Long Pinafore Poems

* This poem was written for a contest originally, but was used by Professor Anne-Marie Thornton of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, to teach her WAR POETRY class in the spring semester of 2017. My...

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Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

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One morning early a Dad and his son Tom went for a walk in the country, they journeyed
through the still mist looking for flowers for the boy's Mom, but they did not see many.
Just then...

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(Fictional, but based on the real experience of one of my close friends who lost her daughter in an accident)

 As I sat on my desk,
Hurrying with my pent up work,
A scrap of paper, left...

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Choking Back The Tears!

This papa did accurately
surmise undeclared war
strong armed lance pierced my armour,
ah...how fondly he recalls
early fatherhood days of yore,
when daddy's first born girl

did effusively adore
yours truly, he likened self as topnotch
trooper, who mustered...

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"Dammit - I take your advice seriously!" Puggily said,
Squeezing as much water as she could from her tiny red pinafore,
(Looking rather embarrassed and dejected).
Twinkles, her prettisome guru, still could not speak a word,

As he/she, (gurus...

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A game of musical chairs has just begun in earnest. A pot and kettle band arrives 
through the dining rooms’ French doors following the Valentine Queen. A putrid pink 
flamingo with a croquet ball stuck...

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I don't need to remember what it was like  to be  a kid

 I don' t need to memorize where all the fun had been .

It was  in  the unique moment...

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oh, my precious child!

let me kiss away your weep -
do not be troubled, the moon but bids good night
(stars whispering their ancient lullaby)
swallowing not, the western reach
but merely giving pause to the day, waking
so that...

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oh, my precious child,
let me kiss away your weep -
do not be troubled, the moon but bids good night,

       stars whispering their ancient lullaby,

swallowing not, the western reach,
but merely...

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In the black and white days of the 1950’s schools made youngsters learn and learn well or else,
Uniforms were as important with short trousers and knee length grey socks with elastic garters,
Garters would get so...

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Just a few years back……
Beady doe eyes, lips beautiful lilac,
Dimpled chubbiest little cheeks,
Awesome twin ponies, the cutest chic!
There sat my mom with her friend, rhyming alphabet.
Swinging legs in black ballerina shoes, pretending to be alert.

Just...

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I held the strap taut, bowing down at the dirt,
six feet or more, the rectangular hole,
no sweetness or welcome, just earth on the lid
where resided the bones of the previous soul.

Lowered with care, my brother...

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She could hardly wait to begin her very first day of school.
(Which is rare indeed for a child, as a general rule!)
She'd watched kids thro' her window as they daily trudged,
To the little school house...

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WHIRLPOOLS

You were born
Into broad daylight
Tears of joy and fragrance,
Of tender love-
Flowing to my veins, your soft skin
Anointing a life time fulfilment.
You swam on all fours
Lisping in my lap.
A bout of fever, you lay still
Shuddered as...

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I visited my grandparents today.
Their home has never changed
in all the years I’ve visited
since my life began.

The white ceiling is stained
in shades of orange and peach
from the tobacco pipe
Jim puffs on with grandeur.

The smell put...

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The Christmas tree is lit in the rectory. 
There is a glow of Jesus all over the church
We are dressed in our Christmas finery. 
The little kids are up front, out-singing Mrs. McGill.
I am one...

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I see it, little one ...
in the magic of your eyes -
'tis the world, blooming wondrous!
bright, dazzling dreams of a midday meadow
a softened sweep of butterfly wings, azure-bound
the warm, wobbly mud of a May puddle
and...

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There’s a forest bizarre neither nearby nor far,
full of sights somewhat scary to spook a soul wary.
The deep, darkened jungle, I think you’ll agree 
is never a safe place for you or for me...

The vicious...

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Jimmy warned Pinks of her dangerous inclinations 
of chugging too close to the capricious edge, but she kept laughing 
and refused to listen until she skid and bounced down the hill.
Jimmy retrieved her in an...

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There was a time when she lit up 
in the firmness of youth-- like a rose on an April
morn greeting daylight with a petal-soft kiss.
And the lively wind rustled her orange pinafore... 
Oh, a time...

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The young Kumar’s wife dancing bright,
Offering to all exciting pleasant sight.
Making her waist into the vivacious folds,
Throwing the eye glances to the folks.
Her neap tide vest and spring tide bosom,
Unruly, swelling, her case cannot fathom.
Clicking...

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Type A attempts to stress me up and make me do her bidding.
Too late.
I am lying under the rustling shadow canopy of my largest oak.
I can feel an ant on my arm, and it makes...

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I hold my little new born child  
who is born in a hospital
in a town where tumbleweeds roll mild   
the Cancer has been staged, its terminal 
incurable and running wild 

every hair...

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THE A CAPELLA PIRATE by Jeanette Jones 
based on Portrait No 6, Theater by Mary Cassate 1879 



THE A CAPELLA PIRATE

Be it Pirates of Penzance or H.M.S Pinafore, 
it never really matters. 

His bombastic swaying...

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