Long Retrieved Poems

Long Retrieved Poems. Below are the most popular long Retrieved by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Retrieved poems by poem length and keyword.


Premium Member The Life of This Writer

writing is daydreaming on paper or sometimes straight into a computer.
notes crossed out, smacked around, slashed, re-visited, starred, circled,
checked, underlined, slashed out again, retrieved.

after print has happened, it all begins anew.  I count the syllables,
make six hundred tally marks on the page, slash out, cross out, circle,
write OKAY in big letters, draw arrows, put Xs, start rearranging.
Using 1, 2, 3, and A, B,C, as I valiantly try to figure out where 
the next line is going, or whether to even keep it.

I sit down to figure it out, and decide it will be easier to begin
again, rather than edit what has already been typed.  So I begin again,
slashing, dashing, drawing, starring, circling, smacking, cracking,
discarding, resurrecting.

the life of this writer.


Premium Member Burning Bridges

There was a time with raging blaze

          when suspension lost track

                    in bad faith and delusion

                              and bridges burnt ahead

Cold it was despite my soul engulfed in fire

          which left its raging spirits

	            in restless stagnant apathy

		              called Self and void oblivion

Smoulder and ember blocked the way

          forward and lava froze over

	            a hell bent on endless dead ends

		              from fake comfort and corrupt deceit


An angel dressed in blue cotton picked up trapped remains

Little did I known of red Princess lace and her thoughtful mind

Not that violet lips would blow upon me kisses and embrace

That walking dead on ashes could invigorate our tender path


Then came a time when shadows realigned

          quivers trembled in heated passion

	            abeyance lit a joyful path of no return

		              abandonment became abundance

Left behind remained false horizons and ruins

          a fading chill forsook frozen memories

	            retrieved our long forgotten souls
 
		              and shone a torch of loving peace


With nothing left to leave behind but dissembled disillusion

Skin touched upon moist fragrant skin and journeys merged

Seduced reclusion into sizzling fingertips searching the source

Blissfully naked we vowed to only burn bridges which we crossed

Great People

There are some great people
Who treat you as their own pupil
Until you confront a trouble
some great persons are there
All the euphoric events they share
After fathoming your agony, don't they dare care
There are some great minds
To hear your happy verses they incline
And when you lament, they abruptly decline
By embracing you, they make you ween they are gem
And desperately shove off, when you need them
Not even the almighty can predict their traits
But the time could rip up the masks tight
And when you perceive them and try to dodge
Ungrateful person you are, they accord a badge
When time unveils these personalities
Be thankful that it also retrieved your ability
Having discerning true faces of those great peep 
Be thankful that you are able to know them deep
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Mister of Montgomery 1964-1975

"I carry your heart with me(I carry it in my heart)I am never without it"
                                      Quote _ by E.E. Cummings

in my thoughts today
mister of montgomery-                        
a pure-bred collie

with our three young kids
he seemed like a fourth with fur-
just one of the gang

he played beside them
retrieved twigs and rubber balls-
wrestled on the lawn

at each school day's end
on time, top of the driveway-
met them at the bus

he protected us;
strangers beware, yet always-
our gentle giant

one sad day he laid
outside the back shed, lifeless-
our hearts were broken

at this favored place
where he loved to rest, we shared-
forever goodbyes


September 2, 2022

Contest: Writing Challenge: In My Heart- S Forms - Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France 
Theme: Lost To Heaven - Mister Dog
Form: Senryu

Mrs Hollywood

Dear mrs. Hollywood
This will be my only letter
I hope it's understood
Once done you'll know me better

 It seems, my lack of self esteem
Helped mold your false impression
This quite possibly may sting
But consider it a blessing

I pampered your pride
Added stuffing to your rear
But the truth is, I lied
It's time to make that clear

You weren't the image of perfection
I let you believe to be
Never the reflection
I wanted looking back at me

Now that your turned around
I'm letting this burden fly
If you hear a praising sound
You'll be sure it isn't I

Tales of the glory, of being you
Began to burn my ears
I'm smarter than you think and I accrue
Things I've heard over the years 

A mom with a business centered mind
You measure achievement by wealth
That poor little girl, always left behind
Alone on her grand carousel 

You're starved for power, parched for fame
And you finally got a taste 
Several people have learned your name 
As you win your invisible race

I give you credit for climbing so high
The clouds now cover your feet
You reach your hand to my surprise
But it was your ego that needed to eat

You quickly retrieved your limb
Retracting it from my reach
Lucky for me, I know how to swim
And was never much of a leech

So this is how I'll say farewell 
Nothing more, required
You chose the time to bail
My loyalty has expired
Form: Rhyme


Horatio Nelson 1758-1805

Years ago I did so choose, to go on a Caribbean clipper ship cruise,
and, in addition to several other islands,
anchored off Nevis, northwest of Saint Kitts,
where, in the late 1780's, Nelson had lived,
and still bears traces of his presence today,
in various parts, pieces and bits.
When our windjammer Skipper informed us,
'Shopping here's good, snorkeling is bad,'
I avoided the former, sought out the latter,
and, as a matter of fact, a good time was had,
for no sooner had I ducked under,
two feet from the waterline,
in about one foot deep (shallow) water,
tho' visibility was, in inches, no more than nine,
I espied a white clay churchwarden pipe,
which I retrieved, broken, not whole,
with one third of the stem, and most of the tobacco-burned bowl.
1787, Nelson married the widow Fanny Nisbet on Nevis,
and, as the island he was about to depart,
'Desist smoking or else!'
Horatio may have heard her insist or impart,
and that which I found, I've a mind to say,
was his very last pipe, he'd reluctantly tossed overboard,
on that sunny day, when, as Captain of Boreas, he sailed away.
Form: Rhyme

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Her story ends in a storage unit;
she wrote it quickly in-between bottles of Liebfraumilch
- her life so far,
an autobiography hard to imagine
could have been told in any other way.
The editing took many toll-taking years
decades that squeezed themselves into her soul
fearful of being overheard.

A tell-tale flotsam of hurried escapes,
the litter of abandoned rented apartments,
dockets of disarray, a tally of wrong choices,
unkept residue locked away for a better day.
Among the put-away, a ‘little brother’ manual typewriter
in a suitcase marked ‘mine,’
one edge crushed by a jumble of household items.
Various chunks of collateral clutter,
now stricken in a clamshell of dinge,
objects acquired when the idea of a ‘household’
had a life raft attached to it.

Perhaps one day she will be in place, perfectly set
and equipped to fit somewhere,
but as yet she finds herself unable to write
about certain uncertain matters.

 

Could have pawned the typewriter.
Could have found less impoverished lovers.
Could have paid the storage bill
before it was emptied,
Should have retrieved the typewriter,
would have then rewritten her life
from a muddled manuscript of memory
forsaking all other versions.

Time Is the Master

Time is the master
These are the words that I hear
Time is the master
My mother's words  kept ringing in my ear
Patience keep testing my soul
Patience is knocking at the door
Time is the master
Time settle the score and time breaks the door
Time is waiting to reveal the truth 
Time knows everything about me and you
Time is the master
I drove down the back side of the park
where it was quiet and had  no one within
But as soon as I got there the demons appeared
and the County school bus kept going round
and round the bend with cars following behind them
creating a disturbing nuisance in nature
I crawled in the bushes  to block out the  distraction
But  as soon as I  start writing  the entire verse disappeared
I did not delete it and I could not retrieved it
I look around to see if anyone was there
but it was just me the trees and the birds
And instantaneously an old Caribbean folk song surface in the air
"Come let us go down Emmanuel road girls and boys
to break rock stone"start shouting in my head
I sang for a while then continued my writing
Time is the master 
Trees standing tall in the forest
Trees leaning against each other
bearing one another's weight
waiting patiently for the master
Trees of assorted size, fat , plump, thin and slander
Short trees, tall trees getting ready to roll the dice
Trees standing on stump gutted way down to the bump
Trees that would make good firewood looked at me in silence
Fallen trees lying in the same place for decades
with decaying trunks and worms falling from their face
The birds stand on their wounded shoulders
complaining to one another
Trees that stood the test of time
signaled that nothing can uproot the divine 
Trees anchored in the ground for fifty two years
sucking the life out of everyone far and near
spreading and catapulting its branches all over the land
captivating and confusing everyone
They stand still waiting
Waiting for the wind
In which direction will it blow
Only God knows
How do you explain the nature of things
Follow me down Emmanuel road
To break rock stone and we will see  how it goes
Time is the master of all things.

Reread

I’m reading a book that I’ve read once before,
But it’s not for the reason you’re thinking.
It’s not that I loved it, but rather because
As I’m aging, my memory’s shrinking.

The author is someone whose writing I like,
Yet the title I didn’t recall.
It was published a number of years ago, still
It did not sound familiar at all.

So I brought the book home and I started to read
And I felt something tug at my brain;
For the characters’ problems allowed me to see
I was walking familiar terrain.

From the nooks and the crannies where info is stored,
I retrieved little bits that adhered;
But enough of the story’s retained its suspense,
For the bulk of it has disappeared.

I’ve decided that I will keep reading this book
And in case this may find you perplexed,
Though I’ve read it before – I’m quite sure of it now –
I have no idea what happens next!
Form: Rhyme

Time

Eighteen years of wild youth
 and I moved forward in search of life's truths.
Suddenly, I was twenty one
 and there was nothing that could not be done;
reality set in round twenty five
 and life seemed a struggle just to survive.
Thirty slipped and slid around the corner
 my generation thought we were surely goners,
but life moved on quick and fast
 and suddenly forty years had passed.
So much yet to come, things to do and places to see
 when fifty years were lost upon the breeze
and awakened by the passing joy and tears
 I looked back in time, some sixty years.
Retired now, social security retrieved
 spent thru seventy, can you believe?
So much to do, the future still waits, 
 on the edge of tempting fate.
Eighty lies on the horizon
 and I find I'm compromising
just a little more time
 as life begins to unwind.
© DM Babbit  Create an image from this poem.
Form: Rhyme

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