Short Volley Poems

A pro all the way
from serve to volley

Rod Laver's not one, but two, calendar grand slams
buried under pseudo-tennis-intellectual flimflam...

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LIFE’S CURVEBALLS

A past time of getting hit by a curveball, would send me off my trolley
Now I see it, catch it, as return it to sender, with one all mighty volley

Indiana Shaw . . . ; )...

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Lori,
was a beautiful strawberry blonde
i don.t know which i love best
watching her eat juicy strawberry's
or playing volley ball
Lori what eye candy you are as you
get wet and lay out on the beach....

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A pirate captain yelling orders on deck,
    Was bitten by his parrot on the neck,
          His blood-curdling scream
     Followed by a volley of blaspheme,
Caused him to be known as Captain Peck....

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Far is near
Nearest the distance 
Part
East stands next to West
North volley jumps space South 
Starts
Speak forth environment mouth

12/26/23
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr 2023...

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Rainfall washing
Light splashes on windowpane…

Leaving nothing behind
No pattern or trace…

If only those tears
Anguishly wept for you…

Upon your deathbed
Had washed away…

Cleansing the pain
That even now abrades my spirit…...

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Many tennis teams, come to our valley
It is rumored they "volley" with Sally

All those balls in one court
She will have to resort
To a scorekeeper's card to keep tally !!





____________________________
For Roy's Contest: Bawdy No. II 6/16/14...

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rain ruptures the flesh of buildings,
bleeding wandering streams of dew down
it's skeletal frame.

the deluge of compact mist
claims the territory of volley.

pouring dominates the landscape,
it's reign connects it's bridle
down lonesome paths....

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To write poetry on the battlefield
  is to write poetry from the heart

Words to cover the scars and wounds
  grief peeling back like bark

Each verse fired like a rifle
  with bayonet attached

Its volley sharpened and to the point
   the blood spilled—turning black

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)...

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Small little  Halle, Molly, and Dolly  
full of mischief, puppy collies; 
climbing over each other in their folly. 
Snarling and growling, around in the yard, 
while Reilly the Saint Bernard stands guard. 
Reilly rolls onto its back, as they come hard 
climbing all over, nipping and licking volley.


4/9/2021...

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war graves surround me
stretching into the distance
scarlet poppies grow*

eleven o’clock
on remembrance Sunday
cannon volley heard

all birdsong ceases
we bow our heads in silence
respecting war dead

red against the black
I wear my poppy with pride
in remembrance

11/11/23



...

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VOLLEY WORLDS LIKE TABLE TENNIS 

Table tennis
Isn’t the menace
Didn’t you mention?
Hearts full of toil
Bleeding tendencies of old
Rancid particles
Already hidden astronomical
What is my purpose?
How can I imagine
When I got my mindful
Wonders beyond fathom
Come let’s embrace the world
Volley the ball?

9/11/18
Written by James Edward Lee Sr. ©2018...

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Two ton tilly shopping
cart full, willy-nilly
glutton sampling,
watered filly!

Kids dressed in multi-colors, silly
a game of have it all
and at the check out's final tally,
a credit card made just to volley!

Conspire the simpler needs
made jolly
what piper has to pay
by golly!



Remembering Benjamin Franklyn's statement:  "Everything in moderation!"...

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We volley with sketchy returns
each moment of empathy mirrored
in cough or laugh,
toothy smile or nod
to prod hundreds of
muscles in chase,
scrambling for that
elusive reciprocal
that binds us in effort,

a hiccup of reactive
responses contrary
to conscience or will
to fill yawning mendacity
while locking journeys
in mutual discord
behind the mask
of ordinary compassion
banishing inner calm....

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Natural beauty,  Spewell Bluff
The Flint River's tall, green, pine woods
and smooth, cool, grey, flat, river rocks
Make a shady get away day
Become family fun, skipping
Rocks across the water for sport.
Nature trails lead up, up a step
Hill for the strong of leg and heart.
Fishing or swimming is a choice;
Volley ball and canoing across

The grey shallow water holds fun
at the Spewell Bluff State Park;...

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Wayward lightning conceives a fiery stream.
Owl retreats to a gash atop a great elephant's tree.
From purple mountain to shimmering sea.
The blaze eats deeply into a stash of sanity. 

Upon a land of char, they're gathering burning stones.
To unleash a final volley into the wreckage of his soul.
Tiring of the game the vultures bounce- bounce away.
Praying for lightning to rekindle their black curtain play....

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To carry on the affection ,
     Came by enemy's appreciation.
And deed to afford , 
      To measure the ford.
Who take cleansing ablution of volley,
      For making them holy.
Now making us delight ,
      Who never get them in sight.
Now what? The life get commotion,
      Getting always inanimation emotion.
Fantasy, fantasy deviates aisle in a day,
      Still unacquainted! Whence elapse in a dark day....

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If very hard read, 
take the log from your eye - 
or perhaps it's the wrong creed
meriting such custard pie.  

Language archaic? 
Well so what if it scans 
Neither Norse nor Aramaic, 
I'm certain most understand.  

A trifle obscure? 
My due consternation! 
Still … are you certain 'it's ... sure ...
not poor imagination? 

Leave critical muck.
Produce own Odyssey
Rather than to be stuck
In morass of jealousy....

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From Eden to the outhouse 
in just a few thousand years
blooming weapons of mass extinction
from the seeds of our many gifts..
A volley of nuclear warheads is coming
within a generation or so
the wealthy and powerful will sashay 
to heated bunkers-stocked with tomorrow...
While above, the serfs break dance 
like ants in a boiling water bath.
There'll be no Jesus balm to sooth their nuclear rash,
Eden forever poisoned by the oily ego of man....

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Whispers that were spoken were done to cause pain

Tears that were shed slowly became a stormy rain

Fear and anguish hovered and became a filmy dew

The deluge discussion lingered and was in the wind that blew

Heartache was there ending point to show an inner power

They will never ever recover from that volley shower 

A torrential flurry was finally done just to even the score

Apologies will never come from this drenching soulless downpour...

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two angry men,
tete-a-tete
rat-a-tatting
a volley
of insults.
why?
nobody knows.
cup of tension
ratched up
to the brim;
eyes of fire
bulging,
seething
with rage.
fists clenched,
about to be...
thrown.
where's a referee?
somebody come...
quick!


Date written: 02/13/2021...

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9/11, so long ago now.
The towers forever falling,
yet we the young
play beach volley ball
on the Jersey shore
and have no history to trouble us.

This calendar red-letter day
slips by us mostly unnoticed.
Our parents mention it
over breakfast coffee.
Old people just can’t let go of the past.

They keep seeing the planes
the falling bodies, the flames,
the terrible mouth clogging ash.

We think they should get out more,
play a little beach volley ball....

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When I was laid in field of clay
No flowers above my head did lay
Nor marble headstone placed with care 
With words of love chiselled there
No words of sorrow were spoken in pain
Tears of regret did not silken handkerchief stain 
No volley of rifles to the sky
No last post lullaby
So when you ask
 Were does he lay
This fallen soldier 
Of yesterday
I tell you true 
And 
With pride
I lay with others
 Side by side
In every corner 
Of 
A foreign land
You will find us there
Brother’s band...

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Where the Poppies Grow

Just a boy who left his home
Died far away so all alone
Oh Lad where did you go
I see you where the poppies grow

Brave men with bright clear eyes
Honor bound shout battle cries
Into the volley these young men go
Only to fall where the poppies grow

This boy with an angelic face
Laid to rest in this hallowed place
With all the boys we did not know
In the field where the poppies grow

War Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Kai Michael Newman
11/11/21...

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