Staffers Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Premium Member Them and Us

You see the evil doesn’t look at all condemned
Those evil troublemakers of mankind
Are well remembered, way above the nameless dead
Who by the will of country rulers had to die
Because the actions, as you say my darling dear
Speak louder than words, and so they act
As if they had too little history in rear 
So thinking they’re unique in making pacts
They settle on the same old evil plan
The same catastrophe, the same vain sacrifices
Inevitably ends it up, as it did then
When those like them disdained the words of wise
Complacency can’t be outsmarted by the cruel
Can’t be reported by the frightened flatterers 
Complacency is always punished by the rule
With no exceptions to it, but that’s not about us
We can’t relate to those obsessed with power
To their staffers, games of death and hymns of glory
The bumblebees collect the pollen from your flowers
And there we are, in our eternal garden story.

Premium Member Oh Say Can You See

I'm not old; Joe tries to say with sprightly hop
as he enters to make a momentous speech;
then mutters and mumbles all over the shop.
Staffers step in before the ratings can leach;
"I'm sure you can forgive the odd malaprop
no mistakes big enough for you to impeach
after all, he's just like your friendly grandpop".
Then just when he thought he was safe out of reach
"I'm hunted," said Hunter "they have my laptop".




The Bidens Poetry Contest; placed 3rd
Sponsored by: Anthony Biaanco 
Date written: 21st November 2022

Premium Member Tom Dart's Really Quite Smart

The name of Cook County Sheriff's Tom Dart
His staffers grin that he's really quite smart --
  When it comes to his budget
  He can't find ways to cut it --
'Cos 'bout taxpayers Tom could give a fart

Every word in the first stanza is true
Would I lie to astute readers like you --
  When his boss says to spend less
  Tom plays political chess -- 
Pay raises for his whole bureaucrat queue





Note:  Cook County Illinois is a governmental
          unit which includes Chicago and many
          of its suburbs.  Its total population is
          5.18 million (2018 figure).  Dart's boss,
          Toni Preckwinkle, has asked her commis-
          sioners to cut their budgets 10-15% this 
          year. All have complied -- except Tom Dart
          who actually wants to increase spending!


Quiet Resistance

An Op-Ed in The New York Times,
Anonymously printed,
States that the White House mood is worse
Than what the press has hinted.

The President’s “amoral,”
And “erratic,” it declares,
With “ill-informed decisions”
Catching staffers unawares.

The author, an official
In the Trump administration,
Is hoping that what he reveals
Will jolt awake the nation.

Asserting he and others
Are resisting from within,
He wants the world to know
That what he claims is not just spin.

The President is seething now
With Tweeting calls of “Treason?”
Denouncing, too, The Times, for holding
Names back for no reason.

As speculation builds, so many
Choices would make sense.
There’s even talk the writer 
May be Trump’s VP – Mike Pence.

Whoever wrote the piece, though,
Is a brave and daring soul
And hopefully, he’ll shake
Some people up, which was his goal.

Word For Today: Pool

WORD FOR TODAY: POOL

Some firms have a policy that ‘donates’ laggards to the POOL
Affected staffers are given the chance to thrive or be a FOOL
Some redeployed staff went to a new unit; became the TOOL 
Others cried witch-hunting; lacked strength; soft like WOOL
Workplace rewards performers; no mercy even if you DROOL
To thrive amidst sharks; under pressure, just keep your COOL


© Wole Popoola 2016

I'M Selling My Body To Science

My warm body's on permanent loan to Big Pharma;
I am chancing my health but could care less for karma.
All that money they pay is too good to refuse;
So with minimal risk I have little to lose.

Man, I shovel their food and I watch lots of cable;
And I gain as much weight as I'm possibly able.
I will sleep like Prince Charming awaiting a kiss
From young nurses so sweet their mere presence is bliss.

I can do what I want from pre-dawn to late night
Just as long as I don't give the staffers a fright.
I take nice, long hot showers until I'm beet red;
Some warm milk with six cookies, and then on to bed.

It's pure Heaven, I tell you, it's every man's dream;
You relax all the time, eat desserts with whipped cream,
Then you mark off each day as it languidly fades,
Blithely block out the world by extending the shades.

So work smarter, not harder, all you Type-A's out there;
And let stress be a kind of a fast fading nightmare
Out of which you've been wakened by a woman's soft voice
As she calls you to breakfast, and makes note of your choice.


Appalachian Man

South Carolinians, give me a break!
If you were my students, you’d fail.
You’ve given your nod to the lout who once hiked
On the fake “Appalachian Trail.”

A governor gone to a place no one knew
With his staffers in fear for his life,
Had to later admit that his hike was a lie
To help hide his “true love” from his wife.

Though that dastardly deed left some angry and hurt,
His constituents seemed to excuse him;
And for Congress, enough of those voters came back – 
Fifty-five percent opted to choose him.

Yes, other politicos lied and had sex
(With a president leaving a stain!),
Yet those voters for Sanford had better beware
For this guy’s surely pulling your chain!

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.

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