Best Shook Poems
I was walking along,
And I was singing this song,
That has been playing inside my head.
If you’re as old as I,
You know “American Pie”,
About the singer that has long been dead.
And so it seems,
I was lost in my dreams,
When this beauty came up to me.
She said, “Hey Mister,
I know your sister,
And I heard about your history.”
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
Although I tried,
My tongue was tied,
The words were stuck inside my throat.
I crashed my Chevy,
Into the levy,
If from that song I can steal a quote.
I just stared at her,
Everything else a blur,
I knew my world right then had changed.
I pressed forward fast,
Erasing all my past,
As if our love had been arranged.
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
We will keep my history,
In this song a mystery,
But it brought to me this girl.
Just know my soul was saved,
By the path she paved,
As I welcomed her in my world.
Now when “American Pie” I hear,
It puts in my eye a tear,
Remembering that fateful day.
When my angel came,
While on the third refrain,
And my loneliness passed away.
That was all it took;
Just a single look;
Put it in the books;
In my heart, her hook …
And the earthquake shook.
.
King of Rock's
s w v l
i e hips
shocked!
Inspired by the "Septimal Fun" Contest
Sponsored by Mr. Brian Strand
The ground rolled, it shook
and broke apart this afternoon.
Now all we have is broken
buildings, with broken people.
Nowhere to go, nowhere to call
home, cause it's a pile of concrete
on top of concrete with loved ones
under it, maybe it's their tomb.
Bodies stacked along the road,
no place to put them yet; loved
ones moved on to safer grounds.
Waiting for water is such a heartache.
They see planes coming in, but
where's the damn food and water: where
is all the help they were so hoping
to get, where's the MAN with the help?
Can't they see his sister under that
piece of rubble, or his neighbor below
her they're both still alive, they
just need the MAN to dig them out?
They sit in despair with heads ups
watching the planes comeing in hoping
soon that one well get to them before
it's too late. It's up to each of us now.
Steven L. Siegel
January 16, 2010
I think back now to the man I was,
Before I met my friend,
How different I was,
Altogether an average Joe.
I now sit here a nervous wreck,
Dishevelled and unshaven,
Virtually a recluse,
Keeping interaction to a minimum.
I wonder what he did to me,
How he took my mind,
Took my world,
And left me with these horrors.
We briefly met one wild autumn evening,
He never shook my hand,
But uttered those words,
“Allow me to share with you a different view of the world.”
In the quiet months that followed,
I came to realise,
More was going on,
Than a wondering mind.
I found that each casual brush past,
Every shake of the hand,
Every pat on the back,
Revealed a new nightmare.
It began to make me wonder,
Just what I was seeing,
What were these visions?
And what did they mean?
Were they replays of dark acts,
Of secret deeds,
And evil moments,
Crimes which remain undetected?
Had I somehow gained the power,
To reveal their sins?
I couldn’t bring myself to believe,
So much crime went unseen.
Then were they representations of the soul?
Not acts, but desires,
Things that people had longed to do,
But never dared carry out?
It was certainly more believable,
But once again,
I refused to accept,
A seed of evil lies in every heart.
Were they then no more than my own fears?
A reflection not on them,
But on myself?
My paranoia played out before me?
It was a much more plausible explanation,
That it was all in my head,
That I was losing my mind,
And I feared it more than any other.
I stepped out into the autumn rain,
Took a deep breath,
Pulled my coat around my ears,
And started on my way home.
The street was full of people,
Hurrying about,
Trying to get home,
I made my way through the crowd.
I decided that what happened at the bar,
Was nothing,
A waking dream,
In an instant I felt a hand brush against mine.
Her warm hands around my throat,
Small, yet oh so strong,
My arms trapped within my coat,
I wheeze my final song.
I turn to find the stranger’s face,
But she’d already gone,
Vanished into the ether,
Still looking, I was jolted forward.
BANG!
I stare,
It looks back,
Into my soul,
The iron eye blinks again.
I could still feel the pain,
“Sorry.” Came a voice,
From where I don’t know,
Cautiously I stepped into the gutter.
Water seeped into my shoes,
But here was safe,
My path clear,
Away from the horrors on the pavement.
I shook hands with the devil
He spoke to me
I’ve been sworn to be a rebel
He told me to fight
For my rights
As a citizen
Don’t take crap from anyone
Live your life
And make it fun
Be a rebel son
I shook hands with god
It was rather odd
He told me
Don’t be a rebel and listen to the devil
He wants to hurt you
No matter what you do
Listen to me
Climb to the peak of the tree
You can reach for the stars
Or even mars
If you listen to me
And climb that tree
Don’t be afraid
Your future had been laid
Out on a light
Your future looks bright
Just keep your head up high
Until you die
Allow me to share with you a different view of the world,
A view which was new to me only a year ago,
I was given the sight by an old school friend,
A man I hadn’t seen since we were both boys.
He appeared to be at least ten years my senior,
Despite the fact we were in the same class,
His clothes were crumpled and loose,
And his sunglasses did not leave his face.
We briefly met one wild autumn evening,
He never shook my hand,
But gave an exhausted smile,
And joined me for a drink.
He seemed to speak for endless hours,
Tales about his recent past,
Tales unbelievable,
About the things he’d come to see.
And then he simply walked out the door,
Barely an hour had passed,
But somewhere in that meeting,
He passed his skill to me.
Glad to be back at my apartment,
I hung my coat,
Took off my shoes,
And stepped into the lounge.
I was greeted by my mother,
As I entered the room,
Her visit unexpected,
But a warm and welcome face.
Instinctively she knew my feelings,
My face gave away,
The fear within,
She wrapped her arms around me.
So warm and safe, I drift and dream,
Always glad, in mother’s arms,
Gently so she lays me down,
Victim of my mother’s charms.
Never could I come to harm,
Here within my cradle bed,
With mother softly singing so,
As she strokes my sleepy head.
My ever present Angel sighs,
And with such angelic grace,
She sings her simple lullaby,
And presses pillow over face.
In disbelief I pulled away,
Stared her in the eye,
Almost ran across the room,
And told my mother to leave.
I first noticed my newly acquired gift,
When paying for another drink,
My hand met the barman’s,
And in my mind’s eye:
Shadows,
Shadows and non descript light,
Cold cobbles against my cheek,
Pain,
Searing pain across my chest,
And shallow breath so weak,
Blood,
Blood upon my cold fingers,
And across the ground a streak.
Smile,
Smile upon the barman’s face,
Finding joy in the alley bleak.
I pulled my hand back coins and all,
And tried to recollect my thoughts,
Both afraid and confused,
At the nightmare I had seen.
The barman’s face was quite surprised,
No sign of the smile I’d seen,
And I convinced myself,
My mind was playing games.
Perhaps my school chum’s story,
Still fresh in my thoughts,
Had gotten to me,
More than I had realised.
But still I left the coins on the bar,
Rather than risk another touch,
Another bolt of pain,
Another glimpse of Shadows.
Foundations shook peace into fragments,
In aching imagination.
The cat just shook its head
And covered it with sand, then fled
There is a lesson here to teach
Don’t take a feline to the beach.
A dog, of noble breed, just s**t
And slowly walked away from it
For he was sleek and frisbee fast
And knew the tides erased the past .
The owners of this bathroom crew
Claimed there was nothing they could do
For cats are feral, never tame,
And dogs, alas, they have no shame.
John G. Lawless
©5/12/2022
The Day We Shook The World
Twas a day on blue beach, in a summer still in reach
The blanket hid our shine
In water forest green, we washed our wounds clean
I stole your scars and made you mine
Breathing beneath a tree, in a crowd of you and me
Our shadows got the hint
Got lost in the eclipse, with the motion of our ships
Landing when our wind was spent
The evening news said there'd been an earthquake
That fallacy made our lip corners, and fingers curl
The history books will never know the truth
That was the day we shook the world
When I Shook the Devil’s Hand
I thought that I could do it,
I thought I had it planned,
I thought that I knew everything,
When I shook the devil’s hand,
Just a little bit of garbage,
Just a little bit of sin,
Just a little bit of common sense,
Would have helped me way back then,
What is it, makes us think we know,
So much more than we do?
To make deals with an enemy
Who hates us, through and through,
The definition of insanity,
From this day until then,
Is to do the same things over,
And expect a different end,
Spectacular stupidity,
To think I had the sand,
To walk up and stick my hand out,
And shake the devil’s hand,
When is it that we realize,
What we’re doing is so wrong,
Until we start to realize,
It’s been going on so long?
But the Father of the foolish,
Shows His mercy and His grace,
We discover that the tears we shed,
Are also running down His face,
He doesn’t help us make our “deals,”
But He feels all the pain,
When we, who have so much to lose,
Think we have so much to gain,
Does it ever enter to our thoughts,
Or cross our simple minds,
Those consequences of our actions,
Can last a long, long time?
Our fickle, suicidal plans,
Can sometimes last forever,
Family ties and friendship’s lives,
Are easy things to sever,
It took so long to realize,
And make a simple stand,
For me to get down on my knees,
To take my Saviour’s hand.
Copyright 2013 Brian Wallace
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