Tunbridge Wells a town in Kent
Traffics woe on residends '
Takes away is the only logic
Council offices in payment frolic
Causing motorists to vent '
Vacant shops abd stagnant flow
Traffic bottlenecked no go '
Monson to mt pleaasnt back
Green as cabbage, sense a lack
Sad to note that, such is so.'
Gridlock on I-75, it's raining heavy. Up ahead somewhere
a truck has jackknifed. We are down to one lane and not moving.
I switch off the engine and wipers watching the world
dissolve inside a waterfall. I'm not alone, there's a voice in the backseat;
only a deep male voice.
"Man I'm tired of travelling this same stretch of highway" It said clearly.
I stiffened; a cold sweat chilling my mind.
"When did it happen" I said, deducing the perhaps obvious.
"Time don't work the same around here," he replied. I'm in a repeating cycle
and I’ve been stuck here watching it all happening again".
I heard myself saying: "by 'it' I assume you’re watching your death?"
"It's time for me to move on, it said quickly, “traffics moving now,
horns are blasting and there's an oncoming 18 wheeler
hydroplaning behind you -
and you're not watching!”
The narrow old bridge
A short-cut to town
To and fro traffics
Have to take turns
No pushing and rushing
But patience and tolerance
On this bottle-necked old bridge
People stopped to greet
Even to strangers they meet
But a friendly smile is lost
Since the old bridge is rebuilt
For cars to speed
For traffic to be fluent
For oldies' hearts to be separated
To be dragged further apart
Mind if I tell you, honestly, I’m a seeker
Of truth in all things … a realist I’d say,
Who traffics in sound research, fact-finding, and
I have little patience with wild conspiracy theories
Misstatements, and opinionated talking heads,
“News” programs slanted to the right or the left
Rabble-rousing tricksters who dabble recklessly
With the lives of the weak and the undereducated
Gullible people who fall in line with the latest buzz,
Wallowing in the muck of shameful lies and deceit,
Who “gag at a gnat and swallow a camel,” I think,
And for whom an ill-gotten moment in the spotlight
Increases some bizarre hunger for public acclaim
So, I…I ask what have I done lately for the benefit
Of the “huddled masses yearning to be free,”
While others work feverishly to destroy democracy?
written November 1, 2021
It was yet another day
Tossing my bag in the car and driving away
Dodging through the busy streets
Amidst the tyre screeches.
We thought Corona was at bay,
But still the virus crept its way,
Leaving us short of breath
Torturing some to death.
We were all let down
When came the lockdown.
Panic, fear and desperation
Exacerbated by the sequestration.
Hearts filled with dread,
Not knowing what lay ahead.
Health worker went to heal
Mask on,with the same zeal.
Busy streets now deserted
All forms of traffics now busted.
At junctions, instead of horns blaring
Cheerful chirps of bird are airing
Humans are healing from their bruised ego
Shut in their houses with nowhere to go.
The atmosphere is eerily calm
As if Nature is applying its own balm.
Through the crowds and traffics
Rumors about how to get near you
like waves after waves
Hope to come closer
to hear you breathing
to see you streaking in the sun
Your body is gleamed with silver
like countless fish scales dancing around
Boats and nets are on the shore
eyes wide open, irresistible to
your fatal attraction
You are a thick book
full of memories of the rocks
and a pearl’s spoony waiting days
Tides come and go
whispering shallow songs
Time is the anchovies in your embrace
shaking out a salty taste
oh the distill
to fly the sky
I saw a garbage bag in the clouds
how could it makes it so hight
as I dropping my arms and legs
grew a pair of wings
going to China
and shared some barbecues
for the rescue
of lost birds
not knowing where
is north
the moon so confusing
with so many windows
but sure put my flag there
all stars and stripes
and a lack of oxygen
or call it gravity
I tend to my garden
not eden what's in a name
the boa I constrict
the horse to trot
the avenues
and the ventures
car traffics
the roads
of the rorschachs
and the last hamburger
must be germany
to eat the bun
oh no just a computer
with hefty bills
to eat you all
as my habit to drink coffee
Nespresso every morning
with almond milk
I got it free of charge
not reading their pamphlet
in chinese
gee saved myself 200 hundreds
and the coffee is good
must I've learn from Morocco
beef beaf what is your meat
to tell me the protest
of greens the goat climbing the tree
of argane or archaid
just a monkey
blinding my eyes
a mouth to silence
and ears not listen
but a look at the clouds
When i go to the shops
I walk down the road
And stop at the place
Where the zebra is lying
Flat on its back
In the middle of the road
Opposite the newsagents
When i step carefully
On its back
All the traffics stops
And the zebra carries me safely
Across the road .
When ive done my shopping
Its still there
Waiting to carry me safely
Back across the road again .
I dont know how
Id cross the road
Without my zebra .
I will escape from the built-up city
To the countryside,
Where all around is a giddy
And the fields are green and wide.
I will escape from the traffics and smog
To the nature’s lyrics and a croaking frog.
I will escape from concrete and power lines
To the breathtaking lights and signs,
To the place where field bells ring
And free birds merrily sing,
To the forest where trees are attractive
And are not a city’s captive.
I will listen to the voice of nature
And my life will be a great adventure.
I will walk barefoot to feel the land,
I will touch a stream with my hand.
My joy will have no measures,
Knowing that the world is full of treasures.
I will escape from the bustle of the city
To the wildflowers which look so pretty,
Where the sky is so bright and clean
And I feel myself like in a dream.
And when the night comes,
The starry sky has so much charms,
An internal balance will feel my heart
As our Earth’s nature is really smart.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska
Luminous clouds pass
By my window
Above the traffics din.
In between my
Staring eyes begin-
Look out that window
Frame the day, transport
Your thoughts elsewhere
Consider every puff of
Cloud and glide with
Mindless care!
I am an Urban Fox
In human form , I know
A paradox.
I trot along my daily trail
And wag my bushy tail
With my disguise it’s no
Surprise, that people
Greet me all but one
As finest company
And really fun.
But; a ruddy Red Coat
On a horse, with brassy
Bugle and hard hat
Of course, does follow
Me around; with malign
Intent on ending my
Amazing day, in the
Jaws of his bloodhound.
I like to hide in coffee shops
He cannot see me there
With my disguise and human
Form, they let me in
But bloodhounds stay outside!
Ruddy Red Coat, poised
Perplexed, his Bugle
Ain’t much use, in
Streets as filled
With traffics din
The hunt that won’t begin
Has made him vexed!
Then later on when
Red Coats gone, I
Return to my natural
Tune. I trot along
And sing my song
To the cities night time
Moon!
It’s occurred to me,
Obvious as it may be,
Celestial bodies make no noise!
While ocean wave’s slush my ear.
Or traffics din vibrates my skin,
Not even a hum, from the setting sun.
Dawn! Mighty sphere, gargantuan, blazing,
Amazing, radiant heat that warms my face,
Blinding light that quenches night! Silently.
We count tick tock down here on ground,
To mirror nature’s cosmic clock;
Meanwhile the sun just makes its run, quietly no sound.
Life whirls on by with
One million intentions,
One million locations
To end up at
With one million new thoughts,
And I’m caught up in the jet stream…
Spinning, whirling, whirring,
Thinking, laughing, talking,
Loving, hurting;
Doing all the things
I’m meant to do
From day to day,
Without really caring.
Tiny little pressure
Points of pain and reassurance,
Needs of life
And needs of thought and
Love, and still the same
Old speed bumps,
Getting stuck, and climbing over…
Finding reasons, losing them
Then finding them again
A little bruised and worse-for-wear
But dust them off
And use their fragile little bodies,
Hold their hand and
Walk so close you almost
Trust them and believe
Standing still and watch
The traffics tails,
Legs still march but
Still, I’m standing still.
Watch the things that morph
And swirl around me,
Morph and change and run off
Over the horizon
Leaving me behind
Lost
Confused
Slipping…
I’m in a world that has gone wrong
Nothings the same everything’s changed.
People are wearing there socks on each arm
There wearing there underwear on there head.
There sleeping in store beds
There flying to work
Instead of riding there bikes
There walking through bathroom
Taking a hike
Traffics running right through my house
There’s a dog that’s scared of a mouse?
There’s a cat who loves to bark
There goes David on Noah’s Ark?
There’s a monkey in the water
There’s a chimpanzee with a human daughter?
The world has gone completely wrong
“OH MY GOD” there’s a duck
Singing the Barney song?
I got out of bed to my alarm
And Lord Jesus knows this world has gone WRONG!
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.