Short Gritted Poems

Ups, downs, hurts and joys
Hopes, gritted teeth, warmth support 
Road to a good path....

Read More

Whizzing round the bend
gritted teeth,
Nearly met my end.






Entry for
Biker's Dozen Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Maureen McGreavy
23/9/18. 5-3-5 syllables. Placed 2nd....

Read More

Maybe we should erect a love story to Croydon
Celebrate its Pound shops
and diminishing shopping spaces
Love a shank bone instead of a unmeritorious knife
and await the snow
hoping its gritted
in your Bankrupt Croydon
so wonderfully mismanaged...

Read More

Gritted teeth so words can't escape, 
thoughts and feelings I've learned to hate.
wandering eyes avoiding the mirror,
hiding myself till I can see clearer.
wanting love but afraid to trust,
wants and desires left to rust.
a broken me hidden behind,
a joke and a laugh I've designed....

Read More

Behind closed doors
and red exits
we must all come
with our teeth gritted
our eyes slitted

Before yellow bushes
and maple desks
we have all been
to face the tormentor
to see the enchanter

Sacred hope
you who lies buried
beyond the oleander tree
arise and guide us
to the final path

Amen...

Read More

If you stayed,
Would you put
 the faded pictures,
 torn in pieces,
 into frames,
Like how you tossed 
 my heart
 into the flames?

Maybe it is time 
 that you leave,
 for your gritted teeth,
 makes it hard 
 to breathe.

 I'll be here
 on this page,
 writing a song
 that can't be
 played....

Read More

A ride through gritted teeth,
Gums livid,
To alleys of hell
emotion soar in the black chest.
A single Bell and terror wich runs slow.
The cause way infested
with worms of fear,
and the right grip of the black rose 
from the balcony.
Only witness the slow descent on soft organ notes,
into the arms of the ghost...

Read More

We are here to enjoy our children.
This is your life too.
Scolding, shouting, gritted teeth.
None of that is physically fun.
Let your lighter graces take flight.
Steer yourself and them into serenity.
Only into lunatic black holes
Can you come out the unexpected end where
Memories are forged in trust in the other....

Read More

I have in haste
Enraged the paper’s edge
Soft slit of idle pain
Awaits
A dash of sweaty salt

Red dots upon the page
Unmuttered curses
Venom spit
Through gritted teeth

No bandage
Will adhere to finger tip
Lest it hit keys
Before their due
Doth did I try
A bit of Crazy Glue

Thus, am I stuck
In keyboard “L”

...

Read More

Senryu 
 Only a fall leaf  
Blows where the wind takes it
We take the omnibus  

Senryu 
Oak leaf scours asphalt 
Autumn´s  worn out dead beat
Can´t dance tango 

Senryu 

Rainfall in Yemen 
Taliban under umbrellas 
 Listen out for drones 


 Senryu
Steps on gritted road 
Slam of a car door and voices 
The song of life...

Read More

Driver on interstate has pressed his accelerator hard
I used to drive like that – daily
To and from work with gritted teeth
Expecting death at any minute
Racing here, there, nowhere really
The stress was gruesome
In the last nine months I have driven six times
Less than one time per month
Retirement is a happy unicorn that I am grateful to lie on...

Read More

you
solar eclipse
bloody lips
& tongue;
body wrung
my eyes drip-
you lap up my
pain like a
hungry beast,
growling thru
gritted teeth.
love lies insulted
far beneath;
above me you strain,
heavy sheets of
rain- heart
beats harder,
drowning in the
pulsing body as
the bruise is 
being prodded.
tickled, you delight
watching the night
swallow me whole....

Read More

Walking slowly dazed and bemused
Thinking about what I was just told
"It'll be an opportunity" she said
Dressing it up as a gold plated crap
"The change will be good" she said
Straight faced through gritted teeth
A move to a different department I pondered
Filling me with angst and dread
I thought I'd escaped that awful old fart
Now I'm back working for him AGAIN...

Read More

Haunted eyes stare through me,
Searching, longing, lost at sea,
Soundless cries echo within, 
A prisoner in her own skin.

Hidden traumas itch and gnaw,
While the circling buzzards caw,
hands wave from a waring mind,
As she leaves the world behind.

A glitched heart stained in pain,
Just three steps before insane,
Gritted sickness, snatch and grab,
A pretty present on a slab.
...

Read More

locating my frolic
lost somewhere along the way
discarded among my happy-go-lucky
brazen swagger
with teeth gritted for effect
dealing with the dust and dream
looking for my sizzle to find
used to fit snug, like a
a patented soft leather glove
been told I look lustful
in my leathers
ahhh . . .
found my misplaced frolic
to wear with pride
feels so good
I allow it to be unbuttoned
exposing my glad...

Read More

My laden desk filled by the spilling 
Of lipstick gritted cigarette butts 
From my ashtray. Piles of grey 
Gathering and merging with the 
Dust around my typewriter. 
A single golden earring, sits 
By my now empty hand as I
Extinguish another finished fag. 
And memories rot, around the
Unused airline ticket, when I 
Wasted my opportunity to go 
After the only one who had ever 
Given me the ability to write....

Read More

This was pain like none I'd had before
from ground up felt like I had been impaled
I leaned unsteadily against the door
fists tightly clenched, through gritted teeth inhaled.
The need to cry out was hard to suppress
in silence, cursed all things from earth to sky
until at last the agony grew less
and fiery tempered thoughts had passed me by.
It will happen again, yes, this I know,
on bedroom radiator stub my toe....

Read More

Ponderings

The Geese were milling around
honking incessantly
asking for directions
the swans paced
regal egg sitters
awaiting their shift
the beaver gritted his teeth
soft wood
hard winter
the river sighed
cold water
edged with ice
spring sun
challenged
the grip of winter
log sitting turtles
cheered it on
the osprey eyed
his do it yourself nest
a distant woodpecker
plays
taps at sunset


John G. Lawless
3/25/2021...

Read More

magnetic / as the form of communication from you2me, the 
pull in-between / come ; carry me. ___ home(a human form)
i cannot see for the ,life of me.. what is it that made you once
cling ; that today makes you bring your remains back with a
vengeful grimace __ dancing over your face? .for/ever i said on
accident- between gritted teeth, feeling nothing for such casual
lie(down, it does no good to frown).move on so i can breathe, so
i can at last            laugh....

Read More

On that September day we watched in horror,
how do we plan for a new tomorrow.

Planes used as weapons to destroy and kill,
many thought, this is not real.

Loved ones gone to be seen no more,
pain so deep it hurts to our core.

A nation that never expected this,
we gritted our teeth and made a fist.

One little slip is all it took,
the truth was there if someone had looked.

Love, Hope, and Peace is what we all want,
but we must remember there are some that don't....

Read More

This morning I woke up 
I looked down at my naked form
How a being so small in the universe
Can leave in its wake such misery 

This morning I woke up 
Eyes puffy, glued at the seams 
Bloated, lifeless and stiff
A struggle to get started today 

This morning I woke up 
Sad, with a small shot of anger
Feel teeth gritted, shut tight 
As if to speak would do harm

This morning I woke up 
Slightly numb to the day before
A little touch of apprehension 
For what today has in store...

Read More