Best Sandbox Poems
I took umbrage over a comment in a current blog, in part stating that poetry, "... is a battlefield..." No. There should be no gauntlets thrown, no darts hurled, and no negative words hurled as if Poetry Soup is a battlefield. I was motivated to write...
Over and over again, blogs become a wallowing hole
where ugliness brews contempt and always takes a toll
on those who are trying to make a simple observation.
Someone takes offense and that provokes confrontation
by a tadpole who'll be a frog and not Prince Charming.
Ya know... the narcissistic type who think it's alarming
that they're ideas are not accepted by others on the site.
Then, it's "Katie, bar the door" and get ready for a fight!
Pollywogs keep swimming in rippling waters of the Soup,
where they take a dump, but don't think of it as 'Poop.'
Blogs are sandboxes where nasty words become litter.
Catty remarks are made by the arrogant and the bitter.
Not surprising, the same ones cut up with their mocking.
It's the same MO they use when they come a knocking...
knocking on new blog doors and causing a ruckus inside.
That's crossing a line that no one should ever take in stride.
Some abuse blogs, as if they're churches or synagogues.
If any part of Poetry Soup should go, it should be the Blogs.
Not as some redundantly claim, should be poetry contests...
Objected to by rallying sponsors and poets in fervid protests.
Blogs serve as playgrounds but break all schoolyard rules
when some can't stop themselves from acting like fools.
There's fighting and tugs of war... never for a good cause.
Gettin' tough over trivial stuff puts a pinch in their drawers.
For gosh sake, act like adults instead of flakes and nuts.
There's never and excuse for acting like a rattlepated putz.
Categories:
sandbox, community, conflict,
Form:
Rhyme
It seems like it was yesterday
in backyard sandbox she had played;
granddaughter loved to have her way
with sand, her pail, scoop, shovel, spade.
She'd mold and build, with special care;
imagination took its form.
Sometimes she'd throw it up in air
to watch it fly like a sandstorm.
Fast forward now just twenty years:
our princess then, in her play sand,
now lives a life on new frontiers
soon headed for another land.
A first lieutenant based stateside,
her unit soon will be deployed
to mid-east base...Kuwait...supplied
with desert sand, so vast and void.
Her 'sandbox' then, to serve with troops,
logistics and supplies command,
where sand is pushed with 'dozer 'scoops'...
and windstorms fill the air with sand.
It seems like it was yesterday
in backyard sandbox, she had played.
As West Point grad, she makes her way
to serve our country, unafraid.
Sandra M. Haight
~2nd Place~
Premiere Contest: Sandbox
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
Judged:10/18/2016
Categories:
sandbox, granddaughter, tribute,
Form:
Quatrain
Before her Auntie died she built her a big sandbox,
I remember her sitting there with long curly brown locks.
The sun in her face with an innocent smile so bright,
she’d stay out there playing morning, noon and night.
She had little tractors and buckets with tiny figurines,
she’d make sand castles then stomp on them to smithereens.
This one time she built a fort for her favorite Little People,
a huge monstrosity with a long bridge and a steeple.
She reached the age of eight and still loved her sandbox,
she used her imagination through the summer equinox.
Silly little girl with big brown eyes so enthralled,
but after Auntie died she just sat in it and bawled.
Now at tender age of ten we still keep it in the back yard,
once and awhile she sifts through the sand, but it’s quite hard.
But yesterday I saw her feet deep in the sand buried,
playing in that special sandbox lovely memories are carried.
Sandbox Contest
October 14, 2016
Categories:
sandbox, childhood, fun,
Form:
Couplet
If I put you in a sandbox you couldn't dig deep enough to find cat ****.
Categories:
sandbox, words,
Form:
Into the sandbox
Come the flappers and the seekers
Like puppets on strings
Dancing to their own childish whims
The profiler watches
As they think they sing
The poison in their stories a piercing ring
Like chess moves, piece by piece
Slowly
From a blank slate
We see the wrong turns inflicted at childhood
Them thinking they are so misunderstood
Sandbox babies
Making sandstorms
Proclamations of their righteousness
Even as they commit both big and petty sins
Narcissistic egos purchasing mirrors at IKEA
So they can stare at their own opinions
Locking their minds in the open mirrored box
No refunds
Categories:
sandbox, art, christian, imagery, psychological,
Form:
Free verse
Sandbox
Come join me in my sandbox,
Where the task of executing begins,
A vast space, a separate place,
To test without affecting the end!
While creative juices flow freely,
From the minds of the specialist,
The applications rest comfortably,
In My sandbox environment!
Written: 10/11/16
Submitted for: Poetry Contest - Screwed XV
Sponsored by: Rob Carmack
Categories:
sandbox, computer, creation, environment, imagination,
Form:
Rhyme
In life,
together we play in a sandbox,
making sand castles in wonderland.
Poetic times with flowing lines
you’re a woman who understands.
I'm by your side at sunrise
we're on the beach at sunset.
An evening breezes
and tranquil seas.
That's how you and I met.
Together we move in the midnight
wind chimes play a sweet song.
Like apple pies and fireflies
Good times never last long.
*REPEAT*
I'm by your side at sunrise
we're on the beach at sunset
An evening breezes
and tranquil seas.
That's how you and I met.
Together we move in the midnight
wind chimes play a sweet song.
Like apple pies and fireflies
Good times never last long.
Categories:
sandbox, fun, happy, life, poetry,
Form:
Lyric
When I was a little tot playing in the sandbox meant a lot.
I could play all day, I played and played, until the sun went
his way. What fun I had, making faces happy and sad. But
as the day began to end, I put on a frown no more sand box.
No more sand all around.
Categories:
sandbox, age,
Form:
Free verse
She carried it with her, wherever she went.
It never left her sight. She grew with it,
from the time she lived with her parents
as a child, in their beloved tropical island.
Her father gave it to her, as a Christmas gift
for her eighth birthday. He wanted her to carry
some memories of him and her mother wherever
she went.
At first, it was light. She didn't want to carry
any sand with her. Sand couldn't carry memories;
only texture of fineness.
Now, the sandbox has some weight of memories;
she has photos of her parents, grandparents,
their house, the ocean, sandcastles.....
Her sandbox slowly wears out,
but time is unable to fade the memories...
Categories:
sandbox, family, growing up, imagery,
Form:
Narrative
A sojourn took me to a beautiful sandy shore
Dreams abounding that I could be
Like any other child I had read about
To pile up all the sand in my view
And build my multitude of dreams
That I believed would turn into reality
With every passing day
In an open box I placed a wooden board
That I had carried along
I built a cottage and not a castle
For I knew I was no queen
From the jasmine sellers I bought a garland
To demarcate my pristine garden
Two ice cream sticks were the sentinels
Guarding the gate
A few shells, some of which were half broken
Made a passage to the open door
Neither the heat spell nor the burning skin
Deterred me from completing my dream
With the dimming hues of the sunlight
I carefully shut my world in the sandbox
We travelled back home with my eyes focussed
Only on the box lying unstirred in my lap
On reaching home I placed it on my table
Tears streamed down non-stop
To see the wilted jasmine flowers
Crushed under the debris of my home
With swollen eyes I lay in bed
Sniffling every now and then
And it was then that I awakened
To the strong smell of jasmines
Reviving in me to re-build my dreams
Tomorrow I would build a more stable home.......
October 14, 2016
For Anthony Slausen
Categories:
sandbox, dream, emotions, flower, garden,
Form:
Free verse
hand to hair twirling
into the calmest air
finding you stealing
looks at me
with my knees
deep into the sandbox
songs song deeply
out of key while
you yawn and smile
pleasingly at our photograph
of kissing upon a dream
rainbows wrapped around
a candycane
with the deepest hues
that sorrow could paint
into this heart
Categories:
sandbox, sad
Form:
Free verse
Stepping outside the sandbox,
Is what we all need.
I do it to escape the madness,
And from going crazy.
I need silence.
I need to feel alive again.
I need to feel strong, positive and secure.
I just need to be alone,
So I can think...
Someone has destroyed my life.
They have taken everything from me.
I'm furious because trust is broken.
Integrity is gone.
Their morality and decency is,
Non-existent in this world.
There is a remedy,
They will be judged, not by me,
But by the higher power.
Once again I feel love and warmth,
In my soul and I am strong to carry on.
I smile as I step back into the sandbox.
Categories:
sandbox, betrayal, blessing, christian, emotions,
Form:
Free verse
Grain upon grain, all have
a name ,for each is a spec of me.
From first breath and even before
These life chips compound more and more
Like sand in a sandbox ,my life for all to see.
I am not alone for all have a sandbox of their own
that holds each life detail.
Sprinkled years and actions
That some did succeed in and at others failed.
The sandbox just holding a reaping of what was sown.
So we fill our own sandbox as we live and love every day.
Many different sizes but one thing we seem to know,
Each is given a measure of sand for living as we go,
And when the last grit lands ,we all are taken away ,
but our sandbox is here to stay.
Categories:
sandbox, life,
Form:
Quatrain
When I was a child
We had little in means
So all my investments
Were in fantasy dreams.
A favorite of mine
Was told by my pap
Of a Sandman who came
Whenever you'd nap.
He came with a bag
And a mission, this guy
To put one piece of sand
In each sleeping eye.
So I made up a plan
And sly as a fox
Everyday upon waking
I went to my box.
I collected my sand
For a sandbox one day
And maybe a beach
To dig, build and play!
I worked hard at my sleep
And the Sandman was kind
He left me his tokens
For this Sandbox of mine.
Then one day I came home
To check on my stash
And it was all gone
I fell with a crash.
My grandma came running
To see if I died
And I asked if she knew
Where my Sandbox now lied?
She said with a grin
From one ear to the other
"I swept up your room
To help out your mother."
"I threw out that box
It looked empty to me.
Now dry up those tears
I made sand tart cookies."
So that's my sad tale
And I learned a big rule
Saving sand's a bad choice
So eat sand tarts, you fool!
Categories:
sandbox, beach, children, fantasy, imagination,
Form:
Rhyme
Larry's in the sand box
Trying to build a castle
Johnny comes along
And gives Larry a hassle
Johnny says the castle is too weak
You need to make it more stable
Larry says I'm not a builder
So I'm just not able
Susie comes to check the castle
Sees them fighting with no work
Says she's getting angry
They are both being a jerk
Women are more likely
To be able to finish the task
They are more capable
There is no need to ask
Boys you need to act like men
Not get into quarrels and fights
When you learn to play nice
You will have some better nights
Categories:
sandbox, games,
Form:
Rhyme