Best Persistence Poems

Caustic memories dissolve on my tongue
Lingering tastes of battery acid and nicotine  
Cause me to choke on putrid saliva.  
Staring at melting walls, clocks tick in unison.  

Distorted birdsong hums outside of jagged windows 
Under the warped sun, an unrepentant landscape blurs.  
Freshly budding peonies liquefy;  
Veils thin, evaporating the...

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(A Paul Callus & Carolyn Devonshire collaboration)


Standing not far from the cliff’s edge 
the aging tree, solitary,
with gnarly roots clings to the rocks -
she shows resolve, tenacity.

        My younger days were easier;
    	as a tiny sprout, I flourished,
     	surrounded by wildflower...

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There are I'm sure
people 
who 
will 
tell 
you 
to 
stop
    I'm also sure 
you will persist
  in your literary 
efforts 
Some may say 
its only poetry 
   but we know 
different - don't we friends?
Poetry can change a life 
  It can even change societies 
  ...

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Generative Persistence

Give it a name; “generative presence”, “persistence” 
Emergent with life, feeling and a pulse
Send it on its way while clinging to the egg
Enable it from a distance to become of use
Keep yourself in a suggestive cocoon
State of fixation, enameled in stasis
Embedded in concrete reality if only to form
Wrapped in patterns, in sequences, in character,...

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It never is too late to start
Pursuing what you dream.
Listen closely to your heart...
Allow your mind to stream.
Do not let status or age
Instill crisis within you.
Successfully turning the page?
Only if you decide to.

All of us when we are younger
Wish that we could be
A certain someone - this, we hunger
For innocently.
Many of us follow through,
Becoming with...

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We did not notice at first—
the small rebellions of memory:
a forgotten kettle on the stove,
the absurd claim that Tuesday had vanished,
names reshuffled as if in a deck too often played.

The mind does not fall—it recedes,
a shoreline eroded not by storms
but by silent, persistent tides.
Each day an abrasive grain,
each night a hush over once-luminous thought.

She remained...

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Never give up
I am talking to you.
Never give up.

Wait! What! Say it again!
Yes, do not give up on the life-changing dreams with which you are busy.
Persuasion, persistence and endurance are the keys.
Self-confidence, self-determination and visualisation are the processes.

But, let go of bad habits.
Drop the negativity, stubbornness and self-pity
Replace with humbleness.

Be humble in whatever you do...

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Big white clock is bored
With the uniformity of time
Flowing unnoticeably every day
Always the same tedious way
The clock has been sitting there 
From the dawn of the time 
Meticulously marking steps of
Hours minutes, and seconds 
Till it could no longer bear
The meaningless existence
Of being a humdrum machine
One day the clock decided to try 
Something a little...

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Smitten by unrequited love,
rejection's rage grounds fledgling hearts.
And any chance of happiness
is lost before it even starts.

Denial comforts hopeful hearts
left in this vulnerable state.
For they cling tight to the false hope
that time might yet alter their fate.

Always waiting in the shadows;
they keep passion's flame concealed.
For exposed fantasy dreams die;
when secret wishes get revealed.

Secretly, their hearts...

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The Persistence of a Memory of Apricot Shampoo
by Michael R. Burch

For all that I remembered, I forgot
her name, her face, the reason that we loved...
and yet I hold her close within my thought:
I feel the burnished weight of auburn hair
that fell across her face, the apricot
clean scent of her shampoo, the way she glowed
so palely...

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Love's persistence


Drip...Drip...Drip...as drops fall to the rocks below

Split...Split...Split... the rocks split open from the persistent flow

Try...Try...Try...I try to penetrate your heart of solid stone

Know...Know... Know...I know with persistence our love too can grow

Open...Open...Open...your heart cracked wide open for me

Now we know with love's persistence our hearts can be together and be free


John Derek Hamilton
April 04,2016...

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We all hear the internal clock ticking,
A self-contained Doomsday device,
Melting like a candle in the desert heat

Shaded by our consciousness,
We try to ignore the Fun House mirrors 
That manipulate our memory.

Our minds as flat as pancakes 
Are screaming for persistence 
And there's something that looks slightly like a deflated goose on the sand. 

Our memories...

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LOOK THERE.  NOTHING HERE.
CABINETS BARE.
BEARLY ATE.
STARE THROUGH SPACE.
CAN'T KEEP PACE.
NEIGHBOR FRIED CHICKEN.

FINGER LICKIN' 
DIRTY FINGERS.
NEED SOAP
CAN'T COPE

NEED SLEEP. NO SHEETS.
CAN'T KEEP.  COUNTING SHEEP.
ONE TWO THREE
MUST GET THERAPY.

AND FIND RESOURCES
BEFORE FROST HITS.

MUST PERSIST
I  EXIST....

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How strange it is to see clocks on the branches of trees.
Their appearance to be melting adds to the peculiarities.
High cliffs are in the background against a stagnant sea.
Does this scenario seem a bit strange to you or me?
That thing in the middle has long eye lashes and a nose.
Unknown is what the man was...

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Rise Out Of The Ashes


               Filled with apprehension the heart pleaded for sympathy

               Eyes desperately focused beyond normality seeks a sign

      ...

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