Long Totters Poems

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


Premium Member Teeter Totters

I’m tired of the teeter-totter polemics 
that pass for profundity.
I’m tired of the see-saw tug of war,
the streaming regurgitation on every channel.

Yes, I’m weary of the predictable posturing,
the vapid, barren landscapes of the oligarchy.
I am groggy in the dull fog of capitalist pretense,
the plutocratic hubris sold by carnival barkers.
 
I am worn down by the endless banal chatter,
the mindless daily clutter flooding all our
electronic screens, all our senses. 

Scientists in a million years will
try to decipher our primitive etchings.
Our digital scribble will remain.
Will they recognize our AI ventriloquism?
Will they distinguish us from chimpanzees?

I don’t have answers in my advancing years.
I’ll find cozy books and trees instead,
while we still have them.


The Power of Thought

Matthew 6:22
22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!


if therefore your third eye be open your whole body is light 
pure energy gathered from the cosmos is an inherited human right 

but because of the cosmic battle we were disconnected from the father 
and the balance of humanity is on a scale that teeters totters 

if the bread of life is the word of God then show me how to eat 
and if bread is all we have then how can we enjoy the meat?

i know this sounds so fascinating and so very hard to accept 
but our imaginations and our thoughts are often left to neglect 

if men would only love he would see creation at its best 
but the mind is swayed to imprison love in the cavity of his chest

guilt and fear is the venom concocted by other beings 
transferred to the psyche by mans collective feelings 

if we can listen carefully we can hear our inner cries 
the cataclysmic events that induced the turning of the tides 

Lumeria and Atlantis was where human thought was key 
as the balance between their forces brought the world to its knees 

both civilizations were doomed from the beginning to meet their fates 
as the portals of each dimension became a closing gate 

each gate was locked for a reason, specifically we do not know 
but only in our collective consciousness can a picture start to show 

if thoughts are really physical as scientist do suggest 
then how can we not believe if we never put our thoughts to the test?

we live in a multidimensional universe that we have little access to 
but the key to unlocking true potential starts with loving you
Form: Rhyme

Defining Truth Defies Das Democratic Thinker In the Age of Trump

"FAKE" assertions unstoppably
bandied with beef,
(sans doughty deeds done dirt cheap)
courtesy of commander in chief
trumpeted as a way to backout,

embarrassment analogous to the thief
of Baghdad, when culpable faux pas
woe philly pops thought balloon of mine
reckons with transparent "good grief"
within mind of yours truly,

who finds himself dumbstruck
aghast, and shaking noggin with disbelief
how people can be so gullible
who would just as lief
eat a pin cushion to deliver strep throat relief.

First amendment teeter totters on brink
of dissolution mainly by the rat fink,
whose defamation against journalists
risking life and limb, yet not shrink

king enlightening liberal minded, who think
similar to myself, imposter
hood drums utter rubbish
while feeling teed off puttering

along Mar a Lago, 
or another owned golf link
resorting to silence protesters
whisked off to the klink.

Distortions, (nee outright
blatant lies) saturate
social media platforms,
which followers didst rate

as their numero uno slate
supposedly reliable sources
harkening back to papa retaliate
Tory Bush prez administration,

regarding patrilineal shogunate
where Iraq summarily
targeted for crashing Kuwait
violating, jeopardizing, and

compromising vital oil, literate
folks suspected, that critical
lubricant mandatory to resonate
greasing western civilization

particularly self anointed great
super power USA, hence
alarmists didst exaggerate,
whose military intelligence

industrial leaders got irate
contracting complex projecting
global economy would vacillate
and, perhaps take Kamikaze nosedive

hence procrastination could not wait
demanding based on sketchy accusation
Saddam Hussein, and his ilk ultimate
harbored weapons of mass destruction

despite lack of distilled proof,
would severely truncate
nary a trace sniffed out,
nonetheless damn the torpedoes blitzed

in an effort to triangulate
miscreant running amuck
eventually met demise
with Bush Junior delivering

permanently placating tete a tete,
no matter dispensing top notch
fighting soldiers, whose strong
lifeless bloodied bodies remain prostate.

Premium Member My Childhood Playground

hidden in my memories is a playground ...
    where I played ... as a young girl with my friends
      I remember it so clearly like I am there
        the children laughing and shouting
    running around
it is a nice memory to recall

~  the playground was not far from our home
and I went every single day 
      except in the rain to play on the swings
because they were my favorite-  I went higher and higher  ~

        at that time there were seesaws (teeter totters)
      monkey bar structures and merry-go-round spinners
but, nowadays they are considered too dangerous
so playgrounds in my city don't have them anymore
     but they exist in my memories ...

~  sometimes mom made me bring
          my little brother so, I would put him in the sandbox
     oh, that kid could spend the day building stuff ~

our park had a wading pool shallow on one end
        but a little deeper on the other like waist deep
          of course, there was always staff around for safety
      I really liked the slides and little bro did too
        I remember the playground as being quite large
      the ground was grass ... and parts had sand
in the winter there was a skating rink that I 'loved' ...

          ~  lots of wonderful and forever memories 
I have  from those carefree childhood days in the playground
        and of summer and winter delight ... 

... now, let me gather up my yesteryear memories
            and put them away ~

Premium Member On the Crest of a Wave

        Life boat totters on the crest of a wave
      of turbulence ! Me lone sailor on sea.
     To reach destination, propelling brave.
     Halcyon horizon not yet to see.
     
     Violent vibrant vortex, rough and tough
    Life boat totters on the crest of a wave,
     falls unstable sinking at hole of trough.
     Up down thrust of waves convex and concave.

     Tornado - cyclone hostile to behave.
     Indigo hued horizon too far.
    Life boat totters on the crest of a wave.
     Me desperate to sail, chasing despair.

      Valiant, valorous on adventure !
     I must vanquish holocaust and save
     the vessel from sudden burst and rupture.
     Life boat  totters on  the crest of a wave.
sea
Form: Quatern


Premium Member The Gifts a Day Brings

What will this day bring - its gifts
of lingering sunshine & flower storms,
the thundering of xanthous hues,
bright beams of crimson and green…

What will this day bring - a knock
or a ring, my feet go, the wheel teeters
and totters, the pedals pressed
for nearly an hour. A welcomed guest

of my father. His tongue will not sputter,
but will speak of his thoughts, memories
and belong to me for a lick of time. I
lean into his smile, his voice, his melodious 

sadness at times, lessened by the years.
Who can cry anymore, only resign to loss.
He always compliments on the scent
of the familial cooking even before

it reaches his nose - a habit I suppose.
I learn, only from subtleness of his likes,
for Dad is not given to complaints. He
will not hide his ills but neither does he spill

all his aches and pains out like a feeble man
for he is of strong stock, not given to the sport
that some old people tote. He climbs the stairs
each day - his computer, clarinet, and boxes

of stuff are there - my husband thinks his things
must catch air, be sorted, thrown out, before
they become our load to carry. My spouse thought
our kids stuff should have been taken when they left -

not realizing, life doesn’t work that way. There is
staying power in life and death, wheeling &
dealing in its time, not ours. Settle in, stay
on course, make the most of the Summer weather.

Oh the gifts a day brings - knocks & rings,
a traffic storm, pasta shopping, saucy &
cheesy bubbling, dusting and vacuuming. I
live for such productive lingerings - blessings.

6/27/2023

Loaded with Loathing

Loaded with Loathing

The row was canine inspired.
He had a dog he treasured; enriched by its love.
She felt cold jealousy; starved of misplaced affection.
She wanted it gone; he wouldn’t hear of it.
One evening he returned home,
his beloved Henri had mysteriously died.
He blamed her; she faulted him
saying his heart wagged like the dog’s tail!
He could never forgive;
she would never show understanding!!

They now station their days, opposite each other.
He, in his old leathered, tethered seat;
she, in a rather mundane, cane chair.
He often appears to be sleeping 
but the occasional crocodile slit 
in his eyelids belies this;
she knits, he knows nothing escapes her, 
not even the tightest, slightest twitch!
42 years together, a nettlesome relationship turned to hate,
42 years together, neither is willing to let the other win.

So they sit there hiding in plain sight.
He, lounging as if possibly dead 
but probably breathing through his shoes;
she sits there imitating a ventriloquist’s dummy 
minus voice and…. inserted hand.
He occasionally serves up a small, sliced smirk
which he sneeringly warms himself on;
she washes it all down with a cold contempt.
Her eyes are guns loaded with……… 
loathing and disdain.

In contrast…………
two love struck pigeons 
now perch on the couple’s window sill.
The streamlined female pigeon  
dreams of her latest Dove purchase;
the male is formulating his latest hai-coo poem.
They both have a bird’s eye view of the situation
and conclude that the couple's relationship 
has more than lost its....smile;
melancholy is both master and mistress!

He occasionally stutters across the room, 
slamming the door like an exclamation mark!
Eventually he totters and teeters back, 
apparently opening the door like a question mark? 
He has gone out to comb his hair or whatever,
a quick change of disguise, anything to annoy!
They are both, presently, in the final straight;
a race where the winner will only come ... second. 
They are settled in, conditioned, waiting to see 
just which one of them will falter….and flatline first!


Ian Souter
© Ian Souter  Create an image from this poem.
Form: Imagism

Premium Member My Appian Way

all roads lead to rome
they used to say
i contemplate the roads I travel
the milestones of oneness
the monuments of memories 
i find they lead not to a city in italy
  but to our home

walking past the red brick church 
where we exchanged vows
joyful, joyful we adore thee
polar opposites: you in white, I in black
each proclaiming "till death do us part" 
and here we still are
  praise God from whom all blessings flow

riding past the park
where we strolled with the little people 
talking to chipmunks and waving at sparrows
accompanied by the soundtrack of early parenthood
the wheels on the bus    the itsy bitsy spider
pushing happy swings and riding giggling teeter-totters
  growing up together

finger tapping on my steering wheel 
our song dances out of the stereo
so happy together     how is the weather?
pulling into the driveway 
at the end of my appian way
salty smiles coursing down my cheeks
red bricks     swingsets    favorite songs
  all thoughts lead to you

written 13 Feb 2023
[according to wikipedia: "Romans ... were masters of road construction. Their roads began at Rome, where the master itinerarium, or list of destinations along the roads, was located, and extended to the borders of their domain – hence the expression, "All roads lead to Rome".]
© John Watt  Create an image from this poem.

Premium Member The Depths

I

The depth of steep, hellish ascent
darkness abides, the peak obscene.
cliffhanger of sweat, the creature bent
attempting to climb, make a dent.
No wind brushes away the hair in her eyes.
She recalls nothing of birdsong or sunrise.
A hunchback of time, minutes pass slowly.
Diamonds glitter, the sun beats boldly.
Like a desert walk the road is parched.
With a sting of bumblebees she marched.

II

Delightful descent of diamondiferous slide.
Easy-peasy pleasant, air-conditioned ride.
Beautiful petals of friends, flutter of wings,
a moon full of stars, the universe sings.
Bare feet, toes polished bright pinks and reds.
Canopied four-posters, wide open beds.
Trees with jade and ruby candies, sweet
to the tongue, as she tells of her wild treat
life, retreat with angel feathers, falling
for her many handsome men, wailing
on her silken sheets as she says so long
to the coddlesome place she knows she belongs.

III

Suddenly the slide falls out, the flames shoot up.
She drinks the potent blood from her chalice cup.
As her fear and anger explode, the fire grows hotter.
The ground like a hurricane ship, teeter-totters. Sinks.

IV

Her twin stands tall, as a snowy white sail;
blue skies, the eyes of God, she hails.
All torment wiped from her brow, she’s strong
She climbed upwards by the narrow way.

V

Don’t take the easy ride. It’s a bottomless pit.
Fly to heights of eagles wings - the depth of eternal lift.

3/13/2021
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member A Headlong Plunge

 Draped in the darkness of the night
In a weather so dull and blight
Sad thoughts like a deadly shooter
Come out to bombard her outright

Shaking off their fitful slumber
They rise from their inert stupor
From the reservoir deep, spill out
As through newly opened shutter

They come from an unknown hideout
As all trace of life to wipe out
Unable to block the current
She totters in a drunken bout

They spill forth in mighty torrent,
With a beastly force violent
Like an angry mob on long wait,
Infringing all rules, nonchalant

Caught in the vortex of that spate
Her body began to gyrate
She lost all her sense of balance
Her sad fate, no one could abate


May.13. 2022

~Placed First~

Rubaiyat Poetry Contest
8 syllables per line
Rhyme scheme- aaba-bbcb-ccdc-dded-eefe.
Sponsor- Sotto Poet
Form: Rubaiyat

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