Best Chaffing Poems

A path strewn thick with ruddy-faced leaves
led to nowhere and everywhere in fantasies, 
our near-death rescue from boredom 
        come afternoon chores and homework pages 
            ...

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Three busy witches stood stirring a stew
Cauldron filled with freaky things for a brew
Each Halloween they made
soup in their escapade
Adding ingredients to a brown roux

Jan, of course, as she always wants to do
added a bouquet garni of fresh poo
She said, "It's for flavour!
A taste that...

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Even Rocks Can Cry



Even rocks wear away with time
and the demands of strength.  These
seemingly immoveable objects,
deflectors of life’s raging torrents,
sun warmed seats of contemplation,
bearers of past high and low water marks.
Unnoticed, they sit as observers, watching
as time passes through their moment,
aware, yet unaware, of...

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ALL YOU CAN EAT

by

JOHN M. ARRIBAS


I never subscribed to an unusual idea
That aliens are among us and thriving here
I now question my stand on that theory
Cause I’ve noticed some bodies quite eerie
I see gigantic beings wherever I go
They start out big and continue to grow
The...

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The tree
That “Britches” Sees 
1-21-2012

During the frigid night
Hoarfrost has embraced her branches
As a tight fitting tunic, 
Tailor made, just for her.

Night Wind’s chaffing bite 
Has long since given way to crisp morning air,
And snow has lengthened into fog, 
Past where aqueous eyes can take in;

Facing...

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OLD LEAVES


Heads bowed they sadly wait for slower death
than that of those entrenched in fear’s retreat
the edge of lifeless branches their defeat
life’s fluid oozing thickly from their veins,

stilled as red stain mimics beauty’s blush
the tyrant lashes coldly - weapons drawn,
striking with the venom of blind...

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…waiting’s knife
slices time in broader swaths
stacking jagged moments
chaffing minutes raw, in existential unease
…one second snags the next
                       …the knife dulls
moments fray and shred
tomorrow...

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Hanging is too good for them, 
Should cut their danglies off.
Use a rusty jigsaw blade,
They’d be afraid to cough.
Our great Judicial system, 
with infinite foresight,
Ignores these sound suggestions,
That you and I think right.
For Judges and the legal type, 
at our expense guffaw,
believing  that like...

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He woke down the slope, by the hay
With him a thousand shrill cries
That stilled to him, yawning.
He moved with strands of hay, trailing
On his rags.
Sauntering, he is a flaneur...
The road lamps gave him away.

He moved and with him, his bed
And time moved.

Half-way on a bridge...

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When Comedians Marry

Comics juggle three rings when they wed
On trampoline bed they start a circus 
Keep gold bands on hand while thinking zany thoughts  
The comic husband wears two condoms all the time
To find the little things in life that matter
The rubbers glow in...

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Sometimes it’s easier to live without sight.
To become oblivious to any degree of strife,
Where the murky darkness protects from abasing,
Through our thoughtless words or unkind chaffing.
For the light can cause sorrows should we choose to see.
And it continues past tomorrow depending on the degree.
Of hurtful...

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Oh dear oh dear
I'm laughing
My life away I fear
So much I'm chaffing
From the lungs
I can see my abs
Forming rungs
I chase chocolate labs
Because I want to taste
For myself, in my haste
I try to skip
But the trip
Is short
Like a skort
Beneath a shirt
As I flirt
With death
Out of breath,
Cause...

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~~Paper or Plastic~~
I went to the doctors the other day
 an embarrassing problem some would say
I cannot stop a tinkle when I walk 
and it causes me problems when I talk
I dare not laugh I told him so
 he answered don’t worry it will hopefully...

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. for public domain

A folded, yellow lined sheet of legal,
taped to a railing of chipped red paint,
caught my eye as I stepped down the stairs
from a Lower East Side dark street.

A note from our ancient Chinese landlord?
A scrap captured from chaffing winter winds?
A secret message...

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jackolanturns grin 
atop rolls of dry fodder
strains of music float
all eyes watch the couple dance
they see only each other
~//~
fine country setting
whiffs of barbeque remain
the chaffing dish warm
old friends who now sipping wine
reflect on their own journey
~//~
cake patiently waits
two aged hands cut the first slice
they sample...

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