Best Scrimped Poems

I take my hat off for the flag
  I stand up straight; let others sag
I get all weepy for Old Glory
  thinking of my family's story

They came from Russia with naught but hope
  with just their wits to help them cope
No language...

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My Daddy Was a Preacher

My daddy was a preacher
Not the kind now on TV
But a back-woods country preacher
For they’re the best you see
He came through the Great Depression
Where his parents scrimped and saved
To send him off to college
On a path that God had paved
He worked...

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“Mama, please make Brenda get off the piano now,”
My twin sister Barbara whined with a scowl.
“I have been waiting forever for my turn to play.”
She was a 10 year old picture of dismay.

Mother did not have to twist our arm to practice.
Weekly music lessons had...

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All her belongings fitted into a suitcase and a small carry-on bag.

After 18 years, my helper was going home for good.

During those years, not a dime ever went missing in the various apartments we’ve called home, she waged daily war with the invading dust, soot...

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Traditions for the next President

           by Edmund Siejka                           ...

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Sometimes
When we have a loving relationship
Life gets in the way
The pressures of work money worries
Piles of unpaid bills
Not enough time for each other
The relationship erodes and folds
You try but you go separate ways

When we were poor my love and I
Had nothing
We scrimped and saved
For the...

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DEAD MAN’S HAND

He sat the longest time
Staring at his cards
It was a good hand – 3 Queens
Better than average    considering
There were six men at table

“Whatcha say, Luke?” Jake Rich demanded
“Pete raised yer bet – Whatcha say?”

But Luke just sat
Staring at his cards

Bart...

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I was strolling to the entrance of the Barley Tavern,
when I was passed at quite a rate by angry Billy Brown.
He’s mumbling and cursing before he kicked the Tavern cat,
and blamed it as the reason for his marriage breaking down.

With the cat completely winded and...

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By George (burning hard), I Shaw tried to playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from other pedestrian applicants 
seeking to fill my well-worn shoes 
that fit my little feet.

Illuminate...

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Wistful Accursed Penniless Fate...God Dime Mitt!
(neither defamation, nor blasphemy meant, sans Title)

Despite ingestion of
     anti anxiety medications
     ferocious hellish onslaught
     pummels me aback
finds resurgence of ghostly
     white implacable terror
inducing...

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We arrived like windblown dirt,
the steamer vomited us out
then wallowed into a smug stillness.

We migrants stood 
to be led somewhere, anywhere
slowly we disembarked, disorganized 
and straggling,
lingering on the dock for leadership,
for welcoming hands,
we were examined, passed through check points,
our crumpled papers stamped
with a smudged and...

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THIS IS ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES... 
VERSE 1:
Not a Ballpoint To Sleep
I dare blame them for any detriment,
As I care more to rubbish these bait flip men.
So simple having their downfall predistined,
Can sense struggles thrown from their pritched den.
Easily showcasing their uproot's not riddle spin.
Beyond reasonable doubt,...

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When I was a lad and I went to school,
My situation was strange.
They had what you’d call a food exchange,
And that was pretty cool.

My dad’s job was good; he made a lot
But he spent it all on his boat.
Mom did what she could to keep...

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"There are some choices in life that can never be made. One of them is, the family where you are born Into."
   - by Poet


Let me tell you a story...

She is a member of a large household,
Born by an incapacitated father,
And a struggling...

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Excerpt from “fake” encomium given years ago... 
at Lake Wobegone High School (my alma mater), 

and recently discovered ridiculous rough draft
amidst plethora of junk emails
while practice reading some lines 
regarding Midsummer Night's Dream 
upcoming performance.

Arch back like a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from...

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