Best Curfew Poems
Thank you for being in my life,
to think you were only broken twice,
you taught me how not to be late,
and how to get my timing straight,
my mother made you and loved you too,
she stayed up at night to make sure you show true,
I'm not going to say I'm happy you're gone
but i do rue the day you were spawn
now that I'm 18, you've done your job,
I'm happy you will no longer make my heart throb,
with every minute that i am late,
made my life full of hate,
so thank you curfew, and thanks a lot,
now my own schedule will take your spot.
Categories:
curfew, black african american, childhood,
Form:
Free verse
ding dong there goes the clock
its is my curfew
pretty please don't tell my mom
Categories:
curfew, childhood, fear, kids, good
Form:
Haiku
Two minutes left, then midnight's here.
You know my dad has made it clear,
tho we're engaged, for sure, my dear,
to curfew rules, we must adhere.
Just hold me tight, and do not fear-
your time to leave is almost near.
Don't let two minutes interfere
with our sweet kisses, so sincere.
Love words I whisper in your ear;
you kiss my lips- my souvenir.
One minute left, let's persevere
before we part- you disappear.
Kiss me again- let's get in gear,
fill up this minute in our sphere
of lasting love that soon will steer
us to that day- our new frontier.
Soon, we'll be wed with joy and cheer;
now, our time's up, without a tear,
must say goodnight, but still cohere
in thoughts, until you reappear.
Two minutes gone, midnight's austere;
those curfew rules stab like a spear.
When we are wed, with joy next year,
midnights till dawns- we'll pioneer.
February 5, 2018
~1st Place~
Contest: ''K'' Contest, New Or Old Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
Judged: 09/14/2021
Theme Chosen: Kiss
----------------------------------------------------------
Note:
The old days of the mid to late 1950s were very different.
I was engaged at 18, and my parents still insisted that I
was home by midnight!
Categories:
curfew, good night, kiss, stress,
Form:
Monorhyme
Testing times for the masses
Testing surprises? wrong passes
Friends on paper turned foes
WHO was there and knows
Sellouts in for the kill
Digital tracking at the till
Liberties lost, the new normal
Curfew and lockdown now formal
Categories:
curfew, 12th grade, africa, betrayal,
Form:
Rhyme
I'm hearing natures winds
Blissfully roaming through the trees
In hope I wonder I
To be graced by such breeze
As I close my eyes to curfew
Self sedation closes all around
Looking back from my inner dark
Suddenly there's no sound.
Categories:
curfew, dark, death, deep, depression,
Form:
Quatrain
7/6/17
This isn't yarn
Here to pull your card
And strong-arm
While causing you harm
Go ahead and reach for any alarm
You will still be darned
Near or far
From any star
Barn
And farm
It wasn't hard
To see through what you consider 'charm'
On either side of the fence and yard
You'll be gone for good with no regard
Onto a much bigger scale
Regardless of the ships have already set sail
They will tuck in their tails
And fail
Up and down any trail
Because I'm not going to let them prevail
Even if they try to bale
With some kind of pail
It will be to of no avail
I've got more than the urge to
Turn you
Into bird food
Before, during and after curfew
Categories:
curfew, dark, horror, poetry, rap,
Form:
Rhyme
The beast inside is etherized,
Patiently slumbering in a trance
Hatching conspiracies of dark intent,
Digesting the prospect of a secret break,
Possessed and obsessed in its consuming intrigue.
But the man outside lives happily
And he thinks he keeps his pet securely on leash,
Harmless as a bird, nestling in its cozy nest
Bondage is as a barrack, easily subdued
When the beast is suddenly awake
By its wild instinct to break free
From the life of a spoiled pet
Bored, driven by lurking, insatiable thirst
To quench his need for fresh flesh and warm blood
Neither lash nor rod could hinder him
His eyes zooming in on his target
He starts to rise, run, leap and speed
Like a shooting star licking distance at one strike,
Sniffing time at one sniff.
Taming the wild could last a while,
But stopping its attack would be in vain.
20/04/2012
©Atef Atyaoui
Categories:
curfew, allegory,
Form:
Blank verse
The sun set, the siren wailed
Furtively the Black moved, fearing to be jailed
For being without a pass after dark
In Johannesburg’s Joubert Park
A torch flashed in his face
Quickly establishing his race.
Too late to run
He was spun around
And pushed against a wall
By a big tall policeman.
Please Baas. Don’t call the van
I could be out of town quickly, if I ran.
Suddenly a push and a kick
“Run quick.”
Twenty years on
Apartheid’s gone
The policeman is now a civilian
Working in town.
The sun is setting slowly down
In a ball of crimson red.
Bringing dread
He must leave town quickly
Or he’ll be dead
With a knife in his back
Or a Kerrie on his head.
The City’s not safe after dark
For he has a Pass, printed by God
Embedded in his Page of Life
The DNA of being white.
In Joubert Park
A torch flashed in his face
Quickly establishing his race.
Too late to run
He was spun around
And pushed against the wall
By a big tall Black.
Please don’t kill me
I was the Policeman that let you go free
Suddenly a push and a kick
“Bugger off quick.”
Categories:
curfew, life, sun,
Form:
Verse
I give up in despair
The damage to repair
Second hand theories abound
Seeking to keep me safe and sound
The laws are changing fast
Communal activities now in the past
Quarantines and lockdowns they order
Virtually sealing the border
We must all get infected
Some practices we have rejected
Morphing into copy cats
While waiting to become laboratory rats
Categories:
curfew, 12th grade,
Form:
Rhyme
With its own refreshing taste…
Any life from it severed, an unarguable waste,
Now seemingly abstract, soon fiercely concrete:
A pair of good shoes for all feet!
Before me solidly sketches a wing,
The palpable symbol of this inalienable thing
That one from Africa can lift
To places farther by the widest shift.
From one freedom is promptly taken away
After senselessly toying with The Law:
Persons by inviting offences led astray
And now to head for some prison door.
Freedom’s foremost friend is the loosest Tongue
Always graphically able to portray a scandal:
A sponsorship of exhaled air from the lungs,
Neatly picturing the scandals of Vandal…
Freedom’s forever sworn enemy is a curfew
Maximum scanty prisons imitating Nephew.
Categories:
curfew, freedom, hope, joy,
Form:
Rhyme
Terrazzo, Terrazzo!
Keep me satisfied
She curfewed all
With an artisans
Doing of work
A world shall envy me
That my floors shall
Be works of art
Clean enough for people
To dine
I shall stand before them
And brag that it is mine
Those novice wishers
Who wish to how it was
Done
Shall hear the stories of
This artesians labor and
The price of the contractal
Science we had begun.
Categories:
curfew, appreciation, art, beauty, business,
Form:
Concrete
Midnight strikes the bewitching hour
Earlier, if she wants to not meet her father's dour,
When a virtuous daughter is expected to be home
And the young man not to be considered a gnome,
If not, all the relationships are likely to sour.
written February 1, 2021
Categories:
curfew, boyfriend, daughter, father daughter,
Form:
Quintilla
My soul flew to church
roadside beauty blocked it
Charity work it embarked on
hot mouths intercepted goods
Prayer to God it made
no response from the heavens
Ascended to the heaven
black clouds built a fence
Desperate soul mine is
curfew on earth, curfew above
Where will it find solace?
where will it find a friend?
Categories:
curfew, allusion, fate,
Form:
Couplet
your eyes burn brighter than the stars
no force of gravity could pull as strong
or fall as hard as I
transfixed and made to gaze
on sundials keeping tabs and time
I would make the planets realign
eclipsing, shutting out the sun
I would plunge the world in darkness
just to stay here past tonight
Categories:
curfew, love,
Form:
The curfew city rustles
People begin their hustles
Transport and markets bustle, noisily
The curfew has served its purpose,obviously
We get it more clearly now
From ourselves we knew not, to protect us, how
Enter the consummate politician
He protects business interests, not the Physician
He spews numbers daily bigger
Wields authority, we figure
Advises that we borrow heavily, to save us
We get broker, as we fall under the debt bus
Categories:
curfew, 12th grade, africa, business,
Form:
Rhyme