Best Shrivel Up Poems
Sometimes on Discovery TV,
there's time-lapse to teach and dazzle us.
We might see that naked jay (before he's turned to blue)
in just mere moments transforming!
He masquerades in feathers and quickly grows.
Maybe we will witness the feeble endeavors
which finally propel him into flight;
as the camera follows him, he goes. . .
On some enchanted tropic isle
is the species of a tree
that some of us have never seen.
The camera's eye might focus
on a random bud among its glossy leaves.
Soon it blossoms pink petals
and if we watch some more,
perhaps we'll see the purple of its star apple emerging.
Then we'll see it grow,
and if left not plucked, shrivel up and go. . .
We are but mere ions
in the spectrum of a universe
we've entered through a magic door.
Miraculously born, we grow.
But at first it all seems so slow. . .
Then one day we try our wings.
Some of us may soar.
Others, like an apple never tried, will fall.
But all of us will look back before we go,
and we'll think how much it seemed a dream.
Time always goes. . . .
and then
we're
gone.
What is naked? Without clothes?
Sky clad nightmare feeling shame?
Or deepest secrets all exposed?
Wretched, woeful, just the same
Stripped and helpless to them all
Friends and foes just point and laugh
Curled up in a foetal ball
Fragile façade epitaph
So do I yield? Give up? Withdraw?
Cower from the searing light
Let my guilt just ache and gnaw
Shrivel up without a fight
Or do I stand both strong and proud
Exhibit all! Here's what I've got!
Cry out, berate, exclaim out loud
I'm starking naked! Well? So what?
Oh the woe, for woe is me,
I said, "I do" to a teacher-to-be!
I tried to marry my best friend,
Now strapped to him, I stand condemned.
I support him with my soulless jobs,
Counting beans with business snobs.
He sacrificed much time, unpaid,
Which I picked up and played the maid.
I followed him to this world's other end
To help his job search better fend.
We put our future plans on hold,
Which shrivel up as I grow old.
Stress puts me in a place of dread
As I lay sleepless in my bed
While horrors dance inside my head:
Will he ever get full-time work?
Where will we be next fall?
Tomorrow, will he get the call?
Will I ever get to meet the children in my dreams?
Will we ever get off this one-bedroom floor?
If only he...
If only...
If only...
And just as I begin to cry,
I stop myself, and ponder why...
Why endure the torture?
Because I love that man of mine
More than my words would dare define.
And why not do the world a favor?
To be the change, we must be braver
Than most who seek the ladder climb
Who care not but for their own time.
Why not contribute to the needed suture?
Why not invest in childrens' future?
He could be someone's liberation
As an educator of a generation.
Dear Alan Titmarsh, how are you.
I do hope you and everyone else, enjoyed themselves at the do.
If you are ever in Ruddington,could you please give me a hand.
I’m trying so hard to create a garden, with a matchbox sized piece of land.
I don’t seem to have green fingers at all.
All the heads of the flowers, just jump off, when I’m playing football.
Everything I touch, and try to grow, seems to shrivel up and die.
It doesn’t seem to matter, just how hard I try.
Today I have just planted the Christmas tree in a tub,
I hope it doesn’t get some awful bug .
I want it to grow, but everyone keeps telling me it will die.
If it does I will cry.
Next Christmas I want this tree outside with fairy lights on it.
But if it dies my husband will bin it.
Yesterday I planted 100 bulbs all in tubs
,
But they will probably go to Australia or get eaten by grubs.
Last week I watch the secret garden on TV,
That is how I really want mine to be.
So please can you come and give me a hand,
And create me a beautiful garden, with this matchbox size piece of land.
The weeds that grow upon the lawn
Continue growing when they’re shorn
Though treated with a herbicide
It’s no surprise that none have died
The chemicals that you apply
Should make them shrivel up and die
But only seem to feed and nourish
Makes them grow and makes them flourish
Don’t sit there feeling all forlorn
Regarding such a sickly lawn
There’s one solution guaranteed
To eradicate, that awful weed
Get up, go out, put on your coat
Buy yourself a nanny goat
© John W Fenn 21-08-2009
What should I write on Thanksgiving Day?
I don't think I will write about Thanksgiving
But I will write about a heart not be thankful
When you look around you
And you don't see what you should be thankful for
Are you sure about that?
Are you sure that the life you have is your own?
Are you sure that everything around you is your own doing?
Are you sure you can claim whatever it is
and not be afraid that you would not do the Giver justice?
Before you go on your own dandy self
ask yourself "how did I get here?"
Did I come by accident or in a dream
Or did you come because of other people put you here?
For example, your parents
If it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be here
Your teachers and everyone that has ever imparted it to you
Your fellow human beings
If it wasn't for them, you would be in a life of confinement, solitary
You would have no one to talk to
Your mind would shrivel up with nowhere expanding
Your companion and the persons you are close to
You would have no one to confide to
and keep you accountable and grounded
Your feet would be in the air
Because that is where you will land - on your bottom
You would have nothing
Because everything is made by God
- through the people like you and me
Don't discard what God did not discard
Don't be so quick to throw everything away
Here today, gone tomorrow
The life we have is not our own
You heard them say
But do you believe it?
Do you think you can last a thousand years?
Do you think you can outrun others
with no heed of a higher power
who can make or break you?
Do you live what you sow?
Or are things all just random?
There is a higher being
And He is God
Give thanks to the Man
even though you know it not
Give thanks to the teachers
even though you learned it not
as you keep learning
Give thanks to the man downstairs
who delivered you flower
Ahh who may that be?
Give thanks to the schoolgirl
who made your day shine and bright
Give thanks to your spirit man
who keeps you out of trouble
Deliver deliver
And never stop deliver
You are here today
And that is a difference
Let's make it worthwhile
And deliver your mark
Shoot
Teach me how to cry
So that when it hurts I may be able to untangle what pain lies between the angles of my arteries
I want to excrete what is obsolete
To pave way for the exit of that which makes me incomplete
I want,
To never hold on to what could have been
Or what I imagine with crippling confusion may somehow... become
Rid me - of inexplicable intrusion
The kind where I can not comprehend
how a piece of entice consumes my insides only for it to shrivel up and die before my inner eye coincides with my mind to make sense of why the though of it was so intense
Give me the wisdom to reject pretence
Let all that is not meant to be leave me
Fill me with the kind of something it takes to embrace what is real, even when my perfectly constructed fantasies are hot on its heals
Give me strength
To no longer just inhale to survive
Teach me how to breathe so that I may find release on those days when even a sigh is out of reach
Share with me what women were given to thrive on those days when the heaviest clouds burdened skies and it seemed,
That even heaven had fallen deaf to her desperate pleas for a little bit of sunshine
Hand me, my generous dose of what its take to make women smile on those days when the knives in their chests pierced the very place where they're faith was set to emerge
Where, the pain was so fierce that each time they heaved they're bitter tears were met with a lukewarm sorry at best
And when my heart is left in pieces
Guide my soul to where His peace is
I pray for my dreams to never shut their eyes or hide
I pray that nothing ever beats me cos I never tried
I pray that I find truth where reality lies
That I may learn to sift through the dirt and discover, what little bit of bliss is mine
Tell them I did it
Tell them when possibility was no longer revered I was the one who pushed beyond fear
Tell them that I will dream until the oceans reject the streams
Tell them I did it
Tell them I dreamed
A Traveller's Anthem
So much in verse, so unlike prose
A marvelous gift to each of those
Who revel in it's glory
Yet here I am, mere mortal man
Inspired by one who's aura can
Compel me to my story
A traveller? Yes, but please refrain
From treating us with that disdain
Usually reserved for others.
A breed apart? Yes I suppose
But don't forget we're also those
Who need and care, like you.
A pensive type? Usually so,
No thoughts distracted as we go
Between our home and......home.
Our home is where we lay our hat
An oft used term, but without that
We'd shrivel up and die.
And yet there's always constant yearning
Of things no book or tutored learning
Could express as much as this:
A settled life, a home from home
That counter-balance for those who roam
The cities, skies and sea.
And so to you my thoughts do wander
As I, alone, sit here and ponder
Of what you did for me.
You made me welcome for your part
You found a place within my heart
And that is where you'll stay.
Although the miles keep us apart
You'll always have part of my heart,
So much of that you've won.
I can't be thinking of what others think
I have a life to live
Or do I?
Should you always think of what others think?
You can't afford to
If you always think of what others think
You would be crippled - literally
You can't move
You can't talk
You can't think
God did not make you like that
He made you autonomy
That means you think for yourself
Do for yourself
And ultimately please yourself
You can't please God
You can't please others
You would surely fail
The only one you can please is yourself
Because you are reasonable
perfectable, tolerable
Only to yourself
Actually every word in the dictionary
that ends with able
That is who you are
You are so above all things
- irreproachable
That only you would know!
So please yourself
That is the foremost
You can't please others
And surely you can't please God
Because as God said
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6)
"We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away" (same verse)
So you see you can't please anyone - except you
And if you can't please yourself
That is when you run into trouble
You would be so miserable
Not because you can't please others
But that you can't please God
Because God is an extension of yourself
God comes first
Don't get me wrong
But if you are not happy
No one is happy
- not even God
God did not make you like a robot
sacrificing yourself
in order to please Him
God made you whole
- a full person
- full of life and feelings
- full of capacity, probability
- full of spectra of tenderness
- whatever you are capable of
God made you so
So don't deject, reject, eject
- the one person
who can ultimately bring happiness
to you
That is yourself
So don't, okay?
You need you
I need you
God need you
Find out what you want
And go for it
God won't mind
Outside something creeps
In the rustling of the grass
And the crackling of the bushes
The moon licks its thumb
And turns the page
Of the next book
Humans can be so dull, you know?
Light spills into the cracks
Of the sidewalks the puddles
Shrivel up in the undying sun
And I am left with
Sunburnt trees
With their dying leaves
The struggle of making sense
To a dying people
Filled with cement
Too thick to cut across with
Sharp ideals
Being vague is only an option
Who else is left to save them
May I be so bold as to allow me to pet your li'l wee sniggler
Forgive me for being so forward
But I couldn't help noticing you have tied a big red bow on it
Is there some hidden significance to this addition
It really wasn't necessary you know
Coz your li'l wee sniggler is not something I wouldn't have noticed
Congratulations on your National Enquirer feature
With you and your wee sniggler cavorting in the shower
Didn't think it liked water with it's tendency to shrivel up
Believe me, if you allowed me to cavort in the shower with you and it
I would certainly keep it occupied and take its mind off
Its dislike of water and I would do my best to stimulate its senses
That has got to be the cutest li'l wee sniggler
I have ever layed my hands on... err, I mean eyes on!
For those of you out there in poetryland
A li'l wee sniggler is actually a cute little doggie known as a Shih Tzu
What were you guys thinking, you naughty people!!!!!
What is this silly nonsense! :)
© Jack Ellison 2014
Should I be filled with regret?
When I did what I thought was my best?
Or did I?
Gosh to think how could I have hurt her so
Did I do right by you, I know there were times you were disappointed in me
Oh how I wished you weren't
I felt the hatred for myself burning through my skin and peeling away the layers
I didn't need yours on top of it
I know I may have missed those meetings at the school
I just couldn't bring myself to face myself
And those women with their narrow minded opinions
Those damn clicks I just wanted no part of
God I hated them for making me feel I wasn't good enough
But Now I realize I let me feel uncomfortable in my own skin
God I would sit at home and feel like death rolling in my own crap
Justifying my behavior and knowing I was a failure to my little girl
I was filled with a paralyzing anxiety just being around people made me shrivel up
Hidden in the confines of the house shaking with worry
And to think I had the greatest gift bestowed to me, a child that was mine
Yes all mine and it was my job to raise her up
But I couldn't see past the dark haze that trapped me so
I let this God forsaking disease crush my ability to be there for my child
I sat back and watched someone else do what I should have
And now this pitiful woman has a heavy heart she carries forever
Knowing I lost my daughters respect and my treasure
Why don't certain people want me to eat and survive?
Why does it appear they rather see me disappear, shrivel up and die?
How am I supposed to make a living and strive to make my dreams come true?
When constantly faced with your hidden agendas, disrespect and oppressive tactics.
You act as if my very essence of just being offends you.
I have turned the other cheek; I have fought with humility in the ridiculous hate fueled fight.
Despite your plot filled traps for major setbacks; I've remained steadfast and stood for what was right.
I have stood my ground and it has been very painful for me; and honestly I wish I could have just given up and fallen down.
So now can any of you please tell me what am I suppose to do?
I can't be anybody but me; and should not have to feel bad or apologetic to you.
It is your own insecurities being the reason you have a problem with receiving me.
I share this world right along with you and how dare you try to dismiss what God has for me to do.
Mentally inured and emotionally bruised I have truly been.
Thanks to your hate, jealousy and evilness my faith has grown stronger; through Jesus I win.
I have done all that I can and the word of God tell me all I must do is stand.
Stand until He comes for me.
Put your shades on haters you can't bare the glare of my Victory.
It's a mystical world.
Sometimes on Discovery TV,
there's time-elapse to teach and dazzle us.
We might see that naked jay (before he's turned to blue)
in just mere moments transforming!
He masquerades in feathers and quickly grows.
Maybe we will witness the feeble endeavors
which finally propel him into flight;
as the camera follows him, he goes. . .
Time elapse.
On some enchanted tropic isle
is the species of a tree
that some of us have never seen.
The camera's eye might focus
on a random bud among its glossy leaves.
Soon it blossoms pink petals
and if we watch some more,
perhaps we'll see the purple of its star apple emerging.
Then we'll see it grow,
and if left not plucked, shrivel up and go. . .
We are but mere ions
in the spectrum of a universe
we've entered through a magic door.
Miraculously born, we grow.
But at first it all seems so slow. . .
Then one day we try our wings.
Some of us may soar.
Others, like an apple never tried, will fall.
But all of us will look back before we go,
and we'll think how much it seemed a dream.
Time elapse. . .
and then we're gone.
(Adjusted to exactly 200 words!)
For Laura Loo's Any Free Verse Poem In 200 Words or Less Contest
All around is the soft pt pt pt of text messaging
Abriviated conversations in silent offerings
On and on in secret codes the droning fills my ears
They do not realise what it is they should all fear
Evolution lurks behind each gene and chromosome
Adaptation in nature has always filled the holes
I see the coming shades of man birthed in technologies womb
Soon even the mighty pen will see its own doom
For man's fingers won't need to grasp something so cylindrical
In fact all he'll need are thumbs to pad and wax lyrical
No need for blue tooth stuck behind your ear
Once you are birthed, a microchip goes up your rear
In fact man's ears will all but fade away
Noise vibrations will be absorbed through the thumbs one day
All of man will dwindle down into just two thumbs
To pt pt pt on a pad to converse with everyone
Our eyes will become squinty slits to better see the screens
With zoom in lenses that pop out to better see the scenes
No movie theatres, cable, sattelite or Net Flix
It all streams to the pads grown into our wrists
With a turn of the cuff and a gentle flick
Our two thumbs pt pt pt to call up a menu list
See a show, text a friend, order pizza in
Which might be a problem, cause of the state our mouths are in
Years of non use, or over use by some
Has caused it to shrivel up as a prune from a plum
Just large enough to stick out our tongues
at the very thought that once we thought we had won
But give nature a chance to over take new science
and the pt pt pt we hear all day will be mankinds silence
For the contest, Talkin' Technology
Sponsored by Natalie Fllikkema
Placement: 5th