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Famous Racket Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Betjeman, John
...Hunter Dunn

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn,
How mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won,
The warm-handled racket is back in its press,
But my shock-headed victor, she loves me no less.

Her father's euonymus shines as we walk,
And swing past the summer-house, buried in talk,
And cool the verandah that welcomes us in
To the six-o'clock news and a lime-juice and gin.

The scent of the conifers, sound of the bath,
The view from my bedroom of moss-dappled pa...Read more of this...



by Bogan, Louise
...ts what holds his days together 
And shuts him in, as lock on lock: 
The arrowed vane announcing weather, 
The tripping racket of a clock; 

Seeking, I think, a light that waits 
Still as a lamp upon a shelf, -- 
A land with hills like rocky gates 
Where no sea leaps upon itself.

But he will find that nothing dares 
To be enduring, save where, south 
Of hidden deserts, torn fire glares 
On beauty with a rusted mouth, -- 

Where something dreadful and another 
Look quietl...Read more of this...

by Creeley, Robert
...e ice cream on top of it,
and I eat it--

Slowly. And while certainly
they are laughing at me, and all around me is racket
of these cats not making it, I make it

in my wicker basket....Read more of this...

by Wright, James
...me grouchy dog sounds,
And a man bitterly shifts his broken gears.
True night still hangs on,
Mist cluttered with a racket of its own.

Now on the mountainside,
A little way downhill among turning rucks,
A square takes form in the side of a dim wall.
I hear a bucket rattle or something, tinny,
No other stirring behind the dim face
Of the goatherd's house. I imagine
His goats are still sleeping, dreaming
Of the fresh roses
Beyond the walls of the greenhouse bel...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...As I go forth from fair to mart
With racket ringing,
Who would divine that in my heart
Mad larks are singing.
As I sweet sympathy express,
Lest I should pain them,
The money-mongers cannot guess
How I disdain them.

As I sit at some silly tea
And flirt and flatter
How I abhor society
And female chatter.
As I with wonderment survey
Their peacock dresses,
My mind is wafted far away
To...Read more of this...



by Dickinson, Emily
...this was all—

I never spoke—unless addressed—
And then, 'twas brief and low—
I could not bear to live—aloud—
The Racket shamed me so—

And if it had not been so far—
And any one I knew
Were going—I had often thought
How noteless—I could die—

536

The Heart asks Pleasure—first—
And then—Excuse from Pain—
And then—those little Adonynes
That deaden suffering—

And then—to go to sleep—
And then—if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The privilege to d...Read more of this...

by Berryman, John
...Spellbound held subtle Henry all his four
hearers in the racket of the market
with ancient signs, infamous characters,
new rythms. On the steps he was beloved,
hours a day, by all his four, or more,
depending. And they paid him.

It was not, so, like no one listening
but critics famed & Henry's pals or other
tellers at all
chiefly in another country. No.
He by the heart & brains & tail, because...Read more of this...

by Sandburg, Carl
...THERE is something terrible
about a hurdy-gurdy,
a gipsy man and woman,
and a monkey in red flannel
all stopping in front of a big house
with a sign “For Rent” on the door
and the blinds hanging loose
and nobody home.
I never saw this.
I hope to God I never will.

 Whoop-de-doodle-de-doo.
 Hoodle-de-harr-de-hum.
Nobody home? Everybody h...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...all --

I never spoke -- unless addressed --
And then, 'twas brief and low --
I could not bear to live -- aloud --
The Racket shamed me so --

And if it had not been so far --
And any one I knew
Were going -- I had often thought
How noteless -- I could die --...Read more of this...

by Grennan, Eamon
...ere,
fully fledged and

ready for anything. Sitting
together -- her separated
mother and father -- we can

hear the racket of traffic
shaking the main streets
of Jersey City as she sings

Deliver us from evil,
and I wonder can she see me
in the dark here, years

from belief, on the edge
of tears. It doesn't matter. She
doesn't miss a beat, keeps

in time, in tune, while into
our common silence I whisper,
Sing, love, sing your heart out!...Read more of this...

by Sassoon, Siegfried
...He woke; the clank and racket of the train 
Kept time with angry throbbings in his brain. 
Then for a while he lapsed and drowsed again. 

At last he lifted his bewildered eyes 
And blinked, and rolled them sidelong; hills and skies,
Heavily wooded, hot with August haze, 
And, slipping backward, golden for his gaze, 
Acres of harvest. 

Feebly now he drags 
Exhausted e...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...ounded on cheer;
His piece was the hit of the evening. "Bravo!" I heard them say.
But there in the heart of the racket was one who could not hear -
The loving sister who'd coached him; for Millie had fainted away.

I rushed to her side and grabbed her; then others saw her distress,
And all were eager to aid me, as I pillowed that golden head,
But her arms were tense and rigid, and clutched in the folds of her dress,
Unlocking her hands they found it . . .<...Read more of this...

by Lindsay, Vachel
...eard the boom of the blood-lust song
And a thigh-bone beating on a tin-pan gong.
A rapidly piling climax of speed & racket.
And "BLOOD" screamed the whistles and the fifes of the warriors,
"BLOOD" screamed the skull-faced, lean witch-doctors,
"Whirl ye the deadly voo-doo rattle,
Harry the uplands,
Steal all the cattle,
Rattle-rattle, rattle-rattle,
Bing.
Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, BOOM,"
A roaring, epic, rag-time tune
With a philosophic pause.
From the mouth o...Read more of this...

by Betjeman, John
...r>..would I were
(Forgive me, shade of Rupert Brooke)
An object fit to claim her look.
Oh! would I were her racket press'd
With hard excitement to her breast
And swished into the sunlit air
Arm-high above her tousled hair,
And banged against the bounding ball
"Oh! Plung!" my tauten'd strings would call,
"Oh! Plung! my darling, break my strings
For you I will do brilliant things."
And when the match is over, I
Would flop beside you, hear you sigh;
And then with...Read more of this...

by Smart, Christopher
...on. 
"Again, encore! encore!" they cry-- 
'Twas quite the thing--'twas very high; 
Old Grouse conceal'd, amidst the racket, 
A real Pig berneath his jacket-- 
Then forth he came--and with his nail 
He pinch'd the urchin by the tail. 
The tortur'd Pig from out his throat, 
Produc'd the genuine nat'ral note. 
All bellow'd out--"'Twas very sad! 
Sure never stuff was half so bad! 
That like a Pig!"--each cry'd in scoff, 
"Pshaw! Nonsense! Blockhead! Off! Off! Off!" 
T...Read more of this...

by Walcott, Derek
...us halfway,
but a voice kept saying: "Shabine, see this business
of playing pirate?" Well, so said, so done!
That whole racket crash. And I for a woman,
for her laces and silks, Maria Concepcion.
Ay, ay! Next thing I hear, some Commission of Enquiry
was being organized to conduct a big quiz,
with himself as chairman investigating himself.
Well, I knew damn well who the suckers would be,
not that shark in shark skin, but his pilot fish,
khaki-pants red ****** like ...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...all I miss--
The boys I used to know;
The girls I used to kiss;
The coin I used to blow:
The bars I used to haunt;
The racket and the row;
The beers I didn't want
(I wish I had 'em now).

Day after day the same,
Only a little worse;
No one to grouch or blame--
Oh, for a loving curse!
Oh, in the night I fear,
Haunted by nameless things,
Just for a voice to cheer,
Just for a hand that clings!

Faintly as from a star
Voices come o'er the line;
Voices of ghosts afar,
Not in ...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...and the busy day's begun,
 He leaps into the saddle sure and bold.
Through the round of heat and hurry, through the racket and the rout,
 He rattles at a pace that nothing mars;
And when the night-winds whisper and camp-fires flicker out,
 He is sleeping like a child beneath the stars.

When the wattle-blooms are drooping in the sombre she-oak glade,
 And the breathless land is lying in a swoon,
He leaves his work a moment, leaning lightly on his spade,
 And he hears ...Read more of this...

by Koch, Kenneth
...Scotch?
I suppose I wanted to impress you.
It's snowing.
The Revlon Man has come from across the sea.
This racket is annoying.
We didn't want the baby to come here because of the hawk.
What are you reading?
In what style would you like the humidity to explain?
I care, but not much. You can smoke a cigar.
Genuineness isn't a word I'd ever use.
Say, what a short skirt! Do you have a camera?
The moon is a shellfish.
I can't talk to most peopl...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...east they say.
Well, if I'm spared I'll be the happy lad.
 I tell you I won't envy any king.
I've stood the racket, and I'm proud and glad;
 I've had my crowning hour. Oh, War's the thing!
It gives us common, working chaps our chance,
 A taste of glory, chivalry, romance.

Ay, War, they say, is hell; it's heaven, too.
 It lets a man discover what he's worth.
It takes his measure, shows what he can do,
 Gives him a joy like nothing else on earth.Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs