Get Your Premium Membership

Best Poems Written by Denise Hengeli

Below are the all-time best Denise Hengeli poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

View ALL Denise Hengeli Poems

123
Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Yummy

Once there was a potato chip
Curled gracefully in a "U"
Glistening with salt particles
Just waiting for a chew

Can you take and eat just one?
I don't believe you can
You'd have to eat the biggest chip
That fits in the slender can

Noooo, keep them neat, and when complete
Lick each side of your thumb
The can is empty 'cause you see
You've eaten every crumb

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2011



Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

You'Re Americans

YOU’RE AMERICANS

NOT DEMOCTATS OR REPUBLICANS
NOT TEA PARTY MEMBERS
NOT ON THE LEFT OR RIGHT
YOU’RE AMERICANS

YOU’RE NOT JEWISH OR CHRISTIAN
NOT MORMAN OR MUSLEM OR ATHIEST
YOU’RE AMERICANS

YOU MAY 	BE FEMALE OR MALE
CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL
OR INDEPENDENT, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS

YOU MAY BE PRESIDENT
OR SENATOR
OR STATE REPRESENTATIVE
OR VICE PRESIDENT, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS

SECRETARY OF STATE,
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
SPEAKER OF THE SENATE
MAJORITY WHIP
MINORITY WHIP, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS

YOU MAY BE A MEMBER OF THE TUESDAY GROUP
OR A BLUE DOG DEMOCRAT
OR A PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS MEMBER
OR MEMBER OF SENATE CONSERVATIVE FUND
WHATEVER YOUR COLOR OR GROUP
YOU’RE AMERICANS

SO, 
BE AMERICANS
BEFORE YOUR SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
BEFORE YOU SEND TROOPS TO OTHER COUNTRIES
BEFORE YOU MINT USELESS DOLLAR COINS

BEFORE YOU MAINTAIN UNEQUAL TAXING PROGRAMS
BEFORE YOU SUBSIDIZE AGRICULTURAL CONGLOMERATES
BEFORE YOU FINANCIALLY SUPPORT OIL EXPLORATION
BEFORE YOU ALLOW PHARMACUTICAL COMPANYS TO CHARGE AMERICANS MORE FOR DRUGS THAN NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES
BEFORE YOU EVER THINK OF ALLOWING OUR COUNTRY TO DEFAULT ON SALARY FOR OUR MILITARY
OR SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPITANTS
OR MEDICAL CARE FOR AMERICANS, REMEMBER
YOU’RE AMERICANS

YOU MAY BE MEMBERS OF THE 112TH CONGRESS
PUFFED WITH YOUR OWN IMPORTANCE
BENEFITING FROM VOTING YOUR OWN SALARY INCREASES
AND NOT PAYING INTO YOUR OWN RETIREMENT ACCOUNT
AND NOT PAYING FOR YOUR MEDICAL CARE
REPRESENTATIVE OF A SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
DISLIKING ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH YOUR AGENDAS, REMEMBER
YOU’RE AMERICANS

REMEMBER THERE ARE 314 MILLION AMERICANS
AND YOU’RE JUST ONE
WORK FOR THE BEST FOR
ALL AMERICANS!

From An American

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

The Snowbirds

Waking one day I find silence abounds
I cannot find any people around!
The day before many neighbors were here
Living side-by-side without aging fear.

Living in a condo, the current rage
Sunshine warming bones as they age
Buildings rising four floors from below
We audit our strength, its ebb and its flow

Signs of our presence?  Our welcome mat
Silently greet friends, who will chat
Hailing each other, we talk back and forth
Now, I realize with shock!  They’ve gone back north!

Who will return to recite their news?
And, who will return to share new views?
Our lives are fragile as our systems slow
Some don’t return with their bright, “hello!”

I will remain here await their return
Continue to mellow, as patience I learn
Perhaps in October their mats re-appear
Announcing return from places not near.

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Corvette

Can you believe? I have Corvette!
Think my wife will be upset?
Bright, golden yellow, like a jet!
You bet, you bet, you bet, you bet!

What’s that she said?  “What the heck?”
Passenger seat I will eject 
Throw her on her fanny yet,
You see, the Devil I have met!

The muffler rumbles all upset
Roar through streams, but won’t get wet
I'll take my dog -- My favorite pet
Go like the wind –- Our thrills we’ll get!

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Disobedience

Walking across a well-lit stage
I command my sequined graduation cap
stay perched up there!
I instruct my feet, 
Don’t stumble!
Gripping my Bachelor’s Degree
I recall the gruff,
Bronx-accented voice of my dad
dead now
Forty years ago I received 
his high school graduation directive
“daughters ‘ain’t fer college,
‘git a husband, ‘git children.”
Today my father stands on the edge
of a Heavenly cloud, 
hands on hips, 
grinning at me
I done it anyway dad.  
What you ‘tink ‘bout ‘dat?

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2011



Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Raindrops

Raindrops
Sliding, melding
Dribbling to meet
Forming no-place road
Raindrops

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

The Plumber

There once was a man, a New Yorker
Who was truly a cocky corker
He loved best his wife, and fixing bath pipes
With Bronx accent, a hearty talker

Fifty years he’d labored and toiled
Keeping pipes un-rusted and oiled
When no water drained, the women complained,
“Come fix it!   ‘Cause the floor is now soiled!"

With light in hand he crawled under sinks
Slithered and slid among all those chinks
He worked for the money for his honey
No more teasing or joking high-jinks

Water flowed; it’s time to retire
Move South where old people perspire
Riding on 'trikes with high flying flags
With large baskets for folks to admire

He never thought he'd have such sore bones
"Tho he's always been accident prone
Pedaling by his now startled wife
He's riding through three time zones!

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Aging

There's history written upon my face
Lines and curves do not erase
My eyes are circled, my lids now sag
I carry around a stomach bag

My fanny's tired and pulls my frame
It's not arthritis, sloth is to blame
My shoulders groove from straps too tight
But still, stuff hangs, both day and night

My toenails thicken, jog left and right
My eyeglasses strengthen to aid my sight
My nails sport acrylics shaped just so
They're already neat wherever I go

I'm amused each morning as I search the mirror
For neck supports that seem to wither
Somewhere or other I've lost some inches
One foot has widened, one shoe now pinches

The mystery of how I shall evolve
Gets me up each morning to try and solve
The meaning of aging, it’s such a bother
I look in the mirror and see my mother!

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2010

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Drivers

I detest bad drivers
They threaten me
They cut me off,
Don’t let me be

I abhor bad drivers 
They’ve no regard
Being polite
Is just too hard

I loathe bad drivers
They slam on brakes
They pass me by
And make mistakes

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012

Details | Denise Hengeli Poem

Marching Years

There’s a chemical factory upon my face
I have lines and spots I need to erase
I mix elixirs and daily apply
The aging process I cannot deny

I have marks and wrinkles and sagging skin
The lines increase and I can’t seem to win
Freckles increase and begin to align
Like routes on a map – I’ve lived a long time!

I sunblock, peel, use Oils of Olay
I moisten and cream my parts – every day
I shave and massage, apply hot face oil
It’s my avocation; how hard I toil.

Silicone, botox, collagen from cows
Inject as much as my money allows
I need to move from my face to my legs
My veins mark muscles with little blue pegs

Choices are limited – laser?  Saline?
The process somehow is getting obscene
I endure the pain as they inject
I need to recover my self respect!

Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2010

123

Book: Shattered Sighs