~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four furry silhouettes, whiskers twitching, huddle around a cardboard grid~
Four acorn tokens clatter on the board.
Dew-damp grass stains the Baltic Avenue deed.
A whiskered snout nudges Community Chest~
Winter stores secured beneath oak bark.
Four paws grip the dice cup tight and shake.
Electric Avenue mortgaged for one nut.
Tail-flicks trace railroads, Park Place dreams
Shatter as a crow steals the top hat piece.
Four bushy strategists stare at Free Parking.
Rain begins its raid on Marvin Gardens.
The dice roll forgotten, they scatter skyward~
Squirrelopoly unfinished beneath gathering clouds.
Whoa!
Just thrown into the grid.
I just started as a human being.
Words are really hard.
You say them the wrong way people act very differently.
I also notice hunger and being tired often negatively impact your behavior.
I’m growing up pretty fast now,
Graduating high school.
I see some sadness in my mom’s eyes.
My Dad’s pride and heart-wrenching direction into his own passion, like giant sandwiches.
I’m married now, live far away from my parents,
And my wife and I had a couple kids.
Then after ten semi-sturdy years–
It all falls apart.
Just like Chinua said it would.
I’m still new to this human thing,
Threading my way through therapists,
In this mesmerizing grid we call time.
Storm's brewing inside
Idea of being behind
Like a needle in a haystack
You seek, I hide
So-called friends were here
but now, where?
Years of realization,
led to one conclusion
Convenience over you
An option, quite true
Knowing it late
but hey, no hate
I won't be around
fill the blanks throughout
Using the lid
'cause I'll be off the grid.
It would be amazing to live off grid
Just think no hustle and bustle
No alarm screaming at you
to wake naturally at dawn.
One would settle into new patterns
mainly following the sun hours
labouring for one's self, no boss
to answer to. building your shelter
Getting water to it from higher up
from a clean stream loving the taste
sunlight from solar panels for night
planting and harvesting your own crops
No pollutants in them just healthy nutrients
fishing for what you need or maybe a crab
working the land and cutting timber for wood
Nature can provide what you need to be fit
Using natural medicines when you need
digging down for your outhouse
taking a swim in pond with a water fall
yes that sounds a good way to live.
A dog for company and chickens for eggs
Other off girder's but not too close.
Like wise a small town half a day away
no taxes to pay just wonderful freedom.
Just another day of obstructions, heartless
souls, lack of communication on a daily. Obstructions
of gridlock. at a crossroad, at a crossroad, at a crossroad.
Around the corner cut across to abandonment, made a
left turn to mistrust swerved right to divorce while
approaching slander at a intersection. gotta find my way
back, gotta find my way back.
Should it be suggested the world seems to be so distorted?
trying to find one's way back, from these sign posts and
roadblocks and gridlocks.
I will uncover
That which you did
Mute yourself
And go off the grid
Here’s where you keep
Your memento hid
To boost its value
Get off the grid
So you think
You can beat your taxes
Hunt the landscape
Sharpen your axes
The true survivor
Never relaxes
Nobody ever much did
You backpedalled
Slipped and slid
Turned tail and ran
Clear off the grid
To your sense of reason
I make a bid
Cut your losses
Go off the grid
Ain’t nuthin’ finer
Than that fatal skid
The truck is comin’
Move off the grid
So you thought
You could leave the picture
Conquer flaws
Consider the future
Then nighttime came
You dreamed of vultures
Screamin’ like a little kid
Melt down the ego
Raise up the id
It’s all rough lumber
Off the grid
For every pot,
There’s a lonesome lid
Live out your romance
Off the grid
Grid looping form, an enigma
Polarities divide
Head and heart pure, free of stigma
Thunderous joy inside
Analyse not; enjoy
Free of ego borne ploy
Time not now, to be coy
Benign bliss storm
Grid looping form
27-September-2021
Quietus
Coffers by alliances emptied out
By the same abandoned, security failing
Surprised by nature and by man
Falling Eagle will be caught by Bear
Revelaconesmarianas.com
Crosswords
they wreck our brains
with cunning cryptic clues
that we solvers seem to find so
puzzling
I never travel anywhere
Without my book at hand
For jotting down my daily poem,
No matter what I’ve planned.
For likely I will have a thought
I must commit to rhyme
And therefore I must be prepared
At any place and time.
My little book must fit inside
The shoulder bag I tote,
Along with sharpened pencils
To preserve the words I note.
I keep an eye out looking for
More books to fit the bill,
A task that, most surprising,
Isn’t easy to fulfill.
For just today, I came upon
Some notebooks in a stack
With varied colored covers
Small and portable to pack.
Alas, though, where I’d hoped for lines,
On every page, instead,
Were tiny boxes, in a grid,
An unappealing spread.
I wonder who would choose to write
On all those mini-squares,
Just waiting to entrap some words
And catch them unawares.
I remember things you said
When you upset me
Spreading hate for another
You thought you could win me
Your playful side at times
Seems it’s all an act
Is that the real you
Is that all fact
Knew you from before
Music was the same
Stayed away from you
You played the same game
Trade your breath with others
Seeking all the fame
Bunch of know-it-alls
Now you share the blame
In your own drama
Are you chasing me
You hitting me up
You are kind of crazy
You have too much hate
Thought of all you did
Doesn’t matter now
Because now I’m off the grid
Poor folk line the bottom floor
While the educated are in the middle
Because the rich MUST tip the top
So they can condescend to the little
Oh, I'm not being judgmental
I have been up and I have been down
I have been in many positions all around
When I decided to stay on the ground
....floor, and struggle no more
What is so confounded important
At the top that isn't at the base
A value, a belief, a position...power
That declares one has finally located a place
.....in the grid
I suppose, most don't know a truth
There are supporting beams only
And the way to stumble upon this knowledge
Is by falling through the gaps of lonely
In the building of the HIGH RISE
The one thing you avoid, is alone
You wants groups, clusters, gangs
That think and act the same, in their home
I've always been alone, so I can see
The system, the pressure, the lack
And what I have found is that lies
Will always pay you back
....for believing, and receiving
........any and all rewards
Nope! No HIGH RISE for me
I have chosen to be
.....free
..............from all encumbrances.
Guess that means, no promotion!
Written by Trudy Schrader on 01-08-2019
A mother of eight
Left to raise them on her own
Damn that man...for dying
And leaving her lost, alone
A soldier of valor
Stood his ground in the face of fear
Now, he is court marshaled
For the lies they wanted to hear
A child hides in a closet
Hearing every thwack of the belt
Fighting the concern welling up
To be experienced, processed, felt
.......no grid
Pain beyond measure
Racks the prisoner of war
Trying to get through the moment
Til there will be no more
.......breath
Relief doesn't come
In fact, it builds and festers
Til the filters, ideals, beliefs
Are sequestered
.......to show themselves
and .........Give an account
to WHO?????
If one has no reason
And finds no need to question
Life is just a series of events
A journey without suggestion
Hmmm....what's that like?
Written by Trudy Schrader on 01-06-2019
Note: I have always had a grid. My encounter with TRUTH at 18 months set my path. Here I am now, faced with a truth I had never considered...it's a gift; therefore, compassion is necessary for understanding. I hope I have entered into the Grid deep enough to provide insight.
At some point on the edge of this human trial
of being frustrated, angry and tired
I stopped posting for awhile,
the exposes of this burning world on fire.
Did you notice I was gone
when so many others sang their songs?
Sitting back, stepping away from the torrent
observations on the earth left me depressively abhorrent.
How did we get to here
with lives are so lost upon this revolving sphere?
History will judge us by what occurs these days
wonder how the truth will be displayed
by the writers who emote
the words and actions spoke.
The times will come again
when the populace will surely take a stand
resuming and reigniting the moral gland
that lies deeply embedded within man.
Living off the grid..
I bid you ..
It's a challenge..
Living off the land..
For it's quite bland..
A taste of the great outdoors..
Mother Nature exposed..
Absolutely no power..
I cannot even take a shower..
Walk to the stream to fetch some water..
I feel like a fish out of water..
Always in my life I had it made..
Now I can't even get out of the shade..
The sun beats down..
I frown as I run for cover under a massive tree..
So I am free of sun burn..
Food is totally organic..
Which is fresh and pure..
That is for sure
Picking berries and fishing for salmon..
What a way to work up an appetite..
No technology had left it all behind..
Though I didn't think I would mind..
Life is simple living off the grid..
I rid myself of the everyday grind of urban living..
I bid it all a farewell..
Now I have learned how to survive..
So urban life can now take a nose dive..
Sub Categories
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.