Short Redux Poems

~ Daffynition ~


A poke-a-hol-ic's
   rude redux ~ 
falls flat on his face...

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sweet succulent peach
chomp chomp juice runs down your chin
~ sticky shiny smile...

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Bliss
this 
writing
of poems
some short and so sweet
others complicated, less sweet...

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God promised the Jews Israel
  A 'Land of Milk and Honey'

So, most headed to America ~
  where they could make some money...

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     Watusis are not genetically modified organisms
     neither are pygmies

       ~ which is the long and short of it
...

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As Moses on his deathbed lay
He had so much he needed to say
All of it he'd told his people before
~ At Death's Door they were attentive more...

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He’s much older, the man from Nantucket
can too easily fold, roll, or tuck it
his hearing has faded
his memory jaded
don’t remind him of where he once stuck it


John G. Lawless
©8/6/2018...

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Arise, Julius

  and Caesar!
 
    Conquer bloody Rome!


           July 02, 2019
  Magicicada 13 Words to Live By
           Poetry Contest
         Carpe Diem Form
    Sponsor: Maureen McGreavy...

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There was an old woman:
a bit of a shrew - 
She couldn’t have children,
'cuz guy parts won't do.
A shocking pink swath
up there on her head,
she drank boxed Chianti
and raised cats instead.
...

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Since Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie bridge
Nothing has been the same up on the Choctaw ridge
Since Bobbie Gentry, it appears
Up and completely disappears
The Mississippi delta has a new drawbridge.

May 20, 2021...

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When I was born
I came equipped 
With two million seeds

Not warm enough 
Nor moist enough 
Or too many weeds

The sun not out
The soil not rich
Or nothing that one needs

I base my stance 
On abortion rights 
On the reality of seeds


***...

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Brunhilde, Brunhilde
Alas, where’s Matilda?
You killed, yes you killed a
Sweet waltzer with grace.

Brunhilde, Brunhilde
Foretold, now fulfilled,
A billabong’s filled,
A poor girl’s in that place.

----------

H/T to Maurice Rigoler's Brunhilde...

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She has a certain savoir-faire;
always clever with the cleaver.
Young leveret wants to believe her,
follows signs for trim of hare.

Too old, her title to recoup,
waits patient at the barbershop,
then takes a little off the top;
a tortoise makes delightful soup....

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I reread the scriptures
Raised my hands to the same sky 
My body trembles once again 
Of fear that perhaps my supplications would go unanswered 
My eyes flood over with tears of remorse 
Of how I had knelt here before 
And asked for you from the heavens 
But now I return 
On my knees yet again
To ask
Why my prayer was answered...

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The past year ended in burlesque
champagne oerflowing to the New.
Yet what next comes could be grotesque
if not for ancient scholars who
plot paths of heaven's starry crew.

Their charts of celestial gases
reveal the course of future time,
find a path which safely passes
past Thesaurus and forced line 
to Quintain, now in English rhyme...

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Consistently sincere 
rock solid.
Formidably weathering trite storms.
Carol your dedication
exemplifies
exemplification.

Whether shocked or soothed there you are
discerning
smart
shrewd
kind

You know your own mind.

The Cheshire cat's toothy grin
has nothing on you.

-----------

Inspired to repost by Giorgio's 2/5/14 blog.  Thanks, G!...

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I keep writing these poems, and then I delete
'bout an unpleasant subject I found in a tweet
if you saw what I wrote, you would prob'ly agree
I was dropped as a child and something's just not right about me

You can ignore the verses, you can love 'em or leave 'em
But whatever you do, don't you ever believe 'em
Had a one oh six fever before I was three
I would blame meningitis, but truth is, it's probably me...

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Black plastic bag
discarded on the bridge
writhes like 
an injured animal.
      
A paragraph of
birds in the blue 
of the sky wing by
grammatically correct,
but open ended until
the commander in chief
changes its configuration
with punctuation.
      
A fleet of wild geese
flying their colors
barge in like 
small battleships 
in minor invasion.
The equation
some of us make
is: what price
Freedom?...

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Bungalow Couple Redux


They weren’t talking at all, back then.
Deep in that house, they were conceiving their dwarfs,
not talking at all, back then.

And they’re not talking at all, right now.
Still in that house, they rearing their dwarfs,
not talking at all, right now.

And they won’t be talking again.
When the dwarfs break out they’ll stay in that house,
not moving, not talking again.


Donal Mahoney...

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The garbage truck goes by; I flash
To seven years ago.
I’d lift my grandson up and then,
His eager face a’glow…

We’d step outside so he could watch
The sanitation crew
Dump everything recycled
In the truck for it to chew.

The men would wave and we would wait
Until they drove away,
A little part of our routine
On babysitting day.

These days, he barely notices
When pick-up’s taking place,
But I remember and it brings
A smile to light my face....

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The shoes are stashed in cubbies,
The jackets hung on hooks.
The kids are having quite a blast -
At least that's how it looks.

The trampoline is busy
As toddlers bounce and jump
While rubber bumpers ring the gym
So no one gets a bump.

There's music from the speakers,
A breeze from all the fans
And balance beams, all with a part
In Friday morning's plans.

When caring for the grandkids, 
I think of days gone by 
When I would take their father
To the same class at the "Y."...

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