Generalizations Poems | Examples

I’m old, so don’t rely on me
Don't count on me if something happens
I care not to spill my tea
I’m useless with all kinds of weapons
If human race would be incentive
To imitate me, there won’t be
No wars, offensive or defensive
No other conflicts, so I’d be
Your God of Peace, my dear nations
Put down your fingers off my face
You know the answers to your questions
So leave me out at my place.
Deduce your generalizations
From bad and worse, who come to kill
They hold no moral obligations
I’m not the one to pay their bill.

Someone told me that all Smythes are crazy, and I believed them
At first, until I met one
Who was delightful, and kind, and did not generalize people
He gave me a chance, which was a marvelous thing.
For I had not been willing to give him one.

Another told me that old women are dried up.
Not knowing any, I believed it. 
Until I became an old woman
And realized I am more excited about life than I have ever been.
I paint, cartoon, dance, play racquetball, and write poetry.
So I am not dried up.  

They told me that all white people are stuck up.
I looked at my skin. It is peach not white.
I was relieved, for when they tell me, I usually believe it
Until I meet one. 
And realize when we are talking about people
ALL never makes sense. 
I should have known this right away.
I am an identical twin, and we agree on practically nothing.

My uncle told me that the Scottish are stingy; I believed him
Because I was young, and I had never met one. 
I did not even know what they were.
But then I grew up and had a DNA test.
And guess what? I am Scottish.
And I am not stingy, so I guess that one is out the window too. 
My uncle is still smirking about this one.

They all feel this way.
Sorry. Who?
All the Irish and All the Scots, and maybe all the Brits.
That is a lot of All’s, I think.

They all feel the same way? I query.
She nods her head. “Every single one of them.”

“So you have met all Irish, all Scots and all Brits?” I ask.
She turns haughty. “I don’t have to. I know how they think.”

No one else ever….  



 Come on now!








Everyone has ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,……………………….breathed?

You are moving to a big city?
You will be murdered before you get out of your car
Thugs will take your purse and use your I-phone
Rapists will break in at night and maybe kill you
What big city is it?
Des Moines

Oh, man, I have heard of that one
I will be sending you prayers. 
They have the Iowa State Fair there. True.
They have a cultural center, and an art center.
No way! 
They have lots of pretty neighborhoods with large lawns
And oak trees and it looks pretty safe.

I will call my cousin and get back to you.
She has lived in Des Moines for fifty years.
So it is not so bad?
Oh, no. According to her, it is awful!
Do you want me to give her your cell phone number?
No.

I hate transsexuals, the old woman said. (A childhood friend)
Me too, her cousin agreed, not a childhood friend.
You hate them too, right? The uninvited one asked me.
No, I told them. I don’t.

What?
They are shocked.
Stiff in their ideas.
“And you do not hate them either,” I inform them.

Yes, we do!
We really do! 
We REALLY REALLY REALLY do!
No, you do not, I say, and I can prove it.

Remember when you visited Shelly’s house last summer?
Head nodding here; they go everywhere together even the grocery.
Did you hate her grandsons?
What?

Did you hate her grandsons?
Of course not! Why would we hate her grandsons?
One of them is a transsexual, I said. One of them was born another gender.
Which one? Which ONE?

If Shelly would have trusted you with it, she would have told you
I informed them. But she did not. I wonder why?

Everybody likes flowers right,
Except children who were violated in bedrooms with flowered wallpaper.
Oh.
 
Everyone loves faeries right?
Except a sensitive young twelve-year-old boy who was called one.
Right.
 
Everyone likes to nap, right?
Have you ever met a two-year old?
 
Everyone is the craziest word ever.
It should be eliminated.
 
Unless you are speaking of air, water, and food.

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.