Oh, peaceful sentinel of green,
With sweeping boughs and leafy screen!
Most trees provide a tranquil shade,
For picnickers in any glade
But you, O Willow, choose to smite,
And pummel passersby all night!
While common willows gently weep,
You cause the very bones to leap!
With one swift swish, you wreck a car,
And launch a Ford into a star.
You care not for a bird or bee,
An equal-opportunity brute tree.
You guard a dark and secret door,
Where furry friends pace on the floor.
A gentle poke upon your bark
Will freeze you silent in the dark,
A magic trick of wood and limb,
To keep your temper rather trim!
So hail the violent, twisted wood!
Misunderstood, yet understood.
The only tree, we must agree,
That strikes right back at botany!
Yes - I’ve been there -
Where the shades of trains pummel
Silk, silvery tracks - whispering:
“Forward and Back - Forward and Back”.
And -
There were times I saw a traveller there, too
Praying - with a platform ticket in his palm
Wishing he could live the lie -
Or -
Have the engine take him -
Now -
To the Last Stop, on the Line.
I refuse to argue, squabble, shriek or shout
I will not hit, kick, pummel, punch or pout.
I keep my demons in, I never let them out
Unless my annoying cousin Willy is about.
Dressed in white christening gown
Creaky snow break mountain melt
Dissolves rigid in simmering spring
Ached ankles pummel, putrid pond
Ancient decompose steams surface
Sulphur syphons Winter hestitance
Grabs goblins soup bowl grotesque
Monster murky rub manic massage
Active agitate upsets puritan sculpt
Boiling bubbles bump aside burden
Besieged by beast belly, slimy spa
Crystallises chartreuse, past spent
Dunk of disgusting salve, hot spew
Baptises black ducks in inky erupt
Aotearoa flow, now zeal spills over
Rejuvenating Rotarua
- two lakes -
5th January
spring morning glory loudly shivers while in quiet vine
the army of pumpkins herald the winter to come
night creatures do not belong in the spring light
steals the summer for the pumpkins reign
draculean teeth, werewolves claw - bullets to wreak havoc
witches storm with magic breath harvests springs renewal
spring takes the yoke of destruction foreign to its nature
to battle All Hallows Eve and save the birthing summer.
daring buds burst their pistilin swords
spirits shoot forth crystalline fear tendrils
new season birds pummel vast pumpkin fields
trumpet vines snakes the eyes of pumpkin soldiers
orange blood declares Halloweens defeat
the supernatural retire, monsters shrink back to den
spring settles commencing its seasons prerogative
summer tiptoes in...
Gushing garish grin greets God’s playhouse
Enthusiastic thrust roars cacophony chorus
Onyx walls leer clown mouth, splash pounce
Mountain morose bellows waterfall raucous
Forceful pools swirl, gentle raptor glide
Cyclonic claws tug a dunked daredevil
Pop up toast, poured tea tropical slide
Drop dagger deluge, strange fish swivel
Trapped in green marble pummel frigid
Tap of gurgling bubbles bores odsidian
Eye to eye with cruel cassowary, my inquiry
Why chase your young away, are you afraid?
Aghast grips his cobalt throat, furnace fiery
Answer slips from stone, thrown to cascade
4th July
Forceful Judge
We learn to skip before we run,
We learn to crawl before we walk.
We often look before we leap
But rarely think before we talk.
Words are our friends and should be cherished as such,
But too many, it seems, don't seem to care very much.
I have pity on poor defenseless words
When we batter, and bludgeon,
And pummel, and trounce them,
And feel especially bad
When I abuse, or misuse,
Or misspell, or mispronounce them*.
*Author's note and disclaimer: Many of you, dear readers, are well aware that in certain of my pieces, I do these things with a certain degree of frequency, but when I do, I claim poetic license and/or plead the Ogden Nash Amendment, which is: My muse made me do it.
Disrupted rough sea ripples shuffle
audience anticipation
Shift in seats, hammered hearts
Pummel, fluffy microphone muffle
confines communication
To thespian garish starring parts
Leading lady stands on X central
scintillating stiff corset
Holds ocean of faces transfixed
Hushed haze of amazed attention
long leg stride endorses
Cancan colourful ruffled kicks
Glitter adds amps to eyes squinted
focus on filmed direction
Glow in spotlight, skin peach orange
Sets character afloat, limelight lifted
dusk dim purple perfection
Transmits her story beyond onstage
Pivot pelvis razzle reactive samba
fast feet choreograph flawless
Flashy features outshine backdrops
For her love, Leading man clamours
resounding auditorium applause
Ensures her ego never lacks props
13th June
Theatrical Resume
Ah, Wind, we've known each other so long.
While creatures run quickly from your side,
I've tried to find kindness in your song
but your howls become hard to abide.
You loudly roar blowing doors ajar,
trees bent weary by ceaseless pummel.
I hear your rumble, beginning far
announcing yourself, never humble.
Beneath blue skies, a rustle of leaves,
a gentle breeze stirring grains of sand.
Clever Wind sending Zephyr to tease
but we now know the tricks in your hand.
You can charm dust into whirling dance
spinning her round as dust devils fly.
Then do your best to spoil a romance
with your chuckle as they reach the sky.
Unmentionable tantrums and blows,
your foot stamping when you are annoyed.
Leveling towns, do you regret those
heartbreaks caused as you merrily toyed?
Sometimes forlorn, or is that a guise,
when quickly you stop, tempering voice?
is that sadness I see in your eyes?
With flashes of scorn, you make your choice.
April 23, 2023
for "Word Challenge--W Words" poetry contest
by Constance La France
howmanysyllables=9
oh to be young and feel
the ravaging pummel of Cupid's bow
a cauldron of love's feast raging
swept asunder in the tsunami
of a volcanic rage of emotions
dazed and confused
wandering in a walkabout
with no direction pointing home
now just these neuropathways lightened
methinks a nap would be most delicious
as i put this head of gray
to what once i argued with my mother
no longer needed are bribes of cookies
and a glass of cold milk
i find much pleasure within
afternoons spent lazily floating lethe
awakening trying my best to remember
what was it i had to do
OKC 2/23
White snow squalls shift to frigid icy sleet and rain
Coated tree limbs dance and sway, crackling in the wind
Sleet pellets pummel metal rooftops like a steel drum
Desolate roads glisten like mirrors under streetlights
Night winds loudly howl and angrily sing away
As Mother Nature’s roaring nightly chorus
Tall pines tiredly surrender and fiercely fall in booms
Early morning sun calms as amber rays peak out
Slowly warming silver frosted trees and roads
Birds chirp and perch at frozen feeders pecking at seed
As tree branches awaken and emerge toward the sun
12/25/22
Contest: Winter Storm Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Kim Rodrigues
I miss the furry touch of your face
the wetness of your tongue kisses,
even your hind paws
kicking my crotch in excitable ecstasy
when I lift you up for a cuddle.
The cat is very dainty and careful
with the tender parts of my body,
but you were always happy
to pummel me with your love.
Now your dead, and the cat is sad.
It threads its slinky body
through my legs
but won't purr
until I call out: ‘Whose a good boy!'
Then that silky cat leaps onto my belly
and head-butts my chin
in memory of him.
Another morning
Breaks in a wet and thickening
Cling of fog, gathers on leaves to load
Down and bend
Each with a growing weight,
Fastened until too heavy to hold when all
Gives way to spill and
Hammer on the roof of your world.
Inside, the air throbs. Fragile nerves
Jar with every weighted blow and cry to
Keep the light from
Leaking in between clenched lids.
Migraine !.
Nothing worse to wake to,
Or have the inflamed dregs of a dream
Pounding like a pestle in the mortar of the skull,
Quickening with every stroke and
Revved to pummel each clambering thought
Should you try
To escape the prison of your pain. And when
Unable to take anymore, you have that
Vision of a place where you would like to go, then
With your finger, marking it with a large
X on your imaginary map, hoping when
You're ready, you can blast off leaving a smouldering
Zero on the pillow where your head should be.
I was a self-admitted misanthrope
unwilling to lose or drop a case.
I often threw a rope-a-dope
just to win; I never lose face.
I worked the dark streets
for dark, and even darker, clients
while the cops walked their beats,
shadows showing giants.
As far as I was concerned,
they were all a bunch of losers.
They were bad; they’d get burned.
The lot were boozers or bruisers.
I had caught a difficult case
The man was stabbed and shot.
He deserved it; he was debase,
but the perp would be caught.
The lawyer was my client,
he was dirty; the worst he could get.
Damn, he was mighty defiant!
Still, I didn’t think he did it.
He had no motive, but also no alibi.
So why were the cops after him?
He was a jerk, but had no reason to lie.
But for him the outlook was grim.
I might have to pummel every john
on the streets to get to the truth.
It wasn’t unpleasing to use my brawn
and I was a hellava good sleuth.
I’d search every city block.
I’d find the filthy little perp.
I’d find the lowlife and knock
the truth out of the twisted twerp!
26 August 2022
Start Sleuthing Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Natasha L Scragg
https://www.rhymezone.com
When like a sullen miser, the dark skies relent
unleashing rain to pummel a parched, dry land
grey soaked clouds press forward, a grand event
whipping wind wildly like gusts of lashing strands.
The clash and clamor of a restless storm excites
ignites imagination to great heights of wonder
as lightning streaks and cracks the fragile sky
and thunder presses pounding fists to plunder.
Without reserve, wildlife gather and take cover
motherly trees engulf them with leafy arms
wildcats seek caves, foxes burrow down under
farmers herd their livestock into wooden barns.
Each day God directs His drama in the skies
He orchestrates every movement under the sun
His glory unfolds as we witness with our eyes
for He is Lord over all, He is the Mighty One.
12/28/2021
Updated on 3/23/2023
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.