Long Shifts Poems

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


Premium Member Modernity

MODERNITY
bubbles
away
in symbols
adopted
&invented
or borrowed

celebrated
  as  conceptual
embraced
as
mainstream
  in status
impelled
by rational
ritual
in
constant
shifts
  of attention

a diaspora
  culture
of
ideas
 of expanded
consciousness
 perspectives
steeped
  in the
fascination with
the
moment
clamour
for
self
attention

NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE   using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.
Form: Other


Premium Member The Time Between the Seasons

Dwarf strain buds are carefully nurtured to bloom,
All sobbing was conveyed by a step back and tears, 
Dreams are radiant, and the fetus rises in the gloom. 
Despite sunny skies, spring might draw wind fears.
 
All sobbing was conveyed by a step back and tears. 
Scarlet hues of fall remind me of pains and sorrow,
Despite sunny skies, spring might draw wind fears,
Yells rang across woods, and eerie storms did blow.

Scarlet hues of fall remind me of pains and sorrow. 
The leaves fall with a rustle and a ferocious push,
Yells rang across woods, and eerie storms did blow, 
The season embraces the diamond-shaped, worn bush.

The leaves fall with a rustle and a ferocious push,
As the sky swirls, Orion's belt shifts, and hope fades,
The season embraces the diamond-shaped, worn bush. 
Winter leads to spring as stars glow and birds raid 

As the sky swirls, Orion's belt shifts, and hope fades
O' summer's return, the season and sea tides close. 
Winter leads to spring as stars glow and birds raid.
As vibrant as the July sun, our delight will rouse. 

O' summer's return, the season and sea tides close.
No one can withstand the blazing July symphony. 
As vibrant as the July sun, our delight will rouse. 
It will mold Mother Earth to sway and lose harmony.
 
No one can withstand the blazing July symphony.  
Dreams are radiant, and the fetus rises in the gloom. 
It will mold Mother Earth to sway and lose harmony. 
Dwarf strain buds are carefully nurtured to bloom. 

Written: July 5, 2022

THE TIME BETWEEN THE SEASONS Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Kim Rodrigues
© Sotto Poet  Create an image from this poem.
Form: Rhyme

Magic Trick

Driven virginal ice blizzard, whitewashed in puddles
    Duck fluff repelling vehicle, rabid rain bites panels
    Arrival of evening, two fools fuse their first of April
    Abode above average, horizon fire glows on angel


    Teeming ambition triggers digger, strings gay tinsel
    Portrays titanium rays of central star burn essential 
    Tree bauble shifts indeterminate, Earth resplendent 
    Pine green needle necklace, spinning gilt pendant


    Pendulum bells in tower drop ropes for Crescendo 
    Concave accolades hide fluidity quit quick Crypto
    Presents piled overlapping countdown to Christmas 
    Car race excel brings adrenaline finish line climax 


    Sly slit thin grin golden grimace violet sky crescent
    Moon's multitudinous kept secrets gaslight residents
    Spun line unseen supports sparkling pink accessory 
    Melted marshmallow molest paste palate pleasantly


    Endurance promised swallows doldrums resentment 
    Enthused level thirty lightning thorn entrenchment
    Faithful needing sights sleigh flight Saint Nicholas
    Father is growth motivated to bestow future riches



                           29th November
                  Twinkle finger, Nissan, NTHUZED
Form: Couplet

I Am Your Basic Product

I am your basic product in demand
I am on the market shelf discounted 
50% off, marked down as special
I am on the bridge between the shifts
I am a shopping spree gone wrong

Jumping off the ledge into the river cold
Time stands still regardless of the consequence  
Prices tumble but never fall                   
I am now drifting into savings
 
At landing I become the values earned
Coupons have no equal                   

Back on dry land I come alive
I come in 12 packs egg-less empty
In cartons at the grocery stores I hide
Behind the sales lost packaging

I am on sale at any price
I am the market value stamped
I am checked out at all cost
I am lost at a cost transcendent

Sleepless

I bought some supplements from the pharmacy. 
On the table, I lean against it. 
This is supposed to help with sleep. 
I was supposed to sleep. 
That first night. 
The whole night. 
Everything. 
Shut down. 

I bought the supplements. 
They are supposed to be “doctor recommended.”
I don’t know. 
What else there is. 

I take a pill at 9:00 am. 
I still didn’t get much REM.
When I try to sleep, the bed shifts too. 
Like a hammock on the beach that is blue. 

The seasons are like muddy boots. 
I don’t know how the mud got there. 
I think I walked in the rain that night. 
A few years ago. 
Or a few years from now. 

Pills that are white and green. 
Tablets that dissolve and hiss and howl. 

I bought the pharmacy. 
Yes, I brought all my friends home. 
Pills all over the counter. 
Making pretty patterns. 
Spilling.

I spilled everything out of me, and the couch muttered as I flopped down. 
So I slept on the floor. 

I don’t know. I don’t know why they ask. 
I can’t answer. 
They have a morphing, asking, begging face. 
I don’t know what words are. 
But I know faces. 
I recognize her face. 
As I lie on a cot. 
Ethereal. 
I could fall forever. 
That would be heavenly. 
If I fell forever. 
I could sleep while falling. 

I remember buying all those supplements. 
Lots and lots and lots. 
I do remember. 
It all started in November. 
I do remember.


Premium Member Spawn

A spawn of hell, once human, he
is also called “The One” and “Spawny.”
He’s super agile, super fast,
and death to Spawn does not long last.

For this is due to healing.
He shape-shifts too. That’s so appealing.
Acrobatic and highly skilled.
How many foes might he have killed?

Named Simmons, he was C I A.
But then betrayed, he lost his way.
A devilish deal he made. He’d learned
to hell again he’d be returned.

To stay on earth, he needed to
fight crime. It’s what he had to do!
An angel hunted for him, and
his costume’s features grew more grand.

He fed off souls and as he grew
yet stronger, many things he knew.
From good to evil – back again.
His soul evolved. What happened then?

So many times he was transformed,
and many battle sites he stormed.
In Resurrection Spawn revived
and saved his old love who had died.

In hell was Wanda, but she now
resides in heaven. This is how
“The One” called Spawn is living here-
He fights for loved ones of his dear.

March 31, 2023
For Robert James Liguori's Spawn Poetry Contest
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Forecast of Uncertainties in this World

Forecast of Uncertainties in this World 

I unlocked  my planner  and set the timer, 

Mapped out the itinerary,  made everything 

Rhyme. 

I checked the screen  for a clear blue sky, 

But the world doesn't care  about  a "How or  a "Why",

The Forecast shifts from minute to minute, 

A brand-new hour with a surprise gathered in it.

I write down my future  in unending ink,

But the world  has an eraser faster than you Think.

There's no app to download  for what's coming next,

No warning notification  or heads-up text.

We're all just driving through a heavy  mist,

Checking off boxes on a broken list.

But maybe the trick to the shifting wind, 

Perhaps  is letting  the unexpected moments in.

You can't control where the whirlwind will blow,

You just  modify  your sails and let the rest go.

Premium Member FIRST ASCENT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I grip the safety bar and breathe in,
my knuckles bleach white. 
The gondola creaks,
swaying with the weight of wonder

The seat lurches forward~
I count each click of the gears rising,
each notch bringing me closer 
to the apex where the sky hesitates.  

Up and up! Below me~
the park shrinks into a toy set 
abandoned by careless hands.  

At the top, the world shifts.  
Cars blend into the streets like melted crayons.
Lights blur into liquid amber,  
streaking across my retinas.  

My stomach lifts,  not from height 
but from the sudden understanding  
that the world is round after all.
  
I can see the curve of it now,  
the way the horizon bends  
to meet my dangling shoes.  

At the top, I stop breathing,  
just long enough to let the moment  
stretch like taffy between my fingers.

Years ago I wrote a memoir vignette ("Ticket to Ride") based on this experience; you may read it at Poetry Soup as follows: www.poetrysoup.com/short_stories/ticket_to_ride_13584

Reverse Polarity

As the fulcrum of awareness shifts, soul don't go adrift
Affirmation: We are more than body & mind connection 
Let us leave all attachments behind and vaporize,
like space.  Mesh with the sun, recognize that we are One.

Like a caterpillar at the beginning stages of life 
the egg, the larva (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis or cocoon) and the adult
we are solid matter at birth, 
Our souls remain in a cocoon stage until we decide 
to explore its fibrous non-matter lignon.
Anima is to our souls what the cocoon is to the chrysalis.  
A thick protection goes over our souls and the only way 
to get it to be a viable spirit, is to use breath and 
MEDITATION as our key life chi.
We may not be butterflies, but we have our very own 
pupation pitfalls, we are human having a 
human experience, with a spirit that wants to be free 
to fly. 
When we respect our souls and give them proper nourishment,  
time and space, they will embrace the human body as it heals. 
We  are spiritual souls inside a framework made of flesh and blood. 
And only when we teach ourselves how to relax, breathe 
and accept all that encompasses us, can we truly find inner peace.
Form: Narrative

Laborer's Ode Ii - Bottled-Up Future

In his mid-30s but still a boy

Given $14.50 an hour and 12 hour shifts
Six days a week

His driver’s license confiscated
For five slung beers over a night long ago

Cost him $10,000
Contributed to the system
Of judges bailiffs lawyers and Presidents
All residents
Of the lakes and new mansions up north on weekends

Five years it will take him
To pay them for his sin.

Out here on the way to work
There are no buses
So the boy joins a line of third world refugees

Walking an hour and a half a day
Each way
Through the sweat of summer
And the snow of winter
From Greatdale Apartments
To the soda pop company’s bottling plant

He limps down the shoulder of King’s Road
Texting a screen scream to his desperate dad
“I can’t do this anymore!”

This
The only demand the son can manage

While Escalades
Roar by him
Side mirrors whisking within inches of his elbows

The thought of the American Dream
Or even the idea of a violent union revolution
Pouring out of him

Like his 10 cent returns
After work at the Party Store.

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