Best Neighbours Poems
His
shadow
chasing hers
under the stars
mirrored on the glass
of their frosted window.
Dim lights off , window opens
Hid are all their seesaw movements
Oh ,at last ! that awkward view now gone
But what I cannot see, I can still hear.
A light etheree ~ Just for the fun of it : )
GREAT NEIGHBOURS
Yesterday as the afternoon was coming to a close
The doorbell rang, it was Vanessa holding a beautiful rose,
For you I have just snipped it,
Still communicate, two metres apart seems fit,
Was touched, Vanessa and Neel’s, best neighbours, it shows!
under a sunny divine canopy
the quaintest little village
scattered with historic sites
bursting with enchanted colors
voluptuous gardens of delight
friendly cheerful neighbors
meander calmly without a care
among solid stone structures
erected with skilled masons’ care
lending the town its charm
and regal sense of modesty
Published in my photo/poetry book ~MERRICKVILLE~ 2019
AP: 2nd place 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
Submitted on January 10, 2020 for contest STRAND SELECT 9 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - HONORABLE MENTION
At the national picket of the unhappy
I see large crooked coins
Hoisted like placards above the irate crowd.
On the first face, I see immigrants & owls embossed,
And on the second, snakes & neighbors.
It's the coin they toss
To divine the wellspring of troubles
That every day beset this broken nation.
It turns at every toss to land first face up
When crime is up and jobs down.
The oracle, I know, holds the second face in reserve
To deploy on that day to come
When the homeland is rid of strange hairs and noses
But crime is still up and about
And jobs still down and out.
Yes, when immigrants are gone it'll be neighbors in the dock
Taking blame for all national ills.
History will stand witness
As the whips and stones that now descend on immigrants
To break their bones and spirit
Give way to tanks and missiles
Sent forth to break bone and spirit
Across the trampled borders
To the east, west, and south
Previously crossed by immigrants
But now crossed by armies.
Wisdom beckons to the clueless right
But her call they will not heed.
With glee they hasten to their likes across the border,
Carrying their precious coins in tow
With which they purchase glib excuses
To explain away all national failure.
How little they know that when their deed is done
And all immigrants gone
We'll be back to war, war, war
As of yore,
When the homeland had not strange hairs and noses
To take away from neighbors the blame for national ills.
To be. To feel.
To feel, to love,
To love. To rage,
To rage, to die
Like a good Romantic, or to sleep like this,
Ghosting about
Like a loose plastic bag
That flaps on a windy night
Under a sodium street lamp’s
Eerie all-submerging light.
O Shakespeare, pity us,
O Wilkes, O Pope,
O Voltaire, O Heine,
O Byron. O Shelley,
Shed tears for us.
We have mislaid the liberties
You fought for.
And the truths you taught us.
The Board of Standardisation
In the interests of this nation
Will suppress the imagination.
Like ranters at Hyde Park
We’re still good for a Sunday lark.
Our patrons are benign
as long as we are innocuous.
They’ll allow a little room for satire
(as long as we keep our hats on)
Just to show what sports they are.
Toothless protest’s just a cliché,
But don’t let slip a waspish quip,
Or “Sirrah, Sirrah, the whip!”
Tow the line. That’s fine.
“Douse that prophetic fire by nightfall, sir,
Or the neighbours will complain.”
A D-Notice served on the brain
deadens every joy and pan.
Cross the heart with this red pencil
And with this stencil write:
THE END OF ART.”
The blackberry, elderberry and strawberry congregated for a meeting
The blackberry had a thorny issue
The elderberry looked down on them
The strawberry had low self esteem
This is our lot, sharing this plot
The strawberry said with a low voice
But the blackberry wanted to hedge his bets
And the elderberry rose to the occasion
Subterranean subversive shoots
Emerged between the elderberry’s roots
Lancing the soil with spiked spears
And the strawberry sent out runners
To spread the word and warn the others
Whilst the white heads of the elderberry
Filled with aphids – customers in a restaurant
But they were surprised to find themselves on the menu
as the larvae of the lady bugs were the waitrons
and in the shade of the elderberry
the strawberry bloomed
and lay down its products to market
within the picket fence
of the security estate
built by the blackberry
My neighbours from the flat below,
Hearing the sound from my apartment,
They think that my sex life is very ardent.
Alas! I simple jump on jumping rope.
A tenant farmer strummed one note
That some would argue Chopin wrote
Neighbours heard that sound
And plowed up his ground
Monotony sure got their goat!
The grasses massaged our feet
Till the hissers crawled beneath
Such a boastful way to greet.
The darkness reigned with silence
Till the stingers made an entrance
Such a pompous way to dance.
It's about time we re-establish our dominance
siu mei aromas
waft up through open windows
community news
Soon..Tommorow.? Its America; Britan
Australia, Canada NZ, Russia..Softly softly
With honeyed words..The payback has been planned..For 1945 just you mark
What occurs.' And what is now
happening? act now
Be strong, get community active simple
Steps against these wrongs..For our punishment will not start with bombs.' But
With deprivation of food and fuel..And self
Derision, plus division..They have no rules,
The target is genocide, simple and plain..
Be aware, get informed.' Wake up through
This pain.'
A dozen fine flats, exalting the worthy architect
but numbers 14 and 15 are proving to be dangerous coordinates
where females strangle each other to chase away oxygen.
The first displays every massive shopping as a loud orchestra,
on the wall of the second is the painted story of her marital snug
powerful automobile is acquired just to shrug off her old status
the other does same but of different colour to water this rivalry.
Openly kisses husband in a dramatic display to flower her marriage
the other flaunts her kids door to door who beats three ratio one.
Birthdays and anniversaries, celebrated twenty times in a year,
the marathon never ends until self is far better than the next,
forceful inheritance of sin, as the children become verbal warriors
continuous exchange of boiling gossips just to tarnish the other.
Saturated is the community, the atmosphere is in need of clearance
married women throwing away the simplicity of life.
Wearing many unfit caps to show off and puzzle the eyes of culture,
yet their husbands dine together, cheerfully visiting the same bar.
Once was I kissed by my neighbours wife
Bringing me back from death to life
While slumbered still I sleepily lay
Suspended serene 'twixt the night and the day
A housebreaker moon in a bullshitters night
Where she took and she gave
Memory of how our lips became slaved
Resistance got broken as I lay on that couch
Secret remained in the twist of our mouths
Ever since then I've been courting the myth
For only the want of a neighbours kiss
Eyes in the shadows saw that loving exchange
And never betrayed us and nothings since changed
Wandering around , besotted like this
To see the wife of my neighbour
And boy, can she kiss!
...for Larry and Mary
Sun's a risin', critters stretchin,'
trailer park's a comin' to,
on my way to Mickey D's
for coffee, boy, I'm missin' you!
Papers puddlin' in the driveways,
guess we had a storm or two,
belly's grumblin', heart's a yearnin',
crusty-eyed and feelin' blue.
Windows leakin', curtains drippin',
we are sure not weather-tight,
walkin' stiffly 'til I'm supple,
cravin' you with all my might.
Passing by a yellow homestead,
Mary beckons me inside,
coffee with a neighbour sure beats
'have a nice day,' as your guide.
Larry's tendin' to the cats, I swear
he loves 'em like they's kin,
three are heathy, full of mischief,
fourth one needs some doctorin'.
Not only coffee, but some bacon,
hashed browns and a mess o' eggs,
community, and gracious livin'
set this boy back on his legs.
She won't let me leave without
a great big hug, a kiss, a treat,
and a pack of cigs from Larry
make my gloomy day replete!
I'm still longin' for my sweetheart,
phantom kisses, hugs and such,
but with this couple's downhome carin'
it don't seem to hurt as much.
Sandwiched between noisy neighbours
We hear them putting their labours
In screaming matches
Boisterous snatches
Seems like they're fighting with sabers
I wish we had placed soundproof glass
So that no sound, no noise can pass
All would be quiet
Unlike the riot
Our neighbours create and trespass
03.20.2021
8.8.5.5.8 syllables