Rumple Stein locked the
bedroom door and grinned,
his eyes reflecting the pale
moonlight outside.
"Beneath your very
mattresses lies the Shadow
Snatcher," he whispered,
pointing a crooked finger
downward.
"This skinny, faceless
monster stays awake forever,
hating the peaceful dreams
of sleeping girls and boys."
The children pulled their
blankets up to their noses,
freezing as the bedframes
creaked softly.
"He creeps out into the dark
because he desperately
wants to fall asleep like you."
A cold breeze swept through
the room, through all the
windows were tightly shut.
"Since he cannot rest, he
reaches up to steal your soul,
hoping its warmth brings him
sleep."
The youngest child
whimpered, realizing their
feet were hanging off the
edge of the mattress.
"If you close your eyes
tonight, he will snatch your
spirit right out of your chest."
Rumple Stein blew out the
lamp, laughing into the pitch
black, "Better stay awake forever!"
No Rest for the Broke
A hustler from Durban did hustle and grind,
But heaven seemed hundreds of hopes far
behind.
He pleade for peace,
Got debts without cease,
And found fate had a fiendish design!
The Chicken Crossed For Wi-Fi
A clucking wee chicken went creaking
one day,
Crossed the craziest crossing for a hotspot,
they say.
But the signal so week,
Now chirps out his challenges in eggs
every day!
The Blesser and his Money
There was once a blesser in Zamdela,
Who spent his mitha on falsetto-
Today he sings for the fame,
but easily forgets his name,
now he hums in tongues incognito
The Jamaican Chef
A chef from out Jamaica,Joy,
Made jerked chicken a jammin' great toy.
Wi' hot habits he had,
He was hardly so had,
His hot hen helped him hire every hoy!
A snatcher named Javas, a silent snake's son,
Snapped phones with such speed, he
shocked everyone.
He'd steal seven a second,
A storm of a fellow, we reckoned,
Sending signals of sorry such soon he was
spooky with snatching so swiftly he'd shoot
past the sun!
She takes what isn't hers like a burglar.
Her spouse wed his lover.
She shut her eyes and once more she lost him to that *witch*.
She views him as all-powerful.
Finally! She wears his ring.
Now it’s time to hold her tongue and demonstrate to the world that she belongs to Master Shingh.
What goes around comes back around; karma is a *trickster*.
Now it’s casual intimacy with Tess the *slutty switch*.
He smiles; she chuckles.
He slows down; she accelerates.
He sneezes, she responds with “bless you.”
She embarked on her new life without hesitation.
To her, the man is all-powerful.
She reverses the ground he treads.
“Yes, master; no, master”—somehow, she manages to love, respect, and obey.
She takes things like a thief.
Sleep tight, my child dear.
Mother is here, nothing to fear.
If the child snatcher, comes at our steps.
I will stab him with my own hands.
~Byeol
the languid petals of addiction fall in a silent way
drugs to wipe clean the scribbled slate of the mind
adrift and alone on the ocean of the bathroom floor
down on my luck down on my knees
scissored by shadow and scythed by sorrow
ice-knives stab my stinging skin
the stark-sudden cold relief of white
as snow sugar-sifts the street
the outer world recedes pain splinters lodge deep
I know the scream of silent weeks
1. In a Silent Way
2. Confessions of a Baby Snatcher
3. Sea Pearl
4. the night is freezing fast
5. Ramonda
6. we're sinking
7. Black and White
8. Illness Is
9. Out My Window
10. When Silence Speaks
Steel Ruler
My steel ruler, Mr I Will
Toy With Your
Affections, passed away
last Wednesday. The doctor said it was a
severe, sudden disease that
was going around that got her. At her funeral in
the backyard I sung to
her her favourite vowels i and v, then I
confessed for her to be the
Cheese Stick snatcher. My stationary wept, then I
supervised, judged, a
celebration adagio that was
secretly a
competition. Of course, the ones whom didn’t move
slowly were
automatically OUT! And the winner was:
Mr Hole Puncher. No prize was given. Who placed
2nd? Well, in
my mind there’s
no 2nd.
A great-big mouse just dashed by me
dressed in a suit and tall striped hat.
I thought I could not be more shocked,
but then here came an angry cat.
While hurtling by in hot pursuit,
he shrieked, “Hat snatcher! Dr. Seuss
made ME that hat. Now give it back.
Why this transpired, I can’t deduce!
King of Sky
Regal
Eagle
Robin in Mourning
Sobbin’
Robin
Bird Snatcher
Robbin’
Robin
The Oldster
Blue Jay
grew gray
The Slowpoke
Wood Thrush
should rush!
Out of Nowhere
Pa saw
Macaw
Bird Encouragement
You CAN,
Toucan
Nocturnal Hunt
Go prowl,
Snow Owl
Advice for a Proud, Sick Bird
See Doc,
Peacock
Such a Dear!
Darling
Starling
She wore thick leggings
our childhood polio albatross
mass Sabin vaccine sauce
body snatcher ritual
fixed beautiful legs.
(In early elementary school she wore braces most of the way through 6th grade. We all went to the nearby JHS to drink the approved Sabin vaccine. By 7th grade she had healed. She had beautiful, working legs.) She has recently, physically passed. This is in remembrance of her.)
If I must run for my life, I’m a dead duck
These old worn-out hips will give out quick
Time came when my arthritis was undeniable
When I walk now, I hear my knees click.
I’m thinking I should consider replacements
Those newfangled techniques are superb,
I saw an old lady with brand new hip joints
Kick an unwitting purse snatcher to the curb.
Written September 4, 2022
Clements’ Mazda fully in control
Just crazily ran out of petrol,
His Humble Catarrh out of control
With obvious depletion of Menthol;
Not a thing solved by mere vitriol
Or plunging into angry patrol…
A hateful running out of supplies,
Both car and organ needing replies:
To surfacing at a bank complies;
A use of its ATN implies…
Next, straight dash to a filling station,
Never trying to Mammon ration:
At the nearest waiting pharmacy,
Thousands simply spending, no mercy:
For The Stranded after 10:00pm
Dreams not at all of eluding them…
Mazda Owner Turns Mazda Loser,
Snatcher with Family now User!
In a house I don’t live in
there’s a wife I don’t live with.
It all makes perfect sense,
the pillow is a dream-snatcher
it reveals other people’s dreams.
A movie I watched late at night
turns out to be my life
in black and white,
the 1940’s were big on
unintentional nostalgia.
My head skips out of one fantasy
into another.
Someone is dreaming of me.
Someone is in my mind
is smoking a reeking cigar
opening and closing doors
snooping.
Please don’t smoke in my mind.
The dream guy falls asleep in an easy chair,
The hot ash from the stogie turns to flames.
I am outside my mind now
looking in
as firefighters fight a losing battle.
One again sleep damage
jolts me awake
just to tell me to sleep.
Egg thief
hatcher
snatcher
Hormones added
perky
turkey
Low T
rooster
booster
No eggs
layer
prayer
Pagan
Wiccan
chicken
OSHA injury
plucker
struck her
Power outage
broiler
spoiler
Sweet tooth
cobbler
gobbler
Terrorist
tickin'
chicken
Unfaithful
poultry
'dultery
H/T to Chicken Footles by Andrea Dietrich
bird of black u-shaped
ruff, blue plume acorn snatcher
tangled oak nest scourge
Date created and posted :19 th January 2021
Contest : A Cardinal, Blue Jay, or Chickadee Haiku
Sponsor : Tania Kitchin
NB Ruff as is in collar
A black widow spider spins a silk thread
into a near-transparent dream catcher;
filling her with joy, and her meals with dread.
A very cunning, deadly flycatcher
ready to pounce and mummify her food:
she lies in wait, like a body snatcher.
Any damaged web gets quickly renewed
with her sticky silk, resetting her trap:
so, struggling insects remain firmly glued.
She secures victims in a woven wrap:
ensuring they remain alive and fresh
until she sups: draining them of their sap.
Liquefying bugs, entangled in mesh:
she flaunts a scarlet hourglass belly patch
and fangs that inject poison into flesh.
Males must escape as soon as they detach,
for to this femme fatale, they're a fair catch.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.