Best Downsize Poems
Monomaniacal Mist
I am the finite of the infinite for the shadows bleed my presence
My habitual hunger is imminent and toxicant time is of the essence
Like the serpent swallowing sorrows slithering to sanitize your soul
In view of marauding morrows whispering winds wavering console
As a malodorous mist, I appear a demi-god of recyclable tangled time
A fallen angel fostering fear bringing forth a new pernicious paradigm
I come within denigrative dreams a diabolical debacle demanding end
A Svengali of silent screams an oblivious organism that will transcend
A jaded jackal conjured by the broken hearts withering to their demise
The grotesque genie that departs only to enslave before it’s downsize
I am the confiscating conqueror of night banishing your barren breath
Like a fallacious futile frostbite a feculent frozen fire ... for I am death.
April.03.2018
The Life of Death
Sponsored by: Anthony Slausen
They know all the loop holes for the IRS
Elaborate parties, tuxedoes and women in their 5,000 dollar dresses
A cardboard box, another statistic for the homeless
A corporate exec did a downsize today
The car repossessed, the house taken away
Sometimes reality is a person's real life movie of horror
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Some have never known to go to sleep without a meal
Our government turns a blind eye does not want to see what's real
America's rich worried about the homeless overseas
The poor get spitted in their faces by those wealthy celebrities
A billionaire wouldn't even foot the taxes for the cars she gave away
Never forget where you came from, you may have to return there someday
All the rich have a gold key to the IRS's back door
They know all the loop holes for the IRS
Elaborate parties, tuxedoes and women in their 5,000 dollar dresses
A cardboard box, another statistic for the homeless
A corporate exec did a downsize today
The car repossessed, the house taken away
Sometimes reality is a person's real life movie of horror
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Some have never known to go to sleep without a meal
Our government turns a blind eye does not want to see what's real
America's rich worried about the homeless overseas
The poor get spitted in their faces by those wealthy celebrities
We hired the neighbor kid
to put it all on eBay. He started
with the train-set you bought me on a whim,
Santa Fe, like the locomotive that pulled me
through Navajo country 40 years ago.
Now, this HO gathers dust, the cobwebs
aren’t to scale. Next we’ll sell
that beer stein from the Schwarzwald,
the potlatch bowl (Athabascan)
from our Alaska days.
No room in a smaller house
for my mother’s blue willow (so many
Thanksgivings) or my dad’s
apothecary jars. The Mexican tree of life
from Oaxaca. It’s time to downsize.
What kind of life, I wonder,
without cathedral pines outside the door,
and deer sipping from the water trough.
My saddle from high school, formed
to the back of a black mare sold
when I went away to college.
Back when I was gathering the clutter
of a lifetime, never imagining
someday I’d have to leave it.
Prowling predator in a starless night.
No one knew when it began.
Have we forgotten all the lies about Vietnam,
the predatory newspeak from Pentagon deception?
Prowling predator in a starless night.
Do we recall a lying president dispensing
cocaine jingoism, driving the war in Iraq,
codifying the surveillance state
complete with GITMO torture?
Prowling predator in a starless night.
While all the eternal secret wars are waged,
no one sees how our language is infiltrated,
no one knows the infection of our tongue.
Overseas drones just cause “collateral damage.”
Everyone is suspect, a “person of interest.”
Prowling predator in a starless night.
No one gets laid off when corporations merely “downsize.”
Cutting vital services won’t matter with “government austerity.”
The “minimum wage” is a living wage while you starve on it.
Mass incarceration isn’t a problem in “correction facilities.”
Immigrant children are not caged in concentration camps.
Cages are not so cruel in “detention centers.”
Prowling predator in a starless night.
Devolving American imperialism reached its crescendo
with its devolving dystopian democracy
giving birth to the criminal president,
the nihilistic tyrant
rubbing salt in our wounds.
Published: Dissident Voice September 19th, 2021
STUFF IT!!
Want IT! Gotta have IT! Need IT!
Can’t be the only one without IT!
I’m entitled to IT!!
In ten years I’ve gone through 15 “phones”,
amassed a collection of 35 pairs of shoes and boots,
joined the recycling and environmental clubs,
put solar panels on my roof, and a fire pit in my yard.
I ride my bicycle to the golf course and Yacht Club.
WHAT!!! YOU SAY I DON’T NEED IT!!!
I should downsize, outsource, repurpose
the box I think I think outside of….
Stop being the source of high end pollution
at both ends – creation and destruction.
Where will we put the flotsam and jetsam of our lives??
How about in the proper recycling containers,
finding some place where they can be reused, repurposed.
The next time you Want IT!
Gotta have IT!
Need IT!
STUFF IT!!!
6/10/2015
For Stuff Contest
This is dedicated to all of those Hurricane Harvey victims. This is also dedicated to those who inspired me to write it and share it - so thanks to: Angela McDowell, Trish Wooten and Jo Ann Leyva.
Be Wise – Minimize
Be wise
Minimize
Like downsize
All your supplies
You will shudder
With too much clutter
No word you can utter
If you are smothered
Just clear the place
To make more space
This could be the case
Of saving the human race
As you would assume
You will have more room
Then new life could bloom
And the energy would zoom
Just let it go
Toss and throw
To rebuild tomorrow
And watch it grow
So please guys
I emphasize
Be wise
Minimize
Florence McMillian (Flo)
If I Was a Seagull
If I was a seagull
I wouldn’t have a bank account
I wouldn’t watch misery on TV
No concerns about the economy
Prices rising constantly.
I’d have my own nest
And wouldn’t need to upgrade
Or downsize. My kids would
Leave home naturally.
I’d find enough to eat everyday
I wouldn’t gorge and put on weight
I’d go wherever I desired
I’d be able to sleep when tired.
If I was seagull, I’d be able to swim
Walk and fly. Leave excrement on
Passers-by, laugh and squawk at will.
There’d be no lingering death if ill.
No coffin and false funeral
No religion and propaganda
No investigations by Panorama
No sex abuse by the clergy
No exams, no measurable stress
No jealousy, no hate, no misery
I’d be able to have sex, obviously
No bullying, bulimia, autism or
Dyslexia. I’d suffer from tourrettes
But never need the vets,
No Shakespeare, no poetry
The odd cat might worry me.
If only I was seagull.
David Cox 08/08/22
I met a woman, fell in love
She was a gift from above
Soon she became my spouse
We gathered things and set up house.
Some things were new without a flaw
Some were hand me downs from Ma and Paw
For some we saved nickels in a can
Some were bought on the installment plan.
Children came – a total of four
Two boys – two girls- no need for more
We managed to provide room and board
Did the best we could afford.
We moved around from house to house
On an adventure – me and my spouse
Gathering things to which we would cling
But we rarely got rid of anything.
Tables, chairs, couches, and beds
Cabinets and shelves taller than our heads
Mugs, pictures, and bells we did collect
Mementoes and heirlooms on which to reflect.
A man gathers a lot in over fifty years
And remembers many of them with tears
Many a thing still fills my house
But it’s not a home without my spouse.
She has a room in a retirement home
Care is provided and she cannot roam
I dreamed one day we would be old timers
But I never figured on Alzheimer’s.
Now I have a house full of stuff
Too many things - more than enough
The time has come to downsize
To an apartment in the high rise.
My children came one by one
Went through my stuff until they were done
One takes this and another takes that
And managed to do so without a spat.
Giving things away is a lonely task
My irritability I cannot mask
Gathering things with my spouse
Was more fun than cleaning out house.
Moonstruck
Many moons and seasons ago my five children
inquired where I was heading to on my journey
I replied ‘to the moon’ and to how to get there
‘with a ladder’ to astonished faithful suspense
Turned downsize up and ascending again and
once more over and above I should get there
so I took them along flights of innocent fancy and
smiled when they suggested a ladder from heaven
Then darkness descended in lunar concealment
little did I know do I know now for certain how
the fairy tell princess came to savour the pathway
Time place and place-time ventured departed
into vortexes of void switched on in the clouds
Somehow and only the Universe holds answers
my soulmate and lover emerged into the rays
‘I would fetch you the moon on a spoon if I could’
and she ladled lunar surprise to my orb of the night
Soul minds physical spirits union beginnings sprung
into the fore pushing and pulling mounting the stage
Spoons fetched celebrations of life passion wilderness
oceans overflowed wetlands of love and a lighthouse’s
coloured glass windows went embracing the rungs
Since those moons struck together just the sky was the
limit still plenty of riptides spring floods torrents abound
and whirlpools droughts desertification flickering lights
breathing shadows unfolding distant horizons untold but
The pushing and pulling oases spinning spoons
mooning spoons spooned mooned up together
lick orbital salts crack creviced valleys of life while
the moon struck home onto love and compassion
Many moons and seasons ago my children knew
of my journey much better than I and raised in
their question the meaning of life at the crossroad
and it does not matter how they knew that ladders can fly
17th July 2016
Written many moons again by the Universe and still writing all over, above and beyond...
What kind of gobbledegulp,
holiday mess,
are you stuffing down your jaw giblets —
one day early ...
you human turkey
Cubicle farm-raised patsy policies
is what your top executive, tinfoil hat fool handlers
are serving you
lower oven rack pooping ninnies
Conspiracy stew —
Genetically modified organism mush squalls
are swimming thru
that grey matter inner tube drain,
you red meat clucky cheeks call a brain
Corporate pecking order is on the
menu packaging downsize
Gobble Raiders of the hallowed profit
sweet yam takeover Arc,
have split pea parceled your succulent
office promotion wish bone
Cooking the books ... green bean stringing
you dumb dinner table birds along
Cellular talk to the boss HR department chick,
if you don’t buttery believe little ol’ poultry me
Now don’t go getting cutlery stir crazy,
put that carving knife down, celery baste boy ...
Are you rooster gone out of your rotisserie mind?!
Coming at me with those carnivore eyes,
watch yourself, now
I heard thru the henpeck grapevine,
that it’s your neck on the chopping block
in two days merger time
Sho’ nuff on Black Friday,
it’s gobble dupe you
that gonna be
in the return merchandise soup line
Now ain’t that some bad Scroogie news ...
holiday tummy ache blues
It’s enough to make a cool, jive turkey like me
start dressing up fo’
yo’ pink slip fowl roast early retirement party
Imagine home's a shopping cart
Imagine nothing in the larder
Imagine what would fill your heart
Ignore it and your life grows harder
How many shoes from which to choose
How many sweaters make you better
How many starving on the news
Will make you see that greed's a fetter
Deny a crave, an urge, a cheat
Deny yourself that extra bite
Deny a want, a gift, a treat
Have just enough, to sleep at night
Take less to put upon your plate
Take just enough to feed your soul
Take only what you need to sate
Not all you fit within your bowl
Discard the cushy cloak of excess
Discard the lazy ways of ease
Discard those once prized assets
Downsize from wants to needs
Wisdom seems an oxymoron if implied there’s ‘State of Being,’
slight trace found where truth’s wildflowers flourish unrestrained by seasons.
Wisdom wears truth like a glove protects soft flesh from blister/callus.
Truth ‘is’ wisdom loves disguises, rainbow’s curves are free of malice.
Evolution’s wisdom’s penchant, change it welcomes – ‘child of reasons.’
What’s true blooms with understanding, lines Love’s path of flavored seeing.
Wisdom’s finite, truth’s far-reaching, infinite. Yes, God‘s more trouble!
‘Truth’ seems strange (A shock! Surprise!); infinities aren’t all the same size.
Just not true? A child can grok this: [Odd and Even both are numbers.
Every Odd gets paired with Even. Infinite are both groups’ members!
But Real numbers, odd and even, count them and feel wisdom downsize;
paradox pops up to plague us! Real’s infinity’s their double!]
Who’s more cursed/blessed, male or female (war’s conscription/moms imprisoned)?
Truths we long to find (mirages) may, in fact, exist, but where sir?
Socrates (some called a wise man) groked his truth, forswearing knowledge.
Paradoxes’ gifts worth loving (PhDs from wisdom’s college).
Science models (pointing at what helps) aren’t Christ revealed (though savior).
Faith in Christ, in Science (blinders off), gilds Wisdom, Truth (when seasoned!)
Brian Johnston
28th of November in 2022
i'm sorry to say, you used to be the warmth of my heart.. now i sit here apologizing to myself cause i've realized my wrong.. sitting at the house, crying to myself cause i knew we'd never have a happy home! but see, I let you downsize me, play me, & prove my insecurities right.. I refuse to let you lower my self esteem another night.. I see since we've been over, your luck has kinda dropped.. your confidence used to be up top.. but i've noticed that change . . Listen reggie, I know you feel stupid.. you left me for her, she left you for him & he left her cause it wasn't real.. I'd be a lie to sit here & say i miss you. .& i'd be a double lie to say I'm still "IN" love with you; cause see, you never know what you have until its gone, but now; i've found a happy home; with someone who gives me more smiles than tears. . things have really changed in these 2 years; I'm sorry reggie... NO, i'm happy Reggie.. cause now you're just a memory tucked away with the other things i've lost..!
I see them everywhere I go,
Folks who just do not seem to know,
What life is really all about,
They just go on their prescribed route.
Life to these indecisive sloth's,
May as well be wearing loincloth.
Don't question them about the news,
They spout others jargon as true.
Original thought unlikely,
Its like talking to a TV.
They give a blank look and discuss,
The high fares of the city bus.
"What about Iraq" you might ask,
He says, we should finish the task.
"But what about all the dead," we pose,
Oh, yes, that part I do oppose.
"Is America still racist?"
Oh, sure, it is an ugly cyst.
"But we have made so much progress,"
Yes, now racism is much less.
"Katrina, was it Bush's flaw?"
Sure, didn't you see what you saw?
"But doesn't the state share some blame?"
You damn right I think it’s a shame.
"What about the high price of gas?"
Price gauging from the ruling class.
"It isn't supply and demand?"
Oh, yes sure, now I understand.
"How is your job, doing all right?"
I am scaling corporate heights.
"Didn't I hear they will downsize?"
That's supposed to be a surprise.
"How are the wife and the children?"
They are all good even the twins.
"Someone said you got a divorce."
But everyone does in due course.
This man goes through life on the dull,
He has no gift to think and mull.
What he hears he thinks it is true,
He, like so many have no clue.
An ambivalent clown this man,
Everything he hears is his plan.
He is like a pale, docile weed,
From an obtuse egg and dull seed.
LOVE IS LIKE
LOVE IS LIKE A RUNNING WATER
THAT COMES WITH EVERYTHING; THAT COMES GIVING.
ALSO, LOVE IS LIKE,
A QUARTER THAT IS FILLED WITH EVERTHING ALIVE
AND THAT IS LIVING.
MOREOVER, LOVE IS LIKE,
A REAL SWEET BREEZE THAT WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU AND I,
AN AMAZING EMBRACE AND SQUEEZE.
ON TOP OF THAT, LOVE IS LIKE,
A FIRE THAT CAN'T EXPIRE; ALSO A FLAIR THAT RUNS HOT IN EVERY SPOT,
AND THAT DOESN'T FREEZE.
IN FACT, IF YOU SNEEZE, LOVE WILL COMEOUT AND SPREAD ITSELF
ALL OVER AND OVER ALL AND ALL ABOUT; SPROUT WITHOUT A DOUBT, SIMPLY, BECAUSE IT IS LIKE A REAL BIG COVER; UMBRELLA THAT COVERS THE BIG AND THE SMALL; EVEN THE SHORT AND THE TALL, JUST LIKE A SHOWER AND RAIN FALL.
LIKEWISE, LOVE WILL CONTINUE TO MULTIPLY ITSELF AND INCREASE AND NEVER DECREASE, OR BECOME DECEASE, I SAY SO, SIMPLY, BECAUSE LOVE IS LIKE A MOUNTAIN THAT NEVER DOWNSIZE AND IS LIKE A FOUNTAIN THAT NEVER GOES DRY AND THAT CONTINUES TO RUN AND FLOWS RIGHT UNDERNEATH THE SUN; OR THE SKY, TO A PATH THAT HAS NO ENDING, BUT NEW BEGINNINGS.
BESIDES, LOVE IS LIKE,
A BOOM A RING, THAT COMES AND GOES FULL CIRCLE EVERYTIME AND ON EVERY END; ALSO LOVE IS LIKE A RING THAT DOESN'T STING, BUT THAT SHINES AND BLINGS; EVEN SPARKLES EVERY TIME WITH A SPECIAL RING AND ZING; OR LIKE A PAIR A WINGS THAT GOES ON AND ON SPREADING ITS SWEET JUICES LIKE A DELICIOUS HONEY BUN WITH LOTS OF FUN.
AND SO, AS I END HERE, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY, THAT LOVE IS LIKE A LIFE SUPPORT THAT GOES THROUGH EVERY PORT AND COURTS SUPPORTING ANY AND EVERYTHING THAT IS ON IT'S PATH, WAY, OR HOME, AND MAKE LOVE BLOOM, JUST LIKE LOVE HIMSELF, (GOD ALMIGHTY) WOULD DO; THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS LIKE. POEM WRITTEN BY: (CRYSTAL) YEHUWDIYTH Y. YISRAEL