Long Shafted Poems

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


Ince St Child

Ince St. Child
by Michael R. Burch 
 
When she was a child
in a dark forest of fear,
imagination cast its strange light
into secret places,
scattering traces
of illumination so bright,
years later, she could still find them there,
their light undefiled.
 
When she was young,
the shafted light of her dreams
shone on her uplifted face
as she prayed . . .
though she strayed
into a night fallen like woven lace
shrouding the forest of screams,
her faith led her home.
 
Now she is old
and the light that was flame
is a slow-dying ember . . .
what she felt then
she would explain;
she would if she could only remember
that forest of shame,
faith beaten like gold.
 
This was an unusual poem, written in my youth, and it took me some time to figure out who the old woman was. She was a victim of childhood incest, hence the title I eventually came up with. Keywords/Tags: Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, Pedophilia, Depravity, Betrayal, Shame, Humiliation, Evil, Family, Innocence, Childhood, Girl, Memory, Memories, Repressed Memories, PTSD, Shock, Shell Shock
Form: Verse


Premium Member Retrieving Reprieve

He was caught in a mine of a mind in reprisals admonitions and self-reproach 

Had been looking for diamonds and gold but then the escape shaft caved in

Gotten shafted and the stake stuck like an iron rod from rock bottom to head

The metal changed colour in Jonathan’s lazy synapses as they flooded his brain

It had become a matter of intrinsic extrication no more death dance with poles

Now he was chasing a break out route but the canary had snuffed its last breath

The tunnels began to fill with water and he had to reason and ration his thoughts


Only one way to go he resolved but actually there had been two at the least

Three hundred meters or so in one direction eight thousand miles for the detour

‘Better to rest for a while then to start digging one scrape and crack at the time’

He had a bit of explosive left but the roof could cave in and bury him alive

‘If live gives you a barrow the wheels are still turning and I got a shovel’

The rescue team was far away and he needed to take self-control or expire

Water kept seeping up to his ankles so far so good thus he would not be thirsty


‘Disaster brought me to my knees before maybe the lessons have to taught me’

Jonathan was not an ancient legend and he could do without metaphoric riddles

Timing was essential but experience comes before essence ‘it’s time to get up’

Nothing to lose as he had very few possession ‘I think and therefore I am’

‘Searching for earthly possession got me here in the first place’ and in any case

He could not eat precious metals they would not make a dent in his pitiful pit

Even if he would only ever only scratch the surface he would go out with a bang


19th March 2019

Catching My Heart

I’ve lost my heart among the woods,
Where now it flutters in the drafts
And moves about close secrets kept
Within the floras’ whispered breath.

I know because there glimpses break
Between the bark-skinned living things,
Where there it flows from one to next
In jubilant discovery.

I feel it yet, though standing yon,
Of how the boughs absorb the sun
Among the shafted beams of light
That pierce the hazy, busy air.

Despite observing, yet I sense
The stirring of euphoria
That rises from the forest floor
To giant heights within my heart.

I think that I should join with it
If I can catch it in a pause,
For time can pass so ever slow
And ever speed to its demise.

Premium Member Truckers Shut It Down

We need to send a message for Washington to hear
We need to make a statement and make it loud and clear
Leave rigs double parked in every town
Come on truckers. Shut it down
Block the highways. Set your course.
Show our politicians a united force
Politicians! While you're kissing babies remember this
We've got something you can kiss
We wanted a leader. We got a clown.
So let's go truckers. Shut it down.

                       It is time to start sending a message to our OPEC owned and 
operated congresss. If you can't stop the oil gougiing prices, we can stop the 
entire country. What happens if the last of the American cowboys, the truck 
drivers, unite? If they double park their rigs on the interstates all over the country, 
unhook them and leave them there? These guys are getting shafted by the same 
people who subsidize airlines so the executives can milk the living hell out of it. 
Meanwhile, not only the independent, but any small trucking company can't afford 
to stay in business. It is time to shut it down
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Mind the Mines

Mind The Mines

Deep in the pits he digs with no miner’s lamp in hand to lighten the grime
                     ‘alight’ whisper diminishing grips from the edge of bored winzes whence
the shafted canary slowly progresses towards breathless suffocation

                   Fists in anger palms and realms blistered oozing from purulent scratches
surface subdued in labyrinth’s mazes wretched wrenched and perplexed

               An ossuary with bones and fragmented ember of mental contention crushed
seduced by toxic waters confronting the essence and one final leap for the void

                  Then buried yet glimmering a candle flickers to shine and gold dust blows
 the canary and the miner a kiss of life so that Orpheus finds solace in realisation
              that shadows and light must be married for a way in and way out to emerge

26th November 2016


Premium Member Solo

romantic loom spins closure, unexpected
bewildering jumble of unwinding threads
messy break up in a ping pong bounce of accusations
shafted love affair that's also about one's self
complex jigsaw gutted, buried in conjecture
                                          that shifts balance
serenity's search when being out of sync is a ringing
                                                                          emptiness

crystal ball wishing
             for another with the soft feel of velvet
             for lips with the softness of depth
             to repair life stalled by combative impulses 
contentious solution to the puzzle of brokenness 
             a search that pokes through 
                                               a garden's cold decay












composed August 17/21

Premium Member Blue Coffee

I sipped blue coffee in the morning,
Eyes twitching against bright screens by nine.
The sound of the ocean from the basement office...
The problem is I'm lost in caves.
I try to connect the strand these days but I'm lurking
In and out of caverns of shafted light,
Marked memories.

This is a waterfall that cascades into each day,
Like those Dutch windmills
That carry buckets of water round and round
And then suddenly it's the evening and you're terrified
Of being found.
Though that's what you wanted the whole time.
And at the onset of the night fog you walk soldier-like 
Through hush colors while half-closing doors,
Too alert to go to sleep.

Christmas Markets

How I love this time of year
When Christmas markets beckon!
All major cities have them
And some small towns, too, I reckon.

The festive booths display their wares,
A lot of them hand-crafted,
Their quality assuring you
That no, you won’t get shafted.

From jewelry (my favorite)
To ceramics, hats and leather,
The dealers ply their products
In whatever kind of weather.

For now’s the time that people buy – 
The ornaments and mittens
And toys and t-shirts, socks and mugs
Adorned with pups or kittens.

Of course, there’s hot mulled cider
Paired with donuts, for such offers
Keep shoppers warm and cozy,
Tempting them to fill the coffers.

Today I splurged on earrings
Though I’m often quite contented
To just browse and see what’s out there,
All so very well-presented!
Form: Rhyme

Dear President Obama

all those town meeting's
where they scream and they yell
it's a perfectly good reaction
from an industry about to fail
this babalon they've built
has stood for so long
it's way too late
for them to notice
something's gone wrong
they built an evil empire
to feed their selfish desires
taking peoples money
just like they were dummies
keep it nice and legal
was their claim to fame
but playing with peoples futures
is'nt just a game
they shafted a lot of nobodies
and didn't think they'd pay
but the account has added up
and wicked will be the day
they ask the guilt sick exectutive
"How did you get so high?"
he said "I saved a lot of money
and I took a lot of lives. "
so many were the casualties
in the financial war
someone had to stand up 
and ask the world "What for?"
and now they want to fight
to keep it all the same
i say "To hell with that.
Let's get on with change."
Form: Rhyme

Exstinktion Smells

The scencelessness 
Of unscentered 
Aromatic sounds
Sussurational smoke
Key ness obfuskates
Obvious lee unsanitized
Thoughts – fill blank your
Self less lee shellfish
A float buzzes buy
Bye dove egg sun
Shy lull a buyer 
Was here, lost
What plot there wasn’t
A thing she couldn’t 
Undo festooned 
Out go the unlit
Lights in side in
Tell a gentle man
Up the down 
And outside spout
Gushed gobble 
Dee me a racist?
Indiscriminal
Maybe, for sure
Screw me up
More, good unlucky
You won’t unsee
I ever showed
A neutrino stank
Elevator shafted
Son, turn back
Bee’s foretold
Exstinktion smells.

29th May, 2016

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