Best Enjambment Poems
Screaming at the Sky
Mothers screaming mournfully at a deaf sky
holding their heads helplessly as they cry
pitiful tears for innocent, defenseless children slaughtered
in fatal cross fires, deadly drug wars
drive-by shootings, and cases of mistaken identity
on blood-splattered streets, senseless endless violence; but
who really gives a damn, only grief-stricken
mothers screaming mournfully at a deaf sky.
(Form – Enjambment posted as Verse – 8 lines with 7 words in each line.
The 1st line and the 8th line are the same)
10-21-2014
Contest: 8 Lines 7 words ~ First and Last Line Must be the Same
Sponsor: Rick Parise
Placement: 2nd
punctuation walks
on eggshells
when
words like
water
falls
flow into nothingness,
soaked in syrupy syllables
behind veiled vowels
assonance is the twin of
consonance as
a e i o u
are an
unfinished bridge
without connection
of consonants
weaved together
in visible
unspoken actions
woven without words
just like rhythmic meter
of thunder with lightning
like a lost refrain in a poem
assembled with enjambment
metaphorical reflections of a
reflective metaphor portray a
m i r a g e less sincere than silence
value blossoms
when the body adopts
a gospel language
where speech
is unnecessary
unless expressed
through true
dialects of conduct
without the use of
lyrical accessories.
The pathway I will lay for you
with seeds that I will scatter round
will soon have blooms come into view
so you can tread on fragrant ground
and feel your spirit fill with song
when we can meet among the blue
of blooms that will have sprung along
the pathway I will lay for you!
for the 8 Lines 7 Words Enjambment Poetry Contest of Rick Parise
With your teary eyes fixed on me
we walked to the station; your little
hand glued firmly to mine. No words
passed between us – just a deathly silence
as the train arrived. We tightly embrace;
my heart was breaking but I smiled;
said I would see you again soon,
with your teary eyes fixed on me
10~22~14
Contest 8 lines 7 words enjambment
Sponsor Rick Parise
~awarded 3rd place~
Pantheress on the Prowl
She stalks her prey like a pantheress
on the prowl, confident and self-assured as
she glides into the room. She’s squeezed
into a low cut, body hugging, ruby
red satin wiggle dress, wearing silky black
stockings and patent leather stilettos, exuding unbridled
sensuality, the epitome of sexuality and desirability…
she stalks her prey like a pantheress.
Note: This poem was inspired by the Rock N’ Roll song, “"Maneater” by Hall and Oates released in 1982.
(Form – Enjambment posted as Verse – 8 lines with 7 words in each line.
The 1st line and the 8th line are the same)
12-04-2014
When my muse ruled
my conscience's compass,
waterfalls of rhyming rivers
revealed unspoken secrets -
long forgotten in my heart.
Exposing vulnerable verses
from vaults where vines
had wrapped my tongue
into subdued silence.
In the Injustices of
judicial juxtaposition,
speech spoke in a
paradoxical oxymoron -
'deafening silence'
Pouring in drops of crimson,
I became a convicted cliché,
taken hostage in a
Machiavellian marketplace,
where I felt illiterate - harassed,
by insidious guards and
anapestic gangsters.
In the personification
of confinement,
where word weavers
are poetically unapologetic,
virtual villains ventured
to plagiarize my vocabulary.
An enjambment of envious
eyes attempted to burn
my anthology of alliterations,
so I buried each chapter
in a communal garden,
under a galaxy of ghazals,
hoping pantoum petals,
would bloom in scarlet
stanzas with sophisticated
syllables of rhythmic refrains.
Agitated by
artificial assonance,
my artistry is an
analogy of angst,
where cathartic couplets
of consistent consonance
care not for iambic ideologies.
My elusive elegy is the
legacy of my resistance,
as in my melancholy,
I'll forever be a
misunderstood metaphor.
Silencing intrusive ink,
to prevent another massacre.
With no concern for applause,
I've removed the
garlands of sakura chains.
For I'm no longer a
prisoner of poetry,
but my muse's musk
still remains....
Dear Alliteration,
First friend, foremost;
Forgetting not,
Shy Allegory,
Dressed in Allusion;
Sweet Anaphora,
How I need thee!
How I need thee!
And Assonance;
Never deep asleep,
Nor rest Refrained,
By Caesura;
Clever Chiasmus;
Who has pause to write,
And write to pause;
Cheeky Consonance,
Agreeing;
Time needs its tick-tock,
Rocked at chimes;
How Didactic,
An Ictus,
Ellipsis,
Is that?
Clink — tinkle;
Cubes in a glass;
Bourbon mist;
Hello;
Onomatopoeia is back,
From visiting,
Palindrome,
At Lake Oxoboxo,
Madam Eve,
Our favorite,
Paradox,
Not pair a ducks,
Nor Parataxis,
She quacked not;
She waddled not;
She flew not;
End stopped;
Did not,
Run into Enjambment,
Iambic,
Pentameter,
On foot nearby;
Rhyme Royal chanting;
Prose babbling,
Out of line,
Screaming;
Vers libre!
Vers libre!
Pathos,
Pity me;
Scan not,
My prosody;
Bravo!
The coins are tossed;
O my dear friends,
In poetry,
Therein lay,
Our Eulogy,
Paradise Lost.
The rosebud blooms—makes its grand debut
in joyous spring. Day by day, its
petals open wide—all stages lead to
fullness in the end. When autumn air
delivers chill, its petals drop as life
and death their endless duet sing. It
then awaits new life next spring when
The rosebud blooms—makes its grand debut
© Sandra M. Haight 2014
All Rights Reserved
~8th Place~
Contest 8 Lines 7 Words Enjambment
Sponsor: Rick Pairse
Apricot marmalade wispy clouds upon the blue
canvas, swiftly changing sunrise reveals a surprise_
charcoal gray, a textured smoke billowing askew
across the eastern sky, Suddenly diamond dew
drops fall upon grasses, Everything expressed anew
as the sun rises, the moon bidded
adieu, this day will pass; tomorrow, too
Apricot marmalade wispy clouds upon the blue
Sponsor: Rick Parise
Contest: Enjambment
I know it doesn't make any sense...
Written October 19, 2014
Our lives could never be the same
When tasting love that knows no shame
Or self restrain; we both give in
To the strong urge that flows within
As we let go out of control
And fan the flame of burning coal
Knowing full well this is no game
Our lives could never be the same.
-------------------------------------------
19th October 2014
Contest: 8 Lines 7 Words Enjambment
Sponsor: Rick Parise
I don’t know how I lived so long
without poetry by my side
to uphold enfold and console me
as time went passing by
how did I miss the gentle kiss
of rhythms all around
the sound of rivers rushing
and rolling tides with waves unbound
the chirping birds whose secret words
were music nonetheless
even though I did not sense
the Whole-iness of being blessed
nor did I see the unity
between poetry and the stars
always missing the meaning
of whom and what we truly are
the miracle of miracles
why anything is here at all
was supremely overwhelming
for a man like me so small
nor did I hear the Sound of the Spheres
Homer’s Odyssey or Tennyson’s Light Brigade
was never too clear with Shelly and Shakespear
and the mystical magic they made
while metaphors and similes
enjambment and free verse
were all just mumbo-jumbo
to me one giant curse
but slowly and imperceptively
I felt a change within
as words became more meaningful
and a strange new kind of friend
and it took a while to learn to smile
on a haiku in the woods
but time’s been kind and let me find
rhythm and peace inside
my poetry and manhood
© Terrell Martin, 02/26/2025
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to beautiful Zurich Switzerland and the First Annual Poetry Soup Convention. Welcome poets, linguists, scribes, metrists and rhymers. Welcome poets from Canada, the UK, U.S.A., Australia and many other countries from around the world.
This convention is for all seasoned poets and young dilettantes. Our key speakers this week will be Will Shakespeare to talk about sonnets. Horace will discuss Latin odes. Homer will give a demonstration on epic poetry. Lewis Carroll will explain light poetry. And last but not least Edgar Poe will give a reading of Gothic poetry.
All poets are welcome to enter the First Annual Poetry Soup Convention Poetry Contest. The grand prize will be the title of Poet Laureate and honor on the Poetry Soup webpage. We will also be offering classes on prosody, onomatopoeia, enjambment and Lambic Pentameter. We will have booths set up in the main hall for help with grammar, syllable counting and rhyming tools.
So welcome all, enjoy all things poetic this week, make friends and have fun. One final reminder before we let you go is we are serving lunch promptly at twelve noon and we will be having Alphabet soup with sage, enjoy.
The First Annual Poetry Soup Convention Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Line Gauthier
3/7/19
I often wonder if it’s worth the effort
with a keyboard or paper and pen
to pour out my thoughts, heart, mind and soul
from the ocean and rivers within
The marrow in my bones
hidden deep within these veins
“This universe is a miracle,”
I’ve heard Einstein once proclaimed
Though admittedly, I’m not near his kind
(far beyond my likes, by stars)
I merely try to follow those
I think know where they are
A few more miles ahead of time
“Out yonder,” my dad would say
where I can only dream of writing
a splendorous sonnet someday
Or perchance a valediction poem
a goodbye to the past
or my rendition of a benediction
thanking Hymn for all the love that lasts
And open a few doors with some metaphors
enjambment or anapest
find inspiration from alliteration
while striving towards my best
Thus, here I rest in the morning air
inhaling hope, exhaling despair
as birds fly bye and gentle winds blow
and pray more thoughts of beauty will flow
© Terrell Martin, 02/25/2025
1. Today, the weather feels like heaven's bliss!
2. The balmy breeze and beautiful soft blue
3. of sky above so makes me think of love.
4. I feel time's right to write a charming poem
5. alone, together with my thoughtful views;
6. the day's bright glow morphs into sunny smiles
7. as sun speaks out to tell me all's okay.
8. Free gift, true fact, sun is my greatest joy!
9. Oh loveliness of day you melt my heart!
10. The words are humming, coming to my mind...
11. not nasty, snippy ones, evoked by rain,
12. but sweet, melodious, soft, sing-song ones
13. that move what's seen to my poetic scene
14. to paint such happiness when weather's fine.
15. And now...my poem...profound or slight? Oh no!
16. To write with pointless pencil...so pointless!
Poetic Devices Used In Lines 1 through 16: Words in italics help identify them.
1. Simile 2. Alliteration 3. Internal Rhyme 4. Homophone 5. Oxymoron
6. Metaphor 7. Personification 8. Pleonasm 9. Euphony 10. Assonance
11. Dissonance 12. Parallelism 13. Homonyms 14.Truism 15. Antithesis
16. Pun Lines 10-14 Enjambment
August 18, 2018
~3rd Place~
Contest: Litany of Poetic Devices
Sponsor: Line Gauthier
Judged: 09/13/2018
'Baby, you taste like chocolate,
You and me we'd make a great rhyming couplet.
A.K.A a grinding couplet.'
'You can get on top of me like enjambment.'
'I can show you some wild imagery,
Me on you, you on me.'
'Metaphor stands for meet-at-four,
We'll get it on till the break of dawn.'
'Damn, could you BE anymore sexual?' -an example of a rhetorical question you could include...
'S-s-s-s-s-SEX!'- an example of sibilance you could use (and probably will).
'Annotate me honey, and together we can achieve a deeper meaning.'