Home » Poems » Best » John Smallshaw » Best John Smallshaw Poems

Best Poems Written by John Smallshaw

Below are the all-time best John Smallshaw poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

It Follows On and That's a Fact

joined up writing
joinedupwriting.

It follows on and that's a fact.

Tuesday from Monday and that then from Sunday 
and what may I ask has that got to do 
with anything?
but you have an answer
you always do.

if I sleep it's to keep the dreams safe from dying
lost to the world in a world full of people trying
to stretch out their days and long past their sell by,
why then
follow on?

Politics like Sticklebricks are catching.

Vote for the one and others follow on
Peter and John,
Matthew and Luke all read from the 
new manifesto,
new seeds in the fields where our men grow,
growing to where it is men go.

I'm rambling again and need coffee to curtail
this pain, but I fear sleep is the only release.

you yawn and no one sees
he yawns and drowns out the world.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Lovebites In Loughton

Same faces
old men 
briefcases
must be working 
early today.

She's still doing the crossword
yesterday's news
feeding her answers 
reading the clues
nothing changes.

Baby in a carry cot
not a lot of scope to wriggle
but 
giggling anyway.

The tube map's the same 
I can name every station 
from Epping to Ealing
feeling old, but not as old
as him
who looks like the reaper,
grim 
is the word I would choose.

The gap's just a trap to
catch the unwary 
it's never caught me.

A river appears in which 
I fish for ideas 
but nothing comes up to
bite me
it might be
I'm using the wrong type
of bait.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

10word Closer

The last man
standing 
will be on
Facebook
posting 
selfies.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Postcards From Ecuador

The end dear friend is just the entry and he pointed, but he never meant me, it was the old man sat inside me that the message was intended for.

I sat and wondered about the door and what was it the entry for and could it be he meant me after all?

Then the timepiece changed into a watchtower and it changed back on the hour, every hour

what tricks these eyes can play
what puzzles and to blind.

In the end I wouldn't mind a new beginning
somewhere with a decent climate
and
slightly South of the equator 
where I could do a baked
potato
on the rocks.

but don't worry
they'll twin you with a town up
in the Pyrenees
which
you'll find out 
will be full up with
the Chinese who'll
be
making origami
chewing gum from
Sorghum and
reciting verses from a book
by ...tse Tung

The end is just a fixture
another game we play
away.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

The Suicide Note

My body I leave
to medical science
to prod and dissect 
to look at and inspect 

let's see 
if they can 
make more of me
than I ever could.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Fire Damage

You have to remember
that some members of a team
have star status,
they're
not like us
they don't lose out,
we
are the fractured
supposedly inured
to loss and pain.

It's the same over and
once more and
what's more there's
no relief.

It is my belief that everyone
should be treated like they're
the only one.

But we churn out the turn out who 
turn out and in turn we never learn
so
who's cheating who in the 
who's what and if you don't
understand it
you've
not been 
listening.

And that's nothing new
you
never do
until the fat hits the pan
oh yes
then you're the man
the big five zero
the come and see me and I'll
be your hero

and that's a big if 
if not a bigger ask.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

You Might Ask Yourself Why

Perpendicular to the day and the 
horizon looks no nearer than the day 
before a yesterday, 
am I moving 
or is this spinning just a symptom of 
something my mind can't touch upon?

If looking inward is the answer and the universe 
spreads before me is this darkness just a sea that I can't see?

when I drop and swallow atoms is it stardust that flows through me 
and are light years truly lighter than the years I carry with me?

It's a circuit and I'm shorting 
getting caught in the minutiae 
where eventuality and I will 
meet head on.

The time lapses delay me on the way 
to self discovery,
but the spark flies ever upward 
perpendicular to the day.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Chapter 4, Verse 1

Holy week,
another chance to torment
those who seek redemption.

Hang your cross of Jesus on the wall
( a double execution)
as if crucifixion was not enough.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Thnking I Am Masculine

The musculature 
is I am sure
somewhere in hiding
just waiting and biding its time
to amaze me.

She laughs at this and gives me a kiss
I pull a face as she pulls me closer
and
who needs a six pack
when I know she's
 'got my back?'

I do like the colour pink though
although
blue is my favourite.

I also like curves that curve,
curves that make me do a
body swerve

and 'art deco's' not too bad
either although rather
angular

still
it takes all sorts 
and that's what we all are.

Details | John Smallshaw Poem

Uptown

But it's Thursday, 
the alarm clock rang and a 
nightingale squawked 
down in Hoxton Square.

A jump start to the day to which 
I will pay a price.

Eyes still feeling sleep gritty and
moving tepidly through the 
brown streets of the city 
I stop for a tea in the Mozart cafe.

Moving on with the song that plays on inside me 
I make my way to the Temple
though hardly to pray 
Charing Cross that way,

Trafalgar
no battles 
just the rattle of a tin can
the beggar man always sits there.

Leicester Square,
tackier that Hoxton
but riches that hide behind casino doors.

Chinatown 
more brown streets
authentic cooking 
where 
East meets the West

I do my best 
and that's as good
as it gets 
or as good at it is 
on Thursday.