Best Shoulders Poems
Stare all over, O World, you scarcely utter.
Bear stalwart angels to arise over the air tugger.
Odoriferous water may abscond the realm of prosily.
Such as the Goddess of Heaven perpetrates an odyssey,
Please, Lord, I pray you are aware of my plea heed.
The blunder I committed thwarts a significant need.
My wickedness is crucial to fade as it's such a bigwig.
I aspire that everyone will stay ready for the callow sprig.
My trudge to the palatial gateway has formally begun.
I'm embedded in the exacerbated curse greaten.
We embody no faith in eliciting heavenly mercy.
And will do it as soon as I can from a gallows tree.
My mighty task was a cipher accredited to splendor.
Plus, the angels yielded me their smoldering ember.
They allotted me munificently for their rare care, too.
Failed my mystical prowess to beckon them, they mellow.
Below kaleidoscopic bulwarks or in a raving creek,
In bosom nirvana, we withdrew the draughty bleak.
I earned a lasting bliss than one could dream.
And I willingly sieve to share my peaceful stream.
Written: December 15, 2021
A STRAND (DEC 26) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
Mighty Mercury
Alert then aloof, snuggly warm then colder
His rangy legs spring to hitch a ride on our shoulder
Lifting our hearts to elation
He’s our portable vacation
We cherish Mercury more each day we grow older
When darkness falls and life seems colder,
I will be the sun and I will be your shoulder.
When your dreams seem to fade,
I will remind you and come to your aid.
May you find from this life what really matters,
I will be your rock and make your troubles scatter.
May you find enough happiness in your life,
I will wish this for you because you are my wife.
Edward J. Ebbs
Your
Passive
Aggressive
Snub burns me deep -
Your roll away from
Me blistering,
While I
Shiver
Cold
When darkness falls and life seems colder,
I can be the sun and your shoulder.
When your dreams seem to fade,
I can remind you and come to your aid.
May you find from life what really matters,
I can be your rock to help your troubles scatter.
May you find happiness and time to mend,
I will make time for you my dear friend.
Edward J. Ebbs - Summer 2004
Right shoulder:
Just don't overthink it,
your first draft is fine
Stop arranging and changing
each poetic line
A thesaurus for every
last word is absurd
Your soul speaks the truth to you -
trust what you've heard.
Left shoulder:
Give me thought that entails
more than just "heads or tails"
Where chaos meets order
and order prevails
When meter and grammar
are carefully tamed
And a message with meaning
emerges unmaimed.
The bit in between:
Is there some way to balance
the raw and refined
Intuition and logic -
blend heart, soul, AND mind?
This art is a craft though,
it may take some time
To convert good to better,
or great to sublime.
Written 25 Mar 2022
im in the train station
of the city that i love
my city
they call it the second city
but it is second to none
it is the city of big shoulders indeed
big shoulders
fat shoulders
skinny shoulders
white shoulders
black shoulders
hispanic shoulders
asian shoulders
middle eastern shoulders
all kinds of shoulders
but above all
strong shoulders
shoulders strong enough to carry the heart of america
shoulders strong enough to carry the message of working class america
to the rest of the world
destiny
its where babe ruth pointed
its who sinatra sang about
its fundamentally blue collar
and down to earth
it is from the heart
because it is the heart
i love you
chicago.
Through their unselfishness
They fight for our rights
Never giving up
Enduring the darkest of nights
As they continue to fight
We angrily protest
Yet still they fight on
Never asking for rest
They struggle to live on
While we safely sit here
They die to protect us
Giving us no reason to fear
They fight out of love
For us and our country
They ask for nothing back
Fighting for us to remain free
Never do we remember
As today turns into tomorrow
What they have provided us
Only thinking of our sorrow
These guardians are our heroes
They die in their ranks
Yet never do we give them
A well-deserved thanks
Always remember the men and women
Who are known as our soldiers
For giving us a foundation
Upon their broken shoulders
A Weight Upon My Shoulders
Sometimes the world feels heavy
Its weight upon my shoulders
As I seek to find some order
And sort things in mental folders.
There are things I know important
Things that shan’t be missed
But it’s hard to remember all
With daily additions to my list.
It’s tiring and stressful
But also quite rewarding
Knowing it is my loved one
I help cross the streams he’s fording.
I know it can’t be easy
Each day as he does wake
But he puts forth the effort
Knowing what’s at stake.
Our priorities are different
As are the places we can go
But it’s the steps we take together
In this new world we grow.
Yes, we both are tired
Our view of things have changed
Ever since his stroke
And our life was rearranged.
All the windows are boarded
the room is big and loud and bright
I never hear doors opening and closing
I no longer hear silence
I can no longer feel silence
the ringing in my ears never stops
I place the platinum chip in the cell receiver
there is no time to make sure it is in good
before I blink the next one is in front of me
thousands of times each day the same motion
so many motions but time seems to be still
only the hot breath of the floor boss moves
My father and my mother work here too
but I am not able to see or talk with them
someday I will go to school and learn to read
nineteen girls sleep in the same small room
we have little rest and only one meal a day
I am 12 years old and dream of many things
I have never had a pretty new dress
I have pain in my hands that won’t go away
I want to cry but I am not allowed to do so
sometimes I find it hard to breathe right
sometimes it feels like I am burning up
sometimes I hear myself screaming inside
You must understand I am not complaining
I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity
you must realize how much you mean to me
I am her child again...
I'm wearing my pink flannel pajamas, the ones with tiny roses.
I'm curled up in the middle of her big four-poster.
And watching her dress for the party.
She has just fastened the clasp of her gleaming white pearls
It isn't often that she has an occasion to wear her pretty lace dress
The dress that shows off her porcelain white shoulders
The most exciting thing my parents usually do..
is to go to the movies.
Watching Errol Flynn, as he swash buckles his men through the Sherwood forest.
But tonight is special! They are dressing up!
And she looks so beautiful!
She has pink cheeks, and red lips, and her hair is shining in auburn curls.
Oh! How different, how wonderful, my mother looks tonight!
When only an hour ago, she was standing at the kitchen sink,
wearing that threadbare apron
Tonight she looks like one of those Hollywood ladies
that grace the cover of her Photoplay magazines!
She's slipping on her high heeled shoes,
then she reaches for her White Shoulders perfume.
"Here, darling girl", as she reaches over to me
and puts a dab under each of my ears.
She kisses my forehead, and says
"Be good for Grandma".....
"See you in the morning. Love you Sweetheart. Sweet dreams".
She tucks me in, turns off the light...
and I am her child again,
safe, and warm, and filled with the knowledge that I am loved
drifting away on a cloud of White Shoulders.......
Oh...to be loved like that just one more time....
of being wrapped in the fragrance of her love
Oh... if only for a moment I could be her child again.....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
("White Shoulders" was my mother's favorite scent to wear...
To hold, to warm, to embrace,
Standing in the mist of dawn,
No warmth,
No loving arms,
But for the cold mist embracing,
Clutching heart in its hand,
Ice coldness enveloping
As sounds so eerie darkness surrounds
Whispers of the mist in the mind
A man longing to still be in the warm, comfort of his bed
But for circumstanced in this cruel world
Come rain or shine
He has to provide for his family
As seasons pass the heavier his load
To fulfil their needs alone
Walking with broken shoes
On stormy winter’s nights
When he missed the buss home
Blisters on the soles of his feet
From walking miles and miles
A once good life turned to poverty
Never giving up hope
He will rise above this temporarily storm
Take care of his family
To be left alone
to be a cat
a porcelain memento on the mantelshelf
unnoticed un-thought-of even un-heeded
till a hand accidentally stretches
to caress the China paw of a line
all tucked in
out of a Federer need to be willingly unobtrusive
knowing the place of the homely cat
that’s fed as a pet
for the well-being of the spectator
in polite chaste drawing-room court
To take him à rebrousse-poil
and the pretty picture is shattered
canine claws unfurl drawn in offence
the conquering hargne of a Djokovic
the pounce leap and tumble
on the millimetre of the angular line
of brazen self-righteous discomfort
and desire becomes a clay cat
baking in the womb of the mantelpiece
under a creaking crumbling lintel
Revised from a 1986 poem : « Cat on the Mantelshelf »
© T.Wignesan 1986/2012
For the sun is yet to rise
Are you alive, where do you reside?
I can’t see you, it’s like you have been put on ice.
Give me a piece of you and not a slice
Life is like a game of dice.
You throw it hoping to get a six, until you realize that the is no quick fix
No matter how much I cry or try I just can’t seem to get this right.
Would you look at that, the clouds are clearing.
The weight of the world I am not longer bearing.
I can see the horizon,
I feel like I am now living in unison.
Once again, I can see the sun shining.
And I can feel myself smiling, for the sun has risen… and my joy will never again remain hidden.
Innocentia Somo
i lit fire in my chest
each time it blazes, i breathe blue smoke,
maybe heartbreak is another death that burn us alive.
i make sour song out my voice when i cry,
i slip off from the bed while asleep
& heave myself to the wall.
i have known life do not always bring you everything,
but i know the taste of heartbreak.
there are ways love will break you into emptiness,
& ways we struggle to carry it on our shoulders.