Best Bounced Poems
"Hi Doll!"
He's been calling me that for years
I like it
Truth is I have always been a doll
My permanent smile
My open arms
I was a sweet sixteen's baby doll
her brother's too old to play with doll
a favourite doll
forgotten doll
replaced doll
A bounced off two cars rag doll
A fashion doll
possession comfort toy pretty thing on your arm with
eyes that roll doll
Not real
not taken seriously doll
A spinning three faced porcelain
cracked and chipped with rocks and scissors
paper doll
fragile doll
disfigured doll
tearing out my stuffing
losing my head
broken doll
A doll
like any other doll
that just wants to be held.
17.08.28
Composed for Gregory R Barden's
"The Poet's Own" Contest
1st Place (thank you Greg!)
Submitted to Julia Ward's
"Your Favorite Poem Of August 2017" Premiere Contest
1st Place (thank you Julia!)
I’m the one who needs to be somewhere else,
I cannot stay in one place.
The grass is green where I’ve never been
and never have shown my face.
When I look back on every track
where there’s nothing to entice
me to return to where I never yearn.
You won’t see my footsteps twice.
I’ve lived through drought and I’ve lived through flood,
I’ve been where a fire’s burnt black.
I’ve seen the curse where the locusts’ worse
and the crops are all under attack.
I’ve been laid down in a cyclone town
when winds are a howling gale.
In the shearing shed when the markets dead
and the cheques bounced over the rail.
I’ve no good terms on the squatters land
for he’s never a man to talk,
and he can’t control his angry soul
when a restless man don’t walk.
If there’s sag in my tucker bag
near a campfire I’m content.
He’ll try to rule I’m a thieving fool
so my time with him is spent.
I’m the one who needs to be somewhere else;
each camp is a rainbows end,
where the only gold that I get to hold
is to wake in the morning again
to bear my load on the distant road
for ahead lies my clarity,
that with my charms in the need for alms,
there’s a world full of charity.
I’m the one who needs to be somewhere else,
in my chase for the know not what,
where time ahead guide the fearful dead,
something that I am not.
From coast to coast my eventual ghost
will tramp o’er the trail I made,
which can’t be denied is Australia wide
when I rest where my body is laid.
an ugly gray rock, so I kicked it along
amused by my memories, humming a song
it was jagged and rough - I gave it no mind
and punted it thrice, then left it behind …
I changed up my hum and walked on alone
not thinking it special, (it WAS just a stone)
yet the farther I got from where it had been
the more I considered that "plain" rock
again
something about its proportions or form
contrasted just slightly, was not quite the
norm
the way that it tumbled, or lay there, just SO
or maybe the way it had bounced off my
toe
whatever it was, I could not quite discern
but decided right then, it was worth a
return
so, I spun myself 'round, headed back to
that spot
still not sure of WHY - just a feeling I got
but when I returned, it had broken in two -
an incredible OPAL flamed red, green and
blue!
scant had I known just what "ugly" could
hold -
all the prismatic colors that smoldered,
untold!
well …
I couldn't help think that a lesson was there
of the plain folks we see, that we pass,
unaware
for they are more precious than any gray
stone
with such wonders inside - yet we leave
them alone
perhaps if we gave them a wink or a grin
we might find the bright of their beauty
WITHIN
the colors that light their charisma and
grace
the complexion of charms that don’t show
on a face
the places they’ve been or the roads they
have run
their moonlight romances and days in the
sun
the wealth of their spirit, their talents and
rage
they’ve a story to tell, if we’d just turn the
page
so, I keep in my pocket, a piece of that rock
to help me recall what I learned on that walk
not to take "plain" for granted, or push folks
aside
but instead, look for sparks of their fires …
deep INSIDE.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Overlooked Beauty" Poetry Contest, Jesse Rowe, Judge & Sponsor.
Sparkling snowflakes were falling around
Making a thick blanket on the ground
The lights on the Christmas trees
Twinkling brightly in the breeze
Carol singers sang a Christmas song
People around joined in the throng
Their lanterns casting a golden glow
Their shadows dancing in the snow
Two excited children were ready for bed
Having left food for the reindeer's and Santa to be fed
They’d left their stocking by the tree
Their eager eyes sparkled with glee
Hoping the stockings would be filled with gifts and toys
They put in their letter they’d been good girls and boys
Tommy had asked Santa for a shiny new bike
The red one in the shop was the one he would like
Ella asked for a new doll and a pram that was white
The thought of it made her eyes shine with delight
They sleepily climbed the stairs to their room
Through the curtains they saw the light of the moon
Soon they both were fast asleep
They slept so soundly there was not a peep
In the morning they bounced out of bed
Wondering if Santa and the reindeer's had been fed
Bits of straw and carrot peel lay on the hall floor
Their mouths dropped open in wonder and awe
The living room door was slightly ajar
Santa has visited on his trip from afar
Their stockings bulged with gifts and toys
Santa had kept his promise to these good girls and boys
11~23~14
One evening, gazing into the endless expanse,
Lured by its mystery, I sat engrossed in thoughts.
The world around me seemed to fade and all I knew I was buoyed up.
I was traveling through inter galactic space on a space odyssey,
With my friend, well equipped with space suits and sturdy helmets.
I slipped out of reality and how swift our lightning Sputnik,
Out running the speed of sound and light shot into space with a violent jerk.
At a distance were luminous spheres, suspended like glowing lanterns.
Comets and meteors in hyperspace seemed more like diffused designs.
Down, I saw Mother Earth, a luminous ball, not bigger than a sapphire dot.
Earth, with all its mammoth structures shrunk in seconds before my eyes.
Knew I was millions of leagues up in the sky and feeling dizzy, I looked away.
The star-spangled sky seemed more like blue chiffon stitched with silver sequins.
Oh! How quickly we landed on Mars, so different from what I had learnt.
Neither a barren belt of sterile terrain, nor a rugged stretch of craters burnt,
But a heavenly place, cool and serene full of scintillating and ravishing sights.
We, from a faraway land were warmly received by a team of alien sprites.
Our body weight was suddenly lifted, and we bounced up and down in ether,
Losing in the magic and bliss of that Zion, wondering if it was chimera or truth,
Reality pulled me down headlong and I woke up suddenly from a pleasant dream!
It bounced off the truck
And then rolled down the highway
Apple turnover
-----------------------------------------
How 'bout them apples
When Jonathan McIntosh
Won the spelling bee
----------------------------------------
Apple of my eye
Jenny had the sweetest smile
For another guy
----------------------------------------
Right down to the core
When that apple crossed the plate
An infield dribble
------------------------------------------------------
Just one little hole
In that shiny red apple
Just one little worm
-------------------------------------------------------------
On the day after Christmas, they started appearing,
cast out of houses, stripped of their finery,
lying crooked in the gutter, garbage bags flanking.
My brothers and I walked to school
and halfway there, three blocks away,
was a steep ravine called The Hollow.
A place of some dark mystery in summer,
one hundred feet deep and forbidden land
according to most parents, The Hollow
sang its song to all neighborhood kids.
Returning to school after Christmas,
my brothers and I would drag the discarded
Christmas trees along the sidewalk and onto the bridge
that spanned The Hollow, then heave them over the railing,
watching their graceful tumble earthward,
their air brushing final fall.
"Hey, I used to do that too!" Donnie was a lot older,
almost done with high school, and his walk took him
right by our elementary school - he laughed to see us
hauling the trees to that concluding bridge.
He grabbed a large one, bigger than any of us could handle,
and upon the bridge had us help him hold it upright on the railing,
as it stood in life, as it looked down upon Christmas gifts;
we watched it slowly lean into Gravity,
watched the balletic descent into silence.
Donnie kept with us that first month into the new year,
the pile of trees growing in the bottom of The Hollow.
He told us things, we told him things,
we asked him things and he told us more.
My brothers and I still talk about that big tree
on the railing of the bridge over The Hollow.
It hit right on top of the pile of other trees
and bounced off to the side, its own special place.
As January wore on, we didn't find as many trees,
and ultimately it was all done.
Eventually the school year too was done,
and then more years, and school itself was done.
The trees at the bottom of The Hollow rotted away to nothing.
Somewhere in there my mom told me that Donnie
had been shipped off to war, killed within a few weeks.
We had that one magic month.
December 25, 2016
For Anthony Slausen's contest - 'The Day After Christmas'
Another layer of lavender scented lotion
Rubbed in vehement laughter
A quelling of sadness
Covered up in mascara insanity
Livid strokes of feathered paintbrushes
Hoping to see the big picture
She cried like oil paintings without a purpose.
A treasure hunter searching for rubbery remedies
Without heart’s sanctified atrium
To light the way
She bled from carnivorous pores
Bites against feeding palms
Struggling licks upon pacifier wounds
Mouth
Shut
Stone’s lonely lyric
Thrown against fragile lighthouses
Beaming through unacceptable horizons
Investigation of deity’s hidden agenda,
She questions validation’s esophagus
Its vocal chords
Torn
Another squeeze from lavender bottle
Empty
Its exhales shedding infantile whisper
…
A bounced reality check
Declaring that it wasn’t a disease
That afflicted her bones
©Drake J. Eszes
I once stepped into a labyrinth, that grew upon the crest
The unraveled trail through silver pines, where ferns and grasses wept,
Where birdsongs rose, from scattered boughs, and echoed to the west
Moss grew to warm each foot with jade, while solemn trees had slept
--
I remember how the stately timbers, had leaned against the sky
I stood knee-deep in ancient times, my heart was on a quest
to riddle through the forest's mind, into a honeycomb of sighs
Each spire grew from sod and loam, and branches fell to rest
--
Shards of sun, bright fingerlings, had haloed 'round my head
Sparks shaved and thinned, by silver limbs, would reach to catch the sun,
Like candles tall, along the trail, the dust burned rust and red
It bounced with light, off fragile lattice, webs, and laces, spun
--
Asylum blessed, so undisturbed, exquisitely serene
My famished eyes were wide with awe, but yet was not my home
Beneath each leaf, beneath each limb, were tiny worlds unseen
With cushioned steps, I walked with care, for this was sacred loam
_______________________________________________
Goethe Stanza
I accidentally let one loose -
I was tipsy and had no excuse
It happened at the rare breed’s zoo
When I decided to cuddle a cute kangaroo
As I crept into the fenced off enclosure
I struggled to maintain my composure
The joey leapt past me, I just couldn’t stop it
as it bounded away like a flaming rocket!
I tried to catch it by grabbing hold of its tail
but I slipped on a grape, and let out a loud wail
I could see the joey bounce away into the distance
It was clear I needed professional assistance
I got the attention of the kangaroo warden
She turned on me like a demented gorgon
and shouted at me, the air turned quite blue
as we both chased after that small kangaroo
The footloose joey demanded more intervention
His keeper spluttered words too rude to mention
The kangaroo bounced away at lightning speed
We needed to ensnare it, the keeper decreed
We were joined in the chase by the local vet
who used a long pole, on the end was a net
He managed to place it over the joey’s head
Soon joey was captured and locked in his shed
I tried to apologise until I was puce in the face
But they wouldn’t listen, said I was a disgrace
As a result of my action I’m banned from that zoo
I guess I won’t get to cuddle a baby kangaroo
I accidentally let one loose Contest
Sponsored by Charles Messina
7/7/18
Of Dandelions and Roses
Among the bricks and stones
dandelions persist, finding
any smallest egress to pop
through.
My Irish Grammie called me
her "Rose so sweet"
Truth is - I am a dandelion
Life tried its best to quell my growth
Circumstances played jacks with my life
Always, some persistent genetic inner seed
grew to maturity and became a will of iron
wielding a mace most fierce
Like a child's paddle ball, I bounced back,
no matter how many smacks came my way
Life paved me over, but, determined,
I broke the pavement again and again
Roses are sweet and elegant and fragile
Dandelions are pugnacious warriors
Rose are clipped and put in pretty vases,
dandelions force themselves toward sunshine
I am a dandelion
It was quite a party at the old Spooks house,
to a spooktactular Samba they bobbed and bounced.
with skeletons banging their big ox-bone drums,
and the pumpkins all sang as the witches hummed.
Black cats did dine on tuna eyeball stew;
wicked Wilma brought her green bat-wing brew.
In the attic was held a wondrous broom race
and out back was a terrifying zombie maze.
Pirates and scarecrows arrived well dressed;
judges couldn’t decide whose costume was best.
Pumpkin ghouls climbed and played in the trees;
giant spiders spun silk and swung there with ease.
Greedy young goblins stuffed pockets with snacks
as children came by trick-or-treating with sacks.
The ghosts did a tango beneath a bright moon
and everyone knew it would all end too soon.
Just as the moon bid them all nighty-nite,
the sun it ascended giving vampires a fright.
Home they all flew to their dark coffin beds
‘cause you know, sunlight’s fatal to the undead.
Then the party disbanded with bellies all full
as among eerie nimbus pranced Taurus the bull.
Wilma flew off to the Witches Head nebula;
a scarecrow hitched a ride on the broom of Bella.
As little Spooks bedded down for the day,
hungry skeletons finished off the pumpkin flambé.
The bats all fluttered to their bat boxes, high
as grandpa Spook waved saying, “Next year, black tie!”
"Human mind knows no constraints. Without spending time or money, one can make an odyssey into the outer space and even into other planets. What is needed is the fuel of imagination." - By Poet
Outside, the night was gathering strength
How swift our lightning Sputnik,
Out running the speed of sound and light
Shot into space with a violent jerk, leaving us psychotic.
At a distance were luminous spheres
Suspended like glowing lanterns
Comets and meteors in hyper space
Seemed more like diffused patterns
An asteroid came whizzing towards us.
I closed my eyes in dreadful shock,
Fearing a terrible head on collision.
Thank God! It deviated from our track!
I looked at my friend seated beside
Obviously not here, lost in thought!
Looking down, I saw Mother Earth
A luminous ball, not bigger than a sapphire dot
Oh! How quickly we landed on Mars
It is so different from what I had learnt
Neither a barren belt of sterile terrain
Nor a rugged stretch of craters burnt
But a heavenly place so cool and serene
Full of scintillating scenes and ravishing sights
We, the emissaries from a far away land
Were warmly received by a team of alien sprites
The weight of the world suddenly lifted from us
We bounced up and down almost floating in the air
Found ourselves in a gorgeous garden
With springing fountains and blossoms fair
Trees were laden with dazzling gems
Lagoons and lakes of liquid silver
Vast expanse of tawny vistas
Plains waving with luxuriant verdure
What fun…! Hmm…over there,
Nothing like those seen on planet Earth
A herd of animals so strange and rare
Grazing on red grass in a canyon of great width
Our restless eyes scanning all around,
We accelerated our pace in rising delight.
As we were eager to explore every bit of ground,
We moved forward with enthusiastic gait.
Sudden was the sound I heard behind
And saw my mother standing near
Puzzled and confused as I looked around
In my ears her voice fell ringing clear-
“You lazy one, know this is exam time”
Rough and curt was her angry tirade.
“Again you can’t play a dumb mime”
Her words made my afternoon reverie suddenly fade
I saw my open book sneering at me
And my uncovered syllabus, a vast sea
Bibbety Bobbity bunny went shopping with his mum
She bought him a pogo stick so he could have some fun
For other bunnies had teased him about his enormous ears
Poor Bibbety got so upset he’d run to his mum in tears
Now he’d got his pogo stick he’d bounce around all day
Couldn’t wait to show off and hear what other bunnies say
Some bunnies gathered round him to see what he could do
He gave one ginormous bounce and into the air he flew
Bibbety Bobbity bunny had bounced oh so very high
He left the earth’s surface and landed in the sky
The other bunnies shouted for him to come back to land
But Bibbety went zooming high, he was feeling oh so grand
Hopping on fluffy clouds of iced pink cotton candy
Bibbety thought life in the sky was so very fine and dandy
For now his long floppy ears acted as a propeller
He became a bunny helicopter, oh what a clever fella
Bibbety Bobbity bunny thought he could have a little fun
By dancing on the rainclouds and blocking out the sun
Hopping about on misty clouds made him want the loo
There are no toilets in the sky, what should poor Bibbety do?
A stream of rabbit droppings falling from the sky
Could really hurt someone if it hit them in the eye
So Bibbety grabbed his long ears and made a bunny nappy
He floated back down to earth and he was really happy
Bibbety’s pogo stick just disappeared and his flying day is over
He now just plays in his garden and nibbles sweet spring clover
10~20~15
N/A in contest judged on 05/21/16
Millicent Portia Ponsonby-Smyth
Could speak fluent French by the time she was five.
By the age of just eight she was top of her class,
There wasn’t a test that she couldn’t pass.
English and maths she coped with just fine
And quantum mechanics she’d mastered by nine.
Her parents were proud, but a little concerned
That she’d never have fun if she stayed in to learn.
Her father said, “Millicent go out and play.”
“But father I’m reading so here I shall stay.”
“Being so clever is great there’s no doubt,
But once in a while you need to get out.”
She said, ”Pater, please listen I’m happy to study,
And if I go out there’s a chance I’ll get muddy.”
That very night she was taken off guard,
She discovered a sum that was simply too hard.
She stomped round her room in utter frustration,
She just couldn’t do this quadratic equation.
Gnashing her teeth and tearing her hair
She kicked out in temper at her teddy bear.
It flew through the air and bounced off the wall,
So she kicked it again before it could fall.
It bounced off her head and then off her knee
And suddenly Millicent giggled with glee.
She continued all night to kick it around.
For hours she kept it from touching the ground.
In the following weeks she practiced some more
And saved all the money she earnt from her chores.
She went to the shop, bought a ball and some boots,
And learnt how to dribble and learnt how to shoot.
Every day after school she went to the park
And practiced her football until it was dark.
She continued to study the books and the sport
And paid close attention to all she was taught.
13 years later Miss Smyth is delighted
She’s the first girl in history to play for United.