Best Burn Off Poems
Blink if the title drew your eyes in
See, the breadth of our human functionality
Sparks interest
Curiosity
Thankfully, no evil kitty cats were killed because of it.
But, humanity continues its descent.
We live in a world of blasphemous sacrifices
Judgmental stares
And vicarious living
A world where identities are being kidnapped
Assaulted
By ill-defined pronouns and verbs from
Blogger’s egotistical delight
Yet, we crave to be free & think for ourselves.
We used to live in a world where “boys” never expressed their emotions
Yet, today, they are criticized for mansplaining
But, beg us to be a dictator in the sheets
Oh, the lust of hypocrisy’s tongue knows
No bounds
Pre-emptive screams, the only “logical” sound
As critical loudmouths burn off pounds
Of social media dislikes
While they stare at their obese internal sadness
…
We live in a world
Where love is defined by what humanity’s online profile
Shows on their Relationship Status
Not the private memories
Not the personal moments
The less we share online, the less we care offline!
Everybody wants to know about everybody else
In order to forget about themselves
Insecurities abound,
Another red herring in their chilled soup
They dance with spoonfuls of illegitimate intimacy
Spinning their self-declarations round robin
But, refuse to dip into change
We used to live in a world
Where it was a penny for their thoughts
Now it costs a life when the mind is spoken
So, I think to myself…
©D.J.E.
Scrap the smoldering, winsome words
the lovely odd truce made of letters
found carved with the edge of an old pocket knife
on a strap made of metal and leather
Burn off the tarnish on platinum rings
engraved with the infernal: "LOVE"
found pulling limp loyalty up to it's feet
and then giving it a death dealing shove
Trip over shoes which should still be for dancing
and spin them right into the trash
found in the corner of the cluttered dark room
like a pack rat's incurable stash
Blow open windows long stuck closed with paint
Push all the junk to the sill
Unburden your soul of it's hideous secrets
and snatch back your sacred free will...
Gray shrouds cover my way
sets the tone for the day.
Our silent sun sends
rays running round corners
slowly beams burn off -
melting morning misty mind.
As I tread these stone slabs
rapt in wonder of this awe,
great stone bones in it all.
Metropolis makes stirring sounds
anxiously awakens around me.
Rails screech like prehistoric birds,
wind whistles through tunnels twirling,
chatter and honks and hums.
Hear humanities' street symphony.
Parkways sever city canyons.
I cross white striped asphalt rivers,
pass primal Ponderosa stone spires.
Wary walls of glassy eyes glare at me.
Watch my droll daily drudge passively
through towering hollow statues.
I arrive to hug my office door,
seeking some soulful signal.
This inner city, my sentimental friend:
now I'm fearful this soon will end.
Put my face flush on its stone skin,
felt a mounting tear in my eye,
trickled out down between,
turned my head to kiss its skin.
Felt raspy, tasted of grit.
Like kissing a corpse.
Then pulled back and looked up
its everstill edifice to the sky.
Poses the query who am I?
And there I stood a while and thought.
How can we be one?
How can it be me?
Color Pencil illustration G. Gaul
Free Verse Philosophical look at inanimate
stone city structures and the
universal concept of oneness.
11/17/2019
I remember the cold of a winter night when the snow brought the hills alive. When the valley stream was ice, I remember the cold of a winter night.
I remember the snowdrops of the spring. The dew would burn off eventually. The air would be fresh and clean, I remember the snowdrops of the spring.
I remember the swallows in summer flight. When the blue sky turned crimson almost every night. The soft air on open fields. The beauty of the fuchsia flower yields. The sun and moon could be seen together riding the sky. I remember the swallows in summer flight.
I remember the autumn colours of magnificence. The deep reds and yellows could create paintings without the frames. The soft warm of evening sun. Nature’s beauty without comparison. I remember the autumn colours of magnificence.
I remember loving nature because you found that in me. Your smile and your deep blue eyes shone brighter in the sun you see. The way you’d stop to help an injured bee. You saw so much beauty in life, even in me. I remember loving nature because you found that in me.
Raised on a farm in the South, Father ended up farming most of his life. He loved the land, the growing things, and the animals. He went off to work early in the morning whistling and singing. We kids would tag along to work in the fields and secretly hope for early thunderstorms.
early morning stars
wet dew
the sound of roosters
When he was about to retire, he could no longer make a living as a farmer. Elderly, he had trouble finding work in the rural area of the South where he lived. The only job he could find was working for a chicken processing plant. They had thousands of chickens crammed in cages and behind wire fences awaiting slaughter.
They gave him a job using a heating iron to burn off part of the chickens’ beaks, so the they would not damage each other through pecking.
He lasted a week
Making pets of them all
started smoking again
(Published Haibun Today - 2008)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful, just for a day,
If I didn’t have to count all the calories as I stuffed them away.
Why? Can’t I eat just one Kit-Kat? Why do I have to eat two?
If I carry on like this, I don’t know what I’ll do.
I’m sure the more I think of food, the hungrier I get.
Now it’s time for 3 more miles on my bike, when the timer is set.
Now I’m hungrier than ever, all over again.
This diet is turning into an absolute pain.
Now I’ll go for a walk to burn off a few more.
But what happens the moment I walk back in the door.
I put the kettle on, for a cup of tea.
Out come the Kit-Kats, one, two, three.
I’m really going to have to go give up this diet.
I think to myself, during 10 minutes peace and quiet.
I’ll forget about the diet, before it takes over my life.
Because all it is doing is causing me a lot of strife.
I know it’s doing my health, no good dragging around all this weight.
But my brain forgets that, when tucking into a piece of chocolate cake.
I struggle and struggle with this diet all day.
But chocolate bars and cake, just get in the way,
I go to the shops, they stare at me from the shelf.
I wasn’t born to be thin, I console myself,
‘Guess what with’
A Tale of 2 Tails
A Bedtime Story for My Grandsons-by Gwendolen Rix
Two tigers went to the park to play. One tiger had a striped tail and the other tiger had a polka-dotted tail. The striped-tail tiger played harder than any other tiger at the park and when it was time for him to go to sleep at night he fell asleep without any problems. His weary head hit the pillow and then his striped tail stopped dancing all around as it did when he was swinging, jumping, twirling, and bouncing all around the playground.
The polka-dotted tailed tiger had not used up all of his energy, and so he was not ready to go to sleep. He tossed and he turned and he thought of all the things that he could have done to burn off all this extra energy. He even thought of different tricks he could have done on the monkey bars. He could have tried to count up to a hundred on the pogo stick too! Oh, there were a million things he could have done!
Eventually, the polka-dotted tiger became tired imagining all the things he could have done and then finally fell asleep. He even dreamed of building a bigger and more adventurous playground one day. Of course he would have to wait till he grew up and got a really good job. Until then he will just be satisfied with the playground that he has and play to his heart’s content.
The End.
gwendolentoney@yahoo.com
Desolate sea
between steel sky and dusky shore.
A sinister mist creeps in,
adds to the grey gloom.
Flat calm.
Stillness.
Complete silence.
A seabird cries.
Shingle-rippling wavelets, bubble and make reply.
The gull continues his mournful song
evoking sea-lost souls.
Waves,
now churning time-worn pebbles,
advance,
inexorably –
a soulful seascape in shades of grey.
Others take up the seabird’s reveille.
Ghostly forms
float intangibly
on the morning mist.
Golden light, gathers on the horizon –
slow, diffuse at first, later, laser-like,
bright rays burn off the vapours.
Then,
suddenly,
in splendour,
the Sun appears.
3 January 2014
Bleach - disinfectant
fly and hairsprays
polish - air fresheners
used everyday
In our homes
without a thought
whilst the planet around us
becomes out of control
Smog from rush-hour traffic
on the urban scene
irritates the chest
but then leave what you don't see
Chlorine in the
swimming baths
our work's not done
better change them to ultra violet
Oil prices gone up
while our fossils have gone down
yet fumes burn off in furnaces
straight into the clouds
We're digging out gemstones
creating deeper mines
We've dug for years for coal
and now hydraulic fracturing - we're fracking
What of the gases
that protect our Earth
The holes just getting bigger
yet we're not being heard
We are opening Earth's crusts
increasing vehicles on our roads
using all our silver - using all our gold
whilst the Earth dies screaming
And meanwhile whilst we live
in our ignorance
Generations that follow
will have health suffer in horrendous penitence
Ann today the "Rain" is coming down hard, We will sit "Home" and help your "Mama" bake. We just finished the icing when your "Father" walked in. She makes the best chocolate "Cake,"
The "Unfair Calories" from last night almost did us both in, You and "Me Today" must start a diet so we don't gain. Let's go buy some "Green Apples," "The Fact" is we cannot ever eat a whole cake ever again.
Tomorrow we need to work "In the Garden," We can pull some "Weeds." We can burn off some calories from the evil cake we devoured "I Know" we can plant some seeds.
They say "See No Evil" but that sure was an evil yet delicious cake,
"Another Day" eating apples. Do you "Hear Me" no more evil chocolate cake ever for us,
Today please just one pineapple.
Date Written:5/19/2021
3 Place
Dedicated to Ann Foster. Written using titles from some of her poems.
Title Wave Contest Judged: 6/28/2021 Sponsored by: Richard Lamoureux
My stomach twists,
Empty.
I'll run to forget the pain,
Busy.
Drinking water helps,
Better.
I go home and shower,
Clean.
My reflection catches my eye,
Fat.
I look away,
Shame.
I flip on the TV.
Bored.
Victoria's Secret ad comes on,
Curious.
Their bodies chiseled into perfection,
Jealous
Tv turned off,
Wishing.
Empty refrigerators will stay,
Almost.
Next workout to burn off more,
Thin.
My stomach wrenches,
Empty.
I woke up when the roof caved in, the smoke slithered under my bedroom door
As I Crawled through my Sin, to that bedroom door, as I slowly Lift Myself off the Floor
I look through the window, and what do I see; My Bride, My Wife, My LOVE : LENORE
Shouting “ Harry the “Vail” is all You have Left of “ ME “ “Open the door “ SAVE ME “
I cry as memories, burn off the wall, I see the “Vail “ untouched by Satan’s Fire
The Burning Hot Flames, are biting on me; the Untouched : Vail “ is all I can see
My “FOREVER and ALWAYS, My Most Only; BELOVED, LENORE my DESIRE
I Grasp the : “ Transparent White Vail “ Jump through the Window of “ ETERNITY “
In a black flame of glory; the Devil speaks to me “ You Do Love Your Wife “ LENORE ?“
I Look at the Ecru, Aging Transparent White Vail. My ALWAYS and FOREVER “LENORE”
Begone Satan you do not belong here
With Almighty GOD,the GOD that you fear
Inspired by the Contest : " Last Chance : Sponsored by Kristen Bruni
Dedicated to Forty Years of LOVE To my Life, My Wife, Lenore Ellen (Adams) Johnson
November 4, 1951 - August 25, 1971 YOU are ALWAYS Remembered in My HEART
Author's Note : The Vail is what I would save in a fire; but I was robbed four Years Ago : The Thief's Prize - " A Transparent White Wedding VAIL " Please bring It Back
LOVE ALWAYS and FOREVER, YOUR Liege...HG
What did my eerily observant mirror so boldly reveal
to me this morning as I so cautiously gazed into its soul?
It quipped "Hey lummox,might as well limp back to bed,
the eyes of the world will mistake you for an over-sized troll."
Many times it speaks this extremely critical
evaluation of me.So often, in fact, I can no longer ignore.
I have been rather proficient at turning a deaf ear
to its snide, painful remarks, but now it's cutting me to the core.
It willingly continues " You better stop
trying to appease the god of the gut.
Forget about bacon and eggs,
cookies and cakes, candies and nuts.
And yes, include on the list, donuts and pastries,
ice cream and chocolate, even Fritos and chips.
Crisco would be jealous of you, you tub o' lard. You've surrendered
to the demon of gluttony for so long now, I mean, c'mon, get a grip.
And let's be real here, this farce of an exercise
routine you endear yourself to is all mirrors and smoke.
How many calories do you think you burn off
simply looking, be it so desperately, for your precious remote?
You might even want to drag your behemoth butt off
the couch while watchin' the tube and do some crunches.
Instead of waiting till the commercial break to
waddle out to the kitchen to refill your beloved munchies.
Let's see, there's tennis, running, swimming,
biking, even just walking..... exercise programs galore.
But nooooo, for you that means change doesn't it?
It's not worth it even though you barely fit through the door."
But as there are two sides to every story, so too is
there another mirror even more significant than the first.
It happens to be God's "love letter" that reflects honestly and with
prevailing irony.It captivates us with mention of real hunger and thirst.
It also talks of changes we need to make
if we don't want life to "take it's toll".
Not so much on our fleeting flesh
as on our eternal soul.
These words, like a soothing salve, are
universal.Oh yes, they are ours for the taking.
And they can buoy us and comfort us on those
many days when that "other mirror" we feel like breaking.
Never Just a Dog
The day was long and hard
You greet me at the door
Ever ready to show the love
Ever ready to listen
Never judging, never arguing
You wag your tail and smile
Patiently waiting to have my
Hand; gently scratch your ears
Patiently waiting for your leash to snap in place
Slowly you take the lead out into the world
Walking in companionship
You feel the tension leaving my body
Your excitement grows, and yet you patiently wait
You wait for the smile and the signal to play
There it is! That loosened leash that says freedom
You chase the blowing leaves around until the true prize comes forward
Your favorite ball sails through the air and you run as fast as you can to retrieve it
Then back again to my side
You drop the ball and wait for me to pick it up and send it flying through the air again
Again, and, again the ball flies until the darkness is coming and your tummy rumbles
You sit and patiently wait for the snap of the leash once again
Tonight is a special night; we take an extra run around the park to burn off the rest of the day’s tension
Home at last for some kibble and a drink
You settle next to me, and nap as I slowly drift off
I nestle next to your warmth and smile
You are my friend, my companion
But never just a dog
The new year now is creeping into view
with resolutions, hopes and dreams galore,
so this year what I thought that I would do
is get off on the right foot weeks before.
I've upped the rate I pace at when I walk
to burn off calories and trim my waist,
and breakfast times now need no knife and fork,
it's Muesli , hope I get used to the taste.
Brown bread instead of white, meats are lean cuts,
tins of mackerel ,more omega threes,
for extra protein there's unsalted nuts
and tons of fruit to help stave off disease.
It's great to know that as the years go by
I will be really healthy when I die.