Short Itinerant Poems

my itinerant heart, 
your love as my compass
a safe haven found... 


Contest: Special Sentimental Senryu
6th Place...

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Perfection….
you illusive itinerant
a driver on a par three hole
aching to outdistance
everyone


John G. Lawless
©3/31/2022...

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Jesus, itinerant peacenik,
Wandering socialist hipster, 
Of whom 'tis said, he healed the sick,
Betrayed by a right-wing tipster....

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Wafting in the unmistakable scent
of poor choices
Grifting in the prodigal valley
of mistakes
Loitering in the tenement
of false witness
Wandering along the highway
—of forgotten dreams 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)...

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Odd character that smacks God’s right hand.
Miserable wretches - the media
Is underhanded.
Spits in the wind; truth is
Suspect…fallacious videos, omissions
Itinerant…on the cutting floor.
Obama speaks —
No one hears his piece.

9/30/2021...

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baby child cryin'
took awhile to get here
don't wanna' go back
to that place full of fear
boss man don't want me 
want me no mo'
don't want my mother
sent us all down the road
freedom she come
sometime she stay
heart filled with tears
when she go away...

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Abigail forgive me
Breaking your heart in the invisible day
Itinerant always ... pushed by history
Gently breaking bonds in brimmed dismay.
Angel of my better memories
Incessant friend ... from a small flower grown
Love blooms again where understanding is sown....

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A BEAUTY CAN'T DENOUNCE EVER FERVENT GOAL, HIGH ITINERANT, JOYOUS, KINETIC, LOVELY, MARKED, NEAT, OPEN, PICTURESQUE, QUIET ROAD SHOWING THE UNKNOWN VENUE WITH X-RAYED YEARNING ZENITH

===============================================

Fifth Place win in:
Contest: Nature's Bounty by John Freeman...

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I learned the lesson “let the buyer beware”
When I didn’t have that much money I could spare,
Took by an itinerant grifter
Who was quite a likeable drifter
He took me for a ride and didn’t even care!

written January 13, 2022
for "Latin Lessons Poetry Contest"
sponsored by Margarita Lillico...

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I''m doing the speed limit.
Pass me if you dare,
It's on purpose that I'm within it,
my itinerant confrere.
Reconsider your position.
Please stay off my back side,
I'm in the labor force too,
Let's be safe ; enjoy the ride.
The harvest is abundant 
the laborers are mighty few,
Stick around,
The Lord may still need you....

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Lone snowflakes drift in
As anorexic, claustrophobic bats shiver
Wrapped in their bat wing sleeping bags.
A field mouse plays “Three Little Pigs”
With a patch of straw.
An eerie wind whistles wickedly
Alarming an itinerant mole.
I snore, noisily unaware,
That my brother sub-let
His half of the den.

John G. Lawless
©1/21/2023...

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I set out in the middle of the night 
Unaware of my destination
And up I looked
I saw the itinerant clouds
And suddenly I was followed
Escorted by the clouds
My destiny yet unrevealed
Together we sailed
Hoping to find shelter
She was like a mother-hen
Even though she was Pregnant
And her time to deliver has come
She covered me all along
And I was king of the horizon...

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Another sleepless night,
I watch the snow fall. 

Furious flurries in a heavenly jailbreak,
they pile up in the window corners anonymously.

One itinerant catches itself on the middle of the pane,
an unafraid renegade.

I lean closer to admire but its identity slides down the glass,
melted by my curious breath.

Joining others of a lesser fate,
they form a rivulet and fall to the frozen earth below....

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An itinerant field hand named Boyd
Excelled at a job that he really enjoyed.
But the skills he used when in close quarters
With farmers, wives, and sons, and daughters
Were the principal ones that kept Boyd employed.

Now he had a twin brother named Floyd
Whose sexual bent oftentimes annoyed Boyd.
But he forgave his bro's trespasses,
'cause since he much preferred the lasses,
Boyd was glad when dads and lads toyed with Floyd....

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Ah, to write
to gather random thoughts
corral them
Giddy-up….whoa….style.
Chase down those tumble weeds,
itinerant thoughts
blown by the whimsical winds
of imagination
into ever unmanageable
clusters of confusion
straining at the painful restraints
of barbed wire freedom.
A delusional state of self imposed
unconscious conformity
ever alert for the “rustlers”
who would cut the wire
breech the delusion
change brands
claim victory.


John G. Lawless
©12/19/2021...

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Each time he emerged the best,
Puffed up his hairy chest,
And loudly slapped his breast,
His announced triumph a bantam’s crest,
The next man permitting no rest …
Now in the East, soon storming the West,
The-from-Northern-Hong-Kong,
Dead sure that he is King Kong:
A styling as itinerant guest,
And a triggered-by-victory zest.

But anyone can his title belt wrest,
And cause give him to try a long rest,
Unless one doesn’t as much thirst
For restless happiness of The First....

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