Rank And File Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Premium Member Imagine

In a grungy window sits a flashing sign..
‘Download a concert memory.’
Can you imagine? 

I’d much rather have actually been there, 
truly imbedded it in my heart forever. 

You can add it to your subconscious 
but the smell is all wrong.
You can taste the artificial articulate 
in every single song. 

In all that neon the rank and file is gone.
The muddy shoes, the torn up hats,
that filthy overpriced merch they wear
until it hits disintegration. 

‘Disintegration’ an album from an era
nicknamed ‘Pure Human’ now. 
Can you imagine? 

I know how much better it is to feel it.
Download a concert memory? 
I don’t want to imagine that reality.

Military Protocol

Obstruction to Department of Justice is resignation and contempt 
Per delay of justice
Justice of the peace
Free Speech obstruction

Case at the podium?

Three of the five captains in the Sheriff’s Office were notified this week they are under an Internal Affairs investigation, according to the deputy and sergeants unions. 

The significant investigation into top officers in the Sheriff’s Office rank-and-file comes as the county awaits the results of a two-week evidentiary hearing that will inform whether the Board of Supervisors should remove Sheriff Christina Corpus for misconduct and retaliation

Reference common sense or request stand aside as holster cannot approach gavel or robes.

Otherwise custody must be taken of faculty for contempt.

None are in financial abandons realm of eminent loss of life from neglect.

Justice is not blind only silence for the deaf neglect the speech of poverty.

The poor writing are literally a parallel in and against overt war acts.

Premium Member Shred and delete'

Thats what we are seeing.' Its going to take rank and file
Disclosure..Or maybe a recording to be found in a boot
Sale i'd hazzard' to get (a grain of fresh disclosure) from
The locked up case? Of the island predator.' Strange how
Much time this luggage has done already? Will there be a
Liable case about the case? Is it a case of its a trunk in the
Drunk tank?  Sorta misplaced?? I bet some heads of states
Are sleeping a little easier.? All over the world and in stardom there heve been so few.' Movies on this.! Maybe
A feature will pop up.? Some one might screen it on a
City wall? In a very busy time ( thats the only way i''d say )
Out from the ' sound of silence?'


The Vial

Inside the chest within my chest I find it;
A vial of virulent vile,
viral in that last vestige of guile and vitality
Where the headsmen and dreadsmen line up rank and file.

That horrible phial of terrible bile of all the beasts in the wild combined into ire so hot it's like fire and skies of respire.

But what respire? For whom?
The demons of love or the angels of doom?

Methinks it's a fun time, here burning in hell.

...I deserve it, after all.

Premium Member Watermelon-Wise

Gallagher, likewise in the front row. Green
melon astringent holds bodily form. Flesh
seems harmless lying on the butcher’s table.
Rank and file juiced up for the battle. “Wizard-
of-Odd” holds high, like Thor, his “Sledge-O-Matic.”

Premium Member A Proven Fact

A Proven Fact
Miracle Man
4/19/2024

Politicians will lie,
to hold on to their power.
But in election years,
they’ve learned how to cower.
They couldn’t care less,
about the rank and file.
Though they’ll face a camera,
and flash you a smile.

They pass out some freebies,
and each other backbite.
Many have managed,
to overstay their invite.
Some admit they’ve never,
worked an actual job.
Most are slicker than Teflon,
on a glass door knob.

But all aren’t this way,
though I’m seeming to rush.
To paint all politicians,
with the same brush.
Democrat and Republican,
They can’t get along.
And when congress is convened,
it’s the next verse of song.


Premium Member Looking Back

Looking Back
Miracle Man
2/10/2023

Hard work, I found, was my key to success,
other eyes were watching so I tried to impress.

Regardless of the pathway in life I’d chosen,
when opportunities came I was always toes in.

My list of written goals I visited each day,
and over these goals made time to pray.

I knew things wouldn’t happen just by chance,
and opportunities came for me to advance.

Not wanting to be viewed as rank and file,
Cream rises to the top and goes that extra mile.

For that would have meant I’m just mediocre,
I worked well with others, was never a provoker.

Now at eighty-four I’m still doing my thing,
I retired at fifty-six still having much zing.

Today’s thoughts are fixed on my soon afterlife,
and I’m thanking God daily for extended life.

Malignant Clouds

Clouds loom drifting, passing by,
The west wind gently tempts them on
Though no one knows what cause them cry
And no one hears their pleading voice
As all their acid tears well dry.


Snowy white, in rank and file,
The south wind warmly glides them far;
Smiling wryly all the while
Natant high above the earth
Ambling on, mile after mile.


Alluring to the offhand glancer
The east wind briskly chafes them forth
Skittering like the showtime dancer
Yet hidden deep within their breast
A growing rude and covert cancer.


But nature's wrath will bid her toll
The north wind casts the clouds astray
Freezing, breezing, pole to pole,
The stricken, tainted, wisps will wane ~
Dare no one care to save their soul?


So now as time is dwindling low
As the ill winds clime their worst
The poisoned rains, in flooding flow,
Rape our land to end mankind ~
And still, the winds shall wanton blow.

Premium Member The Young Coquette

What do I call that young coquette? 
My shadow self; my silhouette.
Those clothes, that hair, a cigarette.
The joie de vivre; the vain regret.
What sort of pithy epithet
will she recall, lest I forget?

Perhaps, instead a sobriquet
for who I was back in the day.
But what would she wish to portray?
Somewhat naive, a bit risqué?
A wounded child or power play?
“All that and more!” is what she’d say.

That girl who played a victim game
(though she would make the counter-claim).
A femme fatale; a wild flame.
A spirit not a soul could tame.
Both full of pride and full of shame,
all contradiction just the same.

It all feels now as but a dream,
that martyr of her own regime.
A fog of war; a distant scream.
An echo of one’s disesteem.
A soldier who would self-redeem
and break her shackles at the seam.

Now when she comes to mind I smile,
recalling each and every mile
we marched and fought in rank and file.
We failed, we wailed, we shed the guile
to wake and heal and reconcile
a misspent youth and life worthwhile.


*****************************

Premium Member PISCES PIECES

Now see a fine display in market hall 
Where fishmonger's stalls sell the freshest catch. 
A world of wet white tiles and melting ice. 
Seafood displayed, arranged in rank and file.
One Scottish salmon commands centre stage
Stretched out upon its own tray of crushed ice
And next to a few Icelandic haddock 
Along with cod trawled from the Dogger Bank.
 
To one side are some plaice all flopped and flat.
Seems they are staring up with fixed focus.  
A side display of small fry, placed parallel 
And herrings heaped up in sad slump of grey. 
Some calamari, tasteless rubbery squid
Are off stage with other seldom sold bits.  

In the corner there's offal bin with heads,
Guts, skeletons and several layers of skin. 
Take for your cat. Put pence in charity box. 
A fine display we see in market hall.

Premium Member In Memoriam

white lilies
line my front walk
soldiers
in rank and file
commemorating
the loss of
mothers
their children,
and dads
their children
to COVID,
sufferers in our
little community
of
Ashland, Kentucky.

written July 4, 2021

Premium Member Wilted

Rancid lilies stream the rim
     of wicker baskets
     like wilted soldiers rank and file
Fatigued and sweaty
They salute a mournful throng
     with dampened pistols
     and burnished brass.
Hate every passion screaming
     for a drink of water
     in the searing heat of attention.
Stack their arms and fall
     in blessed oblivion.

Premium Member Kyle and His Christmas Dream

Candy canes pranced through his head and made him smile
The dream was the best one he had ever had at the age of three. 
Toys of all kinds, lined up in no particular order, extending a mile.
How exciting December was, could a better time ever be?
Christmas was coming, and she would be totally worthwhile.

Trains that blinked as they came around the track, in rank and file.
His visualizations made him chuckle in his sleep with pure glee. 
Frosted sugar cookies in the form of snowmen, one that said “Kyle”.
Sweet Christmas, almost here, and better even than the Christmas tree….
Santa Claus’s voice he could hear with just a touch of a dial! 


Written 12-6-2020
Contest: Quintain-Sicilian
Sponsor: Emile Pinet

Premium Member Shrinking

average people pass rank and file
learning in their third decade
of the training cell

how long for psychiatrists
to get past the alphabet soup
of their learning 

when all research studies
can prove false positive
or negative


stan sand

Premium Member Revolving Ritual

A yellow glow 
Is packing ready to go 
Leaving the work space 
Building its case 
Finished the committed job 
Gloomy clouds never had a chance to rob 
Warming the world 
As the globe twirls 
Travelling to another destination 
Ready to glare a post card presentation 
Filled with enthusiasm not able to be patient 
Seconds click away 
Minutes collect them then say 
“Fourteen Forty makes one day” 
Still high in the sky 
Lighting a path where one should try 
To comprehend 
Life’s concept called ‘when’ 
Soon everything will be dark 
Night time checking in putting itself in park 
Just like the sun 
Slowly the lunar landscape will move until duties are done 
Fulfilling the sleeping hours 
Until daylight returns to blazing power 
Morning comes alive 
Bringing new hope as a rallying cry 
Top of the morning all 
With a wakeup call
A welcome smile 
Greeting the rank and file 
Going to defend 
What societal contributions they need to pen 
While a retiring moon hears the hen 
Finishing the time card and pushing send

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