Running Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Running out of Water

World Running out of Water

The whole world 
Seems to be 
Getting hotter 
And drier

And everywhere we go
Water supplies are stretched
To the breaking point 

As the world
Faces a water shortage

Many big cities
Are running out of water
Farmers are desperate

And AI data centers
Are becoming huge
Water hogs

Making the situation
Even more precarious
And dire

Premium Member Quail Running

Two quail skitter quickly up
this gentle country dirt path,
one running faster than the other.
     It's hard to keep up sometimes.

A dog watches from his porch
and wonders if there's food
ahead as he barks at the quail.
     Competition can be a real strain.

In his envy and frustration his barks
get louder -- the quail run faster
to the safety of bushes with berries.
     "See here ... doggies don't eat berries."

Hourglass

The hours passed like seconds 
And stripped our youth away 
The years they passed like miles 
From the window of a plane 
As life goes on and ticks away 
And the glass runs out of sand 
The hours pass like seconds 
Times a curse upon this land


Premium Member I'll Be Running Along

Dear wife, I know you aim to please,
but I did not ask for antifreeze; 
and so, if you don't mind, I think
I will pass on your proffered drink. 
You've got a glimmer in your eye,
but I'm not ready, yet, to die.
I still have the keys to the car,
I'd better hit the gas and go far.

RUNNING ROOTS

There she goes
As fast as her legs can run
Enforcing all effort
To hide what she's gone and done

Moments of deep rage
Popped the proverbial top
The ones standing near
Clothed in spew that won't stop

Years and years he stuffed
The words that could never be spoken
Lest proper folks learn and discover
The child he willfully abused and left broken

Same thing happened to parents
Three generations back
But the difference is
They were filling time with what they lacked

The one that stands tall in the end
Comes far removed from time and space
A pure soul, clear and  open
To endure and transmute all fear grown in that place

....running through roots

Written by Trudy Schrader on 07-18-2026

Running Twas Life

Laughed, as I had, and quicker
More hilarious
Running to me, it was life.
Tension's escape valve.

Sentiment, end of school day's
Burstingly echoed.
First, a gate through; then wall on
Wall, neighbourhood-aired.
As stern, and as unprepared
Subdues, to dissolve.


She was here and then she wasn't

She was here for us everyday

But we forgot to ask

What she was running from


We forgot that she was human too

Not just our shoulder to cry or

Or our therapist to rely on

We forgot she needed us too


We didn't notice her

When she cried behind her perfect smile 

And eyes that showed no pain

We didn't notice her

Till she became a memory to be buried within.


And we didn't reply in time

And then came a day

When she wasn't present 

To make it all okay 

She was already running 

Away 


She wanted to change the world

Do a little good in her life

But it took her away instead

And the goodness I took for granted 

Left


She gave away all her love

Left herself none 

And when she wanted help 

People ignored her signs

And called her funny instead.


She wanted only a hand to hold

For somebody to grab her

When she plunged into the water below

Somebody to whisper

"Don't worry

I am going to be with you forever."

To Run Incites the Chase

I thought the silence sat heavy, 
but only I was carrying the load, 
and so only I felt the crushing weight, 
of my silence. 

I've found that I'm incredible at
running from my problems, 
while inciting them to chase me. 
But you did a real good job,
of causing them.

Just as you weigh my value, 
to another of my blood, 
I raise questions of your own,
against so many others, 
who ought to be in my life,
in your place. Oh, 

how could I ever make you understand? 
When my tongue dries up, 
moment your hands tighten on the steering wheel. 
I'm not one to make my mind known, 
and the cloth and wire I wrapped round my neck, 
knows that twice as well. 

my grief is not aesthetic,
my sleep is not coming, 
my fever dream is your absence, 
my hope is your damnation, 
my pleasure is your absence. 

your grief is my imprudence, 
your sleep is your nature,
your fever dream is my humiliation, 
your hope is my successes, 
your pleasure is your mind becoming my own.

Premium Member Emotions running

Emotions running rampant 
exploding inside my head 
faster than I can write 
without my strokes 
looking Chinese

Premium Member ZIP McFLURRY

A squirrel named Zip McFlurry  
ran track without a worry~  
he’d dash along the treetops  
with lightning in his tail.  

He trained with nuts for protein,  
his stride was crisp and clean,  
and every time the whistle blew  
he’d simply outrun the cheers and hails.  

The rabbits tried to pace him,  
the blue jays tried to chase him~  
but Zip just grinned and shouted,  
Catch up if you can!  

For no one on the forest team  
could match his speedy gleam~  
the champion of the woodland track,  
Zip McFlurry was a lean, mean running machine.

Premium Member Running in the Rain

Today my daily run, it's pouring rain
From exercise there is so much to gain
What ever the weather I will not refrain
I pass a group of smokers outside a fast  non "food" quick death franchise chain

Running bare foot, bare top in just shorts alone
I feel the multitude of raindrops massage my tanned skin
Luckily I'm not a "LOAN SHARK"
In this heavy rain I would need to grow a fin

In the middle of the town I'm aware of many stares
that seem to indicate I"m entirely mad
I assume I don't have all their addictions
I'm free from many a nasty fad

So here's to the rain providing many puddles
into which ,with fun,  I can run and jump and splash
The rivers creeks the land
with life giving water they are all awash
Another poem's come to mind 
the time has come to dash

Crying Ocean

Sleepless night 
My heart running 
After the sound of the ocean 
The dry land in forms of waves
My mind going back 
To the starting point 

Days are short and nights are long 
In my mind is the only place 
You can find the truth 
Hope is hopeless in the law of mass

I want to have hope but 
Wherever the sky is you will find the sea
And the storms follows too

I have ice to see 
Whenever it too hot it changes to water 
So I keep them close until night 
That's the only time I can open them 
And the sun won't make me cry 

Every night the moon is beautiful as rosés 
The sky is my to explore and admire 
But the moon is for the stairs 
Only if I could by any means I will 

Sunlight being too bright for me to focus on 
No can see whenever am crying 
Cause the rain washes out my tears
So my ices stays blue 

The shapeless tears goes wherever the waves blow 
My bed it's found deep into the ocean
And I sleep in water but my body never gets wet

Premium Member Running from Mummy Girl

mummy girl grew out of Farmer Bill’s pumpkin patch
For the rest of us, she was an invincible, humorous match
She sat among the pumpkins and put us down in a batch
A horrible little October gift, she was, and she could snatch.

She had claws that reached out and grabbed us by the toes.
She threw us down, and laughed at our skinned kneed woes
Mummy girl was getting bigger, so were her arms and her nose.
We cleared out of there, running through the corn rows.

Premium Member Emotions running

nothing left of us 
broken pieces can't be mend 
the fire has went out 
where there was heat now lays ice 
too brittle too late shatters

Sea Level

Leaving port once again,
never knowing if or when
we'll return, so until we do,
I'll carry with me thoughts of you,
and, tho' sails are set, charted course laid out,
there's still time to come about,
now, as the skipper shouts, “Helm's a-lee!” to me,
then's when I know, here's where I should be,
at the wheel, the vessel in stays,
yet, I can but do, the best I can,
as a running sea has many ways,
of soundly grounding, both ship and man.

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.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace