Short Barb Poems

there is a hidden barb
camouflaged in petal words
I can feel the sting

Eileen Manassian...

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meaner than greener

           the other side of barb wire

                open hands get cut




***...

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the casualties of of war
that shock me
to the core
barb wire at
your door
we ask
for peace
once more...

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thoughts now trapped
in barb wire and booby trapped
still unable to sustain and reason 
lean towards the broadband of truth...

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Beautiful ice crystals
Adorn these barb wired fences
At the concentration camps, but
The coldest screams
Flow through these prison walls...

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Twisted and tormented
                        You keep things in, you keep things out
                                       A guardian, a jailer...

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trees cast precious seed

                      nut brown in soft barb green case....

                                           children play conkers...

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grandparent's farmland
passed down through generations
apple peach trees grow

overgrown pathways
barb wire fence contains thorned bush
wild berries florish...

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A desperate spinster, Jane took

strong measures the day she would cook

fresh trout. Her date bit

the barb left in it!

He truly was caught on her hook!


4/26/2015...

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sounds like the bitter former lover, 
venom with a point of view, 
copped a few darts me, whenever, 
crossed her path the arrows flew, 
that december...
blue :(

Don

re:Poisonous Barb.....Owen Yeates...

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Ice on the fence wire …
insult to injury
The barb when it’s deadly
pointed and sharp
A night rain has frozen
and hidden the danger
Awaiting intruders
—that come in the dark

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)
...

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Jeer, farcical cheer
Jive, cheer to sneer
Jest, barb to test
Pun, jest for fun
Joke, fun to poke
Jab, poke to grab
Joust, jabs that roust
Jibe, taunting vibe
Josh, vibe to squash 
Jolt, tingling volt
Jaunt, volting flaunt...

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Eight Nuns Running


Eight nuns running down a path far below
Ethel, Edith, Ellen, Barb each in deep snow
From the way they all look might be putting
up a gong show, till they all fall down
while they're all wearing frilly long gowns.


08/08/15...

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Here's some wacky names, my doctor is Liam Crummy
Barb Dwyer, Seymour Legg, Stan Still, and Terri Bull, really funny
If you want more here's others to avail
Ima Kettle, Dan Druff, Rusty Nails
Can't imagine what their parents called their puppy...

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Here are some wacky names, my doctor is Liam Crummy
Barb Dwyer, Seymour Legg, Stan Still, and Terri Bull, really funny
If you want more here's others to avail
Ima Kettle, Dan Druff, Rusty Nails
Can't imagine what their parents called their puppy...

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The narcissism
  of small differences…

The egos crown
  of thorns

The sharper each
  individual barb

The more frequently
  it’s worn

A grand
  pontification

Whose wind
  blows just one way

Into the face of
  vanity’s ghost

In jealous
  —disarray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)...

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he makes me offerings,
little strings of his face he places on my knee,
a line of black ink
in a bowl of milk

one day I slid
my lover's beard barb across his cheek-
watching him squirm and giggle made me giggle too,
for he could not fathom the ecstasy of a hundred on my neck,
or a thousand between my legs...

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Presence and  Pleasance

Not here now but still feel presence;
Memory does exist in every essence;
Best friends to find;
Have left us behind;
Always appealing was their presence.

Our friends barb and Steven Schaffer
just left to return back to Seattle. Sure
was so nice having both of them here.

Jim Horn...

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Grouse Courting

I watch the Grouse do their dance,
As each feather is enhanced,
Vane or down, they’re preened and cleaned.
Keeping them healthy and streamed.

At the tail’s base, an oil gland,
That makes the feathers dry and grand.
From barb to rachis, they’re beak nibbled;
For the courtship ritual....

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A life of drugs; he laughs, he shrugs
Found this world to be "non-addictive"
Hopelessly dependent; oh, can I end it?
Hurt so deeply, now I'm vindictive
Construct the thickest, strongest shell
Impenetrable fortress; unstoppable blockade
Barb-wire, a moat- ten million guards!
They come, they go; they glow, then fade......

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A fading intent
Lost amid echoed voices
A blurring of lines


A meaningless word
Adrift on a feeling
Softness or sting


Her eyes lied
As she spoke her “truth”
A lover’s denial


A barb blindly tossed
An unnoticed flinch
An unshed tear


Malnourished 
When the wise lack wisdom
Un-nurtured youth

...

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Coaxing
Words from limbo
Into life.

Slipping them from
The pocket of 
Your muse, onto
Eager paper.

Lovely linen,
Thick with roses.

Or threaded with
Barb-wire.

Altar for the gentle
Blood of visionaries,

Mingled with axle grease
For sturdy wordsmiths 
Eager to lay concrete verse
Lasting beyond time....

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I pressed a barb
under my tongue
to remind me

I pierced glass
into my heart 
to awaken a story

as blood dripped
a memory formed
in the pain and suffering
an effigy wavered

then I knew
some stories 
should never be told
and forever remain

locked under my tongue 
speared into my heart
and silent in eternity...

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CAGES

trapped in  
apparent spaces
power
extinguished
bird in a
forgotten
tree

building cages
safety nests
apparent
circumstances
placing bets 
on novel lives  
sunken 
and clean

stuck in barb wire snares
itch itch itch
the language is
obscene
headbound in
freakish Atlantic
sea



© Kim van Breda—8 January 2016...

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The sun forces her face through the dark morning sky.
The trees garner their new autumn garb.
Birds converse on the dry crunchy grass.
Lumbering cows meander behind the fences of barb.
The morning is anew and yesterday is gone.
Hot summer nights give way to a cool dawn.
My troubles are constant yet seem to fade away.
The crisp cool air makes it all OK....

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