Best Dam Poems

For Brian Strand's Your Choice V Poetry Contest

7 June 2025


                 _________ water held so still, ________
            p ...

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Beaver dam breaks slowly,
Abandoned but still there,
On a bare riverbed,
On a river that was once there....

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“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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Furry lumberjack’s
Wintery lakeside lodging’s
Watery entrance

By Robb A. Kopp...

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The Earth is my Grandmother
caring and gentle, whispering
to me upon her breezes to nurture,
replant, enjoy the world.  She
call to me in the echoes of the
mountains to remember, to relax,
to keep the world a better place.

The Moon is my Grandfather
rock hard and silent, watching
me, instructing...

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The beavers love rain.

They love water so much they

keep it where it fell....

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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...

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