Best Smokestack Poems

Not in tea leaves, in shoelaces tie existence--their harsh and meshing material
bound, tethered, undone with a gentle pull. 
 
The bunny ears
and clumsy fingers bouncing along the faux-marble
hallways: the future politicians and CEO's and poets
wiping caked mucus on the white-washed brick foundations--
babbling babbling babbling babbling.
A...

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truth steeped in lies is no truth at all - wind collaborates with smokestack

3/27/2019...

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Sunny, hot, humid, summer morning, taking my first train ride
 I'm so excited and it's thrilling can't wait to go north where it's cool 
to stay with my grandpa and grandma.
Ma and pa say I'm old enough to go by myself, I'm in awe
dressed in...

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Energy’s Suffocating Gallop
                                  by Odin Roark

Ancient blood soaked sand
Plumes its sticky residue
Beneath...

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28 Cracks In The Ceiling


I take my red-inked dagger in hand
And succinctly spew its secrets for all to see.
28 cracks in the ceiling, and I lost count.
There’s a storm moving out of the west.
I can smell the thunder and
The titillating turbulence of tintinnabulation.
An old lady...

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The restless night had ended
abruptly. Caught between dreams and
consciousness, the town was arching towards
the sprinkled light of dawn. A perpetual regularity 
reigned over the dusty path that led wayfarers and commuters      
alike in and out of this forgotten cluster of...

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Memories Of The Sydney Tram

This fabulous road transport vehicle had it's humble beginnings
in the 1880s, were horses pulled the double-decker trams along
the various streets of Sydney, they moved pretty slow and the
people wanted to move at a much faster pace.
Soon to follow was the steam...

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Floating in the river, there are
Chunks and bits of ice,
Lazily meandering,
Their journey imprecise.

The water’s gray, the sky is blue;
A smokestack bellows white.
An early morning winter walk
Such eyeings do invite.

The promenade belongs to me;
Manhattan’s yet to stir.
The neighborhood is mine alone;
The pigeons would concur....

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Last Train Runnin’

                                      For Bob Dylan

 The nickel-plated...

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They unload life’s lead
into unseen enemies
machine gun memories
flying rapid fire
recollections and musings
spent shells amassing
mental turbines spinning
smoking the room.

And they yawn and doodle
ink stains for amusement
their purpose loosened
without caffeine courage
meetings adjourned
aimless wandering down
immaculate hallways
wounded reflections
in thoughtless pursuit
of quiet relief.

And they nod gingerly
with grim understanding
lives in the...

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Lincoln Special  
Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train


Ma, pa, and I dressed in our Sunday outfit, excited for the “Lincoln Special” to come up the track as we stand at the train depot.  

After departing Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1865, the black-draped train bearing...

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Riverboat on the Mississippi
Folks dining on scrimp, grits, and cornbread
Drinking booze and gambling like crazy
Going to Bourbon Street just ahead

Down in that Cajun Queen, New Orleans

The big paddle wheel keeps on rolling
Down to the Cajun Queen of the Gulf
Where the real money is unfolding
And a...

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Feelings of despair dredged from the murky dephths of my past
Hoisted through my corroded conscience's porthole
Reconnoitering barge of restitution pushes despondent thoughts through my inner being
Then tows the shame and guilt of my depraved condition to mind's hatch 
The murky dross of yesterday's sins seeps deep...

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Picture This

Your body contains eight hundred
Trillion trillion Carbon  atoms.
And that’s not just 
Hyperbolic hype! 

What is even more astounding is…
That one in eight of those carbon atoms
Recently was expelled as pollution
From a smokestack or exhaust pipe!

(adapted from the book “YOUR ATOMIC SELF” by Curt...

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Standing on the top of the cliffs, overlooking : Melancholy Sound 
         The ominous black whistle of a Fairy tale; Princess Cruise Ship
In the light of blind LOVE, a smokestack wails as the smell of Death ;...

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