Roost Poems | Examples

Home to Roost

I wrote about my timer,
Which is permanently stuck
And, after many years, at last
Emitted its last cluck.

That was two days ago; today
A package came for me.
I hadn’t ordered anything
And thought, “What could it be?”

A brand-new chicken timer
With a message from my son:
“I hope this works – it looks just like
Your now non-ticking one.”

I laughed out loud at such a gift,
So generous and sweet
And in response to what I wrote! – 
An unexpected treat.

Of course, my husband had to add,
When seeing where this led,
“Your next poem should describe our car
And how it’s almost dead.”

Latin Colors Roost

   Flying in
   On blankets
   Shoes
   And Hair

   Copied from the land
   Most repeated
   Where I stand

   As a visitor to the southern lands
   Bird feathers
   Water
   And trees

   A feast of Latin colors
   Brought from different lands
   Coming home to roost

Roost

Would you rather be either very uncouth or untrue,
When having not yet realizing whom secretly rues,
While you are trying oh so hard above all else to rule the roost?

Gathering Storm

The political storm is gathering 
Election fever is at its highest pitch 

As Nigerians head to the polls
To exercise their franchise

In the mother of  all elections
The most crucial ever

Since the birthing of uninterrupted 
Democracy in our dear father land

This would be an election like no other
Coming at a time Nigerians

Have their backs to the walls
Victims of unmitigated misery

Kidnapping, banditry and general insecurity 
Victims of multi-dimensional poverty 

In the midst of affluence 
Proverbially living near the river 

But washing  their hands daily with spittle 
The time of reckoning is here

Chickens have finally come home to roost 
A Daniel has come to judgment 

This is the time for Nigerians 
To speak with one voice 

That would echo and re-echo
For a long time to come

Riding the Roost

Some call me prolific
I call me obsessed
Some say I'm a kook
I say I'm blessed

It's all that I think of
Poems from the heart
But silly damn nonsense
Is still my main art

Takes the same effort
To make people laugh
As it does to depress them
To make you gasp

So this here is me
Just little old me
A happy old duffer
Filled with much glee

So next time you're looking
For a morning boost
Check out this old Jester
He'll be riding the roost

They Came Home To Roost

he told me i was crass
he told me i was trash  
he told me i had no fire
he told me he was tired
he told me
he was leaving me for her

perched on the window 
of my empty lair
with a half sneer parked 
on my dry lips
i watched their cute 
garden wedding 
as they strolled on the 
jacaranda carpet 

today
she tearfully knocked on my door

he told her she was crass
he told her she was trash  
he told her she had no fire
he told her he was tired
he told her
he was leaving her for her

The Rooster

Rooster ~
     Pecks the dust, raising 
   Particles, pebbles
 Earth.

       Hen ~
     Comes around
  Roosts with him.






Paint a Picture Poetry Contest (7 lines)
Sponsor: Joseph May
September 22, 2020

Fox Is In the Hen House

There is an expression "when the chickens come home to roost" and our current pandemic is revealing these raw truths. Did we let a rooster in the hen house? Did he keep us safe? Does his presence keep us vulnerable and on our nerves grate? Perhaps we "let a fox guard the hen house", a more likely situation, and we now stand by witnessing while he brings down this great nation.

Sunny Sparrow Roost

While whittling away,
Household tasks today,
Sparrows peacefully perched by my window,
Sunning on golden Cyprus, as they will tomorrow.

Betwixt bird feeder flights,
They absorb warmth of sunlight,
Until seed needs lead to silly squabbles,
Luckily the extent of their troubles.

Back and forth the tiny flock follows its leader.
A chilly day makes them eager.
Lo, one perches on the window ledge,
Peeking inside to check me out.

Disappointed, for I’m only dashing about.
Oh, what idyllic days they spend,
Better than I, for all my good intent!

M. Renee Taylor
12-3-15

Roost

Yo chickens coming home to roost bitches
While you went south stealing their riches

One hundred years you plundered 
While putting South America asunder

Copper Silver and Gold
Polluting the land while you stole

Aluminum and Iron Ore
Thousands of death if you re keeping score

Now the poverty is wrecking havoc on their society
While you scorn their misery 

Crying about the cost of feeding the immigrant
The ugly American his bullying rant

Yes the chicken are come home my friend
That's the cost of thievery in the end

He Who Rules the Roost

HE WHO RULES THE ROOST

toddler holds the clock
reveille at five o’clock
before the cock crows

6/13/2017

On the Vulture's Roost

Vulture;  brazen carnivore, perched high atop the tree
waiting, just waiting, to swoop down for his opportunity
to pick the bones of something or someone he wishes dead
and all the while he roosts and waits for his daily bread.

Nasty black-eyed bird of prey, your ego is fat with bloat.
Hide your cause beneath your claws, on yourself you dote.
Stay on the highest branches of the timber where you judge
but cast your glance behind before another gives you a nudge.

How dare you look upon the ones who's intentions are good.
How I wish to cover your demeaning raven head with a hood.
You snicker and you sneer, but nothing of worth do you bear?
Sink your claws onto paper; let others judge you, if you dare.

Glare until you've had your fill. Cry foul if you will not abate.
No more will your dastardly disguised scorn upon me grate.
Caw out your tale, as did Poe, of the striking rights you defend.
You wanted the last bite of flesh; you got it.  Now it's the end

Where the Owls Roost, the Moon Shines Brightest

Where The Owls Roost, The Moon Shines Brightest

Where the owls roost, the moon shines bright
The old withered oak stands beaten and proud
Scars, proud medals of its strength and might
night owls hooting , often not so very loud

Where the moonlight streams onto life below
Seas move with that mighty Titan's commands
In wonder, the earth watches the light show
Racing, racing onward across all the lands

Where the sky dances with glowing splendor
The night paints shadows with joyous glee
In awe, man watches stars as they surrender
Moonbeams shining upon owls in ancient tree

As dawn approaches the Titan slips on away
Gracefully as King retreating to another view
Generous to the Sun's birth of each new day
Upon green grass thirsty for its morning dew!

Robert J. Lindley--  05-06-2015

When Machines Rule the Roost

There must be something I haven't written about

In over eighteen hundred poems

Searching and searching my large massive brain

But for now creativity has flown

Can't think of anything that's worthy of my time

I've started to run out of gas

Could write about anything just to fill in for now

But can't imagine writing just trash

Will bide my time, maybe suck on my thumb

That's how I usually get inspiration

In the future, the human mind will be extinct

That's the last of our imagination

A real sad day in the annuls of all mankind

Leave me out don't want to partake

In a society where machines are ruling the roost

And the freedom of mankind is at stake

Well thankfully I don't have too many years left

I know it would be hard to survive

In a world without warm and close human contact

This guy doesn't want to be alive



© Jack Ellison 2015

Riding the Roost

Some call me prolific
I call me obsessed
Some say I'm a kook
I say I'm blessed

It's all that I think of
Poems from the heart
But silly damn nonsense
Is still my main art

Takes the same effort
To make people laugh
As it does to depress them
To make you gasp

So this here is me
Just little old me
A happy old duffer
Filled with much glee

So next time you're looking
For a morning boost
Check out this old Jester
He'll be riding the roost

© Jack Ellison 2013

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