How I see cans getting dented -angry customers over price increases
Seeking my place
Hope I have the grace
To rise above what yesterday I lost
Paid the cost
Adrift
Gave myself a lift
Wanted to die
But chose to have a good cry
Couldn't get ahead so settling on staying afloat instead
Hard to keep the negative out of your head
When it's all you get fed
Super dented superman his armor starts to rust
Less becomes those he can trust
No longer able to fly
But still willing to try
Lines on the face
No disgrace
It's a part of this race
Holding on, when others bowed out
Give yourself a shout
Strong
For so long
But time goes by
Still you may cry
But as long as you try
You never fail
I know this well
DENTED CANS
Took a bag of trash
To the curb inside the bag
Garbage, dented cans
1/11/18
Original contest Dented Cans
For Contest: 'A STUNNER JANUARY 2018' Contest Info
Sponsored by: Line Gauthier
DENTED CANS
At first pristine in form and colour bright
They glittered in the clear warm air of youth
With dreams and goals attainable in our sight
Then framed in words unstrained by filtered truth
To have, to do, to be, without a question
With faith that what’s imagined may gain life
Those holy grails of dreams beyond suggestion
Before opposing forces entered strife
Then caution tempered will and brought delay
And we withdrew the life we had bestowed
On plans we’d made, they took on aspect grey
Were lost from view as cans kicked down the road
Could we unseal those dented vessels’ seams
And then revive their long forgotten dreams
9 January 2018
I remember those
Dented tin cans
The string communication
Of my childhood.
We lived in first story houses,
Telling their fourth or fifth
As we stood on the other side
Of a world without the grey.
Eyes screwed shut,
We shouted excitement into
Our fathermade walkie talkies
Chicken noodle
Clam Chowder
We were always running wild
Chasing what we already had
Our adventure and
That’s gone
You said
Life ends at seventeen.
But here we are,
Here you are,
My childhood love.
Standing so close,
One string length away to
Touch your hand.
That must have seemed longer,
Once.
What would it take of me,
From me.
To press the still sharp edge,
Tasting of clam chowder,
The ocean that you hear in
The echos,
Into my cracked upper lip
And reach out through
These shells of us
Let these ruined wires say
What I cannot.
“Hello?”
Means
I miss you.
I saved all my pride,
held pain deep inside,
oh, how I tried…
But he was just a man,
who couldn’t understand,
who I really am-
a messed up dented can.
With nowhere to run,
and all madness undone,
bleeding just for fun.
But he was just an old soul,
tried to push when I’d pull,
his life took a sorry toll,
with a dented can not half full.
Forgive me for my lies,
and wearing this disguise,
I see how he tries…
But he is just ash and dust,
where longing is a must,
I screamed, I fussed;
I’m a dented can made of rust.
Never again will I hide,
exuding all my pride,
and oh, how I tried…
But he was just a man,
a tidal wave on dry land,
who could never understand-
I’m just a messed up dented can.
Dented Cans Poetry Contest
John Lawless
January 9th, 2018
Tough on the outside,
weak on the inside.
Your memories are you miseries.
A rough past has dented you,
You refuse to let anyone in.
Your memories dig deeper,
you dent more and more.
It's hard to trust anyone.
In reality, they are you in a different time.
They wipe off your bruises and spill you open.
They take you into a new world away from you miseries.
driving away slow
enchanted by metaphors…
rice pelting our car
white picket fences ahead
dented cans streaming behind
05 Jan 2018
syllable count 5-7-5-7-7
Cans lie strewn, litter
tossed away, discarded trash.
Dents - defile, deform
the perfect container form.
Wanton abuse uncalled-for.
To many, a child in the nineteen fifties
dented cans were important
we used them in various ways
they became our childish telephone
stretched across a room
connected by a long piece of string
we had rubbed with candle wax
it never really worked... but
we never cared
we would stand empty dented cans around the house
and place them strategically... our own little army
then scurry from room to room
carrying a board with two nails buried halfway
a rubber band between them used as a trigger
where clothes pins were launched
trying to defeat this army of cans
but, our most important love for dented cans...was
our mom knew they were cheaper to buy
from the neighborhood market
and we were able to eat that day
1/5/18 contest Dented Cans
Dented Aluminum
once, kick the can was a lovely
game to play, but not nowadays
as shiny cellphones and prized
handheld games govern the day,
what a heavy price we will pay,
dented aluminum decays away
our alumni cry out their tired eyes
as hourly the ozone melts, always
1-4-18
DENTED CAN
kicking it down
an old dusty road
mind chasing dogs
a type of relay race
legs release, next guy
kicks the bone
no wonder of what
sup was spooned
nor if a homeless man
kicked the can
did the dent do him in
were the vittles spoilt
man’s worst abuse
human, beast or
aluminum can
a drunk picks it up
toothless, smiles
crushing it
against his skull
the derelicts say
“aw, you ruined it”
1/3/2018
Lowly, faded, dented cans
discarded and unseen
where you have been and gone
what journeys in your dreams?
You’ve sat upon the shelves
of dingy discount stores
imperfect cans that feed
the hungry, downcast poor.
Then whisked you into bins
in piles that climbed so high
to eagerly be found
and recycled for some dimes.
There is a place for dented cans
a humble way they give
some see them as a heap of trash
for others, essential to live.
Written on 1/3/2018
Lifelong series, proliferation of dreams
Procrastination pushes cans to rear shelf
Crushed pineapple replaces peaches and creams
Depleted pantry unenvisioned of self
Back burners overwrought iron pans of sin
Awaiting an opener, woman of tin
Lifelong series, ambitions, intended plans
Plentiful in could haves, instead, dented cans
Written: 1/1/2018
Contest: Dented Cans
Hosted by: John lawless
They catch our eye, those dented cans
that stand out clearly from the rest.
Yet something says to stay away...
they may not pass the 'okay' test.
Though, most the time, the food inside
should surely be okay to eat,
our senses choose a perfect shape;
reject when standards do not meet.
Just like those cans can shut our mind
to flawless nutrients inside,
we cringe when we see 'dented' shells...
assume, from them, we need to hide.
The outer part of anything...
a can, a book, a house...a heart,
does not disclose the joy within...
is just the wrap 'round the best part.
Sandra M. Haight
~5th Place~
Contest: Dented Cans
Sponsor: John Lawless
Judged: 01/15/2018
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