Long Bogart Poems

Film Noir

By the lampost at night
with the pale moon shining bright
but obscured by the fog
I saw her in the harbor
standing where my boat lay moored
but she knew that
her azure eyes beckoned me to come
smoke from...

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Everybody got a Hollywood life story
to tell
More meat on the bone
give juicier bites 
to sell
Nobody ever turns in a tarnished silver screenplay
Those warts and mistakes
get Photoshop casting couch edited away
Baby Jane rude attitude don’t make...

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Kindness and Lament

Money never to be found or spare
Funny how people just sit there and stare
Honey now you know this really isn’t fair 
Sunny for those who genuinely care 
Affection for those who are broken...

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A room filled with sadness 

Standing alone in a room filled with sadness
Photograph smiles in a frame on the shelf
Ashtrays are filled with a death wish still breathing
Lighting another in spite of myself 

A hand...

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I am the Project Air Bridge, 
The veritable virus lord-cum-felon of duty fraud.
Fumaye's privileged his bridge that projects pompous airs.
Maelstrom, mammon coextend where it forks and fares.
Transpontine ambulances shriek, hearses creak;
Cispontine pandemia profiteerings peak. 
Lip...

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Marquees are bright with neon lights, where crowds line up for movie night
Holding hands, we're in 'The Strand'. The velvet carpet guides us in

Popcorn smokes, .. we're drinking cokes,...  and cracking jokes with Bing...

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It’s Saturday morning, and even though it’s Thanksgiving break, Lisa and I are in her bedroom, in NYC, studying.

“Ok,” Lisa stops, looks up and says, “give me a 5ex symbol.”

“I.. I don’t have one on...

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My Pet Poem, THE BETTAS

Like everyone else, I felt sorry
For the bright fish in the tiny cups,
Too many for too few homes, impossible
To think they’d not die there —
Sad,’cause it only follows:
Birds meant to fly,...

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The Scots, by God,
They drove them out,
With a single Yorkie
At their heels a' yappin'
The Hobyahs tried to fly
Their arms they were a flappin'

Some managed to take to sea
And landed in Hamptonshire,
Yes-serieee!!!
But the British Navy would...

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Lights are low.  Reflections flicker on the wall
Mirror images of those from long ago.
Dead so many years, yet who are still alive...
Here,...in black and white, ...in this dark room

Bergman and Grant.  I watch...

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 High-ho! High-ho! High-ho!
  it’s off to the pub and gig we go
 Willy Wonka ticket stubs in our hand
  on our way to see the band
 Climb the fence, jump the turnstiles
...

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Being back home, in my childhood room is like climbing into a time capsule. I left for college quickly, back in ‘21 and I’ve only been back here once, briefly.

My closets are still full of...

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Two Words – Redux Two
 
Push
Pull

Donut
Hole

Toilet
Bowl

Laundry
Fold

Sing
Song

Ping
Pong

Mao
Zedong

Fly
Eater

Cloud
Nine

Moon
Shine

Vinegar
Brine

Wild
One

No
Pun

Arm
Leg

Black
Plague

Circle
Square

Head
Hair

Sonic
Whistle

Broom
Thistle

Pretty
Face

Human
Race

Alien
Space

Mountain 
Road

Horned
Toad

Meteor 
Rock

Mister
Spock

Start
Dart

Go
Flow

Pol
Pot

Hope
Not

Green
Brown

Smile
Frown

City
Town

River
Creak

Circus
Freak

Stuffy
Nose

Big
Toes

Bogart
Bacall

Free
Fall

Standing
Tall

Music
Note

Castle
Moat

Witch
Hag

Laundry
Bag

Robber
Rubber

Space
Discover

Race
Car

Bucket
Tar

Fruit
Jar

Phrenology
Psychology

Logo
Pogo

Wine
Beer

Whine
Jeer

Weather
Clear

Beach
Chair

People
Stare

Garden
Hose

Bloody
Rose

Genius
Knows

Alaskan
Snow

Car
Far

Road
Tar

Proud
Hound

Ground
Round

Upside
Downside

Aladdin
Jafar 

Genie
Wish

Table
Fish

Wash
Dish

Slobber
Swish

Babble
Gabble

Clark
Gable

Atlantic
Cable

Stool
Pool

Fad
Lad

Gary Bateman, Copyright © All Rights Reserved
September 3, 2018 (Short-Form Free Verse)...

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Jasper J. Jigglebottom was stuck in the sixties, and proud of the fact.
He was on a movie set, admired by many for he could certainly act.
His job was to be available to stand in until...

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Will Stop Poetry Writing

Sometimes I will stop poetry writing
Another thing may seem more inviting
After much further review and scrutiny
Read about movie called "Caine Mutiny."

Actually, really Caine had a letter "K"
For new vice president now on...

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Ah! The Golden Years of Hollywood
And those old black and white movies
Some were cinematic disasters
But some you could call quite groovy

Even now, my heart skips a beat
When one appears on the late night screen
I choke...

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I wake from a bad dream 
Hey there new man
That’s what they said to me
Hey there how’s it been lately?
I stand, look and see

Elvis, Martin Luther King and John Lennon walk on by so casually.
Roy...

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Ah! The Golden Years of Hollywood
And those old black and white movies
Some were cinematic disasters
But some you could call quite groovy

Even now, my heart skips a beat
When one appears on the late night screen
I choke...

Read More

Ah! The Golden Years of Hollywood
And those old black and white movies
Some were cinematic disasters
But some you could call quite groovy

Even now, my heart skips a beat
When one appears on the late night screen
I choke...

Read More

In the midst of myself I see all a named through a blame of crystal ball garbage self imposed heaps of anarchic monumental fever itches slowly coalescing compost inflaming frolicking one step beyond destitute drowned...

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If only I had been a teen in the Fifties
I'm sure I would have had "Happy Days",
Like Fonzie I would have donned a leather jacket
And young babes would have lavished me with praise

Like James Dean...

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I dreamt I awoke in a 1939 Buick 
as it sped into the 40’s,
a decade depleted of running boards.

I wondered 
how could tommy-gun wielding 
gangsters appear historically relevant
without running boards?
Running boards mark an era
the way...

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NOTHING MISSING, NOTHING BROKEN 
With your head, roll out drums,
Mighty trumpets in their stead,
And like Eagles soar higher in the sky,
The skies of your mind, 

Do not crumble on vain things,
And do not hijack your...

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I walk the path of life today
   and think on days gone by.
When we were young, and bold
   and free, and oh so very spry.

We knew so very little,
  ...

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She had cable cars in her brain,
And she said she loved the rain,
She had Golden Gate horizons in her eyes.
She said she had to get away
To that city by the Bay
For a vacation under California...

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