Best Shoestring Poems
It don’t really matter
If Plaster of Paris is not made in France
If Ginger and Fred never learned how to dance
If shoestring potatoes don’t grow in a shoe
It don’t really matter because I love you
If airports have doorways but call them a gate
If calories will never cause us to wait
If moisture each morning is something that’s due
It don’t really matter because I love you
If hamburgers aren’t really made out of ham
If jelly won't work to get out of a jam
If something that’s old becomes something we knew
It don’t really matter because I love you
If plants that are planted are still called a plant
If uncles get sad when they step on an ant
If skies that are happy do always seem blue
It don’t really matter because I love you
If doors that are open are really ajar
If milkshakes aren’t served on a sweet chocolate bar
If vegetable soup is not really a stew
It don’t really matter because I love you
If kings in a downpour get caught in the reign
If birds lifting boulders are not called a crane
If flying the coop came from chickens that flew
It don’t really matter because I love you
Grammatically speaking, my title is wrong
And maybe this poem goes on a bit long
But who cares as long as you know it is true
The one thing that matters, is that I love you
4/17/17
Written for the: “Best Rhyming Poem 3” poetry contest
Sponsored by John Hamilton
Categories:
shoestring, fun, humor, love,
Form:
Rhyme
I attended a large gathering and took some time
to observe the great assortment of shoes stacked on the racks
I saw new shoes, pricey shoes, and shoes not worth a dime
and shoes that seemed to have crossed many paths and tracks.
I saw dainty sandals and flighty high heeled ones too
I saw sporty sneakers and rough and tough trainers
I saw both the laced and the leathery buckled shoe
Then I saw the humble yet hardy pair of slippers.
I saw pointy shoes, furry shoes and flatties as well
I saw flowery ones and those studded with trinket gems
Some stacked neatly in pairs, others thrown about pell mell
Some recently repaired, some coming off at the hems.
I saw long boots, rubber boots and
there were glittery Indian styled stilettoes
I spotted fragile glass sandals and metallic brass sandals
and soft comfy ones for comfort of feet 'n' toes.
And while I was thus lost and engrossed
in watching the great assortment of footwear
The old caretaker, to me, a cheap pair tossed
saying, ' here's an extra pair if you've lost your shoes.
She was too busy and distracted to be in my shoes of muse
So I'd to slip out thinking of some quick excuse
She didn't even notice I wasn't actually barefoot
So I had to take them elsewhere, both my muse and my boot!
Ah, and long ago when once we could afford only a 'shoestring' budget
I once hadn't enough bucks to replace a worn out pair of shoes
I was sad for not having even a good goody two shoes
Then God showed me a wayfarer's shoeless pair of barefeet
and then one hapless one with no feet at all!
So I could imagine life being in their missing shoes.
(Footnote*
Wonderin where I saw so many shoes off peoples feet? Well, in our religious gatherings say for prayers in the mosque hall or even the religious lecture hall, we've to enter barefooted and sit down crosslegged. So that's where you come across all kinds of shoes on racks provided in the cubicle.
Actually in the Disney movie, 'THE PRINCE OF EGYPT', i marked that even Moses took off his shoes before talking to God.)
Categories:
shoestring, humor, inspirational, social,
Form:
Quatorzain
Summertime, summertime
And homemade vegetable soup
This is no place for fruity loops
Only foods from the garden that rhyme
Oh! Give us soup in the summertime
One writes tomatoes, another squash
Another corn with peppers by gosh
End with dessert a pie from lime
Summertime, summertime
Oh! Summertime
Shoestring budget on a dime
Carrots, potatoes, butter beans prime
Awesome soups, mighty fine
Cut some okra, dream a dream
Snap a few beans then just steam
Cook some cornbread, make a design
In that soup mixture, have some verse
Maybe a sonnet, where love comes first
A stormy day Haiku, and rain clouds burst
Maybe a clerihew somewhat terse
Maybe precise wording, in every line
Just the right noun, verb, or conjunction
To have it just blend in a junction
On soup write, then forever to it consign
Categories:
shoestring, funny,
Form:
Free verse
They don’t get it, bunch of fools
Don’t they see how the media drools
Over each and every tweet
Crafted not to be discreet.
Are they blind to my great skill
Of bending media to my will,
Time and again I pull that trick,
And they fall over like a brick.
My strategy’s sublime there’s no denial
Prepped as a lawyer does for trial,
I make a case and sell it strong,
Daring them to call me wrong.
And once they do they’re in my trap
For all their energy I sap,
Each falling over like ten pins
To call out loud my litany of sins.
Oh dear God isn’t that great
How so easily they bait,
Puffed like Adders full of bluster
Regaling me with countless hours of laughter.
But with their faces ever redder
I’m invariably the header,
For my words to sing out loud,
To my all adoring crowd.
So on I go merrily tweeting
On a veritable shoestring,
The investment now all theirs
Fully answering my prayers.
Categories:
shoestring, allegory, humor, parody, political,
Form:
Rhyme
Everyone does it time to time in each day
From your careless mistakes to a child at play
Sneaking the babysitter's cigarettes
Having that stray dog follow you home, then asking to keep it as a pet
A trip to the lake on the fourth of July
Then come to realize, thirty plus years have gone by
These type of reflections are kept in a special place
Some result in tears, but most bring a smile to the face
Some regret, some bad, they are related with a degree of disdain
These are all a walk down memory lane
Your bicycle has a flat, your first do it yourself tire repair kit
The shoestring that was used to repair your favorite baseball mitt
Putting playing cards on the spokes of the bike to make it roar
Mom yelling at you for coming in and out of the front door
Summer vacation, kickball until dark
Cutting through neighborhood yards causing the dogs to bark
Losing a baseball down a street drain
Does this take you back to a stroll down memory lane
Selling glass bottles at the store to get a treat
Gong home for supper, disappointed, it's Thursday night, night of the mystery
meat
Friday a trip to the drive in
Summer is just about over, how depressing, it's school time again
Categories:
shoestring, childhood, children, life, time,
Form:
ABC
Who knew that I would need
shoestrings to escape rape?
I felt safe on a double date,
the “safety in numbers” misnomer.
He came on like a ten-armed
octopus with suction cup hands.
The couple in the back seat
were obviously in full accord,
based on sounds my ears
were recording.
Out-manned in size and strength,
I searched for a weapon.
I found it in the glove box.
A single, unattached shoestring
serves well as a garrote
when applied to the neck
of one whose hands are
occupied elsewhere.
He took me home.
Categories:
shoestring, abuse,
Form:
Free verse
How can I say what is on my heart
A heart that grew up on a farm day and night
It beat with respecting others
Our black neighbor was as loved as the white
What we are seeing today is beyond this
It seems clear the inequality every hour
Satan is running around uncontrolled
Don't laugh, he seeks to devour
We have the power to control through devout prayer,
But with prayer we have to see where we are
What is our role in respect towards one another?
We have a voice to others near and far.
The pandemic of Coronavirus has only begun--
Our nation weakened with health fear
Crowds moved in with violence on mind
When country is weak both far and near
Citizens vulnerable - those without jobs or health
Leadership seems reactive rather than pro-active.
Burning buildings, looting struggling businesses
Outsiders shooting setting fires harming how others live
Police brutality is horrible with acts of hatred seen
It is different today because all can see;
Over and over and over-again and again; Fear abounds
Perhaps, turn off your Google; turn off TV
We can imagine what Lincoln or Reagan or Roosevelt
Or Obama would do to silence the masses;
The Coronavirus brought in to our country more
than a killer virus; it brought in lost businesses,
Fine vulnerable persons-all races-flattened
Without means of finances, food or voice--
Wake up America, be careful of your vote but vote
It is your gift. Study carefully your choices.
Millions of dollars wasted on useless rhetoric--
Commercials played repeatedly ad nauseum
Hunger abounds; they want to win but why for what?
Study to carefully know yourself and them,
Support your police, encourage the fine servants
Who are under attack because of a few with violence
We have a wonderful country-USA-so do your part
Pray to the Almighty, evaluate your role from here hence.
Not many can go back to the farm’s life of yesteryear,
But we can work for equality: white, red, brown, black, yellow
Are suffering, too. Some of us are living on a shoestring
Be alert to love God and our neighbors as ourselves.
- Evelyn Pearl Carpenter Anderson
Categories:
shoestring, christian, conflict, heart, love,
Form:
Rhyme
Alarm clock screams, it's time to rise,
bye bye sleepy dreams, into the lows from last night's highs,
ready yourself for the line or the cubicle cage,
tell yourself you'll be fine, while you silently rage,
what new rules will come today,
avoiding the fools and the sheep that bray,
newsmen divide and your social feed echoes,
be careful with your pride or you're suffering woes,
reach for the dial and your favorite noise,
mile after mile with a secret weapon of choice,
how much longer can you keep it up,
bosses are getting younger, bereft of common sense in their coffee cup,
peso and the rupee got more value than the dollar,
dwindling value of a college degree, into the streets they scream and holler,
women acting like men and men becoming women,
asinine feelings are destroying the true feminine,
can't afford the things you want to buy,
living on a shoestring brings a heavy sigh,
us and them have increasing identity,
moans from bedlam have become normality,
T.V shows have lost the plot,
anything goes, it's nothing but rot,
advert breaks are just for big Parma,
they've got the pills for your latest drama,
another fresh face in the workplace,
someone's son or daughter sent for the slaughter,
the old are pushed aside and the youth have no pride,
tradition has begun to crumble, careful where you tread, you may tumble,
no respect for the true and too much ego for the false,
skies and seas no longer blue, people too quick to highlight your faults,
isms and phobias are handed out,
while ancient axioms are argued about,
can't help worrying about people,
hurrying and scurrying and running up the big steep hill,
so many fragile egos seeking likes and clicks,
just beggars with an empty bag of tricks,
frettin' and sweatin' what you're not gettin',
no one cares you're not thrivin' or gettin' thin,
for a cheeseburger and fries is a quick and easy meal,
instant gratification is the prize, gotta satiate the current feel,
local store sells things from foreign soil,
globalization has many hells, but who really cares of anothers sweat and cheaper toil,
keep on, keeping on, with no true goal in sight,
you're a king or a queen, not a pawn, deep down you know life isn't right.
Categories:
shoestring, character, culture, feelings, humanity,
Form:
Rhyme
#1
warehouse board and care
elderly housed in neglect -
ass kicking death camps
#2
inner city schools
vertical playing fields free -
only teachers taxed
#3
bigots block poor votes,
“limbo rock” the new dance craze -
politics of war
#4
war on drugs conceit –
prisons new investment frame
streets safe, guards now thugs
#5
justice for the rich -
their waste products trickle down
peons dream of love
#6
kama sutra love
pretzel logic both parties -
vampires don’t reflect
Long Tooth
June 22, 2016
Categories:
shoestring, abuse, anger, evil, life,
Form:
Senryu
They find me here,
a flickering vestige,
under incandescent
pendulum lighting
that was not long ago
strung up and tied
to the center beam
of an old moribund
shoestring warehouse
with the guilty look
of an antiquated aircraft
hangar
where my voice trails
off after my duplicate
self-echo
pacing a smallish splatch
of spotless linoleum
surrounded like an
occupied island by grey
waves of desolate flooring,
all out of breath and mired
in my brood, my legs
dangling over an over
-turned aluminum chair,
waiting to board their
intergalactic alien spacecraft.
Categories:
shoestring, angel, death, solitude,
Form:
Free verse
on a shoestring diet only going around in circles ~ yo yo
inside a huge tornado just somewhere over the rainbow ~ toto
happily oblivious on a corkscrew rollercoaster ~ ho ho
somersaulting off the high board heading for a bellyflop ~ no no
paratroopers landing awkwardly behind enemy lines ~ go go
highly intelligent beings orbit the densest planet ~ so so
A STRAND (1063) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
02/01/22
Categories:
shoestring, allusion, crazy, humanity,
Form:
Monoku
Shoes
Support me on heavy sunken soil
Sanctify my journey’s secret solace
Save me from blistered scarred sorrow
Show my give and take in solemn stride
Sound the creaks and creeks of soft sojourn
Stipulate lunar sun-crested salvation on that
Shoestring of love passion sandalwood serenity
24th August 2016
Categories:
shoestring, journey,
Form:
Free verse
Buckfast and concrete slabs
Neds and rain and thoughts of dad.
Highflats, pigeons, pavement's hue
Subway makes me think of you.
City City City lights
stream on by
flashin neons reds and yellows,
and the bridge that takes me into town-
full of buses, truks, cars and drunks-
and junkies.
- hangin on by a shoestring,
eyein up ma bag like it's a new thing,
starin at me like im not really there,
just another passenger through their smothered glare.
And where it all began and should end I've no idea
It's just another city,
Another Retro Fair.
On show for the world
Seems unreal, but you've heard
The screams of the caged up people,
The People, The People, the people.
They've forgotton to keep their eyes on the prize,
They've forgotton paradise.
Too many high flats and grey hues stealin their eyes,
The people, The people,
The People
Buckfast
Concrete
Rain
Pure lethal.
Categories:
shoestring, people, places, social, urban,
Form:
My breath once scattered seeds of dandelions.
I stared in moments lost to grains of sand.
Walked among the nighttime stars in wonder;
Held golden leaves within my youthful hand.
Watched a shoestring dangle through the wide eyes of a kitten.
So much older then was I, my life unwritten.
I touched an eagles’ feather, wondered why or whether,
Others felt such wonder in their heart.
Cold handlebars of bikes and dust or rust the likes of which
Were Layered on much older things than I.
I watched a paper airplane fly, a barrel burning in the yard,
Ate fruit right off a growing tree, and found it’s not so hard
To wonder what it means to be. Life is still like that for me,
Filled with mighty miracles I wish each heart could see.
Categories:
shoestring, adventure, blessing, celebration, happiness,
Form:
Rhyme
A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS
Families should be together on Xmas day
Some kids’ folks are wealthy
They work abroad, but they never
Fail to come at Xmas for a whole week and see the kids
Their house is specially decorated for homecoming
Like a huge icing-covered cake
A professional Santa is hired, (electronic sleighbells,)
To perform ho-ho-hos and give out toys
At the big party
It is excellent to see.
Some kids’ folks are ordinary
They work in the local steel plant
Their houses have no special icing
To show it’s Xmas, no circus tricks
The sleighbells are done by dad
Amusing the kids, jangling keys on a shoestring
Mum gives her attention as they sing and play
And joke and do yard-work together every day
Xmas is not special, it is every day for them.
Categories:
shoestring, happinesswork, together, work,
Form:
Free verse