Rumpled Poems | Examples

Disheveled

The bedraggled beget bedfellows with
Tangled hair, tattered sleeves, a sea churn chaotic.
Comfort is found in a rumpled, ruffled unkempt state,
Shared by a weary soul and a heartless sea sat beside.
For sorrow will draw in where sorrow has been.
Churn will discern a likeness for agitation,
Beyond the calm that demands order, prim, proper, neat.
For it's disorder that makes a ruffled mind
Seek solace in a ragged heart, torn, and well worn.

the green room

the green room


last night i wondered about the green room
and if you slept alone while the eastbound train fled town

i knew it was too late to call
but my watch was set to pacific time and i missed you

your unmade bed was more than a memory to me
sheets rumpled and pillows tossed like rounded mushrooms
waiting for the frogs to pass

somehow i knew the room wasn’t mine anymore
when the radio played a slow love song that was no longer ours

it’s always the little things that reveal
more than wednesday’s headline could have ever said

i should have left on the morning train
rather than watch the lights turn out in the green room

tomorrow i’ll go west with the setting sun
and remember the green room only in my dreams


 © tolbert

Wringing Out the Rain

A squirrel got into the homestead,
it picked a lock with a dry thorn.
The smell of dank fur clung.

We carried small talk above our heads.
Nothing put away but still dangles.
Denim droops, snagging
the arms of rumpled shadows,
fusty jeans gander and loll.
Calico and cotton are rescued
the soggy separated
from the mildewed.

Soon front steps will be scoured,
tails and collars made to flap
while medium-sized back-yard critters
flounce and fluff.

If a blotting wind returns,
the squirrel will bail with a flick of its tail,
we will wash bathtubs,
fully clothed with yesterday's suds.

Fire And Brimstone Preacher

a cool spring Midwestern morning
the preacher started his sermon
a guest preacher known for fire and brimstone
the little country church was filled
censuring the flock about their sins
claiming to be sin free himself
he said he was perfect like Jesus Christ
and that's when it happened
two large front doors blew open
gust of wind raced down the aisle
happened so fast and ended so quick
the little country church was dumbfounded
his hair a mess his papers scattered about
with Bible in hand and rumpled suit
he walked down the aisle and out the door
the little country church sat in silence

Sullied Threads From Yesterdays

There's a pile of sullied threads on the floor
from muddied quarrels of our yesterdays
Remnants of life that we stripped bare
like sheets from a bed needing laundering

It's a hoard of soiled and frayed toggeries
too foul from words to be properly cleansed
I thought of trying to bury the lot of it
but shoveling the hurt left blisters on my hands

Invasive memories haunt many of my dreams
They are suffused deep within my thoughts
An inured scent of us will linger, unbleached, abused
like worn jeans as long as they remain unwashed

How long before I can ignore them lying there
gathered and rumpled in an alcove in my mind
Dark stains that only bring me pain and discontent
Too tainted to be purified by dirty human hands

Summer Quatrains

Summer Quatrains – Swap Quatrains 6-19-24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summer Quatrains

Silk ribbons of ice melt into wellsprings
With jubilant serenades, heartfelt,
Frozen heartbeats freed from rime flow on wings
Into wellsprings silk ribbons of ice melt.

The brooding nimbus bows to solstice’ clouds
Dandelion days doze in clover now
As the Dayspring moon chants reveries out loud
To solstice’ clouds the brooding nimbus bows.

The rumpled season rides on wings of change,
Dancing in the ether where dreams abide,
Somersaults o’re a wishing star’s exchange
On wings of change the rumpled season rides.

In summer’s sunlight winter’s rose arises
Past the melancholy veils of dark starlight
Opens silky buds, rapture’s surprises,
Winter’s rose arises in summer sunlight.

DANCING RAINDROPS

As the parched earth sighed
Mother nature orchestrated
The grandest show on earth
Thunder rolled on invisible drums
Cymbals of lightening clapped
As dancing raindrops lined up
To cool down the heat of the sun
Curtains of  dark clouds parted
As dancing raindrops twirled
And descended unfurled
Smoothing out the rumpled leaves 
Sliding down window panes 
Smoothing out those heated frowns 
Dancing raindrops whirling into town
A raindrop catching it’s breath
Sitting on a blooming flower
Sparkling in the twilight hour
Raindrops hurdled together
In little muddy pools children 
Splashing laughter so  cool
Catching silent raindrops in
Little hands with little help
From the wind reeling out
Raindrops from a giant spool! 

18.6.24 ( FIRST PLACE)

Pigging Out Part 2

He would eat puddings and pies galore

And kept swelling and swelling some more 

So when his stitches popped

That's when his britches dropped 

Rumpled and crumpled up on the floor

One More Day

One More Day

Always amazing
how well this life
goes right on without us
New images tread
where shadows have fled
old memories in the dust
Nothing left behind
but words to remind
we chased the Tiger sure
Out of the jungle
into the light
—hoping for one day more


(The New Room: February, 2024)



A Finer Point

Simplify
and clear

Simplify
and clear

Not many
years left

— simplify and clear


(The County Line: February, 2024)



Trapline

Could — Would — Should
poetry’s triumvirate oxymoron


(The New Room: February, 2024)



Goodbye

Walking the wasteland
tracking the miles
rumpled old notebook
pain has compiled

Closer to yesterday
lost to today
Voices of promises
I shouldn’t have made

Trouble ahead
troubles behind
Providence follows
in only my mind

My pen almost empty
eyes nearly shut
One word to write only
— midnight has struck


(Villanova University: February, 2024)



Free Given

It matters least
that when I die
What strangers say
what ladies cry

It matters more
the ink run out
My words free given
— whose passion shouts


(Villanova University: February, 2024)

Bewildered Psychic Efflux

The disordered sands of entropy, 
churned by the wheel of chaotic time,
settle on the stratified shelf of the disorganized life.
In moments moving with perturbed dispersed dust,
the truth of trust oscillates in tumult 
on the ruffling ripples of mayhem. 

In the bewildered efflux of errant disarray,
everything rumpled changes in nonplussed instants, 
except for the notion of change.
The mystifying alchemy of metamorphosis
reveals the real façade fragile
of the perplexing psychic transformation.

In the baffling squall of divesting dismay,
my mind disheveled in befuddled moments 
into a dishabille state of confusion,
splinters the leitmotif of the embedded emotions.
The confounded cascade of consternation 
carries them away to the abyss of oblivion.

Yet, when my castle of sand on the shore of yearning
tumbles down in a clutter of dispersed debris,
in its disorientation I discover discombobulated 
the emotive flute of dormant feelings, 
play the tune of unfazed ecstasy, 
making the lucid music of mystique memory.

Sanctified Wings

The dawn sky of life splashed blessed beams of bliss 
on dream buds that unfurled joy in my eyes, 
rapture took me to rare realm I didn’t miss,
cloud of sunset storm heaped at edge of skies.

Splintered by the flicker of tinged twilight,
in spasm vortex I saw my sky decay,
crumble with my dreams in abyss of night,
in dark depth I found the end of my way.

Flushing garden turned to rumpled debris, 
the buds didn’t see the new sunrise in spring.
I prayed for God’s kindness to make me free,
I could fly devout on sanctified wing.

artful dodger of London Town

When I travelled to London Town
I never expected this to go down
Artful Dodger came out of the dark
Smiled at me, as if I was a lark

He was rumpled and crumpled, this tallish boy
I did not know what to say, so I said “ahoy”.
He put one finger in front of his mouth and faded away.
I was glad I had come to London Town on this day.

Napkins

Can napkins not esteem or honour
a history of being placed gently on laps
to catch, take hold of,
what is carelessly spilled or dropped,
used then to pat lips
before being rumpled tenderly, after eating,
and placed carefully at one's side?

At a table in a bar,
a paper napkin on my lap,
I look at friends:
they have their napkins
sitting at the sides of their plates,
on that table, folded, ignored, untouched.
Is there something wrong with me?


(11 Dec 2023)

Disorientation

The sands of entropy the wheel of chaotic time churns,
settle on the stratified shelf of the disorganized life.
In moments moving with the dispersed dust of perturbation,
the truth of trust oscillates on the ruffled ripples of disorder. 

In the bewildered efflux of errant disarray,
everything rumpled changes, except for change.
The mystifying alchemy of metamorphosis
reveals the real façade of perplexing transformation.

In the disorderly squall of divesting dismay
my mind is disheveled to a dishabille state,
splinters the leitmotif of the embedded emotions,
confounded cascade of consternation carries them away.

Yet, when my castle of sand on the shore of yearning
tumbles down in a clutter of scattered debris,
in its disorientation I discover the dormant flute of feelings, 
play the tune of ecstasy with the music of memory.

Our Cousin Lee Chick Chick

He is just off the plane and looked grumpy for sure.
Irritated that the landing had put him into a bit of manure.
By his clothes and his look he was slightly rumpled a bit.
We knew from experience he might throw a big fit.
We tried to act glad to see Cousin Lee Chick-chick again.
It was a stretch in the chicken yard, he had not been a good friend.

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