FOP #4

4.4 Homelessness or poverty

Sometimes I think there is a camera in
my television that ensures I am eating and
sitting comfortably before flicking to adverts
for charities showing children with flies
in their mouths and the thinest film
of flesh barely covering ragged bones.
I pick up my phone and do my bit
but never do enough.

4.5 Rhyme

I have picked a word: flash
and am going to rhyme it with crash.
I have fulfilled my obligations for
this poem. I even have time to add
some improvisation and extra...
oh wait, excuse me, I need a slash...

4.6 Sad

A faded picture of Mr Henry, waving proudly
at the Olympic opening ceremony stood
by his beside where he could see it when
the nurses put him to bed for the night.
It was the only photograph in an otherwise
bare room.

4.7 Furniture

If this desk could talk,
it would have quite a story,
sitting in the oval office
the epitome of wooden glory.

It has seen it all, discussions,
three presidents, legislations,
affairs and cover-ups
to economic calculations.

4.8 About this site

'Cannot connect to the page'
oh no, not again! Why didn't
I save my poems, will it return
or has it forever crashed and burned?

I check it daily, getting anxious,
turning internet investigator,
and one day, out of the blue...
Its back! Good as new

5.1 Formed poem inside a poem

I can't wait for the days
where my head meets the pillow
and I am able to relax at the
end of the day.

Instead lightning strikes
brightly into my bedroom
creating nightmares -

I used to love storms,
but now I've realized
they carry the same rage
that I do.

5.2 Stationary/pencil/paper etc

My wastebasket
is full of crumpled up
unfinished poetry,
and the terrible lines
written for challenges.

5.3 Crime/Prison

He stole my heart
and locked away
the key, in a cliche
lovers romance -
I allowed him
to steal in
a crime of passion,
with no regret.

5.4 Homelessness/poverty

There's garbage piling
to their knees,
and they continue to rifle through,
searching for an ounce of treasure
that could give them
dinner tonight.

5.5 1 Rhyme

I read earlier today
when Baby Rainbow said
not all of these could be counted
as poetry, but I have read
two million ridiculous lines,
and we at least receive
A for effort, please.

5.6 Sad

The sun in shining
yet the second I waltz
through the doors,
rainclouds pour
onto my mind -
complaints roll in,
and it saddens me
that people cannot find
a silver lining
anywhere.

5.7 Furniture

My shoulders are rolled
forward, from clacking away
at my desk all morning,
tension held in
fingertips and muscles,
and I can't wait
to find a vacation.

5.8 This Site

There is a land of PnQ
where most find the time
to gripe about everything
they disagree with -
to the naysayers, who never find
a comfortable play to lay,
please leave our existence
and breath your crankiness
elsewhere.

6.1 Poem w/in a poem

My neck muscles
are strained
and my shoulders
tight

rigorous writing
on this page
created tension
killing my body -

rock hard.

6.2 Stationary

I've snapped my pencil
in half -
writing out of frustration
has never produced
worthy material.

6.3 Crime/Prison

I'm locked behind
these bars
and I don't even know
what crime
I possibly did this time.

6.4 Homelessness/poverty

I watch him
sleep on dirt mounds
surrounded with trash
to keep him warm,
and yet he refuses
to accept a hand up
from anyone.

6.5 1 Rhyme

I wonder if we ever
over think things
to the point we are unable to
actually think at all?
I've always wondered
why my brain
continues to drain
the more I think
it begins to fall.

6.6 Sad

I hold an anchor
on my right hand
as a reminder
of all the hope
He has for me,
and yet I can't
focus on that
when the enemy
has rooted in my brain.

6.7 Furniture

I kick my feet
up on this ottoman
and pretend
I am Queen
for the day.

6.8 This Site

It saddens me
that we can't
get along in even
the easiest of discussions,
going to prove
the passion poets feel
on a daily basis.

7.1 Formed with free

Waiting in the car park outside
the emergency department of
the hospital was long and
a kind of boring. The sun
shone as if everybody was at
the beach.

Sometimes, I wonder
what happens when everything
falls down around me.

I sit and try to expect
the unexpected.

7.2 Stationary

You know you are a teacher when
you go shopping in bookshops to
look for the pencils with yellow glitter
and the football-shaped sharpeners.
Or worse, when you take to twitter
and share pictures of supplies of art,
all rammed haphazardly into the shopping cart.

7.3 Crime or prison

If there were a PnQ prison, I think
that I would be guilty as charged
for crimes against poetry.

7.4 Homelessness/poverty

They walk in here
dirt in their beards
and shame in their wrinkles,
asking for nothing
but smiles.
We long to give them
so much more,
but they refuse to accept
a warm bed.

7.5 1 Rhyme

Is it a crime
to write cliche rhymes
in two seconds time
stopping on a dime?

7.6 Sad

I have a void
in my womb,
that only God
will allow me to fill,
and until He allows me to
feel what motherhood
is like. Until then,
I'll find ways
to soothe my hurt.

7.7 Furniture

A woman
never has anything to wear,
and even though
her closet is full
with a colorful wardrobe,
her bathroom littered with lingerie
and her vanity covered
with accessories,
she still finds herself unhappy.

7.8 This Site

I must apologize,
but I may never
log into PnQ
for the next
sixteen hundred hours.

8.1 Formed w/ Free

Noises coming from
the lobby make me want to
just scream my brains out!

So much complaining, yet
there is so much more to life,
if only a hobby could be
entertained,
like writing terrible poetry
for challenges online.

8.2 Stationary/pen/pencil

She let him scribble
on her heart
with a permanent marker,
never realizing
that at fifteen,
you should always
use washable.

8.3 Crime/Prison/Both

Eighteen years old
and we won't see her
for a minimum of thirty;
allowing drugs
to take over her life,
she ruined hers and others
and has to pay for her crime.

8.4 Homelessness/poverty

There's a sign on the corner
yet we only focus on
the man holding it -
full of judgment and harsh words,
"he'll throw it away on alcohol
or drugs, you know"
as a way to talk ourselves
out of helping -
the best part of giving
is knowing that you tried
to make a difference.

8.5 1 Rhyme

My knuckles
have begun to crack
from the cold,
though I feel old
my bones should not
be creaking.

8.6 Sad

Hearts ripped open
after a completion
of suicide,
and no one knows
when a beautiful mother
of two under ten
hanged herself.

8.7 Furniture

I wrestle with my
television antennas,
my favorite show
coming in fuzzy,
and I realize
I have first world problems.

8.8 Site

Well over
one thousand pieces
of poetry have been written
this week alone,
and though they are not
post-worthy,
how can we say
no one cares anymore?

9.1 Formed with Free

Just five more hours
and we'll see
who we can reveal
as ultimate club winners.

For hours we've written
Or cried, or both
Poetry failing us.

This has been
a challenge,
even if we've thrown out
all poetic license,
but the show must go on.

9.2 Stationary/pen/pencil

I lick envelopes
three at a time
and pray against
a paper cut on my tongue -
for my words
will be hushed, and I talk
much too much for that.

9.3 Crime/Prison/Both

We're all in
this broken world together,
held prisoner by
our minds, and yet we don't
try to invite happiness.