Roly Poly Poems | Examples

fearful of a bumble bee

yellow visitor
roly poly fuzzy bee
and i am barefoot

Cool as a Roly Poly Kid

rolling wall to wall - tumbling down the hall
infamously down the stairs, sans fall.
who can be as cool as a roly poly kid?

the older lady, you can guess who, has to crawl
to make it off the floor, crawling like a babe, new.
she hopes not to stumble on the shadows that fall.

naptime and tea, my buzz, whilst the kid
endlessly tumbles his way through adolescence.
one day, the same fate awaits him as the rest of us.

but now is his time, to aimlessly go head over heels,
not in love yet, just maneuvering like a rolled out rug.
this kid with unfathomable energy until he sleeps.

A Garden Tale

What to do when there's really nothing to do?"
Asked the fat marmalade cat.

"Dig a hole,"
answered the round roly-poly groundhog.

"Play." Said the scurrying chipmunk.

Together the cat and the groundhog chimed in,

"But you're the most timorous and frightened,
wee, busy-minded beasty in the garden!"

I'm playing my part,” said the chipmunk,
“Besides, playing is not a doing.
My busy, hurried scurrying
is a game I play with sudden death.
and death is a 'doing',
when there’s nothing else to do.”

Playful Puppies

Puppies colored brown, black, white,
pounce and tumble, such a sight.
Noisily they squeak and yip,
watch your fingers, they might nip.

Little legs trip and fumble,
bodies lay in a jumble.
Silly pups are full of play,
roly poly all the day.

6/5/2023

Butterflies and Friends

butterflies and friends

ragged winds depart
 snow maid leaves a farewell kiss ~
  robins lay blue eggs

wisteria blooms
 calls to butterflies and bees ~
  roly poly bugs

silky cocoons sway 
 butterflies unfold new wings ~
  earthworms wiggle toes

winds tickle green wheat
 chartreuse barley peeks through fields ~
  butterflies arrive

busy honey bee
 visits pink apple blossoms ~
  ladybug parades

cadence of spring life
 scampers through fading blizzards ~
  watch out for stink bugs
  
4-18-23
Syllables checked with www.howmanysyllables

Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy
Try Our Chicken Mole
Eat and eat and eat and eat
Until you're roly poly.

Stuffed

I used to eat 'til I was stuffed
    never knew when I'd had enough
  Some folks called me roly-poly
    others found me gruff

  Now I'm satisfied with just a little
    which does wonders for my middle
  And did I mention my transformation
    from hostile to hospitable

A Friend Under a Leaf

Roly poly, my friend 
Time under leaf, you spend
Tell me, what you see
To you I am big
But you are small to me

Grizzly Bear Family

The tiny roly poly proud brown baby bear
Ate a delicious pink pear on a double dare.
It was from his big bossy brother, to be fair.
Which is something that is kind of rare.

The same mommy they do not share.
They have the same dad though, I swear
He’s a grizzly who wears large blue underwear
Don’t worry he also has purple stripes, his other spare.

The three of them know how to set a pretty good snare.
They have put these live traps out here and there
You cannot find them? Please look everywhere.
These boys are lively and fun, quite a sibling pair

Some think their grizzly father is kind of square
But he lets them watch reruns of my favorite, Cher
The rumormongers don’t even know him, so let’s be fair
Anyone that cool is a Daddy that I would love to share.

A Thanksgiving Haiku

the blissful gobble

of a roly-poly bird . . .

turkey day looming


11/16/21
for Tania Kitchin's Fall Or Winter Holiday Haiku Poetry Contest

Holy Moly Roly Poly

Active fun-loving roly poly little goalie
slowly retrieved a ball so lowly
He said right away
It is a great day!
The crowd yelled back “Holy Moly!”

Home Invasion

scraping of the soil
invasion of millipedes
unearthed by rakers ~
those roly poly critters
in every nook and cranny

9/6/2021
A Buggy Tanka
M.L. Kiser

Potato's Raw Lament

Alas! I'm just a roly-poly me.
When I was birthed, in dirt they had to dig!
More slender and chik I'd prefer to be.
But here I am - so common, round and big.

When I was birthed, in dirt they had to dig!
Trimmed in French style, I want to be a fry.
But here I am - so common, round and big.
I wish to be flavored and savored. Sigh!

Trimmed in French style, I want to be a fry.
More slender and chik I'd prefer to be.
I wish to be flavored and savored. Sigh!
Alas! I'm just a roly-poly me.

July 30, 2021 (based on picture number 3)
For Eve Roper's Pantoum Rhyme 1 Poetry Contest
By Howmanysyllables.com, Style has one syllable.

Dadi

Dadi
Sitting on the doorstep,
She looks at me with her loving eyes.
So weary, I ponder,
They seem to be holding so many mysteries.
They abound with untold tales,
I wonder.
I vow to myself; these stories, I shall hear someday, as she cajoles me to sleep.
She shields me from Rani’s slaps,
Every now and then.
She now snaps at me in a language; melodious song it seems at first.
But quickly it reaches a crescendo of all too familiar words which my ears were accustomed to.
Coming from the magnate of our family,
the revered one; who toils from 7 to 7 and can hardly stands a sound when he is back.
I feel the two have made a pact of some sort;
Otherwise why would they use the same disgruntled mellifluous words,
When they were cross.
Bemused I go on with the task at hand
Oiling the silver-haired roly-poly Dadi’s threads.
Yearning for another round of discordant bitterly words,
Strange why I found them amusingly endearing.
Cheekily I pulled her hair harder this time
With clumps of it ending on my sweaty palms.
Here they come the shower of the much-anticipated jingling jingling words.

Name Matters

Let poets ask: what’s in a name
And come out with some reasons tame.
Say, by any name rose is rose,
But that is just as far it goes.

With sound and feel of someone’s name,
And how it rolls off human tongue,
We tend to form judgmental frame,
Finds a new study— somewhat young.

We tend to make a mental gate—
Ready connections nigh jolly—
A Molly’s viewed as roly-poly,
A Kate, lanky like a pole straight!

There’s no escape for men from mind
That with tracks and pathways gets lined.
_____________________________________  
Tongue-in-cheek |02.05.2021|

Poet’s note: Based on a recent study: The alphabet sounds of b, m, l, and o have soft and rounded sounds and associations, for example: Molly. The alphabets of k, t, p, and i have sharper and rigid sounds and associations, for example: Kate. Name does matter after all; people tend to associate certain attributes with names, as this verse says.

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