Word Play Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Premium Member CINQUAIN ALLITERATIVE sep 14

CINQUAIN ALLITERATIVE  

 come,could cheerless  cloister   commercialize classic crescendo

I investigate..& . imagine ..impeccable impracticable  imitation

 magniloquently monolingually monotonous merchantman manure me ...my megalocephaly moldy moonshine meteorite

 to, trepan typicality through trogonidae  tunelessly   twirlingly their tantrum  

simultaneously situatesmoothedspoke, stairwa

Premium Member Review Sept 14

a cummings apt free verse personification presented LOWER CASE style as two quatrains... atypical short&to the point

Edward Estlin Cummings so inventive
penned poetry so sensitive
He loved to write in lower case style
interspersed by CAPITALS once in a while

 initialled as Edward Eselm
originality known throughout the poetic realm
In the vertical not horizontal
whose lower case was so unusual

e e cummings a poet, i be
 this is how i found my u s p
in verse to be so 'original'
lower case & in the vertical

Premium Member Forest Footle

trees tall,
leaves fall

     wood thick,
     dry stick

          old bark,
          now dark

     deep root,
     brown boot

ants crawl,
quite small 

owl cry,
moon high

     a stream,
     bright gleam

          sun glade,
          dense shade

     green leaf,
     zilch grief

wild moss,
soft floss


Jack Frost

When that cold winter comes
and the chilly wind does blow
best stay indoors
as it's freezing down below
but enquiring minds need to know
who ploughs the roads
so the snowplough man can drive to work
and plough the snow?

21st Century Offspring

Almost a child herself, how will she cope?
Until now everything had labels, expiry dates,
do’s and don’ts, helpful hints, arrow pointing ‘UP’.
But this one was delivered not even marked ‘FRAGILE’.
What will she do?   She’ll have to start by giving it a name.

Not Basho

haiku scribbler
natural miracles

brevity brilliance


Premium Member Bridge It


     The bridge 
     to the future
        a song

     Living in the past
     can only last
        ~ So long

Premium Member Fire

Fire in the belly, fire in the eyes
Fire as protection or a smoke disguise
Fire laden rhetoric, incendiary lies
Fire filled with warmth, fire follows drought
We'll keep rubbing sticks together till the last one burns out

We have played with fire ever since we stole it from the gods
We're bound to keep on playing cause we like to play the odds
Someone will get burned
Some will just burn out
There isn't any wonder cause the scars'll leave no doubt

Fire raging wild, keep it from a child
No way to make it stay controlled 
No way to keep it mild
It has raged throughout the ages it has never been snuffed
From the lips or from the pages til we say we've had enough

Premium Member At the Intersection of 'Japanese-Americanese'

            
               You know what happens in Japanese-Americanese elections 

                   They pronounce l’s as r’s, so with 55% of the barrots counted

                         CBS and ABC ahl carring it a big e _ _ _ _ _ _ n.

Out Of My League Under The Sea

In its special serpentine style too deep to fathom
while submersed beneath I was surprised to see
the world's second most venomous reptile
a striped Dubois' sea snake swim by me
when forewarned of dangers quirky lurking in the deep
altho' arriving suitably attired with fins mask and snorkel
it was sufficient to almost scare me out of my diving skin
so severe as to make my heart skip flip or turn turtle
but being bold brave of heart and fleet of flippered-foot
swiftly did I surely doggy-paddle safely away
tho' no harm was done to me a close call or so it seemed to be
which I survived to recount alive here on this another day

It's The Pit(s)

An avocado is not a vegetable,
botanically, it's classified as a fruit,
specifically, a large single-seeded berry,
although it's a fact you may wish to dispute,
your opinion is neither here nor there
as, take it or leave it,
it's what's known as a 'pear'.
And yet, should everything go pear-shaped,
don't blame the avo, it's not at fault,
for, whichever way you slice it,
it still tastes good with pepper and salt.

Premium Member AN ALLITERATIVE quatrain Sep 7

AN ALLITERATIVE QUATRAIN

 could centralised cardiographic cascade competitively  colorize complaisant casement

from flavourful facultative  fiendish fission find  fortuitousness favor 

ruling : restively rhythmic reading  reflectorise restorative respite


shrewdly  sidearm saddleback spat   submerse  scatter  sycophantic  saporous sioux spirits  sextant

Out Of This World

Altho' his feelings
he chose to suppress,
human and Vulcan,
yet, so as to process,
when overwhelmed,
in need of time apart,
and not upset
the apple cart,
to get things off his chest,
emotions, thoughts
and personal challenges,
of all kinds and several sorts,
on board the starship Enterprise,
the First Officer they'd have to replace,
when Spock told Captain Kirk,
'I need my space!'

A Cancer

The day I arrived
in my own good time
(not at all shy)
neither early nor late
13th July
I remember it well
t'was a memorable date
as a present from my parents
(their pride and joy a baby boy)
a Wednesday I recall
some time in the morn
the best day of my life after all
for it was the one
on which I was born

Quid Pro Quo

Altho' knowing that
nothing beats tit for tat
there's no call at all
to cooperate
if you don't wish
to participate
but if something you lack
and scratch my back
while one hand
washes the other
I'll scratch yours
which could be
accomplished
when down on all fours
however taking a gander
unseemly tho' it may be
what's good for the goose
is good for me

Word Play Categories

Definition | What is Word Play in Poetry?

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.

Related Poetry Forms

words, puzzle, banter, wit, witticism, sarcasm, comeback,

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