Short Overripe Poems

arecas, palm trees,
and genus cocos compete ~
overripe fruits fall
...

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Peach
Ripe, skinless
Talking, pearling, tattling
Ever so overripe
Dish


7/10/20
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020 ©...

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Ripe Mangos

overripe mangos 
falling from a pregnant tree-
worms ready for feast ...

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There once was a young man, called Jack Leach,
    Who fell asleep, on a nudist beach.
    But the sun and fresh air,
    Soon scorched his derrière.
    Now it looks like, an overripe peach.
    
....

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Carrots are not good for you
    nor is Ovaltine
  Beets can make your urine stink
    Purple onions make you mean

  Grapefruit's too acidic
    raw eggs can make you loose
  Give a kid an overripe peach
    ~ 15 years for child abuse...

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Unzipping an overripe banana,
fingers squished into redolent shush,
black skin dripping off the soft stem.

I might have to eat this with a spoon,
a banana is a berry,
I think of this
as I wipe sticky lips,
and taste that time-sweetened wine....

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Leaves
fallen
in lovely
fading colors
Light snow is flying
the year fast receding
now that harvest days are gone
Baby bluebirds have grown and flown
It's the beautiful, natural way


Written on 11/7/2022
For: A November Nonet Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Andrea Dietrich...

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A sweetness comes with age,
  like fruit that’s overripe

A Poet then a Sage,
  on this journey into night

A wish distilled from all regret,
  its seeds to be re-sewn

A sweetness comes with age,
  that buried youth could never know

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October,2016)...

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snow rain purple leaves
foam crested waves returning
black night coming down

cardinal landing
shooting star on twilight sky
blooms after summer

overripe berries
beautiful sunset goodbye
splashing waterfalls

avalanche starting
butterflies settling on blooms
weeping willow tears...

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Miss Jenny Lee ran after afterlife
                              Life was a boat full of fruits overripe
                                       So, Jenny Lee jumped
                                    To the heap, she bumped
                             And ate up all fruits and began to gripe...

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dark smell of
chlorophyll
overripe
mangoes
to a pulp
crush on
the golden strands
virgin fingers
entrap
kindness is a journey
through the burnt
fields of poppy
encircling the
ruined temples
of passionate 
love
her rivers reach
into
deep lakes of
wants
under the
calm surface
of peace...

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An Original Idea

Self Reference
Is Dumb.
Or DONE!
"Yeah, say it like that."

Oh, shut up,
You're just trying to 
Be WeIrD...

And it's Not
Even 
That,
It's Passe,
Or Pompous,
Or Overripe and Trite.

Make it LOOK DIFFERENT>>>>

Oh, Thanks,
That's not even
Allowed. (ALOUD!)

Yes it is.

Why Do I Want You So Much?
 
ANY-WAY???

-Gray Squirrel

05-03-2024
...

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Autumn’s rumor
is spread in turning trees,
revealed like stains
on hems
of far Missouri hills.

Few search
or care or know
your soft fruit—
few dare taste
tart sweetness—
trouble
to spoon aside
infestations
of seeds.

Like seasons,
they go to waste—
not savored,
unused, unappreciated—
burled relatives,
overripe pawpaws
past remembering,
lingering
as age spots of early fog
on winter’s 
stern harvest....

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I shake my head like a dog
that just crawled out of a pond;
 with gratified grunts I stretch,
     struggling to yawn away 
          sweet seductions 
                of sleep
        from groggy bottles 
                  deep.

  Bone weary, dry mouth, dusty,
muscles aching, stomach souring,
 whiff of stale beer in my breath;
  like an overripe banana I wilt,
     and, yeah, it surprises me 
                    not
      that I feel rotten, stinking 
                   a lot....

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