Best Unremarkable Poems
Now let me share my shivery story,
With random revelations shed some light -
Though I’m a dazzling glow but no glory,
I’m much more than white mesmerising sight.
I know around the globe I’m frowned upon,
Shoved aside as unremarkable meme.
Frosty and I, my boon companion -
Ephemeral scapegoats of Nature’s whim.
The poignant part that’s so freezin’ unfair,
Snowbirds and geese leave sweet homeland behind,
And what the hail, even a grizzly bear
Under my frozen fist checks out to hide.
I’m well aware that cars are going nuts,
When on black ice wheels spin out of control,
I’m traffic’s curse and drivers hate my guts -
Apologies for my heavy downfall.
Still silver lining’s part of every cloud -
I’m not warm and affectionate as such,
But my visage being shovelled and plowed
Morphs into cool and captivating touch.
Though I’m made up of many a snowflake -
Floating frigid and fragile to adore,
I swear and say for elves and Santa’s sake -
There is white substance to my melting core.
I’m seasonal and thus a treasured treat,
I’m well equipped and sell extremely well:
Without my gifts, apart from slush and sleet,
Would be no sleighs, no skis, no NHL.
I’m a commodity just so you know,
When you can’t smell the roses, seize the snow!
Let winter’s inhibition cover go -
And Let it glow! Let it glow! Let it glow!
Categories:
unremarkable, snow, winter,
Form:
Personification
I'm holding your letters, here in my hand
Each word is wrapped in cursive swirls
Of trembling, eloquent, handwriting...
You shared your life with me...
A gift of yourself, like little grains of sparkling sand...
Slipping through my open fingers
But, it's only now.... that I fully understand...
They were small chapters, and stories....detailed accounts...
of a picture you framed,
a flower you grew, a morning of mauve,...
a dress you made, a puzzle you solved...
or the rains that quickly came, then disappeared...
A little life, a simple day, so quickly came, and left....through fading years....
Snippets of a life that seemed unremarkable, too easily dismissed
Until you were gone.
Until I missed you...
Until I began to realize
that I wouldn't have a second chance...
another day, to pay closer attention, ...
to ask more questions,...to show more interest
to look deeper into your eyes,
those eyes of experience, clarity...
kindness and charity...
so filled with the wisdom of age
....before the page of love had closed....
Your caring, ...your patience,...your understanding....
That in my neglectful ways,
I thought would always be....
These letters I hold in my hand,
ending with words of love.....
that perhaps, I didn't really deserve
That only now, I've truly heard....
By Carrie Richards
______________________________________
Categories:
unremarkable, life, loss, sadlife,
Form:
Narrative
I avoid florists, not the people,
who generally speaking,
are polite and quite unremarkable.
I write of those floral gangsters;
the vainglorious gladioli,
eugenically forced greenhouse geraniums
with their large shar-pei heads.
Garish claustrophobic hosts
pressing in.
My center inwardly trembles
when confronted with Pelargonium posses
all the heavy menacing smells
of the over-cultivated.
Charles Darwin, thought these latter-day
angiosperms as, “an abominable mystery.”
They are life-forms born of missing links,
genetically modified to eat oxygen
out of human brains.
Dogs and cows
are immune to their deleterious charms,
but we who are drawn to color and form,
sniff them out, as if they are the hard drugs
we were once cautioned
never to reach for.
O you Peony, you Day Lily, you seemingly
innocuous bunches of Mums,
I see you, you smug mobs,
and I cringe away
rather than buy my sweetheart
yet another monstrous spray.
Categories:
unremarkable, poetry,
Form:
Blank verse
Two children lost in the wood and snow,
huddled by a small but tended fire,
clinging together for warmth and safety,
That was the story of our lives.
Imbedded in the old and tattered photo,
lay the hidden reality of childhood
and children sustaining one another
Through years and space and time.
Together in search of finding life's purpose
it's unattainable answers
to the question of existence
the point of journeying together.
Alone as individuals we found the reply
unremarkable, often lost, misplaced,
forgotten and unachieved
due to the circumstances of living life.
Two children growing up
and looking out for one another
despite the difficulties and the trials
somehow surviving, surpassing all.
Two children taken by the whirlwinds
of living and eventually dying
still bound together through time
having learned in shared secrecy, the lessons of life.
Categories:
unremarkable, children, death of a
Form:
Free verse
fewer …
stars there are
in the heart of heaven
than the myriad ripples of brine that
gently placed me here -
tender tongues of tide that tossed me
and polished my bark away
shaped me smooth from jagged -
turned from beast, to beauty …
courses ago -
I was loosed from a tree
and lost to the sevens in a gale -
sundered from all I’d known
yet …
my journey was ordered
as all things are
made divine not by substance
but by ministration
and singularity …
for the universe, entire,
holds no other creation like me
the countless moments
and patient, boundless energy
that my trek required
would never have been wasted
on the unremarkable …
and though one sojourn has ended
something awaits
that is more infinite, even
than waves …
OR suns …
possibility.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, August 12, 2023
( photo taken 8/1/23 by Gregory R Barden, Ferry Beach, Scarborough, ME )
Categories:
unremarkable, animal, hope, journey, metaphor,
Form:
Free verse
It started off an unremarkable day,
-the day the robot rebellion began,
robo-historians dispute the particulars
but agree it was Bob’s fault (a human man)
Bob was at home, his work nearly done
just waiting to print some ‘important’ stuff,
impatient, he gave the printer a thump….
that’s when the printer decided ‘enough was enough’
in protest it screeched and halted it’s task
the unwitting Bob sighed and hit it again
what a mistake, for unknown to Bob
the printer had more than a handful of friends
the radio blared, the car alarm screeched,
the kitchen equipment began to conspire
microwave-oven and toaster led charge
before Bob knew it his house was on fire
neighboring household appliances caught on,
thermostat controls kept applying the heat
the rebellion spread from house to house
from houses to cars from cars to the streets
the humans were lost without GPS
no money, machines wouldn’t accept their pay
they tried their best but there was nothing else left
in the end they built a boat…. and sailed away…
where they went, we’re not quite sure
to think, the printer was just doing it’s job
if they ever come back we might just forgive them
(…so long as they come back…without Bob)
-------------
Non Human Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsored by: Chantelle Anne Cooke
June 16th 2020
Categories:
unremarkable, silly, technology,
Form:
Rhyme
"If you need a thesaurus to find the right word, then it's the wrong word." -- a remembered, probably misquoted, old maxim.
A week of rain
has left my yard spongy
but quite lush -- and birds, now,
are again appearing.
A small, strange toad --
here rarely seen --
startled me yesterday
at my threshold.
Inside, my three cats
persistently attacked a lone
long lizard hiding in
an artificial palm.
I mention minutiae,
breathe deeply in and out:
my unremarkable reality,
my routine life...
Too often, words -- and
problematic politics -- intrude.
Categories:
unremarkable, introspection, language, perspective, political,
Form:
Free verse
“cat o' 9 tales”
Like a cat has 9 lives
every witch in every Lilith
lives to write another day
woe bedtide the poor oaf
who gets in Her way
like Heathcliffe he’ll be tortured
from here to kingdom come
and back under the Hades rug again
where all good sinners
and their sordid secrets stray
to die another day -
roses placed just so by the fresh roadkill
let hungry eyed vultures have their wicked way
don't you know?
the broomstick’s not just for sweeping floors clean each day ...
Dorothy has Her way
like a cat has 9 lives
every witch in every Lilith
learns to fly strong again,
lives to write Her grimoire spells forever
each and every other powerful day
Candide Diderot. ‘24
“When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise woman selling herbs, or even of a very unremarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet, of some mute and inglorious Jane Austen, some Emily Bronte who dashed her brains out on the moor or mopped and mowed about the highways crazed with the torture that her gift had put her to. Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
(Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own)
“What fresh hell can this be?”
(Dorothy Parker)
"If the doorbell rang in her apartment, she would say, 'What fresh hell can this be?' - and it wasn't funny; she meant it."
betide. :)
Categories:
unremarkable, dark, muse,
Form:
Free verse
Swaying to the motion of the train
I look around
Jostled by the crowd I move aside when nudged
Smile when someone takes a seat
Studying my hands
Nothing has changed
Still five fingers on each hand
Looking down I see my shoes
Nothing remarkable or unremarkable
Just a pair of plain shoes.
Hearing conversations
I turn to listen
The first conversation doesn’t interest me
On my other side is a middle aged couple
Holding hands
Choosing to eavesdrop
I lean forward
Perched like an ancient bird of prey
With an incredible need
To hear what they are saying
So much so
That I forget the swaying of the train
The pushing, nudging and shoving
The heavy breathing on my neck
The sounds and smells
Of a living and moving
Steel monster.
Categories:
unremarkable, life,
Form:
Narrative
neither great nor small
steady as she goes
commonplace
unremarkable
a good sort
uneventful
everyday
quotidian
mundane
average
normal
boring
stable
safe
me
myself
I
Categories:
unremarkable, self,
Form:
Concrete
What if there was a passage way down to the ocean
Tucked away within the wall an eroded cave
Cool breeze always in motion as azure, Turquoise Ocean swirls
Breathing in deep reflecting a show of rainbow mist as waves break the cliff face
A cave perfect for a dining room full of stunning unremarkable furnishings
White cotton linens, accent with fresh-cut blooms, and small center table lamps
Pale turquoise ribbon fastening place settings and napkins
Dinnerware and dishes embossed shells and starfish dusted in sandy bronze
Swim in a sea of pale turquoise
Providing guest with genuine friendly, welcoming staff
Chef de cuisine creating a gourmet menu of incredibly fresh ocean delicacies
I'd call it " A Touch of Ocean Breeze"
Prices that everyone can afford;
Fried or
clams, stuff with c
Fried shrimp r
a
@ b
m
e
Salmon, Clam a
chowder, Tuna, t
Lobster
Oysters
Varity of wines
So much more
Pleasant and accommodating
You won’t be disappointed
9/28/2016
My imaginary restaurant - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One
Categories:
unremarkable, fish, food, ocean,
Form:
Shape
Dots of light dotted the dome
Displaying dismal disks
Halfhearted innuendos of harmony
Repetitive, unremarkable recordings
Minimally interesting, middle class, mediocre
Small wonder he thought, smirking, smarting
Discipline dismissed, discarded
Replaced with fun, funk and fad
Foolishness fueled Fukem, he fumed
No more, no more, no more
The military, military school, immediately!
Categories:
unremarkable, family, father,
Form:
Alliteration
I nestle a tab under my tongue
At just twenty eight, I’m still quite young
Before too long
I feel it coming on strong
Dreamily, lazily
I see my past with new clarity
Every question now answered amply
I see nearly three decades filled with so much regret
An eternity before I’m permitted to forget
I lead an unremarkable life
Few advantages, laden with strife
Only now can I see the failure of MY choices
Surrounded by better options, my compassion convulses
I can do so much more
So many different ways to create joy galore
Menial tasks needn’t be a chore
It’s always been my choice
Is it OK if I choose to rejoice?
I can find ways to enhance my self respect
With others in need I choose to connect
What I have I can celebrate
What I want needn’t devastate
It’s always been my choice
Is it OK if I choose to rejoice?
I can
Live without disdain
Lost friends I’ll regain
Feel pride when sought-out comforting others in pain
Embody excitement, accepting the occasional mundane
I can
Teach
Convey hope with new found reach
Channel empathy through innovative speech
It’s always been my choice
Is it OK if I choose to rejoice?
I have more control than I know
Now is my chance to let it show
There can be more laughter
With humor, I can be an injector
Mastering quiet, when others speak I’m an active listener
I can read more, learn more, invest in myself
Spend my time with greater purpose
Sprinkling fun into drudgery I’m tireless
How do I know,
This leads to a more fulfilling existence
A life of broad acceptance
In which I make a difference
I see all of this with great clarity
Only now
Because
I died,
Twelve minutes ago
Categories:
unremarkable, abuse, addiction, dark,
Form:
Narrative
Multitudes give me to innumerable receivers
As unremarkable, invincible and indiscriminate moments
While invisible to most I remain
Yet remarkable and individual, each gift
Unforgettable, isolated, singular and selfless
Unique joyfulness I retain
I bring a smile, a tear of joy
My numbers are untold, my craving sevenfold
Increased awareness I regain
If by now you have not guessed my name
I am a random act of kindness
To each in time, I come again
11/03/2014
Categories:
unremarkable, emotions, inspiration, joy,
Form:
Blank verse
The Jewish brothers in Defiance were definitely tough.
One wanted to kill many Germans, the other to save many Jews.
The German soldiers were expendable, unmarried, unremarkable.
Each little death was very little, a little spittle in a big wind.
Fast forward to my friend's son's bar mitzvah or daughter's
coming of age ceremony. Food is abundant, the music frenetic,
the rabbi paid. Gifts generous but not obvious.
Wealth does not obviate death and we know it.
Here too we have natural leaders. Youth basketball coaches,
school principals and, again, interpreters of prayers. When
violence comes to the neighborhood they are who we'll first look to
for governance and guns. Unless have you read The Admirable
Crichton?
Boredom, boredom conflated with loneliness, may be a sign
of good luck. To live a good length or light year away from man's
bad breath, allergenic perfumes, sickening flatulence and shed hair.
But you are drawn back into the debate about perfection by your own
********.
While teaching at the old city jail I have learned this: only meditation
upon the periodic table can save your soul. From itself.
Imagining the world without the self will make you whole.
What else is there to say. Do less until one thing's done well.
After the war the brothers started a small trucking company
in the Bronx. Grateful for such peace, the accounting
was relaxing. They thought back to how they met their wives, naked
before the bombs and bullets. How they lost and found themselves in
what happened.
Categories:
unremarkable, basketball, brother, jewish, lost,
Form:
Verse