Suitcase Poems

He sat at a desk
Where he had worked for twenty years
As he gathered the evidence collected
He fought back swelling tears

She sat in the home
Where she learned to trust and run
Love had sheltered her and her boys
This couldn't be how LOVE...Read More

   Traveling is pleasant
  living is smooth ...
  Difficult and problematic is
   carry the suitcase ......Read More

What is a square, a shape, container quadraphonics, a traditional rollerskate
What is an atrium, a fireplace, a closet
What is a boxing ring, a gymnasium, blackboard 
What are a checkerboard, deck cards, crossword puzzle, jigsaw puzzle, dice
What is a bed/mattress/ boxsprings/sleeping...Read More

When roof beams have stored old suitcases
and collected dust through generations
Timeless quality genuine leather, with respect for craft
// The faithful suitcase was packed 


They hide secrets about unknown journeys
With salt water in the blood vessels, aboard on the steamship
Smell of...Read More

young of course
but strong
homeless sometimes
resilient always
she came to us on a Tuesday
walked up the hill carrying an old suitcase
full of her plays and poems
her ideas were magical.
they came at all kinds of times
while she was sleeping, vacuuming,
taking care of the...Read More

The lingering hug
  The last "I love you, Dad"
The suitcase on wheels
  behind him now

Automatic doors open
  "Get back in your vehicle, sir"
A final glimpse --
  Gruffly now: "Move out, mister..."...Read More

Packing a suitcase
To take the road
Travelling light in a 
‘Take everything’ mode

Instagram pictures 
Pets in with the clothes 
“I wish I could take them
But it just won’t close”

But what to do
When you can’t say no
To taking a dog
Wherever you go

When...Read More

Old trains fascinate me
They have character galore
I got a feeling of comfort
Once I stepped inside the door

The smell of the real leather
And the lovely suitcase racks
A very romantic setting
As a train rumbles down the tracks

It had a special feeling
As it...Read More

He knows that when he wakes in a drunken stupor, her name will be the first word to pass through his cracked lips that will still sting from the amount of alcohol consumed. He knows that before he falls asleep...Read More

POEM "PIN DROP" by martin gedge

Be god, almighty
lend me your time
for I am a salesman's suitcase of suffering
to pitch such sweet pain
and divine tyranny
for every pin that sticks my skin
is a dagger
of a soul that sees a future
in a small...Read More

What we need now are anxious parents,
but we are old, and that work
has fallen to children.

What we need are summer nights,
not too cool, not too warm,
time to decide what to wear to bed,
and when we wear nothing,
we need the eyes...Read More

I once tried to spend the night in a tree.

Back in the late 1960s, my older sister, a nurse, found a job for me as a nurse's aide at a Sydney hospital.  I hated it there, so one evening...Read More

Family Holiday

Just got Home

Suitcase Open

Full of Dirty Washing

I dare not wash the Love Out

Heart Broken

Left with only Photographs 

To File in said Gallery

Until Next Time







...Read More

Suitcase in hand, a face polarized against
the frosted window pane, searching verily
for continuity of a life that knew no restraint.
Someone’s Grandfather a considerate Uncle,
life’s situation upon the wane, a link within
the prejudicial chain of forfeited souls. 
One’s transitions ablaze in...Read More

Think you can control me? Control my words? 
They are oozing and bubbling already, and not your direction.
Control me?
I laugh. I scoff. I sing. I throw my bags in a taxi. I am gone.
But wait a second I tell the...Read More

The Whirlwind

I longed so for her, and
Today she flew in like an angel landing;
Backpack, suitcase, slurpee in hand,
New hair color and figure.

Down went the air conditioner;
Out came pillows and blankets,
Water bottle full of Ozarka,
Smart phone, and all of those things.

“Can...Read More

broken mirror

The ship has gone sailed without me, 
alone in a hotel room 
I sweat and try to stop my hands 
from trembling; where are
all my friends that drank with me in the bar.

They fired me threw me ashore 
the...Read More

Let yourself slide from this ride
Let consciousness go where it wants to go 
Gently ,  gently ,  become immense 
Slowly ,  slowly ,  become intense 
Open the hidden 
Wide enough for the universe to intrude 
And...Read More

I see people moving, but going nowhere
I see people moving with their hands thrown in the air
I see people moving but they have nothing to share
Bags and pans, old kettle, and old man
The scavenger, the messenger and old the van...Read More

Meet at the Cemetery
This is where I live
Meet me at the cemetery to make your final bid
One suitcase and one long gown
This is where I am bound
Bones and bones meet  with bones
Dead bones, dried bones, broken bones
Bones whose flesh...Read More

Vacationing Bird - A Haiku

showery suitcase
A beautiful, tall bird eats
by the bath water


vacation leaping
before eating south land chirps
beyond the worms heart


5/30/19...Read More

Once upon a time there was a man called John.
He lived down this street in that house but has since moved on. 

He could tell you stories of the past in a strangely detailed way
And you’d listen to him talk...Read More

She is aware of distance,
a distance that replaces smooth with wrinkle,
that adds weight to where it once fell away,
a distance as controllable as a storm, as time itself.

It feels likes a rope thinning,
each frayed line of twine aims
to remind that...Read More

holding by the
handle like a
handbag or
small suitcase

making my way
from attic to my
son's room no
we're not moving

unpack your things
allow me to
show you
this

seemingly antiquated
marvelous machine
as his eyes widened
still unaware of what

he was seeing
sliding off the
cover raising
the teeth like

keys that actually
do form a...Read More

* This poem was written for a contest originally, but was used by Professor Anne-Marie Thornton of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, to teach her WAR POETRY class in the spring semester of 2017. My sincere thanks to her and...Read More