Best Boogaloo Poems
jampacked city streets
that jangled and banged
in the raucous jarring day
shifted
from business to boogaloo
squeezing into moonlight
party lights
gin and lime-kissed
gimlet sequined dress
strutted
in studded six-inch heels
riveting flair
provoking jive and jazzy nights
to tame this lion of New York
The bed swallowed the evening
sucked-up in slumbered
sobering snooze
exhaling the drunkard’s stench
while the warmth of whiskey
and you next to me
laid dreamy still
popped up and propped up
restless and ragged
realizing the changing view
through the dirt-stained window
a pool of placid sunrise
igniting
colorless clustered towers
bulwarks and girders
scraping the sky
out of the easterly clouds
a creeping golden palette
arose
touching every crevice
defining each silhouette
your body stirs deliberate and slow
rainbow hued eyes
slenderly slitted catching
the new-found light
opening, tenderly revealing
the landscape of your smile
disclosing
a cozy contentment
waking with hello
as I fall into your dream
and a new day
Categories:
boogaloo, city, culture, day, new
Form:
Free verse
As I set out
To jot down this poem
I had no earthly idea
Of what would transpose
And who all would be
Joining along
I'm as surprised as you
To these goings on
I don't recollect
Any of this being nearby
All the glimmer and glamor
Catching my eye
With my mind letting loose
In the wondering why
All of these characters
Are invading my rhymes
There are seals riding trikes
Uniformed Taiwanese
Clowns and their like
With smiley faced knees
Lepords in tights
Like we need more of these
A Kardashian or two
To put our minds at ease
Daryl Hall and John Oates
Singing loud 80's tunes
And what would be a poem
Without a cow jumping over the moon
Or a chimpanzee
Swinging through the stanzas with ease
Using the tails of snakes
Like a flying trapeze
There's even a racoon
By the name of Rocky we know
Using his Boogaloo
To sweep dust from the poem
And look it's Bob Hope
Selling soap on a rope
To keep it all clean
With a rated "G" tone
With so much going on
Inside of this poem
Guess it's best I stop here
As this has gotten rather long...
Categories:
boogaloo, fun, humor,
Form:
Light Verse
Dimes drop, records begin to drop
Rhythm to stroll, jivin’ to hip hop
Slow to jitterbug, boogaloo to rock
Twistin’ Chubby and rock around the clock
The Platters sing, you hold her close
Eye to eye, love’s first dose
Beach Boys up next, time to surf
Steppin’ on toes, unmarked turf.
Malted shakes, pie a-la-mode
Checker board floors, tempo has slowed
Roadsters lined up, sweethearts in style
Stompin’ to the beat, no one’s idle
Jail house rock and shake rattle and roll
At the hop, then on to the stroll
Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry’s pickin’
Mack the knife rocks, Rock-in Robin kickin’
‘Ramblin Rose’, and ‘Good golly Miss Moly’
Dion’s ‘Run around Sue’, turn around now with Buddy Holly
Step in to ‘Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Pop’
More dimes roll, keep rockin’ till you drop
Categories:
boogaloo, music, nostalgia, remember,
Form:
Rhyme
Do you still carry it with you,
the rifle of the fight?
Are you absolved in your bravery
even though you did not die?
Do you see worth
for what you risked?
I could not smell your perspiration
as we danced the boogaloo at home.
We were all so young;
all of us;
no chance to think;
each in a different reality.
And there are those who are forever young
prisoners of the mind, of the soul,
of the earth framed in heartache by loved ones.
© revised May 26, 2012
Kathryn McL. Collins
Categories:
boogaloo, memorial day,
Form:
Free verse
Happy. Genial. Merry. Jolly
Blottoed, blasted, etched and blitzed
Mellow, foggy, hazy, squiffy
Tipsy. Tiddly. Brahms and Liszt
Dazed, zombied, tanked-up, trollied
Ganted, gubbed, guttered
Bladdered, blathered, leathered, plastered,
Sozzled, sloshed, scuttered
Hammered, battered, caned, mangled
Spannered, mullered. Half-cut, lashed
Twisted, warped, slammed, wasted
Wrecked, ruined. Munted, trashed
Liquified, marinated, juiced, sauced,
Steamed, pickled, fried
Cabbaged, mashed, cooked, baked
Boiled, stewed. Pie-eyed
Stinking. Howling. Pole-axed, floored
Under the influence. Off one's woo
Steampigged, badgered, ratted, goosed,
Clobbered. Lairy. Boogaloo
3 sheets to the wind. Away with the fairies
Under the table. Tight as a tick.
Ankled, wellied, trousered, legless,
Bevvied, swizzled, pot-sick.
One over the eight. Out nibbling the grape.
Rosy. Rummy. Poggled.
Jober as a sudge. Laughing at the carpet.
Seeing double. Boggled.
Lubricated, oiled, pixilated, ploughed
Intoxicated, inebriated. On the grog
Wobbly, jungled, off to the races
Lit up, shot down. Cocked as a log
As a lord, as a piper, as a fiddler, as a poet,
As a newt, as a monkey, as a skunk
As a sailor, as a mouse, as a pig, as a fart
Muddled. Fuddled. Or just plain drunk
Words and experiences, many of us share
And I'm sure there's a few that I've missed
But while some get "tired and emotional"
I just prefer to get…
Categories:
boogaloo, drink,
Form:
List
here I go again
on a belt fed groove,
suck it up
ruck it up,
legion on the move,
all the things we used to have
all too soon are gone,
wave goodbye
eyes gone dry,
another trek through foreign dawn.....
see the henna hidden dirty faces
bodies broken poppy crowned,
empty futures, empty lives
only empty bargains found,
while broken daughters cast away
scream silent rage while bound...
(our hands help up, theirs slap 'em down)
and cast on through the compound
catching tracer lighted round,
jump into a compensator boogaloo
side slippin' all around,
as I slowly turn my eyes
body armor turned and wound,
hands up in greeting, STOP!
the brass like shining carpet
clinking sharply tragic sound,
falling slowly oh so slowly
like coffin nails drowned...
my soul spilling on the ground.
Categories:
boogaloo, grief, war,
Form:
Monorhyme
latin boogaloo
moves me to euphoric states
of funktified bliss!
Categories:
boogaloo, how i feel, music,
Form:
Haiku
I'm on my bike every day
Trying to lose some pounds
I giggle like a little girl when
The scale says I'm heading down
The lard is just melting away
I'm a shadow of my former self
Almost lost a whole human being
Since deciding to become an elf
I hear you chuckling over there
Shouldn't you be cheering me on
Instead of being so damn jealous
That I'm wearing this skimpy thong
Feel like running about in the nude
But authorities just might object
Thought of covering up but decided
Gonna flaunt it, what the heck
Okay maybe I'm dreaming a tad
But I'm really going to see it through
Nothing but good can come of it
Soon be doing the old boogaloo!
© Jack Ellison 2012
Categories:
boogaloo, humorous, giggle,
Form:
Quatrain
Neck-o-Flex
Twist-o-Flex
Single Roll,
Boogaloo
Scarecrow
Puppet,
Push and Pull,
Toyman, Robot,
Shamrock, Waving,
Eqyptian Twist,
Romeo Twist,
It's Funk we're making
Double Lock,
High kick, handkerchief
Apple Hat,
Splits, Knee drop, Wrist Twirl,
a Layout that's flat,
Stripey socks, bright Zoot suit,
Marshmallow shoes,
Candy Hush Puppies, big smiles,
no need for blues,
Waistcoat, Braces, a Cane,
Bowler or Derby hat,
Popping and Locking has style
we can't get enough of it.
Fact.
Walk-out, Electric Boogaloos,
Iconic Boogaloo Sam
He's the man who made Popping,
for Locking, Don's the man
James Brown, get down,
Breakdown, Rufus Thomas,
Everyone needs to get funky
Don't be shy, join us!
Categories:
boogaloo, art, devotion, happiness, music,
Form:
Rhyme
So many things in life I'd like to know
So little time for me to gather answers
The tango, jerk, the bop, the boogaloo
Were any of them favorites of Dancer?
Mid-afternoon, an outside noise disturbs
As I'm recording thoughts on my computer
That bird keeps crowing "Cock-a-doodle-do"
But never will a crow go 'Cock-a-rooster'
We live for roughly eighty-some odd years
But some don't even reach their adolescence
Yet once they've reached accountability
Forever will be judged from only seconds
It matters not how many years you've served
Ten trillion years, but, still, you're just beginning
Much like a horse thief in the West except
He's hung, there's pain and death, at least it's finished
So, sixteen, thirty, fifty, eighty-three
All go to hell who make the wrong decision
Eternal punishment with no way out
If this is true pray now and hope He'll listen
And mold the punishment to fit the crimes
Especi-al-ly those taught to love another
Though Hitler was a monster through-and-through
Eternity's a wee bit long to suffer
Categories:
boogaloo, psychological,
Form:
Rhyme
That’s it you see lights twisting turning
Yearning
Heat on skin
Sweat popping
Beats dropping
DJ hit me again
I need it
I got it
It is about to go down
Categories:
boogaloo, dance, fun, smile,
Form:
Free verse
One day I tasted upon my liar's tounge the sweet sugar of victory, only to
find that my pride had turned it to salt, and for
all that, it was refreshing. I
realized that sugar is everywhere, and
salt is rare, well worth
its weight in AU79.
One day I was listening, pricking
up my ears and
waiting for the the sounds, the foolish
voices radiating untrue words, the multitudes of helper brains impaired.
A thought came to me. Maybe
herds entrap the razor wire in the end, perhaps
that is the nature of the f(b)east,
In-animate
Electric
Endorphin
Anvil, stirrup and exothermic Konga!
One fine day I lay down on the springy grass, and
let the sun shine on me. I felt
the gentle curve of the earth beneath me. I slept. I
Dreamt.
Gray fog and
burnt tongue and
deaf ear turned inwards
the acids ceased to flow over my dendrites.
What end of days could be so terrible?
Categories:
boogaloo, introspectionday, day,
Form:
Narrative
Veterans of Vietnam
Do you still carry it with you,
the rifle of the fight?
Are you absolved in your bravery
even though you did not die?
Do you see worth
for what you risked?
I could not smell your perspiration
as we danced the boogaloo at home.
We were all so young;
all of us;
no chance to think;
each in a different reality.
And there are those who are forever young
prisoners of the mind, of the soul,
of the earth framed in heartache by loved ones.
© revised May 26, 2012
Kathryn McL. Collins
Categories:
boogaloo, war,
Form:
Free verse
The Unexpected Moments
1. Spider floats down a web, you grab at the web, then you toss it out the door,
you feel a tug in your hair, eight legs fumbles about, you shake and shake,
until it falls on the floor
2. Step off a curb, a tire screech, a car horn that never lets up
3. A honeybee in love with a woman's hair sprayed hair, hands waving all about
4. An edge-of-the-seat horror flick, popcorn sprinkles in your hair
5. A surprise party with an odd start, where's the handkerchief
6. A tap on your shoulder from behind, you roll your hand into a fist
7. Someone said boo and you do the boogaloo
8. An authority person calls you by your full name
9. The 'To-Your-Face-Do-Not-Flinch' Game or punches galore
10. A teacher's get-your-attention ruler slams the desk
11. The dreaded alarm clock goes off -or- didn't go off
12. The dozing off at work, co-worker finger snaps
2019 May 27
*4th Place*
What Makes You Flinch
~~Julie Leigh Rodeheaver
Categories:
boogaloo, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
List
Wet My Entire Pants
If into your back I sank my claws
Do you think you could give to the cause
After both of my claws were released
Would your dead body be properly policed.
If some body must love another body sometime
Where and when in am I supposed to chime
And after long look I must be admitting
None of your poor clothes are properly fitting.
After finding myself out on a long limb
Should we do the shimmy, boogaloo or swim
Or trying to do some other song and dance
After we did a duet wet my entire pants.
Categories:
boogaloo, humorous, philosophy,
Form:
Couplet