Best Northbound Poems
The Winter Blues
Robert J. Lindley
Winter blew in with a scant little whimper
Fall skulked away with hardly a peep
Deep cold, blowing winds fit some's temper
Yet others they sadden enough to weep!
Snow brings its beauty and shining charms
Frigid air sets furry critters about
Blizzards blasting forth set great alarms
Where frozen forested cries ring out.
Nature knows best and gives as she pleases
Hardest season sets the coming stage
Death and pain, of which Spring then eases
Time for each, says the wizened sage!
Cold chills, hang glisten silent through the night
Decembers solstice sets the stage northbound
Jack Frost pretends to be Earth's white knight
Dark days of winter winds; ice-kiss the ground
Autumn renews chilling barren vows,
Wonderland enables the sun on numb
Icicles form, a voice shared -leaving nature roused
Winter's blue melodies washed down with rum
A cold peril storm, enjoying the winter sky
Frostbitten dawn, desolate sunset of worthlessness
A leafless desire to intensify nature's supply
Loss from exposed skin, of hopelessness
***
Snow, Sleet, and hell; patients needing detox
Atlas Spring gives way to the Viral Equinox
(Robert Lindley and Poet Destroyer co-write)
~ ~ A Poet Destroyer Collaboration ~ ~
----------------------------------------------------
Contest: Collaboration Celebration- subject- Winter Reflections.
Sponsor: Poet Destroyer A
The thing I do to be nearer to him,
Commuting even in weather so grim.
The things I do to have more acceptance,
Cleaning his home for a much better chance.
The bus I go northbound in drives down memory lane,
As I reminisce about what he and I once were, in silent pain.
The bus I go eastbound with shows me where he's recently been,
As I daydream of a future wish I deeply hold within.
The commute may not always feel worth it,
But I want to show him I love him every bit.
The way home always fills me with sorrow,
But I always know there is another tomorrow.
The things I do for him, despite coming and going,
It is because it is him whom I will never stop loving.
The things I go through for him doesn't make him obligated,
But the least I hope for is my love is one day reciprocated.
Ah be careful, so careful my friends
be careful before you go getting involved
Isn’t it strange how we sometimes get swept up
swept and sucked into a life event by sheer chance?
After attending to the baby, I glanced to my right
and spotted something in the median grass
Closer now, my stomach churning again
A young Latino man laying on his side
breathing fast and shallow, obviously in shock
coughing up blood with little clumps in it...
A biker and his girlfriend had stopped
We called out to him, ”You okay? Hey, you okay?”
(Yeah sure guys, just thought I'd catch a few winks)
The next person to stop was an off-duty ER nurse
(Stay here with him while I check on the others
and whatever you do, DON’T try to move him!)
”Oh sh-t! I forgot, has anyone called 911 yet?”
(I called, said a man in an orange jump suit)
Rush hour traffic was starting to back up on both sides
I would guess at least twenty minutes had passed...
The young highway patrolman was calm and relaxed
“Is an ambulance coming?” He nodded and pointed...
At least a half mile away we saw the flashing lights
but the median bank was too steep to drive down
(You two are going to have to help me with the traffic
Divert everyone out of the left, northbound lane)
Absolute chaos...
Some drivers got confused and stopped
The biker and I started waving and shouting
which of course, only made matters worse
One grouchy old fart laid on his horn and cussed
(We flipped him a sign that had little to do with peace)
45 minutes and counting...
The ambulance had to park on the shoulder
Two sweating, rather nervous looking ladies
rushed to the back and pulled out a stretcher
(Would you two gentleman mind giving us a hand?)
They immediately escorted us to the young man,
took out a weird contraption with a tube and a bulb
and inserted the tube end down his throat into his stomach
(Find something to put under his head while you pump!)
“You got anything on your bike?” (Uh-uh, don’t think so)
My wife’s blue denim jacket was laying in the back seat
“Sh-t! I’m gonna RUIN the damn thing! Oh well...”
We took turns pumping. I kept turning my head away
(You okay bro?) “Just a little queasy” (Yeah, me too...)
A little girl played along the railroad tracks. Walking on the rails, playing in the little station house. Waiting for her friend the engineer to blow the whistle as he came around the bend. On special days he would stop and lift her and her mother into an empty box car , then hurry back to the engine, open the throttle, the steam would hiss and away we'd go. Ill never forget the sound of that chug-chug-chug getting faster and faster until it seemed we were flying down the track. The journey wasn't far, about 5 miles. . A short trip but an exciting one for a child who lived miles from the nearest town. We would spend the day playing in the river and picnicking on the shore. In the afternoon we'd catch the northbound and return home tired and happy. It was a simpler time, we didn’t worry about the legality of that little ride, or for that matter, the safety of riding in an open car with our feet dangling out the door.. we just lived! The train was
a big part of my life and I still get a thrill when I hear that far away whistle in the night.
the hiss of the steam
down the tracks and round the bend
back to my childhood
1/8/15
flowers on Mom's grave
like a soft, sweet northbound kiss
Her Memory Etched....
morning sky cold gray
snow geese - muffled honking
northbound - early
A man, quite renowned, came into our town;
He tried to expound on matters profound.
He frowned when he found as he tried to expound:
drowned by the sound of a hound in the town.
This was indeed a hound most renowned!
The sound from this hound, when on a rebound,
knocks a man down in a mound on the ground.
He looked all 'round: northbound, southbound, eastbound, westbound.
Nowhere he looked could that loud sound be found:
the fairground, the playground, the foreground, the background.
Finally he found himself down at the pound.
A foxhound, a coonhound, a bloodhound, a greyhound:
all of these hounds could be found at the pound,
but none of the hounds made that kind of sound.
A boy came around and said while he frowned,
his puppy was wound up, would not settle down.
"Your little dog too! Ha, ha," he clowned.
A little chihuahua made all of that sound?
Well, he dropped his jaw when he heard the chihuahua.
Now, he expounds on this hound most renowned.
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For the Nursery Rhyme 3 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Eve Roper
Written on 04/14/2022
Rain
An unnoticed ship
sails across the sky.
Its leaden oars trail
swift exploration
down the horizon.
It stern-ward went
forth, swift over
northbound upon
the briny shore
and firmly
stood upon
grassy hills,
emptied
its bulk.
Rain.
4/1/2019
Favorite Poem From Last Week (March 31-April 6, 2019) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Lu Loo
cold wars
and silvery spoons
make me solemn
in the self-closing eyes
always priggish
as a desolate diver
I blindly follow
the northbound shoals
hoarse in the black iris
I'm a tipsy toad
howling in heaven
with frigid manners
resurrected again
in a parquet parlour
of colliding sighs
the highland highwaymen
set up bonfires
in instinctive phobia
of the uninvited mirage
rural gravestones
salute the lightning
with tremendous pride
still frivolous
over the glum expressions
during prohibition
I smile with a frown
when my chapped lips
touch salty chips
into exile
to shock, to astound
...inspired by the song 'Northbound 35' by Jeffrey Foucault
Two hundred miles and counting,
Kansas blacktop, batttling snow,
visibility's poor, his sadness is mounting,
from here to there he has nowhere to go.
Lela left, took the kids and the horses,
hostility raging and angry goodbyes,
broken dishes and old, shattered promises,
nothing but highway and tears in his eyes.
Wichita, Lawrence, there's nobody waiting,
mile upon mile with no real destination,
no one to call, his memories grating,
thinking the while of his elimination.
Motels and hotels, the marks of community,
churches that urge you to come on inside,
Salvation Army, use them with impunity,
doctors and hospitals serving with pride.
Hope springs eternal, that's what they say,
confidence builds as he goes on his way,
to gather himself, shake it off, that is all,
grace the true measure, the cure for a fall.
Image of Coyote Animal Snow by Pixabay
Coyote Corner
Coyotes are wolves near cognate brothers,
closer to jackals who are bred o'er seas,
plus, noted slang for smugglers of mothers
and tots who lacked to grasp the ABCs.
Found hereabouts the USA, merely
south of the border some ways then back up
northbound throughout Canada. Stars queerly
dusk also dawn ... wreak howls, dull stares faceup.
Coyotes balance the way that they hunt;
when they are alone, they pounce on small prey,
nevertheless, whenever they confront
larger beast's, pack forms and perfects the slay.
When faced by coyotes, thrash your body,
yell, throw objects or be a wolf and *pee.
*Though blood brothers, wolves are also a coyote's nemesis and they are quite savvy of "marking one's territory".
2021 June 1
*1st Place*
A BRIAN STRAND SONNET
~~Brian Strand: Judged 2021 July 30
Rat a tat tat - train on slow track
Each day takes me - to work and back
My mind it tune - clickety clack
Its hypnotic - repeating sound
Resonating - within my mind
Rat a tat tat - it goes around
But it must go - hear squeal below
Tis terminus - no further go
Sadly now end - that rhythmic flow
Canaries
By LoLa
The afternath of crossing paths
The war that waged; our demons’ wrath
Our minds intwined in broken trust
The dawn of fall; a slave to lust
Weapons turn from phaser to stun
Countless trials we shouldn't have won
savagery done; just chasing a thrill
Searchingly seeking a reason to kill
Lovedrugs served to turn us cold
Injected fates for prayers to hold
The light that shines on broken minds
Will darkness come to drive us blind?
Heading down south to ease my pain
Northbound demons; callin my name
Take me away from tales of crime
Lasting paths where hearts beat in time
Scores Of doubt sing loudly inside
Kind minds echo subconscious pride
We can't define what never dies
Our Timeless lives with modern ties
The little death of every night
You lie awake in spite of sight
Lost memories where tears collide
Subconscious fears that hide inside
Anxiety of posioned sons
The crushing weight for Chosen ones
No mercy from our Maker's dawn
No sanctuary in a song
Remarkable, how crass the sounds
Sleepless nights, deep underground
Lets hurtle straight into the sun
The fear released when we are done
‘pon a Northbound Breeze
Listen as you close your eyes
whispers sweet a’ call your name
floating forth of chestnut skies
tucked between the falling rain
softly from my lips does flow
wishes in a shimmered blend
so my love this night you know
‘pon a northbound breeze I send
Good night Soupers
Brass windchimes
ring melodic time
backed up
and down,
back
and forth
by boisterous breeze voices
blowing somewhat more silent choices
below
Before benighted rejoice
reprise to rise
and fall
wounded fail
yet again
Melodious inside intentions
to ring true
love's restoring stories
of local justice circling
dynamic spirals inside
looking resounding out
virally
conspiratorially
anticipating healthier life within
Mother's sensual gusts
Overpowering peaceful chimes
global resting
arresting rhymes
with powerful enculturing space
enlightened green spring out times
up happy,
healthy
Driven by bountiful breeze
and this northbound tidal
grey-blue iconic river
flowing drifts back
and surging forth,
Downstream
yet again back up
in-between
indigenous natured out
spirits in
Chiming outside colonizing industrial windows
noticing
re-connecting stressful winds
and anxious tides
of not so well chimed
compassionate green change
loudly rang
While icecaps,
empowering South
and enlightening North,
silently
soundlessly
melt integrity's just right divine
dividing humane left
Eastern Earth greets Western Sun
chiming resonant hospitality
of eco/theo-logical nurturers
nourishing brass rounds
of resighted
respited
holy sounds.