Poughkeepsie Poems | Examples

A Dramatic Rottweiler

A rottweiler with a dramatic flair
is a thespian beyond compare
He roams through Poughkeepsie
as the resident gypsy
always laying his emotions bare

1962 Christmas Surprise

too-da-loo Christmas
two kids in tow Buffalo
grandpa won’t be there
left the gifts in Poughkeepsie
where faerie lights will not glow

12/1/2021

Happy Ever After

A silly old man in Poughkeepsie
In love with a beautiful gypsy
She took him far away
On a warm sunny day
When he was a little bit tipsy.

written October 4, 2021

Poughkeepsie To Highland

over the Hudson River, its heights
my nemesis. I longed to drive
and stay alive. Highland
on the other side. Mid-Hudson
thrill ride for a permitted driver.
my heart would pound
just looking at the gothic steel
and the watergrave - my haunt.
a teenager’s imagination swims
in an encounter with the dead.
i had a friend whose dad dizzily
fell into the dangerous depths.
trepidation removes its guardrails,
tires sliding into the Poughkeepsie abyss.
bridging the gap - my courage.
i live to tell the tale…palpitations stalled.


8/19/2021

Death of a Thirsty Man

I once met a thirsty man from Poughkeepsie--uh,
He drank four quarts a day of Diet Pepsi--uh,
It was certainly no dry joke
The over-saturated bloke
Died from an extremely rare case of dyspepsia.

written June 17, 2021

The Happy Wanderer

I once met a man from Poughkeepsie
Who appeared to be rather tipsy
Wandering about;
Drinking his dark stout,
I'm fairly certain he's a gypsy.

June 2, 2021

Wrinkles In Time

Like bookends, Grandma and Grandpa —
those smiles — only one wears the apron
and the music, classical and gypsy

I was glowing in their eyes, growing
only for one who kept her pride of me,
when for the longest time, inferiority.

Blessing of a Hungarian household
we left just in time for the drama to build
there was rifts, crashes and death

and in one Poughkeepsie starter home
no Christmas tree to be found in 1962
Did we feel the sudden sadness —

my dad’s heart imploding — his dad’s
book closed, forever...forever stretches out

reality is a sudden blowout
only now in his wrinkled years
can he leak information from his tears

1/17/2021

You Just Never Know

One early winter morning I was walking down the street,
When a young woman hurriedly strolled past me. With
My head down reminiscing , I glanced up to the same woman
That had just passed; is now coming towards me again.
I'm not shocked nor does it trouble me. I dismissed it
As two sisters trying to hoodwink me. Standing on the 
Bus stop, I asked one of the young women, "Where is
Your sister?" With a strange stare she answered, " I
Don't know what youre talking about mister!" Still
Playing games I thought. No pain, no gain, as I 
Entered the bus. After a few stops, the young girl
Got off. Impatiently the old woman sitting next to
Me said, "sir I'm convinced you are not aware 
That the girl you spoke of was her identical twin sister.
She perished in a house fire ten years previous
In the City of Poughkeepsie!"

Poughkeepsie

Poughkeepsie - Limerick

23/04/2018


There was a hot girl from Poughkeepsie 
When she was drunk she thought she was tipsy
And she danced up a storm
Though it was humid and warm
And the people all thought she was ditsy

Gypsy

There once was a young man from Poughkeepsie
Who wanted to live life as a gypsy
In far land
Met rogue band
He soon learned such life was very risky.

Poughkeepsie

There once was a man from Poughkeepsie
who wanted his fortune told by a gypsy.
He sat down in chair,
but got up to stare
for old gypsy seemed a little bit tipsy.

Ibm Town

IBM Town

Dad whisked us away,
Mom heavy with babe,
Away from relative hands,
Two year old's off to IBM lands.

It was the machine of opportunity.
A place with technical commotion.
My Dad loves to light the flame,
All aboard the modern train.

His workplace filled with computers -
Large as houses. Do i exaggerate?
Certainly there was no moving mouse.
We moved into our Poughkeepsie house.

The village had a gray one with a pump
Station in back, workmen made a path.
Nevertheless life for us kids sends
neighbors who become lifelong friends.

I lived in the Hudson Valley, a beautiful place,
With swimming in Spring and sledding in Winter.
We loved to tour historic Hyde Park. I can still
See the sign with F.D.R.’s silhouette. We’d chill

Watching fireworks, stretched out on the green grass,
Of the Vanderbilt estate, walk alongside its stone fence.
The culinary my future son would attend also in that town.
He’d earn two diplomas, double serving his graduation gown.


6/20/2017

Captain Job Terry

Don’t you know Job Terry? 
I thought everybody knew Job Terry

My name is Captain Job Terry,
my people from Kerry
But I a Poughkeepsie Celt.
I make a dashing impression,
Held down the whaling profession 
For at least two score or more.

I’ve worked the coast like a rambler
Broke bread with Governors and gamblers, 
Courted princesses and prostitutes to boot, 
I’ve rubbed elbows with them all
Just name any Port of Call.
My name is Captain Job Terry.

Don’t you know Job Terry? 
I thought everybody knew Job Terry

Steel-Eyed Kid Shelleen

There came into town a gun deadly and frightening,
a gun quicker than lightening,
fastest gun you've seen.
It was the gun in the hand of Steel-Eyed Kid Shelleen.
Just one look at him would confirm every rumor.
Kid was wild as a cougar,
proud and fierce and mean.
There was no man who was tougher than Steel-Eyed Kid Shelleen.
He had the eyes of a killer
and looks like the devil.
The look of a killer.
The look of the devil.
The face of a killer.
That man was the devil,
just wild and ornery and mean.
Kid Shelleen, the fastest gun you've ever seen.

Kid Shelleen died in Poughkeepsie
from an overdose of whiskey.

Tom's Taxi Terror

True tale, true tale
I called for a cab,
To take me somewhere,
Don't remember where,
And I don't even care...

Taxi pulls up,
I jump in,
"Take me to Poughkeepsie!"
A place I've often been..

But something was odd,
And I became alarmed,
The Cab driver had a portable DVD player,
And of some movie he was charmed...

Now I don't know about you,
But I know about me,
Someone driving me around,
No movie should he then see...

I commented, "Wuz up?"
He said, "Oh, don't worry at all!"
I've seen this damn movie,
12 times just this fall!"

This didn't sooth my nerves,
But just made them worse,
For a movie he's bored of,
My next ride a hearse...

I sat and prayed,
The movie would soon end,
Before I would surely lose,
And find myself
Where angels
For me, would soon descend.

And worst of all,
It was an action DVD flick,
No commercials to give him,
A chance to look up,
If but quick...

Ride's end, 
I crawled out,
And kissed the ground,
Like Pope John Paul,
For I had found,
I'd escaped, somehow,
From a Hollywood death,
And it took me all the rest of the day,
To catch my long lost breath.

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