Short Grating Poems

Food Place Chores 
By Maui Sanders

Grating cheese
Is the relationship
Between mother and daughter

Oh dear!...

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grating sky noises
elongated screechy scream
clamoring airplane

destroying silence
threatening my peace of mind
in flight path daily...

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The dins of war un-hushed 
the jarring of munitions 
the cacophony of starvation
the grating contempt for humanity 
the discordant silence of the Free 
. . . The World...

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Slipping, as pain-free
A grassed buzz under
Woke sense, living consciousness.
Waspishly grating!

That smooth, subtely.
That unnoticeable.
One, a dream flight. The other
More liberating....

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The paper falls
The television freezes
The nusance of a sore

The site fails
The lonliness sears
The news pales

Keep going
Going in circles
Wishing and wanting, overflowing

Struggling, waiting
What's it all for?
The answer will come
When all is grating...

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As a driver, I’ve never been keen.
I’m distracted, confused, not serene!
On my nerves, things keep grating.
Now I’m sitting here waiting
for that stupid stop SIGN to turn green!

November 19, 2020
entered in the QUIN-TO your five-line poem Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Brian Strand...

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a blue chameleon delight eyes full grappling his inner joys in knowing legs must know no opposing position roaming safely through universal value with X-ray
wisdom yes as bitch charm don't ever fool envy grating haven in just kiss loving moments never opportunist poor quest running silent toward valor waste x.ing yore....

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Through the checkered grating of York-Dauphin station, 

Clinging ‘tween the iron bars With fragile rays.

Through the checkered grating Of Tioga station,

A rounded hump, now flooding sound, yet colored, seen.

Through the checkered grating of Torresdale station, 

Aloft, so proud and arrogant, boring through the fragile screen....

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verdent leaves
spikey, pointed,
symmetrical, heart-shaped,

walnuts, oak, maple
one lone elm
unseen in Kansas for awhile

crickets are buzzing
grating commercial airline sound
buzzing, trilling, droning

the forest is alive
insects chirping and chattering
one loud angry caw

clop clop clop
ha ha ha
locusts add to the orchestra...

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as the chalk snaps . . .

           a flash of horrid torment
           makes you wince and
           cringe,

           raw, searing pain throbs
           with the grating of your
           fingernails

           scraping down, scratching
           across the smooth, shiny
           blackboard,

   as the chalk snaps . . .!...

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The caw of the crow,
Once harsh and loud
Filled the skies when they
Gathered in a crowd.

For fifty years
Their voices not heard
Untill one lone caw
Returned out of the blue.

It's sounds once grating, 
Now sweet and dear,
A melody of memories
I hold dear.

He flew away cawing
then I pondered,
"Where he lives,
from where he came."...

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cavernously eerie
echoes long dead
frosted over and irritated

grating silence
cold as ice 
unforgiving, unyielding, just un…..

woods feels disapproved,
disrespected, unappreciated
rock solid hush dispels possibilities

slate and shale
hiding teensy glimmers of mica
shining like her ice heart

cavern rules 
showing a presence
that scares many...

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the bathroom toilet is gurgling
it sounds like it has the hiccups
a non-melodic, annoying, grating sound

my husband has shown me several times how to stop it
he can lightly touch the handle and it stops

I can lightly touch it eight times before it stops
annoyed by this too, I choose to listen to it
wishing we had the old toilets that did not make noise...

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When the snow arrives at night,
Blanketing the city,
All is peaceful, soft and white,
No longer gray and gritty.

But with morning, what we hear,
And there is no escaping,
Is the grating sound, so clear,
Of nonstop shovels scraping.

Sidewalks must be free of ice
And everyone so doing
Is not concerned with being nice,
But staving off some suing!

March 5, 2019...

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the sky is falling
the fall is crying
the cry is calling
the call is dying

the dye is casting
the cast is resting
the rest is lasting
the last is testing

the test is boring
the bore is lying
the lie is scoring
the score is tying

the tie is binding
the bind is grating
the grate is grinding
the grind is waiting

the wait is ending
the end is stopping

© Oct 22 2010...

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My cataracts are common and very aggravating
I’m told everyone over forty has them,
They certainly are on the optic nerve grating
By distorting and causing my vision to dim.

Trying to watch a movie is certainly frustrating
As faces are contorted and scenes become grim
While blinking often my eyes are adjusting
And tears are flowing from my eyes’ outer rim.

written November 9, 2021...

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Her voice is grating. It comes through the walls.
Loud and gritty, it gives me a backache.
I can barely tolerate it.
I am so glad she is only assigned to this school for two days.
Every single word of her day comes through loud and proud.
And her voice never stops talking. She talks all day long.
The entire seven and a half hours of it.
I feel my neck stiffen up.
Wishing it was Monday, a day she does not show up....

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O Raven perched atop the willow tree,
A guardian of all that he can see.
His grating call to summon the twilight,
And brings us safely to our rest tonight.
O Raven soaring on your wings of black,
Always onward and never looking back.
Carrion hunter searching through the sky,
He takes my soul to where’re he doth fly.
It is the world of Man that holds me down,
Yet my soul is graced with his mantled gown.




Form: Sonnetina Due...

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Disturb not my peace! Oh flowers!
With thy sweet scents, that haunt, daunt
Worse, thy prattle with butterflies
Lest her thoughts retrace my heart; taunt

Disturb not my sloth! Oh silly winds
With thy grating, gyrating caresses
You rind my confidence, I had
Been pretending with courage-false

Disturb not my silence! Oh senses!
With dreams, desires and promises
I spurned long ago your finesse
When she took my love; gave distress...

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Quaint bells of symphony,
swelling over
vast corridors of the mind
filming scenes from remote past
in kaleidoscopes of living colour
strumming..
with virtuosic intensity
on mind's tormented strings
reincarnating
exorcised demons
undressing
raw putrefying wounds
rusty hinges creaking noisily as
grating shovels on ice
skelenton closet swings eerily open
creatures baring hideous teeth
lay siege on my sanity
and haunt my sleep....

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To Dine, To Die;
Conversations spiral
While thunderous eyes
Grasp concepts to recycle.

Constant debt crisis
A political paradox
Grating social devices
Over the sorting of socks.

Pseudo-analysis
An endless groan
Argumental paralysis
The debate grants no throne.

Existentialism
Over a roast
Potatoes won't listen
To who talks the most.

"That point is so interesting"
The floor is open for chat
"What is real?" not a thing
"Meow" adds the cat....

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How time sheds your claws of deceit
From falsehood grating my vulnerability;
Yet I claim a self’s need to be:  the rain freshens
New waves...bathing, exalting my authentic life
That dances through all veins within the marrow,
While I see my face emerge as a pink orchid
Allowing this heart to love my own essence:
Till the moon shines in these eyes… alive, liberated.



Laura Lou’s Quote Prompt II
11.26.2016...

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gravel 
crunchy like carrots
except I  like them
can't say the same for 
what's 
grating to shovel
grinding to rake
and there's over a ton 
would've bought Thanksgiving
got that
you have your truck
get me some gravel
sure 
why not
shoveling gravel
like putting up with a fussy baby
except I love the baby
hot sweaty tired dusty
arms shoulders back sore
feels good
gonna take 
two loads more
spreading gravel
like spreading the love
except......

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A flickering spark between you and me–
     grating of steel on steel and I shall flee!
When my opinion is not valued, and my way not chosen,
     I feel my blood hot—then becoming frozen.

Flee from conflict, flee from differences;
     Flee from everything when comes hindrances!

I will live in my box, so shallow and cold,
     and avoid every burden and shake off every load;
so here I sit smugly and never grow,
     rooted as a weed—never fruit to show!...

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lean ships run
each stroke more
driving them ever
nearer shore
almost silent 
in the night 
sudden appearance 
adding to fright
shield and axe rest
ready to taste to the full
hot red blood sunk
in body buried in skull
grating keels 
in the sand 
sliding on 
to alien land
battles cries 
battle screams
pierce the night
enter dreams
too late to save
men half asleep
women endure
and later weep
another round
in the game
another raid
in odin’s name...

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