Long Pails Poems

* Examples for the contest

Jack and Jill (the real story)

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after..."

Of course, neither...

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Diary Notes: Lamentable laissez-faire

                     …the lêche cul is
back
       ...

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"Photographs escort us to hidden recesses of memory and bring before us rare moments lost in time"... By Poet

Flitting through the pages of an old album,
Picked up from an abandoned dusty box, 
I saw a...

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dousing your non-kinky hair
with peroxide in hopes of forming curly kinks
and without manipulation
the matted strands
finally intertwine
except your Peroxide Dreads
don’t resemble mind
            limp and still...

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All filled with tinsel and gifts
And shoppers prepared with their holiday lists; 
Big trees fill our homes and lights glow from our roofs
Each child tucked in bed listening for eight tiny hoofs; 

Parents scurry about...

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This is the best beer I've ever had. 
Yes, The best beer I've ever had. 
No beer is really bad, but 
This is the best beer I’ve ever had. 
 
Beer’s invention was accidental I’m told. 
Something about stored grain...

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Calm, cool mornings
Blessed with sunlight’s whisper,
Birds crooning softly in the distance,
Breathless dewdrops sliding hastily over
A petal, treasuring the promise of rain,
Hesitating then pouring down from heaven
In pails of beating BBs, little treasures
Telling of the adventures…...

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(French terms to know: arabesque (ar-a-besk) stand on one leg, other leg extended back
with knee straight, arms out; pirouette (peer-oo-et) a full turn of the body on the top of
the toe or the ball of...

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Before my wife and I
Broke out of our shell
For spring break in Miami
Just the two of us on our first vacation in 30 years

All our kids wished us well
Though I detected an ache in their...

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Another storm threatens to come in,
feeling my responsibility
for uncaring
and unresponsive history

Fearing you
more than loving us

Setting out your pails
and plastic tubs
to catch cold
and dreary drips

Impaled remembering
past wet enemies
becoming darker spots
as moist tears terrorize,
building mold untold
as yet...

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Dear Sisters, because we are one 
in that we share our DNA,
I put you all together as the “You,” that I love.
I love you for the fact that we all were raised together,
facing every turbulent...

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Open Letter to Thomas Jefferson

You sir, destination unknown, I dare
To address. A son of worthy causes  
For land vast in majesty and vast as
Vast can be in matters of liberty;
With ideals so prim and...

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Every cloud has silver lining
And with stories all untold
From the far off ocean chambers
From the far off foggy fold
On the puffs of summer zephyr
Come they rowing then unfold

Oceans, rivulets, ponds and Rivers
In the deeps of...

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Every cloud has silver lining
And with stories all untold
From the far off ocean chambers
From the far off foggy fold
On the puffs of summer zephyr
Come they rowing then unfold

Oceans, rivulets, ponds and Rivers
In the deeps of...

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On either side
Of a crowded family dinner table 
There are signs of ambition and resentment
Success and failure
Marked by those who pass
The plate
And those who only take.

A lighter than air blimp 
Floated 
Lazy circles 
High above...

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Walking along the ocean shore
Kicking up the golden sand
I feel the warmth of the rising sun
On the back of my freckled hand  
 
The willet and the sandpiper
Dash into the approaching waves
As the sand...

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Twenty kilometers out from shore. 
The day was magnificent, seagulls galore.
To fill our pails, we were wishing,
It was to be a leisurely day of fishing.

The weather forecast was never right. 
It reported gale force winds...

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Black lies and deceits were hidden within the cracks and crevices
Along with all the truths hidden that fears your greatest nemesis

But there was nothing that can be hidden that can’t be truly seen
All the decades...

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I

For once he banished all birds
from the air
       not just Mynas tick-picking
on twitching backs
       but all birds, unnamed
and high bred
with each wave of...

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Oh, my name is Ian Phillips
   And I'll quickly tell the tale
      Of a few men chasing shadows
   And their wealth that flows in pails,

There isn't...

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The whispering begins  Maybe our Fairy God Mother came Sunday night and changed  Ma’am
Oh Dot we can only wish so , I’m a little apprehensive, Al  what does  aperentcive mean I...

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Now Children the pink and purple pails are for the girls, blue and green for the boys
We are going berry picking down by the stone wall Mr. Bethel said we could pick his berries 
too
The...

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Mornings fade into evenings, evenings slip into nights.
Day colors spill from their pails, then seep into
valleys, wind caves and shale.

The Painted Desert bleeds into a Stygian hue
as the heat reaches up to embrace the moon
and...

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As the sun dips lower in the sky
And the ocean turns a deeper hue
Families pack up their children
Pails, shovels, blankets and shoes

The life guard closes up his tower
His day successfully through
No one lost in the...

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Sons and daughters are rising
against their parents,
they use obscenity
and physical force;
honor is no longer  
present in their unsound thoughts...
isn't the end coming soon?


Rivers and oceans flood towns and cities,
crops and lives are being ...

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