Backpacks Poems | Examples

People in the Park

Every age and shape and size,
Dressed in jeans or dresses,
Wearing varied baseball caps
Or showing off their tresses.

Sporting shades or complex tats,
Earrings all a’dangle,
Backpacks, bags of straw or skin,
Kids they need to wrangle.

Speaking tongues I do not know
With accents not quite local,
Conversation mingling with
Some jazzy sounds, sans vocal.

We sit on benches near a band,
The music cool and gentle,
With melodies familiar and
A little sentimental

And watch the people passing by,
The weather adding pleasure
To such a perfect New York day
And one that I will treasure.

Let The Flowers Grow Again

I woke up and suddenly I felt the August rush. Perhaps it was because 
it was August twenty-fifth, just a few days away from September.  I could
tell by the chill in the air that soon all the flowers would die and all the 
children would be back to school.  
Backpacks  
little snacks
tots with pouts 
Where did the summer go, how did those waterslides get tucked away 
so soon. That garden that just a few months ago was at the height of 
scent, is now laying dormant, very little bumble bees in sight. 
BZZZZZ
Gee Wizz 
many sighs 
I wish I could turn myself into May, and crown the world with newborn 
seeds of love and beauty. May is the month when my cheeks blush and 
my heart awakens. 
Ready not 
like a tot 
I'm whining 
Because summer is surrendering and my roses are longing for one last 
caress from me.  Please God, come next year, let the flowers grow again. 
I know soon it will be Autumn, but this is not the end....

Seed in the Shadows

In seventh grade’s uncertain glow,
She sat outside where shadows grow.
Backpacks slumped, the sunlight waned,
While restless truths could not be named.

A thought slipped free, both shy and sly,
A quiet murmur: I think I’m bi.
The friend leaned close, her gaze intent,
Questions sharp as the day was spent.

How do you know? Does a girl’s soft face
Haunt your mind in a secret place?
She shook her head, though deep inside,
The truth stirred fierce, refused to hide.

Two girls in Python’s tented gloom,
One kissing the other’s skin in bloom—
A spark had flared, both hot and sweet,
A memory time would not defeat.

Curious—nothing more, the claim,
A verdict wrapped in quiet shame.
Yet there beneath that fading sun,
Her truth had bloomed—its fight begun.

first time being homeless

I am not sure where to go first
I have not taken much
just what I could fit into two backpacks
One of them gets heavy

I sit down on a park bench and sort them out
throwing away ten things I thought I needed
because this is day three
and I am tired of carrying two backpacks

I have not asked anyone for help
because I do not know how to do that
and it would feel awful
so far I have just raided dumpsters at night

after regular people are asleep
I become active
searching for half eaten sandwiches
hoping the bugs have not gotten in them yet

Ease Biking

When you ease biking
Unload backpacks baggage
Propel your liking.

Finding Fun On A Budget Part 3 - The Great Beef Jerky Ride

Not an amusement park in sight 
So, we headed to the mountains 
No bumper cars, roller coasters,
Spinning cups, or dancing fountains
We diligently searched
For something to stimulate our hype
At last we spotted a
Near perpendicular metal irrigation pipe
Without a pod, a seat, or even some grease
The tube had way too much drag
A quick search of our backpacks 
Revealed an empty beef jerky bag
I volunteered to go first and 
Attempt our unusual ride
The others cheered and stepped back 
To get a better look at our very long slide
I scrambled on the drain, carefully sat down … 
And shot off like a bullet
It hurt so bad when I landed
For a year, I could barely even sit on a toilet

mandrake was not allowed to have fuzzy balls

Mandrake’s sisters had fuzzy balls
Green fuzzy balls on their roller skates
Red fuzzy balls on their ice skates
Purple and pink fuzzy balls on their backpacks

You cannot have fuzzy balls they told him
You are a boy
It would be silly for a boy to have fuzzy balls
So he grew up and made himself a fuzzy ball chair
He also stuck out his tongue at both sisters
Refusing to allow either of them to put their petootsies on it

september ready

Sweet corn has been harvested, garden picked clean
Breezy mornings now, ruffling the cat’s fur
Front porch stocked with pumpkins and gourds
School is starting, new clothes are being bought

Last year’s backpacks are thrown into a bonfire
Grandma is taking the grandchildren shopping for new
Football games have begun in earnest, fans frenzied
Cool September, you are as welcome as any month ever is

Family has to start practicing getting up early
Bus will be picking the children up at seven o’four
Mom and Dad explain high school to their freshman
Silly because fifteen-year-olds know everything

Hobart Harlot

Had chasing salacious not sparked her curious 
     Outcast student wouldn’t have bothered to goad
     Beguile fellow fifteen year old, sordid suggested
     Accompany her on dirty double date, get stoned
     Recklessly rush into raunchy actions, clueless
     Temptation harvests travesty, tender suspended


     Hidden in high laughing heart, slick chimera pelt
     Adrenaline aces enamour or war around the corner
     Ready to frolic,fight, backpacks bulge with bravado
     Lurid drunk promenade, concrete jungle hunt fauna
     Onyx drawn eyes harden dark, debauchery dealt 
     Transfers opioids, rapid ricochet carries cruel cargo







                         30th May
                They’ll never get cold

Sunflower Season

Sunflower Season

Just beyond town 
Past Walmart 
And the line of fast food
A field of sunflowers grow 
As the heat dies down 
And backpacks are taken out of the closet 
Their black heads lined with yellow lace begin to rise
To the right lies a cornfield 
And across the highway, wheat
They say the sunflowers grow for the farmer's wife
Or maybe to fill his pocket with something to chew on 
The kindergartners insist he simply likes the way the big yellow petals glow 
We scoff 
No profit, no gain 
As the breeze grows more confident
And sandals are traded for boots 
Their lace begins to fade
And their black faces sigh 
I drove by once in those last weeks 
I saw the farmer sitting on the bed of his pickup 
Watching the sun's golden beams embrace the flowers
I swear I saw him smile 
No profit
Yet, perhaps a gain

The Parenting Puzzle

Wrestling with the best way to raise kids 
Oscillating between being a helicopter parent 
Or letting them find their own way 
The middle road sometimes not apparent 

We all brandish our own brand of baggage 
Coloring our view of how the world looks to us 
Don’t want to fill their backpacks with our fears
Before they even get on the school bus 

Still sharpening my pencil as I ponder
Lately been thinking less is more 
Maybe my job is to encourage curiosity 
While providing them a safe vessel to explore 

Let them make their own decisions 
Ascertaining independently what to see 
The world needs our kids to be who they are 
Not who we want them to be

Eraser

On my first day
I met a new friend.
We had the same new sneakers 
And sharpened pencils
And coloring books
And backpacks
And French braids
And rulers
And we smelled the same smells of our school. 

My pencil eraser broke off and fell to the old wooden floor when I erased my drawing too hard
And she picked it up
And said, “I’ll never forget you.”

About Kids

Like every year
for the last 10 years or more,
she took on a mission and a project
for kids. She saw a need and filled it.
At CHRISTMAS, there are toys and other things
for kids. During the Fall, it was harvest festival
and Halloween treats for kids. In late July or early
August, it was backpacks filled with school supplies
for kids, enabling them to have a truly great 'First Day'.
For the year 2022, she served 1048 kids with supplies.
She loves kids so much that she established a baseball team
with the kids. She also loved kids so deeply that she started
an organization called 'About Kids'. I'm not the bragging kind,
but I am so very proud of what my church has been doing for
years and continues to do for the kids throughout its community.  

082922PSCtest, Back to School Poetry Contest. Frances Roberts

Thinking of You

Thinking of you 
The world outside
Waiting for the lockdown 
To be lifted
The lonely moon,
The stars and the clouds
Know my hearts
Yesterday suddenly everything 
Come to a standstill
Less night back man
Less morning jogger
Less cars and pedestrians
Less hustles and bustles
But lights and humps 
Can never block us
Going out is a song
Singing rhythms of life
Road is a river
Flowing out to a greater sea
Home is a gloriette
For people and backpacks to rest
Thinking of you
The mountains and the sea
The youngsters and the oldies
The drawing of the famous Chinese art piece
Hundred sons and thousands of grandchildren

What Heroes

They wear a cloak of invisibility
no one sees them
working behind the scenes
rearranging the scenery
inspecting the wires
from which hang
the future of daybreak
brown sugar atop the oatmeal
lunches and backpacks
hurried goodbyes
the school bus rendezvous.

No one sees them
as they ride the bus
enter through the service entrance
to work
supporting the backbone
of a country
that does not see them
for invisibility has no color.


John G. Lawless
©10/15/2021

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