Boogaloo Poems | Examples

totem and taboo

Was it last year, or yesterday?
Old Totem asks Taboo
Who ordered orchestra to play
Was it myself or you?
We never ever ordered that
Replied to this Taboo
But they performed a finest set
Played waltz and boogaloo
So did we dance that night away?
Good Totem asks Taboo
I thought it was the other day
But doubt if it’s true
Your got the memory lapse, my dear
Replied the sweet Taboo
Last time we danced the other year
On Christmas rendezvous 
Seems our ship is on delay 
Said Totem to Taboo
Its getting late, so why to stay
What are we here to do? 
Relax and wait for crescent moon
To Totem said Taboo
I’ll take a ride from here soon
Don’t know about you
So won’t you leave me something small
Asked Totem his Taboo
A little bit of your sweet soul
For memory of you
I’m sorry to upset you, friend
Grinned wonderful Taboo
My soul I would not recommend 
I’ve stolen it from you.

5th Avenue Sunrise

jampacked city streets
that jangled and banged
in the raucous jarring day
shifted
from business to boogaloo
squeezing into moonlight
party lights
gin and lime-kissed
gimlet sequined dress
strutted
in studded six-inch heels
riveting flair
provoking jive and jazzy nights
to tame this lion of New York

The bed swallowed the evening
sucked-up in slumbered
sobering snooze
exhaling the drunkard’s stench
while the warmth of whiskey
and you next to me
laid dreamy still

popped up and propped up
restless and ragged
realizing the changing view
through the dirt-stained window
a pool of placid sunrise
igniting
colorless clustered towers
bulwarks and girders
scraping the sky

out of the easterly clouds
a creeping golden palette
arose
touching every crevice
defining each silhouette
your body stirs deliberate and slow

rainbow hued eyes
slenderly slitted catching
the new-found light
opening, tenderly revealing
the landscape of your smile
disclosing
a cozy contentment

waking with hello
as I fall into your dream
and a new day

Bag of Spiders

Inside this cell no sell, just a bag of spiders big and fat 
with gnarly hands she tucks away fifty crawlies in her hat
Her name is Katz and she loves cats but not old stinky rats 
she thrums aside the prison door like a pining cat   

Witches brew and boogaloo I cast a spell on you  
muddle muddle fuddle duddle here's a stick of fever few  
as the warden goes a jumping he unlocks on cue  
spider spider drunk on cider, wackalacka spew ! 

On a broom made of chrome I will fly me back to Rome 
all the spiders in my sack will find their way back home
wiggle wiggle jiggle niggle cruise but do not roam 
in my cauldron little Gretel, cries and weeps alone 

Well here is how the bones are stewed soft and tender,  
gently brewed 
well here is how the bones are stewed soft and tender,  
freshly stewed....

June 15, 2023
Contest Name: Bag Of Spiders 
Sponsor : Matt Caliri

Safe Yank

Safe Yank
The American was a typical man of his breed
Loving guns and weapons and ammunitions
He had a huge collection of firearms at home
Well over 300 rifles and hand guns of all kinds
From Red China via Albania to Belgium
And American editions along with Russian
He went to the range twice a week to shoot
Keeping up his proficiency in case of threat
Whether the threat of Communist invasion
Or Muslim extremists targeting malls and buses
He was ready to go and all set for the war
His bunker was prepped for the Boogaloo
If it happened was a different matter
In his head he’d fought it a hundred times
With a dozen different battle plans
He won every single time for he was right
With the best training intent and will power
Plus Sweet Lord Jesus was on his side
What could possibly go wrong in war?
It would come calling soon enough





MAJOR INSOMNIA
CORPORAL SLEEP
Nick Armbrister and other writers

The Unexpected Moments

The Unexpected Moments


1. Spider floats down a web, you grab at the web, then you toss it out the door,                                              
you feel a tug in your hair, eight legs fumbles about, you shake and shake,
until it falls on the floor

2. Step off a curb, a tire screech, a car horn that never lets up

3. A honeybee in love with a woman's hair sprayed hair, hands waving all about

4. An edge-of-the-seat horror flick, popcorn sprinkles in your hair

5. A surprise party with an odd start, where's the handkerchief

6. A tap on your shoulder from behind, you roll your hand into a fist         
 
7. Someone said boo and you do the boogaloo

8. An authority person calls you by your full name

9. The 'To-Your-Face-Do-Not-Flinch' Game or punches galore

10. A teacher's get-your-attention ruler slams the desk

11. The dreaded alarm clock goes off -or- didn't go off

12. The dozing off at work, co-worker finger snaps     


2019 May 27

*4th Place*

What Makes You Flinch
~~Julie Leigh Rodeheaver

Golden Oldies

Dimes drop, records begin to drop
Rhythm to stroll,  jivin’ to hip hop
Slow to jitterbug,  boogaloo  to rock
Twistin’ Chubby and rock around the clock

The Platters sing, you hold her close
Eye to eye, love’s first dose
Beach Boys up next, time to surf
Steppin’ on toes, unmarked turf.

Malted shakes, pie a-la-mode
Checker board floors, tempo has slowed
Roadsters lined up, sweethearts in style
Stompin’ to the beat, no one’s idle

Jail house rock and shake rattle and roll
At the hop, then on to the stroll
Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry’s pickin’
Mack the knife rocks, Rock-in Robin kickin’

‘Ramblin Rose’, and ‘Good golly Miss Moly’
Dion’s ‘Run around Sue’, turn around now with Buddy Holly
Step in to ‘Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Pop’
More dimes roll, keep rockin’ till you drop

Look Who Showed Up

As I set out 
To jot down this poem 
I had no earthly idea 
Of what would transpose 

And who all would be 
Joining along 
I'm as surprised as you 
To these goings on 

I don't recollect
Any of this being nearby 
All the glimmer and glamor 
Catching my eye 

With my mind letting loose
In the wondering why 
All of these characters 
Are invading my rhymes 

There are seals riding trikes 
Uniformed Taiwanese
Clowns and their like 
With smiley faced knees 

Lepords in tights
Like we need more of these 
A Kardashian or  two 
To put our minds at ease 

Daryl Hall and John Oates
Singing loud 80's tunes 
And what would be a poem 
Without a cow jumping over the moon 

Or a chimpanzee 
Swinging through the stanzas with ease 
Using the tails of snakes 
Like a flying trapeze 

There's even a racoon 
By the name of Rocky we know 
Using his Boogaloo
To sweep dust from the poem 

And look it's Bob Hope
Selling soap on a rope 
To keep it all clean 
With a rated "G" tone

With so much going on 
Inside of this poem 
Guess it's best I stop here 
As this has gotten rather long...

Eternity Is a Very Long Time

So many things in life I'd like to know
So little time for me to gather answers
The tango, jerk, the bop, the boogaloo
Were any of them favorites of Dancer?

Mid-afternoon, an outside noise disturbs
As I'm recording thoughts on my computer
That bird keeps crowing "Cock-a-doodle-do"
But never will a crow go 'Cock-a-rooster'

We live for roughly eighty-some odd years
But some don't even reach their adolescence
Yet once they've reached accountability
Forever will be judged from only seconds

It matters not how many years you've served
Ten trillion years, but, still, you're just beginning
Much like a horse thief in the West except
He's hung, there's pain and death, at least it's finished 

So, sixteen, thirty, fifty, eighty-three
All go to hell who make the wrong decision
Eternal punishment with no way out
If this is true pray now and hope He'll listen

And mold the punishment to fit the crimes
Especi-al-ly those taught to love another
Though Hitler was a monster through-and-through
Eternity's a wee bit long to suffer

Electric Boogaloo

That’s it you see lights twisting turning

Yearning

Heat on skin

Sweat popping

Beats dropping

DJ hit me again

I need it

 I got it

It is about to go down

Latin Boogaloo Feeling Haiku

latin boogaloo
moves me to euphoric states
of funktified bliss!

Wet My Entire Pants

Wet My Entire Pants



If into your back I sank my claws

Do you think you could give to the cause

After both of my claws were released

Would your dead body be properly policed.



If some body must love another body sometime

Where and when in am I supposed to chime 

And after long look I must be admitting

None of your poor clothes are properly fitting.



After finding myself out on a long limb

Should we do the shimmy, boogaloo or swim

Or trying to do some other song and dance

After we did a duet wet my entire pants.

Phase Line Whatever

here I go again
on a belt fed groove,

suck it up
ruck it up,

legion on the move,

all the things we used to have
all too soon are gone,

wave goodbye
eyes gone dry,

another trek through foreign dawn.....

see the henna hidden dirty faces
bodies broken poppy crowned,

empty futures, empty lives
only empty bargains found,

while broken daughters cast away
scream silent rage while bound... 

(our hands help up, theirs slap 'em down)

and cast on through the compound
catching tracer lighted round,

jump into a compensator boogaloo
side slippin' all around,

as I slowly turn my eyes
body armor turned and wound,

hands up in greeting, STOP!

the brass like shining carpet
clinking sharply tragic sound,

falling slowly oh so slowly
like coffin nails drowned...

my soul spilling on the ground.

Veterans of Vietnam

Do you still carry it with you, 
the rifle of the fight?

Are you absolved in your bravery
even though you did not die?

Do you see worth
for what you risked?

I could not smell your perspiration
as we danced the boogaloo at home.

We were all so young;
all of us;
no chance to think;
each in a different reality.

And there are those who are forever young
prisoners of the mind, of the soul, 
of the earth framed in heartache by loved ones. 

© revised May 26, 2012
Kathryn McL. Collins

My Theme Thong

I'm on my bike every day
Trying to lose some pounds
I giggle like a little girl when
The scale says I'm heading down

The lard is just melting away
I'm a shadow of my former self
Almost lost a whole human being
Since deciding to become an elf

I hear you chuckling over there
Shouldn't you be cheering me on
Instead of being so damn jealous
That I'm wearing this skimpy thong

Feel like running about in the nude
But authorities just might object
Thought of covering up but decided
Gonna flaunt it, what the heck

Okay maybe I'm dreaming a tad
But I'm really going to see it through
Nothing but good can come of it
Soon be doing the old boogaloo!



© Jack Ellison 2012

Veterans of Vietnam

Veterans of Vietnam 

Do you still carry it with you, 
the rifle of the fight?

Are you absolved in your bravery
even though you did not die?

Do you see worth
for what you risked?

I could not smell your perspiration
as we danced the boogaloo at home.

We were all so young;
all of us;
no chance to think;
each in a different reality.

And there are those who are forever young
prisoners of the mind, of the soul, 
of the earth framed in heartache by loved ones. 

© revised May 26, 2012
Kathryn McL. Collins

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