Short Claptrap Poems

Baloney, bumfuzzle, fiddledeedee
Taradiddle, gardyloo, snickersnee
Gobbledygook, gardyloo, tickle me,
Hullabaloo, cattywampus hogwash hoo-ha
Claptrap, collywobbles ballyhoo brouhaha!



~A Brian Strand 4 or 5 line contest....

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To go in a circular, spiral, curved
Or crooked course
Breeze, zephyr, puff or bluster
Claptrap, horwash or baloney
Tornado, Cyclone or a disaster

No matter how you put it
If your vehicle stays on the road
In Kansas, South Dakota or Wyoming
You have more than met your goal...

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Cunning cuckoo, craftily creeping,
Cackling, cawing, constantly cheating!
Clocks keep clanging, chiming, churning,
Cuckoo’s call--chaotic, concerning!

Cranky critters, clueless, confused,
Chased the cheater--cleverly bruised!
Cuckoo, chuckling, cheekily flew,
Claiming nests like cuckoos do!

Wouldn’t trust that cuckoo chap--
Crafty con artist with a claptrap trap!...

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    A long time ago, grandpa told me
       amateur athletes crossed oceans and paid the fees 

    Every four years a noble spirit arose
       emblazoned on a torch, fiery and free 

    A spirit clear, shining bright and true
       the Olympic spirit, one that cut through

    The claptrap of power, regulation and rules
       crossing the finish line in brotherhood
...

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On the eve of the new call, 
wits mated with passion, 
zeal donated by conception, 
hypersensitive pulls attracted all,
contracts into a horrendous span
as independence made for the span. 

But after those, 
the cry was severed by greed
seasoned by ills inflected by politics, 
as all patriots the new trend follow. 
By and by: a swap
as the intended assumed claptrap. 

The 1960 independence, 
in depend ends. 
       19:10:01:15:16...

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Listen to poem:

Intuition snaps a thin slice.
A shortcut fast and frugal.
It rules with thumb, feels with gut,
both unconscious and instinctive.
It takes the best, 
what it knows is apt and really matters.
It ignores the rest, 
what it knows is inapt and just claptrap.

So hold your gaze in contemplation.
Delay your blink, not to think,
but to let your instincts make snap decisions.
The instant you blink,
that's it, 
it's done, 
shuttered and dusted....

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Weakness lies in the heart of gold,
a heart of gold can still be broken.
O man of empathy, so naive,
who gives until all has been taken.

Hearts of gold are unsustainable,
their foundations appear strong and true,
but life, stalking, like a lion, 
hiding in the tall grass, unexpected as always,

He rips, and tears, far beyond repair!
Oh, what a fib! Such claptrap, and twaddle!
Do you still claim your heart to be
made out of some precious metal?...

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The cherub wrapped in rose - chaste chariot.
A sprightly chain stirs charismatic horse
Across the ages to answer one’s prayers.

A demon with a plot to spare one’s prayers.
Betide the lightning strike, toward chariot,
but for the heretofore of God’s blest horse.

Sole-kick displays golden crescent of horse.
Claptrap scream of demon without a prayer!
Away spurs the audacious chariot.

Behold chariot and horse - answered prayers!

2/19/2019
A Tritina For Messina...

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