"jenga" poems
That workaholic lady who's always on call,
keeping up with the market fall.
That newly married lady with chunky red bangles,
returning to her father's big castles.
That person who's scared to get lapse,
so stays active on the google maps.
That person who swings like a kid at the back door,
Or the one who perform calisthenics on an empty floor.
That next door girl with a red lipstick,
flicking her shinny hair & gossiping with her clique,
That dreamer gazing outside the window,
That overworked soul dozing on his elbow.
That 21st century kid,
listening to Eminem & playing video games.
Or That 90’s kid,
listening to Jenga Boys & playing outdoor games.
That banker with a big fat stomach,
filled with his beautiful wife’s love.
That lady who eats like a thief,
in her big fat bag hiding a beef.
That old man who can’t stand Bombay's winding turns.
That granny spotting & criticing every fashion trends.
That man who has Raju Rastogi’s concerns,
thinking & chanting for earns & returns.
Those kids who believe their job is to fill the voids in a battlefield,
in the still crowd surpassing like electrons into a magnetic field.
That lady sitting under cold seat like a glacial,
than standing with 7kgs in a crowded central,
& tryna stay sane listening to George Michael.
That geek who switchs from Linkedin to Arjun Reddy,
when the masses flee into the scenery.
That trader crunching numbers so rapidly,
when the stock prices go down hourly.
That person on the last seat,
diagressing from work & gazing around,
soaking in her pashmina, with a career newfound.
Jul 23, 2018
Jul 23, 2018 at 1:35 AM UTC
Our lives are a Jenga masterpiece,
a collage of self-interpreted
debauchery that we have been
told is the work of R.F.
Is it necessary to destroy ourselves
for the things that we desire?
Why do I have to be symbolic
of an Irish dome of the rock?
(have you ever touched the rock?)
(has anyone?)
I am tarot prophetic in my
loathing of our distorted level.
I am chronic mime gestures
on the West Banks of the Jordan.
We are rouge lipstick
smeared across blue collars
and twisted pretzels lounging
citrus grove clean and sad.
I am just a man.
We are just people.
The buildings are just Lego's we have
crushed and spent combating azure tides
to stand ourselves straight against that
last wall...
but I love you still,
despite.
Sep 29, 2013
Sep 29, 2013 at 12:50 AM UTC
I wish stars grew in your skin
Next to the oxygen humming in your lungs
To thaw your stagnant blood
So I could watch you orbit your part of the planet
Three hundred miles away,
Because your heart would then permeate faster than life's speed limit,
Scaling all the mountains between us to
Float in my peripherals like
Residual Chernobyl radiation.
Dancing hazily,
Constant reminders of my past
And the jenga monkey ladder to my future.
I never liked being insignificant.
Now please infect me with your cancer
So you can't escape again.
May 6, 2015
May 6, 2015 at 9:17 PM UTC
I found this love
like playing tetris
Anxiety at the falling of pieces
too fast
There are still holes in there
And I stand like a brick wall now
full of peep-holes
and glory holes
all places to let the cold in
And maybe I held you like a blanket
And maybe we played each other like Jenga
pulling out bricks
to restack somewhere else
A smaller structure
But stronger than we are
Nov 6, 2013
Nov 6, 2013 at 4:37 PM UTC
The Dentist's Assistant at
the Dental Clinic
is without man.
For the 15 years I've gone there
she has watched movies
and has been single.
She has a rabbit.
Her life revolves around
her DVR and
trips to Disneyland,
but the needle that holds her spinning universe
up
is that rabbit.
Like an immovable Jenga brick,
one as stone,
the one that can't be pulled,
held onto so tightly by the other bricks --
their love.
But with enormous force, you can tear it apart.
That one little brick and the whole tower
collapses. Smashing the table.
Destroying her.
The simplest way to **** someone is to tear out their heart
and show it to them.
Mar 4, 2010
Mar 4, 2010 at 7:40 PM UTC
The amount of similies in love poems are ridiculous.
They always remind me of how his eyes are as green as a Christmas tree
or how his hair fell onto his face like a shadow
or that when he blinked his lashes resembled butterfly wings
or that his smile was similar to a crooked coat hanger.
They never mentioned
how his fingers were long and shaky like branches in the wind
or how his shoulders hunched over like a good game of jenga
or how the curve from his chest to his torso was as steep as a hill
or that when I found the bruises on his stomach,
they were like ink splotches all over a beautiful poem.
They left out that his dad hit him like a train
or that his mom lived in the house like it was a bar
or that it would hurt like 16 bee stings
when I saw a line of 16 scars on his left bicep
or that the gasps in between his cries would sound like drowning
or that his eyes can ombre to be as red as an egyptian sunset.
They never warned me that he would come crashing down like an avalanche
or how his constant expression depicted a shattered stain glass window-
every piece beautiful but still apart.
They could've said that reading the headline
"local boy commits suicide"
would numb me like paralysis
or that hearing his last words would echo in my head like screaming in a cave
or that his funeral I would say
"loosing him was like an overcast of rain"
except I lied,
because losing him was like a flood
and that his grave stood out like a redwood tree carved of stone
or how his dad looked at his own hands like looking at maggots.
Love poems never said that I would miss him like being homesick
or that the drive to the cemetery would feel like skyrocketing to the moon
or that I would refuse to play jenga with my little cousins
or how I would hate hanging my clothes without seeing his smile.
The amount of similies in love poems are ridiculous.
Oct 14, 2014
Oct 14, 2014 at 12:29 AM UTC
Board games, card games
your games, my games,
I can't get enough.
Checkers, Chess, Stratego,
Battleship, Clue and Risk
require such strategy
and a taste of boldness.
For Twister and the Slip-n-Slide,
you need flexibility and dare.
Monopoly, Ultimate Frisbee
and Slaughter Ball all require
a good amount of aggression,
where Senet, Operation and Connect Four
only need clever patience.
For Jenga and Topple,
you need the skill of a gymnast.
Rummy, Gin, Go Fish, Blackjack and
War, you need only an opponent.
Now, go play!
Written By:
Andrew D. Robertson
Aug 12, 2014
Aug 12, 2014 at 5:08 PM UTC
concrete shades the yellow-lighted symphony.
The peso-heavy take taxis;
security valets motors steaming castle gates.
I ask, which way is the 158?
Indifferent, they say, walk straight neath the freeway —
there is a bus stop two blocks away.
****
****
****
Clocktower hands transpose Cindarella-brick
to embers of electricity,
a factory aside scrawled graffiti;
fingers timidly ricket pitchfork fences.
Palermo is 11 km north.
Where is the north star?
I look straight ahead, repeating what
the travel blogs said like,
Be lost, don’t look lost;
flappy plastic maps scream vulnerability.
Be lost, not rich;
iPhones in gotham alleys are batman signals.
Walk fast.
Don’t pay attention to the eyes that pass.
Careless ponytails and brass hair attract
glances back.
Two blocks deep into the homeless shelter
beneath freeways, blankets
in shopping carts toppled over,
cars screaming away the symphony
into shadowed silence between heels striking.
Tunnel breath emerging on the other side,
gasping past stacked Jenga towers,
wired with antennas and empty clotheslines;
families and crack ****** sleep inside.
Safety’s herd thins as couples dart left down
cobblestone tributaries
that either lead to bus stops or parked cars.
I walk straight ahead with
sleeve-covered hands that swing like sticks
in the wind.
The symphony turns to
heartbeats and footsteps
plucking quickly;
fearing the 180 behind,
to zombies with sunken eyes,
thirsty for a thirty-cent high.
Sep 5, 2014
Sep 5, 2014 at 8:45 PM UTC
Life is like a game of Jenga.
There's always people and obstacles
Pushing and pulling at you
Until you or your body
Gives in and crumble.
Don't let your life
Be a game of falling blocks.
Build a solid foundation
For yourself and your family.
Don't let the pushing and pulling
Earthquake your mind
And corrupt you.
Be strong,
Be solid,
And be mindful.
Prayer builds you up like a tower
And God is your foundation
That holds you together.
STOP worrying about
What people say or think.
STOP stressing about
Unnecessary things.
STOP complaining.
STOP doubting yourself
When God believes in you.
Life is way more valuable
And precious than materials.
If Jenga is your life....Fall....
Fall to your knees
And pray for restoration.
Then start working
On a new foundation.
LIFE MATTERS......
Jul 27, 2015
Jul 27, 2015 at 10:05 PM UTC
I arrive at the party early and head straight for the kitchen.
I half and half a fruity flavored ***** and cranberry cocktail juice in my red solo cup.
It tastes bad.
I drink fast
It tastes better.
My cup is empty.
Refill.
Hunch punch it is.
****** drinking games
****** music.
I go out on to the patio.
I'm greeted by a circle of hazy expressions
And red eyes.
1 hit
2 hits
3 hits
4.
Jenga truth or dare.
lick the faces of three people
Girl that dared me - one.
Girl with purple hair - two.
Guy with buddy holly glasses - three.
Space Odyssey plays on the stereo.
5
4
3
2
I wake up fully clothed on a makeshift mattress made of couch cushions.
I'm ******* freezing.
Apr 8, 2014
Apr 8, 2014 at 5:14 PM UTC
Poorly built Jenga towers
Polka-dot the moor
The cows and sheep, for centuries
Have wondered what they're for
Perhaps they're ancient ladders
Leading straight to heaven
But the last young lamb to try it
Fell down and smashed his head in
The cows tried them as markers
To work out where they are
But in their field that's useless
As they never travel far
Aug 1, 2012
Aug 1, 2012 at 8:43 PM UTC
I wonder when Jenga became a metaphor for my life
Piece by piece,
I am being stripped away
Just so I can keep playing this game
One by one,
They are taken
Leaving me off-balance and unfocused
I wonder how long I can keep going
Before I fall
Apr 10, 2013
Apr 10, 2013 at 9:31 PM UTC
four years ago i became a carpenter
and started to build a wall
between myself and the world.
people came and went
and tried to take out the bricks
like they were playing jenga.
and some people walked up to me
with a sledgehammer in their hand
and knocked me down with the wall.
as the years went by
my wall got taller
and the people became fewer
until there was no one left.
i'm starting to rethink my blueprints
because it's getting lonely over here
and i forgot the windows.
(a.m.c.)
Aug 9, 2014
Aug 9, 2014 at 2:10 AM UTC
We're both writing notes to ourselves
That we hope the other will find -
Trying to poke and **** out our Jenga pieces
But finding both sides entwined.
She woke me up this morning
With a cry.
She'd walked into a wardrobe or something.
I wanted to know why...
She sent me for some Arnica
I don't know where it hides
By the time I got back
She was already back inside
the duvet covers.
I put the tube of gel down
Climbed back into bed
And said nothing.
We are strange lovers.
Nov 3, 2014
Nov 3, 2014 at 8:40 AM UTC
I bought a carton of eggs this morning.
Just a dozen.
Along with about $100 of other groceries I needed.
I didn't need the eggs though.
That is to say, that I didn't need to buy them.
(See, my sister has four fully grown chickens
who lay enough eggs to cover her family's needs and then some.
More eggs than she knows what to do with, honestly, and I could've easily gone to her place to get the dozen instead of buying it at the store.)
But I didn't, as a matter of convenience. It was simpler to buy them while I was at the store; to make one trip instead of two.
But then, when I was unloading the cart of groceries into the trunk of my car, that carton of eggs I bought, which (unbeknownst to me) had been placed on top of a 12 pack of toilet paper which toppled over after becoming unbalanced without the support of the other grocery bags that I had already unloaded, came crashing down.
They hit the parking-lot cement with a smack.
"Oh no, not the eggs!"
That's what I'd said.
I seriously said that out loud.
I picked up the bag with the fallen eggs in it. I opened the carton to see if they were alright, though I already knew at least a few had broken.
5, maybe 6. Maybe more. I don't know how many broke exactly, just looking at it made me sick. I walked the dripping bag back up to the entrance (after playing with the idea of going back in and being like: "Hey, my eggs broke in the parking lot because your inept bagger's idea of how to stack groceries was clearly inspired by the game Jenga. I demand a new carton of eggs!") but instead I just tossed them. The whole carton.
I'll just go to my sister's house before breakfast tomorrow.
Oct 19, 2017
Oct 19, 2017 at 4:02 AM UTC
Everyone is so
scared.
How could you not be?
The only way that could happen
is if you'd planned your whole life out from the start--
very carefully stacking block upon block,
building your massive tower to your dream destination.
What do you do when you get there, though,
when you’re done?
You keep stacking towards your next dream,
rushing onwards, onwards to
the next destination,
the next layer,
each one a little less solid than the last.
And finally, when you get there,
there, the end goal of your whole life--
the perch atop which you sit, staring down,
with nowhere else to go,
at the final place you’ve been dreaming of all these years--
hell, was it worth it?
Worth all the anxiety and sweat and the meat being squeezed from your soul,
everything you’ve been working towards forever?
... what the hell is it, what are you even looking at, tell me!
I scream at you,
“Tell me, what's so great about where you are up there--
the view?”
But you are wise.
You’ve got to be, you’ve lived your whole **** life already.
You chuckle, and your wrinkles are friendly.
“Come see.”
I clamber up.
It takes forever—you’re old as hell and spent your entire life building this thing.
I keep climbing, and climbing, and the view keeps changing.
I’m getting higher.
I pause once, and glance behind me
to see the sprawling architecture of every floor beneath.
I have to remind myself to breathe and
keep going.
Finally, I reach you
and shake your hand.
I am standing atop an enormous tower,
So tall I can’t make out the ground,
Gazing back down at the intricate construction of your life.
Layer upon layer, every block a different day,
every floor a different chapter in your life.
Maybe it's the thin air, but it finally dawns on me.
It doesn’t matter where we are now.
What matters is every day, every moment that you spent getting here.
I look at you, and you sigh perfectly and completely.
“So long, kid,” you salute me,
and step off the edge.
I watch you fall in wonder.
But I know your legacy lives on
in the enormous and complicated and twisting tower
that remains, a tribute to your life.
Mar 16, 2012
Mar 16, 2012 at 5:37 AM UTC
His nose was Cairo’s Bent Pyramid or a pair of ergonomic pliers
And his loyalty was a slumped tower of Jenga pieces
And his skin was a film of thick oatmeal or cream of mushroom soup, coating the bottom of an untouched ***
His teeth, little tombstones sinking into the earth.
His logic was a pair of safety scissors chewing through corrugated fiberboard
And his insults were sharp staccatos
And his humor was a steeped tea bag or curdled milk
And his laughter was a Singer sewing machine choking on tangled thread.
His eyebrows were gargoyle wings
And his hair, a bushel of dry bear grass
He sang, and it was cough syrup
And his beard was a soiled litter box.
His fingers, dried seaweed
And the palms of his hands were month old dish sponges.
His spine was a curved dipper gourd rotting in the sun
His grin was a snagged zipper
And his temperament pad-less brakes or a wasp in September
And his kisses were apple cider vinegar and radishes
And his eyes were two bottomless stone wells, foaming with moss.
His gait was a vulture scrutinizing its prey.
His chest was the backside of a dung beetle.
His insight was a cataract ridden car headlight lost in a curtain of fog
And his knees were skulls
And his touch was a snug pressure cuff
And his compassion was a guillotine
And the last time we spoke, it was crucifixion.
Apr 25, 2014
Apr 25, 2014 at 9:09 PM UTC
Jenga should only be played
when you are absolutely sober
Jun 22, 2016
Jun 22, 2016 at 11:02 PM UTC
shadows long,
fall on pavement wet
and inside the teetering,
jenga blocks, people reside
in caves opulent and electric.
and green is a colour,
forgotten
and bluesky,
a patchwork quilt,
seen in fractured glimpses,
on the way to and from.
flowers bright and vivid,
come delivered
and earth the thing,
we save by sitting.
in the almost, dark
for an hour a year.
shadows short,
fall on barren ground.
as city dwellers, breathe
grey air and expell
trash and detrius muck
no shadows now
just black all around
no dwellers, no sound....
perhaps we needed to sit
in the almost dark much
longer and love the ground
on which our life is found.
Jul 20, 2014
Jul 20, 2014 at 12:06 AM UTC
I walk into this containment cell of lost souls
Groping around hoping to succeed towards their parent'a goals
We are all just playing another role
A building block under their control
But when you're the block that causes Jenga, heads start to roll
They'll throw you into a hole
Where you'll live your life like a mole
An animal in a cage, a box, a cell, that's the tole
Their real goal
To lock you up and maintain control
May 13, 2014
May 13, 2014 at 5:22 PM UTC
Hold me close tonight,
I need your arms wrapped around me
Before the pieces of me tumble like a game of jenga,
I'm trying my best to see the last page of my story,
But I think it's only a matter of time till I decide to end my story,
So hold me close tonight
While you fill my head with beautiful fantasies,
Before I decide to insert lead into it tonight,
Intoxicate me with your voice,
Before I intoxicate myself with deaths poison tonight,
Give me the oxygen that I have been gasping for,
Before I decide to close the path to my lungs tonight,
Pull the mask off of me,
So you can see past the illusion of my smile,
So you can see that I'm in need of help,
Hold me tonight,
Before you have to hold the stone with my name on it.
Jun 6, 2016
Jun 6, 2016 at 4:07 AM UTC
In a little muddled cloud, a bubble, a thought
Ideas float away unfettered of wings.
Catching them proves to be unfeasible
By any means possible it appears…
Careful when you pull from
My stack of Jenga dreams
Taken from what sustains and place on my crown
Begin tumbling, falling, scattering…game over.
Hold in your hands an image of love
Heavy, it seems, to the amateur captor
Light as air, supple, shaped…radiant
In the hands of the ancient, practiced devotee.
Halls and mirrors seek hazy confusion
Follow the seam and you’ll find the egress
Where Hope patiently waits, distant calliope, poised
To hold you and keep you, the spectacle of desire.
“Come home” breathes the slender sprite
Into ears unacquainted with compassion.
Lullaby swing, tree limb unbroken, come sing
The song in my dreams to make sweet.
Aug 9, 2011
Aug 9, 2011 at 8:41 PM UTC
A night of drum beating,
maraca shaking and guitar strumming,
who would've thought
that a moment sought
could unveil thousands of possibilities.
The odds in our favor,
without cards on the table,
unstable as it is,
a hope through the night exploded
like jenga blocks stumbled.
With a much wanted polaroid,
comes the 'see you again' likelihood
but take it slow, take it slow;
enjoy the night and each other's sight,
put emotions on hold, don't let it show.
A few selfie and some jokes thrown,
we've explored the streets like its our own;
realized something have grown
yet we say goodbye --
the words we spilled like a mourn.
I can't say its inevitable but free falling unto you is just highly probable.
May 30, 2019
May 30, 2019 at 11:11 AM UTC
It is out of habit for a poet to personify the oceans. Write about how the waves kisses the shore each time the moon tried to pull it away; and then remind yourself how when hot meets cold, they're disaster-bound. Playing pretend was a habit of yours. After all, it was a form of survival- where you get the change in your pockets.
You were fascinated by how the conch seemed to speak in waves no matter how far away you were from the ocean, as if it never depended its beauty in the place it finds itself. Its emptiness allowed itself to echo its surroundings. And if you'd uncover what was buried, you'd think it be a chest- an empty one that will finally be tipped full.
When you mimicked the sound of the ocean, it couldn't lull me to sleep. It kept me awake every night for fear that I'd drown; see, your promises came like waves, with nothing in between. You gave your words away like the weight you had been carrying in you; and I almost thought you had spat your heart out in the process of cleaning your guts. There is so many things you poured out, and I guess I managed to save some- sorrow.
When it stopped, you spoke in hushed tones and it sounded like canon shots in a distance. They say you are a product of your surroundings and you are filling yourself with everything you can find laying around, stacked so precariously high like a game of Jenga- the thrill was in watching it topple and fall. These pieces never belonged to you and you still have nothing to give when you are growing close resemblance to a shrapnel shell. When you are at war with yourself, there is no refuge: dig a foxhole until it blows over and that'd be your grave. How do you hide from yourself? Scream when you listen to the conch again- it's the sound of war.
Break your habits before they break you; times like this, I wish you were an empty shell.
Jun 28, 2015
Jun 28, 2015 at 9:48 PM UTC
I'm afraid too
I afraid that the only thing
Holding me together
Are all the broken pieces
I have spent so much time
Taping the smashed splinters
Into place
I have spent so many hours
Balancing all of the dust particles
On top of each other
Wedging them so carefully
So that each one supports another
I'm afraid that if I pull one out
And show you
They will all come
Tumbling down
Jun 7, 2014
Jun 7, 2014 at 1:29 AM UTC