Nighters Poems | Examples

Nighters

they bite
and tear the biters do
these unseen nighters
circling
for should you sleep
give unto thee
then wake
to find their wound
   on you
then wake
to find their wound

oh and shes spiraling again

somedays its crushing
life.
somedays its all i can do to smile
to pull a breath into my shaky lungs
and still my hands against the tremors of my legs
i want to press pause. or press stop. for good. 
everything aches,
from my head to my chest to my knees to my back to my wrists to my eyes-


stop
stop
stop
stop please stop
stop
im done
im tired
im done
im tired (and i think ive said this before i think ive said this before i-)


im breathing. i swear im exhaling. i swear im trying. i sweariswearisweari-
im remembering now, the days when 
pulling air into these lungs wasnt so difficult
when laughing freely was mere assignment
when smiling openly wasnt so tedious
and hugging didnt make me want to dance my way off a cliff
of my own thoughts 

but now id very much like to crawl out of my skin into your veins
and feel something other than my freezing blood and trembing hands 
and tired eyes
because of one too many all nighters 
because of my shallow breathing and foggy thoughts


could you find it in you to fix this?

Would I

Give me your early mornings
Give me your half-awake eyes
Drag me in when you're pulling away
Match our breaths when we've synchronised

Give me your slow afternoons
Give me your train of thought
Distract me with your sugar-coated mouth
And watch back as my teeth rot

Give me your all-nighters
Give me your secrets never said out loud
Cry into my collarbones
You're safe with me, I vow

Give me your bad days
Give me the sweet ones, too

I'll follow you to heaven, 
Even hell if I'm with you.

Willie's She

She wants romance with Gregory Peck
But he doesn't come so what the heck?
She loves to neck
And hits the deck
All night long pulsing Zorba le Grec*

*Zorba the Greek- a pulsating tune for all-nighters

Wonder

Habitually, feeling an itch to write,
I’m introspective: sitting at the table
over a blank sheet, cherishing my blight
and rust, I think: “What if I'll not be able 
to write a single stanza anymore?
What if to chuck it all, to travel, omnia 
mea mecum porto*… What is all this for:
the doubts, the all-nighters, the insomnia?
What if…" Oh, wonder! In my line of sight
I have the lines: “…feeling an itch to write,
I’m introspective”.

(lat.) "All that is mine I carry with me", the quote that Cicero ascribes to Bias of Priene.

25.10.2019
 Itch, Witch, Glitch Or Twitch Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Nina Parmenter

Old Thing, New Thing

Everybody want that old thing 
 everybody want that new thing too 
got me on my Billy Paul  ya know… 
when love is new, it's perfect it's worth it 
those hugs and kisses goodbye got you 
feeling like yeah I deserve this 
yeah everybody want that old thing back 
but want that new love too 
nobody told me in order to get that 
you gotta sacrifice a piece of you 

You want that old thing? they want that old you too
That passion, that desire, that fire, them all nighters
but is it truly sustainable? Obtainable 
after so much time has passed? 
Married life, kids, careers is it truly meant to last? 
I leave that one for you to figure out 
yeah I know you can't change the past 
but when life comes at you 
with uppercuts and haymakers 
you got parry wit your own combination 
of hooks & jabs

Remember

Long-ago classmates, we’ll spend 
the evening recalling ourselves 
before we became 
antique – back in the academic 
stomp of caffeine all-nighters, pop 
quizzes, scrabble games laced 
with words from Chaucer’s time, 
a mixture of tongues across 
bloody waters; straddling borders 
before things got settled into 
nations, currencies, standardized 
spelling and our own 
marriages, divorces, and
dissolutions.
Those good old nail-bitten days 
we’d never want to relive
except as history –
gathered for just one evening 
in memory.

Feet Swap Pebbles

Vishweshwara, my lord my devotion
I was once born; I think you knew it
I lost something far, not far from my feet 
But now it is extreme from my heart

It is my confidence, courage, curiosity
I am missing my poetic ardor
I am lacking my statistic fervor
I am omitting my valor

Once I used to be a victor 
Now nighters of it a sector 
Once I used to be like me
Now a word branded to be inspiration is stabbing me. 

Once my dreams used be as cumbersome as clouds 
Daring and baring the heavy heat of sun
But now I am left as one with notions none
There is no hope to cope up with any agile pressure.

But still I will not stop as I am pale
Till the last atom of most popular oxygen I inhale.
The line of attack I toddle may gaze sole
But my emotions are full and whole in its role.

Metaphoric Experience

There's this game I've been 
playing

And it's taught me stuff

I've not had it long

But I've played enough to know

If I don’t turn back now

It's going to be rough

I'm looking for some luck cos' I 
feel real stuck

The first few levels

Were easy to complete

They make the deep end look 
like a couple of feet

But as the game progressed

It picked up the heat

Now the Mother-****ing 
shallow end looks deep.

The Story-Line was mind 
blowing at the start

Slowly I climbed up , Part by 
Part

Progressing, Tired, Game saved 
in the book

The All nighters took - 
Great...now I'm hooked

When I'm playing, I feel 
Skillfully Brilliant

Like a militant, untouchable, 
full of resilience

I got the skills to pay the bills

All my debts considered repaid

Until what goes up must come 
down

One by One people Fade

If you understand the 
metaphoric game that I played 

Then you understand the steps 
I had to take 

After two years feeling high I 
finally found 

This isn't life it's time to come 
down.

Sexy Or Old and Crotchety

Been called sexy, been called old and crotchety
Maybe I'm somewhere in between
I'm probably closer to the sex symbol type
With this body, you know what I mean

Young ladies are always clamouring around
For a piece of this gorgeous physique
Sorry to have to tell them, to take a number
For a chance at the thrill they seek

I'm usually an extremely low key kind of guy
But since building this stunning body
Females flock around, it can get quite annoying
Sorry, really don't mean to get snotty

I'm hankering for just a little peace and quiet
To recharge my batteries so to speak
Eventually all-nighters are gonna catch up
Leaving me real pooped out and weak

Think I might return to my overweight self
Less hassles with the opposite sex
Didn't realize all the women it would attract
Not something I'd really expect

Just funnin'

© Jack Ellison 2104

Paperback Writer

She waits tables everyday 
penning stories on her break;
Packing those tips far away
wondering what it will take

to create a paperback 
characters and adventure;
Never again plates to stack 
not work, it's only pleasure

Clocked out then its off to class
studying hard is the deal,
Hoping to more than just pass
her fantasy will be real;

Determined and with talent
all red eyed with all nighters,
seeing life after student 
soon a best selling writer

All-Nighters

What you do once in a while causes fright.
How can you stay up in a casino all night?
You keep pumping money into the machines.
Not many people are awake during these scenes.
You can lose track of the time with no clocks or windows.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, casinos never close.
You don’t have enough money or comp to book a room.
All night, you sit on the stool like a mushroom.
Come on home lady, please don’t stay.
If you don’t play, you save money that way.

Dusk In North Florida

Mosquitoes
Summer's pesky buzzy biters 
Mosquitoes

In summertime everyone goes
(unless to show off like fighters)
indoors to thwart itchy-nighters.
Mosquitoes.

Fruitless All Nighter

In college I frequently pulled all nighters
And showed up for morning tests somewhat less brighter
     With caffeine and pizza I struggled to stay awake
     And was always prepared for exams to take
To excel on the curve, you had to be a fighter

For twelve hours straight, I crammed names and dates in my head
History consumed me and I never went to bed
     Memorization proved a successful technique
     But my brain grew weary and my eyesight was weak
I always entered the classroom feeling half dead

But never did I experience more dismay
Than I felt when I walked into a class one May
     To find I was the only student in the room
      Within there was quite a sense of impending doom
The test, you see, had been scheduled for the next day



*Limerick series for Paula's "The Light Is On, But Nobody's Home" challenge

I Missed?

I may be a terrible writer
Maybe not even a fighter
But I tell you this
That I never miss

I can pull out my gun
Shoot pop cans for fun
I wish you could see
How fun it can be

I keep rambling on
Even writing some songs
And when they get made
It’s then I get paid

I practiced and trained for some fighting
Even did it through thunder and lightning
I got so good
Became king of the hood

I can be such a terrible blighter
And you know I was made into a fighter
It taught me control
But I still know when to roll

I have met many good writers
We have had many all-nighters
And I wrote you this
I hope it won’t miss
Please tell me did I miss?

• Short Nighters Poems
• Famous Nighters Poems
• Best Nighters Poems
• Read Nighters Poems
• Long Nighters Poems
• Nighters Quotes