Best New York Minute Poems
“In this life there’s been heartache and pain”
How could I begin to find love again
Desperado walking a tightrope
I looked down and Daniel gave me hope
“The first time ever I saw your face”
Cold heart melted, longed for your embrace
Your compassion and character shone
No longer could I live all alone
“You took my love and you took it down”
Felt lighter than air with feet on the ground
A love without chains, a soul unbound
But walls closed in as I watched you drown
"In a New York minute everything can change"
Sometimes life takes twists that seem strange
A human chain was formed to find my man
Reaching up was Daniel's lifeless hand
Efforts to save, resuscitate
Proved futile to fight the hands of fate
Casket sent home, called his folks to explain
“Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane”
*Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is”
*Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
*Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”
*Don Henley's "In a New York Minute"
*Elton John’s “Daniel”
By Carolyn Devonshire for Tracie's "Sing a Song for Me" contest.
Dedicated to my fiancé Daniel Sammons who drowned while we were swimming in a
lake near Tallahassee, FL.
14 hours in a New York minute,
I ought to stop,
But I can't quit it...
No answer to my call...
Is it the end
Of it all?
The pain, it does spread,
Making the future
Something to dread...
Somehow, some way,
I got to get out of here,
Cause I'm swimming
In a sea of fear...
So I say goodbye to you
My sweet...
As I acknowledge
My defeat...
Something is flying about....
‘ He’s Company ! … ’
He’s Not Down With Misery
and Not Out with The In(flated)-Crowds
But He’s Up On Lady Liberty …
Laughing, New York-Minute, Out Loud !
‘Cause … if Misery, Loves Company …
Company, Sure Don’t Love Misery !
Company … is Taking Care of Business
Strictly, Take into Account, Swiftness
… and Staying Out The Red
Things, Misery Cut and Bled
All Over His Spread-Sheets
Which, He Washed and Hung On Wall Street
Now… Here’s Her Penny for Your Thoughts Again …
Saying, ‘Get Me Out of This Rain-Check, Claim !
Man … She’s A Bottom-Line – Pain !
Boy, Throw Her Some Chunk-Change …
His Blank Check, is What Misery’s After
But, Company is The Man, and ‘ The Manager ‘
He’s Telling Misery, with Interest …
‘ … Girl, Stay Outta’ My Business !
… and I May Pay Misery A Visit …
‘Cause I’m Lady Liberty … Unlimited !
I’m Platinum, and I Got My Hand Up …
‘ Don’t Make Me Put It Down and Whip Your, You Know What !
‘Cause Company … Gets The Job Done !
Show Them How It’s Done … Hon !
Look … You Know You Got Lady Liberty
( and, I’m gonna Keep This Fortune 500 Company )
For: Jimbo (James Marshall Goff)
Business, Strictly Business (smile)
Because You Seem to Get
and Like, my Kooky, Double-Talking
Witticisms (Enjoy Between Your Classes)
and Keep That Education Coming
MoonBee
Note: Special thanks to Elizabeth Wesley for planting the seed (another one) for this poem. And despite the dismal nature of this writing, Sanibel Island is still a beautiful place to see and visit.
Sanibel, Sanibel, Sanibel dream;
Once we were lovers before I knew what love means.
I held your hands, your soft white sands
Caressing my fingers tender;
Sanibel, Sanibel where have you have gone
Our love no longer lingers.
Gone are your spiraling sea shells,
Remains of your deep ocean friends;
Gone are your crystalline shorelines
I left my footprints in.
From progress called sky scrapers
And concrete travel parks;
Sanibel, dear Sanibel,
You’ve lost your sweet lovers spark.
Others may find you still lovely
With your great blue egret plumes;
But I’m not fooled for a New York minute
Because I watched shooting stars with you.
While the waves washed in from the distance
And the tides came and went with the moon;
I gave you my all while following the call
And you left me far too soon.
Sanibel, Sanibel, Sanibel dream;
Once we were lovers before I knew what love means.
I am New York
Went for a drive
Just a regular day
Though I saw love
Going down a highway
Follow it down
But it reaches out of state
Now I want to go home
Cause it’s getting late
I am New York
Its home to me
The empire state building
And the statue of liberty
I am New York
It’s where I belong
Like frank Sinatra says
In his famous song
So far away
Ran out of gas
Forget my wallet home
Pull over on the grass
Diner across the street
Wash dishes for a day
Fill my tank up
And I am on my way
I am New York
From Brooklyn to queens
South beach board walks
And Hagen daz ice cream
I am New York
From Bronx to long island
The Verrazano
Grand central station
Will be home soon
Can’t wait to be there
To stand on the ferry
And feel the wind thru my hair
Through china town
Straight up on Broadway
They block some parts of
Un meetings to day
It’s a different life
In a New York minute
And millions of tourist
Every year comes to visit
I am New York
Its all of your imagination,
The night life, in the day time? All the shine, in the
New York, New York, kinda times
New York times in the winter months imaginable, very cold,
Let me really make it in a New York kinda mind frame , crystal clear, fashion with nothing,
Nothing but the best, and the rest is a block ago,
at the end of the block, Turn left,
Then in a quick New York minute,
you'll see a big Christmas tree and ice skating rink,
When you see the taxi with the big logo saying
Go That away!
You've only gone to far in a New York Kinda minute.
Yes, to the dance and party at Hotel California.
You love the flirting game with pretty maids all in a row.
No more wasted time on the heartbreak endured in Georgia.
No sad desperado feel blocks your new, solo, man show.
You love the flirting game with pretty maids all in a row.
In the city, fantasy landscapes entice your lost heart.
No sad desperado feel blocks your new, solo, man show.
You believe life in the fast lane is a game you play smart.
In the city, fantasy landscapes entice your lost heart.
You long to dance sloshed into the morn’s tequila sunrise.
You believe life in the fast lane is a game you play smart.
I can’t tell you why your emotion seeks downtown tinged skies.
You long to dance sloshed into the morn’s tequila sunrise.
You’ll take one more skin or gin shot in a New York minute.
I can’t tell you why your emotion seeks downtown tinged skies.
A certain kind of fool with a broken heart, can’t mend it.
You’ll take one more skin or gin shot in a New York minute.
No more wasted time on the heartbreak endured in Georgia.
A certain kind of fool with a broken heart, can’t mend it.
Yes, to the dance and party at Hotel California.
The Eagles
Songs: Hotel California, Pretty Maids All in a Row, Wasted Time, Desperado, In the City, Life in the Fast Lane, Tequila Sunrise, I Can’t Tell You Why, New York Minute, Certain Kind of Fool
I've always heard
about the New York minute
But nobody ever told me
about the New York hour
I'm speaking on the time of the day
when it seems like half the city
is out walking their dog
Everybody is aware,
everyone understands too
People have to let their dog out,
so they can do what they need to do
But if you're walking about
while all of those dogs are out
Here is some free advice offered from me to you
Don't be looking up at the stars,
or the pretty people in their cars
Instead be frequently checking the bottom of your shoe
Enjamblious
Megalomaniac
When manic
Melancholia
Polar vortex
Mellifluous verse
As depression reversed
Darkness melodious
Nihilistic intelligence
Nocuous scribe
Demons of compulsion
And addiction
Haunt Storage
I
Described.
My will divide
My love denied
.
In desire.
I
Suffer
Rejection injection
Implied
Complication
This time.
REBORN OF FIRE.
This scorn. This Rhyme
An oversimplification
In elaborate diatribe.
The musings of a liar
Enjambment
Deponent in ire
Indignant inside
METRICAL MEANINGS
In toxic entrapment
Magical beginnings
Tragic endings
Are insipient
I
Describe.
Prophesize
Catastrophized
In a linguistic limit
In a New York minute
A Joke, A gimmick
I
Rationalize
Excuse the parts I despise
A doll indignant
Abuse in darts
Indifferent. Love dies.
Gave up. Barely tried.
Seems to come as a surprise
i want to ride the waves with you tonight
to breath in the smoke of the pain you left behind
in a New York minute i lost it all again
but back in California i'm no stranger to your friends
maybe just a tourist in a town with no name
maybe just a sunken ship on streets with no game
I'm just here to connect in a soul sense
I'm just here to dance with your love again
Where's the release
An age old reflection of the truth killed your friend
the place you kept the pain and suffering
past problems ain't mine to live again
send a check by mail or meet me in person
down in my hometown cradle
with the candle burning thin
wrapped up in the sheets i sweat in
I'm just here to connect in the soul sense
I'm just here to dance with the love again
Where's the release
Down in my hometown cradle
Down in my hometown cradle
Where's the release.............
if I left my heart in San Francisco
but I'm in Luckenbach, Texas
if Chicago is my kind of town
but I need to please come to Boston
if by the time I get to Phoenix
I'm on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
if I shuffle off to Buffalo
can I catch the last train to Clarksville
if all of my ex's live in Texas
but I'm wasted in Margaritaville
if everything spins--like the quarter that flips
or much quicker than a New York minute
if you can figure this all out, remember these old tunes
I think that you can catch my drift and where all this was going
It's ninety eight degrees
in Jersey,
your hug felt limp,
sweaty,
and forced,
like the old air conditioner
that creaked to life
when you made us coffee,
looking into my eyes,
just to show
you could be sober,
at least for a New York minute,
letting me know
a happy future wasn't an option
and love was only real in movies,
but at least
you made me laugh.
The me that you see’s just a face that I wear.
You have no idea what’s really on my mind.
The me of my soul regards you over there
As sly and elusive, your intentions undefined.
The me that you see stands a distance apart
From you coyly playing the role of a shrew.
The I of my mind steers a sensible course
By sidestepping driftwood and hazards like you.
You’ve been casting incantations
With your coven of dark ingenues.
I've been busy myself, pounding down my intentions,
Hammering a hard wrought point of view;
I don't need any more you.
As it is, it’s just grist for the mill.
But it leaves me with one thing I know,
We made as fine a couple
As Mr. Miller and Ms. Monroe.
Now take me off your mailing list.
I'll gladly burn your cards and letters, too.
We gave our torrid fling a New York minute.
It’s sad, but I can’t deal with any more you.
THIS SPACE REVERVED FOR
JOLTIN' JOE
playing' for change
turn on a dime
inna New York minute
the blinked eye
Fates heaven sent
this turn of events
gain the momentum
angels sent 'em
tide is turning
elation or angst
dare we dream
not what it seems
level suddenly tips
secondhand slips
avalanche breaks
trivial mistakes
everything changes
the world rearranges
mass and its velocity
a beautiful atrocity
seen from your eyes
looking so surprised
© Goode Guy 2011-06-05
Without you, there would be no dirty hoes or moldy dishes.
I'd hook up with a wild one in less than a New York minute.
Every night I'd go out hungry sharking with the guys.
Circling neon bodies until it was closing time.
Lantern fishing all night, poker games would be the norm.
Sure, would beat listening all night to an ogre's snore.
I wouldn't have to be the perfect gentleman.
I could proudly pick my nose and break the sweetest wind.
Never again would I fall victim to a case of deep blue balls.
I'd be notching headboards and knocking pictures off the wall.
Then again, nobody else but you would have my back.
You're a rotten lover but a pretty good down friend.
I've decided to ride the same old train,
until I run it completely off its track.
5/29/20