Best Shiner Poems
Morning sounds wake sleepy heads in beds.
A thud against the wall...daddy's home, drunk!
Mommy must have given him that mommy look!
Sis and I rush to help mommy off the floor as
daddy flops across the bed with his shoes on
smelling of stale beer and cigarette's stench.
Mommy is too dizzy to finish fixing our sandwiches
of baloney for our brown bag lunch. With one punch
he laid her flat again. When will his cruelty end?
Tomorrow is Parent Teacher conferences but
they both won't show up... again. They never do.
Mean taunts from ugly kids at school, we don't listen.
We watch the clock on the classroom wall that ends
with a clattering of noisy chatter and beat up books being
joyously slammed closed then shoved into back packs
as the bell loudly rings announcing the school days end.
We walk slowly home together with dulled anticipation
to the empty sounds of no one home to greet us.
The television's voice is a welcoming distraction that
elevates our spirits with happy kids in family shows.
The best thing about T.V. dinners is no dishes to wash.
Mommy comes home from work at the diner after dark
still sporting dark sunglasses to hide daddy's shiner.
The last sounds of the day comes from mommy's singing us
old songs she remembers from her youthful years at home.
6-17-16
Connie Marcum Wong
Poem of the Day June 21, 2016
N/A
Categories:
shiner, abuse, childhood, mother, violence,
Form:
Narrative
my voice may not be loud
I may not stand out in the crowd
not game changer
but a strange stranger
that's me
others have a louder roar
other wings, a higher soar
but, listen...there's more
epic doesn't negate my tale
Nor does fame make it pale
watch out for me
I date destiny
in my little sphere
I oscillate
making waves that vindicate
purposefully planted
I speak the
unique
a different take
a different shake
awake
faking fake
I'm real
sometimes a whisper
sometimes a shout
or in monotone metronome meter
I...get...the...truth...out
influence is what I'm about
silence is not golden
when happiness is stolen
catalyst reviver
destitute dream finder
prejudice grinder
a healer, binder
I am reality
existentialist examiner
look at me
I'm here to leave a mark
I'll not stay in the dark
Little light shiner
I may not be the blaze
but i'm steady,
it only takes a little light
to ignite
the world
I am me
not a Shakespeare or a Donne
no, neither one
but my place I have won
with a party of one
that's still influence
that's still power
in this time and hour
that's all we need
one person
to change...
one world
with one word
it can be done
I'm here
I'm your party...
your party
of
ONE
Eileen Manassian
Categories:
shiner, humanity, identity, voice,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
We lived in Saigon many, many moons ago
Of which I have a tale to share
About a pair of my husband boots
His favourites…. the ones he loved to wear
A shoe shiner came to the work office
A teenage boy who looked very poor
Walked into the office quickly
And stole shoes from at the door
He ran with several pairs in hand
While being pursued he dropped a few
But alas my husbands boots
Had vanished without a clue
I had this overwhelming gut feeling
That I would find this treasured pair
Though extremely unlikely and unrealistic
Due to abundant shoes stalls in Saigon “everywhere”!
This feeling never wavered
So each day on the school run while in the taxi
I intently scoured every shoe stall
As far as my eye could see
Months later coming back from school
I thought I spotted them in a stall
Unsure but excited
I gave my extremely sceptical husband a call
My husband and his Vietnamese friend
Drove passed the stall on his motor bike
To first see if it was the said boots
And YES…..I was right!
My husband stayed out of sight
While his friend went to the stall
He bought back the boots at the Vietnamese price
As the foreigner price would have been triple or more!!
So,due to an overwhelming gut feeling
His beloved boots were home
Bought twice by the same man
Decades of moons later…. said boots he still does own!
Categories:
shiner, feelings, hope, mystery,
Form:
Rhyme
Bumped into a friend
just yesterday
I was driving my car
and she got in the way
She said nothing was broken
the impact was minor
Mostly bruises and cuts
and a pretty good shiner
I took her to breakfast
and told her a joke
She was laughing so hard
she started to choke
I gave her the Heimlich
and then she was fine
While everyone cheered
we continued to dine
I finished my eggs
plus her corned beef hash
She picked up the check
since I don't carry cash
Then we took a ride
when I got a flat
She changed the tire
while watching, I sat
We went to the park
to her favorite thing
where she asked me to push
while she rode on the swing
But careless was she
as she went too high
and flew off the seat
up into the sky
And then she came down
right onto a bush
full of prickly thorns
straight into her tush
To the hospital entrance
I gave her a lift
and away from my car
she limped fairly swift
But before that she said
(if you'll pardon these rhymes)
"Whenever we meet
it's just like old times"
Mike Wise
10-21-19
Categories:
shiner, funny, humorous, silly,
Form:
Rhyme
NO GREATER PLACE TO BE THEN INSIDE THE SOUL LISTENING FOR SIGNS THAT ALL IS WELL WITHIN OURSELVES AND NEXT OF KIN. A LITTLE
PLACE INSIDE OUR HEART WHERE SOUL REPOSES LIKE THE TENDER PETAL OF A BLOOMING ROSE. IT IS A SANCTUARY BUILT BY GODS OWN HAND. A NESTING PLACE WHERE WE CAN HEAL. (B)
RELEASE THE VOICES OF THE EARTH AND SOAK IN THE SILENCE OF A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT, QUIET * SERENITY. CLOSE THE LASHES OF
YOUR EYES, BEGIN TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF GODS FRAMEWORK. THE STARS, THE MOON, THE SUN , SHAPED BY TWO LOVING HANDS. THE CLOUD FORMATIONS HUNG FOR YOU ALONE.
WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE SKY?(B)
THERE IS A LADDER BUILT OF STRONG CHORD AND VINES . USE YOUR HANDS AND FEET TO CLIMB UP . WITH EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE THE AIR GETS FINER AND THE SCENARY GETS SHINER . PLACE
YOUR BLOOMING FLOWERS AT THE TOP OF HIS ALTER AND OFFER UP A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR YOUR SELF AND ALL THOSE YOU LOVE.
SINCE WE ARE ALL FAMILY HERE, WE ARE ALL COVERED BY THE SAME
BLANKET OF WARMLY PEACE. (B)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpY7LTCl2gY
Categories:
shiner, faith,
Form:
Narrative
Hey barber, give me a shoe and a shine
As he's lathered he feels just fine
Then he views the shoe shiner
Wow, what breasts, nothing finer
My hands on them I wish they were mine
Young lady, let's spend time in a motel room
Get to know each other, vroom vroom
I'm married, och, you'll be fine
I'll pay, say your working overtime
You tell him, the barbers my groom
.
Challenged to write this based on a joke!
Categories:
shiner, funny, girl, humor, imagery,
Form:
Limerick
Long lean limber. sultry, slender,
Pretty pout, neat nails, great grin.
Fatal flaw?
Incredibly clumsy, elbow bumpy,
Tripped twice, shiner. Shucks, chagrin.
Categories:
shiner, mystery, social,
Form:
Alliteration
morning brought an arcane song to my ears
i was observing the spilling of light
between the curtain and the wall
the way the light seemed to carry the dust
when my quite moment
was dispatched
by the sensation of the earth and
its 30 km/ps rate of motion
by comparison
i wasn't even a mite
on an elephants eyelash
i was a microbe
riding on a rock
on a massive migration through space
my body became filled with avidity-
something was about to happen
the dam was made of mud
and it was monsoon season
looking into the hallway mirror
i was astonished to see the image inside
was not me
this was some type of apparition
a ghost
that belonged to someone else
the electrons in my brain swirled
forming the loose pattern of wafting smoke
an electrified current
all of this energy
shot past the sleeping dogs
though the house
pierced the atmosphere
then outward into the deep vastness of the heavens
a remarkable paroxysm and
i was back with myself
yet
i felt subtly metamorphosed
looking around,
all of the stuff
i had worked so diligently
to acquire
took on a look of being frivolous
unnecessary
it was all the programming of someone else
the whims of a schizophrenic
with vainglorious proclivities
a booming voice announces:
if you do not abide to the constructs
of this lovely societal aggregation
you are an outcast
a luddite
a nihilist
a lost soul
a demagogue
a loser
a shoe shiner
a sewage swiller
weak,
pathetic,
unable to assimilate
due to anachronistic tendencies
...
we have viewed into the aperture
that gives a glimpse
of both dissonnant living and
ways to slough off the insanity
but
we are controlled by dna's unblinking eyes
we make love and war simultaneously
we are the amalgamation of genes we conspire against
dna spirals up my spine
then feathers across my neurons
entrenching its fingers into my convolutions
i am the product of a mad scientist
who has designed me with used atoms
from distant, dead stars
i breathe oxygen
that have been around since the birth
of the universe
yet,
despite it all,
these animated atomic miracles
have fought to keep us all held together
so that we may witness the splendor
of being alive
the morning song wasn't so veiled after all
Categories:
shiner, lifesong, song, universe,
Form:
Prose Poetry
Hey up me old mucker,
how`s tha doing me old mate,
where did tha get that big shiner?
has tha bin in a fate.
av cum round to see thee,
for thee to give me a hand,
cos av just had delivered,
a couple tun o sand.
am puttin extension,
on back o me house,
place is so small,
a cudnt swing a mouse.
wife keeps on moaning,
ses house is too small,
she`s gonna stop me tap,
if i dont start that wall.
so am beggin ya mate,
will tha give me a hand?
pass me sum bricks,
an mix up the sand.
wen its all finished,
al tek thee down to pub,
will have a few pints,
an sum rate tasty grub.
i can go back to me wife,
with me cap in me hand,
an thanks to me mate,
things ill be grand.
tha never did tell me,
how that got that big shiner,
but thanks a lot mate,
me best mucker, me old china.
16/5/2023
Categories:
shiner, friend, friendship, fun, funny,
Form:
Rhyme
Reminiscing
Sitting here the sky is grey
Contemplating what to do today
I’ve read some poems this morning anew
They made me think of when I was with you
The love we shared on a grey morn like this
My heart I gave, you gave me a kiss
I spoke those words so hard to get out
I love you dearest, I wanted to shout
You took my words I had given to you
But you buried them away and I knew we were through
The tears slide down my cheeks now anew
I wish I could see you to say thank you
My heart I gave you when I was six
I didn’t know life played awful tricks
I never loved you I know that’s true now
You just had a bigger conker than me it was WOW!
I had a sixer you had a niner
You bragged about it even when it gave you a shiner
It flew off your string and hit you in the eye
I laughed till I wet myself, I don’t know why
Just sitting reminiscing on this cold grey day
Has made me smile with the memories, now so far away.
Written By Mandy Tams 17/02/2012
CONKERS# A childs game played by threading the seed from the horse chesnut tree ie:conker, on a piece of string then bashing the oponnents conker with it. The winner is termed by the amount of conkers they break, ie: oner,twoer three'er and so on.
Categories:
shiner, girlfriend-boyfriend, life, words, me,
Form:
Light Verse
They are the dream builders
the life shiner
the destiny polisher
they are the beautiful hands
that adorn our world with courage
they are the angels with pen
physical angels with blessed initiative
give your child a teacher
and you will give him a medal
the inculcator of morals
the moulder destiny
obey them and they would help make your world glitter
Categories:
shiner, teacher,
Form:
Free verse
I remember as a kid this one little guy
tough as nails and quick with a lie
he showed up with a shiner
but he wasn't a whiner
said he, I hit his fist with my eye
Categories:
shiner, childhood, funny, nostalgia,
Form:
Limerick
Thought I made a clean get away
But it’s still chasing me to this day
You promised me, that you could change
Your shell the same, but your heart is strange
If you change will I be different too?
Will I be better, shiner, be brand new?
We live in a world full of distrust
Silences and lies are almost a must
How long do you think this will last?
You once were different not so far in the past
You followed me all around to here
Nothing kept you away, not even fear
You admit that you are a lie
The devil in you does not just die
It screams inside you, full of rage
How long before it breaks out its cage?
Categories:
shiner, dedicationme,
Form:
Rhyme
pseudo-expression's
of ragged diamonds
a fugazi sans brilliance,
shiner midst vague skies
in the optical jags of
practical indifference
Categories:
shiner, allegory, muse, satire,
Form:
Free verse
What you call the absence of success in my life.
Is a distortion of vision, no worldly trinkets.
I carry the mark of a Christian
I carry love, compassion, humility, peace
And wisdom.
It’s not an absence of success that you see,
It’s the ability to trust in the one true God.
His commands are written on my heart,
The image of Son I hope to be like
One day.
You may see an absence of success
I am not lacking in things, my focus has
Just changed.
You focus on the present, what’s happening now
My focus is eternity, I’m heaven bound.
Some saw Jesus as a man beaten,
Layed out on the cross.
Someone who made lots of promises,
But in the end, could not save himself,
Failure.
While other’s saw him being raised back up,
Someone who chooses to lay down his life
For the very people who were crucified him.
What you call the absence of success is a distortion
Of the facts.
Which has always happen even in the very beginning?
Some now see a world lost and without hope.
A fallen world getting darker and darker.
I see a world in which the light of God can finally
Shiner brighter and brighter.
It’s all how you see it and where your faith lies.
Success or failure you decide
Categories:
shiner, absence, appreciation, imagery, imagination,
Form:
Free verse