Spirit-starved
sate my hunger if you will
humour me with comedy
'til I'm full and had my fill
for if music be the food of love
and laughter music of the soul
feast me on a funny song
nothing serious but something droll
tickle my funny bone with a tone
to make my toes all wriggle
and nourish me on melody
let me have a heartfelt giggle
With apologies to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
When the squirrels start playing outside
My dog rushes to the door barking and whining.
Memphis, an 80-pound big, brown bulk
Really believes he can catch a squirrel.
Once the door is open, he races to the fence
Pacing back and forth with his head raised
While all the squirrels are laughing.
When the squirrels start playing outside
My dog rushes to the door barking and whining.
Memphis, an 80-pound big, brown bulk
Really believes he can catch a squirrel.
Once the door is open, he races to the fence
Pacing back and forth with his head raised
While all the squirrels are laughing.
When the squirrels start playing outside
My dog rushes to the door barking and whining.
Memphis, an 80-pound big, brown bulk
Really believes he can catch a squirrel.
Once the door is open, he races to the fence
Pacing back and forth with his head raised
While all the squirrels are laughing.
I could only see so much.
Staying out of touch.
Never knowing where I was bound.
Hiding somewhere in the lost and found.
Laughter has such a beautiful sound.
Taking life as it came.
Smile and I'll do the same.
Hello good bye.
Raindrops falling from the sky.
So much left I want to do
Waiting for the sky to turn blue.
Saw the day turn to night.
Life turned out alright.
Reaching for something out of sight.
Stumbling along my way.
Foolish games they play.
Walking alone
A dog without a bone.
I see more than you know.
Past what life had to show.
Yonder.......
.... I ponder.
Sitting on a log.
Missing my dog.
Choices both good and bad.
I refuse to stay sad.
Pushing forever onward.
What's that I heard.
Laughter
In the forever after.
My future is now the past.
It came fast.
I may have been last..
But never fear.
I made it here.
I'm further along than I thought.
For this I fought .
No longer will I roam.
Finally I have made it home.
polished by sunlight
dark green leaves of the live oak
shades spider web swing
happy children's laughter with
itsy bitsy spider song
Poetry Wheel Challenge:
Theme: Dreams
Emotion: Joy
Color: Blue
Season: Harvest
Form: Couplet
Object: Lego
Verb: Bound
Created using the PoetrySoup Poetry Wheel.
Upon the floor we play, me and my little boy
where toys are helter skelter... where we find joy
It's harvest time for our ripened fields of corn
Pretending the yellow ears are babes been born
Blue Legos are his favorite color in the giant set
Time spent in play with him, I never will regret
Mothers dream of her child's laughter as a favorite sound
When he naps, into the toybox the Legos are bound
Hi, hell
Hello from a smile I hid
Or didn't, the lie of a bravado?
That I claim like the sense to live
You smile to...
But I've only seen it in my imagination
Hell's stink, and the season of response in loves who
To admit an apology is mine, for another purposes silence
Shade me from a severity
Stoic and furious story's, to collect as a person was
Simple rational, to have a babe's vanity
Privilege before passion, passion before peace, peace before purpose
How did this all happen?
Children on the verge of losing patience, do know a prayer was...
Find out, curses of persuasion, the fate of youth is to come in the hands of laughter
With the integrity of more, and the seed of promises, uncertain of a future cause...
Life-oppressed, dont fail me now
Laughing mechanism.
With face lit up know its working.
Breathless; with each spasm!
The magic lantern, like Plato's cave
Should comfort us from here to grave
Illusions tempt but serve to save
Us all from small tedium
The little deaths that make up life
'tween buoyancy and mindless strife
Let balance there be our midwife
And rescue lies aborning
Breathe deeply in, the chance of mirth
At ev'ry chance from here to birth
The only measure of life's worth
Is pleasure gained from honest laughter dawning
For life's a heavy weight to bear
And we should not the mantle wear
Like it's a cloak of camel's hair
Thru the desert of life's making
When oasis waits upon the verge
If we but let our senses merge
Resisting mightily the urge
To wallow there in grieving
When courage is what takes the day
While life's embattled forces play
The lightness out in bitter fray
Shall not the victor be upon death's requiem
?I stopped looking for You in distant skies.
You were waiting in the quiet all along.
In a hand that reached for mine without a word,
In the quiet grit to just begin again.
?You spoke through ordinary mornings,
And stayed through nights that had no answers.
I found You in shared bread, held tears, and easy laughter.
Not a blinding light—just a steady presence.
?The closer I came to love, the closer You seemed.
The less I demanded, the more I finally noticed.
Perhaps finding You was never the journey at all.
Perhaps it was just learning how to truly see.
A Thousand-Watt Smile
A thousand-watt smile isn't born to hide the pain;
It blooms when someone knows they're not alone.
It rises from a heart that's danced with rain,
Yet still finds hope in places once unknown.
It reaches softly to the waiting eyes,
Where tears and laughter leave their gentle trace.
No mask, no pretense, nothing to disguise—
Just quiet courage shining through the face.
It warms the silence, brightens every room,
And lifts the weight that weary hearts have known.
A simple smile can chase away the gloom,
Reminding us that love is always shown.
A giggle a day keeps you youthful.
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Who we are, in terms of learning
Is it really important to know?
Just substances of shared belonging
Therein as above, so below
I don’t mean depth with all implied
The real truth comes superficial
It strikes the way unjustified
With obviousness of recognition
Each word reflects like carved in stone
So is the laughter, and the silence
The echo says you’re not alone
The past continues under guidance
Of future that has gone too soon
It was a thought that couldn’t last long
Two stones had fallen from the moon
Now they are one, happily wrong.
The coffee spills- black rivers on the floor- and I, barefoot, just laugh. The morning yawns, its breath
still thick with yesterday's small wars. But here's the joke: the sun keeps climbing on, unfazed by burnt
toast, unpaid bills, my socks that vanished in the wash. The cat just stares, unimpressed by my chaos.
Tick-tick-tock, the clock mocks my rush. Yet - somehow - the air is sweet like stolen sugar.
Gratitude is sly.
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