Best Duffle Bag Poems

I couldn’t understand the language she spoke,

at least not all of it,

but the emotion pouring past her lips, 

the tears in her eyes, her clenched and shaking fists

enunciated more clearly,

than any piece of English Poetry I had ever read,

and grabbed me, held me still.

 ...

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I was five years old when the war was over 
August, 1945, and my daddy sent word 
He was on his way home from Guadalcanal. 
Grandma was already preparing a feast 
For the family to celebrate his homecoming. 
Momma took her last ration token from...

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Each is a piece, a small part
of a composite that has come
together in a morning,
the frayed strands of dreams 
knitted into a waking timed now
to a slow tread on a familiar street. 
Then suddenly, careering through 
the center of my thoughts a train 
comes with...

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New sheets
Light a candle with that familiar smell
Who can tell?
I have come this far
Setting up barriers to box myself
To stop picking up the traces of when you left

Emptied your cabinet, filled your duffle bag
Pick it up when you’re ready
I’m moving on to something empty
Now I’m...

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20 Line Haiku Hijack

I stole a haiku from Japan
Stuffed it in a duffle bag, added 20 lines
Fed it chocolate day and night before the flight
Then placed it on the market when I landed

Shrimp and whale tails make sound haiku 
Deliciously simple like sushi.  Japan...

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Yiu can walk a mile in a mirror stance and 
never feelyour own re reflection. Your glaze gaze
bends on invisibility--a certain humor
crosseyed cleverly cleared like the rooms in the 
Winchester House or a traffic jamitis through
 the Mac maze at sundown. Feel ferr to co...

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The bike was loaded and packed
The duffle bag strapped to the rack
The air was crisp when we started out at dawn
In the early morning hours we were gone 
Down the road with the wind on our faces
Off to visit some far off places 
Headed south...

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Sighing, he shouldered the old duffle bag
And followed others as they sauntered down the gangway
Free at last, from the ship's cramped and stench-filled quarters,
He smiled, at the crisp, fresh and bitingly cold, new day!

His feet, now planted firmly on the new soil,
Made him want to...

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His duffle bag is by the door
I ask him what they're fighting for.
He tapes the dog tags to his chest
gives the 38 one last test.
The baby's sleeping in the other room
he slowly puts his combat boots on.
He's got the shades, he's got the hat,
he packed...

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To all the folk still wearing
That choke-chain gambler's collar
Who try to play within their limits
But bet their bottom dollar

To the disappointed hopeful
With his head held in his hands
You heard jackpot sounds that shook the ground
Yeah you were lied to man

To the woman and her duffle...

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He’s sitting on the edge of his bed.
Still dreaming. 
Tossing love letters she never wrote into a fireplace that isn’t there. 
He’s screaming at his closet for keeping 
secrets that he found inside a duffle bag
she forgot to take when she decided 
it was time...

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23 Line Haiku Hijack

I stole a haiku from the Japanese
Stuffed it in a duffle bag, added 23 lines to make it fat
Fed it chocolate day and night before we started
Threw the 5-7-5 lines overboard in flight
Then placed the new one on the market when I...

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I had a yard sale today and I threw out all of your stuff
It was crowding my house, it had  been here long enough

I put a sign in the front yard saying " IT ALL HAS TO GO"
"COME AND GET THIS MESS PLEASE, I...

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Cock Tales For Two

Sunny Saturday morning and
Mass is over.
Sacrifices were made,
Vestments in hiding,
Cruet of wine is emptied,
by me,
in me,
not down the drain.
Chasuble is hung exposed,
With my name in Magic Marker,
It marks the Mark.

The invitation from the priest  is casual,
We’ll go to the beach,
bring some...

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Hearing your voice as it beckonds in my ear,
I can still see your smile as my eyes shed a tear.
Memories of you I still carry each day,
as I go back to this place where they led you away.
They sounded off the guns with the twentyone...

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