Stagnation doesn't happen
In one fell swoop
It claims space
Where TRUTH isn't allowed to snoop
Loss glides softly
On the winds of change
Resistance to yield
Determines the depth and range
Patterns begin to surface
On the foundation shaking underneath
Anger at the uninvited guest
Is easier than to give way to grief
The door is closed to home
Where life used to dwell
Soul lingers in breath
Where responsibility fell
Written by Trudy Schrader on 03-06-2026
Old MacDonald had a farm
And all it had was cows
Their constant mooing brought them harm
…His wife went off the rails
She bumped them off in one fell swoop
And fed them though the grinder
But Old Macdonald wrote a plan
And popped it in a binder
At the bank the manager said,
“What’s your plan… in brief?”
Old Macdonald said, “It’s this…
I need to shift some beef!”
*
The manager inhaled and said,
“That’s quite a cutthroat game,
Your business plans are good as dead…
You’ll need a great new name.”
It was never my intent to collect the creepy crawlers
but I couldn't make myself swat them with a broom.
I thought they might be useful one day, on brawlers
who make trouble, like aphids on roses in bloom.
So, the meshed bag became the receptacle I used
to keep them alive. One by one, I joined them together
but fed them daily. Of spider abuse I'd not be accused!
I watched them interact in the prison tied with a tether.
There was no fighting among them when there were three
Respectfully, they kept their distance in separate corners
even when I threw in a fly, a moth and a tiny dead flea.
I wondered if they died, would there have been mourners?
It seems arachnids could teach humans a lesson in humanity
When my bag began to move on its own, I knew it was time
to set them free. You may question my sanity and the inanity
of releasing the creatures but keeping them would be a crime.
Where would they best be turned loose in one fell swoop?
The rose garden! Infested with pests on which they'd feast!
I opened the bag carefully and they marched as a troop,
conquering heroes of the Rose War, each bug eyed beast!
Why can't I enter Nirvana
in one fell swoop
'cause that's what I wanna
to end this endless loop.
Old deeds done--new lessons learned
pre Karma lost---post Karma earned
all things positive--all negatives spurned.
row row row your boat--------------------
Life is but a Dream
lightning strikes
leaves nothing but
the shell of him
in one fell swoop
the loss of her
too much to bear
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
Three fine fellows listening
to a concerto of cello
Dined at a picnic
under a weeping willow
While one turtle flew
over the chicken coop
Two ostriches looped
around on hula hoop
All got together
for a bowl of purple soup
Before digging into
a luscious cantaloupe
Stacking high a
mountain of marshmallow
They munched a bunch
of mellow yellow jello
With a big dessert spoon
in one fell swoop
While troubadours played
music for the dance troop
Read on air by invitation ~ March 2, 2021 'LATE NIGHT POETS'
AP: Honorable Mention 2021, Front Page Pick 2021
Submitted on March 6, 2019 for contest HONORING DR.SEUSS sponsored by MICHELLE FAULKNER - RANKED 3RD
Parad(em)ise
Dangling from a stolid chandelier of empty shadows
Her threadbare strings attached to vacant promises
Jemima has tried every angle of escape and refuge
Her make up faded and the jester’s façade burrowed
Deep into macabre deluded weather worn charades
She tries to gloss her lips but all she draws is blood
The empty bottle of juniper spirits by her naked thigh
A cannula of channelled happiness on desiccated skin
She powders her limp face in the vapour of a light bulb
Wired on Tungsten filament’s flushed out enlightenment
Beyond reproach and one line closer to a final curtain
She smells the fetid dungeon’s stench within and gags
Draped in the puke’s perfume and sickly acid bilious scent
She walks no further than the seedy river’s edge’s contempt
Offers herself free to the highest bidder and bids farewell
Just as the fairy tale fails to fall on prowling taste’s demise
One lonely taker strikes her bust in one fell swoop at last
Takes her dearest ink pumped skin that spelt ‘Only For You’
06th February 2019
She unfriended them
No one really knows why
Wanting nothing more to do
With members of the family
It’s quite a mystery how
She cut off her roots
Clean in one fell swoop
Without a hint of hesitation
Looking back I missed out
Hundreds no… a thousand
Opportunities to help and heal
She could have been my project
She grew up with a bruised heart
Without arms to hold her tight
From her personal perspective
Dangling without a lifeline
And isn’t that the only view that counts
When a heart is hurting
And the healing process never starts
AP: 1st place 2021
night fell and engulfed us all
in one fell swoop cold came and it was fall
AP: 3rd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2022
My blood boils when I think I have yet
to meet a lawyer with a shred of dignity
one that's god-fearing and not immoral
heartless greedy or egomaniacal
It boggles my mind how anyone could
stoop so low to take advantage of the weak
and deliberately dry them out and
watch them grow old sick and wither away
at their weakest and most vulnerable
It ain’t rocket science…
Lawyers and buzzards what's more
unscrupulous and repulsive as they circle
playing their conniving ugly games
of gluttony abuse and power
I could never see myself
stooping so low knowing that one day
I'd have to face my Maker –
how do they sleep at night?
I'm not much for throwing
everyone in the same basket so…
I'll forget this scandalous disgraceful
travesty once it's over and done
One day this crazy outstanding
legal issue will finally be settled
when they run out of reasons
for delays and cheap empty promises
That’s when I'll let lawyers and buzzards
go on their merry way
saying… ‘Live and let live’ –
can't change the world in one fell swoop
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
Beside the bar I nursed my drink, depression was my food,
she entered like the World's first dawn and cut straight through my mood.
Her dress a silky vortex, skirt was flowing, bodice tight,
the flounce swayed with an ebb and flow like scarlet Northern lights.
Looks crafted to bewilder, eyes dishonest, smile was kind,
she knew that I was curious, and had somehow read my mind.
Cocktail cherry on her lips, a prop to tantalize,
I took the plunge, sat next to her and gazed into her eyes.
A deep breath, with my fingers crossed, I asked “Are you alone?”
Too late, I realised I'd stepped into her killing zone.
A brief appraisal, up and down, and then she laughed out loud,
which brought the curtain down on conversations in the crowd.
Head down, red faced, I turned and walked a dignified retreat,
to find a booth in shadow, where I meekly took a seat.
This dark art she must practise, as she'd pulled off quite a coup
to eviscerate my pride and ego, all in one fell swoop.
Fallacious my long held belief, now well and truly sunk
that I'm a real lady's man, but only when I'm drunk.
For contest 'eight word challenge', sponsor John Hamilton
28th June 2018
endowing superlative creature comforts
reduce wretched survivors scant band of bare naked ladies
beastie boys, foo fighters espying counting crows
ready to buzzfeed toe kin *****sapiens
bereft, expunged, faux invincibility kickstarting
learning basic survival skills
forced to rescind twenty first century trappings
shifting paradigm sans primacy
pitting dishabille helpless imps against killers
who do not shrink from ethically principled
but give full reign to selfish callous deleterious foibles,
gruesome harmful indiscretions
sprouting with mushroom rhizome rapidity
ousting the omnipresently
(well nigh since time immemorial
virtues cultivated, futilely integrated, lending oomph
residentially, scientifically tendering ubiquitous DNA
foisting gabled, heralded, instilled,
justified kneaded love thy neighbor motto
lyft ting in one fell swoop delicately
embroidered, finely graven, heavenly ideals
no more patent leather shoes reflecting up
nor doodling Yankee staking claim to fame via feathered cap made of macaroni
thus such jingoistic, holistic, fabric ripped retroactively
ramping atavistic simian base,
thus leveling the playing field.
She was a star – I was a gazer
Imagine my surprise
when the stage door opened
and in walked a goddess
Dark hair, dark eyes,
a bounce in her step,
a leap in mine
Fiddling with the curtain cord,
I lost my balance
and my heart in one fell swoop
Spot lights focused,
igniting the stars in my eyes
which were still dim in her glow
Dressing rooms offered
champagne and cherries,
but she looked at me
Double checking the script,
it wasn’t a love story -
a poetic rewrite was in order
I handed it to her when I finished,
she tossed it aside
and kissed me
The curtain went up
and the audience applauded,
a standing ovation
She was a star
and I was a gazer -
now we shine together
It was a very long time ago, I'd say nearly fifty years
That she had let it all go and began switching gears
Having graduated from college and a successful career
There was no need to dredge and that much was clear
In fact, she never gave God a thought not even one day
She had all that she sought, most things going her way
For life was already great and the need just wasn't there
As in life it was late and this is not the time to compare
A"Catholics Come Home" ad appeared being quick to dismiss
So that screen she cleared and went back to her normal bliss
But then just a few days after that but not on the same site
As there big and bold it sat but for some reason it seemed right
She clicked on and read and something began to stir inside
The complete filling of a deep need that had so long ago died
This atheist of over fifty years had in one fell swoop found God
In hearing so many stories over the years this certainly doesn't seem odd
Your words cut- like a woodcutters axe
chopping me down,
blood spills onto the pine strewn floor.
Exhaling words. Spoken without thought,
or love, trapped in an unbreakable bubble
that floats around my head.
Purple memories emanate from the centre,
rippling into infinity, becoming distant…
lost to the edge of life.
I thought love would save me, but
it too floats away on a starlit stream.
15/5/2013
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.