Playing Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Premium Member When Playing 'The Game of Love'

              ~ When Playing 'The Game of Love' ~

	
          Let not defeat upon defeat serve as dissuasion

            ~ One victory changes the whole equation

Premium Member When September Ends You Must Wake Me Up (DHR) 

As a caboose is to a train,
September is to the summer.
The train finishes with red,
the summer also finishes with red.
Red from the hot days,
red from the painful sunburns,
red from barbequing over hot coals,
red showing off the long pretty sunsets.
Like a bear sleeping through winter,
I would love to sleep through the summer.
When the hot summer is over,
when September ends you must wake me up
Oh yes,
I want to see the pretty fall colors.
The trees are dressed in golds, oranges and rusts,
the squirrels are having fun playing tag,
as they hide their nuts for the winter.
The very hot weather is gone until next year,
a cool breeze covers me like a soft blanket.
As September says good-bye until next year,
winter will set in with cold winds.
Old sweaters will come out ready to wear,
as a new one or two will be bought.
What a magical time of the year,
holidays with family, friends and food,
celebrating one year out and a new one coming in.

Premium Member playing catch-up

waiting for life to give me a break to catch up


Premium Member playing LeApFrOg with EGO

Just the other day, a man was stoned to death for being a Christian Gay 
Another was beaten, a few breaths shy of death, for wearing a MAGA hat.
Devils sashay bloody streets- eating innocents- pepper-spraying God.
We've lost humanity and hobbled dialogue and civility.
I think it's time to part ways, reflect, and pray. 
That this blaze eventually gives way to more gentle embers.
Pray that someday we can chain greed and lasso ego. 
Refresh the loving heart and come back wholly, together

Premium Member G Playing Behind my Back

gallant gangsters glorified Germanic gargoyles
graceful gentlemen garnishing gossiping gazelles
glimpsing garbled, gaudy, garish glistening gracefulness
goblin’s Gothic genealogy generating gauzy galactic giants
Giggling galloping godmother germinating gingerbread gags
Gaunt, gooey galoots guiding gabby geese to Graceland’s gates

Playing With False Romance

Friends may be wondering
why I pay little attention
to romance since I was told, 
" Work your way to kindness 
and appreciate it
more than gold;
falling too easily and too quickly
for someone seems crazy."

I should've listened to my mom for once,
not given her a naughty look
and suddenly sped away;
she meant well, but it didn't stick:
I kept spreading my bed
with scented rose petals,
invited beautiful girls over 
on the long days of hot summer
and took their innocence away.
Did they understand their mistake?  
Did they understand I was bad?

For each tear they shed,
no young heart cried and bled
more than they did;
they were angels caught in a Paradise
of unexpected surprises.
It opened their teary eyes
and made them see the real me,
showing them a romance
that didn't make sense;
I played the role of king
and felt happy.

Stubborn boys out there,
don't ever try this trick,
playing with romance
harms innocent girls;
it's unkind, it's an awful fix.
Should naughty boys
be remembered and loved,
or be despised and pushed away?
They are the cause 
of false romance.

don't let foolishness stain your pride!


Premium Member BRO AND SNOW

                                 snow loudly crunched
                                on my bittersweet walk
                      through yesteryear made memories 
                                  of my brother and me
                                      in snowball wars

Premium Member summer delight

a hot summer's day
birds love playing in the lake
swimming and singing

NOT PLAYING FAIR

TRUMP IS GETTING PLAYED

IRAN HE CANNOT PERSUADE

TRUMP IS NOW DISMAYED

Premium Member Playing with Words

heart
heart ache
heart throb
heart pills
heart attack

break
break out
break down
breakfast
break a leg

word
word play
word choice
word bank
word of the week

mind
mindful
mind game
mind your me’s and muse

Premium Member MAGIC PULLED UP A CHAIR

Grammy’s dining room, a charming little casino,
the overhead light turning ordinary air to gambling gold. 

Cards fanned out across the oilcloth,
their soft edges warmed by her steady hands.

Dried beans clattered in chipped bowls,
riches measured in the music of pretend.

Grammy’s laughter rose first, 
Aunt Maudie’s chasing after,
two sparks lighting the whole room~
and I sat between them, 
certain magic had pulled up a chair.

the accompanying memoir vignette can be read at: poetrysoup.com/short_stories/casino_night_13716

Premium Member Girl playing with a cat

The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see everyday. 
~ Erwin Schrödinger

Girl playing with a cat,
Or cat playing with a girl. 
Girl with cat;
Cat with girl. 
Which are you,
Which is not?
Perhaps we should try
Schrödinger's paradox!

Premium Member Words Playing with L

lick a lollipop, a Lilliputan celebration
lively liquor lingers in consternation
limp limpidity in gradual gradation
liquidates lily-livered lightness in moderation
liquifying likely, causing freaky frustration

Premium Member banjo playing hands

dexterous fingers
long light lithe and skinny too
banjo playing hands

We Were Playing Pool

I want a great love affair 
I want a love stolen off pages of romance books full of passion 
And heat and delicious taboo 
I want a love affair to shake me
To pang in my bones, my nerves stinging 

We were playing pool
We lost the chalk and we were laughing 
You were drunk and all loosened up 
And I was licking my words as I spoke them 

You watch me from the corner of your eye, cheeky smile, you lean forward 
Just slightly, but you lean forward 
We stand there mere inches from each other, absorbing each other’s heat
You were drunk 
 
In my head I rewind and replay
Every time you looked at me on a loop
Clinging to the memory of praise
Leading your gaze towards me
Letting my body stretch 
Become one with the pool cue  

And I could fail a hundred times 
Let the clicking get louder and louder 
With pain shooting up my right shoulder
I keep lining the cue up
Just to hear you say that, this time, I was good

We were playing pool

Sub Categories

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.

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