Goode Poems | Examples

Jukebox

Jeweled lights are blinking
Jaunty tunes fill the room
Johnny B. Goode with Chuck
Jumpin' Jack Flash with Mick
Jerry Lee Lewis wails
John Lennon twists and shouts
Jitterbug all night long

Your Smile

They have all tried,
long before the great da Vinci,
both ancient and modern cartographers,
to wit,
‘Goode’, the Evil Mercator,
tried and failed.

Not one
had the skill or imagination
to map your smile,
for like the world in sunlight
your smile is the shape
of laughing eyes.

No hand could mix the paint
that painted you,
nor survey your loveliness
with compass or caliper.

I have a detailed atlas,
yet nothing can explain
how I discover Xanadu
everywhere
by the way,
you turn my page.

Chuck Berry

Beethoven was awakened by the sound of a guitar
   Played by Chuck Berry, a rock 'n roll star
 'When Beethoven heard those rhythm and blues
    He ran to Tchaikovsky to tell him the news'

 He made that guitar sing like no one else could
   As he rocked us with 'Johnny B Goode'
 'He stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
    But her safety belt was stuck for a while'
 So he had to take it slow
   With no "Particular Place To Go"

 He didn't know just what to do
   When 'Maybellene' was untrue
 She left him brokenhearted on the highway
   As her cadillac sped away

 He will play that guitar by an by
   In rock 'n roll heaven up on high

Empty Nest

empty nest

i came upon this empty nest
and felt of soul a bit bereft
i wondered how it came to be
and wondered if now fulfilled
its purpose was to be unbuilt

shells all scattered about below
nesting about like skinned wind
of parenthood and progeny in tow
a beautiful family once had been
now a memory twigged on the wing

natural progression of posterity
zeitgeist from parent to offspring
still deep meaning it has for me
to accept both aspects i've seen
treasuring both nurture and the nurturing

© Goode Guy 2015-04-23

Reed Four Sound

Reed Four Sound
(a homophobic poem)
By Franklin Price
4/26/2015

Reed four sound 
Knot Goode grammar
Here watts hear
On my pinned paige
Eye right it hear
Fore ewe two sea
Cud bee a song 
a dough ray me

By sum tyme
Minutes oar ours
Mite knead a weak
Too make sum cents
Of awl thee words
Red wright hear
its awl right
Two sip a bier

Homophones 
Knot hard to here
Watt you're ayes reed
Knot herd thee same
Ate words oar mower
Knot watt they seam
Finnished Dunne
My mined Stihl screams

Parting the Med

parting the Med
{for refugees and exiles}

the accounts passed down 
through the mouth and page
no refuge for the refugees
on the angry world's stage

staffed "saviors" Kalashnikovs
met on moonlit secret rendezvous 
refuge unknown where or what of
dangers abound like Mogadishu

fear rises as horizon glistens
below thin moon and cirrus cloud
gruff orders barked best listened
predicting end in a watery shroud

will sea part and allow passage
will exile end in hopeful life
will family danger's turn advantage
can refugees leave behind the strife

it's not about color or race
more the pocketing of a last pelf
best refuge just to die in place
there just ain't no place else

left behind only left with saddened
maybe memories gone in future's denied
but miracles hoped sometimes can happen
too, miracles dreamed can be delight

contemplate now the refugee's plight
when sitting in comfort well satiated
the next trek from a war-torn blight
maybe our predicament to be emancipated

© Goode Guy 2015-04-22

Timed Passage

go out in the field with that 
helmeted Go-Pro and press the button,
not that little clearing beside the building
but the field as wide as it is far, far out

look up and stream the dark washed sky
times elapsed in fusioned milky light
watch it arc across the chilled, stubbled field
the cold sparks beautifully splayed across

turn it over now - a bit further, roll over,
refocus, look down close at the loam laid on
set the time-lapse for lengthening days
and watch your shadow pass below you

see the seed casing crack open and 
seedlings rise to first season of life 
toward the now brightened sky above 
listen to the cells elongate springing

against gravity to push away to up, up 
sit up, or stand and raise the gaze farther 
the slow pan of growth, Jacked up stalk through 
sky and clouds to see what's so big up there

© Goode Guy 2015-03-11

Terminal Humor

there just ain't no cure 
there is only punnish meant
deadpan - grave - humor

© Nhan Goode Guy 2014-03-04 ;-)

Peter's Transmogrification

Petey's chillin', that La-Z-Boy
Gulpin' Big his refreshing joy
swellin' swell his bellied pot
chillin', thrilling, harey sot

fast-food's bagged, the carton void
Pete's tummy growls a bit annoyed
paper's crumpled and tossed aside
McGregor's garden done gone deep-fried

smartly grasping his cell phone
so he's not alone, when all alone
paws kicked up he's nearly prone
kickin' back his chillin' zone

blue jacket became a red T-shirt
athletic-style that might exert
but rest a minute, take off them treads
and matching headband for forehead

whether stylin' cool or stylin' hot
nothin's stylin' like doin' squat
sista's pleadin' "get off yo ass!
outta that chair an' grip a grasp!"

Mopsy rants loud to no avail
an' so do Flopsy and Cotton-tail
chillin' Pete ignores their behest
relaxin's what ol' Pete does best

remembering that ol' gal B. Potter
sloth feels great but hadn't oughter
all those tales should cut 'im slack
over exertion might make a heart attack

© Goode Guy 2014-02-21

inspired from Suzanne's wonderful sketch at ODU art department showing 2014-02-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rabbit

Chicken's Chicken Soup

chicken soup for the chicken
when the egg starts to thicken
when the yoke's rollin' right
when the white's clear 'n' bright

when the roosters sittin' roostin'
when the hen's right for a'goosin'
when the coop's are all a'coupin'
when said rooster ain't a'droopin'

when the desire's too demandin'
an' all else is notwithstandin'
an' chicken's tongue's unbeaked to cluck
an' sip the soup of what the - heck

that's what makes the chicken flutter
an' Grand Ma don't cook it no better

...that's why the hen crossed the road

© Goode Guy 2014-02-19

Today

i'm going outside today
out where the blood and riots lay
out to the streets of chant and stand
out where the people make demands

young men, young women, elders too
take a stand against taboo
and tell these leaders of corruption
we're gonna make a resurrection

and demand change and better ways
i'm gonna go outside today
and see if living can take a turn
as young teach old what can be learned

i'm going outside today
coming home or going home, i cannot say

© Goode Guy 2014-02-21

Pass

Gatekeeper to the compost pile
the boatman for the river Styx
I'm trying to cross the last mile
adventure's done, I'm calling it quits

Shadowed Charon silhouettes the dark 
lowly murmurs, "You got I.D.?
a passport, something of that sort,
something with a picture to see?"

I gaze at the black outline above
evaluating this unexpected request
Is terminus admission really that tough?
Do I need to comply to this behest?

"Sorry", I say, "I left my pockets in life
I assumed you'd have records here."
"We do", he replied, "our info is rife,
but identities we need to insure."

"Birth certificate, and two credit cards,
or driver's license and utility bill,
cancelled check, something of that regard
some documentation, you know the drill."

"But I'm dead" I stammered, "What does this mean?"
"Am I not permitted time to decompose?"
"This transition from betwixt and between
to eternity seems like I'm - indisposed"

"You, good boatman, may think it fine, but, 
to carry proof of identity, I must disagree"
"Sir, you must stand aside of the line.
Go back to purgatory and get some I.D.!"

© Goode Guy 2014-02-13

Exit At the Orifice

**** retentive is so inventive
it thinks up things it hadn't oughter
equating intrusion with goaled incentive
requiring minutia without giving quarter

so processes demand greater complexity
measuring quantitative numbers and sets
procedures create a mess in front of me
with analysis it's as good as it gets

graphs and charts of diagonal lines
measuring downs and ups of productivity
recombinant combines increasing declines
we can nearly measure neural negativity

government or business it's bureaucracy
just follow the line, to end of the day
a modality that surely is the best for me
the point is, don't question, just obey

theories show people aren't automatons
with modifying to change this hypothesis
and understand the ass-umption we live upon
we'll just tweak the sphincter processes

© Goode Guy 2014-01-31

O D 'D

O.D.'d

major retrospective, devoted to his life's work
was he ordinary man, or something of a quirk
looking back at pale-lit gallery resumé
was he prophetic genius or just overworked

Obsessive destructive, objective destiny,
some type of truth, some sense of decay
Obvious or oblivious - epiphany or enemy
needling the hurt - holding the dismay

the doubt, the scag, the arm on the john
the heart-stopping truth of addiction upon
the famous, the obscure, the horse ride unsure
the only way to go is up - or down forgone

there's a line, a long one, from way past
of human souls searching to take away pain
hookah'd, needled, and bottled to outlast
and escape life's sorrows to live again

© Goode Guy 2014-02-04

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/03/270874316/police-investigate-death-of-actor-philip-seymour-hoffman
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/03/271064728/on-philip-seymour-hoffman-and-his-many-appearances

Deja New

déjà new

I never been here before
what's more, what's new hadn't too
it's like I can't remember now tomorrow
I can't pinch, filch or borrow
'fore knowledge of what's now's tomorrow

seems what's happenin' is 
ridin' on dead reckoning
destined past unknown I think
at sheer cliff of present's brink

there's comfort in surprise I surmise
being patient, being sanguine, being wise
the past is packed with many ties
for now the need, to improvise
tomorrow is today's grand prize

what can be said about what is unknown?
probability tends to be speculative prone
a future snap of hard wishing bone
here and now is but a stepping stone

now make your wish for want to come
an' leave space for it to light upon
it's uncertain what may come to pass 
today's half may emerge to brimming glass

© Goode Guy 2014-01-21

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