Tarp Poems

Nesting

There’s a faded blue tarp
On an old pile of wood 
For a fireplace no longer used. 
Though my hearing’s not sharp, 
I thought maybe I could 
Hear a strange sound that got me confused.

So I opened the door,
Seeing if I could find
If a creature was making that scritch 
And before I looked more,
There to pay me no mind,
Was a squirrel, his jaws all a’twitch.

He was ripping at holes 
In the tarp that he’d made
And from out of his mouth dangled blue.
Seemed that one of his goals,
If attention was paid,
Was a nest of that very same hue.

Now I’m searching the trees,
Gazing up through the leaves,
Trying hard to discover that nest.
So if anyone sees
Something that he perceives
As bizarre, he can let his mind rest.

Tympani Tenebrous

Tympani, beat tremendous!
Like thunder roll above!
Dark matter a-tenebrous;
Knowest thou of love?

Ah, young master. In good time!
Riddles, rivers, rhyme!
Griddle, fiddle, sugar, slime.
Covert cold cut chime.

All right, sir, but in earnest;
Full, brass bull, trull, wool?
Summertime, hot clime, addressed!
Roundabout red rule!

Well, it's you two! Black and Blue!
So, what else is new?
Eggs a-light, serpents a-few?
Kittens blind that mew?

Knights of the nebula pond!
Elders strong and wise...
Mighty warlocks, wave thy wand!
Prize? Between the eyes.

Adepts of tomorrow!
Always? Skies and greys.
Surcease, students, all sorrow.
Living for todays!

Miles are marked for travelers?
Yes, and reason thus:
Reality whirs, then blurs.
Black and Blunderbuss.

Rain, pour poems on prophets.
Nerves heal as they warp.
O floodwaters, try Tophet's.
Sailors, tamp the tarp...

What if it was a world of words

And writers their disguise
Some traitorous tirade of tongeu twits torrentially
pouring their page on their hearts

Some surprise

I am the largest collection of leaves
Be leaf me

Wither the spoon
Killed with a knife’s

Thrust never gave me the push

What if gravity decided to let go

Some would twist like thinnest thread in tendrils of
terror

Pity seldom used
Justice lies beneath a tarp slowly gathering dust
Hope has changed to less
Love no longer shared
Heroes stopped their fight

Frozen

Where are you when I am in need?
Where were you as you walked past me?

Scraps of food from trash cans I partake.
The wind blows through as the cold penetrates. 

As I shiver on the steps of an abandoned Inn.
I cover up in a tarp, so tired, I can never win.

I am never safe on the streets of the night.
The rustling noise suddenly made me frightened. 

The noise fades away, leaving me alone.
The weather changes as it begins to snow.

I could not stay warm as the wind started to blow.
I sat up, grabbed my matches, and lit one, watching it glow.

Shivering, I huddled close to the match's meager heat.
As the night wore on, she felt her fingers and toes freeze.

The weather increased as she ran out of the last match to light.
The next day, the child was found frozen during the cold night.

Compassion Fatigue

Compassion Fatigue

Resentment looks a lot like Narcan in a sharp
and feels like it’s forcing out my will.
I grab them both; Naloxone and the tarp,
the outcome undetermined by my skill.
Same guy, same place, same drug; third time today,
his unresponsive body cold to touch.
Compassion has fatigued and crawled away,
when I see something tiny in his clutch;
A crucifix, a cross is glinting gold.
Immediate withdrawal floods through his veins;
I’ve plunged the needle, and I tightly hold;
his bloodied eyes snap alive with pain
despite the death wish of his toxic dope,
a Savior finds him worthy of His hope.

It started with a blank canvas

A faded tarp, hiding such a multitude of sins 
Actually a weathered hulk, with broken shattered limbs
Forgotten craft beached up high, safe from the rising tides
By wind and weather every day beset on every side
Skies grow dark and thunder cracks, the canvas tears away
Spreads its faded wings and flies, far out across the bay 
Exulting in another life, another chance to be
A flag, a tent, a sail and more, just wanting to be free
The wind abates, the canvas falls back onto solid ground
And now it waits with bated breath just hoping to be found
Perhaps a child, or fisherman will find it on the shore
Some loving care, a wash, some paint - it will be blank no more

Amethyst Artist

Art of the heart
Heavenly true blue
A neon Noah's Ark
Of love letters to you

Saving in part
Holy heart from doom
Or drowning in the dark
Missing the warmth of June

Starving Amethyst Artist
With much soul food
Life of the party
Satin smile soft cool

Tender turquoise tarp
Housing lavender love
Sculpting in the dark
Indigo intimacy from above.

Black Love

Your kiss is a love letter to my heart
In bliss receiving with open arms
The purple pen you use rights all wrongs
Connecting me to you in a soulful song
Why is it we struggle within love
Embraces double like winged dove
We find a feud to be a tarp
In an hour or two making love like art
If we can find us over vanity
See green four leaf clover of sanity
Rainbow brushes beneath the waist
Passion gushes like water from lake
Not defined by lowest denomination
Black love in prime a tribal celebration.



11/24/23 Kandle Karen Jones

Muddy And Wet

My first sleepover
was when I was almost eight,
camping with my friend.
Our tent wasn't store-bought,
just a tarp wrapped around some
stacked-up bails of straw.

We lived on a farm;
did I mention that before,
or did I skip that?
Anyway, we did;
and that's how we went camping
when I was a boy.

We weren’t set up yet,
when suddenly, it's raining
and we're getting soaked.
My friend's mom got us
and rushed us into the barn,
all muddy and wet.

She told us straight off
we'd have to sleep in that barn;
so I ended up
sleeping in a stall.
I still smile when recalling
that experience.

Angst-Free Verse

Verse
wiped angst
from life's tarp
Erased all Grief
And gave them a long furlough of absence


Written: February 12, 2022

Tapestry of Blue

tarp test tapestry of blue 
a curtain of nature's hue
 hanging over the environment true 
as I inhale and exhale the breath given to me
 the air I breathe created by  God that I do not see 
inherit verse the clouds burst
 as the rain falls on and around me 
is the wet dawn moves on
flame on vapors hues
clouds roll by
angels shed tears raining here
birds in mid-flight dread
while over my head
airs the tarp so true

9/1/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021

Trucking

Like thunder scolds
 the big trucks roll
eighteen wheelers rumbling
 turning,  rounded tumblings
 static cling above the blacktop sounds;
each load heavy and unmarked
 catastrophic diesel sparks,
 rhythm pounds loud along the tarp, 
tractor trailers clapping along the ground
 from the midwest highways bound
 slipping thru the backroad byways,
juggernaut bartering the tolls on a skyway
  four wheelers piggyback tows 
  convoy escorts ever on the go;
beating down the macadam and concrete
  trucking down the inner streets
  transportation, what a feat.

Patty's Dream

Alleviate your burdens like the faithful swans of grace 
come into her garden its full of flowers, light and lace 
God has given her the gift of ethereal imagery  
and blessed her Holy hands for all eternity  

Angelic music wafting from a magical harp 
dusted rosy skies of pink and baby blue 
as the angel strums beneath God's heavenly tarp 
the swans are drawn in closely, sidled two  by two

A wonderous healing happens in this natural space,   
as delicate birds of wander fly from place to place;  
Serenity, tranquility with every stroke  of soft and slow 
the artist's soul reveals itself, and then begins to glow.  

Written by: Mystic Rose 
Artwork created by: Patty Liberatore 
February 8, 2021

San Pedro

Gentrifier’s pliers pull the heart from the old tart
Though a Navy Commander warns crew not to wander
Where sailors drank and brawled till ships’ horns called
By-the-hour beds and Shanghai Red’s demolished so Pedro could be polished
Now L.A. gangs sell the sins, against their guns no patron wins
Tarp homes on the bluff keep it rough, still developers dream and cream
Hills and ocean make a heady potion but fog dispels the notion
That a fat purse trumps a curse; ghosts abound, the lost are never found

Raging Storm

storm raging out there
dark gray tarp flung across sky
thunder cracks her truth

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