Best Carpool Poems
A busy wife and mom, she always seemed late
But she didn’t know why, at times she would wait
When a sense of urgency was of great import
Especially to those waiting, most in need of her support
For those of us wondering, “How could she always take so long?”
Since it wasn’t obvious why, oft was heard a car horn
But many times I noticed, even as a small lad
There was intent in her lateness, usually to aid something or someone who had
A need greater than ours, or those we were meeting
Like our dogs needed water, or the horses needed feeding
Or, stopping to talk to an elderly neighbor
Who had just learned of an illness that caused them great labor
There was the time when she stopped the car to explain something of import
We got to ask many questions, she never cut us short
I also remember a stressful day, one where we were late for carpool
And an irate father took it out on her, very un cool
Later that night I could hear her crying as we went to sleep
And I prayed for an angel to visit and tell her not to weep
And to show her how her small decisions to be late
Greatly affect people and other’s lives, which then go on to create
Such a wonderful world for us all to enjoy
If we just keep in mind, that if all of us too employed
A sometimes-slight hesitation, a thought of others before plunging ahead
We’d all get to experience a life with more threads
That fulfills that promise to our creator who asked
Only that we fill our lives with greater weight
And maybe, just maybe, it’s because we’re a few minutes late
i speak trouble yes
i speak trouble
late night rumble
very quiet mumble
summertime symptoms
slipped in subtle
suddenly i want to see
the warmth right before
the crunching of some autumn leaves
too hot at noon, makes the warmest evenings
writing on walls, illegal to draw
remind me of nights, all fear was small
bliss and inner peace
abundant as dinner treats
everyday i made away
with darker skin, and dirty feet
heart disease not bittersweet
park and freeze like little creeps
when passerby, might quantify
activities, helping secrets to keep
no such trouble yes
no such trouble
all the wonder, many lovers
i wrestled and played with shovels
pedestrian and landlord
i rummaged through the rubble
pasta without sauce, and gallons of tap water
vaporizing sacred flowers
that smell of exotic jungles
worries never entering
my vision like a tunnel
fleeting as a hummingbird
never ashamed to cuddle
never new a softer word
never cared for struggle
running free to paradise
cause my license priced had doubled
delighted to ride a bike
rain reason not to huddle
traveled all i sought to see
carpool or a shuttle
impermanence just a word
pouring down the funnel
Finally, Summer's over and the kids are back in school
I'm not a bad mother, but after driving through carpool,
I'll have seven hours, five days a week, spent in peace
No yelling, "Behave!" In silence I'll find sweet release.
I'll no longer hear voices say, "Mom, what's for lunch?"
Please understand that I love my kiddies a whole bunch,
but they ran around all Summer long like an unruly tribe.
The opening of school is what my doctor would prescribe.
Then it dawned on me... the pitfalls of what that means.
Now I'll hear, "Mom, why didn't you wash my new jeans?"
I'm pretty darn sure that child has a closet full of clothes.
One more affliction added to the motherhood of woes.
Let me not forget that I'll still be driving them all around
to football practice, and drama rehearsals, I'll be bound.
No time for them to snack at home before we must leave,
another burden we mom's bear that kids do not perceive.
I admit that they're growing too fast and soon I'll be alone
Then I will miss them dearly and I will bellyache and moan,
wishing I'd spent more time with my children every day.
I hope I'll not be the only mother who will feel this way.
August 28, 2022
Back to School Contest
Sponsor: Francine Roberts
Ever heard of the beautiful Ohio?
The writer in me wants you to know -
River life has its anecdotes
My granny, a German immigrant,
mastered that river in dinghy boats
to attend a Lutheran church.
I've crossed its waves on a raft that floats.
The writer in me wants you to know -
My father conquered the Ohio
on a ferryboat two times a day.
Except... when April rains closed the floodwall.
Then his carpool drove seventy miles one way
to cross on the next nearest bridge
in not-so-nearby Owensville Bay.
The Ohio River changes its flow.
The writer in me wants you to know.
My grandpa walked it in the depth of winter's freeze;
my grandkids explore its fossils in summer's drought.
Swimming it upstream is not an easy breeze
but its muddy shores hold childhood treasure.
It's where we teens met with our main squeeze.
August 14, 2021
Sponsor Constance La France
Contest Name Your Favorite Rhyme Poem in August 2021
I’m from toy cars and mismatched Barbie shoes.
I’m from bike races down the one road where no unpadded limb was safe.
I’m from a Sunday carpool and Tom Thumb slushies in Florala.
I’m from the twang of Conway Twitty,
the screams of Aerosmith and a hundred dances in between.
I am a child, finding joy in excitement!
I’m from dribbling chins and watermelon juice,
“Goodnight, sissy”, Band-Aids and kissing boo-boos.
I am a role model, finding strength in my fear.
I’m from bonfires, tailgates, and kissing goodbye. Barbeque at Jay’s and Christmas at the Hill.
I’m from standing on a milk crate to shoot pool and burning eyes in Walmart swimming pools.
I’m from Easy’s growl and Smokey’s purr.
I am passionate, finding love in freedom
I’m from jumping on a trampoline in torrential rain and the smell of roses
I’m from barefoot adventures, crawdad fishing, and “stay out of my pecan trees!”
I’m from 3 am Life with Ethan and 2 pm short cuts to Kayla’s
I am the hope I find in myself.
I’m from rivers, I am from oceans.
I am from pain and joy and tears of both,
I’m from love and belief in the power of unity.
I’m from toy cars and mismatched Barbie shoes.
I awoke in a kitchen
on a pillow of aprons;
my body covered with bruises
from a mob of angry patrons.
Then I came to in my bed
with all my ex-lovers
and their menstrual blood
absorbed by my covers.
Then I was asleep on the freeway,
alone in the carpool lane;
drove off a bridge in California
and woke up underwater in Maine.
Then I was alive in a coffin
snuggled with a teddy bear –
a knocking at my door,
but I pretended I wasn’t there.
Then I was back to the mirror
engraving my eyes with glass;
as the lights went out,
my ears started to laugh.
Then I was shivering on a pier
with a needle in my arm,
and my intestines unraveling
like a ball of yarn.
Then I was behind steel bars -
opposite a prison guard;
telling him your address,
and handing him a postcard.
I practice with the boys
The dirty filthy boys
The cute funny boys
My new soccer team
I had to play
No matter what
I guess this hadn't
Occurred to me
I practice with the boys
The smelly annoying boys
The fast strong boys
They accept me
As one of them
Play, laugh, slide tackle
Together at practice
In a team huddle
I practice with the boys
The pushy uptight boys
The sweet friendly boys
We cram into cars
On cold nights
We carpool to games
We spend four nights a week
Together
I practice with the boys
The mean jerky boys
The nice hot boys
I get cold
They give me a jacket
I hurt myself
They carry me off the field
I get tired
They give me a shoulder to lean on
I play with the boys
The best friends I could ask for
I woke up it was a sunny day
'Come for breakfast' mom would say,
I freshened up, then made my bed
Put away the books that I had read,
Just another day at school
My ride was here, my friends carpool,
We laughed and joked as friends would do
Just a regular day, and nothing new,
We went to our lockers to get our books
Then I noticed a student's suspicious looks,
He wore a long dark coat, and his head hung low
Then I noticed his walk, it seemed very slow,
The warning bell sounded, kids started to scatter
To get to their class, but somehow it didn't matter,
The boy with the long coat then started to yell
"All of you bitches are going to hell!"
He pulled out a gun and he started to shoot
First up in the air and then down by his boot,
Kids started screaming and running so fast
Some ran outside and others to class,
Alarms started ringing, the shooting was loud
I was down on the floor from the smoke filled cloud,
I crawled on my knees till I came to a door
Decided it safer to stay near the floor,
He came round the corner in all of his hate
Our eyes then made contact, it may be too late,
He pointed the gun, it was aiming my way
I raised up my hands and I started to say,
"Please don't shoot me, I don't want to die"
The fear overcame me and I started to cry,
We were lucky that day, no one was hurt
He was there just to scare us, this student named Bert,
We knew he was quiet, a recluse and not liked
He was teased and made fun of, a little bit psyched,
A lesson was learned, about what we say
We need to protect our kids everyday,
The laws need to change in regards to the gun
Our schools need protection, they shouldn't have to run,
Fear of our neighbours should not be the case
Evolution is changing the whole human race,
The new generation is smarter they say
We hope they succeed and begin a new day.
Continued one of the angelic aliens in earth’s close orbit,
‘Thus we’re given this task by our CEO at universe Milkit.
All you need to plant the flora umpteen
Until we create a fresh ozone layer clean
It takes for us a light year for sure.
Just stop all industries that are not pure.’
OMG I worried a lot
For I understood what a great havoc
We have done to this mother Earth
And its solar system trillions worth…7
A light year is what we need to revamp the Earth
It means we created in several dearth
Like water, food, and climate change
Well that cost to bring celestials to CEO arrange
Wake up my Earthlings it’s time to rebuild
Not just the Earth but solar system with guild
Green belt needs to be increased a lot
Besides stopping the factories impuring slot
Let’s stop vehicles on the road
Encourage carpool in load..8
Otherwise the nature will take its own course
Sending its CEOs to even the Earth I endorse
Let me remind you all the aliens are not humane
Some are violent and cruel inhumane
They may dismantle even Earth’s core
Bringing the upside down like lore
Before they foray into Close Earth’s Orbit
Let’s do refine our Earth to make it fit
Love our planet and pamper it much
As if we are going to die tomorrow such..9
Now our orbit is their new abode
If we don’t mend then they will be on road
To teach us a lesson out of box
In a different way I shout (not a hoax)
Future danger is not afar
Let’s save our system star
Follow all virtues and be a human being
Citizen of multiverse in a way amazing
Beware of a predator or an alien
With mysterious background and acumen
In the Close Earth Orbit
To make us perfectly fine and fit..!! ..10
Oft’ the person remembered by a song.
Short trip to the base, in the come along.
Don’t know much about the driver,
(We were bound with military fiber…)
but the cool-cassette-high in the carpool.
(Solo was free, paid for the fuel)
A country song, so sad my heart thrums -
Kenny Rogers, his “Lucille”, marriage outcomes…
The lyrics of grim, delightfully illumined my brain.
True of Country magic and its complaining refrain.
I can hear the twang, though separated by years.
The refrain from the man broken, small & in tears.
Lucille’s conquest couldn’t get going aft’ the outburst.
Their time together, though kissed by whisky, cursed.
I think the driver was Glen. Don’t remember much,
but the lingering song - and the get along crutch.
7/3/2023
Kristin says he wasn’t good enough for me.
Kristin tells Andrew she loves him in front of me.
Kristin wishes Andrew was more thoughtful.
Kristin says nobody is ever enough, anyways.
Katie says I can do better.
Katie says Jackson is perfect for her.
Katie likes to fix things:
problems with no solution.
Anna doesn’t care about anything. Anna says I need to let go.
My friends from home agree, say it’s time to forget.
Kathryn says I need to love myself first. But
Kathryn says love isn’t real.
Lane says it’s going to be okay. I say it’s not.
Christy and Julie and Ansley and Bailey say nothing.
Carson says I talk about him too much.
Carson says I talk too much.
Everyone wants to tell me something
of their own but I just want
somebody to admit to me
the capital T
Truth.
That some small part of me
will always be the child
who cried on the first day of kindergarten
then pressed her white oval nose
tight to the car window
as she rounded out of the carpool lane.
The child who begged for more
when life promised it would hurt me.
Mother Earth is everything.
We must protect her, and keep her health.
So far we have done a poor job,
and her pain can be felt.
We are destroying our mother
With garbage and waste.
Now she needs our help,
And we must do so with haste.
There’s so much we can do,
Like reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Do not litter or carpool,
you can walk, or ride a bicycle.
Just remember, Earth is not ours,
It belongs to everything living.
This is not our world to destroy
It’s our only home, and we’ve been evil, and she’s been giving.
So, you think gangs are cool,
Are you really that big a fool,
Did I not see you at a rally to make women your equal?
And did you not support a carpool,
To keep children safe from a possible ghoul.
What makes you think gangs will let any woman think they are equal,
Did you not hear about shots being fired at a car that was taking kids,
to school?
Might not a gang member have the potential to become a ghoul,
Now do you still think gangs are cool,
Or are you an even bigger fool.
So, what can you do to show you are no fool,
Without being shot by a ghoul,
If you have kids in school,
Tell them you think gangs are no longer cool,
When they bring drugs to school,
Which if imported could be funding terrorists,
Who are even less cool,
I am sure, there is even more you can do,
If you want women to be your equal,
Your children to be safe at school,
And you have not yet sold your soul.
Before the crack of dawn
Quickly washes, throws her clothes on
Hustles downstairs in a second or two
In a rush: Instant coffee will have to do
With love she makes breakfasts for her other four
Four lunches too, 'fore she hurries out the door
Sprints to catch the 6:30 bus on her way to school
Unlike other teachers, who drive or carpool
Each bus ride seventy-five minutes of stops and starts
Every one a fresh jolt to her mind and her heart
Yet she's smiling away, calm and serene
By 8:00, surveying her classroom's scene
*********
The teens straggle in, looking dead as doornails
Acting as if they'd just been sentenced to jail
The teacher smiles bravely and begins the class
Her students put their heads down, tone-deaf, so crass
Respect dead people and never sleep with them
Don't expect call backs from the dead
Smoking, drinking and deceased in trunks of cars
Are bad habits and probably against the law in Alabama
It is impolite to shoot dead people out of canons
Or drop them from airplanes way up high at midnight
Though they have no fear of flight or need of parachutes
The activities are rude so just don't do it
Dead people belong in cemeteries or in urns
Not meant to be refrigerated in home appliances
Or kept next to the milk and cheese for freshness
They are not good company but make great listeners
Carpool lanes move faster with more bodies in the car
When stopped for speeding dead people come in handy
Place one of them in the driver's seat to get the fine
They don't mind screaming cops or ticketing
Let them rest in peace with or without a seatbelt on
The safest place on Earth to sleep is in the cemetery
Dead people will never hurt you because they are dead
Fear the living because they are alive and kicking heads