Best Oblong Poems
Had Hoped to Find
While searching, seemed so hard to tell,
Which would be our most favorite shell;
Had to constantly, consistently compare,
As they laid on seashore here and there.
Shells were round, oblong and also odd;
Have been prepared by our beloved God,
With bright colors and delicate designs;
Often are spiral or could be curvy lines.
Through shells would separate and strain;
Ocean waves played such a sweet refrain,
Asking why we became such a big creep;
All of God's precious shells trying to keep.
Each day morning does beautifully break;
We will always respect God and His sake;
Shells which we love must be left behind,
For searchers who them had hoped to find.
Jim Horn
Categories:
oblong, beach, spiritual,
Form:
Couplet
Sitting with her now
Watching
How did she get so old?
How did I get so old?
So many pills
Green, blue, white, red, yellow, orange
All kinds of shapes
Round, oval, oblong – big and small
A tackle box with markings
Monday through Sunday
We talk and laugh . . . then
A knock on the door!
I’ll get it
A police officer – young, clean shaven
As I open the door
I jokingly yell . . . He’s here to arrest you mom!
Sir, I do need to speak with your mother. . .
What, Oh . . . come in
Mrs. Meade, did you hit another car?
Her face showed confusion, concern . . . fear
With a trembling voice . . . No officer, I dd i d not
I followed the young man to the garage
A scrape, red paint, a missing mirror
My heart sank
Thinking to myself – is she lying?
Or does she not realize what she has done?
Does it matter?
The time has come . . .
As I hug this frail old woman
Shoulders shaking, tears soaking my shirt
I whisper in her ear
Do not fear . . . everything will be OK . . . . I love you
Standing there I realized
Our roles had changed
Come my darling
It is time for you to live with us
Happy Mother’s day
I do love you!
David Meade
May 10, 2015
Love Generously
Categories:
oblong, car, fear, love, mother,
Form:
I was just sitting there writing when I saw her stroll in,
I wasn’t alone, all eyes followed those curves sashaying
as if she owned the place and maybe she did. . .
if a heart can skip a beat, mine did a somersault.
Obviously cut from a finer cloth
than these eight dollar trousers ever found in their pockets,
the fit much better too, a warm hug on a cold December day
lingering in the moment
She sat down at the crescent shaped bar,
ordered a martini, neat, pulled a crisp twenty from her clutch
and brushed a few stray brunette hairs from her face,
the mirror behind the bar happily reflecting her beauty
Raising the drink to her ruby red lips
I found myself wishing I were that glass,
smeared in her favorite shade, kissed by a sighing sip,
caressed by porcelain fingers wiping sweat from a glistening neck
A jewel in this dingy joint, shimmering in the dusty haze,
breathing some class into this oblong shadow
that had seen better days, but none like this, like her.
She was out of place like fine wine in a shot glass . . . but didn’t seem to care
She lifted a cigarette to her mouth, I was quick with a match,
watching as tobacco embers flared and smoke rose upward, swirling about freeform.
Putting her lips together she blew out the flame
with a whisper of breath that made me weak in the knees, “Thank you.”
I stared, forgetting the spent match I held between my fingers,
tongue tied or mesmerized, take your pick, both answers are correct.
“You’re welcome”, I stuttered like a school boy in braces, “new around here?”
“Kind of”, her voice as chiffon is soft, “I heard I might find a poet here . . . ”
To be continued . . .
Please check out parts 2 and 3 if you get a chance.
Categories:
oblong, beauty, poetry,
Form:
Epic
Serging through life, I whipstitch, weft, and welt,
But always, my thoughts are pick-threading.
As stippled patches of emotion rise and fall in me,
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
Just too many scars.
The mindless mind stresses itself through mental snares,
I waste away beneath it all, piecing and pondering.
Where the struggling soul and pleating body meet,
I seek significance in life’s lucid-lined layers.
Confronting my inner fears as an owneress,
Time leaves its cursed mark in starched stitches that cut.
Each moment experienced is like a closing zipper,
My calm exterior ridges are often rough, ready, and ruffled.
A life full of scars.
While unique experiences blend like transient ombre shades
My essence feels like a needled complex knit.
Memories form patterns from life’s four-patches
Challenges scissors cut are like shredded sharp diamonds.
Yet more paths diverge along life’s shifting chevrons
I strive to fit somehow; this square is what I do.
Yet my world stands out like tri-recs blocks
Creating stars and pineapples to fight fifty-four forty.
Scars that are hidden and visible, surface and deep.
Like trapezoids, I sense those oblong obstacles loom
Worth or less by my own limited gauge, I measure.
I pray each day new chapters begin casting on
While others exhaust, reaching their bind-offs.
I do seek a pattern master, and I need to pray for one.
I contemplate constantly along selvages of thoughts.
They hang like dangling tails…
I start to visualize my purpose slowly seaming.
Look as I whipstitch, weft, and welt through life, serging.
As I graciously and sagaciously test life’s many swatches,
I devote my life to the Master Seamster the…
Healer of scars.
Categories:
oblong, emotions, faith, philosophy, psychological,
Form:
Free verse
The moon is full and white, and chill, this night,
it cascades past my open window sill,
and all the color fades to dark from light,
a monochrome of gray which can't be stilled.
The armoire's oblong shadow strays across the floor.
I watch it from within my canopy bed.
A nightmare gallops through an open door,
a Pooka black as coal with eyes that bled.
Its jaw agape and gore froths from his maw,
as it slowly paws the cover from my bed,
a scream freezes in my throat, a bird-like caw,
he dips down for me to mount, and I am led.
Upon this demon spawn, I scour the moor
'til dawn descends to belay this foul glamour.
Categories:
oblong, fear,
Form:
Sonnet
Oblong outlines of a soul
Stretched in elliptical misery
Redefines the perfect circle
To a breakable volatile tautness
Loosely cloaked in sheaths of epitonic blue
Draped upon the shrinking body to hide a terrified world
Dressed in swirling ominous patterns of anonymity
To be lost within the deepest abyss of fatal fear
Planted like a tenuous girder of iron truth
On a bridge of no return
There is no departure from excruciating fear
From this wicked self-imposed poltergeist
An unseen force deliberates death
Smothering with tremulous trepidation
Annihilating the essence of existence
With no bond found on common ground
There lies the secret
Within the mystery of a soul’s distress
The exorcism of human strength
As fear brings the will of life to a standstill
7-12-2023
Categories:
oblong, fear,
Form:
Ekphrasis
Can a man go down among the dead?
Can he lie in his oblong box – his long house forever,
and be satisfied with never holding his heart’s desire?
Will he be at home in the musty earth where the worm gropes in the dark and
damp?
Will he finally find that peace for so long sought, where he is alone in the cold
and dark and damp.
Will the grin of death begin to show on his placid face to any who might
understand?
Will it show to those that might understand?
Is he hidden away so low, as low as he might go?
But he was enjoying bright sunny days, and then the smell of acrid earth;
so soon, all too soon
Categories:
oblong, death,
Form:
Free verse
She was an artist
And he wore a tie
He was established
She needed to fly
She loved the sensations
Danced to vibrations
She wasn't wired
For logical thinking
She learned to detect
Rules and regulations
And steered clear
Of these situations
He was a tad bit square
Didn’t always play fair
Oblivious to the severity
of a triple dog dare
He took no chances
Sat out the dances
His biggest concern
Was career advances
They lacked communication
She needed stimulation
Their marriage was built
On a hollow foundation
She was faithful, still
An oblong pill
It hurt going down
But she had the will
While she was off
Painting the world
He was falling
For a business girl
A lady in heels
Gave him all the feels
Perfectly polished
Making business deals
Well put together
From head to toe
But lacking color
No sparkle or glow
The way he looked at her
Was something new
The man with no heart
Had the passion of two
Categories:
oblong, art, betrayal, business,
Form:
Free verse
Looking at my reflection
In a pool of water,
my face appeared oblong
as the quivering breeze
created ripples across the surface,
for a moment as I pondered
I spy a glimpse of the future,
looking up at me!
© Harry J Horsman 2012
Categories:
oblong, angst,
Form:
Free verse
Once I saw a purplish oblong tangerine,
Standing near the hydrant on Sixty-first
I wondered what it could possibly mean,
Then, I was overcome with dreadful thirst
When I watched it skitter quickly away
I was transfixed by its stark underbelly,
Joining a cantaloupe on a teeter to play
While a pigeon danced in a jar of jelly,
The sound of a toad lapping up its milk
Told me reality had not departed from me
Sounds of tongue-in-groove are tantalizing
Especially when crawling over a cup of tea
Are my fellow horseflies merely fantasizing
Or are they, like me, oddities analyzing?
Written August 18, 2022
Categories:
oblong, fantasy, fun, imagination, insect,
Form:
Sonnet
Nose pressed flat upto the glass,
Pockets tinkling full of brass;
Oblong jars,row on row
Candy -filled,to over flow.
Mintoes,chews and Pontefract cakes,
Limes and milk chocolate flakes;
Jelly beans and sweet love-hearts,
A few of each ,just to start.
Toffee whirls and butterscotch,
Long liquorice laces,all top-notch;
Aniseed balls,French bonbons,
Available now without coupons.
Sugared almonds and white mice,
Vanilla fudge,a penny a slice!
Just for starters a chocolate ice,
As it's going at half-price.
Barley sugar and a sherbert straw,
The shop bell tinkles as I close the door;
Is that the time! I'll have to skate,
Back into school,I can't be late.
Categories:
oblong, childhood, nostalgia,
Form:
Rhyme
The scientists flung the Rosetta
like spinning a ball in rouletta.
The nerds were annoyed
when their progeny buoyed.
All was saved with a back turbojeta
Settling down on an icy ast'roid,
which was neither oblong nor spheroid,
they said "Philae be grounded",
instead she rebounded
and almost was lost in the void.
With war games and money misdealt
the project was left needing gelt.
And cells lacking power
sent nerds to the shower
while watching the meteor melt.
Categories:
oblong, science,
Form:
Limerick
When you promised me a black diamond
My thoughts began to linger
With dreams of a sparkling gem upon my finger
I put on my pretty frock and awaited your arrival
But when I saw you standing at my door
My smile faded - my jaw almost hit the floor
I wasn’t presented with a ring in a box
But a black diamond watermelon* – you sly old fox!!!
Not quite the gift I was anticipating ...
Now we're off to the shops to choose my engagement ring!
Contest: A Black Diamond
Sponsor Nayda Ivette Negron
08~02~16
Information sourced from https://bonnieplants.com/product/black-diamond
*Black Diamond is a classic oblong watermelon with a black-green rind covering bright red, crisp, flavorful flesh. In the 1950s, Black Diamond was a very popular home garden variety. Fruits have gray-black seeds (perfect for seed spitting contests) and can grow quite large. In Arkansas, where it’s rumored to have been developed, local gardeners recommend this melon for greased watermelon contests: Simply grease the melon, place it into a child’s plastic swimming pool, and get ready for some fun as the kids chase it and try to grab it! Drought-resistant and prolific.
Categories:
oblong, giving, humorous, romantic,
Form:
Rhyme
The white-breasted nuthatch
upside down the ancient bole.
If it has no soul, neither do I.
Pencils criss-crossed on the desk,
sticks tangled on the ground.
Oblong lenticels, yellow stars.
We try to worship the divine
in our sexual partners. They **** and sweat diurnally
and fear their deaths. But the abstract
God has also died. He lied to say he was
eternal. Earth must burn, universe grow cold.
Old field species become ornamentals.
Mosquitoes prey on us, and black flies.
The body decays, and this is what you come
to love. And the ants that carry it away.
This morning, the profusion of species
contents me. The temperate zone is warm, late May.
The posture of that bird is good to emulate.
Categories:
oblong, bird, death, earth, hope,
Form:
Verse
Nose pressed flat upto the glass,
Pockets tinkling full of brass;
Oblong jars,row on row
Candy -filled,to over flow.
Mintoes,chews and Pontefract cakes,
Limes and milk chocolate flakes;
Jelly beans and sweet love-hearts,
A few of each ,just to start.
Toffee whirls and butterscotch,
Long liquorice laces,all top-notch;
Aniseed balls,French bonbons,
Available now without coupons.
Sugared almonds and white mice,
Vanilla fudge,a penny a slice!
Just for starters a chocolate ice,
As it's going at half-price.
Barley sugar and a sherbert straw,
The shop bell tinkles as I close the door;
Is that th time! I'll have to skate,
Back into school,I can't be late.
Categories:
oblong, childhood, funny, nostalgia, chocolate,
Form:
Bio