Best Dam Poems
The beavers love rain.
They love water so much they
keep it where it fell.
For Brian Strand's Your Choice V Poetry Contest
7 June 2025
_________ water held so still, ________
p \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
o \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ w
w \ \ \ \ sleeps behind the \ \ \ a
e \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ l
r \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ l,
________ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
/ /I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
/ / I I rivers wait to run.
First Prize Winner
clusters tend to blind the eyes
overwhelm and hypnotise
I appreciate how that occurs
temporarily reality blurs
daisies fade and daisies wilt
though Earth remains on its same tilt
constant vase sometimes contains bliss
I'm temporal and aware of this
I watch as time demonstrates this fate
there is no sense asking time to wait
nor comfort in letting time past conflate
with our present or future state
each burst of joy that bloomed in view
was gift in moment and threat in lieu
yet yin and yang cannot accrue
and balance is the resting hue
I'm temporal in the schemes and storms
constants are not truthful forms
though Earth remains it can't contain
daisies if there are no rains
temporarily we pause or rush
I appreciate calm in the hush
overwhelm there taught to rest
clusters tended will manifest
Beaver dam breaks slowly,
Abandoned but still there,
On a bare riverbed,
On a river that was once there.
“Dam Change”
Dam change.
Mother and father love their plain ponytails and Lionel trains.
Then infancy crawls to scrap knees, tea parties. And headphone blast fast tones accompanied, by the arrogances of “me”.
Old Lionel trains sleep and ponytails worn plain train to feed or seek maternity.
Then mother and father love their plain ponytails and Lionel trains.
How I hate change.
I spent too long in the sand-
the day has ran,
I am a dam,
the waters run cold,
and that is bad,
turn around and grab-
because the air of the wind isn’t fun,
teeter totter with the band,
let um go laugh…
Take a polygraph,
ask yourself,
how sad are the sad?
Then wake up to a face,
she is your great big taste,
because,
the world renowned isn’t insane-
it’s just over due,
and unclaimed,
it's a jaded complaint,
an outdated fade,
in the neighborhood like a plague.
...out dated like the fade.
Zambezi's strength rules
who can harness our river?
electricity from water?
Nyami, Nyami
Kariba Dam damaged
by six decades of water
the Tonga tribes celebrate
Nyami, Nyami
May 10, 2022
Joseph May's contest on Naani.
Two naani of 24 syllables each
current statements about currents
When the Kariba Dam was built on the Zambezi, the Tonga people had doubts.
The dam was built on gneiss and quartzite and is made of concrete — 80 feet at its thickest point. But over six decades of the waters' rushing through it, tumbling over it and crashing down on its other side have carved a pit at its base and erosion threatens its foundations. July 22, 2020
The very thought of a naani about Nyam Nyami sparked my muse.
It is the River God of the Tonga people.
Eastern dam
A vast expanse of
Captive water
Long grass and reeds
Marshy acres where
Where the dike’s inadequacy
Overflowed
The hoarse call of
Mating geese
On flighty wings
Ducks plummeting
To a watery landing
A gilded Teal
A fledgling Heron
On awkward limbs
A Meadowlark
A Whippoorwill
Sweet breeze caressing
Gentle doe
Knee-deep in swamp
Gazing intently at
Shadowy rider
Perched contentedly on
Looming horse
High on a distant hill
Near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan 1968
The dam broke in Quebec.
My thoughts,
my words,
and my pen
all moved.
Moved like the thin layer
of brackish water
over the icy depths
of le Fleave St. Laurent.
Moved like the evening breeze
over the cobblestoned streets
past the lighted shops’ doors.
Moved like the flags flying
over le Chateau Frontenac
as the high winds whip.
The French
from the tongues of
the waitresses
and bartenders
and patrons,
and the strums and songs of
the brickwall guitarist,
all worked as white noise,
and the glasses of wheat beer,
the plate of white cheese and
cold red grapes,
and the warm amber candles,
were all sustenance to the soul
to move my pen across the notebook
and break the dam.
Holding back...
I'm holding back
AFRAID
My feelings dammed up
but the torrent pounds against the dam
I'm holding back
passion's turbulent flow gains momentum
holding....back
I'm tired of holding back
you agitate the waters
you play with the currents
you wreck havoc with my feelings
you make me froth and foam
I'm holding back...
The dam loosens
a crack appears
water seeps through
another and another
a rumbling sound
the dam can't hold
the desire for you
rains down from the heavens
A deluge
the river swells
churning, churning, churning
I'm trying to hold back...
keep emotions in check
battering ram against the damn dam
it shakes
with the throbbing weight
of pent up need
thundering sounds
the dam gives way
water bursts past the remains of restraint
an unstoppable force
redemptive release
I flood your soul
You flood my soul
and we are free
Eileen Manassian
BUCKS COUNTY SUNSET AT STOVER-MYERS DAM
You see beyond the line of darkened trees
into red layered clouds of golden hue,
as setting of the sun makes light to please
observers of the art it's coming to;
a stillness comes upon a silent heart,
and words, as distant as the powder blue
beyond the tapestry, are still a part
of evening sky that night is coming to;
the jack-snipe dips in tune with how it feels
to know this time is almost yesterday
as darkness comes along, and then it steals
the words your heart could never find to say.
And as the world waits for one more sunrise
another majesty will light the skies.
© Ron Wilson aka Vee Bdosa the Doylestown Poet
Forking River Dam, Illinois
Forking River
CharlaXFabels
Forking Dam
Forking,Ill.
189
John M went camping and took his friend Timmy. Off they went to the Forking River Dam. They
went to the Forking Campground near the Forking Dam. They decided to visit the Forking City.
They had to go to the Forking Market. It was near the Forking Gas Station closer to the
furcating
Forking River bending near the Forking swamp turning into the Forking Quicksanding place
there where they turned off the Main Forking Road. They turned Forking right there. There
is a
Forking left turn as well but they had to get to the Forking Store. They bought some
Forking Beer
made in the Forking Brewery. They were still in Illinois. Forking, Ill. Ill is the
abbreviation for
Illinois, so we aer all Forking, Ill. For now. The men were Forking camping so they bought
some
Forking beans made at the Forking beanery. The Forking Meat CO. provided. The Olympic
branch of the Mount Olympus Water CO. Donated the Forking Water. They went to the Forking
River Motel to steal the soap and the towels. They paid for the room and took two Forking Dam
showers. They kept the Forking Dam Ashtray. It has a picture of the Forking Dam River. The
Forking Dam Police were searching for the Forking Dam Campground to arrest the Forking
men. They were not from Forking at all but just out of townies they had come to Forking
Dam to
Fish for Forking Fish. They went to the Forking Boat Dock and rented a Forking Boat the
Indian
Man in charge of the Forking Boat Dock said you out of townies speak with Forking tongue. But
money green in Forking Dam. Good to see you Forking men. The Men in Forking Dam City are
Forking gay. The Forking City Future Club is Oddfellows Hall.
Eye am Forking, Ill. From all that Forking Fish they gave to me the nibbles and the bites
the love
all tied up in Forking Ville. They said that visit day is FrYdaY at the Forking Prison
Institution they
have a Forking Fish fry for religion they want me to go to Forking, Ill. And visit.
Another crack is in the concrete
More seepage from the Dam
How many will be in the way
When the whole thing crashes in
So many with an opinion
On things they do not know
With no one who is willing
To take the time to plug the hole
Do we not see the flood of ignorance
Bursting at the seams
I believe this time the sky falling
Whether or not the chicken screams
Blind in our understanding
Destruction will clear the path
The Dam is clearly bursting
Is it too late to hold it back
What we need as a people
Is the wisdom to come together
To help stop the Dams destruction
Instead of blaming its construction on each other
V1:
I guess why doesn't matter, but I know I always will.
wonder why you were the you, the one I tried to kill.
I left you long before I knew, you were always there,
by the time I had it figured out, I claimed I didn't care.
chorus:
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Daddy Daddy, Daddy why?
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Why is it I can't cry?
V2:
All the common obstacles, the fashions of the day.
excuses, reasons, happenings, all came into play.
I said you built a wall between, I said you didn't care,
By the time I had it figured out, the place you'd been was air.
Bridge:
Oh the dam broke brothers,
but I never saw the flood
A tide of life washed over me
and with it I made mud
Of the solitary life I've lived
but now I know it's true:
Brothers please forgive them,
for they know not what they do.
V3:
I guess why doesn't matter, but I know I always will,
wonder why you were the you, the one I tried to kill.
Anger burning in my heart, sure as hell I tried,
To kill the man who lived your life, but I'm the one who died.
Chorus:
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Daddy Daddy, Daddy why?
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Why is it I can't cry?
V4:
Many years have passed on by, with you not around.
I never felt much different, with you in the ground.
But if I could see you one more time, one thing I'd ask of you,
Daddy please forgive me, if it's the last thing that you do.
Final chorus:
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Daddy Daddy, Daddy why?
Father, why'd you do it?
Father why'd you die?
Why'd you live your life like that?
Daddy daddy let me cry.
* original song by lim'rik flats
To be standing so tall, broad as you do.
With your strength captured, hidden within dew.
Without respect, you protect many things.
Thou, inexistent, until siren sings,
When born, two men fell into your abyss.
Unrecovered, told now, in reminisce.
Now almost forgotten, you still hold back.
Thou will only be known upon your wrack.
written for
Sponsor Debbie Guzzi
Contest Name Jack OUT of the Box