Tuppence Poems | Examples

WARMING WARNING

Our climate is warming
The speed is alarming
Could this be a warning
 
Our greenhouse gases rise
Polluting worldwide skies
Now comes a surprise

The planet is heating
From our carbon burning
And we’re still not learning

We aim for personal gain
And simply show no shame
As we play selfish game

But now we get the flack
Nature’s on the attack
The pendulum swings back
 
We’d enough for our need
But then we turned to greed
And made our planet bleed

We didn’t care tuppence
Ignoring common sense
Now we face consequence

Our climate is warming
The speed is alarming
Could this be a warning

AUSTERE TIMES

Milk bottles we would rinse out and return.
Pop bottles take back to claim the tuppence. 
Kellogg’s cartons collected for the kids
To cut and paste and learn creative art.
Unburnt cinders reclaim from last night’s fire
And add to burn again with today’s coals.
Rinsed food cans collected by rag-bone man.

Blue sugar-bag take back to the Coop
To be filled once more with weighed out sugar.
Cut up old clothes to use as cleaning rags.
Collect carthorse droppings for garden plants.
Newspapers take to chippy for free chips
Or use to roll and twist as fire-lighters.
Naught went to waste in those austere times.

Tuppence a Bag

Bluebird, it's cold outside today
So be it, you just stay
In here with me, I'll keep you warm
And wrap you up inside my form
Rest your wings within my love
While snowflakes falling from above 
Just serve to make the scene surreal
To be with you is my ideal

Spiritual Healing For An Over Fifty

When once upon a time one had to knock at your friends door to see if they were in because your parents had put a cap on the phone bill to stop you ringing  ....
When you recycled your bottles of pop for pocket money, a halfpenny for your fruit salad chew and you couldn't resist a black jack that turned your tongue blue ..   
When your first job was picking fresh organic field mushrooms for the local grocery , a Tuppence a punet was plenty ....
When you helped the elders of your community across the road because their glasses were stuck together with sticky tape balanced on their nose ......
When your friend called Cyril the dog taught you to swim in the river and the sea and you adventured in  the pond on your makeshift barrelled boat , your spirit was free swinging on a rope amongst the river trees ...
When it was safe to walk to the park through your village , your community ,and you know you felt  safe  because everyone knew , you see ...
When the day finished off with scraps wrapped in The Sun newspaper shared amongst your friends whom you spent climbing trees navigating yourselves scumping apples over the old mans private fence ...

On the Usefulness of Comeuppance

Comeuppance is a useful word  
          when confronted by a beggar nerd

        Give him no more than tuppence
          a fitting and proper comeuppance

Charity

Tuppence to my name 
Tuppence after the bills are 
Paid 
Tuppence for A Thought
Tuppence was a lot of money 
Back in the day 
When we were young 
Tuppence was a lot of money 
For salad creams and strawberry bon bons ...
I got Tuppence to my name 
The bank takes takes takes as it plays 
Out its strategic takeover game...
Tuppence to my name 
Tuppence after the bills are Paid 
Tuppence for a thought 
I'd be rich 
If life was not a  ....
Tuppence for A Thought 
I'd be poor 
If id become a whore 
Tuppence for A Thought
Put it in the charity box 
Hope blessed are thee 
Put it in the charity box and it'll come back three fold , you'll see ...

Marley Plays the Bottom Line - With Apologies To Charles Dickens

Oh, don’t flatter me with presents from the Ghost of Christmas Past. 
Tis the season for nostalgia, but those feelings never last. 
It’s a gift-wrapped empty promise not worth tuppence on the street, 
Or a ticket to the opera when you’ve nothing left to eat. 

Oh, don’t weary me with visions from the Ghost of Christmas Gone. 
It’s a fairy tale for paupers who’ll be just as poor come dawn. 
I’ve no sympathy for indolence, nor ignorance and want. 
If you’re looking for compassion, find another bank to haunt. 

Oh, don’t bother me with worries from the Ghost of Christmas Done. 
Send those children of the gutter to the workhouse, every one! 
Put their noses to the grindstone in a more productive game; 
Earning porridge making bootstraps for the barefoot and the lame. 

Oh, don’t humbug me with pleadings from the Ghost of Christmas Lost. 
Sir, the figures on my balance sheet won’t justify the cost. 
So, our business is concluded and I’m free to wash my hands. 
Tell the Sisters of St. Alban’s, the eviction notice stands!

Smugglers Cave

There was an old stripper called Jacky,
who's act was deemed rather tacky.
But she got her comeuppance 
when, out of her tuppence,
fell six pipes, fifty fags and some baccy.

S, J

Shoeshine Joe.

Thruppence for a shoeshine, that's what Joe will shout.
Tuppence for a bulling up as he smiles and looks about.
Drumming up trade these days is harder than before
his dad was a lad and ran this pad when he was twenty-four.
But jobs they're hard to come by with many on the dole.
I'll give you fourpence one man shouts for tongue, top and sole.

Blimey that's a good one he snaps him up right quick.
Sits him down with a smile and cleans his shoes real slick.
That's grand the man retorts as his shoes reflect his face
He pays Joe with a sixpence and says, don't leave this space.
From that day on shoeshine Joe's business began to grow.
And now he owns a shoeshine shop.
The best shoeshine from Joe.

Just Desserts

There was a crook named  Jum Tuppence
Who stole from people of meager substance.
He tried it on an undercover cop
And was caught right on the spot.
Now Jum is due to get his comeuppance.

Equal

a day's work by lunchtime
another one by bed
her thoughts they keep running
around in her head
the world won't address her
or listen at all
to her female opinion
'tain't worth bugger all
if not for her mother
if one she has got
there'd be little comfort
when tied in a knot
by rules and conventions
invented by men
and that's not to mention
a 'good slap' now and then
so silent she wanders
through every day
in search of a foothold
for children at play
and life as an equal
at home and abroad
no wonder she's lonely
frustrated and bored
but men will be menfolk
and boys will be boys
and that's why i wonder
i don't hear a noise
when tuppence talk turns to
a fair go for she
who walks without mention
a slave to the free

for women's day

A Tinker's Dam

Through the Dark Woods crooked pathways
Out beyond the crooked mile
Lived a  Tinker who tended the crooked river dam
And He wore a crooked smile

He tinked til the wee hours of morning
Upon finest jewels of luster  sheen
He tinked gold for crowns and bracelets
To be placed upon the Queen

Each day at noon he shut the rivers gates
To protect the palace in the valley low
Though he was a Master Tinker
He also cared for ebb and flow

He was paid a meager tuppence
For the many laborious hours he spent
He kept it in an old biscuit box
And never spent one cent

One day the Queen sent a messenger
A new tinker she had found
His services were hereby cancelled
His severence less than half a pound

A tinker's tear had fallen
From off his crooked brow
Left suddenly with a jobless future
There was only one action left for him  now

Noon came upon the mountain
With the dam bursting at the seams
He opened every river gate
Creating raging torrents out of streams

He gazed down upon the valley
Where a Queen's palace once did stand
And thought, You can mess with this crooked tinker
Just don't mess with a tinker's dam

Rich-Heart

For Richard Lamoureux's "Any line" contest.  


Richard Seale-d Door's line:  slammed shut are the doors in "A mind made up".


You told me before
slammed shut are the doors
when my love for you went astray
I got my comeuppance
he's worth not a tuppence
and rumor has it he's gay

Lest I've need of another  
visit to me brother
sometime for a quick howdy-do
or longing for discourse
in code as of Morse
on the stealth oiled a hinge, p'haps two

Ah, found me a crack
Leech-a is back 
my love for the other's dissipated 
you smile goodly, warmly
longingly, lovingly
my return welcome and anticipated 

Delysia Hendricks

Limerick Croises: Once Our Senorita From Sevilla - 11

Limerick croisés : Once our Senorita from Sevilla – 11

Once our Senorita from Sevilla
Shed tears for Don Carlo in Opera
Touched by Verdi in heart
Present in Phillip’s Court
She could give her life for Isabella !

Oh ! How she cursed the Princess Eboli
Denounced hers-Inquisitor’s treachery
Upped her seat in Act IV
Hung around Exit Door :
Which caused King Phillip’s heirless Court to flee

So there she slept till the next performance
When tocsin rang the King’s comeuppance
Carlos Quinto’s grandson
All spruced-up as Mammon
Wed Senorita richer by tuppence !

© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2013

Work Equals Death

Smells like power
But tastes like chicken
Administrative duties
Make my pulse quicken

Let’s hear it for the Boss!
The greedy old troll…
Skeletal hands clutching
You will learn your role!

A street urchin’s tuppence
You earn for your toils…
Like shining Boss’s shoes
And lancing his boils

Your life is at an end
You know it’s just too late
Upon your pauper’s grave
The Boss’s kids will skate

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