Short Bartered Poems

bouquet of roses
a quaint box of chocolates
gratuitous love...

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Cherished stime
Moment sublime
Concordant chime
Regaling rhyme
Bottled time...

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Anwar Sadat
Died a martyr
  For the peace agreement
  He courageously bartered...

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The biggest mistake I ever made…
leaving the place I was going to

Frozen inside a desperate moment
—stolen bartered and gone

(Yellowstone: September, 2022)...

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Token love tendered with a cheap card
Bartered lyric from a trite bard
Gilded, fabricated charm
Brokered, pretentious smarm
Words, symbols to treasure then disregard...

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An atheistic 'Chief Chaplain' at Harvard
       The university's raison d'etre bartered

    A divinity school, founded to spread God's word
       The goal now, 'equitable neighborhoods'...

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We always speculate that,
it requires considerable time,
to instigate change in life.
But little do we understand,
the changing times would leave our life bartered forever.

©Chitra Arun
April 2021...

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Embracing the myth,
I hide deep within

More Devil than Savior,
aboriginal sin

Excuses my sacraments,
grace bartered for lies

Judgment internal
—redemption denied

(Dreamsleep: February, 2020)...

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If you write everyday
sometimes you get lucky
As words come together
and thoughts go away

The feelings take over
as silence retraces
What memory has bartered
—your fortune to say

(The New Room: June, 2023)...

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Collaborative Poetry…
give me a break

Words borrowed or lent,
the Muse to abate

What’s not in your memory,
what’s not in your soul

Can never be bartered, rented
—or sold

(Bryn Mawr College: February, 2020)...

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Lekker read...
"Bartered Wives"...
Still happens...  

Written February 17, 2013
Sponsor: Suzette Crous
Contest: Lekker!-A New Contest
"Bartered Brides" title of a book I am reading..
Form: Ellip...

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Secrets keep us sick
  as emotions run and hide

Perception dark and thick
  the truth turned into lies

Secrets keep us sick
  with denial center stage

Time bartered, the moment gone
 —nothing left but rage

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2018)...

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There’s a certain type of age
that can’t get old

Death caught within the road signs
of its bartered weakness

Where voices cry a fevered wish
to all who listen

And legends write their epitaphs
—on hearts afire

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2019)...

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Time’s Toll


Bargaining with fate
a “now” bartered for a “then”
plans made – debts incurred
a future becomes a past 
sliding through tight clenched fingers.


John G. Lawless
12/7/2015

submitted to – Time is of the essence – Tanka – Poetry Contest
sponsor – C. T....

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Nazi crematoria
  Murderous euphoria
Millions murdered and martyred
  Human lives bargained and bartered

A tsunami's devastation
  The tears of a nation
Gentle Nature's hand crueler
  Than the most dastardly ruler

To God do we turn in sorrow
   Ineffable, His answer -- Tomorrow...

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Hosting my own cocktail party,
  I feel as when a child

Looking up, again I’m lost,
  among adults wearing smiles

I pour the drinks and carry trays,
  and laugh at the right times

But still feel small and unattached
 —my bartered youth in mime

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)...

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Shattering


Parts of me are shattered
The skies are bartered
The grounds do not recognize me
The fire of love are distinguished

Call me 
A glass which is now broken
The parts of me are not to be found
The mirrors are empty from you

Parts of me are shattered
Parts of me are shattered!...

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Diametric …
art and commerce
Twining symbols
colors adverse
 Yin & Yang
divergent segues 
Each stigmatic
 bloddy payday
Fraternal image
Louvre / Montmartre
Black tie bidding
cobbled heart
A poor man sings
a rich man vies 
On bartered canvas
 —truth defies

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023) 
...

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Two sisters, one man-
Well-tricked for his trickery,
Jacob gained two wives.

Two sisters, one man-
One weak-eyed and unwanted;
One was beautiful.

Two sisters, one man-
In love he wept for Rachel,
For sons loved Leah.

Two sisters, one man-
Mandrakes, sex bartered in hopes
Both would feel equal....

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Do you see yourself inside your dream,
or chasing close behind

Is your love unquestioned, given free,
or bartered, contract signed

Are your lyrics empty without applause,
audience on the run

Will the future ransom a past still lost
—the moment left unsung

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2019)...

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The hooker had saved a piece of herself,
a part kept new not old

As pure and pristine as a fresh running stream,
never bartered, never sold

The johns came and went, the money got spent,
each trick relined with pain 

But in one sacred place, her past is erased
—where sun blocks out the rain

(The New Room: December, 2021)...

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Desperation to breed contempt
the moment shattered
time illy spent

Choices bartered and freedom gone
the reaper chanting
old righteous wrongs

Panic stricken the nights repeat
the days long orphaned
abandoned sheep

One promise lingers in chastened air
the font of Angels
— baptism’s prayer

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)
...

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So close to Heaven,
so far from God
The gate still locked
—the devil nods

A soul once bartered,
forever sold
Its mine shaft empty
—mirage of gold

All reasons barren,
the empty fields
The seasons wanton
—bereft to yield

So close to Heaven,
so far from God
Redemption fleeting
—as hell applauds

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)...

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I had you
once
before I lost you in a dream
A dream that I woke up
from
where you stayed beyond my grasp

Visiting me each
night
in the bartered hours of my sleep
Holding me beyond
hope
ever cradling my fear

Lending me back to 
myself
inside this borrowed joy
Until the dawn reminds
again
—I had you once

(To Laura Nyro: March, 2021)...

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Everything tended 
to darken around her
The light from the sun
all feelings deferred

Her winter foreboding
sucks air from the room
Constant denials
predictions of doom

Pawning tomorrow
the price of today
Happiness bartered 
her dreams steal away

Everything tended
to darken around her
Shadows descending
—the future interred

(The New Room: July, 2023)...

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