Best Jawbone Poems
Water / Water
New Hamburg, Ontario Rubkuai village, South Sudan
locals rise locals starve
with the river, heed warnings where once there was a river,
to keep from its banks travel along arid banks
thirty thousand gallons a tanker arrives with a few gallons
of unwanted rain rain is worth all limbs
burdens how burdened the village —
storm drains the drought drains life from fields
this summer, filled sport bottles this summer
will be abandoned near will crust tongues
splash pads, as the dying
where saturated children riot tend to the dead
in mist & spray, soak in inconsolable mothers silently
the never-ending fount riot [eyes too dry to mist
until fingers prune, can still spray bullets
until thirst or thirst for just one more look
sends them skipping as irises prune in the sun]
cars gleam and grass grass is a memory
springs underfoot; & graves spring up underfoot
the bridge is power- like emaciated bridges
washed, as though the downpour nothing stops the downpour
hadn’t flooded of diarrhea — the filth binds
spider’s webs cholera’s web
people shower, run half-filled people kneel for droplets
dishwashers & laundry machines, the desert launders
a kettle screams the jawbone
for someone, of the newest ghost who still
anyone to listen listens, waits, for anyone
Categories:
jawbone, africa, sympathy,
Form:
Free verse
SAMSON 2
Samson killed a thousand men
With the jawbone of an ass
There was no other man alive
In mighty Samson's class
But his strength departed from him
After all was done and said
Because a lady named Delilah
Shaved mighty Samson's head
Curtis Moorman
1 September 2014
Categories:
jawbone, humorous,
Form:
Limerick
Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass!
The Lord said, "You done good, boy! You've got a lot of brass!"
"Thank you, Lord!", as he surveyed the carnage he did that day.
"I must say, I sure made donkeys out of them Philistines today!"
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Categories:
jawbone, funny,
Form:
Clerihew
Last Saturday night I dropped by for a few beers at Kelsey's Bar.
Archie Bunker was there, drinkin' beer and chompin' on a nickel seegar,
Expoundin' on religion and his pinko, atheist son-in-law, Meathead!
If you dared to contradict him, he'd tell you right off to drop dead!
"Edith gits her guidance from The Reverend Fletcher but the Bible is my guide!
Now you take Adam and Eve. She took a bite of apple and to God she lied!
So woman brung about the downfall of man and God got purty sore I hear,
And saith, "Clothe thyselfs in fig leaves and git the 'ell outta here!"
"Meathead said Christ was Jewish - musta been on His mother's side!
But what does that atheist know about such things - God he don't abide!
He don't believe Christ is the Son of God but the Bible says it's so!
To prove that, ever'body gits Christmas off to jubilate as we know!"
"God can do anything, buddy! He can turn your jawbone into an ass!
Don't listen to nothin' Meathead says about religion - he's so full of gas!
I say God created the world in seven days - Edith said it was six days,
'Cause He rested on the seventh - maybe so - He works in mysterious ways!"
"God don't make no mistakes - that's how He got to be ruler of the universe!
So don't go blamin' Him for your troubles - without Him things could be worse!"
My head was spinning when I left Kelsey's Bar and it wasn't because of the beer!
'Twas Archie Bunker's curious doctrinal insights that brought it on, I fear!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Categories:
jawbone, funny, religion, god, bible,
Form:
Rhyme
Samson Of the Bible
From the Bible, is the story of Samson.
He lived an incredible life that really happened!
He was to be a Nazrite, and set apart!
His hair was to grow long, from the start!
He was to deliver Israel from their enemy throughout!
This was what his mission was all about!
He destroyed the lion and bear with his bare hands!
And sent burning foxes throughout the enemy lands!
He destroyed a thousand! With the jawbone of an ass!
God had given him such an incredible task!
With his strength, came temptation’s call!
And soon, his whole life took a fall!
The strength from God had departed from him!
Now, there was no one who could help him!
Ridiculed and mocked, he became a slave.
He couldn’t free himself, no matter what he gave.
He was brought before the Philistine’s temple.
Mocked and whipped to set as an example.
He cried out to God, for help that hour…
God gave him the strength and the power!
The temple came crashing down all around him!
Now, there was just rubble that surround him!
May this be a lesson, that speaks to me and you!
God is not fooled, no matter what we try to do!
We can act like we have everything we needed!
Without God, our life is never completed!
May we not compromise what God has given!
And walk in his strength, each day we’re livin’!
By Jim Pemberton
Categories:
jawbone, bible, christian, dedication, devotion,
Form:
Rhyme
It's already hard enough to say anything accurately
without further obfuscating and camouflaging the soul.
The faces in the funeral pews are impassive, impatient
and the dead woman cares not what's said, isn't even present.
The poet gets innumerable do-overs, it's one of man's wonders,
revises his vision of his mother and plays her piano, posthumously.
Why not say it simply? Hers was a comity and a tragedy.
As are ours. And perform the history that surrounds us.
Are caskets boats? The ship of death rides Charon's waves
or perhaps on that solitary day you happily kayak to the huckleberries.
Is the deeper sadness incomplete achievement or never to have tried?
Any attempt to decide this question for others is to badly behave.
The pablum of Christianity, esp. the Catholics, re the after life
must be rejected. It's necessary. To be replaced by community,
perfection of the human project, nature's intelligent partner.
Dusty, sadly habitable houses along the funeral route, shapeless
people crossing themselves when ambulances or hearses pass.
I wanted to describe the sweetness of her life, how she was part
of the problem and part of the solution. How love and evolution
are passed like loaves from person to person down the generations.
Find the humor in the cholera. When my father died
he waved like a surfer riding a wave or a clown riding
an elephant out the circus tent. Mom follows the same law.
The many ways a spear can pierce a warrior's jawbone or armor.
Categories:
jawbone, boat, death, eulogy, father,
Form:
Free verse
"YOU I Want To See"
If you did walk on water and actually stayed afloat!
If you did take every creature on earth
and put them all in the same boat!
If YOU did part the waters of the Red Sea evenly, then
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want to see!
If YOU took a world so dark and brought it to the Light,
if YOU were known for taking the blind and giving them new sight!
If YOU could touch a person and they were healed then instantly, then
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want To See!"
If YOU gave the Breath of Life to Man to become a living soul
If YOU can take one who's fragmented and then make them completely whole
If YOU decide what color of sunrise should greet our eyes daily, then
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want To See!"
If YOU made a Woman from A Man by just using his rib
If YOU chose to have YOUR Son born in a manger, instead of a crib
If YOU helped a man named Samson use an ass's jawbone easily, then
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want To See!"
If YOU start all of Life's day with the Rising Sun
If YOU ended all Life when the earth with water was overrun
If YOU bestow Grace and Favor and do so lovingly, then
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want To See!"
If YOU gave YOUR Only Begotten Son
who sacrificed His life for our sins
If the only way to truly know YOU
is to believe and come through Him
then I surrender all to YOU
down on bended knee
YOU are the One I'd like to talk with, and
"YOU I Want To See!"
Categories:
jawbone, desire, words,
Form:
Rhyme
Oh how cold;
...the cold and lonely, watch it snow and bask in it as I warm myself by the trashcan fire.
Oh the grey claustrophobia that exists in alley ways. The frigid snow that falls is the
only thing that breaks the haze, and I gaze upon it's majesty as I warm myself by the
trashcan fire.
You walk on by, I am invisible. The specter haunting cold and lonely in the midnight of
the concrete walk. You cavort in the snow and feast yourself in motion as my tongue
attempts to taste the smell. All I can see is the narrow crack between buildings and the
snow which casts the eeriness about the corridors. The corridors which are the window from
which I look into a world I am no longer a part of. Watching people go hand in hand in
cavalier happiness, spreading laughter throughout the eve. Yet I can only gaze up at the
snow as I warm myself by the trashcan fire.
Roaches scurry into my abyss with every motion. Some people shriek as the roaches scurry
by, I feel akin to them and share my meal. A cup of ramen I bought with a dollar someone
dropped. I rarely leave the claustrophobia, for lack of a place to go. Yet only in the
snow, do I long for a place to go. However I blank my mind and eat the cold soup as I
warm myself by the trashcan fire.
Oh how cold the cold and lonely is, the solitude of inhumanity and apathy, the abandonment
of a society which leads to starvation and frostbite as I warm myself near the trashcan fire.
Like the roaches, I have felt a boot a stepping and crushing me beneath it's soles. Where
snowflakes mingle with my jawbone as it scrapes the ground from impact's woes. So I live
inside claustrophobia and mingle with roaches as I warm myself near the trashcan fire.
Categories:
jawbone, sadpeople, snow, lonely, people,
Form:
How did I ever know
She'd feel that way
About a bullet streaking across the sky
Of green and black confounded,
Are you?...who is this?...
And when we'd go there
She'd take me where
I'd fall and lie for her
Crawl and die for her
With a gentle shove
You can't gun the whole world down
And hand out justice through your eyes
You can't take 'em where you've been
Or make 'em pay for your crimes
A simultaneous argument in my head
About what she meant and means to me
I feel a sense of inner dread
Why do I hang myself
right before I'm free?
I remember how the crows came
And throwing bread at his feet
I remember the Man in Black
Always a step ahead of me
I lift the jawbone in my hand
Through the Oracle I will see
What I've chased.... all this time
And one day, I'll be, standin' on that hill
On that day, a horn blast, will burn the still
We'll be there, together, to win the day
But I'll be, the only one, who ever rides away...
I lost everyone who ever stood at my side....
And still they stay....
You can't run the whole world down
And hand out justice through your cries
You can't take 'em where you've sinned
Or make 'em pay for your crimes
Categories:
jawbone, imagination, song, world,
Form:
Free verse
Time To Shower...When Pervasive Odor Of Ureic Acid
Doth strongly waft, sting,
and nauseate about me
olfactory nose flying zone
bombarding cilia of
nasal passageway analogous
to displeasure wrought by
crashing, deafening, exploding,
ear splitting xylophone,
also synonymous isolated like
barenaked lady within
remote location of Lake Woebegone,
voluntarily forced to bathe
in brutally cold
mountain waters oxbow lake
vaguely resembling out
size topographical wishbone
rescue unlikely since
bajillion miles from radio tower,
thus state of the art
electronically sophisticated videophone
good as worthless resignation,
sans fate linkedin tubby
mother nature's cryogenic specimen
more'n murmuring undertone,
where huge Arctic glacier overshadows
infinitesimally microscopic human,
one speck kin zee ditched
*****sapien subsumed
under superfluous tombstone
as frozen fountain head,
where Atlas shrugged,
nonetheless incongruous yen
to purge mine offensive odor,
where civilization footprint
sole lee mine alone in wilderness
thus farcical reason (without rhyme),
atypical, farcical, and poetical title,
yours truly didst stirrup and spur
inexplicable search for soapstone,
yet prospect to don measly frame
without gay apparel
(beastie boy bit figurative bullet,
and buttressed body in buff)
immediately augmented primal scream
to trumpet heebeegeebees
(teeth chattering yodeling
rendition re: stayin alive)
from this Rhinestone
survivalist cowboy wannabe,
began feeling comfortably numb,
and immediately prone
to become human popsicle,
especially when sub zero temperature
immediately froze water splashed skin
(like glassy sheet of ice)
glancing viz albedo effect
as blindingly white
snow capped mountains outshone
albino crags, offering
absolute zero, yes none
reassurance with insulated moonstone
sleeping bag useful
as yolked with lodestone
around neck - slow death by
freezing this knucklebone,
who sought cleanliness,
(and panacea to immortality)
joining exclusive polar bear club
(Ursus Maritimus very selective,
and only chose me) even
at expense of more'n
just frozen jawbone
plus Jack frost bitten cockles turned
deep purple as inkstone
used to write re: scrawl epitaph
on icicle glommed headstone.
Categories:
jawbone, appreciation, dad, father, health,
Form:
Prose Poetry
i gather my sticks and stones
beat around the bush
facing East, then West
bow three times
scrape my knees on the doorstep of persuasion
the attic is filled with cobwebbed intrusions of domesticity
but nothing seems out of place,
the basement leaks with water under the foundation
and the walls shout with time cracking through the lifted iris
you purr like a selfish house cat, smug and twitching his whiskers
with pensive appetite,
i'm off to save the world, the sting ray in my pocket,
a jawbone on my shoulder,
dragonflies are busy dodging mouthfuls of distress
my croc is ticking out his schemes on a Tuesday afternoon,
you could do worse than read this poem.
you should have read the riddle I left for you.
Categories:
jawbone, adventure, mystery
Form:
A man begins the search outside his head
with wondering, what kind of God would make
a wind-up primate, hot to rule his world,
endowed with nothing more than jealousy
to motivate his simian success.
But no, there simply must be something more
in peering out upon the field to see
an ass's jawbone crush a brazen skull
or drown with liquid words, an enemy.
Of what divine intent is the enfant terrible
who calls upon the prince to gasp above
the nails for his own sin? What triumphing
is that? There is the seed apostasy
has dipped in blood and planted in the soil
of apostolic greed.
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come and buy!
There is a heaven here, a boon, a sigh
for every paradise pursued in vain,
for yellow cobblestones, and mansions in the sky.
A singular dimension waits beyond
the taking of a dream to consciousness,
for that becomes the moment when the God
of Abraham falls silent, angels need
to chant no more to shepherds on the hill.
The new Jerusalem has open gates
for every traveler; the wine is soft
upon the lees, the song is lush upon
the ear, the night perfumed forevermore
with love.
~
Categories:
jawbone, philosophy,
Form:
Free verse
Less any objection with the missus,
versus never experiencing living alone
well...yes during that rough patch,
(sans during early adolescence),
I existed in a bone
huff fied impenetrable cocoon,
and just maybe before
yours truly dies, a clone
can be created from
stem cells of this doggone
melon collie, whimpering
beastie boy finally revelling,
where destiny does enthrone
me rendering unfettered
with round the cluck nymph fone
mani yolk hen pecking, nagging,
and leaching... from blood sucking
vampire spouse foregone
as a "bad" dream worse
than getting Rhode
Island sized gallstone
removed subsequently
saving said as gemstone
whiling away hours, days, weeks...
chiseling away at my gravestone,
no matter yours truly will get cremated
ashes scattered, liberated, and dispersed
finally exempt from grindstone,
where thee spirit
of Math Hew Homophone
Scott Harris appeased
as powdery gray flecks
similar to limestone,
that swirl reintegrating with Earth,
this quirky I poetically intone,
and soundlessly utter from jawbone,
perhaps communicating more
clearly by knucklebone.
Categories:
jawbone, culture, education, eulogy, father
Form:
Light Verse
We are identical twins
believing in none of the same things
as alike as a tennis shoe is to a tyrannosaurus rex’s jawbone
We used to play and laugh
We had a silent laugh that creeped out the rest of the family
It could last for a month or two at a time
But then one of us grew up, and moved away.
Became a political being, whereas the other one
does not remember half the time which one is a donkey
We are identical twins
who used to have a mother and father
who kept us together, in the same car, at the same church
We used to be together on so many things
Before I realized there are other religions and other languages
And before my twin forgot who she was and became a social media stirrer of trouble.
We barely speak now
When we do we are careful
She professes to hate liberals, and I am the most liberal liberal I know.
Luckily, I also know that she does not know what a liberal is.
Some people do not have to know what “they are” in order to despise them.
Categories:
jawbone, 5th grade, family,
Form:
Free verse
An epic saga in words,deeds and song
Of a man who killed lions,& wore his hair long;
Samson,a Nazarite when this tale began
The Spirit of the Lord,fell upon him at Dan;
With just a jawbone,a spectacular killing he made
Freeing Judah and ruling for two decades;
But desire, was this Judge's downfall
A lover's wiles causing him to fall;
He revealed his secret,without due care
Delilah so quickly razored off his hair;
The Philstines bound him with bronzen rope
To God,Samson called out in hope,
And making his final heartfelt plea,
The temple fell down ,for all to see.
A re-post inspired by Shadow's contest
Categories:
jawbone, bible,
Form:
Epic