sick,

Frail as an old stick

Our spirits rise and fall like the barometer’s needle

Jerk at a finger tapping on glass

Flashbacks or inspiration cry out at memory loss.

You peer through a magnifying glass at the typeface

Your knuckles white with pain as the sonnet starts to strain

Like a child coming to birth, the third you never bore.



All births, all babies, all poems are the same in coming

The spark of inspiration or spurt ...Read more of this...

by Lawrence, D. H.
...g and gripping tense, more reaching anguish in uttermost tension
Till suddenly, in the spasm of coition, tupping like a jerking leap, and oh!
Opening its clenched face from his outstretched neck
And giving that fragile yell, that scream,
Super-audible,
From his pink, cleft, old-man's mouth,
Giving up the ghost,
Or screaming in Pentecost, receiving the ghost.

His scream, and his moment's subsidence,
The moment of eternal silence,
Yet unreleased, and after the moment, the ...Read more of this...

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