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Best Poems Written by Johnny Sumler

Below are the all-time best Johnny Sumler poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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A Mutiny On the Bounty

It was a sight that I could not forsee
Ambushed by my own men at morning hour
Hands tight with cord and naked from the waist
A mean air on the Bounty blew unkind
It was the troubled wind of mutiny
My men, whose morals all have been erased
Once officers, now Pirates inward-out
Reached for the Bounty as a gang of thieves
Abused and overturned by thine own dogs
If only that thy men were proud Marines

His Majesties Ship was all but a voyage
To Tahiti where the breadfruit lay
Our mission was to gather in abundance
Thy fruit as diet for the English slaves
Yet as for fruit, my men did taste the women
How beautiful the native women were
In all compare, the beauty of a Goddess
From skin to tone one also could compare
Her beauty to her Island, a paradise
'Twas something in the air of that fine land
That made savages of my poor pale men

With every fruit aboard the ship to sea
But of themselves, themselves rather not leave
Yet off we sailed, and carelesness carressed
Uncomfort in the head and shoulders of men

Which are ye stubborn fools, cowards or clowns?
Yes from my tongue my words did lash a whip
Upon scoundrels of little self-esteem
Art thy mind but a pyramid of mold?
Again, to officers I raised the question
Are ye capable of morality?
What ounce of Navy blood dost ye concur?
Must curiosity outweigh thy wit?
Where art thou mothers breast, you babe of fools?
Ye brains, the size of grapes and tasteless wine
It seems to me thou intellect is ill

Not once did I not discipline untruth
To say my words of truth, an sharp-edged sword
Did strike my men again, again, and again
Without truth we are fools and prisoners
Compared to other Captains, I was mild
For these men did not realize in themselves
Their duties, yet beguiled by their desires

'Twas like a clockwork orange of secrecy
A little rum and brand of mutiny
That caused this plan of treason to incur
And in my cabin did my rascals storm
Seizing that I may not utter a sound
Forcing me on to deck, my mutineers
This officer Pirate scorn, Fletcher Christian
Whose own words..."I'm in hell, I am in hell"
Now forcing me onto the Bounties launch
A twenty-three foot boat, in seconds 'twas
Overloaded with eighteen loyal men
Against the waves that wanted us to drown
And many storms whose plans were our demise
Against all odds, an underprovisioned boat
Beyond the verge of probability
Unsound skiff through such dangerous a sea
A subsequent quest three thousand miles and more
Did I return unto the English shores
To thine Judges, is court martial the question?
Do pardon me for thine loss of the Bounty

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011



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Sonnet 19

Cupid, why hast thou cursed me with thy bow?
Enchanting my desires and compliments
Unto a woman who seems not to show
The same affections of my hearts contents

Of vibrant colors I pick each a flower
Laying them by her doorsteps where I daze
I dream of her awake at sunlight hour
Kissing her image that my mind displays

Yet I am like the rain above her head
The way she runs away from showered gifts
I never knew inside my heart could shred
Heartbroken by her distant love that drifts

Only if thy arrow and bow had missed
My fate and love for her would not exist

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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Sonnet 28

If only I did not believe in love
My breath would kiss tomorrows lips with ease
But I have been heart-broken by your love
And only death can cure my hearts disease

Your smile seduced my soul to sleep with sin
Your eyes eclipsed with evenings I embraced
Your laughter lured my limbs to love with-in
Bedazzled by your blessings beauty traced

Sometimes a cold wind blows upon a branch
Causing its leaves to fall unto the ground
I do believe love caused my life to branch
Away from dreams as music without sound

After this sonnet that your eyes receive
Cold winds shall blow to breeze my branch to leave

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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To Her, With Love

If life is death, do live Elizabeth,
And read my words although I'm far away
Your soul is light beside my dying breath,
With metaphors I'll die to live today
I love you more than sun-light loves the day

Elizabeth, thou art a Queen of mine,
And Angels touch you with poetic rhyme,
With words you whirl a wind I never knew
You write with beauty and you are divine
So wear this ring and kiss my rhyme to you

(written for my dearest friend elizbeth wesley. 
everyone has a fan and friend on the soup, and 
elizabeth is my heart! thankyou my love for all
of your dedicated compliments)!

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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Sonnet 26

With pen I write to thee, Elizabeth
Whose comments I have noticed notably
No words can describe inspirations width
That thou has given unto my poetry

When writers block crippled my mental thought
Your adoration for my poems emerged
And distant from the Soup feeling distraught
Your views and kind reviews calmly converged

How could I tell, How should I know, My love
Are titles that your talents tell in rhyme
For you yourself, an author whom I love
Hath seasoned stanzas with the herb of thyme

Though distant as the lost and troubled winds
I hope to always be poetic friends

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011



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Romeo Improv Un-Recorded

Thou lay'st like a rose on deaths pillow
Silent and still, unsoothed by lifes request
Asleep the dawns and days of all and all
Eternity. My lovely Juliet
Wherefore art thou companions company?
Dost thou mockest life? "O my love, my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty"
Knows't not you of these intense tears that grow
Onto your soil a river of a kind
Thou body blooms, unscarr'd from cheek to bone
Thus trees and rivers art jealous of thine scent
But be it may thy mouth will ne'er move
Upon itself to echoe, Romeo!
Nay life will ne'er become a friend in hand
And I to life a friend, nay, I think not
The sun and moon shalln't make for watching eyes
To view me with life and not with thee, my love

Thyself I say art bandy with thyself
Yet man of all, I'm troubled at thy race
'Twas not the serpent that reward Eve bale?
And God created man, and bale is man
For in our families doth men collide
To often foredo every innocent thing
With swords where-in great morning and lights night
Tis fineless feuds our families perform
What bravery to birth our tragedy!
I balk that flesh is where abodements lay

O wife, I canst o'er-crow life in thine distance
May I afront death as thy hath approach'd?
Perchance I die with drink. Ay, there's the rub!
No time to fettle, ay, at once death come
Into my life as I drink thee in full
Slowly thy soul escapes. Thou art foredone
Soon to bewray thyself with waiting wife

Romeo and Juliet; How tragic is love
7-8-11

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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I Am Autumn

"this poem is not about what is written, but what is not written..."

My smile brings shores of shadows in the sky
A smile unsure of happiness and bliss
I touch the trees and watch their branches cry
A tear itself leaves from my face amiss
As tears and leaves descend into abyss

I come descending from the grey above
To bring a quarter of my seasons love
A love compared to death, natures demise
And with my lips I kiss the things you love
Secretly keeping Summer's butterflies!

Johnny Sumler
The Unwritten
7-2-11

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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Sidney Poitier

How are the Lilies of the Field
Above without Heat of the Night
A Raisin in the Sun shall brew
To Sir, with Love...A Patch of Blue

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2022

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I Am Not a Ghost

Under my clock whose time is froze
Resides a flock of restless crows
Restless myself I walk with woes
As if I hurt my head
And by itself a door would close
To my room that's ahead

My room has secrets no one knows
With walls of wood and black windows
The eerie feel of darkness blows
Her blouse upon my bed
Between the night she comes and goes
And I believe she's dead

Rime Couee
7-3-11

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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A Poetry Convention

To anyone and all
I am awestruck
as I attend
this some-what altered afternoon
altered in a way by
poetic humans
tiny tables among giants on words
sharing all unselfish things as
pen and tea harmonize in their hands.

These peaceful poets including I at this convention
all paired by four
tease time and essence before noon is dawn.

In all sincerity;
how nice it is to be a man at this table
among women
whose beauty write themselves.

To my left of me my Mikki,
melting ice-cream on hot dessert
brings light to the table with
The Lull
and like a Christmas present
All eyes were opened to a new awakening

And all could see The Breeze Amongst A Willow
a painting Emma drew with her words
the words that wind the wind to blow
poetry upon paper and pen.
Its nice to see Emma in front of me
frowning freestyles and smiling sonnets
causing our table to laugh its wood off!

Meanwhile
to the right of Emma,
Andrea,
meditates the Measure of Happiness with two words:
smileage...mileage.
Oh what beautiful art thou displays
poetic godmother; professor of poetry.

These visitors of poets I do adore.
In thus they asked for me to speak of me...
and I recited Visitors nervous with nerves
for with each line I scared myself.
Next time I'll think I'll speak of Sleeping Kisses. 

at the table:
Johnny Sumler
MichelleMacDonald
Emma Mantle
Andrea Dietrich

Table of Four

Copyright © Johnny Sumler | Year Posted 2011

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Book: Shattered Sighs