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Best Poems Written by Jan Backes

Below are the all-time best Jan Backes poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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School's Open

The school bus rolls in
Eager students dart for class
Summer's over now

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006



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Birdsoar

Once thicket thickened,
           Mossy, leafy
               Underlay.
Chance to catch starling
         Or barn swallow
Amidst slumbering umber.

Eyes pinched--tiny prickles--
         Star thistle glistens
            By green-lit moon.

             Craned and swoop,
                          Echoic;
              Plume beats hilarity.
             Lest they sail asunder,
                            Beaks...

White capped--bold and noble--
              Strand guarded;
        Acronymic to the other
             Guided by the sea.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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The Abc's of Addiction

A   ddictive
B   ehavior
C   auses
D   enial.
E   verything
F   eels
G   reat.
H   owever,
I     t's
J   ust
K   icks.
L   ife
M   eans
N   othing.
O   piates,
P   ot,
Q   uaaludes--
R   eality 
S   ucks!  
T   he
U   niverses'
V   ast
W   atseland.
X
X---(
Y   ou're
Z   apped!

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Starfight

Shallow sands spill,
Sharp like silver.
Several strong soldiers stand
Sequentially like steel.
Suffer so short like strangers.
So soon , so shallow, so still.
Sorry standards slyly stroke;
Send six, seven sterling swans,
Seamless, storied, swallowed.
Seas sail sanctimoniously
Severed like the war itself.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Dire Need

The Saints marched in
And in the din
So many dollars spent.
The stadium roof
Can stand a hurricane--
A category five.
What about the residents?
What will keep them alive?
Football is a pastime, yes,
An important one, it's clear.
The folks of ward nine might say,
"Where was our support this year?"
People live in trailers, provided
By the government, it's true.
Where did my Red Cross check go,
Mr. President, Mayor Nagin, I ask of you?
You on top say "you feel their pain."
I doubt it and this is why--
Unless you've lived on peanut butter
And macaroni and cheese--
Until the Saints march in and help--
"The lowest of the low,"
Don't show me a giant football field
When folks have nowhere to go.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006



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Heretofore

The life, the lies, the heavenplace
In which we sole survive
Contain a bit of shame as well
As tiny beads of sweat.
There isn't much else to say
That hasn't already been heard.
Yet I hold you to each fashioning
Each posting; every word.
Do I dare hold open doors of genius
Only empires will abound.
Each time the art can hold its own
The world is homeward bound.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Welcome To Gaydom

There are those who would wish me
To be closeted for life. 
Those who's wish I never could fulfill.
Now, you know what it is I speak of.
Suffering loss of family for certain.
Others who their families have embraced.
I'm not a newcomer, by any means,
And bleed proverbial blood I did.
It's not yet a fair and comfortable world for
Those the likes of me.
Rich and famous are welcomed without rite.
Creative boys demonstrate their right.
Many wish we'd vanish
Or at least relinquish inherent rights.
The stadium full of malcontents,
Evangelists, each one--
Might have us lynched, at once--
Stoned to death.
Wear the crown of thorns.
Don't "swish" and, by all means
Don't wear leather.
Don't have kids, don't teach.
Don't come out in the military.
And--above all--Don't even THINK of 
Marrying the love of your life.
Just recall the family that chose
To end their lives,
Fraught with despair they go.
They're in God's palace now.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Leaves In the Sky

If the floors that fall were coming
If the days were limits too
Would you flee or would you dance?
Dreams are chances.
Cells reproduce.
Last night I dreamed of my late ex-flame.
When I awoke Ispoke with him.
I asked where he was.
Spirits lead.
Souls don't falter.
I saw him in the grass, the leaves and the sky.
You are all here, aren't you?
Even those I didn't know well.
Yet I've felt this all before.
And I lost hope.
A little faith did fizzle.
You and I can take the leap.
 I'm scared you're afraid.
If my Earth empties
May I borrow some of yours?

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Belief

The holiest of homes is with us now.
The light that glorifies us all is brightly burning.
What causes does our God give to fight the fight
And not die lonely?
We're given what is needed, yet at times,
The truth is left to find.
And find it all we may not.
What happens when God does not get through?
Those of us, his children, who hate or suffer 
Or commit sins against our own.
Is he not there for them as well?
Do the poems and prayers apply to only those
Of us who believe?
How are those reached who are so troubled and
Wage war and kill and make others' live in angst?
I believe he is there for us all...
So how to reach those troubled souls?
Reach inside, take a breath and pray there is a way.

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006

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Persons

Does the peril of a life so perfect
Squander unwept tears
Does the shiny saucer of a world
Call the horrid fear
If I disclose a million-fold
The welcome do they serve
I swear the rugged tundra lie
Beneath a twin-bridged stream
So open do I say
I lift you herald high
Does one who's undeserved
Flow gently without flight
Does it matter here
What genre I portray
Does it matter then again
That I've lost my square on life
How many times will it take till I see
What my maker wants of me
How many writings will I send
Till I meet my calling, please

Copyright © Jan Backes | Year Posted 2006


Book: Reflection on the Important Things