Long Legalese Poems
Long Legalese Poems. Below are the most popular long Legalese by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Legalese poems by poem length and keyword.
All around, smoke ribboned from ashtrays
and mushroomed on the stained ceiling.
There, in the corner, F. Lee Bailey glared,
like a father watching his ill behaved children,
but, as children do, they ignored him.
Irving Kanarek leaned on the far end of the bar.
He was equally ignored,
as barristers sought their pecking order
in a gaggle of egos.
Over the bar a sign hung, "The Bench",
where ironically, the bartender, in jest,
would be asked to "judge" the winner of some petty spat.
Conversation was tediously interrupted as night progressed,
"Objection your honor,l he's badgering the witness"!
"Objection sustained" would ring out from behind the bar,
but amidst all the pseudo legalese, a pall hung ~
draping down the walls like smoke.
They must laugh for sanity but
the killer set free, who would kill again
became the dragon in the room
that would follow them home...
Note: F. Lee Bailey defended the Boston Strangler. OJ Simpson and others
and Irving Kanarek defended Charles Manson
We all willingly give them the power
every time we turn-on our TVs
and absorb all their well-scripted comments
entertained by disguised legalese
Then we buy and we use all their products
fill their coffers with money and gold
every year they repeat with new upgrades
an increase in each new item sold
All the drilling and fracking continues
and we all fill our cars with the fuel
as the poisonous fumes cause the cancers
which make death most especially cruel
We, the People, have all of the power
we can take it all back if we choose
and if ever we should come together
there is no fight we ever would lose
OLD AND NEW 2 : BOARDROOM
Jackal preyed on dimpled dolls
smiling gold on slender wrist
nosing down a slippery path
scowling schoolboy promoted
beyond his mediocre castle
Mammals sat on polished teak
coiffed moustaches, tonged peaks
feeding unclipped grapevines
old words and wounds
eating raisin muffins
Falcon scribbled notes
watching eyes serving
newly ordained masters
legalese from a previous
age flowed from fine shifting
fingers in a cage
Overgrown thyroid sat there
his infantry lost in teeming
townships blaring transistors
interrogators of another time
peeped at a polished tiger-eye
on his seat
Minds like noisy tools
drilled atomic holes in
the boardroom table
beaded headdresses falling
from fat oozing french seams
They will learn Christmas carols
in mint retirement homes
when the table losses its legs
©GhairoDanielsPoetry1997
LIFE IN A SUITCASE
Crawling in the loft today, I found the suitcase.
Through a cobweb curtain, beneath a patina of dust
It lay.
Just where it’s lain for twenty years, full of memories of early days.
The suitcase.
The rusting lock resisted but eventually succumbed.
I tentatively raised the led..
And there, on top, the baby book, pages edged in blue,
Lovingly recording every detail as I grew.
Birth weight 6 pounds ten.
First tooth, first word (real or imagination?)
First step, first use of potty? Please Mum, too much information.
First inoculation.
First day at school. Is that a tear stain on the page?
Underneath, a folder full of dreaded school reports;
Teachers choosing from a list of typical retorts,
Cliché after cliché.
Progress satisfactory, written work untidy; English good.
In geography he’s lost his way; must try harder,
And now a sheaf of cuttings, yellowing as cuttings do.
A public record of my passage through
Those early days.
My parents proudly announce my birth in nineteen- thirty-eight.
My coming of age in ‘fifty-nine..
The engagement, the wedding, the first-born son;
The second, the third – where did he come from?
An afterthought.
But here’s a form, in legalese beyond dispute;
The parting of the ways is absolute.
That wasn’t part of the plan.
The story in the suitcase ends just there;
There’s no more room for records telling where
Life took me next.
Somewhere up there, another suitcase houses volume two.
But that’s for another day.
Today I have too much to do.
1st August 2020
Dusty Old Memories poetry contest
Sponsor Constance La France
One day I took the subway
and I went around the world
From one car to another
a new nation’s flag unfurled
The train took off from Brooklyn
and I hopped on at Times Square
and by the time that I got home
I’d been most everywhere
The couple that spoke Yiddish,
and hurried on their way
were deep in conversation
which she ended with, “Oy vey.”
And then I heard some talking
that turned out was Portuguese
At first I thought was Spanish
might as well been legalese
Rushing through the last three cars
so packed, I had to squeeze
I heard an “Arigatou”
which I know is Japanese
“La vita non è facile”
I smiled because I knew
The woman spoke Italian
and the meaning came right through
Then right before I exited
the girl who dropped her toy
Said “Shukran,” as she took it
from the little Arab boy
There aren’t many places
you can hear a language mix
After work, around the world
and still be home by six
Their ships dot the oceans all over the world
armed with missiles and bombs for a fight
The two are opposed on every idea
each one thinks that their way is the right
But both are two sides of the same dirty coin
where money and power control
One uses carrot and one uses fear
different ways to achieve the same goal
The fascists all do it with physical force
as they threaten with violence and fear
A nation of robots to run into fires
they are pawns sent by kings, every year
The capitalists use a most different approach
as their power exists on the Hill
Where donors make laws via people we pay
and the taxpayers foot every bill
Both Parties are playing the same donor game
so the Congress is owned heart and soul
By the wealthy who sell all the products we buy
to have more is their permanent goal
The facade which America always projects
is unraveling before our eyes
The oil and the sugar and gun industries
the loopholes, legalese and the lies
The people are hungry for more than just food
they want fairness and truth in their lives
As a country so rich, has them stand on bread lines
to ensure that their family survives
Rules and regulations bring economic strangulation
Policies and procedures serve the whims of weak leaders
Statutes and ordinances pave the road to subordinance
Hypotheses and theories render creativity weary
Laws and by-laws stick fast in your craw
Custom and tradition tie the hands of ambition
Axioms and corollaries, originality bury
Torts and contracts recall long-dead artifacts
Plea bargaining, eminent domain, the statute of limitations
Reek of appeasement and Machiavellian machination
Give me a world without all the perverse legalese
A world of brave men, who dare do as they please
You may think that I speak about robbers
who wear masks when they’re pulling a job
Or the one who’s in charge of the driving
or the loan sharks who work for the mob
But these criminals are a bit different
they have bastardized all of our laws
Given power by most of the voters
they’ve exposed our system’s great flaws
Some will argue that Trump is the problem
but Republicans hold all the cash
They’re betraying their oaths and democracy
throwing both of these jewels in the trash
As the GOP votes for its donors
and gets richer with trading of stocks
Undercover of legalese, lawyers twist laws
then strut through all the courts like game cocks
Now the People must rise and start fighting
for democracy stands on the edge
As they say, freedom doesn’t come easy or cheap
it is time to fulfill our Pledge