Sweep Up Poems

Harmony and Disharmony

The rhythmic waves roll,
Barely foaming as they gently sweep up the shore
And lightly brush my toes
Before retreating as another wave approaches.

Distant swallows chatter like a choir out of tune,
Tossing a scattered melody — yet strangely harmonious.

The coconut leaves above me whisper
As the soft breeze drifts past.

The cold of the damp sand where I sit, legs outstretched,
Has crept up into my chest.
I scoop the damp sand at my side
And press it slowly between my fingers.

My chest tightens as a chorus of voices shriek in my skull.

Kristina Lim
August 17, 2025
Daanbantayan, Cebu, Philippines

Everyone Has A Different Reality - Who Am I To Say

Is it silence that the mind concieves a formulation for all that has been seen
Or could it be in the cauous where one manipulates the scene

Could you turn down the grandeur and pick up a piece 
Can you lift up the curtain and sweep up the seeds
Climb a stair to the attic to see what's been missed
Paint a daring picture from your  favorite list
Lose yourself for a moment and finally confess
Weld all the pieces and present your true self

The Halfway Glass

A city block vendor chimes pleasantries prouder
than Muzak or an unseen crow in the background 
elevating alarm clock music in the caws
uncredited and angrily growing louder.

A walkway narrows between the vendor
and a building. I teeter between both
as I pass by her grill
parked beside the vape shop. A blistering warmth

whitens piled pink hotdogs and tickles my ribcage.

A parakeet on her shoulder
is flaking off the sun and feathering the moon.

Steamy sundowns moisten her saucer eyes.
One dog pops sausage through its skin. She fans
the minty menthol. I pay the price
for squinting. I've dropped my glasses. Splitting

off-key shattered glass,
the containment of what used to be
bits of me shows up digits-bloodied.
Long after the initial sweep up,
little jagged cuts still happen.

Skepticism-Happy

I like to invite Happiness over for tea
But I'm always anxious when it stays longer than I expect
While it sits in the living room, peacefully drinking from it's cup
My heart beats faster
Anytime soon, the cup will break
Maybe there's too much sugar in the tea
I start pacing around the house doing everything but entertaining my guest

But when I come back 
It's still sitting there
But why?
Does it not know that I don't want it's company?
Does it not know that I would rather it tell me that the tea is too sweet instead of drinking it in silence?
Does it not know that I don't trust it?

When happiness comes over for tea
I always expect the bad things to sneak in with it
When they don't show up, I become skeptical
The silence is deafening
Being able to hear my thoughts
To have them not yell at me
To not have to sweep up broken shards of plates offf the floor
Or to not be pulling shards of glass out of my skin
It's so peaceful 
Which is why it feels wrong

I know why it keeps returning
It knows I don't accept it
Yet it still shows up
Waiting for the day I sit across from it
Finally sharing a cup of tea with it.

Your Love Is Garbage

This has been a huge mistake
All you ever do is take
Without the care or concern
You left me alone to burn
In a fire pit of despair
It is all becoming clear
Your a user and a cheat
Everyday is a repeat
OF the awful day before
Loving you has been a chore
I no longer want to do
I am just fed up with you
Your being thrown to the curb
Your attitude is just absurd
Thrown out like old stinky trash
Into a fiery pit of ash
I can just sweep up and toss
Now all the demanding cost
It always took to be your girl
Is gone in one big garbage whirl
As I hear the grinding of
The end of your abusive love
As the trash truck leaves a hump
Of your nonsense in the dump

Flame Throwing

Each morning we’d sweep up words,
and shove them under rugs,
or coffee tables.
Some words escaped to the garden,
where they poisoned the peach tree.

Paint on shell-shocked walls blistered,
the cat became so high-strung.
that it hid under a neighbor's roof
and had quite forgot how to stalk birds.

We confided to a priest,
who denounced adultery and lust,
while openly scratching his ball-sack.

When our son came home from university,
we lied brightly to his questioning face,
hiding our eyes behind court documents.

Eventually, exhausted,
we slept peacefully in each other’s arms,
joined forever,
by three thousand miles of distance.

a smashing success

a smashing success -
diamonds and emeralds
in the jaws of thieves
left to sweep up shards of glass
eyes wet and red as rubies

Resudue

some late falling leaves
are too dark to be visible
they crash through the night
between the creaking jaws
of a chill sky

train wrecks happen
when no one is watching
people fall out of planes
into empty fields
life collides with its own loneliness
is nullified
into countless zeros

you can fall
into a dead space unnoticed
and where you would expect
to find floor
a flotsam tumbles unseen

in the morning
you sweep up your remains
closing a door softly behind you

Pumpkin Girl Is Lucky

Pumpkin girl has swept up a large cat
Are you sure it was not a bat or a rat?
Oh, no, my friend, it was a furry feline pure.
It was meowing and snuggling and nesting for sure.

Pumpkin girl always gets the best breaks.
I always sweep up lizards, toads, frogs and snakes.
Why should she be the one who gets a kitty?
To add fuel to the fire, she is incredibly pretty.

Clutter

clean out
the closet
and unhook your woes
from all hangers.
all are much too soiled
to be worn 
by your disillusioned heart.
sweep up the debris
and clear out 
the heaping pile 
of suppressed pain 
and untrustworthiness 
taking up
all the space 
in your broken heart 
to create enough room 
to let people in
once again,
for love's light 
to shine through.


Second Chance For Your N-A Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
Date written: 06/19/2022

Dreamtime: Comes the Tide

There are those who will not hear the siren's wail,
But will know                the wheat has turned pale.

Winds will sweep up from the south and the west,
His chorus of trees         swaying bravely are Blessed.

Shields aside, faces lit in harmony,
Destiny, homogeny, all God's Children once more free.

Lightning, earthquakes, tsunami seas,
Herald His Coming                         while evil flees.

Shooting Stars, like hail from above,
Will cleanse us from sin            on Wings of the Dove.

And balance in nature will sweep o'er the land

With God in His Glory

Grasp all in His Hand


12/12/21

Door To My Mind

There is a door to my mind
It is open all the time
Waiting for words of kind
Hoping you say you’re mine.

As I travel through rivers of sleep
Hearing you call from the deep
I sweep up the words you speak.

When I am alone I peak
Through the door I seek
These words from you I keep.

Dropped Sugar Bowl Kitchen Marching Ants-

the sugar bowl drops
 it's broken glass sugar spills 
out as marching ants 
~
raid kitchen sweet tastes 
granules I tried my best
try I  to sweep up
~
sweetness on their feet
yum, such a sticky sweet treat
out marching ants



4/25/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021

The Robot

I am broken.

Every bone in my body cracks and splinters, piercing through muscle and skin. My lungs close in on my heart, blood oozing from the invisible fractures. I itch, skin peeling of in flakes and falling to the ground like confetti. My hair falls out in tangled clumps. My head hurts as my skull shrinks, squeezing my brain until all my veins pop. 

I crumble to the ground in an unrecognizable heap.
 
I am a broken a thing, falling through their fingers like sawdust. 

They turn a blind eye, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling, favoring the bliss of ignorance. They disregard me as they brush the remaining bits from their fingers.

I am a broken thing.

Falling into a pile of nothingness. 

It’s as if I were never here. They don’t even bother to sweep up the mess. They trample through me instead, grinding all of the pieces into the ground, smothering me into oblivion. 

I am nothing.

All I ever wanted to be was something. But wishing for something isn’t enough to manifest it into truth. I do not exist to be loved, but to be destroyed. They made sure of that.

But I am not to be forgotten.

Boomer Remover

Here comes the Boomer remover,
A geriatric hoover,
come to sweep up your complacency
And puncture your dismissivenes
so don't dissolve into hissy fits,
Or lectures on snowflake millennials,
Your snide and tested perennials,
'End the lockdown now,
Long live the new normal' is your siren cry,
but another, better world is coming,
It's no use trying to deny,
The pulse of history is running,
Out of your control, 
So be a part of the solution,
you've got to choose your role,
And reconnect with evolution,
Now, tell me what's your 'verse?
No point in trying to fake it
We know nothing could be worse
Than your 'business as usual' fits,
No matter how beguiling; 
Ecocide must consume us,
the original sin that leads to the fall,
Is that the legacy of the boomers?
So forget the status quo, 
too late now for reconciling,
Sit down uncle, you're blocking my flow.

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