Assorted Poetry

These are poems, most of which were written in the last month. I'm not much of a poet, but I kind of like these. Each poem is numbered to avoid confusion. Please let me know what you think. Some of these were written a bit after the style of Dorothy Parker.

1. Advice
I did not listen to my friends
Though they were old and wise,
For I had love inside my heart
And stars in front my eyes.

They told me he would be untrue
And that he was no good,
So I told them to go to hell,
As any girlfriend would.

They knew that he was playing games
And toying with my heart,
But I was sure that he was true,
For he liked opera, dance, and art.

I should have listened to my friends
For now I am bereft.
He set his sights on a fairer maid
And then just up and left.

My friends were right and I was wrong,
But I must reap what I have sown.
I closed my eyes and plugged my ears
And I was left alone.




2. A Gallery
Livingston gave me a sudden kiss
And told me he was true,
But I got mad and slapped his face
For kissing me out of the blue.

Blaine was always giving hugs
And trying to squeeze my waist,
But I thought that he was fat
And his complexion looked like paste.

Kelley had a lot of money
And was very pretty to see,
But he wasn’t classy or brainy or funny,
So he didn’t appeal to me.

Tobias was witty and charming and fun,
But soon I began to despair,
For he called me each night and followed me home
And I hated his greasy black hair.

Jeremiah’s a hopeless romantic
And a gentleman down to the core,
But we never could talk or go for a walk-
He was always ahead of me, holding the door.

Charles is a definite keeper,
But our chances at marriage are slim,
For I’ve dated so many sleaze balls,
I don’t know how to handle a gem.




3. My Conscience
My family thinks I’m sneaky,
I shall never earn their trust,
For I can’t meet the requirements
That an ideal daughter must.

They seem to think a little fib
Will turn me to a felon,
But it’s so hard to not sneak out
When you have the face of Helen.

I’m really not so terrible
As they seem to think.
They are sure a night of fun
Leads to a lifetime in the clink.

They hardly ever allow me
To leave my prison cell.
They believe a boring youth
Prevents eternity in hell.

But I’ve found a silver lining
And a little ray of sun,
In that being the family black sheep
Is ever so much fun.

I know I should try harder
To do the things I ought;
Though I’m never sorry for my actions,
I’m just sorry I get caught.




4. A Bad Day
Of all the days in the calendar,
As far as I can tell,
There is just a single one
That truly comes from hell.

That’s the day when Cupid
Rears up his ugly head,
And the day when all us mortals
Would do well to stay in bed.

When I was just a little girl
I used to mope and sigh,
Because I could not win the heart
Of any little guy.

But sadly, then I grew up,
And my chest was not so flat,
And I could make the boys run
Each time I dropped my hat.

They say that love’s a blessing,
But really it’s a curse.
I’ve heard that love heals heartache,
But it only makes it worse.

The next time little Eros
Raises up his cursèd arrow,
I can only hope it pierces,
Not the heart, instead, the marrow.

On the fourteenth day of February,
I truly envy the dead,
And if I fall in love again,
Someone needs to examine my head.




5. A Scientific Opinion
I’ve heard that love’s for the youthful,
The lucky, the hearty, the wise.
But love seems to addle their poor little brains,
And make cloudy those bright little eyes.

Love is the cause of much aging.
Love is the cause of most strife.
Scientifically speaking, falling in love
Can rob you ten years of your life.




6. Trying Won’t Cut It
I don’t know why it didn’t work,
After all, we tried.
But so did Romeo and Juliet,
And look at them-they died.

I wasn’t ready for it to end,
But I won’t mope or pout,
Because the Phantom loved Christine,
And we know how that turned out.

Rick was made for Ilsa,
  And so I will not cry,
For they were the perfect couple,
And she left with another guy.

Rhett and Scarlet were soul mates,
But they couldn’t make it work,
For Scarlet was petty and selfish,
And frankly, Rhett was a jerk.

Reality and fiction,
In this are parallel:
Love can complicate your life
And make it a living hell.


The moral to take from all of this,
In the simplest terms I can put it:
If the powers that be are against you,
Trying just won’t cut it.




7. Ambition
I wanted to write a grand novel,
But my attention span was too short.
Only diligent types can write novels,
And I’m simply not that sort.

I set my sights on epic poem
To rival the Latin and Greek.
I’m no competition to Homer,
I quit after only a week.

I thought about a novella,
Thought provoking and deep.
But each time I sat down to write it,
I nearly fell asleep.

A short story seemed quite easy,
And sure to keep me sane.
But writing a good one is difficult,
And proved too much for my brain.

I felt I had run out of options,
Thought my passion for writing a curse.
But then I remembered I had one last resort,
So I’ve taken to scribbling verse.




8. Nature
Traveler, traveler, weak and weary,
Step into this pretty clearing.

See the church, dressed all in white,
Beckoning you to pass the night.

In the graveyard, you suppose,
The Dead all sleep in sweet repose.

The birds sing you a lullaby,
While far away, trains whistle by.

Dragonflies soar on wings of lace,
While the summer sun shines on your face.

Ants march by in grave solemnity,
Unaware of the nearby city.

Two lizards on a tree play tag,
A butterfly rests upon your bag.

The grass is soft and green right here,
At the edge of the clearing stand two deer.

Above the sky is burning blue,
The hill affords a spectacular view.

The world, for once, seems free of strife,
And all is still, yet teems with life




9. A Novel Idea
Please don’t look down on us
because we are young.
Don’t complain about the clothes we wear
Or about the songs we’ve sung.

We’re just trying to figure out what we don’t understand,
And in truth, that’s quite a lot.
You hope we are walking the path that you did
and we desperately pray that we’re not.

We grew up wanting to be like you
but now we’re not so sure,
for your generation has caused all the problems
That ours will have to cure

you will never see us crying,
though we sometimes wish you could
we used to hate it when you said, “I love you.”
But now we wish you would

and now our world is scary
Goodbye, sweet “ignorance is bliss”
When all the problems in the world
Could be solved by mother’s kiss

we don’t want to be what society calls us:
A punk, a jock, a nerd
But we’re just too afraid to tear down our walls
and abandon our own little herd

We look at the pictures in the albums
And we know you love us dearly
But somehow it seems, no matter how hard you try
You cannot see us clearly

To you, the world must be spinning too fast
You don’t like the future and you can’t shake the past
For us it seems to be spinning too slow
We can’t solve the world’s problems ‘til we’re running the show

We really want to speak out
And break the ties that bind
But we’re all scared to reach out
And touch those who aren’t our kind

We’re each trying to change our own little world
But we can’t change anything on our own
We’ve got to learn to get over ourselves
Or be forever alone

The world is quickly getting darker
and the good things seem so few
we’ve got to get to know each other
so we won’t end up like you