Best Earthquake Poems
nascent
dawn appears
kaleidoscope
of
color
midnight
sighs
leftovers
of
last night
plateful of
unsaid
words,
a
tablecloth
of rapier-sharp
folds
&
fireplace
dying
to be
kept
alive
sensitive
hearts
feel
powerful
in
mundane
rain
pelting
petals
think
of
others
when eating
remember
pigeon
food
when fighting
remember
seeking
peace
paying water-bill
remember
cloud-nursed
when homecoming
remember
homeless
campers
when sleeping
counting stars
remember
sleepless,
roofless
foodless
healthless
hopeless
be a candle
in
dark
snow
mixed
drizzle ...
dust-covered
man
holds
hand
of daughter
dying
slowly
under
slabs
of
concrete
life
illusion
dream
swoon
ecstasy
oblivion
1st Place Contest Winner
Written: February 14, 2023
YOUR SELECTION AGAIN Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
NOTE::THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' (intuitive cadence)& so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.
Earthquake
ominous, tragic
crumbling, exploding, mocking
destruction, ashes, horror, shambles,
ruining, flagging, pulverizing
unmerciful, belligerent
tremor
Select 3 Contest
Oh, my years in San Francisco.
Those days when I saw the home
next door, moving..
It's walls looking like a waterfall.
Grabbing the sides on our table,
as nature scared us all.
Or taking a snooze with my daughter.
and telling her to stop shaking the bed!
Then waking her and shouting
" Earthquake!"
Not knowing what was ahead!
In those years, they were only
5.O., nothing like the Loma
Prieta which was 8.0 and did
phenomenal damage.
We humans think we are powerful.
Until the power of shaking earth
reminds us....'tis not so.
And when your floor feels like
a magic carpet ride.
Or you see a four lane highway
ripple like a soft ribbon, nearly
liquefied!
I no longer live on a major fault
line.
So the fear of an earthquake is
no longer mine.
Quite honestly, I fear freezing
temperatures far more.
Lightning scares me, tornadoes
floods, and hurricanes I abhor.
Southern California has had many
strong earthquakes.
I see the one there tonight,and
can only imagine their plight.
Before you go to bed, I request
you please, say a prayer?
For those folks,too afraid and must
sleep outdoors in this warm starlit,
California earthquake-ravaged land
tonight.
Thank you~ Panagiota
July 5, 2019
11 pm PST
What a day you chose, Grandma Mine!
To quake, to move, to shiver, to shake
Thereby to ravage, to savage, to shatter,
The celebrations of Mother India Republic Day.
A female snake eating her own children!
What bad karma those school children had done?
What configurations of the planets took place
In the natal charts of those thousand killed?
Million years ago you jolted and rocked,
Opening up the Atlantic & creating Indian Ocean,
Delinking India from Africa and Sri Lanka.
Those oceans are widening & the Pacific shrinking.
Will North America & Asia drift into each other?
*The twelve plates mate and hate each other,
Caribbean to Cocos & Indian to Eurasian.
Your wanton ways to be taken as blessing in disguise?
Your natural acts as great levelers? Or
HE made the world to fit best to create & destroy.
+++++++
*There are 12 twelve plates of our mother earth. It is based on the earthquake
that shook India's seaside area on 26th January 2000, the Independence Day of
India.
+++++++
Form: Ode
tenth place win
Contest by Linda
====================
June 16, 2005
Dr. Ram Mehta
Form: Irregular Ode
Featured on PS on 3/20/2011
The poem was posted on the day I joined Soup. Originally it is one of the
Poem published in my Poetry Book "The Roamings" (2000)
Earthquake
E arth quivers, shakes and quakes violently
A ll around turns dark,the roof and walls begin to crumble
R ight before our very eyes
T o the right and to the left, all around us...
H umans are running for their lives...screaming...
Q uake!!!Quake!!!Get out! Get out now!!!
U nable to get out in time, Men, women
A nd children...are...
K illed instantly, or within seconds
E veryone left, inside, simply dies slowly...as rescue is impossible!
Sad but true 650 dead in Ecuador earthquake so far...will keep rising.
Two cities where I did social missionary work over 20 years ago
are unrecognizable, this week has been devastating for all.
The country has no real means to do rescue work, as heavy machinery
is not readily available, thank God! Mexico and Colombia are helping, as the Ecuadorian people are of humble means and are desperate!
John Derek Hamilton
April30,2016
An earthquake size crack down my heart
Now that from soup you did depart
No more romantic gems
To meet those little whims
How I long for your awesome art
Sponsor: SKAT A
Contest: A Valentine Limerick To The Poet Who Broke My Heart
Written: February 2, 2015
I was walking along,
And I was singing this song,
That has been playing inside my head.
If you’re as old as I,
You know “American Pie”,
About the singer that has long been dead.
And so it seems,
I was lost in my dreams,
When this beauty came up to me.
She said, “Hey Mister,
I know your sister,
And I heard about your history.”
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
Although I tried,
My tongue was tied,
The words were stuck inside my throat.
I crashed my Chevy,
Into the levy,
If from that song I can steal a quote.
I just stared at her,
Everything else a blur,
I knew my world right then had changed.
I pressed forward fast,
Erasing all my past,
As if our love had been arranged.
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
We will keep my history,
In this song a mystery,
But it brought to me this girl.
Just know my soul was saved,
By the path she paved,
As I welcomed her in my world.
Now when “American Pie” I hear,
It puts in my eye a tear,
Remembering that fateful day.
When my angel came,
While on the third refrain,
And my loneliness passed away.
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
"Earthquake in a Tea Cup"
the earthquake
rocked through
a pink haze
soft and powdered
scent of lit smoke
flaming fires
hot oven baked
green apples
ripe skin sizzled
and popped
ice cool cinnamon crisp
lemon peeled martinis
black russians and they're
ripped unfriendly cousins
Long Island Iced teas and
Asian Pear Chit-Cha toddies
osmanthus oolong trading
asset smiles flying under
the Roger Ramjet radar
exploded rapturously
candied petals floating
hearts marachinoed
stevia sweetened cherries
skewered and buttered up
mercilessly on the q.t.
roses burnt apricots
she arrived shimmering
in the clouds
a seduction
ruffling feathers
in their
crème de la crème
tea cups shaking
their quiet worlds up
dominoes lined straight laced,
drugged and shot
they all thought
it was the second
coming
the world
was her stage
the fall out
was atomic
their shadows
scattered
nuclear imprints
incalculable,
the numbers
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Awakened from sleep by a loud, jarring rumble
Shaken, confused, as the earth moved beneath
As I leapt from my bed, I stumbled and tumbled
And so frightened and numb, I was white as a sheet
While the clash and the clatter of everything crumbled
I escaped, not willing to meet death's defeat.
Written on 6/19/2015
Quatret
"Hiding Philadelphia"
The ground has cracked open
like an egg,
the shell scattered
all about
the yolk of life
sucked into the rubble
where a child is born
and carried out
like a prayer
an offering
to the silence
of mothers
lost in the
sentences
of the seven
churches
consorting
with angels and
their lampstands
held in the right hand
of a dead man walking
7 stars for branding
plucked from beanstalk
sits the enduring belief
ready or not, for planting,
to harvest the uprooting faith
covered in its
blanket of darkness,
dreaming deep
in dust and ash
embryonic,
a still birth
brought back to life;
the well hidden,
hiding Philadelphia,
reaching upwards
towards the light
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Poet: Ken Jordan
Poem: Bay Area Earthquake
Edited by: Sparkle Jordan
written: October/1989
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Loma Pieta
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A
rTh Q
uAk
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Fury of the Gods:
mantle rent asunder and
all hell was unleashed...
Tectonic plates shifting
Ground moves violent sideways
Motions stop earth calm
P.R.Deremer
Forceful, unforgiving claws, deep in the earth they dig
Upwards, upwards, breaking more than simply twigs
Cracking crevices, zags, zigs
A roar, a shake, a crick, crig
severe earthquake
if someone become horrid
esleone delighted