Best Strep Poems
Measles, mumps and chicken pox,
Insidious diseases,
Were all a part of childhood,
Paired with earaches, strep and sneezes.
But that was many years ago
And scientists have found
The vaccinations needed
So those germs won’t get around.
Except in some communities
Where parents do refuse
To inoculate their children
Due to controversial views.
So new cases of the measles,
Once now gone, have reappeared
And now hundreds are infected,
Which the health officials feared.
To the anti-vaccinators,
With your self-indulgent ways,
You’re infringing on your neighbors;
Sometimes selfishness betrays.
Categories:
strep, sick,
Form:
Rhyme
I walked the shape of a square
Inside of a circle.
I brought shrimp to a lobster fest.
This morning I woke up
With someone else's nose.
My niece is stuck in an elevator
With no shoes or sox.
The leaves need to be raked.
No one can find the rake.
My brother loves to talk on the phone
But he has strep throat.
I can't pick up the roll of paper towels,
I'm holding this baby.
I'm driving home
And there's not even ginger ale.
I can see the words but can't read them.
I can hear the sounds but can't put meaning to them.
I can feel the feelings but not know how to process them.
My toaster of a heart can't tell when the toast is burnt.
A roaring beach campfire
Waiting for reflective faces
That never show up.
The body as the asylum.
Choices that further enchain us.
You, please, you entertain us.
You will entertain us.
I will entertain us.
***
3/30/23
Writing Challenge "Q" Words Contest
Sponsor: Me, I'm sponsoring myself
Categories:
strep, life,
Form:
Free verse
The bills are overdue,
And the cupboards are bare.
Junior is in need of a new pair of shoes
But there is no extra money that can be spared.
The car is out of gas again,
Sadly, you have no money to fill up the tank.
Looks like you will be walking to work again
Lord, know you are in need of a break!
The boss at your job is giving you grief,
Saying your productivity is low.
He has said that if things do not change quickly
He will have no other choice but to let you go.
And when you think things just cannot get any worse,
Little Sally has come down sick with strep throat.
She needs to see a doctor but you have no medical insurance
You then start to lose all hope.
But there always seems to be hope,
During times when it seems to be none.
Because it seems that the battle is too hard to be won.
But you have a Helper that sits high above,
The Comforter that is there when you are down.
In Him you can confidently place all of your trust
He will lift you up and place your feet firmly back on solid ground.
You feel scared, weak, and weary,
And that is all okay.
Believe me when I say that He is all-knowing
Of the struggles and trials you face every day.
Just take a quiet moment,
And open the flood gates of your heart to Him.
He is always there to listen
So just open up your heart and talk to Him.
He is able to make a way out of no way,
He is able to replenish all of your strength.
He is able to hold all of your problems at bay
He is able to provide all of Your needs.
So lift your head up high,
Because you will not be in your storm for too long.
Go on ahead and dry your teary eyes
Because there is always hope when it seems to be none.
Categories:
strep, hopeheart, heart, money,
Form:
Rhyme
There are drunks in the parking lot of the mall.
They keep singing about bottles of beer in the wall.
No longer am I able to stand it all.
These bums don’t sound like a choir to me.
They are chanting out of tune, and a bit off key.
Nobody will ever call this stuff harmony.
At ninety-nine is where this group started.
With all of that gas, a few of them farted.
After these characters finish guzzling their beer,
they are leaving all the empty bottles around here.
With all the broken glass, we must watch where we step.
In each of their throats, may they get a big dose of Strep.
Categories:
strep, funny, people,
Form:
Rhyme
(not that ye wondered,
but simply tubby like totally tubularly clear
The Epic of Gilgamesh will not be extolled here).
Though thoroughly well mapped, parsed,
scrutinized vibrant wonders zoom
plethora, sans newly discovered life forms
cradled with fecund Gaia's womb
abound within unlikely places
such as mossy bearded faces
nestling, pronouncing,
and regaling pharaohs sarcophagus tomb
oceanographers also find organic entities
adorning, kickstarting,
and thriving within extremely
remote temperature zones,
where just enough telly tubby wiggle room
prevails for microscopic
Verizon patronizing Grand Poobah
barking orders unicellular viziers heed,
while latter bedecked
with itty bitty plume
invisible to the naked eye, yet within
subatomic world wide web
bit players air heir loom
appearing larger
then cereal grain re: life,
an arrogant, bumptious, and conceited Don
doth trump his young
unbridled, reprobate, and ornery baron as groom
material to check mate
distracted checkered populace,
where raucous, rebellious, riotous
majority lumpenproletariat fuss and fume
cuz gaudy Mar-a-Lago hiss poe tate
tow headed (faux towering
Taj Mahal doppelganger),
via slow vac didst suck socialist rowdy
bot tinny Rajah,
whose apprenticeship to exhume
(pro bone know) spy bots
miserably condemned from the get go
as president erupted rabidly trying to doom
rousing, scenting, and trawling
non-convincing "witch hunt,"
yet incontrovertible evidence carelessly
swept hurriedly under the rug
(by Russ Shins) via broom,
thus a sudden spike
visa vis master card er...
comeuppance will bring ringleader down
with strep away poison
nano trumps all abloom.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Now in summer re:
this Dom minion doth attest
intention to write
a boot equinox got out best
head, although pleasurable
to loose imagination off chest
so thank you for
letting me be a cerebral guest
and now...no dilly dallying,
cuz another writing assign
requires responding
to Matthew Scott Harris's behest!
Categories:
strep, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
Halibats are the worst of the worst, for they steal purses,
and they wear your lipstick.
But they are sneaky about it, so you put it on too,
not realizing you are going to get their germs.
They arrive in droves in the middle of the night
while you are in REM sleep. They are invisible.
Spreading sore throats, respiratory infection, and strep.
They are the worst of the worst.
What can we do? You ask, now that you know about them.
How can we prevent this?
I would advise you to do this.
Lock up your purses. Put them into the refrigerator at night.
But my cat can open the refrigerator!
You lament, and my cat loves the halibats, they are her friends.
You can cut off your leg and put it on top of your purse,
so they cannot open it perhaps, I wisely suggest.
Is there anything else?
You could leave your purse at your Grandmother’s house,,
But she will go through it looking for clues as to what you have been up to.
And she will take seven hundred selfies of herself sticking out her tongue with your cell phone,
So no…
Sorry. Nothing else readily comes to mind.
Halibats are the worst of the worst.
Categories:
strep, 4th grade, 5th grade,
Form:
Free verse
"FAKE" assertions unstoppably
bandied with beef,
(sans doughty deeds done dirt cheap)
courtesy of commander in chief
trumpeted as a way to backout,
embarrassment analogous to the thief
of Baghdad, when culpable faux pas
woe philly pops thought balloon of mine
reckons with transparent "good grief"
within mind of yours truly,
who finds himself dumbstruck
aghast, and shaking noggin with disbelief
how people can be so gullible
who would just as lief
eat a pin cushion to deliver strep throat relief.
First amendment teeter totters on brink
of dissolution mainly by the rat fink,
whose defamation against journalists
risking life and limb, yet not shrink
king enlightening liberal minded, who think
similar to myself, imposter
hood drums utter rubbish
while feeling teed off puttering
along Mar a Lago,
or another owned golf link
resorting to silence protesters
whisked off to the klink.
Distortions, (nee outright
blatant lies) saturate
social media platforms,
which followers didst rate
as their numero uno slate
supposedly reliable sources
harkening back to papa retaliate
Tory Bush prez administration,
regarding patrilineal shogunate
where Iraq summarily
targeted for crashing Kuwait
violating, jeopardizing, and
compromising vital oil, literate
folks suspected, that critical
lubricant mandatory to resonate
greasing western civilization
particularly self anointed great
super power USA, hence
alarmists didst exaggerate,
whose military intelligence
industrial leaders got irate
contracting complex projecting
global economy would vacillate
and, perhaps take Kamikaze nosedive
hence procrastination could not wait
demanding based on sketchy accusation
Saddam Hussein, and his ilk ultimate
harbored weapons of mass destruction
despite lack of distilled proof,
would severely truncate
nary a trace sniffed out,
nonetheless damn the torpedoes blitzed
in an effort to triangulate
miscreant running amuck
eventually met demise
with Bush Junior delivering
permanently placating tete a tete,
no matter dispensing top notch
fighting soldiers, whose strong
lifeless bloodied bodies remain prostate.
Categories:
strep, anger, anxiety, bullying, crush,
Form:
Political Verse
It's 4:07 a.m.
This week I have had a virus, two asthma episodes, a biopsy, and I have traveled over 600 miles to see 6 grandchildren who got strep throat before my return.
I have been playing catch up today, Easter.
Because I have 4 baskets to create, a confirmation, a baby shower, a get-well-gift, and a first communion too.
Oh, I forgot the birthday parties.
Two of my grandchildren are turning 11 and 13 this week.
Catch up meant I had 8 hours to travel from store to store,
actively seeking anything that is left.
One chocolate bunny?
Two barrettes?
A cross with a slight break?
I would have just "Amazoned" it,
except
Amazon
never gives me the
Shopping Fix I need.
Categories:
strep, easter, society, women,
Form:
Free verse
Z is an entertainment committee of one.
Party does not get started until she arrives.
Rest of us tell stories about Z.
Filling up the restaurant with laughter.
We keep looking at the door, expectantly.
An hour goes by.
Now two.
Someone asks if we have heard from her.
No one has.
Thirty minutes later a phone rings.
Our stories have slowed to a stop.
We are staring at each other, nothing in common.
A bunch of relatives who do not know each other.
“Z is not coming,” a great aunt says. “She has strep throat”.
Most of us would not have come if we had known.
Categories:
strep, relationship,
Form:
Free verse
I am no doctor but I think when someone comes in
who has had strep throat 13, 728 times, you might
want to do a test.
I am no doctor, but I think when you tell someone
good for you - you have not tested positively for
strep, so it must be viral
you might want to check to see if a throat
culture was even taken.
I am no doctor, but I do know some things.
I am no doctor, but I was so glad to
not have the gagging sticky thing put
into my throat,
I raced out with pure happiness,
glad that I am no doctor
and I am
obviously
strep free!
Categories:
strep, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Light Verse
Unexpected sickness;
Kids were home from school.
Took them to the doctor;
That’s the current rule.
Crayons in the waiting room;
Coloring and calm.
Cartoons in the background
Acting like a toddler balm.
Called into the office;
Temps and check the ears.
Waiting for the shoe to drop –
Hysteria and tears.
Strep swab does in Henry;
Flu shot’s Hadley’s bane.
Hard to hold them down and watch
Their terror and their pain.
Over in a minute –
Home for soup and rest.
Not the day we’d planned on
As you might have likely guessed.
Still, it’s part and parcel
Of our babysitting days,
Though doctor’s visits make me think
That we deserve a raise!
Categories:
strep, granddaughter, grandson, sick,
Form:
Rhyme
Johnny Depp had a stonking step
That caused shiver like a strep
Once a pirate, captain of the black pearl
His charm caused his fans to twirl
ABCD Clerihew Poetry Contest
2nd place
Categories:
strep, appreciation,
Form:
Clerihew
pretty sure I have strep throat
try to doctor myself for a week
miss two days of work
expected to miss one day
kill myself doing double work the next two days
exhausted on the weekend, sleep most of it
the next week coughing and hacking
feels like pneumonia
go to work anyway, determined not to miss any more days
end up going to the doctor on Tuesday after work
She writes me an excuse to stay home three more days
I know my boss is not pleased
crazy for someone who never misses work
to miss five days in two work weeks
I am beyond tired of this lower respiratory infection
which has taken every ounce of my strength
Categories:
strep, sick,
Form:
Narrative