Best High Risk Poems
I, who always used to gravitate toward health and fitness,
would flatter myself that I was too healthy to ever get a bad disease.
Then it happened! A lump - most inurbane -
had decided to invade one of my breasts.
There was nothing perspicuous about that tumor.
My first whole month consisted of going from one test to another
just to determine if it was malignant.
In my new surreal world, everything seemed to alienate me from normalcy.
Surely, I thought, my body is simply being capricious.
I kept believing that the crazy tumor would be ruled benign.
Surely my worries and my biggest looming fear soon would dissipate.
Then I got the verdict – second stage cancer.
Told it was a less invasive type, I felt a little reassured.
But after surgery, another test revealed I was high risk for it returning.
My condition is far from transitory.
If it lived inside me still, it would attack with vengeance were it to grow.
I did the radiation I was told to do
but turned down the chemotherapy.
The tumor, after all, had been removed.
Through prayer, I believe God guided me
to sources that informed me of other precautions
better for me than chemotherapy.
I can make bad genetics my scapegoat,
along with the weirdness of estrogen, which drove it to my breast.
My body betrayed me, but millions are victims of this disease each year.
For now, I am surviving and doing it wonderfully.
I search for more preventative solutions
through such things as exercise and healthy eating.
Perhaps I mainly get by with support from friends and family
and most certainly, from simply LOVING life
that by God’s grace,
victorious I may remain!
Revised for Julie Rodeheaver's "I'm a Survivor" Contest
Categories:
high risk, cancer,
Form:
Free verse
We ask God’s blessings for food we eat;
those who toil to grow it deserve our prayers too.
In 1985, Farm Aid musicians took their beat,
rocking in donations for those who grew
in debt, not just crops, as mortgages came due.
Mellencamp cried out, “97 families lost 97 farms!”
Just the local tally of the Reagan years' unprecedented foreclosures
that threatened the nation’s bread baskets, sending out alarms.
Farmers’ financial disclosures
were bloodied by high-risk exposures.
We ate the fruit, but cursed the price.
Bounty still filled the market’s produce section,
even as running a farm became a roll of the dice.
A Kansas tornado would have had less convection
than growers who were denied debt protection.
Bailout money was tossed to the auto maker,
where corporate jet vacations sparked ire.
But farmer suicides climbed, blood on each acre.
A national famine might have transpired
if to save farmers, rock musicians had not conspired.
Inspired by John Mellencamp’s Farm Aid song “Rain on the Scarecrow.” An Indiana farm boy, Mellencamp recruited Neil Young and Willie Nelson to organize the first Farm Aid concert in 1985, raising awareness about the loss of family farms. The Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 29 years, and as of 2014, the organization has raised over $45 million to help farmers. I chose this song because it demonstrates the social consciousness of rock musicians.
Song is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNzRzZhR2Y
*Poem written November 8, 2014 for Kelly's "I Love Rock and Roll Contest.
Categories:
high risk, farm, music,
Form:
Quintain (English)
Wear a smile
Wears a mask
Mask for others
Mask for you
You want to be safe
You want to be good
Good citizen
Good neighbor
Neighbor of the world
Neighbor who shelters in place
Place your bets
Place your marker
Marker marks moment
Marker climbs high
High risk
High wire
Wire the masses
Wire service dispute
Dispute a mask
Dispute the pandemic
Pandemic paranoia
Pandemic persecution
Persecution of one
Persecution of some
Some conform
Some rebel
Rebel as a nation
Rebel as a protestor
Protestor finds a way
Protestor knows his rights
Rights enforced by constitution
Rights upheld by law
Law feels less concrete now
Law easily broken
Broken country
Broken trust
Trust your instincts
Trust your heart
Heart led ideas
Heart led ideals
Ideals upheld
Ideals followed
Followed by spirit
Followed by truth
Truth felt keenly
Truth lying in wait
Wait for a sign
Wait for good times
Times
Sign…
Categories:
high risk, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Blitz
An old man walked into town at noon,
And met a fat-looking dangerous goon.
“Give me all your money”, the goon said, brisk,
“Or else your life’s at a very high risk".
The old man put on a very frightened look,
Took out his wallet, and gave it to the crook.
The thug then exclaimed, “I took you in for fun",
"I hadn’t any bullets - empty was my gun".
To that, the man said, "Yours isn’t any worse."
Mabye you should take a look inside my purse".
Categories:
high risk, funny,
Form:
Couplet
I'm like a cheetah in the boy I'm quick and I'm cold. A young alchemist achieving transmutation of gold. Used to be a sayain power level negative two. Now I'm super sayain. Five hundred million and two. Throwing warp kamehamehas at majin buu. Ergo ie I'm the person you ain't stacking up to. So you can walk around thinking that you got the juice . but meanwhile im just waiting on a zenkai boost. So i can bam. Flash. And get this cash. And revoke what you haters call a gangster's pass. Im a&d ointment and you suckas the rash. I'm Maggiano's and you brothers just diner dash. I'm the 17th survivor. You can call me sire. Above all else I am a provider. Sounds that make you sane. Help to ease the pain. And to everyone who listen and ask for my name. Boy I'm the brain.
Im like an eagle with the flu boy I'm fly and I'm sick. I'm the best out of Gary since Michael age 6. They keep saying that my flows are a little high risk. I said I'll keep going till the money start flowing. To my fans that complained about the delay. I apologize a brother had bills to pay. And you should've never thought that i went away. Cuz a brother had too much spit to say. For example this flow. I'm taking slow. And shed a little light on those who don't know. That when ever i go into my zone. I can spit a cornucopia of metronomes. I'm the man of many styles. Make the cuties smile. And the reason why all of these girls go wild. Dont care bout what you saying. Im in my own lane. And if you didnt catch it imma say it again. Boy I'm the brain.
Categories:
high risk, career, character, cool, i
Form:
Rhyme
The tea I use was born in Canada.
Holistic doctors told me of its name.
This strange concoction does a lot of good
with curing cancer its main claim to fame.
A nurse and doctor took its formula
and bettered it. Of that, there is no doubt.
The herb most vital is its sheep sorrel,
but don’t buy brands that leave this herb’s roots out.
Eight herbs for health include blessed thistle and
red clover, watercress, and wondrous kelp,
slippery elm bark and there are two more
whose roots, like sheep sorrel’s, are a big help.
Ten minutes you must boil it. Later, put
it in the fridge; it settles like brown sludge.
You have to shake it up before each use.
That sludge does not taste anything like fudge!
Online, the testimonials of those
whose cancer has been cured is not a few.
And there are other things incredible
this tea named Essiac can do for you.
Destroyer of free radicals it is -
removing toxins, healing, helping pain.
It aids digestion, even strengthens bones
and nourishes and stimulates the brain.
The list of all it does goes on and on.
So many illnesses this tea can fight.
I make enough to last for two week’s time
and drink three ounces morning, noon and night.
It’s bitter but not horrible; I’ve made
this tea my daily habit because I
am at high risk for cancer, so my friend,
in Essiac I'll trust until I die.
For the Wake up with Coffee or Tea Poetry Contest of Kim Rodrigues
NOTE: I will put info above for anyone interested in checking out this tea. Also,
I can put you in touch with people who can vouch for it. This tea was nearly made a national cure for cancer in Canada (back in the 70's) until it got shot down in their congress by the pharmaceuticals (surely we cannot go against THOSE guys!) Of course, nothing is fool proof, and they do not claim to cure all cancers all of the time; however, I intend to use this tea for prevention's sake for as long as I can afford it, which will hopefully be for a long time. For info on the best quality and price you can find, check out my link.
Categories:
high risk, drink, health,
Form:
Quatrain
Who were you today,
at your best moments?
Grouchy hermit
already missing quality dream times
and rhythms
when chimes greet pre-light's crust frosty dawn,
to get Yang, then Yin, up and out of our sangha,
ready to enter their own daytime sanghas,
tired drama of such anciently perennial retired,
repeat,
reiterate,
Monday through Friday.
Notice
red coal scale patterns
in blackened ash logs,
burning to fluffy carbon chalk,
nutrient potential for some soils,
although not mine,
perhaps my neighbor's?
Joy
for a bright, although admittedly too intermittent, sun,
sliding in and out of hiding.
A smile,
where one would otherwise have been sadly absent.
Cold
feeling Arctic on my ears and neck
and nose
and onward through
toward my aching bone marrow,
near my well-heated
and brightly lit
domestic non-destination.
Ellen Fisher on NPR saying
"No one gets out of love alive."
with so much enthusiasm and passion
for regenerative feelings and empathic maturing capacity
to manage anger's ego-offense
with a strong remembering love's co-opportunity defense
against high risk anthro-entitled,
narcissistic ego-bratty behavior.
Gratitude
for Yin political and economic cooperative investments
seeking Earth harmonic balance.
Terror
of untimely taxing rest as grace,
of older-wiser intent
without time to hear Earth's glamorous response,
to new found mutually speaking freely parts
and songs of dancing glances
Eagerly lifting
blue tarp skirt
of my elegantly stacked woodpile,
seducing me with more hard fuel
for erotic clandestine fires.
Feeling PoisonYang feeding on my trinitarian blind
and bald spot,
sucking in any embodied nutrients she might hope to find
within such great grand fatherly care,
laughing together
at just how silly we appear
even to our wu-wei selves,
together better
than apart
Still mind embodied fullness
content contention in this narrow midway
modestly chasing Gods of True Love reborn
Resisting insisting
long-married Gods and Goddesses of Angry Past Deductions
fueling Fear of Future's Inductive Reduction
dualdark disfunction
Confluent inhumane demise
sinking unease
singing ease
to full mooned
yin-hibernating
yang-hypernation
waning waxing sways.
Categories:
high risk, children, family, health, humor,
Form:
Parallelismus Membrorum
(The tea is pronounced ESS-i-ac)
The tea I use was born in Canada.
Holistic doctors told me of its name.
This strange concoction does a lot of good
with curing cancer its main claim to fame.
Ten minutes you must boil it. Later, put
it in the fridge; it settles like brown sludge.
You have to shake it up before each use.
That sludge does not taste anything like fudge!
Destroyer of free radicals it is -
removing toxins, healing, helping pain.
It aids digestion, even strengthens bones
and nourishes and stimulates the brain.
The list of all it does goes on and on.
So many illnesses this tea can fight.
I make enough to last for two week’s time
and drink three ounces morning, noon and night.
It’s bitter but not horrible; I’ve made
this tea my daily habit because I
am at high risk for cancer, so my friend,
in Essiac I'll trust until I die.
(I noticed at the last minute that my original version of this poem was too many lines to fit the contest requirements, so this is a revision taking out at least three verses that discuss the tea's healing properties. Please, if you are interested in learning about this wonder tea, go to my poem underneath this one and see all the details and links!)
Written Dec. 6, 2016
For the Wake Up with Coffee or Tea Poetry Contest of Kim Rodrigues
Categories:
high risk, drink,
Form:
Quatrain
Warning: Video Surveillance in Use
By Elton Camp
Those fuzzy, unfocused videos of crime
To identify robbers aren’t worth a dime
Their low quality images are the excuse
Why, to catch crooks, they’re of little use
They show vague shapes moving about
That they have much value I surely doubt
The images they give are poor, not even fair
All I can tell is that it’s a man, not a bear
Far better technology most surely does exist
But it’s something high risk stores did miss
Therefore, video camera use at the corner store
Won’t stop any robber coming back for more
So little stores might as well take the sign down
It makes a crook laugh when he comes around
And so a mask he doesn’t even both to wear
Although he knows that the camera is there
Categories:
high risk, funny,
Form:
Rhyme
copyright© shonima burman
Suddenly the tallest mountain set on fire,
And I suddenly leaped three times higher,
Oh God, I wondered ''Is this your wrath''?
But wait, wait, I guessed that was not Earth!
There was a beautiful sunrise,
But the sun was half of it's size.
Barren yet beautiful, red yet dull,
Perhaps existence of life was also null.
I could not believe my own eyes,
Oh,God, that was Mars to my surprise!
But how did I come here?
My mind stopped working in utter fear.
Suddenly a martian man stood by my side,
And observed me in utter surprise.
Then he started nodding his head,
His whole body seemed to be painted in red.
Tears started rolling down my cheeks,
Being sure that I was in high risk.
Minutes within his fellows joined him,
They talked in their own language, it seemed.
Together they leaped three times,
And sung a song similar to our rhymes.
At this point they seemed harmless,
And they tried to make me their friend I guess.
I also nodded my head and leaped three times,
And tried to sing a song in the form of rhyme.
It worked magically and I became their friend,
Through gestures, nodding we interacted till the end.
We came to know each other,
And we had fun altogether.
Now it was time for me to return to Earth,
Where everybody was eagerly waiting for my birth.
Categories:
high risk, adventure, feelings, how i
Form:
Rhyme
Oldest
Ruthless
Fiercest
High risk
I once met the oldest, ruthless cheat
Who spoke of his fiercest, high risk feat
Categories:
high risk, adventure, age, character, journey,
Form:
Tyburn
Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma - death in disguise
Makes its appearance before we realize
A stealth adversary lurking in the brain
Metastasizes without restrain
A complex enemy
Untrustworthy
Of unknown origin
Emerging from deep within
Deploying its vascular tentacles
Stealing nutrients from the body’s receptacles
Baffling is its behavior
In search of a savior
Chemo radiotherapy with no other choice
Unable to silence its voice
Surgery perhaps
With high risk of relapse
Immunotherapy – the current hope
But still a downward slope
We shall move on
Until it is gone
Categories:
high risk, endurance, father, father daughter,
Form:
Free verse
Hello!
Hello in there?
Can you feel me yet?...
Welcome to the United States of America!
The U-nited States began as an incubation site
for humane freedom and justice,
although our elders were a bit ahead of
non-violent communication therapy,
mind/body communion therapy,
so we have run into some long-term monoculturing problems
with linking up our justice walk
with our multicultural peace talk.
You have chosen to seed in what was our global hope
for incubating ecological economics.
I so hope you develop neither surprised nor disappointed
in the U.S. rebranding project,
now providing global laundry and enculturation services
for other would-be sub-optimizers
perpetually fascinated,
and distractedly entertained,
with anthro-centric adolescence,
devoid of sufficient ecological heart
to assure healthy root systems
for EarthTribe's potential grandchildren.
This U-benighted States of perpetual anthroprivileged greed
and monolithic egohubris,
now aspires to become Earth's monopolistic
Monocultural Laundry Service,
divesting of polycultural natural enrichment
to thoroughly trash the exciting high risk market
in anthro-centric extract-and-burn entitlements.
If you thought you had landed
within smooth warm womb
of old school not Zero-Sum
Win-Win Golden Rule Skin
in a Permacultural Game Theory
of regenerative life outcomes...
well,
good luck being born a polypathic alien
in this Oppositional Disordered political and racing-apart economic monoculture,
this DisUniting whitewashed policing State
of fear we could never have or become enough,
out to save the globe with arms of might
now that we have proven
how great we are with shooting down each other,
in our homes and on our streets.
Welcome, baby,
it's a not-so-brave old world
in our UBeNighted State.
Categories:
high risk, culture, peace, political,
Form:
Political Verse
I.
You see them on the media,
internet and TV,
people who say,”Take that man’s cash
and give all of it to me!”
Not caring that the rich fellow
has committed no crime,
that the cash the state steals from him
is a sacrifice of time.
Not caring that wealth is not a thing
that can be distributed,
that the productive must make it,
that it’s a thing created.
There is no ‘pie’ that we cup up,
but a force that grows and shrinks,
and when we take from those who earn
we undermine the whole thing.
The productive just shrug and leave
then the collapse begins,
don’t believe me? Well why don’t you
go ask a Venezuelan?
Jealousy is no excuse for
a confiscation sick,
you’ve no right to a thing they’ve earned,
you’re not poor because they’re rich.
II.
In the first place you have to see
businessmen for what they are,
they’re not monsters out to get you
or they wouldn’t get that far.
We all chose how to make money,
they go it on their own,
taking high risk for high reward,
often risking their homes.
Others choose to work for others,
and that too is okay,
differing methods, but the same goal:
To head back home with our pay.
Should we demonize a person
for the method that they choose?
Or do many of us simply fear
it’s not something we could do?
We don’t have the skills to run the show,
their talents we have not learned,
and rather then learn them for ourselves
we find it easier to burn.
Maybe we’re just too risk averse
to try surviving like that,
can’t stand people built differently,
so we hate them and give flak.
Maybe we just dehumanize to
make it easier to .
But if they play clean then we mus face:
We’re not poor because they’re rich.
Categories:
high risk, career, how i feel,
Form:
Rhyme
Jimi Hendrix-Played electric guitar with his teeth and left hand
Ripped through scales, held notes, used flames on stage on command
Janis Joplin- Rolling Stone—Her cover enthralling ”Me And Bobby Magee”
Mezzo-soprano vocals and an "electric" stage presence that’ll ever be
Mama Cass- Of "The Mamas And Papas" Singer Alto—perfect pitch
“California Dreamin” rumor she choked on a ham sandwich
Mama Cass was in the club too
but kicked her out because she was 32!
Jim Morrison- “L.A. Woman” His presence quite a sight to see
The Doors, his band, Jim’s buried in a famous Paris cemetery
Amy Winehouse- Jazz singer—her deep, expressive contralto vocals
New York bluesy new Motown sound, knew she’d die young say the articles
Kurt Cobain-Modern day Rock Icon died
lead singer & guitarist of Nirvana, by suicide
Although rumor has it was Courtney Love
Kurt’s death meant he joined the fabled 27 club
A few of “The 27 Club” Rock Stars that rocked me!
A dormant sadness erupts in me when their songs are played
Rock Stars are noted for their high-risk lifestyles
Admissions free—no cover charge!
Categories:
high risk, celebrity, culture,
Form:
Couplet