Best Sidewalk Poems
Cool street breath
Presses on him as he curls beneath the bridge again
Mind Flickers
Bright scraps he can’t hold…slipping off like ash in rain
Still he collects
Every stray spark slicing through the static
Hoping one
May burn long enough to start him over
To: the “Timeless” One
Like parallel lines that don’t intersect
Like strangers in subways that never connect
Like messages in bottles that never reach shore
Like a drained stream, I don’t try any more.
Because
You’re like a stormy cloud that dampened my light
Like a blank stare in the dead of the night
Like a worn out movie that’s stuck on rewind
You’re that man on the sidewalk, ten steps behind.
Love,
The Hourglass
The power lines stretch across the sky
moonlight makes a shadowed place uninviting
as a blinking street light
has trouble making up it's mind
what's a daydream called if it's late at night
apart but we're currently immersed in
the atmosphere of a city breathing it's vibe
I'll meet you there
if you'll remember the same place the same time
and looking above us
the power lines
stretch across the sky
My sidewalk exclaims
Off its own wet surface
The lights do reflect beyond its water
As if the stars carry its empty planets
Holding ice within
Its own reflection
Red the light keeps the human condition
Allows me to stop the confusion outside
Rain does illuminate
Brings glorious high
The universe doesn’t understand complexity
Of the reflection of light off the sidewalk
Calm presents itself
Reality reigns
The stars above don’t comprehend us
And our delight at such simple things
First hand innocence
The light rebounds up
The sky infiltrates the heaven’s ideals
Softly the pallets carry hope throughout
Nothing has a light
Like stars that illumine
Onto my sidewalk
Russell Sivey
The crack in the sidewalk watched me today
as I walked to school alone that one summer day
The Sun was opening its wings for me
Had only two miles to walk among the Grove trees
It seemed to talk to me as knowing what is and could be
why my Mother left only a lost dream.
The crack in the sidewalk was there for me
as I walked in the scorching heat
with little summer breeze
wandering aimless I found a puppy
laying under a lone shade tree
The crack in the sidewalk was laughing at me
as I took her home to be with me
Charcoal her name will always be
the key tied around my neck opened the door
while No one was there Milk was free
and she came to be with me
The crack in the sidewalk stared at me
we laughed and played every day until eve
I took my bike crossed the street
a car came and took her from me
The crack in the sidewalk I'll always see
my arm held tight my little baby with me
a broken heart never to be glued
just a lonely child that Loved
someone new
The pavement
A wonderment comes to mind of this naming of this stand on concrete;
slow paced concrete, hurry start, give me a chance for a chase type of concrete.
Who would chase me?
Who would chase me...
Maybe I should jolt down all these mouthing words in my mind.
Takes out a pen and writes:
Maybe I should jolt down all these mouthing words in my mind.
So easy is the air
Let the wind form and past under my hands, so they may idle and try to grab
and when they catch nothing let them stay confused.
Only a second though
How easy the fool is senscory;
Eyes bewildered by light, will yell fear to the mind
and the mind would question the heart "What happened?"
and the heart would become nervous not knowing the answer,
trying so hard beating faster, not knowing that it has no such purpose.
Yet...if the pace to quick: HEARTATTACK
I know they're* are two words, but it felt more impactful together.
I know that they're should of been there* but we should learn to accept our failures.
For all we know what we learn is wrong.
Yet we demand so many to learn the same,
when those so many are happy with their own teachings.
Why such a bother
Why such a bother?
Why bother.
The pavment
Back to it of course
When removed will the dirt beneath it be paved;
Will it be rich and black filled with creatures scattering from the sunlight;
running from a light and heat they fear, for they not know its touch.
If only they could embrace it.
I wonder if that is what the moth said to the butterfly...
Still wondering
At least there is pavement here, 'cause there are many roads without;
many with bright, dim, or no light.
And if you keep searching for an easy walk
you'll never have the run.
The north wind started to blow
It matched the coldness that lived in my soul
The sidewalk was icy
I glanced off beside me
The old man sat there alone
.
I said sir are you cold
Have you someplace to go
Is there something that I can do
He just smiled and then nodded
Like he knew right where I lived
Said son may I have, just one word with you
.
And he sat there staring at me
His eyes saw right through me & somehow I feared what he'd seen
All alone in no hurry he had nowhere to be
He saw right through me as he sat there staring at me.
.
His face worn and weathered & his hands seemed like leather
His soft eyes told a secret that I knew I couldn't see
But his heart wasn't hardened
And I almost walked past him
The stranger asked, nothing from me
.
He said boy if you keep on running and hedging your bets
Your heart will be empty yet full of regret
I've never unlived a day I've wasted yet
The day that you waste
Is one less day that you get
His eyes pierced my soul
And that's something I'll never forget
.
I turned to try to walk on
And I looked back and he was gone
And it dawned on me I was alone
And the words that I'd heard
Echoed within my soul
And the life I'd created
Had left me alone and so cold
.
He said boy if you keep on running and hedging your bets
Your heart will be empty yet full of regret
I've never unlived a day I've wasted yet
The day that you waste
Is one less day that you get
His eyes pierced my soul
And that's something I'll never forget
And that's something I'll never forget
He stepped out of his car and rummaged in his pocket for some coins to feed the meter. As he stepped up on the sidewalk, he noticed a penny lying near his feet. He briefly contemplated picking it up before dismissing it. It was just a penny. It's value hardly worth the effort.
As he stood there, he heard a voice say “Sir, could you spare some change to help me out?”. He turned to see an unkempt man, languishing on the stoop of a vacant store. He held a cardboard sign on which was scrawled “Homeless, Can You Help, God Bless You” . He looked bad, and, as the man walked closer, he noted he emitted an unpleasant odor as well. His first thought was just to walk away, reasoning that if he gave him anything, he would probably just buy some liquor and drink himself to sleep. But he did not. There was something about the man that held his gaze. Instead he spoke to the man saying “the uniform jacket you're wearing says Walker over the pocket. Is that you?” “Yes” the man replied. “That's me”. “Are you a vet Walker” the man asked. Again the man answered “yes sir”. “How did you end up here” the man questioned. Walker dropped his head, then looking up he said “I got some things I can't forget. They drive me crazy sometimes and I do stupid things. Caused me to lose everything. It's my fault, but that doesn't change anything, they are just as gone.” The man reached in his pocket and withdrew a twenty dollar bill. As he offered it to Walker he asked “Will this help soldier?”. “Oh yes sir, thank you sir, and God bless you” he replied.
The man turned to walk away, and as he did, he thought about how, in just a matter of minutes, his opinion of the man had changed from one of disdain to one of compassion. That was a real person sitting there, perhaps even a hero. He had a name. He had an identity. Under different circumstances, each could have walked in the others shoes.
He had no idea what Walker would do with the money, but it didn't matter now. In his mind he knew he had found another penny on the sidewalk. But this time, without regard for value, he had stopped and picked it up.
The town is eaten by hungry cars
And the all-night-people crowd the bars
Tell them all - they can have my seat
Between the sidewalk - and the busy street
The city lights point your forward path
Through the wild party and the aftermath
The sign on the wall is bittersweet
Between the sidewalk - and the shining street
The town is fading in the pale blue light
Young girls cry and the young boys fight
A child is pointing down the street somewhere
But noone knows where to go from here
You found a button and you like to push
You pour your beer on the burning bush
The street gets hotter and you burn your feet
Between the sidewalk - and the busy street
The drunkards dance and the music's wild
Songs of hate and a screeming child
Loud and clear you can feel the beat
Between the sidewalk - and the dying street
everywhere I try to walk
The cement is dirty
With the most outrageous talk
Slang here
F YOU's there
Mothers on the street
Obscenities everywhere
The thrill is lude
Trying hard to be rude
I am a Hyprocrite nitwit
it's so easy to conclude
The Cross around me
But my mouth needs some soap
Heckling and swearing
How can my ideology hope to cope
My own word
a cursory absurd
when will I sleep
and people stop calling me a nerd
Mom's back a crack to caulk
can't knock it in, until it's knocked
them dogs on down the sidewalk
keep on goin', no time for thought
there's rhymes to run
there's cadences to call
there's favors to sun
there's lawns to sprawl
Molly cries aloud the rules
jump a crack 'n' chalk a skip
sneakered hot dogs leap to cool
verses to holler 'n' cracks to trip
ya gotcha hopscotch, ya gotcha 'hood
sidewalk's gotcha a playin' mood good
© Goode Guy 2013-04-29
Removal of redundant stone
won't always procreate in sculpture
fixating smile
I'm disintegrating on silicate particles
words planted dams
through my respiratory system
so I can't hide infested clay mold under my breath
pressing that finger between my eyes
won't deprive me of seeing
miracles often aren't like what you would imagine
they appear unfitted
regularly misplaced for a burden
but anamnesis couldn't smudge my smiling eyes
I was dreamed
mother did that to me
she grabbed my body out of god's hands
and made out of it a cornerstone without permission to break
timely dream became neaten from escapes
yet, only eyes pulled out outrun
and I don't like seek and hide
what if you stay hidden for too long and no one ever finds you
body began to resemble at loosening furniture
or that's just a reflection
created by the puddles on that pavement
as they are rolling unstoppable
producing need to keep that window open
and maintain themselves aside
assured
body resembles at loosen furniture
it could easily be folded in wooden ark
so archangels can not find that
human suffer is not inborn
it is inherited
so many times I was asked: from where do you draw the strength
it is essential to capture that residual ray of hope
once you seize it
you can't … not to paint the light
Puddles on sidewalk
for children to have fun with
as rain falls on them.
Written 5-24-11
on the sidewalk -
while avoiding a banana
I trip on a crack
Is it the leaves under your feet ...
The rusted gate amid the fence ...
Scratching, scraping across the street
Or something one would call nonsense
The rusted gate amid the fence ...
An elm tree clawing at a shutter ...
Or something one would call nonsense
A word one would not dare utter
An elm tree clawing at a shutter
The wind whispering in the dark,
A word one would not dare utter ...
Could be something mundane and stark
The wind whispering in the dark ...
In the distance a shrieking howl ...
Could be something mundane and stark
Could be another something foul
In the distance a shrieking howl ...
Scratching, scraping across the street
Could be another something foul
... Is it the leaves under your feet?