The doubters were stifled as doubters will
When a plane took off on Kill Devil Hill,
Just after Wilbur said to Orville Wright,
“Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight”.
Categories:
seatbelts, history, humor,
Form: Epigram
Fear
From out of the dark daddy was there,
with a blotchy red face and messy bed hair.
Checking me out, my fingers my toes,
from the bottom of my feet to my ears and my nose.
In a new nappy, I looked up at his face,
with big shaky hands, he held me in place.
A silent tiptoe, in every night,
to check on my breathing, to check I’m alright.
The pick of his dreams, before I was here,
a dream now replaced by irrational fear.
Some people he knows ridicule and they laugh,
but I know why my grapes are in half.
One tug or two on my seatbelts a rule,
but 17 makes him look like a fool.
So come on daddy, please stop your cry’s,
I am ok, look at me, in my eyes.
Don’t spend your life thinking “it’s bad” and “what if”,
it’s just a cold daddy, a little cough and a sniff.
Hurt from a boy, being unfaithful and unkind,
is already a thought floating around in your mind.
One day when you’re gone, you’ll be free from a scare,
because i learnt from you daddy, to be safe and take care.
I’ll die an old lady, tucked up in my bed,
With my life’s dreams, ticked off in my head.
Categories:
seatbelts, anxiety, fear,
Form: Quintain (English)
Babies cry, sleep, change nappies, feed. Toddlers drink water from cups. Younger brothers, younger sister, older brother, older sister, small town, large country.
One lane roads, one lane bridges, unsealed, 60mph, in the dark. Bush covered gorges, rail lines across the river, small waterfalls, windows down, no seatbelts in the back seat, lying down, sleeping on the rugs, stopping for carsick ones on the edges. Mum singing, Dad driving, children counting dead possums.
The ways into town run through a long winding gorge or a longer winding coastal road, both prone to slips. Nearest cities Christchurch, Nelson, 200 miles away. Only referred to as the Coast, with its own dialect, only belonging when born there.
Biscuits four trays, oven
Bread hot water cupboard rising, Dad late
Holden Kingswood written off, dead bull
Packs, boots, carbide lamps, white fizzy hosing down leggings, parkas, gumboots, bikes, back porch full.
Flames warm quality coal
Sheet lightening children’s window race
Nothing more calming than the thunder of the rain.
Categories:
seatbelts, childhood, nostalgia,
Form: Haibun
Do you feel safe
When there are several there?
People to protect you
People to help and share
People to direct you
People to listen and care
There’s no safety in numbers
Do you feel safe
After you’ve received a shot?
Something to discourage the flu
Something to dissuade the virus
Something to inhibit the infection
Something to prevent the sickness
There’s no safety in vaccines
Do you feel safe
After you’ve buckled up?
Listened to the basic law
Listened to the rules of the world
Listened to the regulation
Listened to the commandment
There’s no safety in seatbelts
Do you feel safe
After you’ve won the award?
Heard your name announced as the winner
Heard your idea proclaimed the leader
Heard your hope become the champion
Heard your beginning to lead to success
There’s no safety in self-esteem
Do you feel safe
After you’ve learned and trained?
After you’ve found the right way?
After you’ve grown to be mature?
After you’ve felt inspired to do it?
There’s no safety in lessons
True safety can be had
But it isn’t found in this land
There is only one place safety can be found
There is only safety in Jesus, my King!
Categories:
seatbelts, blessing, encouraging, faith, god,
Form: Free verse
Joy and Ride went for a spin
Round each bend, a wicked grin
Those seatbelts they weren't fastened in
The ones that stank of rum and gind
Categories:
seatbelts, car, death, drink, joy,
Form: Monorhyme
Long, winding gravel driveway
decrepit old Mercury station wagon
parked there
doors unlocked
those big red buttons
sticking up
no seatbelts either
Tiger lilies blooming
all-at-once, on
either side
of the gravel
A few years later
a cockeyed backboard
appeared on a tree
supporting an
uneven, rickety
basketball rim
Winters we spent shoveling snow
Categories:
seatbelts, basketball, car, flower, house,
Form: Free verse
Once we were very young,
Our journey had begun,
We bounced around in the back,
No seatbelts, alas, alack,
I was rubbing the hair of Grandpa Jack,
Trying to drive, with me on his back,
That was 'the good old days',
Vanished in nostalgic haze!
Categories:
seatbelts, car, childhood, family, grandfather,
Form: Free verse
Once we were very young,
Our journey had begun,
We bounced around in the back,
No seatbelts, alas, alack,
I was rubbing the hair of Grandpa Jack,
Trying to drive, with me on his back,
That was 'the good old days',
Vanished in nostalgic haze!
Categories:
seatbelts, car, childhood, family, grandfather,
Form: Free verse
On a plane we sit, confined
With all our freedom left behind.
We cannot move around too much
And with our friends, can’t be in touch.
We eat what we have brought aboard
And in our carry-ons have stored,
Then turn to what we have to read
(Variety is what I need).
If seatmates shut the window shade,
The ones who sleep have got it made
But those who like to look outside
Do sadly have their views denied.
The seatbelts keep us safe, we’re told
But sometimes we get rock and rolled
If turbulence gets out of hand;
We count the minutes ‘til we land.
Distraction really is the key;
At least, it works quite well for me
For if I’m busy, I’m not apt
To ponder how, in flight, we’re trapped.
Categories:
seatbelts, flying,
Form: Rhyme
As soon as I ran that red light, I knew that our fates were sealed.
Because of my carelessness and stupidity, seven people were killed.
When I crashed, my wife and two children were killed instantly.
So were the people in the other car and it was all because of me.
It is horrible when people meet such a terrible fate.
When people think about me, their hearts are probably swollen with hate.
After the crash, I died two hours later on the operating table.
Somehow I made it to Heaven and I'm amazed that I was able.
All seven of us were sent to Heaven because of the fate that we were dealt.
Everybody might've survived if we had been smart enough to use our seatbelts.
The fact that I made it to Heaven proves that God has great mercy.
Only I deserved to die, I hope that people will eventually forgive me.
Categories:
seatbelts, car, dark, death, heaven,
Form: Rhyme
Cigars and whisky for dinner
Prostitutes for my prostate
Pardon my french,let me rephrase that
Escorts for my ego
Last night,one big blur
****! it’s 6am,7 missed calls,8 messages
Where are you? On my way to the airport
Cruising altitude,mad hangover with a slight case of emptiness
Empty skies.Endless oceans
Fasten your seatbelts,we are about to land
*clicking sound* heavy sigh
Rye for the spy.Lie for the sky
Oh ****! I think I’m still high
Sharpen my blade, I’m out of ink
Draw blood,let it spill
Directly into that vessel,yes,the cracked one
It will hold.Im certain
It’s held lava from lovers
Walked on thin ice with a heavy heart
Treaded the atlas,forming roads
Burning bridges
The last bridge,a bank teller with a best seller
She was perfect and I wasn’t
Somewhere in that line, lies the truth
Stellar thoughts.
Skies don’t need pilots
Oceans don’t need sailors
Vessels do need cracks,they add character
JGM
Categories:
seatbelts, allegory, art, corruption, imagery,
Form: Free verse
Flutes, ahead laying the routes
Oboes they off to Villalobos
Harps, dusting off vessel tarps
Violin silenced by engine din
Cello, matching the revving bellow
Piano sad in the canoe
Clarinets are taking private jets
Horns, fasten seatbelts the Captain warns
Cymbal off checking the gimbal
Saxophone, sorry plane now flown
Bassoon missed flight in June
Trumpets in London loving crumpets
Timpanis tanning in Florida Keys
Tambourine, ouch you forgot sunscreen
Drum in Jamaica sipping on rum
Trombones still crossing time zones
Tuba, where else but Cuba!!
Categories:
seatbelts, humor, humorous, travel, writing,
Form: Free verse
In the air, a warning
Lets us know what to expect.
Sit and fasten seatbelts!
Says the captain’s voice, direct.
We close our eyes or take a breath
And try our best to chill,
While making sure our coffee
Or tomato juice won’t spill.
But whether we are calm or not
We have to wait it out,
For it’s a part of what
An airplane flight is all about.
It’s just too bad in life we’re not
Provided with a clue
That turbulence is on the way
So we’ll know what to do.
Instead, we’re ambushed every time
And rarely are we ready,
For with no seat belts we proceed
Unstable and unsteady.
In times of anguish we could keep
Anxiety in line
If only we could be forewarned
And see a seatbelt sign.
Categories:
seatbelts, flying, life,
Form: Rhyme
To be healthy I'm told I must exercise a lot
Eat no junk food or your going to go to pot
Wear a helmet when your bike you ride
And latch seatbelts in case you should collide
Be sure to get an adequate amount of sleep
And always be sure to look before you leap
I'm told beware of ingesting to much table salt
If you get hypertension it will be your own fault
Its hard to remember all the things that one should do
Oh, oh, now I'm reminded my insurance I must renew
Categories:
seatbelts, health, life,
Form: Couplet
Simulated stadiums unleash
Passion frozen in seatbelts riding backseat
Bear with me
As I tell what cannot be told:
The future is whole as it unfolds
But the social populace
Stigma disgraced
Is racing around what cannot be chased
In the political imaginary
The dog chases its own tail
Media/industrial/economic/ semantic
Falls back and eats itself
A grandiose knot of contol-
Still poison for those who would be fooled
So while education microwaves the brain
We are in the presence of where we need to be
Interstellar harmony with grace
Lying in wait
As the infinity of an internet stream
Awakens
Categories:
seatbelts, computer-internet, family, education,
Form: Free verse
Related Poems