Long Trade(a) Poems
Long Trade(a) Poems. Below are the most popular long Trade(a) by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Trade(a) poems by poem length and keyword.
WHEN TEARS TOUCH
The twelfth of November reminds me of the day
when our paths first crossed then came to grow on trail.
Soon... all the days like waves rolled into years
as we reminisce our pasts: joys and tears for fears.
A pad with pen I hold to write what pops by;
Each tint and curve a bell that says, you and I.
The words are mere push and pull medley of thoughts
shaping a circle melody of heart shots.
Learning flower our way as our cultures shared;
gem writings topically crafted are compared.
Feelings flood colours to our world, closer we became--
Creeping longing is "our meeting" as this both our aim
Beep and peek are lace ladders to higher trust grounds,
every tap and trade a thread fortifying our bond.
The lasso tying our heartstrings to etch some rhymes,
vital signs checked normal but awhile raise second hands
Can it be that this a fruit of stardust's grand wand?
Or a rose waiting to bloom and behold upon bosoms?
Now the day has arrived, suitcases packed, I smile
a journey, I have dreamt about, many many miles.
Nervousness cocoons but it's normal to feel this;
for this my long wish as I enter the coming hours.
Distance and differences our silent enemies!
But... It did not stop us from thinking sound strategies.
Interest and love gleams as our loyal company
enabling us to draw verses of harmony.
Broken bridges we cross by grace of felicity~
yearning to meet eye-to-eye an intensity!
Along the wires we jibe to friendly deal
that as crisp December sings we will make it real.
The cool December made our wanting a tip-top exhilarate..
and from somewhere, a song plays:
"When you feel in your skin in your bones and the hollow
Of your heart, there's no way you can wait till tomorrow.
When there isn't any doubt about it once you come this close
Cos you know and you know that you know...."
_____________________________________________________________
*** the last stanza are lines taken from the song: "WHEN YOU KNOW" by Shawn Colvin from the movie Serendipity.
©J.A. Fraser and O.E. Guillermo
October 29, 2014; 10:05 pm
WHEN TEARS TOUCH
The twelfth of November reminds me of the day
When our paths first crossed then came to grow on trail.
Soon... all the days like waves rolled into years
As we reminisce our pasts: joys and tears for fears.
A pad with pen I hold to write what pops by;
Each tint and curve a bell that says, you and I.
The words are mere push and pull medley of thoughts
Shaping a circle melody of heart shots.
Learnings flower our way as our cultures shared;
Gem writings topically crafted are compared.
Feelings flood colours to our world, closer we became--
Creeping longing is "our meeting" as this both our aim
Beep and peek are lace ladders to higher trust grounds
Every tap and trade a thread fortifying our bond
The lasso tying our heartstrings to etch some rhymes
Vital signs checked normal but awhile raise second hands
Can it be that this a fruit of stardust's grand wand?
Or a rose waiting to bloom and behold upon bosoms?
Now the day has arrived, suitcases packed, I smile.
A journey, I have dreamt about, many many miles.
Nervousness cocoons but it's normal to feel this;
For this my long wish as I enter the coming hours.
Distance and differences our silent enemies!
But... It did not stop us from thinking sound strategies.
Interest and love gleams as our loyal company;
Enabling us to draw verses of harmony.
Broken bridges we cross by grace of felicity~
Yearning to meet eye-to-eye an intensity
Along the wires we jibe to friendly deal
That as crisp December sings we will make it real.
The cool December made our wanting a tip-top exhilarate..
and from somewhere, a song plays:
"When you feel in your skin in your bones and the hollow
Of your heart, there's no way you can wait till tomorrow.
When there isn't any doubt about it once you come this close
Cos you know and you know that you know...."
_____________________________________________________________
*** the last stanza are lines taken from the song: "WHEN YOU KNOW" by Shawn Colvin from the movie Serendipity.
© J. A. Fraser and O.E.Guillermo
October 29, 2014; 10:05 pm
You failed once. You failed twice. Time for you to retest,
Even if it means that each day you have to skip recess.
So far you have failed every course that you took,
As if you never learned how to open up a book.
Don't talk in class, just listen to the lesson being taught.
You know that I have no chance of ever being caught.
The odds of you ever beating me look rather grim when stacked.
My creativity and wit are clearly intact.
In fact, my superiority I am about to enact.
Your words get out of whack, whenever you get smacked.
Because you could not pay attention to a word that I said,
I had to pull out my ruler and smack you upside the head.
And, that smack across your head really had to sting.
I bet it is the reason why you did not hear the bell ring.
How many more mistakes will you make me mention?
I have what it takes to put you in a permanent detention.
Mentioning others is such an unpleasant practice to see.
Stay focused! You have a hard enough time trying to slam me.
Leave my friends alone, and just let those people be,
And pay attention to the lesson that I am giving you for free.
Pathetic Whorelock, I am going to do you a little favor.
I am going to spice up this battle, just to give you a little flavor;
With imagery just like an old game of Pictionary.
So, you need to go and get yourself a brand new dictionary.
By the way, since you are learning something new,"guess what!"
DAKARAI is an AFRICAN name you silly numb nut.
The next time that you slam, try keeping your thoughts in order.
Trade a pack of cigarettes in for a new voice recorder.
You keep coming across looking like a cliche hoarder,
As you ridiculously cross the lines of every border.
Now, go grow a pair and have the guts to step up your game.
Your rhymes are lame, because your insults sound the same.
How could you ever "'tear'-(me)-out-the-frame" when you can't see the picture.
I am an earthquake, and you can't even shake the scale on the rector.
You will forever be ignored, no matter how tall you stand,
So you might as well not even bother with raising your hand!
Form:
When you are young your life is not about you
You it owe to them for love, for sacrifice and rent
Youth is the margin of our parents ever do
The young know their life only by old consent
My father was doctor with animals in his care
The blackest and the first of them in that space
My mother was the Jill of every trade, a rare
Exhibit of beauty in a working class of grace
He out of the dry parish, made ladder with brains
And climb to wring the clouds of dreams. He
Matured from church school teacher, got the reins
Fathoming figures, Maroon boy in ascendancy:
Policeman, black sergeant, parting the waves
Clerk of the Court while colonials made war
Thespian for Vere John, the black hole craves
Everything it cannot be like a wounded star.
He did well when the war was done though. Some
Whites came back alive, and their substitute yield
So they coud find their sinecure. He got a ransom
From gruelling things too, a cut above the common field
His lettered mind scholarship him there
And this society that prevented cruelty to beast
Gave that astute mind its golden stair.
From slum investments father rose to feast.
He loved rebellion, it was his poetry, yet not he
But mother was the rebel, leaving father's house
Breaking bonds with tradition and its morality
To bring my sister weddingless, to choose her spouse
And refuse them regardless. Family's wealth
She forsook, and took the rudder of her life
Compassless to sea. All winds and surge she felt
Survival was the only fun in her fracture strife.
It walloped her, the storm of winds and fire
Three children and no way back through flames
Churning like a sword, waist deep wading mire
Her soul unshaken its sovereign pride proclaims
My own daily lessons that core my manhood
Father's love of learning, mother's pride
And I drifting in that Ark since the old flood
Left me in a barren place where wants divide
In memory of----
Solely in my room, I can't stomach the sound of my pulse
I sit here alone to forget the taste of air.
Overwhelm by the scene -unbelievable footage
18 seconds long, "I can't breathe."
My judgment "GONE" stressing all night long
I use to fear dark colors, now I fear spinning bright lights
Red, White, and Blue, I spew the NY crew
What's wrong with your blue eyes?
You see him, you want him to die
What a day to trade -- a life for illegal cigarettes
Persecution and judgment day, sweet life - taken away
"I can't breathe", executed in broad daylight!
Bullets left and right
Who's policing the police
What happened to mind our business?
Moneymaker refused to be singled out
A hurting voice tackled by racism
Free to see, pouring his heavy heart,
Oinkers demand the ground, shutting down his testament
8 times too many, "I can't breathe!"
Where did his vitals go?
No one to tap him out, pound the pavement!
What the hell, why are you just standing there???
Stress, anger, madness, the voice of innocence
"I can't breathe." the volume to valium
"Officer, did you not hear the man?"
Are you deaf, have you forgotten how to save a life?
Is it just the NYPD or is it every other badge,
Insinuating crime's a one-color show.
We are all criminals, why the excessive heat?
Shot, tasered, beat down, pepper-sprayed, now on the ground
The mother of all chokeholds, murdered, outnumbered
The echoes remain "I can't breathe!"
- The truth!
Eric Garner robbed of his own natural path and youth
One man down eyed suspiciously
Perplexed minds suffocating him instantly
The mistrusted, the awe, the hate,
So tangible, uniforms using deadly force
One asthmatic in a chokehold
Slamming his head on the floor
Open wounds, worldwide tears
My heart goes to the family and friends left behind
A courageous last breath, for the first and last time
"I can't breathe," now deceased.
You left this world unwilling, waking up a strong community
Strolling in a safer world, where racial discrimination doesn't exist
"I can't breathe," Eric Garner Rest in peace!
By: PD
They may come stealthily, with barely a sound, almost silently.
Most everything that comes to pass, does not come to stay or to last.
They may stop very suddenly, and then depart rather quickly.
One winter, a boat was my home base.
Let's just call it a rock and a hard place, with the rock being my home 100 miles away,
and the hard place being a boat docked at the Bay.
That winter I rocked and rolled all that stormy night. I arose early the next day to go to work before daylight.
Yet dark, the wind was still strong as I slowly exited in fright. Electric lines had fallen, and I had to crawl around them and pray.
I'm grateful to have lived to tell the story about going to work that day. Through the years and the fears, life cast upon me many a memorable tear.
Through the shock and the awe, our world will sometime roll and rock. Like my stormy wind on the Bay, at some point, things stop, and we dock.
There have been stories, some were bad, some good, and a few were ugly. But I would not trade a single story, because life is not all peachy and pretty.
06302017PS Contest, And Then It Stopped, John Lawless, NA
Whispers of Lace
Arms folded; He sits. A grandfather clock ticks it's way to a song, in a lonely
room.
It had taken ten years and thirty-five days to get to this place. He was here
now, for better or worse.
"For better or worse. " She had said those words to him a lifetime ago.
He woke early one morning, to the song of a finch, the harsh cry of a crow.
She never heard; she was already gone. She lay in her floral gown, ashen
and cold.
A traveling salesman by trade, a botanist by dream. Forgotten interstates
and dirt roads, had been his companion. Flowers were his inner passion; his
vocation took him to many.
She always greeted him at the front door. He could still feel the wetness of
her lips on his cheek; and the soft whispers in his ear. "I miss you."
"I miss you too. " the words tumble silently from his tongue. A lonely tear
falls, floating on the polished table. The grandfather clock sings. It is time.
Men and women enter the room. They look at the old man, skeptics every
last one. They sit on their chairs, a fragrance bottle in front of each judge.
Corporate critics, responsible for seducing the world with scent.
Grabbing their appointed bottles;He bows his head. Fragrance fills the room.
Enchanting images of the old man flood their minds. What witches ' spell is
this?
Cherry blossoms in Savannah, cactus flowers from the desert, the elusive
ghost orchid of the everglades. His image dances around petals. Some
smile , some weep, others dream.
Eyes closed, chin on chest, he thinks of her. Her maple coffin, casket open.
Her formal gown, black, ebony lace collar.
Fragrance in the air, and tears, bring her to life. “Tell us sir, what do you call
this? "
Raising his head, their faces all look with wonder. He can see the tears, He
can see smiles on their lips. He can see her.
Standing, he starts to leave, with a turn of his head, he utters. " Whispers of
Lace "
Kenneth Kerry.
Thoughts of wisdom.
Now grandpa was a guy
A man I held up high
Everything he told me
I knew it was no lie.
All those facts he told
While lying in his bed
Waiting for his God
To claim that he was dead.
I was twelve years old
As green as green can be
But Grandpa always said
That I could see and see.
The stories that he told,
His good one liners too
They opened up my mind
I knew that they were true.
Do you want to know
What he would converse?
Like that backward poet
He always writes inverse.
He would often say
“you are like me son,
Just like an acupuncture
A good jab well done!”
Did I know that camels
Could always find an oasis?
Like Bakers only trade a recipe
On a knead to know basis.
Sometimes you carry stress
Until you feel encumbered,
But just you watch this space
A calendars days are numbered.
There are those that seem quite lucky
But they bloody cheat.
Just you think of this
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
Never go for credit
No matter how well dressed,
For like the Exorcist
It will end up repossessed.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
It did cause a commotion,
The silly bird was oiled
A poultry in motion.
Oh, see at Xmas time
You think that time it pauses,
But watch those Santa’s helpers
There only subordinate little clauses.
As for shopping centres
I know that they do sprawl
But once you’ve seen a big one,
I think you have seen a Mall
Never be a thief
Or take a quick backhander
You’ll end up with twelve months
Just like a calendar.
Grandpa he liked baseball
And going to the gym
That baseballs getting bigger
Then the ball hit him!
When it comes to writing
Don’t get in a mess,
To write with broken pencil
It really is quite pointless.
His last conversation it really was profound
Before he climbed Gods steps,
He said “Son,
Go get my Gin and Schweppes,
Appreciate the time you have
It is only Manana,
For Time flies like an Arrow
But fruit flies like a Banana.
Cheers Grandpa.
Written: May 19, 2025, for contest by Edward Ibeh
Quote: "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." By Rumi
*********************
As the seacoast swells, I'm the ticking clock,
Medusa’s buds melt wild in cosmic shock.
Too vast to trace the whisper of my touch,
Once shrieking in the gales I loved too much.
Leverage—a lattice of force spun soft in farms,
A catapult kissed from naiads and their charms.
I rise beyond the sigh of earthbound tale,
Folding time in saffron-sage on silence’s trail.
A crown of hours hides loss's jagged edge,
Each tear a fulcrum, each star a silver wedge.
Leverage: the sly magician’s unseen hand,
Lifting fate’s beast with a wand’s command.
Crawling on bone, I trade a dream for a wink,
An alchemist stirs fear in jasmine-gold ink.
Weight turns to promise in twilight’s brief peace—
A cog sonata in a galaxy’s creased crease.
Life glows as ember script, footnoted and odd,
A whispered nudge in thunder, kissed by God.
One key turns inequity into a lyrical code—
Leverage: the hidden root of the common node.
With empathy, patience, and a poet’s dash,
A cracked cup tilts, still spills its splash.
The braid unwinds when a thread is pulled—
And so the days dissolve, and the dark is lulled.
The wrong key turns, but never fits the lock,
A defiant glance becomes a harboring heart’s dock.
A single word, well-timed, redirects the climb,
A fulcrum set beneath the weight of rhyme.
Leverage, not force, moves all without loss,
Find fulcrum in chaos—smile wry at the dross.
Though bent toward stillness, the shift draws near,
Where regret finds voice, resentment clears.
A single seed, pressed into fractured earth,
By unseen hands, the coiled land finds rebirth.
One life uplifted by a lever’s quiet grace,
World seeks levers to lift my breathless space.
So, maybe you can tell
Heaven from hell,
blue skies from rain,
a day full of pain.
Can you trade a walk in the park
for a glimpse of the dark?
We are the captured souls, like fish in bowls.
Do you want to exchange, from living in chains?
Beating around the bush is not of any use,
in the blink of an eye, you will die.
Life in the Cape Flats
has been taken over by brats.
They will rape, kill and maim.
even though they don’t know your name.
Every gang has a name,
they also have no shame.
People here live in fear.
There is always some parent who sheds a tear.
Young girls falling pregnant
from boys who will not leave a remnant.
A child heavily pregnant with a child
has been left alone like an animal in the wild.
The boyfriend is long gone
making a call to another one.
Parents going to work, trying to make a living
leave their kids at home in a life so unforgiving.
Kids must look after themselves,
even though the oldest is only 12.
Most households live a life of struggle.
That is a life so radical.
The gangs rule the street.
To them, somebody must bleed.
The community forms groups
but everybody has their moves.
The gangs make them fearful.
If they cross the gangs, they will soon be tearful.
The gangs of the Cape Flats
are like wolves in a pack.
If you cross them at your own risk,
you will end up on their hit list.
The gangs have no regard for the law.
To them, the law is a flaw.
Drugs rule their lives.
They will do anything to survive.
The Cape Flats has become a hive of activity.
If you are not careful, here you’ll meet your destiny.
Known for the activity of many gangs.
The shots fired, bang, bang, bang.
Innocent people run away.
There is no way they would want to stay.
They have no chance of leaving.
On the Cape flats, their lives have little meaning.