Famous Phoned Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Boxers Wife

by Robert William Service
 She phoned them when the Round was Eight:
 'How is my Joe?' they heard her say.
They answered: 'Gee! He's going great,
 Your guy's Okay.'

She phoned them when the Round was Nine:
 'How is my hero in the fray?'
They yelled: 'He leads; he's doing fine,--
 Joe's sure Okay.'

She phoned them when the Round was Ten:
 'Is it still Okay with...Read more of this...

Casualty

by Seamus Heaney
 I

He would drink by himself
And raise a weathered thumb
Towards the high shelf,
Calling another rum
And blackcurrant, without
Having to raise his voice,
Or order a quick stout
By a lifting of the eyes
And a discreet dumb-show
Of pulling off the top;
At closing time would go
In waders and peaked cap
Into the showery dark,
A dole-kept breadwinner
But a natural for work.
I loved his whole manner,
Sure-footed but too...Read more of this...

Sorry I Missed You

by Barry Tebb
 (or ‘Huddersfield the Second Poetry Capital of England Re-visited’)



What was it Janice Simmons said to me as James lay dying in Ireland?

“Phone Peter Pegnall in Leeds, an ex-pupil of Jimmy’s. He’s organising

A benefit reading, he’d love to hear from you and have your help.”



‘Like hell he would’ I thought but I phoned him all the same

At his converted farmhouse...Read more of this...

The Pros and Cons

by Sophie Hannah
 He’ll be pleased if I phone to ask him how he is.
It will make me look considerate and he likes considerate people.

He’ll be reassured to see that I haven’t lost interest,
Which might make him happy and then I’ll have done him a favour.

If I phone him right now I’ll get to speak to him sooner
Than I will if I...Read more of this...

Land Mine

by Robert William Service
 A grey gull hovered overhead,
 Then wisely flew away.
'In half a jiffy you'll be dead,'
 I thought I heard it say;
As there upon the railway line,
 Checking an urge to cough,
I laboured to de-fuse the mine
 That had not yet gone off.

I tapped around the time-clock rim,
 Then something worried me.
I heard the singing of a hymn:
 Nearer my...Read more of this...

Message

by Harold Pinter
 Jill. Fred phoned. He can't make tonight.
He said he'd call again, as soon as poss.
I said (on your behalf) OK, no sweat.
He said to tell you he was fine,
Only the crap, he said, you know, it sticks,
The crap you have to fight.
You're sometimes nothing but a walking shithouse.

I was well acquainted with the pong myself,
I told him, and I...Read more of this...

The Night I Was Going To Die

by Charles Bukowski
 the night I was going to die
I was sweating on the bed
and I could hear the crickets 
and there was a cat fight outside
and I could feel my soul dropping down through the 
mattress
and just before it hit the floor I jumped up
I was almost too weak to walk
but I walked around and turned on all the lights
and then...Read more of this...

A Hedge Of Rubber Trees

by Amy Clampitt
 The West Village by then was changing; before long
the rundown brownstones at its farthest edge
would have slipped into trendier hands. She lived,
impervious to trends, behind a potted hedge of
rubber trees, with three cats, a canary—refuse 
from whose cage kept sifting down and then 
germinating, a yearning seedling choir, around
the saucers on the windowsill—and an inexorable
cohort of roaches she was...Read more of this...

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