Poetry is seriousness
Poetry is just good fun
It is depth and emptiness
Shared with all and none
Poetry can make your mind
Slightly elevated
Poetry annoys that’s why
Many people hate it
The majority might look
For detective stories
Or non-fiction kind of book
Telling global worries
Stealthily the evening’s in
Fades the light of day
The clock hands rev up their spin
What I’m left to say?
What is Poetry, who knows
I don’t have a clue
It just comes and then it goes
Like a friend might do.
Too early for Good Mornings.
It takes a while to rev up.
I'm smiling on the inside.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 1st place 2025
it rained all night
the morning came
in one cool gust
the world seemed different
suddenly calm and quiet
reveling in the moment it seemed
not so eager to rev up its engines
obviously delighting in just sitting
savoring this delightful interlude
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Put up or shut up time
Has crept up upon thee,
And it's your time to shine.
On your mark, get set, go!
Everything's on the line
Put up or shut up time;
Mouth off no excuses,
You must fully commit.
Do you have what it takes?
How bad do you want it?
Put up or shut up time.
Vroom, rev up your engine;
Off to the races, friend.
Show em' what you're made of;
See it through to the end.
Put up or shut up time.
You go big or go home.
You're through talking the talk.
It's the moment of truth,
You must now walk the walk!
Why is life so hard
when it should be simple
Wake up, shout for joy
whether you be girl or boy
Get ready for the day
It’s well on its way
Milk the cows, collect the eggs
Set aside a tithe for those who beg
Feed the horses and the sheep
Let ‘em roam with Little-Bo-Peep
Check the crops, the corn and beans
Rev up your fancy farm machines…
Now we all live in the city
That alone is a tremendous pity
Or if in an adjacent suburb we choose to dwell
life should be heaven, though it feels like hell…
It’s beyond me what the city offers ~
perhaps the jingle of its coffers
Whenever I need my ego boosted
P-Soup is where I go
So many sweet people willing to oblige
Words of pure love just flow
Discovered it about twelve years ago
Totally won me over
It's the greatest bunch of loving souls
They sure can rev up my motor
There ain't no malice no hidden agendas
Happy with the bed we lie in
Love and such happy thoughts prevail
Can't wipe off this silly grin
Don't mean to rehash it over and over
P-Soup is such a blessing
So I explain my feelings in poetic form
A creative way of expressing
Whenever I need my ego boosted
P-Soup is where I go
Rev up, rev up
engine roaring racing such
never boring lighting fast
birthday blast cars vroom-vroom
Carlin's runs on females hearts
3/13/23
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2023©
The clock is always ticking
Speedometer spinning along
Wear and tear building up
Traversing life looking to belong
Easy to miss the exit signs
The clock is always ticking
Most of us drive around blind
Our internal light barely flickering
We all have a set number of miles
Unfortunately spend too many in a haze
The clock is always ticking
Time to turn that flicker into a blaze
Rev up the love in your heart
Ignite the flame on the wicking
It’s never too late to fire up your engine
Because the clocking is always ticking
This morning I am not in the finest mood
Can’t be a lack of sleep or the lack of food,
I cannot account for my apparent malaise
Could be I’m going through a difficult phase
Mostly discontent with myself, I think,
Trapped in couplets may cause me to drink!
Every word in my head aches for a rhyme
It’s clear to me that I am not in my prime!
I’m tossing my thesaurus and my dictionary
Choosing for a rest today, not to be contrary
So, give me a break while I rev up my brain
If I figure out this disposition, I’ll explain!
Written July 23, 2022
“It's minutest strand is not in our hands."
We traverse the day,
Our engines set in motion and fuelled by it,
We retire to bed,
Like a parked vehicle,
All our mechanisms come to a halt,
Oblivious of anything else,
We switch to another world,
A door is opened,
A part of us walks through it,
Our vehicles rev up by its fuel,
After a transient sojourn,
Our vehicles are set in
motion for another adventure,
We move and race with time,
On and on,
Over and over,
The parts become weak,
The joints go out of place,
We repair, replace and reassemble,
Until it finally stops,
It breaks down completely,
It has fulfilled its purpose.
February 24, 2022.
F Form - Free Verse - New Poetry Contest
Constance La France
Life
Midnight silent
And as the sun burning
My flesh is redden and blacken
Pangs and pains
Bruise skin
Like a kingdom full of sunlamps
Brightly
Eyes blinded by the lights
Skin torrid pains
When I thought of the sunlight
Deep into that darkness waiting
Blinded by mid days sun a brazen
Brightly
I crave the darkness, lonely luminescence
When I thought of the sunlight
That lights, light basking
and the photosphere never congratulating
eagerly I looked for the andromeda galaxy
eagerly I looked for the ionosphere
Brightly
I threw my heat upon the cool breeze
in there stepped an agog 'zodiacal light'
only this and a golden glow brightly
Suddenly, I heard the sunshine some glowing
Brightly
the dayside brought such sorrow
somewhat louder than the Ferrero
My mind always strays to quasars
Rev up motors lights
as It threw its ghost against the atoms
Deep into that darkness shining
Shining ever so, so
Brightly
7/26/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2021©
HOW TO EMBRACE LIFE
Life is up to you
Either a confused strife
Or rev up your life
What to choose?
It's all up to you.
If stumble upon an argument
Accompanies disagreement
Inner commotion creates ripples
Our weaken system cripples
Differences break us apart
This pave the way to depart
If ready for peace
Issues ready to cease
Stability within
Stillness set in
Clarity touches to the core
Solutions come to the fore
What to choose?
It's all up to you.
FIRST PLACE
ALL YOURS (May 27)
Contest Judged: 5/27/2021
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
Seize the day! My soul screamed as I got out of bed.
I was barely awake, but I felt she had my health in good stead.
What should I do first? I asked, with a lazy day start.
That’s easy! She yelled. “We will follow our heart!”
Follow our heart, you mean sing and dance and be with a friend?
The possibilities jumped all over my body, I did a back bend!
My heart did a leap, and I summersaulted out of bed in a flash.
I knew I was going to win a trophy or a sixty-yard dash!
Enthusiasm had me by the lapels and was kissing my cheek.
I laughed all the way to breakfast and heard my hair squeak.
We are going to begin living today! I told my thrilled mother.
Great! She said. Now if you could just please rev up your brother!
1974, Newton, Iowa in the summer
free band concert
music director stands at pavilion
guiding hands rev up the troops
They are seventh and eight graders
We, their captive audience, are related
no one else would surely be here
Hold up! There is Old Mr. Dodggery.
He drags a green lawn chair up and sits beside the pavilion.
His toothless smile urging them on.
They play their hearts out.
We clap politely.
Sam Elison cheers loudly; probably drunk
Even though the noon sun has not yet arrived.
Newton, Iowa in July.
Same time next year? At the pavilion?
Rev up your engines
O, youth of today
The challenge before you
Is to find a smooth way
To ease out the old
and bring in the new
Without transforming the world
to a dark witch's brew
You've seen what can happen
when we cave in to emotion
The protests of Summer 2020
dissolving into unbridled explosions
Where he who shouts loudest
or longest claims victory
Wherein Seattle, Portland, Austin
and Richmond are awfully sorry
Please equip yourselves well
Mark the landscape of the age
Your hand steady on the wheel
of Improvement - not rage
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.