When down in the dumps, smile anyway ~
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
When you’re down in the dumps
And life’s giving you lumps,
It’s so nice to have lunch with a friend;
For occasional slumps,
Like a log’s many bumps,
Make it hard with a smile to pretend
All is dandy and fine.
Sometimes problems combine
With the natural ways that you cope
And your pal throws a line,
Which you take as a sign
That you’re not at the end of your rope.
So you sit and you eat,
Which itself is a treat,
And compare what’s been driving you nuts.
Though you do not compete,
Each admits to defeat
By not climbing up out of your ruts.
Still, a heaviness lifts,
One of friendship’s best gifts,
(Which can also take place on the phone).
Though the stuff that resists
Cheering up still exists,
You, at least, feel a lot less alone.
Tangerine tan man masterplan such chumps
Plumps to rain down bombs on Iranian clumps
Logic stumps as facts and pacts again dumps
Throat lumps as fossil fool fuel prices jumps
Getting trumped and thumped at the pumps
Oil barons gloat gazumps.. economy slumps
No cargo due to embargo everything flumps
Even a MAGA fan is now down in the dumps
Grumps got the hump with Mar a Lago frumps
Thicker than Forrest Gump deadlier than mumps
I am feeling down
In the dumps
It is not your fault
My friend
I totally blame myself for it
Yesterday I was feeling
Tired all day
I even felt asleep in front of the computer
I had no excuses
I had to go right away to bed
This morning I woke up
At 5:59 am
I got ready to started the day
I had my big healthy breakfast
It feel me up until lunch time
I am a poet and I write poetry
And I must say that is what I do best
Poor Peter is feeling so glum.
He can't go and play with his chums.
A bad case of the mumps
has him down in the dumps.
"Stay in bed!" - strict orders from Mum!
Used to gad about town as such in my day
but don't get around much anymore
conked out zonked out
(perchance to dream)
I prefer to remain
housebound indoors
yes it's an age-old refrain
my dogs are barking
and my best guess they may really be
completely up the wrong tree entirely
but my best bet yet feeling my years
(the weight of the world)
I'm in a slump down in the dumps
a pooch too tired to smooch
tho' stooped but healthy hale and hearty
this poor pup's too pooped to party
I'm feeling fragile today
when asked why
I don't know what to say
I just feel off
and a bit weepy
and down in the dumps
and everything seems creepy
friends are being akward
because they don't understand
I just want to jump into bed
not caring how I land
and stay there until
this feeling goes away
or I get my fill
of hiding from today
I have a little more gossip to share with you
Again about the alphabet
There is unrest amongst some of the letters
Creating stress and letter upset
Now, Z has major anger issues
Due to an inferiority complex
Being the least popular and used letter
Z feels a complete lack of respect
O is also not a happy camper
Though O’s situation is different to Z’s
O is a raging hypochondriac
With constant complaints of illness and dread
‘O poor ,poor me’ O cries
I have this and that and you letters are all so unkind
The other letters in frustration often yell out
Stop acting like an O-hole, O“ its all in your mind”
Now P has a troubling medical condition
With ongoing bladder infections
Continually P’ing and feeling down in the dumps
Desperately in need of medical interjection
The alphabet board have now formed a medical support group
Called, I C U…..It will…. B O K
To help Z , O and P
Reclaim their health and once again stand proud in their alphabet array
Dear, wherever you may be
what's life to you in your state?
come over here to receive your lot
what a picture this conveys, fate or first-rate
Thinking to Sabrina's Paris troubles
suicidal and wishing there was no hope
being down in the dumps and thinking black
keep your blade so to cut the rope
Remember there's always your tomorrow
another day to come across your path
no one knows the future not even one
be not anxious clean within a soapy bath
There's always light at the end of your tunnel
no matter your feelings, be truly confident
for Audrey herself knew from within what's real
so to give it a chance go and give a compliment
Now go and visit beautiful Paris
it will lift your spirits sky-high
learn well these wise lessons
before you know you'll know exactly why
(This is penned concerning lessons learned from the movie 'Sabrina' starring Audrey Hepburn.)
I once had me a dark-haired lover,
I was riding high on our romance.
She said she would be mine forever,
so, I decided to take the chance.
Then I found out she was the devil,
just all dressed up in an angel’s clothes.
She taught me the path to happiness,
is where I will never get to go.
I thought I could still tell right from wrong,
how good and bad are supposed to be.
But if I’ve learned one thing in this life,
true love is something I’ll never see.
Each time I try to climb the mountain,
somewhere down the line I always fell.
Instead of going through Heaven’s gates,
I’d end up right back here in this Hell.
I’m walking through this heartless city,
on a cold and windy winter’s morn.
My soul is as hard as this sidewalk.
my heart is tattered, ripped, and torn.
These empty streets on Sunday morning,
when I have no other place to go,
They will make a man feel more alone,
than alone should ever have to know.
I’m not looking for something special,
I’m just trying hard to dodge life’s blow.
When you know you’ll never reach the top,
down in the dumps does not feel too low.
My aunt is like a broken, depressed, sorry doll
She looks under rocks to find mean men so small
Sad tears are what we see all of the day and night
She focuses on negatives, not ideas warm or light.
She once had a bright upbeat attitude and great smile.
But she has been down in the dumps for quite a while.
This latest man is a professional at putting her down.
She looks like a broken doll, a sad sorry puppet, his worried clown.
I had heard of down in the dumps
But down in the dogs?
Her jowls matched her rumps
Her face was a log
She’s an old lady
Leave her be someone said
But she was loony tunes too
Hilarious inside her head
I am downhearted, discouraged, dejected, downcast.
Ms. Positive said “You need to look up, for positives and fast.”
I am disheartened, dismayed, down in the dumps she replied.
Determined to be miserable, hopeless, sad, an expert who cried.
I was once pristine
Then my owner gave me work ~
I’m down in the dumps!
Covered in faeces
Just used to shovel horse poop
It’s such a crap job!
Flour, baking powder, sugar, salt
must be integrated smoothly, to a fault
if what is baked will turn out good
keeping it all in proportion, as one should
"Sifting sad shadows from the past"
to aerate lighter memories that will last
helps break down the bigger lumps
of those times feeling down in the dumps
Having a memory a bit more like a sieve
may not be such a bad way to live
introspection shakes up, softens time
laughing later-- adds a hint of lime
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