Nonproductive Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Premium Member no more shoulds or musts

there are no more shoulds or musts
because I am retired now,
every minute of every day is a choice

I choose to play,
to paint, to cartoon, to enjoy my dogs
I turn into a vegetable in front of a TV set

I stay up all night
sleeping during the day
getting cranky when someone turns on a lawnmower

I am so nonproductive it borders ridiculous
remember the cleaning I was going to do?
I have done no cleaning

when I die the children can burn this house down
I do not care
I am a slug

I have earned the right.

Premium Member The Agenda

We meet as a committee
The same four people monopolize it
They are the loudest, but not the most intelligent
I have no idea why the other five of us are here

I try to speak a few times but the four speak over me
They are dividing us, more than uniting us
Which is hilarious
When the agenda is how to unite our workers

I want to say something but there is no lull.
There are no pauses.
No way to get in a word let alone a sentence.
I am rolling my eyes, withdrawing now.

We could accomplish so much
If others were willing to listen to others.
Since they are not, we stay sadly divided.
It is as annoying as it is nonproductive.

Premium Member Not Writing Today

Our words today are disjointed, banal, bland, maybe nonexistent.
No emotions attached, for words are not even peeking out of crevices.
My muse is apathetic, emotionless, uninterested, uncommunicable.
I sense a nonproductive day, or at least a nonproductive hour or two.
Nothing is written, and I feel okay about it.


Flash You By

Tell me why the emphasis on life
Is such a nonproductive manner 
To cease and decease
When what we exist
Of bone and Flesh 
Only cremates 
Within a disintegrating form
This is torn between 
battles and triumphs 
Of what we came to do 
I'm trying to explain to you 
We walk this world without a clue
Doing the unimaginable 
When what is left behind 
Is what we shown in time
Commit to make a crime
So snitch insight of truth 
Engulfed in altitudes
Of disbelief's to griefs
Of kind cold hearted treats
Yet what insight of life 
Continues to make the drive
Till death we are still Alive
Don't let it "Flash You By"

The Old Couple

Their lawn chairs in the sun
Outside a standard door--
They are considered nonproductive.
They passed their buying power
For the next to last measured lot.

The old man putters about the yard.
Turning earth for flowers that she wants
Beside the fence of hedge and vine;
And to a reel gone out of style,
He dances with his dog.

She feeds all birds and stops to watch
A squirrel glide like a leaf
Among the thoughts of friends
Whose deaths predict their own;
The papers tell them so.

She brings him tea and stories,
Retelling all that made them glad,
And love for children who had fled in fear
Of palsied hands to faster places
Where an hour can wear no dust.

Time Waits For No One

As the clock turns and your ways remain the same
You don't stop and realize you have a good thing
Your eyes are closed can't see the end of the road
To late to turn back now your luck is gone
Such a shame how you played your silly games
Patience has run out now
I must move on
Tried and hoped that things would change and not remain the same
I won't keep holding on
The love is gone
Move on
Time 
It won't stop for me I've tried so hard with you
Why can't you see your ways have caught up with you
Such a shame how you play your silly games you should have known your time was running thin
Broken promises I'm not down for your childish ways
My future's on the line I have to make my moves
Got goals for the near future each second affects your life
 Can't hold on you're nonproductive
Take the steps improve your mind
I tried to help motive you
Outline the steps make it right
You failed to see the Big Picture
God Bless you
I'm out of your life


Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace