Best Jersey Poems
Bright blonde-haired girl
competitive
From the start, made a nine
Mile ride
With a spirited heart, straight
to the
Summit of Telegraph Hill, I’ll
guess
She freewheeled back ‘just for
the thrill’
A gifted person, with a giving
heart
A literate future ‘to be’ in life
her part
A maritime yen, her soul
would hold
Sailing, snorkeling, diving in
waters
Weather hot or cold
A present in fiction she gave
to this world
Plots and intrigues in
Atlantis unfurled
Loved her John, lived to the
full, help for
Others in her will so loyal
gave fans her all
Lived in Florida, she loved it
there, would
Relate to others of its when’s
and where’s
To St. Augustine she made
foray, taking my
Advice; I’m oh so glad she
enjoyed the stay.
Poetry in whispers a favourite
place on
Soup she’d pen with style and
grace
Haiku, idyll, rhyme, sonnet,
prose.
Carolyn, we miss you, but none
can stay
This earth is finite all here
fades away.
Your talent is blending, way
Above where
Death is not, amidst eternal
Love
Keep us in your thoughts we
wish today
That we may meet where time
has no sway
A greater bond we’ll share there
new
The deeper depth the truer
true.
©Joe Maverick 16-8-2021
"Highlights of New Jersey"
New Jersey is quaintly known as the Garden State for fun
with sandy beaches kissed by ocean waves beneath golden Sun
amusement parks and midway piers stream wooden boardwalk
arcades offer magic machines with flashing lights that talk.
boat rides on blue Atlantic coast and fishing by the bay
surfing upon white capped waves as marble tourneys play
shopping at the mini malls, stopping for frosty treat
funnel cake or snow cones to alleviate the heat.
racing monster wheels doing 'wheelies' in beige sand
as lovers stroll the promanade in love while hand in hand
bed and breakfast hideaways to feed the appetite
miniature golf on hotel rooftops close to the Moon at night.
Memories in Margate with The Geeter With the Heater*
Convention Center marathons for dancers digging beaters
casino trips for tourists and residents alike
a visit to the Cape May Zoo or riding cool mountain bike.
roadside stands selling vegetables and fruits
plants and flowers beautiful from full grown or from roots
the scenic drive through highways or back roads share greenview
still munching on hot Curly's fries in circled crunchy chew.
a seashore paradise and a Summertime resort
with Christie at the helm with a positive report
museums of great art and historical conquests
a friendly atmosphere New Jersey loves to welcome guests.
sports reign supreme, with many choices of teams to cheer
fans follow scores from near and far in sports clubs drinking beer
good education for all children schools excellently rated
and seniors are protected in communities so gated.
a native of the Garden State am proud to boast and say
once you visit all the magic places to take your breath away
even Hurricane Sandy could not dissuade the residents
everyone joined in unison to assist with dire events.
New Jersey towns will build again in love with this great State
positive outlooks count so much .. even erases hate
and when we lay our heads down at night to pray
we thank God for His blessings in a very special way.
*The Geeter With the Heater - Jerry Blavat, D.J. at Memories in Margate Club.
*For Richard Tarr's New Jersey Contest.
Yo, Hoboken Bars and a couple cat fights,
Yo, takin’ the path to the Palledium and Limelight,
Giants games,
Getting drunk and goin’ insane,
Never stressin, just professin’, Wu Tang Lyrics and a little Smith and Wessin’,
Yo, I hung Irish, Italian, Black, and Puerto Rican,
Weekend trips to Spanish Harlem, girl watchin’ and sight seein’,
Visitin’ fam in Flat Bush Brooklyn, and a quick stop to the Bronx,
Playin’ a little b-ball back when I had less junk in my trunks,
Liftin’ at the Y, and hangin’ tough in Parsippany,
Are you hangin’ with me?
Shot out to the Randolph Crew,
Hangin’ with Asians and Jewish cats too,
With dreds on my head, ladies sweatin’ the phat do,
Winnin’ state championships and duckin’ bauer Junia,
Sportin’ my Miata with shiny Rims, and a boomin’ tuner,
Rollin’ through Montclair and scopin’ females on the upswing,
Showin’ off my letters and #1 rings,
Though I’ve lived all over, I still claim Randolph and Dover,
I still claim, West Orange, Lauren Hill, and Fushiknins never sober,
Jersey, baby Jersey, there is no other,
With Red Alert on the horn kickin’ the overweight lova,
And yeah, we kind of dirty,
True dat,
I’ll grant you that,
But there is none like Jersey,
The Garden lounge of adventure,
And when you visit the homestead,
Just tell em Woody sent ya,
So shot out to the Jersey Crew,
It’s been a while,
Lost my style,
And my pants are a little bigga,
But yo, it don’t matter, cause Jersey yeah I miss ya!!
New Jersey State, New Jersey State Police,
we came with guns and excitement in our
skins and uniforms, the guy had a beef with
time and the unions and the bosses and his
life in general, New Jersey State, New Jersey
State police, we came with our training and
our talk-down skills but he didn’t want to talk
and shot two local cops down, he shot two local
cops down, so we figured he didn’t want to talk,
he didn’t want to talk, especially to the New Jersey
State Police, or a counsellor or Mother Teresa or the
Pope or the union bosses and he shot out a gas cannister
and it blew him up and trapped his legs and that’s how
we caught him with his legs caught up and all and we the
New Jersey State Police arrested him and the judge sent
him to jail for a long time a long time a long time.
with cloven hooves and bat-like wings
he waits for her as sunset paints the sky
a much-feared societal outcast
communes each night with his only love
here on the Atlantic Ocean
where waves sweep worries away
she glides gently to the rock jetty
hears a song that reaches only her ears
how such a beautiful creature
finds joy with a being so dreaded
has been a mystery since 1870
she sees not his unsightly frame
but lingers on every word he sings
his song saddens her
salty tears fall from her eyes
the sea grows deeper with every drop
only a mermaid can sense his pain
his loneliness she shares
*”Sightings included one in 1870 by a Long Beach fisherman who said he saw
the Jersey Devil serenading a mermaid.” – From the New Jersey Historical Society
http://www.jerseyhistory.org/legend_jerseydevil.html
Number 42 Retire
Brooklyn Dodgers Number 42
Hang up your jersey, honey
No one can follow you after Jackie Robinson
Major League Baseball was uplifted into the outer sphere
When Jackie Robinson was brave enough
And brazen enough to try….
Major League Baseball had been closed to people of color
Jackie’s prowess, professionalism and success changed
The way people in the USA thought about all sports.
Thank goodness.
He paved the way for
black football players and basketball players too
I wonder if he ever knew?
Along the shore in New Jersey,
just about in the middle of Ocean County,
stands a proud and pleasant community.
The boardwalk at Seaside Park was a place to see.
With the surf, the beach, and the warm sunshine,
visitors could enjoy a day so fine.
This used to be a nice spot for a vacation.
However, their boardwalk has suffered devastation.
Most stores have been destroyed in a conflagration.
The fire started in an ice cream parlor somehow.
Charred ruins and ashes are all that is left now.
The town never fully recovered from a storm last year.
Seaside Park must find a way to persevere.
from a local news story
Said the terrorist,
Terrorized and
radicalized by what the mind dictates.
Spreads it’s evil into the eyes,
stares into arrogance
justifies presumptuous actions
and forces you to comply.
Did I not think?
Once done,
irreversible these actions?
But no,
this rude bravado
assumes it carries the weight of God.
Who am I to dictate such ignorance?
They do on to me and so I do unto them?
Revenge?
For whom?
Did God ask you to take revenge?
No that is of your choice.
I chose my actions.
The devil speaks into both ears,
into your eyes,
into your visions,
into your hands,
into everything you do.
You become the devil’s advisory,
a chilling killer.
Think again!
God is not on your side!
Why do we do what we do?
our infectious mind
spreads through the eyes,
motivate our visions
till we comply.
© Al. Juman The "said" Poet 7/7/2016
Mr. Leeds was an Englishman from across the sea.
In the New Jersey Pine Barrens he would soon be.
Here he settled down with a local wife.
He wanted many children for a fruitful life.
Mrs. Leeds gratefully accepted the man’s wedding ring.
This couple was blessed with many offspring.
The children they had amounted to a dozen.
However, with a thirteenth, their troubles would begin.
“My baby-making days are going on the shelf.
If I have another child, may it be the devil himself.”
These words Mrs. Leeds said she would later regret.
What happened next was not easy to forget.
A boy baby was born as child number thirteen.
However, its presence became a horrible scene.
This boy had goat’s feet, bat wings, and horns like a devil.
The baby’s grotesque appearance looked inherently evil.
At the moment of birth, it gave a shrilling cry.
The creature left its bedding and began to fly.
It flapped its wings and flew out the chimney.
The horrified couple never again saw this baby.
Periodically, this “Jersey Devil” appears in the night.
Its mere presence to witnesses causes great fright.
Some believe in the creature, and others say it is folklore.
After three hundred years, it comes around some more.
I believed I saw you
at the top
of Carteret Street
Beloved*
But it wasn't you
Just the inspiration of you
I thought I saw you
at the end
of Ocean Avenue
Chinaski*
But it wasn't you
Just a whiff of you
I walked to Liberty Park
And I saw you
In a ray of sunlight
Bandini*
But it wasn't you
Just a shadow of you
I thought I saw you
On the boat
With your laughing eyes
Manolin*
But it wasn't you
Just the sea
that remembered you
And there at last
I saw you
My Little Prince*
on your cloud-tree
This time it's safe
I see you
Aby M.
P.S.*** :
Beloved is Toni Morrison's character in Beloved
Chinaski is Charles Bukowski's Character
Bandini is Arturo Bandini's character
Manolin is Ernest Hemingway's character in The old man and the sea
The Little Prince is Antoine de Saint Exupéry's character in The Little Prince
amidst cavorting delightfully, enjoying thorough
frolicking gingerly, foreign hick hating slo
hip-hopping insouciantly sustaining row
biological status quo
kvetching lamely moreso mother became pro
naturally physically rumbling,
heard all the way in Oslo
supposedly twerking, undulating vivaciously
wantonly x2c wisely yielded – nada no
zona pellucida anchored byte size seaman,
potent embryonic fetal moe
newlweds nocturnal merriment
moma's Menses marked march 1959
lovingly joyusly, insemination happened ha low
bullseye clenched diploid fertilization
guaranteed germinating heiress
while squaqking lichen Apache at Diablo
ma late mother did should know
upon awakening upon tautly stretched exertion
during dilating cervix, which jiggled like jello
three score orbitz round el sol, warmed cockles
and muscled away brutally cold degrees
tab billed an igloo,
or circa six decades
drafted exuberant ho...ho...ho...
cuz, i.e. thencee at 362nd day
baby in belly did fully grow
December first nineteen fifty seven
sanctioned newly minted papa
to sing a capella for he's a jolly good fellow
quintessential nascent
kickstarter heady everflow
though wintry dark,
a “hi” beam illuminated
newborn girl with dayglow
sans, mechanical engine ear
papa (an honorably discharged army vet)
all spit and shine groom,
who wed a bride somewhat callow
first time parents with giddiness did saul fully bellow
Boyce and Harriet Harriet countenance
twas (like an elf on Christmas eve) all aglow.
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Dear Sis – I knew not what else to do
thus, this poem crafted fur ewe
a doe ting maternal gal – whose time on Earth flew
What does it mean to me
New Jersey
It means smell and warmth
iI……. oops wrong sort of Jersey
Here we go start again …….
Was the home of the Lenape Indians
Till the Dutch and Swedes came their way
Followed by the British who named
It after a channel island off the UK
Was the home of many a battle
Including the American revolutionary war
Who tried to oust the British rabble
Not such an easy chore
New Jersey has many counties
21 was the latest score
Morris County was indeed a pleasant one
Rich in tradition and folk lore
THEN
Theirs Atlantic and Bergen, Burlington too
Camden, Cape May, Cumberland to name but a few
Essex, Gloucester and Hudson come next in line
Hunterdon, Mercer and Middlesex are doing just fine
Monmouth, Morris and Ocean is that enough
Pacific, Salem and Somerset I am now out of puff
Sussex, Union and Warren …….That is New Jersey
New Jersey is the type of place
Where you pay more and more
As you get older
While simultaneous the value
Of experiences grow less and less
Until one day
You're in a nursing home IV strapped
Sipping apple juice and leaking in a bed pan
mom's heart a given
grand ma's charity does count
presently up there
Shellfish at high prices are what the fish store sells.
People pay a lot for those scrawny hard shells.
Catchers flock to the waters of the Jersey Shore.
They go to catch those blue claws they adore.
You see people with their wire mesh traps and string.
Crabbers are at bridges looking to get something.
They throw the traps into the water over the side.
Along the bottoms of the inlets is where the crustaceans hide.
Crabs turn red only while they cook.
A greenish-brown color is how they naturally look.
New Jersey folks think the crabs taste quite good.
There is no need to go to Maryland. Crabs are right in the neighborhood.