Short Stoplight Poems

foggy morning
at the stoplight 
he talks to himself
again...

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Yellow
Caution
Watch out
The leaf
The leaf painted on my bag
The stoplight says, "Proceed with caution."

...

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Safely home, just arrived 
  shallow breathing
    profound sighs

Memory but
  a stoplight away
    gunshots crying
     ~ innocence slain...

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Stoplight Fireflies


Stoplight fireflies blink yellow
over vacant intersections

Owls whisper on the mist
mime-like field mice listen

Soft surf muffles side step
clatter of crab legs

Feral eyes swallow
waning moonlight

A possum waddles beneath
blinking yellow fireflies.


©John G. Lawless
4/3/2017...

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Sam Adams Drunk Driver Same, Same but Different 

Sam Adams was drunk driving 
Too fast down an English rural country lane
He ran at a stoplight he did not see 
Blew threw a roundabout
Was rubbed out in an accident.
His drinking buddy, the traffic cop flatfoot,
Smoothed over his death ruling it an accident,
And not drunk driving....

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.

Blame it all on warm beer 
at the stoplight.

The inside of my skull throbs
with the drone of tired traffic.
And windshield wipers whine
with my CD's old rock metallic.

Then, jolting my line of vision,
is a strapping, suspicious cop.
His clipboard and pen, enough
to make my sour hiccup stop.

Blame it all on warm beer 
at the stoplight.

....

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Blame it on warm beer
at the stoplight.

My cerebrum throbs,
hodgepodge of noises:
windshield wiper's whirring whine,
depressing drone of tired traffic,
primeval beat of hip-hop sound;

the most jolting thing
in my line of vision:
a strapping traffic officer, his pen
and clipboard menacingly poised
to render judgment on me.

Blame it on warm beer
at the stoplight!...

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There’s a lot of empty space.
In the car.
In the passenger seat.
The next stoplight.
Everything stops.
Except one honking horn.
Then it continues. 

There’s a lot of empty space.
Except on the mantle.
The remains.
We all have something left.
Even if it’s dust.

There’s a lot-
I sense movement- 
Nothing there except a boiling pot-
Loud boiling pot-
Steam-
Is like nothing....

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Jarvis was a goner the second he saw her bouncy hair
She recognized this and reeled him right into her lair
Her amber eyes gave him the stoplight green.
Jarvis from that moment was never again seen.

I hope it was worth it said his Arkansas kin.
I rolled my eyes, as this rolled out past their chin.
He never returned, was never again seen.
Beware of a witch who gives you a glance stoplight green....

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pleasure i  seek without you
pain i get from the thorns of curiosity
when i knock again, your blessing answers the door
i say nothing and leave to take a walk through the woods
i never look back and i quickly forget your name and telephone number
it is then that something in the auspices of suddenness clicks
life has no stoplight and even less mercy
realization can be a light seldom seen
growth i discovered despite you.......

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Metro auto wipes against my glass muck,
fog and rain crush the inside out of me —

There part of her appearing windshield down; 
this myself, a glitter in the stoplight —

Now the slick and slip of odd out borders —
this accidental Déjà Vu ploughed steel;

Where the upside of this doll backseat pass —
my brass wheels, they spin only for your world,

And then to the swallows new to this air —
the color of heart still beneath our tires....

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Newlyweds in Michigan City trailng tin cans pause at the stoplight.
Car hauling distraught looking man on a rope races out of sight
You don’t suppose that’s her husband! The new groom said.
Oh yes it is, said the bride. He’s my uncle, his name is Ted.

But it says they have been married thirty years.
My Aunt Agnes is awful, she told him, thus, his tears.
The new groom stared at his bride uncomfortably.
We won’t act like that he said. She smiled and said “we shall see.”...

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We fell in love in a one stoplight town
During a summer right out of a dream
Exploring each other under a full summers moon
Making love until we ran out of steam

You were gorgeous late in the evening
While watching the sun set out west
I just couldn’t take my eyes off of you
My heart beating out of my chest

By the time our summer of love fizzled out
We peacefully went separate ways
I’ll never forget, as long as I live
The warm summers love that we made

D.R.L....

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