To now support his plastic cause
he complains about paper straws.
The paper ones we chuck away.
Plastic ones use day after day.
Holding the straw between our lips
we take our drink in little sips,
much healthier than gulp gulp gulp.
But paper soon turns back to pulp.
Those paper straws that we still see
were all made from a chopped down tree.
We must make efforts more and more
to sip a drink with plastic straw.
So let's support the plastic cause
and reject all those paper straws.
in the twilight hours
when all is deathly quiet
i lay awake
clutching at straws
i watch over you
with all the vigilance
i can muster
holding my breath as if
as if i might protect you
as if i could fight off the ravages
of time and the venom inside you
the cancer that eats away at you
i refuse to close my eyes
so not to hear the thunder
of raging lynchmen
madly riding their horses
through the fog of night
in the twilight hours
when all is deathly quiet
i lay awake
on the lookout
clutching at straws
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
They know she disappeared from the play ground,
her jumper was found on merry go round,
Dad looked everywhere in the park he could,
every day remote hope, return she would,
ten years since that sad day, their eyes still search,
In crowds amongst strangers in malls and church,
A face would someday approach with a smile,
by instinct would know her, although a while,
Would hug their daughter ardently once more,
she was alive somewhere and come ashore,
Her room awaits her as she left that day,
‘Clutching at straws’, she will find her way!
Kai Michael Neumann
“Clutching at straws“ poetry contest
written 11/September/2020
inspired by disappearance of little Madeline M
Life is clutching at straws, childhood and school what can I do. Teens and dating,
mature one day. Jobs and working life, a nightmare from morning to night.
Family and friends betray you, hearts get broken along the way. Knight in shining armor, it just got tarnished.
I have gone through a box of straws, so now what do I do.
Date Written: 9/9/2020
Deprived of love and hope
She finds it hard to cope
Yearning to fill her empty bowl
To the devil she would sell her soul.
-------------------------------
Four Line Contest in Rhyme
Hosted by Silent One
Placed 2nd
Clutching at straws
That break
Metaphorically
The camels back
The waysides chaplen says
Bring back heroin
We can't control
Ice addicts
Let there be peace all over the land
Where folks of every nation join hands
But no naughty touching
No grabbing and clutching
Unless you get permission, then you can
© Jack Ellison 2015
If ever I had two hours with you… or three,
the vacancy of this night and lulled
shores would be refilled with the gushing
of frosted air on our reveries past;
the multitude of amiable stars bestowing
a hush of surrender... raged midnights ending
into fresh mornings backed by our
theme song replayed.
Then, to recall the sevens and nines of time
cutting our names into crumpled paper: a departure
of hearts traveling in different territories.
We inched away,
not because of lack for vows marked in deepest
sands. But… by fate’s desire to shelter you in
a faraway place, while I... I burned skies
through the pain and beauty
the long distance of regrets had claimed.
If and when we unite again, two or three hours
by God's grace, oh the fluttering of a thousand
fearless thoughts would not be enough to say you were
the branch that got away, and I was your last rose
that lost its stem.
Perhaps, now is the moment to clutch the moment?
Regina Riddle's Seize The Day ( Carpe Diem)
10/26/2014
solitary tree with outstretched fingers
desiccated surroundings
not giving up on life
©070320122055
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