Best Coulda Poems
"Coulda, woulda, shoulda," is keeping me awake,
Things I could have stopped,
Things I would have done,
Things I should have said.
Those who do not speak will not be heard,
Things unspoken,
Promises broken,
Bottle up inside their heads.
I've seen two teacher scandals in my time,
Red flags mistaken,
Actions not taken,
Still haunt my nightly dreams.
Seen a friend pass, coulda asked him how he was,
Woulda counseled had I known,
Shoulda have made an effort,
It still haunts my nightly dreams.
From all the lessons I've learned with time,
The greatest I have learned,
Do not let your silence,
Speak louder than your words.
Speak up.
Not everyone's enamoured by my humour
At risk of my head being bopped
Say things in jest that are taken as serious
Chancing a punch in the chops
Like when I once said to a very large lady
Pressing two in the up elevator
“That's just one floor, you coulda walked!”
Almost ended up on the floor
Another time down in Old Cape Cod
In a store getting out of the sun
A lady knocked over a large display stand
Yelled “Now look what you've done!”
Dear Cathie turned ten shades of purple
She was just about to blow a gasket
However, luckily cooler heads prevailed
Considered myself quite fortunate
“Look before you leap” as the saying goes
Often insert my foot in my mouth
Runs the risk of hard blows to the head
And injury to my parts down south
© Jack Ellison 2013
i couldve had you for a lifetime
i wouldve always cared
i shouldve stuffed my head
with the memories we shared.
i couldve dreamt of you
and your warm embrace
i couldve left with you
out of this wretched place.
i wouldve run way
just to be with you
i wouldve painted your skie
into a brighter shade or hue.
i shouldve loved you more
while you were in my arms
i shouldve been nicer
before ever causing this harm.
but couldve will fade
wouldve will too
shouldve has gone
away with you.
Form:
[Studio Quality]
[Female vocals]
[Clean Production]
[verse]
Didn't you hear?
If you broke it you buy it
That is also true of your hearts desires
if you buy into your pain
well that is just insane
and its a way to live a life half alive
[verse]
We all start fresh in life with no wrinkles
Life provides all the kinks and the turns
and before you know it, the bends and the twists
turn you inside out and you wrestle with the burn and inner demons
[Verse]
Life has a way of teaching you yo
And its not always fun as you go
Some lessons are subtle you see
and some bite on your butt
and learn them the first time
or you will repeat that fuss
Each building block is a step to the next
It takes all of you to not get in your own way
you can't just follow your heart or your head you see
those each separate will get you in trouble eventually
[Chorus]
Coulda shoulda woulda
that just plays in your head
the things that war inside of you
the insteads...
Coulda shoulda woulda
your head, heart and body are on a collide
and you hope to make the turmoil subside
So one of them wins, your head it may rule
or you run with your heart and feel like a fool
your body takes point and you wake up unfullfilled
all of that for a temporary thrill!
[Instrumental]
[break]
[Verse]
You do have to get up when you are set back
on this your life it depends
no one gets to get past that, get up
Even when it emotionally rends
[verse]
So walk don't run through life
Take on the things you want with pride
Face every opportunity with the zeal
and be genuine and totally real!
And give it your all, cause thats what it takes.
(all in relates)
(Coulda shoulda woulda)
(head, heart and body it takes)
Give it your all,
keep your eyes on the ball,
don't let yourself down in the end
don't let yourself down in the end
(don't let yourself down in the end)
don't you dare just pretend!
(don't let yourself down in the end)
(don't let yourself down)
[guitar outro]
How much should would you could should would, if you should could could would should.
Form:
I coulda written that song, “Purple Rain.”
It didn’t take that big of a brain.
And I coulda written that song “Hotel California.”
But girl - I do wanna warn ya!
I’ve always been considered at least halfway insane.
illusion, allusion
affect and effect
irregardless, regardless
precede and proceed
alright and all right
maybe and may be
Can I or May I? Could he?
You wanna? -- I'm gonna
Didn't you use to
Ought you not to
I have got to, 'cos I got to
You don't gotta, 'cos you don't hafta
I coulda, I shouldn'ta, but I woulda
snuck or sneaked
lotsa stuff like this
if I knew how to address you
Mrs., Ms., or Miss?
I've lived a lotta lotta years
though I'm still very young.
I seen a lotta lotta life
climbed and slipped the rung.
A lotta lotta little things
have helped me on my way
I also had a lotta lotta
lotta things to say.
Sometimes I feel I gotta lotta
things from loving life.
I know I gotta lotta love
from my kids and my wife.
I gotta lotta things as well
from folk who passed me by.
But mainly gotta lotta fun
by trying not to cry.
So if you've gotta lotta things
that coulda make you sad.
You coulda gotta lotta fun
by trying to be glad.
For if you coulda gotta lotta
happiness as well.
You coulda gotta lotta fun
by learning how to spell!
Ivor G Davies
A trilobite born in a pond
thought that he would evolve
But untutored was he in DNA
gene puzzles he just couldn't solve
Two million years or three went by
his fossil embedded in clay
Just think if he'd known about DNA
He'd be on your fish plate today
Not everyone's enamoured by my humour
At risk of my head being bopped
Say things in jest that are taken as serious
Chancing of a punch in the chops
Like when I once said to a very large lady
Pressing number two in the elevator
“That's just one floor, you coulda walked!”
Thought I'd end up on the floor
Another time down in old Cape Cod
In a store getting out of the sun
A lady knocked over a very large display
Yelled “Now look what you've done!”
Dear Cathie turned ten shades of purple
She was just about to blow a gasket
However luckily cooler heads prevailed
Considered myself quite fortunate
“Look before you leap” as the old saying goes
Often insert my foot in my mouth
Runs the risk of hard blows to the head
And injury to my parts down south
Could you be the love I seek
In this confusing life
Does it always have to be
Looking for a wife
Could I make you happy
With romance I supply
Would you be forgiving
If ever I should lie
Could you fill my arms
When ever you would cry
Could you kiss my lips
Before a long goodbye
Could you ride with me
If following a hearse
Would you set me free
Before my heart you’d burst
Could I make you see
A wedding day rehearsed
Would you stay with me
Even If I were cursed
(Written for someone I know right now()
I could
I should
Wait
But I'm done
Done
With all them
I would
I should
Look again
But you broke me
Broke
Everything I had
I should
I could
Forgive you
But you never call
Call
To show you care
I should
I would
Let you in
But we already know
Know
How that goes
Form:
Her story ends in a storage unit;
she wrote it quickly in-between bottles of Liebfraumilch
- her life so far,
an autobiography hard to imagine
could have been told in any other way.
The editing took many toll-taking years
decades that squeezed themselves into her soul
fearful of being overheard.
A tell-tale flotsam of hurried escapes,
the litter of abandoned rented apartments,
dockets of disarray, a tally of wrong choices,
unkept residue locked away for a better day.
Among the put-away, a ‘little brother’ manual typewriter
in a suitcase marked ‘mine,’
one edge crushed by a jumble of household items.
Various chunks of collateral clutter,
now stricken in a clamshell of dinge,
objects acquired when the idea of a ‘household’
had a life raft attached to it.
Perhaps one day she will be in place, perfectly set
and equipped to fit somewhere,
but as yet she finds herself unable to write
about certain uncertain matters.
Could have pawned the typewriter.
Could have found less impoverished lovers.
Could have paid the storage bill
before it was emptied,
Should have retrieved the typewriter,
would have then rewritten her life
from a muddled manuscript of memory
forsaking all other versions.
I didn't talk to beauty, I shoulda
If I hadn't froze up, I woulda
I had the chance, I coulda
If I wasn't such a wuss, I shoulda
Just say hi, I woulda
And start a conversation, I coulda
She walked right by, as she shoulda
Didn't notice me, but woulda
If I just said hi, I coulda
I could have done it, but I wouldn't
I would have done it, but I shouldn't
I should have done it, but I couldn't
I didn't do it, but I wanted
You could ask me why I didn't
If I knew that, I would have done it