Long Hackneyed Poems

Friday May 13th, 2022

An excerpt taken from a lengthy tome,
written courtesy a favorite poet of mine.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia  struck within a blink,
I swear yours truly never took a drink,
nevertheless he witnessed
and falsely accused of being a...

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I got friggin heebie jeebies

Cuz buzzards circle o'er me
eyeing these lovely bones prithee
id est Roy L. T. Canard, Si
hence impossible mission 
to be lovey dove vee.

Vague remembrances of dream  
which recurred with frequency
transfixed by...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES: XLVII - Tongue Twisters

If you want to « have » your cake and « eat » it at one and the same time, simple enough, just split it into two equal parts like...

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About Bill Posters and Bill Greenwell

Words not to use in poems

In 1993, I (Bill Greenwell) went on a three-day workshop with the poet Peter Sansom, who co-edits The North, and runs the Smith/Doorstop imprint. He’s...

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Jinxed jesting jejune junior jobber...
just jabbering gibberish (A - J)

Again, another awkward ambitious
arduous attempt at alphabetically
arranging atrociously ambiguously
absolutely asinine avoidable alliteration.

Because...? Basically bonafide belching,
bobbing, bumbling, bohemian beastie boy,
bereft bummer, bleeds blasé blues, begetting
bloviated boilerplate bildungsroman,
boasting...

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[A few years ago, I wrote this poem “On Writing Poetry” for creative writing students. I hesitated to put it on Poetry Soup, but I did some revisions and decided to share it with you....

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Otto`s life is not
their British
sickular motto
Grue is his banner
left by his
blue-eyed Brit mom
left long by one of
those hated South
African Paki
His guilty pleasures
in Green Street have
no recognition like
many such Aussies in
mulberry bushes
Yet he shovels the
stake of...

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A Self-Tutoring Translation of RIMBAUD's Final Version " Vowels " in Contemporary Terms

(" Vowels " (final version, without the definite article, with the poet's corrections)  in RIMBAUD Œuvres complètes. Ed. by Pierre Brunel. Paris...

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“When the pen falls silent that once danced to the muse’s command and when the poet’s heart no longer beats with rhyme, we realize that the poet in us is dead. It is a sad...

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Dew drops fell on my eyelids,

as I lay upon dampened ground

I sighed and looked heavens up astound,

wishing for the pain to cease

I wiped my brow of all crease

with dismay my mind wonders

If it really is...

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Within the common (all purpose room)
     at highland manor apartments aye
daily encounter, one bewitchingly dreaded
     fiendishly horrible, jeeringly loopy,

     nap noopy, pugnaciously ravenous,...

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STONE - MADEMOISELLE L'VAMPYRE
From out of all the darkest nights we've ever known
her heart as black as all the sins that man has shown
she came in scantly fitted laced atire
abreathing smoke, her body hot as...

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MADEMOISELLE L'VAMPYRE
From out of all the darkest nights we've ever known
her heart as black as all the sins that man has shown
she came in scantly fitted laced attire
abreathing smoke, her body hot as fire,
and on...

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Hackneyed breath of words and the clichés hit the wall, 
A stream of summoned nonsense bounces off of me like superstition,
Benevolent limits of indulgence, on the other hand, - oh, well!

The oeuvre of life, I...

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Waiting for petrichor to rise                              ...

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A Self-Tutoring Translation of RIMBAUD's " The Vowels " in Contemporary Terms

(" The Vowels " in the Paul Verlaine (first version) copy in RIMBAUD Œuvres complètes. Ed. by Pierre Brunel. Paris : Livres de Poche/La...

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Sub-atomic particles
the atoms they form
molecules, cell organelles
cells, machinery of life
organs, organisms
communities and ecosystems
planets, solar systems, galaxies
galactic clusters and their inverse
black holes the doors to other
universes, a contradiction
in terms.
       ...

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Truth be told said topic minimally embellished
rather, prattling youthful looking
baby booming geezer
precious time (yours), he doth bilk
(cue sinister mock-up halloween voice)

moost valuable intangible
outstripping fine spun golden silk,
yet coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine
drives dingbat to whole new level
wits...

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MADEMOISELLE L'VAMPYRE
From out of all the darkest nights we've ever known
her heart as black as all the sins that man has shown
she came in scantly fitted laced atire
abreathing smoke, her body hot as fire,
and on...

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"Why is it", the donkey mused, "that horses get all the glory?
Seems throughout the ages its the same old hackneyed story.
We go unheralded and are treated with utter disdain,
While horses bear king and emperor about...

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I've been transformed by willingness, and a desire 
to move forward without keeping sad things in mind.


Confident to smile with surprise and allowing love to flow in;
faces don't avoid my glances that were unfriendly and...

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My heart is wrenched, it's awake...
I can't bare down any longer,
I can't hide it-or fight it-or act away from it,

This is the steel blow to my face,
This is a quiet morning sunken in mist, felt...

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Muscle-bound goons. The kind that rape the world. Self-satisfied, in no hurry to devote their remarkable faculties to understanding another’s mind. Such wise men. Stares as blank as summer nights, red and black, tricolored, golden...

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Gamesomeness goads gawky, gingerly,
goofily graceful, grandiloquent gent, gallant,
genteel, geico, guppy gecko, gabbling gaffes,
gagging, gamboling, gestating, gesticulating,
garlic, gnashing, gobbling, gyrating,

gruesomely grinning, grappling, gnomadic
giggly, grubby, gastrointestinally grumpy
gewgaw gazing guy, geographically germane,
gungho, grave gremlin, grumbling, guiding,
guaranteeing, guerilla gripped...

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Its wet and drear in London dear, the pomp in on full trope
Though hope is gone, not dead for Jesus is the only hope!
Its foolish to trust in others; dopes.' In robes and words
In fear...

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