Best Straight Backed Poems

Hall of Silent Women

in valhala
in a far corner
of this martial paradise
is one small unobtrusive hall
above the heavy iron door
these words are faintly inscribed

“ the war...

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A leader looks forward
  He doesn't look back
Makes tough decisions
  Rarely backtracks

He's not always right
  And he's sometimes unwise
Yet he admits his...

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She is cool, straight-backed, circumspect. She doesn’t ooze emotion. She orders green eggs and lamb, and lets the joke speak for itself, not offering a...

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Pete had an ordinary funeral, nothing ostentatious or showy.
Two straight backed strangers appeared in his small Iowa church.
They were dressed in Air Force uniforms.
They hugged...

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The sisters passed 
in the garden
on the way to chapel,
their heads bowed,
their voices hushed,
faced concealed 
by wimples
stiff as cones 
in the twilight.
The evening bell tolled,
peaceful...

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There are all kinds of poverty
and no sin in being poor
yet, beauty in its truest form
always will endure.

Disparity has its price to pay
when greed becomes...

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Wrapped in the aromatic blossoms 
of a modern-farmed orange 
orchard, a four-room shack in Visalia, 
California rises above the hard 
pan and overgrown rose bushes....

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I spoke with two people at the party Saturday.
A young police officer, short-haired, fit,
chiseled face who had two young children.
He felt constrained by the law,...

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On A White Stool

You know there is no turning around, 
no pausing in any way, because the path to the woods,
where the sky demons make...

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He was jaded with prostitutes.
The young ones were vacuous,
their bodies unleavened bread.
The mature models scored
by the violence of disappointment.
Both the naive and the world-weary
were dull...

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Up in the above
roof gardens pluck air out of thoughts.
Changelings run between
brick walls
one is dead-eyed and evermore shall not see
yet it grows itself upon a...

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He was weary of prostitutes.
The young ones were vacuous,
their bodies unleavened bread.
The mature models scored
by the violence of disappointment.
Both the naive and the bitter
were dull...

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Soft heart shaped face,  
Piercing eyes speckled head, 
Running out of control, 
Pacing ahead.

Straight backed chairs, 
Hard wooden desks, 
Permanently inked on my heart,...

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I don't know if I'm rested
Just that I could drift
So without land
I need to leave this vessel
Have faith that my feet will find solidity
Not an...

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