Atari Poems | Examples

Childhood Memories

Atari, Sega
Nintendo, Playstation One
Just reminiscing...

Pong

Pong

First commercially successful
Video game technology
Pong arcade video game
Made by Atari
Loved by millions instantly
Started an 80 billion dollar industry
Pong -no Ping-
Just Pong

Simplistic graphics still astound
Mesmerized by the sound
Blip
Blip
Pong, blip
Blip
Pong, blip
Pong, blip
PONG!!!

Hah!  Point made
In the shade!
First to eleven
In Pong heaven
Blip
Blip
Pong, blip
Blip
Pong, blip
Pong, blip
PONG!!!

A social lubricant it became
Relationships formed
Playing the game-
Rocking to our favorite songs
Staying awake all night long
Taking turns playing Pong
Pong -no Ping-
Just Pong

Genesis of Activision Games

Some Activision game fans may not know this, they may be unaware.
Activision wouldn't exist if Atari had been a company that was more fair.
Atari wouldn't give their programmers any recognition for their work and this lead to a decision.
Some of the programmers wanted credit so they left Atari and started Activision.
If Atari had been more fair, Activision games wouldn't have been made.
There would've been no Pitfall, no Stampede and no River Raid.
So Atari's decision to be unfair turned out to be a very good thing.
Because pleasure was what Activision  games were sure to bring.

(This is a true story.)

Remembering the 1980's

Barbie, Atari, He-man 
Batman, She-Ra, Ronald Reagan
Indiana Jones, and landline phones
The Dark Crystal and around 5.2 billion people 
Andre the Giant’s Honeycomb commercial 
Rainbow Brite, Jem, and Rose Petal 
Welcome to the Jungle, Cheers! Metal 
Mike Tyson, Debbie Gibson, Teddy Ruspin 
And the best Christmas carolers are Gremlin
Taxi, the DMV Scene, "What does the yellow light mean?" 
Young Guns, Russians, Charlie Sheen 
Sony’s Walkman, Michael Jackson, and Tom Cruise 
What was fake news or social media reviews?
Reebok, Converse and Keds shoes
Glo Worm, Nintendo and playdough
The Burbs, Rambo, and Willow
KB Toys, Sam Goody, And Gemco stores 
Return of the Jedi and Disney’s Star Tours
Floppy disk computer and Punky Brewster 
The Family Ties and spoiler alert Optimus Prime dies

Updated 5/14/2019

1978

I want to go to a time when things were great.
I wish that I could travel back in time to 1978.
I'd like to revisit the seventies because I loved that decade.
Back then, 8 Track tapes and records were still being played.
Songs were clean back then, now they're littered with the F word.
In 1978, music meant something and vulgarity wasn't what we heard.
40 years ago, we had no smart phones and no High Definition TV.
But landline phones and standard definition are just fine with me.
Video games sucked back then but I could live with an Atari.
If I could revisit 1978, I don't think that I would be sorry.

Became

That first non-rhythmical matter, 
Floated on the new dust of light, 
To whet the eleventh spark clatter, 
Such that its dividend split tight; 
A web, a sea of ringed atmosphere, 
Then a cob of meteoric compression, 
Hurling towards a black collapse here, 
To dent the shock supernovas intervention;
With planets duetting their sweeps in silence,  
The night is not black and suffers a blow, 
Identified deductively but with great nuance,
The waves glinting the bounce and the flow. 

God became a man, human to the core, 
Not an apple, lamp, priest or Ferrari, 
Even though Genesis incepts with lore, 
Given god as a construct, apple’s Atari; 
Christianity grabs god indeed as a man, 
Possibly to concede that a human coasts, 
Crucially opening herbs and aromatics fan, 
To the differential and to the weaker posts.  
Life without a momentum blackadders, 
Would not summate to conviviality, 
Rejuvenation oscillations sprite the adders, 
Ionotrophic energy comes up from banality.

Rhoda Monihan

That's a Fact

Fifteenth century China is where Sunglasses date back
So expressions of judges in court, people could not track!

M and M's owe the Military their early success,
With no sticky trigger finger and stowed with no mess!

Cast as Han Solo in Star Wars, he was the man,
But Burt Reynolds dropped out before filming began!

When a person having their portrait painted failed to show
The artist James Whistler painted his mother don't you know!

The name Atari was chosen to make us think if they can
The Northern California-based company was from Japan

The Darn Sun

When I was a child during the winter, I hated the sun because it melted the snow.
And when the snow was melted by the sun, school was where I had to go.
As a child, when it snowed, school was closed and it was sure to excite.
But when the snow was gone, it was back to school and that sure did bite.
When I got to stay home from school, I could play my Atari and it was fun.
But when the snow melted, I had to return to school because of the darn sun.
If other children are like I was, they become very happy every time it snows.
And when the snow melts, kids become like Homer Simpson, they yell "Doh!" 

(This is a true story.)

Grandma's Potato Pancakes

grandma's potato pancakes
reminds me of my wooden tennis racket
along with my three wheeler big wheel
drench however many with butter and some warm, 
equally buttery grits and my stomach thanks me for his
sleeping bag warmth and indulgence
there was a time when saturday morning meant something
and professional wrestling was a serious sport though physical theater
merry-go-rounds were at every park and high dives were at every public pool
memories and delectable delights overtake my mind with no resistance or struggle
one radio station was all i needed to get through the day 
ten dollars filled a gas tank and arcades were everywhere
poems were not in my mind but instead was within the atari 2600 of decadence 
the fried chicken plays a rare groove from somewhere, and i realize that i cleaned my plate

Nature of the Beast: : the Black Panther Speaks

As the only large cat with a voice I roar from within my solitude
 Prowling with swagga and a side of attitude
 My voice is wild game's command
 Order in the kingdom is my superior demand
 Backed clearly by my teeth and claws
 They call me Wisdom and I'm here to lay down the law
 I stalk the cantelope
 Terrorize the antelope
 "Why in the world..." you may ask
 Feeding my cubs is my task
 I roam from Argentina to the African Safari
 My name is bigger than the historical Atari 
 To mankind I am a beast 
 In my pack I am a leader at the very least
 Upon my hunters i seek revenge
 Upon these lands I shall avenge
 Less fortunate creatures line the shore of the creek
 Stir not as this black panther speaks
 For I am the most fierce of all
 Disobedience shall be their death call

On the Junkheap

Long before Nintendo or Atari were invented,
At birthday time you bugged your folks and maybe they relented
And added to your toys a game you’d coveted, I’d bet:
A marvel made of solid wood, a real Nok-Hockey set!

The game was table-sized, although you’d play it on the floor.
No matter if you won or lost, you always wanted more.
Your wooden stick hit wooden puck and aimed it like a rocket;
The object was to sink it into your opponent’s pocket.

It’s kind of retro now, I guess, or maybe just passé.
It’s not the type of game that modern children like to play;
And that is why the set I saw did not evoke a smile,
‘Cause there it was just sitting on a curbside junkheap pile.

It’s sad to reminisce when all those remnants from the past
Remind us how the years have disappeared so very fast;
And all those things we valued once when we were young and brash,
Just like that cool Nok-Hockey set, get thrown out with the trash.

Take Back Your Children

Daley Thompson's Decathlon
A game that made your fingers throb
And Pacman was an intriguing game
A mission of sticking things in his gob
Who could ever forget Space Invaders
A quest to blitz the monster's before you were reached
And Donkey Kong was a journey towards the animals breach

The last 20 years have been a video game extravaganza
From the Atari to the PS3
And Nintendo and XBOX have followed suit
But made board games obsolete
They have fastly become the 21st century babysitter
Able to hypnotise your child with ease
And catapult them into a fantasy world
Where gladiators are killing giant cheese

This extravaganza is no laughing matter
We need to fight against this electronic regime
Instead of paying £39.99 for things like FIFA 13
It's time to take back our children
Allow them to be innocent again
And rather than locking them a way in a room
Take them to the park again

Summer, Milltown, Belfast 1980's

Milltown, Shawsbridge in the 1980's...
 
When the sun had possession of the season
 and tarmac was treacled by the temperature.
 When we went to war with the wasps
 and ventured wide eyed in 'the planties' 
to the roped thrall of commandoland.
 Back when 'mr freeze pops' and 'cherry coke' 
was our sustenance against the beating sun.
 When real music blared from ghettoblasters
 and parents red raw slurped ice cold harp via can.
 When shawsbridge was appealing 
and patchworked in vibrant beach towels,
 folks clustered in defeat of the sun.
 Back when the Barclay had an arcade machines
 and we cross pollenated each's bedrooms
 to play Nes, Atari and Amstrad CPC 464.
 Back when our longsuffering knees 
were raw to the pavement 
and rollerboots were means of transport.
 When kirby was played and water pistols our means of defence.
 Back when reality glimmered....
 And summer shone with meaning.
 
S.J.C

Us Games

Vidtec and US Games were made for the Atari VCS.
Some of them were great while others were a mess.
US Games and Vidtec were a division of Quaker Oats.
But the creators found it extremely difficult to stay afloat.
Their best games were Space Jockey, Commando Raid, and M.A.D. too.
But US Games went out of business just one year after beginning in 1982.
They made several good games; not including Word Zapper.
People should've taken that game and thrown it in the crapper.
Another of their crappy games was Sneak 'N Peek.
The fireman on Towering Inferno looked like he was taking a leak.
When they hit the shelves, they didn't start disappearing.
But the $5.50 price tag at Revco made them endearing.
None of their fourteen games became a hit.
Some liked them while others didn't give a Sh**.

(THIS POEM IS ABOUT GAMES THAT WERE MADE FOR THE ATARI 2600/VCS.)

Old Video Game Systems

(This is a fictional poem)

My son asked me for a video game system so I gave him my old Atari.
When he kicked me in the nuts, I sure was sorry.
Last week I bought him an Intellivision.
That turned out not to be a good decision.
He taped a cherry bomb to my balls while I was sleeping.
The tremendous pain woke me up and I started weeping.
Yesterday I bought him a Colecovision and it was something that I'd regret.
He posted pictures of my tiny wiener on the internet.
Today I bought him what he wanted, a Playstation 3.
I'm glad that I bought it because there's no telling what else he would've done to 
me..

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