Best Start Poems
When Do We Start To Live
Collaboration poem: Space Cadet and Darren White
Voice: Wesley C.
How do I know we’ve lived?
If you’re certain then tell me when?
When? When have I lived?
Do I live now?
Is it the tap-tap of my hand against the window;
the drum played by my fingers on the chair?
Is it the slowed back-beat, or the snare drum speed,
under your hand at rest,
on my chest,
in this 2 AM discotheque.
How do we know we’ve lived?
Is it a faint notion, or
movement in my legs:
A lotus reed on my calves
I'd never felt until it tickled me?
How do I know I’m still alive?
Is it when the ice-blue swaddles
me in abyss, of
inky darkness?
Or when I’m a borne flutter of this butterfly
crinkled away in my chest
cavity?
Or as sun rays play
with light and words that tumble,
crumble, and fall to pieces,
in their own stubborn way,
here,
on this paper?
Is it found in a friend’s voice
that pulls me from dark,
penetrates a radiance inward,
up from me, out,
to my face,
ablaze with why I'm here to exist?
FRED THE PERV.
Kinky Fred stole knickers off the line
One summer night his haul totalled nine
His spree ended in tears
Got an extra ten years
When Judge Sue said that red pair were mine.
LARS.
A young astronaut from NASA called Lars
Blasted off from Cape Kennedy to Mars
But then there was a glitch
When he pressed the wrong switch
Last seen heading at warp speed to the stars.
PETE.
A young pianist from New York called Pete
Could play William Tell using his feet
But he fell of his chair
And he started to swear
Was booed off and thrown into the street.
JOHNNY GABLE.
A mean old waiter called Johnny Gable
Saw a man choke to death on a bagel
He then shifted his body
To the side of the lobby
Said forgive me but we need the table .
O'TOOLE.
A forgetful pilot Johnny O'Toole
Was over the north sea flying to Bule
Then both engines spluttered
Under his breath muttered
Looked at his gauge and screamed no ruddy fuel.
OLD GANGSTER.
An old gangster rose from rags to riches
Got rid of all his traitors and snitches
They'd find in their bed
A racehorses head
Or find themselves sleeping with the fishes.
THE BAKER.
An unwashed old baker from Idaho
Had filthy fingers when kneeding the dough
Folk choked on his paella
Some died from salmonella
Got closed down and ended up on skid row.
O'KEEFE.
A fella by the name of O'Keefe
Was the long serving town's police chief
Someone stole the mess cookies
Everyone blamed the rookies
But it turned out O'Keefe was the thief.
AMOUROUS MICHAEL.
Amourous young Michael from Mayo
At a girls house he tried to stayo
She started to shouto
And then kicked him outo
Said she" you're not staying no wayo."
NIGERIAN POEM THIEF.
A sly poem thief from Nigeria
On the soup caused a mass hysteria
He stole soupers work
Soupers went beserk
On the run now cos he's in fear of ya.
Written 18th august 2019.
stop looking and start seeing
stop seeing and start hearing
stop hearing and start listening
stop listening and start touching
stop touching and start feeling
stop feeling and start thinking
stop thinking and start believing
stop believing and start questioning
stop questioning and start watching
stop watching and start reading
stop reading and start dancing
stop dancing and start playing
stop playing and start enjoying
stop enjoying and start dreaming
stop dreaming and…
no, don’t stop dreaming
Plans for life at prolonged range
Where everything is glebe strange.
No more strain prompt from the past
I have concealed it fully at long last.
Memories of mine for what I've been
I sanctified that filthy slate clean.
Expeditiously, I will be among the few
I look forward to my hereafter new.
Soon all flashback will get depart
I will have recourse to A NEW START.
The familiar faces that I'll long to see.
The beauty of a place where my soul once laid.
The bests of memories that will linger in mind.
How hard to tell everyone , "goodbye".
A year of struggles,pain and defeat.
How I love to recall the moment I wept.
A painful experience that leads to success.
Now I'm bringing a torch to lit the path that I'll take.
Tears may gently flow from these eyes.
The laughter we had shared still echoe from afar.
Though my heart is dying each time we depart.
I'll treasure those days when you cheer me high.
This journey I'll be taking isn't be that long.
I'll leave you with a sweet kiss while the sky is dark.
So tomorrow we'll greet the sun with a smile.
Facing a new beginning, in the world we survive.
A thousand voices
one thousand and one orders
boot camp is over
Wading through flooded streets as hurricane rain poured
A man fell into the flow when sharp thunder roared
As a journalist reporting live from the scene
I saw lightning crack through the sky, heard the man scream
“Is he homeless?” I asked the emergency crew
The director shook his head; the answer he knew
“He lives in our park now, but served in Vietnam
He saved his entire unit from the Viet Cong.”
The team pulled him from the gutter to the shelter
I brought him tea, forgot I was a reporter
I asked why he’d screamed, his memory seemed hazy
“Did you hear the bombs drop?” asked Captain Bob Mazy
The emergency director took me aside
“We call him Crazy Mazy,” he did confide
He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder
Can’t live with the lives he took following orders.”
When Hurricane Kate passed o’er the Gulf Coast
I’d seen much destruction, but remembered Mazy most
His story I broadcasted and vets contacted me
The donations poured in; so many gave freely
Soon we’d accumulated twenty-five grand
Just enough to buy Mazy an acre of land
Then people from his home state gathered one weekend
To build him a home, much effort they expended
Several social workers set up counseling services
To meet all his needs, everyone made concessions
Local stores gave him clothing, food, even a job
No longer “Crazy Mazy,” he was now just Bob
A gentle man who soon overcame all his fears
On Memorial Day, he was greeted by cheers
Accolades he’d never heard when he returned from Nam
But attitudes had changed and people’s hearts had warmed
In this day of corporate illusion
One only the historic can counter,
Soon one day the culture of delusion
Will reign as all those whom encounter,
When all passed away in resolution
The problem written into the annals,
While those that are left fed on pollution
The results of educated finals.
One's cultural genocide of blindness
Simplicity with common sense destroyed,
Yet the poet’s truth through untangled kindness
Will live on in the heart of those deployed.
Never in the history of mankind
An era delivered been so refined.
© Harry J Horsman 2012
He Had to Start Crying
Was terrifying,
So he had to start crying;
People were dying.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Did not create any crocodile tears
Were real as can be each and everyone
What if had been your daughter or son?
James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran. Poet and Father
My son was killed in a fishing accident
and my father was killed in an accident
on board Aircraft Carrier Intrepid. I know
what I am talking about and doubt if
some others do on TV discussions.
You've been running so fast you never look around..
I'm right by your side but I'll never make a sound..
You say you're so strong no one can melt that ice, but
I see right through you even the tears in your eyes..
Trust has gone someone played you for a fool...
You lived and loved, but another broke the rule..
The wind is blowing, the air is cold..no need for a
blanket or a coat.. Catch my whisper in the breeze..
The words are so faint, I won't tease
Every day is a fresh start, a new beginning.
We can reinvent ourselves
We can be revitalized and inspired.
We can instill hope and love in others.
Every face we make, every word we utter
Every movement of our eyes and smile
Can uplift and enthuse
We can indulge ourselves in positivity.
Each day is a new day.
Yesterday is gone; it is foolish to chase it.
Today is a blank computer page.
A canvas without Gesso.
What we decide to do today
Can make us a hero or a villain
Can uplift and inspire or bully and oppress
Let’s be revitalized and refreshed,
Let’s instill love and hope
Hold high the lamp to chase away,
The shadows dark that hide the way;
Lest sleep become an unwelcome guest,
That keeps you from you lonely quest.
The first step taken, a journey started,
Does not begin with the faint hearted;
Wipe the tears that live in the past,
And look to the future where light is cast.
The tireless quest has just begun,
To shed the dark and find the sun;
To heal the hurt that caused such pain,
And put some joy in your life again.
Let me hold you close and help you find,
The peace you need to heal your mind;
Now's the time to make a new start,
To help you heal your broken heart.
Executive orders signing spree
Quite a start for old JB
Killed off the jobs of myriad employees
Put a chokehold on the oil industry
But in the name of his pitch for unity
Lets look at JB's orders with impunity
Rejoining the 2015 Paris 'dialogue-ees'
He's eased up on our good friends, the Chinese
Plus he's helped so many radicals smile with glee
Like Ms. Omer, Ms. Tlieb, Bernie and AOC
Not to mention old pros like Schumer and Pelosi
Now on to re-engage Iran, Obama's lose-lose strategy
Canceling rents and student loans in late February
Open the borders ~ Here comes amnesty
A New Song a New Start
written by Magneeta Sojourner
As the day and weeks ran behind me
looking for the truth
no answers to my questions
though I’d sifted though it all
Breaking from the silence
when nothing else would call
heard the echo of voices
banging in my ears
No one can hear what is not
spoken out aloud
No one knows it”s raining
without walking outside
I’d hoped it would happen
not happen like its
happened before
only leave without knocking
destiny is a thing not seen
even if its standing at the door
brush aside the doubting
and get up off the floor
the road you’ve been
travelin has become a
joyless sight seeing ride
becoming our weight
dead end one way street
looking for a exit cause
the gas is running low
don’t want be stranded
In this god forsaken
one man rider
broken pathway hole
trouble lights a flashing
out a s.o.s
pulled off to refer to a
torn and crumpled map
can’t make out the letters
So....
I’ll have to take it on faith
next stop will be the one
so this trip will be over
getting past pulling up
the hidden four leaf clovers
dotted in diamond drops
of water where the world
reflects back at me
instilled the lost innocence
firing as thunder clap cannons
into morning light
cut a new horizon
I found my shadow there
on the ground
stretched out in mile long
outline
Inside my mind the sound of
music replacing missing
notes that opened up engulfed
my fear to find
my eyes in rescued peace unfurling
the love they shared went through a dip
faltering and losing their grip
once stable now a sinking ship
all she had was his heart
she promised not to let it slip
buoyant for a new start...
070720111445
Contest: Rime Couee
6th Place