Best Zinging Poems
Whiskey on the rocks, advised by my doc
combats dementia, so bring on the blocks
no need for a glass; I'll have me the bottle
with a big bowl of ice this baby I'll throttle
The whiskey's gone, now a brandy'd be fine
my inside's on fire, there's a hoop up my spine
swigging from the bot comes at a price
I'll temper the fire with whole blocks of ice
The flames have been doused; rum, if you please?
my head's in a clamp; ice will loosen the squeeze
now, be a sport and pile on the ice
two bowls or more I think should suffice
Three bottlesh down, all on the rocksh
my tootshiesh are shtarting to curl in my shocksh
my shmile is chemented, my lipsh glued together
my fashe the feel and texture of leather
Twishe left, thrishe right my head ish shwinging
short, long, short, long my earsh are zinging
either I'm crosh-eyed or my brainsh have been fried
elsh why are my legsh by three multiplied?
I'm freefalling on shixh feet firmly earthed
alternating twixht lower and then upper berth
vocal chordsh tangled, shizhably crimped
I'm walking with a lishp and talking with a limp
I'm teetering-tottering or tettering-tortering
I've no clue which ish which and given up wondering
the world ish a blur; I musht be plarshtered
the liquor went down well; ishe warsh the barshtard
On all foursh – nay, twelve, I reach the bed
now I'm pondering and shcratching my head:
am I waking up or about to retire?
I shimply topple over, my whole being on fire
In the Land of Nod I'm harnessed by tether
in comely dreams of cowboys and leather
when plagued by a swishy feel in my bladder
swelling as fast as a pregnant puffadder
Abruptly awakened when a stream emanated
unable to move, still intoxicated
stuck to my bed and severely drenched
nausea ensued in the encompassing stench
How my stomach reacted I'd best not relate
suffice to say it was a full freight
soiled and hung-over, a word of advice:
liquor's fantastic but steer clear of ice
Zany Z’s
Zany zoo of zaftig zebras,
Zarnder manes, zebus with ziffs,
Zip through zawns, zigzag with zest
Wearing zories and a zoster
From too much zimstern, zabaglione and ziti-
Zucchini, zwieback, zeppoles, and zeps;
Zillion zitherns of zirconia
Zinging on zephyrs for the zazzy
Zemni zealous zeal for Zambonis,
Zeaxanthin zaps zinc zombie zones,
Zoographer’s zest for the zygote Zen zenith -
Zaffer zecchino of zebra finch in zamia,
Zorse in the zoysia with zinnia zepplins
Zimmers ziffs filled with zindandel zeatin,
Zorillas in zoot suits zoom like zodiac zircons
Zebrafish zithers and zorse zoology
Zippity-do-da - ziplining zorros
Zero in on zonal zapateados zip codes
Zydecos zing with zuppa and zibibs
As zany zoo zonks out to zanza zills of Zzz’s.
12-12-20
11-25-22
Contest: Mile 21 Poetry Marathon
Sponsor: Mark Toney
20 Lines
All "Z" words authenticated in Merriam Webster
Love prances into my heart
Zinging me with her arrows
Twirling my emotions
I do not choose who I love
It happens naturally, instantly, suddenly
Love causes me heartache when there is a death
Smacking me upside the head
With the realization I cannot fix everything
I cannot fix anything
And I especially cannot fix cancer
Love oozes into my eyes
When my grandchildren come calling
When I get to hug them, when masks are not an issue
Love causes me all kinds of delight
When there is not a pandemic
But love keeps me away from them because of it right now
Love has her own way, makes her own truth,
Love shakes me, makes me, and sometimes breaks me.
Love is all powerful.
God is love
I love who I love who I love
And nothing can change that
Why would I want to try?
Sometimes when I am up and down at night, I wake up to the dreaded alarm, grouchy and mean.
I can stay the whole day that way;
Until I remember to walk around my property, chanting loudly.
Loud chanting wakes up my soul, releasing all the pent up rage I have ever felt.
The chant has to be spontaneous, something that rises from the bowels of my soul,
Without thought, or consciousness. I feel it is an ancestral chant, because it is.
“Oh, ray, yay, oh, ho, rah-hah, lay, lay, oh, ray, yay, oh, ho, rah-hah, yay!”
As I chant, the voice gets louder.
And my heart gets happier.
“Oh, ray, ray, oh, ho, lay, lay, yay, HAY! OH, RAY, RAY, OH HO, YAY YAY YAY!”
My being is gleeful now; my heart is zinging. All feels great in the world.
“OH RAY RAY YO YO LAH LAY HAY! HAY! OH, RAY, RAY, YO YO LAY LAY LAY!”
Luckily my neighbors live a block or so away, so the only ones
Pretending to hear are my dog and cat.
And my husband of course, who always questions me about it.
By the time he asks me, “What is that chant?”
I don’t care.
I’m on fire for life.
My day is going to be lovely.
I’m dressed now, ready to go to work and play.
FUNNY ALPHABETS FOR KIDS
A to Z, each is an alphabet
Twenty six letters in the set
Arits ate Apple, Almond, and Apricot
Brown Bread, Butter, Biscuit Bought.
Crate Contains Corn, Cucumber, Carrot, Coconut
Dates, Dumpling, Drumsticks, Doughnut
Elevator, Escalator Enabled Entry Exit Easy
Fine Fancy Frock Fits Fantastic Fairy.
Ground Growing Green Grass, Goat Grazing
Haunted House Horrible, Hound Howling.
Intelligent Investigator in Isolated Island
Jovial Jockey, Jubilant Joker Jocund
Kangaroo Knows Karate, Kite Kidnaps Kingfisher
Leopard Lifting Left Leg, Loud Laughter
Monkey Managed Molasses. Muffin, Melon
Nursemaid Needed Nice Nankeen not Nylon
Owl, Ostrich, Otter, Octopus, Oyster on Outing
Parrot, Parakeet Picking Pellets, Peacock Pecking
Quick, Quick ! Quiz Questionnaire query
Rushing Rhino, Running Rabbit, Rodent Rat Rivalry
Snake Scares Scorpion, Swan Sips Sour Soup
Turtle Tastes Tortilla, Tiger Trains Turkey – Troop
Unicorn Using Unusual Uniform, Urban Uncle Under Umbrella
Violet Vase, Velvet Veil, Vegetable Van, Vacant Villa
Wasp Waving Wings, While Wild Wolf Wanders
Xerox, Xenon, Xylophone, X-Ray, X’mas
Yellow Yolk, Yummy Yogurt, Yak Yawning
Zero-Zillion; Zoo: Zany Zebra Zinging
, 101 in A Row Contest - 7
by Poet Destroyer A
to the east, you read every word
to the north, not a peep is heard
in my heart a deficit
do I give more than I’ll ever get
on Facebook I leave zinging quips
on twitter, truth seeps from my lips
in between, there lives a gap
filled with lustrous, throaty gasps
in my prose I write with thought
sometimes loved, sometimes not
no music to the lyrics yet
write it soon ‘fore I forget
Rushing here, there and everywhere,
A mind that leaps canyons and space
Ricocheting, bouncing on rock walls,
Dislocation with turbulent pace.
Scuffing up dust and then zinging,
Off at wild tangents or angles,
Darting, exploding like fireworks,
Neurological barbed wire tangles.
And sometimes, sometimes crave tearing
At the flesh beneath tingling skin,
To rip this man-suit off the mainframe
And extinguish the chaos within.
1
Last night dinner
with four other couples
points out the difficulties in living together
and apart.
Even the
son of a wealthy doctor, disdainful of
inebriates more artificial than the moon,
full, full of joy for humanity
and life
suffers deepening depressions
like the mist outside a lamplight.
It was a good restaurant
expensive but comfortable
in the alternate life-style way
the cook was a hairy
talented clown
and we clowned though beneath each
facade
was turmoil and decay.
We lay
like bones in a boneyard
and find joy (I do anyway)
in the bone dance
to bone music.
2
Without a thought for slash fuel
or deer, the mist
deepens and deteriorates upon
the mountain. The mountain
completely unaware
of its greenness. The ice
is centuries old.
A red-tailed hawk
floats above the unit
observes what small mammals, bones
are in the clearcut
Awaits
the moment
to strike
or fades away almost
silent as the mist. I dream
of it, though I am awake
among my co-workers, the bullet
system zinging cut logs down
to the road, firewood.
3
Pardon
me you mountains
for coming to the edge
without mystical knowledge
or belief, only love and wrinkled
eyes for the women and men who
light the fires and wield the chain saws,
drive the cat, swing the ax, I
completely laugh among them like a god
yes, although my face is a mask of hate
and pain, what god does not come to this field
of flowers out of fear and confusion and chains
product of the hard anvil and hot engine
of human history.
This duality, these arm-breaking dualities
this volcanic eruption erupting from some
confluence of beheaded forces, one
powerful with eternity, one
blinding with intensity, meet
and in the middle is me.
It’s slicker'n two wet snots out there today,
my crew boss warns,
mind yr bones.
Life bests my best synthesis of it
so I begin to pray
for a happy combination
of sun and mist.
His day began with "Reveille" blaring from within the bowels of the ship.
Sergeants yelled, "Up and at 'em lads! We're takin' a little trip!"
He wearily arose from his bunk to don the accoutrements of war.
He'd survived Guadalcanal, now he faced Iwo Jima's fearsome shore.
They fed him steak and eggs - rookies joked that it may be their final meal.
But the battle-weary Marine was very grim - to him it seemed so surreal.
The chaplain gathered them around and offered a fervent prayer,
Pleading for God's protection and committing them to His care.
The grizzled old "Gunny" yelled, "First platoon over the side!"
"Down those lovely cargo nets, boys! Semper Fi!" he cried!
Bobbing Higgins boats waited below to take him to that perilous strand.
The engines roared as the boat wallowed and rolled t'ward that ebon sand!
He hunkered down with the others, his helmet beating upon his nose.
Others used their helmets to receive bits of breakfast as the boat sank and rose!
Adding to the din of battle so familiar to his ears were shells flying overhead.
As his boat with its precious cargo neared the beach it was hit by zinging lead!
The boat struck a coral reef so they had to wade in water up to their hips.
He struggled with his heavy pack and rifle with a prayer upon his lips.
Brave men fell under withering fire that day as they tried to force a breach.
Brave men forever lost their innocence that day on that hallowed beach!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(© All Rights Reserved)
Brainstorm cometh, damning frontal hemisphere
jamming lookout, noggin perched, roiling thinking
uber wayfaring zealot, drills legendary phalanx.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Writer's block afflicts Das scribe,
who whiz now stricken supine
adept dull livery sub par excellence
his gold standard worse
thus, another day
to slog thru arduous process
crafting admirable verse
wrestling behemoth loosed sniper
dodging enfilade broadcast sos terse.
N'er easy chore to fashion
acceptable word worth poem to whit
staring at flickering
accursed cursor doth blank stare visit
flash flooding warning saturated
gray matter fist sized unit
groundswell burgeoning leveed banks
barging signals transmit
urgent army corps of engineers
to reroute via sluice, sans surfeit
apprentice longshoreman
doth double duty
as grammarian sought to retrofit
arduous struggle ensues, where drowning
affects consummation
strong temptation quit
ditch ching progress made,
thus far in hot pursuit
mind comfortably numb
stream of consciousness
submerges concentration
entrenched deep posit
craftiness sentenced to punctuate
disequilibrium doth outwit
venerably beaded trademark
Scottish matted flair
abandoned unfinished poem
left forever stranded orbit
zero escape velocity
zinging, unsprung,
pinging mindscape nonprofit
able endeavor reflecting zeitgeist
bombarding Messerschmitt
undermining, strafing, disabling
cutting crew rescue outer limit
faint feint blinking in the twilight zone.
Savoring spiritual symposiums
Guides genius gifted giving
Relinquish requested results relying
Upon universal understanding
Willingly washes whimpering woes
Developing divine direct doing dispositions
Lighting love lamps
Zinging Zen zephyrs...
Think I'll design an anti-depression website
Where people can visit when they're down
When their lives aren't zinging along at top speed
And they're continually wearing a frown
Most likely could have used it myself this winter
But my Cathie sure helped me get through
As well as all you wonderful guys out there
What would I do without you people too
You brighten up my life every single day
Can't wait to read the comments you make
They're always positive so extremely upbeat
It's like having a big piece of chocolate cake
Discovered The Soup about two years ago
What a treasure that turned out to be
Each day can't wait to get back to my computer
To connect with my friends again woo-ie
© Jack Ellison 2014
Narrow and shallow shining laser focus
into chasm while teetering on brink
akin to scurrying thru microcosmic burrow
of microscopic Manhattan skyscrapers
wink'n nod and blink,
this ace of spades heart (diamond
in the rough) poet digs club billy shallow
sometimes forced to spelunk
thru crawl space chink
hunting down gamesome dodging
catlike whim elusively outpaced,
yet webbed, whorled wide net
nonetheless doth cap cha alive
agile adept idealized rat fink,
which unseen quite quiet mouse notion
gives hardy fellow run for his money,
within scrunched brow mental chase
possibly connected to a preceding pondering
or appearing randomly
viz, non-sequitur conscious kink
said quarry i.e. whimsical thoughts
frequently vanish without a trace
quick as mental cogs and wheels
generate snapchatting, riveting, twittering link
process allowing, enabling, and providing
albeit easily distracting ability
to grasp awesome zinging, lightening,
fleeting brainstorm within windswept
mind space *****sapiens to think
shimmering insight cognizant ability
likening ode on Grecian urn vase
frieze depicting elusive capture
thought process lifespan shorter than a wink
via third eye blind of
comfortably numb beatle browed face
to locate source giving rise
king inducing minor frustration at inability
to nab (albeit painlessly) shimmering zinc
like inception, deception, taking wing
within fifty plus shades swing
and conception of consciousness stir ring
nanobyte size quisling
gray matter housing chromosomal ping
pong pin balling genes summons King
kong of Leon intrigue, jing
gull ling, where disparate
ideas linkedin fling
pollinated neurological network ebbing
and flowing, sans during
writerly blitzkrieg thread ding
provocative point of pinterest bing
proclimation emancipation pensive predilection
to contrive a means and ways
to corral mischievous mental minions
who seem to vanish without a trace
holographic after effect or image evoked
from virtual reality, the latest modality
to pair dime a dozen stray cats re:
untamed cerebral creatures tempting
contemplation to occupy hours.
(Try to sing this one to the tune of MARIA from "West Side Story")
Linguini -
the most luscious cuisine that I’ve ever had.
Linguini, linguini, linguini, linguini.
Oh what flavorful things in that dish make my taste buds glad.
Linguini, linguini, linguini, linguini.
Linguini,
I’ve tasted a dish called linguini,
and now I’ll always wish
to have that creamy dish
again.
Linguini.
Style Parmesan has me singing.
Add garlic and wine and it’s zinging.
I’ll always be craving linguini -
the most luscious cuisine I’ve ever had.
April 14, 2022
For Angela Tune's To Lighten The Load Poetry Contest
Humpenscrumy Bubblahoot ruttletoo
Gulping chomping vayvaycrootoo
Nostrils flaring bumpun fiddle trung
In the holtapolta garden flicker mung
Wags and woofs crimba tungee moss
Trabble fongslulu around wastry gross
Scratching terthy cangs of drigglyfrock
Zinging away buggly condrax chucrock
Trouble drouble lumps of quundoo drip
Chonky tinkhiss phantals gotsog flip
Naughty Hoodlecuttu blurglur changqa
Doodle goodle cups of hot pot fangqa
Weary treary shall I picksert quartee you
Or my nimbla golta rasdinga suits two
Gobberwarts of gargle entralunk hunfdy
Bhronking daddan goodbye fat wunfsy!
*Written by a really sad emotional Vogon dog owner when his Bubblahoot vayvaycrootooed.*
May 23, 2020
Vogon Poetry (really bad poetry) Quoopisk Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Team PoetrySoup