Best Recall Poems
I recall a dirty sidewalk
running in front of grandma's house
with bumps and cracks from the roots
of ancient white oaks
Meandering down to the levee
with cane poles and sack lunches
crickets and freshly dug earth worms
Barefoot in careless summers
I recall one low spot
beneath a straggly Chinaberry
filled with pitch-black delta dirt
washed in by summer rains
Shuffling through and digging down
burying our toes
Often now I recall
when the heavens are shrouded in grief
when darkness closes at the edge of vision
I recall a porch light flicking on in the distance
I recall grandma’s trembling soprano calling
calling me back home
I Recall Mockingbirds Singing To Me
My life now so far away in the past
resting back in that glowing red sunset;
in lost memories where dreams always last
wishing for lost time, I can never get.
As fading shadows dance in bonfire's glow
I recall mockingbirds singing to me;
precious gifts such memory plants to sow
so like seeds dropping from big red-oak tree.
My eyes filled with falling tears, my soul sees
far beyond, well past my mind's window sills;
Green forests in my life with their lost trees
resting back there, lasting memory hills.
As my life now sends me yearning anew,
images parading forth, treasures so true!
Robert J. Lindley, 4-03-2016
Syllables Per Line:
10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10
Total # Syllables: 140
Total # Lines: 17 (Including empty lines)
Words with (syllables) counted programmatically: Total # Words: 105
Note: I had to visit my favorite woods yesterday(AS WAS MUCH NEEDED RELIEF), this came to me this fine morn, a sonnet..
PASTORAL
Yes I remember when this was all fields
Patchworked across the vale to chalky down
The cornfield and the pastures and the weald
That fed the hearts and bodies of the town
Yes I recall the footpath that we took
To reach the hamlet and the blessed lake
O’er styles and hedges and the little brook
Where we would stop to give our thirst some slake
Yes I can feel the wind upon my face
That cooled our sweat as we ascend the hill
And as we climbed our minds rose up apace
Then widened loosing bonds to our free will
Yes I now hold the memory in my heart
And see the images as I near sleep
Though they are gone they still remain a part
Of my own world, reside in spirit deep
Submitted: 15 August 2019
N/A in contest: Any Poem You Want to Write 180 words or less
By Caren Krutsinger
Shall We Recall Gems Reaped From Our Love's Tree
Should small differences tear us apart
Bringing sorrows, upset our applecart
Will we open our eyes to truly see
How truth and love's growth can still set us free
Surely life should be more than seeking gain
More than just gathering bountiful grain
Shall we yet again, our souls truly search
On higher and higher mountaintops perch
Learn to give and love to the nth degree
Bathe ourselves in love's deep romantic sea
Should such differences rip us apart
Causing those rash actions not very smart
Shall we recall gems reaped from our love's tree
Wonderful bliss, love gifted unto we?
Robert J. Lindley, 6-13-2022
Sonnet
Hushed, quiet and still
the forest revives my soul
I remember me.
for Raul Moreno's
Solace in Nature contest
I recall.....the books she read,
The songs she sang and sayings she said.
I recall.....the way she'd run,
Her finger down my nose for fun.
I recall.....the way she hid,
'protecting" me as a kid.
and
I recall.....her saddened eyes,
As we said our last goodbyes.
Factory Recall
I looked beyond The Open Door
into a mystical Soul Factory
There amidst the unboxed souls
was Invisible Jim and The Ghost.
The ghost’s skin was reflective like a mirror
allowing me to see The Lines on my Face.
The factory was an unusual place
with floors carpeted in Dandelions
At each station angels sang a Star Baby Lullaby
I asked one “What are you doing?”
She smiled and responded
“I am installing a Patriotic Pause.”
An overhead speaker blared
“It is time for Designated Rain,”
I was careful to protect
the Butterfly in My Pocket.
Workers started moving
so I asked “Where are you going?”
“We are Stepping into The Temple.”
“May I ask Why?” “Sure, we are Searching For Jesus.”
So I followed the Girl With The Quiet Voice.
I was unsure How To Feel,
so I began by Lending Both Hands.
It helped in Finding My Way..
I was then joined by The Borrower.
He Was the one Who I Am
but Some Time we’re not Close Enough to Know.
Perhaps I need some Kimo Therapy
I was directed to Rose in The Garden.
Her roots had Deep Inclinations.
Would I Abandon all for This Dark Lover?
She set me on my Memory Go Round.
That place of Painted Ladies and Weeping
There I searched for Guys Advice in a Fools Paradise
Inside of me A Sense of Emptiness,
still she would become my Favourite Mistake.
She Touched The Water and my soul
becoming My Ocean.
Still I have Unanswered Questions
Some might say a Bad Bargain Made.
At the Soul Factory I left behind
my Church Perfect Surface.
In my Minds Eye the Screen Flickers.
Change Ain’t Easy but now I’m Different.
The breeze Whispered Your Name.
While I was looking for Psychedelic Sound!
No I know why I Can’t Get High Enough.
Instead let me rest in a the place of Chaotic peaceful Thoughts.
There I can sit under the Wisdom Tree
and listen to The Quiet One.
That garden where angels do the Butterfly Dance.
I long to languish there in Rainbow Coloured Camouflage.
By Richard Lamoureux
I wrote this one for Charlie’s contest using my titles from past poems. I didn’t read the directions properly so wrote another one that I entered.
Revisiting our ancestral farmhouse
I feel this certain tinge of aloneness,
Which smudges the lively remembrances
About a big clan huddled together
Under narra trees, each Sunday…a frolic kindled
By Grandpa’s recycled stories about literature,
His passion for Cole Porter’s music,
And the grace of old jazzy temperament…
Oh, we would feast on homemade shrimp balls ,
Roasted calf, an array of fragrant tarts
While infants and elders jiggled
Under the chain-link glow of skyscape,
Where my childhood, teen-hood heart
Pulsed, was even fed with many a summers’ delight.
Then…in a dash, this rustic view quelled us—
It was a terror we called a slap of reality
An impertinent fire flattening our homestead,
Just like that, like that: How bitter this pastoral thieving
A madness of doom I need not wish to recall--
Except for a torn violin retrieved among cinders
Leaning now around my grownup arms:
I kneel beneath moonshine, singing myself to sleep.
-----------------------
Remembering What You Want to Forget Contest
Sponsor: Kim Rodrigues 10/7/2018
I recall the river Wharfe, black crows caw
Swaying meadows dance to opulent breeze,
To wander within summer’s clothes she wore
And merging clouds the canopy to tease
When rain on nature’s cloak does gently please.
I recall fields of jade in sun lit dew
The summit of the Beacon’s striking view,
To taste the odours of woodland rambles
Witness the swallows beneath skies of blue
While wood mice wait of fruit laden brambles.
Entered Dizain Poetry Contest
Sponsor Sotto Poet
Theme Summer
written 22/10/2022
As I recall it was December
When a blizzard closed down O’Hare
I was sick of northern winters
While the sun was shining south somewhere
I remembered in a magazine
Pictures of a tropic scene
In the sunny Caribbean
So, I called my friendly travel agent
Send me somewhere it's hot
When I asked her for suggestions
She said "Antigua, maybe Montserrat
I replied, "I just don't know"
"just as long as there isn't snow"
She just laughed, "when can you go?"
Quit my job and sold my car on Friday
Bought a video on water sports
Gave up suits and sweaters all to goodwill
Shopped for sandals, found some neon shorts
All my friends said "Dave, you're nuts"
Trader Vicks sells coconuts
Seems to us you're in a rut
At the airport, all the seats were taken
Travelers were sitting on the floor
When I heard a voice behind me
"Sir, there's always room for more
I think I saw you in the parking lot
Ten degrees and she still looked hot
Cupid aimed and took his shot
What can you say to an unknown lady
And be politically correct
If you can't improve on silence
You risk showing disrespect
"excuse me please but I’d like to know
How a flower blooms in snow"
She just smiled and said "hello"
How far back can you remember? I have glimpses of things from babyhood.
Things like a room, a doll, a funny little girl smiling, mother but how can that
even be, because I was just a baby.
a flowing blue stream
I lay upon a blanket
birds sang in tall trees
I recall the house where we lived beside a river, the many trees, and picking
raspberries with my mother and sister. Father holding me in his arms. Going
for long walks in the forest, but I was just a wee girl.
the forest whispered
in the shadows creatures hid
sweet the dappled sun
I remember the day my sister died, or do I? I was so young that day, and
coming from a family of storytellers that retold the story over and over, soon
it became my memory.
I often relive
the day death took her away
the snow was so nice
____________________________
September 3, 2020
Poetry/Haibun/I Recall, or Do I
Copyright Protected, ID 20-1283-249-03
All Rights Reserved, 2020, Constance La France
Consists of 3 Haibuns, Haibun with Senryu
Haibun with Haiku, Haibun with Senryu
Written for the contest,Let The Pens Flow - Haibun
sponsor, Jenish Somadas
First Place
For Steve with Love
your feel
still comes
to me
when I
recall
our love
filled years
our shared
passion
goes on
inside
my heart
though gone
are tears
decades
went by
while I
cried ‘why
did you
so choose
to die’
I know
in time
we will
unite
where love
feels no
good-bye
There's an innocent time that I recall
when every girl is Cinderella at a bobby-sox ball
each guy, a penny-loafer prince in a white letter sweater
and the jukebox music keeps getting better
A place where the teens are not overly hip
where the burn-outs and greasers don't dare give them lip
where 350-engines purr under car hoods
where heroes are handsome, virtuous and good
The Beach Boys are gone now
Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Chuck Berry too
Hearing their music brings a tear to my eye
If I make it to Heaven, I hope they'll drop by
Curtains, at Grandma’s house,
hide the inner sanctum -
memories remodeled.
—Quote by Poet
I Recall Curtains
Loveliness is lace; I recall curtains.
Village without curtains; and lace.
One bow on a pine, lopsided star.
Intricate lace is snow white.
Many pines in the mountain skies,
the chimney and post office spire
pointing at the twinkling stars, all
hover over the curtainless village.
Rocking horse and spinning top, highlight
the two-storied “Toys and Games.”
I wonder who lives upstairs at the “Bakery.”
Such a teeny tiny village offering, yet
the daintiness embellishes a Winter wall;
Loveliness is lace; I recall curtains.
As I Recall, is a collection of humorous and heartfelt short stories and poetry sharing moments from a life full of laughter and love. I have long wanted to record memories of my childhood for family and friends. But, I was so busy with life, I didn't take the time. I'm older now, and have even more to share. And, I'm a grandfather who feels a desperate need to preserve memories of his life for another generation. Early in the process, I discovered more than a need to leave something for the family. I found a new voice that was filled with colorful and descriptive passages to deliver my messages. The voice has an understanding of the human spirit base upon experiences as a son, brother, friend, husband, father and teacher.
I hope you find this book entertaining, compassionate and as much fun to read as it was to write. Maybe it will inspire you to write a book of your own.
Ray Dillard
May 19, 2013
This is the introduction from my book. It is available online from numerous bookstores in soft cover, hardback and ebook formats. Look it up and read sample stories to find out if the introduction is adequate. RAY