Short Coaxed Poems

Soft velvet rubbed between coaxed fingers.
Gypsy Rose petals on display.

3/1/2018...

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Haiku 2/10/2018

winter - lies in thaw
blooms coaxed from hiding,
a cold lover


John G. Lawless
©2/10/2018...

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I saw a bird
With a yellow bill
It landed on
My window sill
I coaxed it in
With a piece of cheese
And I shoved it in
The deep freeze...

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easy bunny hill the children coaxed him.
John hated to look foolish to his students.
Ended up landing flat on his back.
Happy cry went up.
Look at Mr. Lawless!...

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a shy teenager
coaxed to try on pink lipstick~
breaks into a smile



Submitted on May 31, 2019 for contest  WRITING CHALLENGE 5, MAY 2019 SENRYU sponsored by DEAR HEART  -  RANKED 3RD...

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Tina Fey as Palin;
Alec Baldwin’s Trump:
Both coaxed many smiles
From a nation in a slump.

Add to that McCarthy
With a spot-on riff on Spicer.
Laughing on these gloomy days
Just couldn’t feel much nicer!...

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Come into the soup
my wordy friend coaxed
you'll really like it there

They are quite a group
these poet-type folks -
creative thoughts and flair

I peeked at the troupe
the world each invokes
and finally took his dare...

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Wishing to be numb
Coaxed by it's powerful fake love
Let it take over and drown out

Wishing I've made bad choices
To be wash out
To not remember a part of your life is a gift
Get in 
drug up
drain in
Blood drips from my torn skin...

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The cusp of brilliance
  can still be controlled

While genius can neither 
  be coaxed nor cajoled

Being still on the fringe
  keeps one foot on dry land

But when totally immersed
  —only God can command

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)...

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Dry logs redden and snap;
   The fire is soon impressive.
The wolf moon takes better shape
   As night begins to settle in.

I watch the conflagration spike;
   A spark flies off, then others
Like the universe had coaxed them
   To become one of the stars....

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We have been coaxed by honeyed words,
Deranged by colonized thoughts, my sons.
Our sinews have furnished their bans
While we are submerged in poverty’s fangs.

You hold to each others’ throat
Nourished with daggers from intruders’ moats. 
Is this how you want My bloodline to end?...

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as soon as this latest plague is over
and the riots dampen a bit,
the gentle muse can be coaxed from  
the leper's mask and rubble,
to pick up the quill and start scribing
about frogs-flowers and fawns
or maybe It'll be inspired by a goose
that offered it's feather for the cause-...

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You’re called by fragrance to get out,
to bathe beneath the flower moon;
The whisper of Summer’s a shout,
you’re called by fragrance to get out;
Stirring dreams seem to layabout
‘til coaxed harshly from their cocoon;
You’re called by fragrance to get out,
to bathe beneath the flower moon....

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                           There once was a lady of the night
                             wearing dresses short and tight
                                  she coaxed her johns
                              showing a titillating thong
                               whetting their appetites.
...

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her quarter-pounder eyes
edged with charcoal
coaxed me inside.
her round succulent body
i savoured hungrily
as from table to table she rolled.
a small gherkin green nose
sat on lips of tomato sauce
surrounded by a cheesy smile.
as my fingers touched
i knew it was 
burger love.
...

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We coddled and coaxed
Cajoled and cuddled
Caressed and calmed
Candy would not budge

We encouraged and enthused
Attempted to inspire and excite
Candy smiled
But refused to comply

We teased and tormented
Attempting to train her our way
Candy laughed and skipped away
Super confident at age four....

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A surprise snow coaxed night to rare twilight
snowflakes found leaves in quiet midnight air
I will forever remember this sight:
fallen snow--a gentle Christmas prayer--
and a hush almost too lovely to bear.

December 5, 2022
for "A Christmas Memento" poetry contest
sponsored by Andrea Dietrich
~FIRST PLACE~...

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You are that feral fox
that’s wild and wary
not easily won over
needing to be approached with caution
ever so gently to be coaxed to trust

Opening up in bits and bites
get to know me slowly
get used to me in increments
i’m an acquired taste
a rose blooming in its own time



AP: Honorable Mention 2025...

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Sir –
More epistles are waiting:
Redress the truck-pusher first
Before speeching at the truck!

Sir –
Excursions are forced for a lull
Into further excursions 
Coaxed by the vicar’s levity!

More epistles are waiting:
Addressed to the strong sister
Whose redsear in a nurture crypt
Marked a new devotion to the deity....

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Awful hair is filthy
Hairy legs are terrible too
Whose body is this?
Asked the raggedy lady in blue.

Her mind laughed of course
Knowing something was amiss
Dementia coaxed her into action
She gave a stranger a kiss

It is time to bathe you 
Said her uniformed keepers
You have to catch me first! 
She ran off in her sleepers....

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Coaxed from its vile sheath
To appease the voices from beneath

An instrument of unruly malice
A weapon as wise as it is callous

No fool shall get past it
Only those with wit

Only Those who are wise
Who Learn not by their eyes

Only they stand a chance
They who hold their stance

Do not flinch do not waver
Unless its death you savor...

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How does one capture the moon?
Catch hold of its beams and tug it 
to the earth?
Rearrange the stars
So it might mistake the 
earth for horizon?
Should it be coaxed down
Or caught in one's mouth
And swallowed all at once?
Don't tell me it's impossible
My lover has done it, you know
Every night, when the light is low
I see it shining from his eyes...

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There was a lady named Susan
Always worryin’, frettin’ and stewin’
Talkin’ woe is me’ to old man Lance
Who coaxed and cajoled her to dance

Lo and behold! They could cut a rug
Doin' the cha-cha and jitterbug
Soon the talk of the town
They danced every dance around

Smilin’ Sue found it all so confusin’
That grinnin’ Lance thought it all so amusin'...

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She hid her talents in the deepest darkest recessed corner
Taking it out never, for fear of being called brilliant.
She did not want to be shunned or ostracized, 
Knowing her people well

Then one day she met a stranger who coaxed her a tiny bit
Encouraged her to allow herself to be
She shook out one sliver of a slip of a talent
And began to glow, and began to grow....

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Card playing pig in a poker’s square
Coaxed violin and butterflies in the air.
Standing on a baseball, next to a croaking frog
We wondered if he had changed everything down in the bog.

For he was the caretaker and was in charge.
His voice was mellow, but his temper was large.
The butterflies flew off, leaving his attitude behind.
He is one of a kind, the frog croaked, one of a kind....

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