Gaped Poems | Examples

The Storm Water Pipe

The storm water pipe
gaped into open air
from an embankment 
where it surfaced
from underground.
The opening was a little
smaller than my childhood height
and they said it stretched
a mile or more but nobody
knew for sure.

A danger sign warned
against entry saying 
the pipe was subject to sudden
flooding - a protective grate
had a hole big enough
to crawl through. 
I would pause 
at its mouth and stare 
into a claustrophobic dark.

Hunched, heart racing,
I monkey walked
my way in, listening out
for water, breathing in 
the dank air. Deeper
and deeper I would go until 
courage left me when
the light from the entrance
faded and all went black.
Hell was there. 
It still is.

The accident was accidental

That day on Earth was filled with fun,
The weather was mild and clement.
The sun beamed down with gentle grace,
Cool air had just chased off the rain.

That party brimmed with food and beer,
We drank more than we ought to drink.
There wasn’t a single sober soul,
Not even the one meant to drive.

Still, we had homes we had to reach—
He drove, though steeped in alcohol.
Then came the crash, brutal and swift—
Not even one of us survived.

The burial came sudden and prompt,
Tears streamed as grief rent through the air.
"Too young to die!" the mourners wailed,
Bodies laid stiff, devoid of soul.

Four graves gaped wide to swallow whole—
The dug-out clay their final roofs.
Left for the ants to feast upon,
Till silence hushed all mortal wails.

Then angels came before Satan,
Carefully choosing whom to claim:
Some to hellfire, some to heaven—
That's how we stopped living with men.








Contest title: By accident 
Contest Judged:  June 23rd, 2025 2:48:00 PM
Sponsored by: Kai Michael Neumann
Placement: First

Escape of the Leprechaun

When a leprechaun tightly I caught,
I was hoping for gold in a pot.
But that trickster escaped.
At my hands I just gaped.
His wee britches were all that I got.

Deal With Mosquitoes

Now, I'm dealing with mosquitoes!
All about standing on my toes,
Refusing to accept the throes;
Back to Mosquitoes bad death throws...

Harsh hand claps to just have one smashed,
For if I did not would be lashed
Upon entries into net cashed
Their bloodstains on it shall be washed...

In water troughs would meet their eggs
And - guess the next - use my legs...

I never could be a lover
Of studies of their Larva:
A part of Africa's rude woes
Each gaped gutter that flows!
Not a sad chapter she might close
Or the day she does The End close.

Salaries That Build No House

Mark's salaries could build him no house,
Just gave him computer with a mouse,
After a half year's savings with grouse
For a machine that would new jobs browse...

Mark's pays fed him and Big Mouse in house:
Carelessly gaped pots for Prompt Big Mouse;
If Mark stopped gaping them ate wife's blouse:
The sight of blouse attacked by Mouse cows...

Mark's mind keeps telling him there's some house
He could check into and meet no mouse,
Let alone one which would near wife's blouse
And his Mark's virulent anger rouse.

For now Mark's salaries for the louse
That had his long hairs made its sweet house

A new fight to win; new embers douse...

A Street Called Dont Forget

Shall I forget "Don't Forget Things Street",
Where stealing increases body heat
And items get lost from 7.00pm:
Wealth outside owners forget to claim?

"Don't forget" might stop recording theft,
If owners stopped treating things as left,
When the long and short hands of clocks
Had balanced on Twelve and Seven, gaped locks...

"Don't forget street" yet to house burglars
But could soon have them from her stragglers
A street pleading that we remember
Or, else, get set to lose a member!

Ears Wishing To Hear More

Jonah, please, tell me more.
You serve your story raw:
Details that won’t ears bore…

Once your fine shirt I tore:
Your suspense did me floor,
When gaped I had my jaw…

Had The Priest first hands swung
And hit Catechist’s left lung?
Who’d called other’s wife “Whore”
And who “An Open Door”?
Were chairs at The Priest flung
And out The Catechist slung?

You make larger your tongue:
I want facts from it wrung…

Had The Priest a chainsaw:
Just tell me what you saw.

Crowns

Open my heart gaped
Out tumbled my history and
All that is to come 

Eagles, honeybees, coffee, daisies 
Violins, ferns, fairies, portraits 
I lifted my wings 
To meet my dragon 
On an ocean of storms
Sailing forever and away

Mother Earth unfolded her womb
To a divine scream
They all donned their 
Crowns

The Coffee Shoppe

As scented air aroused my misty mind, 
a shadow broke the early morning Sun,
aromas wafting from the morning’s grind,
assured the senses morning had begun.

I felt an airy presence from afar.
Unnerved, I sought some comfort in my joe
when then appeared this early morning star 
with beauty that would set the dawn aglow.

She passed with nonchalance and without glance, 
and as I gaped, she simply stared astray,
her exit, with a whim and fickle prance, 
fanned arrogance that whisked my breath away.

I contemplated thoughts of giving chase
though in a haze I let her slip away,
but like the Sun, this path she may retrace
and destiny could pass again my way.

And as the morning’s essence ebbed and waned, 
her image kept returning o’er again,
the vision twisted aimlessly in vain
as sunrise caused her beauty to transcend.

I finalized my mundane morning rite 
then pondered how its remnants would unfold,
and knew… that I had seen the Morning’s Light 
and hoped once more its beauty I’d behold.

Mariah - Star of the Sea

To see the unknown is to grasp the strange
struggle with hallucinogenic disbelief of the deranged:
To arrange and rearrange the disarray of a mind 
nonplussed by a puzzlement of imagery that binds
one in loops of madness bound by the optic nerve’s
impulses pulsating upon the high seas where red curved
like the waves that swerved my dehydrated inebriation 
as they distorted my auricular balance into a drunk vermilion….

She’s appeared only at sea, always in striking shades of scarlet,
as if to break the monotony of endless boring-blue ~ a starlet
eclipsing my dilated pupils when she bled the moon,
slicing off a smooth round piece, as I, in my cabin cocoon
gaped thru the port hole at the bleeding sickle left
suspended, animated, tween the midnight and dawn ~ swept
into the black hole that fell into the dark’s abyss:
an oceanic psychedelic trip of a brain reeling remiss…

The glitter in the velvet dissolved into the ebon nothing
The wind no more, as infinite jet swallowed frothing
And there, not ten yards away, floated the cerise ball!
I rubbed my dozing orbs, but still, I was in lunar’s thrall

(3/15/2018 Repost for sailing contest)

Secret Admirer

I love you from a distance ...
Am so close but with space ...
You're like the sun so warm and beautiful ...
But like the sun , if I come too close you will burn me...
I watch mouth gaped from a distance ..

Exit Wound

On Kensington Avenue, under the railway,
Her stage is a paperboard box.
The sounds of North Philly provide the applause.
Her venue’s the school of hard knocks.
At the drama’s finale, the curtain comes down.
She’d serviced her role like a slave.
Just the tip of the needle, a neat little hole,
But the exit wound gaped like a cave.

The Smart Italian Girl

She was sixteen and dressed to the likings of fashion 
a beautiful loose top was her choice of today's passion 
as she mounted the bus she got stares from the guys 
and teasing looks, but none of them ever met her eyes 

yapping away in Italian thinking she looked a bit french 
they thought her cute, and some thought her a wench 
"poor girl" they said, "went down town, got pregnant" 
"and now she wears that top to hide the baby tenant " 

they laughed as they poked each other and guffawed 
gesturing like little ruffians and talking way too loud  
but to their surprise she turned to them and smiled,  
she was an Italian hot blooded girl, to put it mild...

when she spoke in Italian they gaped and shut up     
"cretino, stupido, imbecile" well I guess its my stop !  
guess your having fun at my expense,   hey boys 
then  she flirtatiously smiled, and left with poise 

they sat there dumfounded with faces slightly pinked   
as she stepped off the bus she turned, then winked. 

July 24, 2021

ps this is a true story by the way, slightly changed but true 
never assume someone doesn't understand a language ..

The Amourette Autopsy

The Amourette Autopsy 
 
In vesper’s curt caress there seems no bind 
To daylight’s brim or morning’s dire decree- 
Your vertigo embrace confounded vows, 
Within a steel wheeled cauldron we stirred swamps 
We hyperventilated hurricanes 
Cajoled embraces, arrogated from 
your groom and registry and welling eyes; 
Celestial bliss, we buzzed God's prayer vault. 
 
We even deemed the telescopic murk 
a trough where genuflections might could reach; 
You spun away to opium dens, supine, 
I could not trace Icarian designs. 
You tiptoed the obituary scene 
Without your leaving even a toe’s wake- 
But in your swirl you must have slipped but once 
in its ambitious, enterprising ink. 
 
Oh butterfly why you abjured your wings, 
Regressed to the cocoon womb’s staid address? 
I wish I could interrogate your wraith 
by dream, concussion, disembodiment. 
Enraptured by your sallow soft trained tress- 
drapes gaped to manifest seraphic tones 
of fairness, though distraught by varying hues 
that sapience esteems the bends of life

Mangrove Disco

Khaki lapped mangroves, sun bouncing transferred
Journeys bright flashes along branches texture
Conveyerbelt spot lights glide, bright pattern superb
Bath tidal shallow travels water's gold reflection 

High heat subdued by horse tail tassled foliage
Sea loving pine hung in bunches, long drapes swung
Salty silt bed rigid roots drink in river knowledge
Steady light slide show rhythms calm dance among

Hectic city spectacle, hulk forty storey bulk surly
Gaped naked windows glare against cement facade
Dominate diminished dunes, emit shadows early 
Rough road map arms umbrella mangroves in mirage

A million miles distance gifted in fifty metre gap
Delicate crescent of white sand, best spot on globe
Display of unreal critters crawl warm yellow sap
Dappled place of sanctuary spurs disco bulb strobe




          25th September 
      Gold Coast, Australia

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