"punt" poems
By David John Mowers
Oceanus, Acheron, Styx and Gyges, Phlegethon,
Phaeacians lament, mourn the loss, Scheria, dissolved in froths.
Virgil’s tale, found correct, a land too good, a nation wrecked,
Nausikaa, burn the ships; their minds released, cool airy nips,
Below the wave, watery grave, submerged to bottom, fathoms by stave,
Fathoms some more, until the whorl, descending to, another world.
Through Omphalos, to Land of Sleep, awaits a beast, where time has ceased,
Darkness here, underworld, cold and frigid, below the whirl,
In solemn grave, souls released, judged and counted, by the beast,
Deeper than, the deep itself, past drowning fairies and dying elves,
Who did mourn them? Those golden men, magic mariners, Mino's kin?
What wrong was seen? What vice not true? What awful sin? What did they do?
One thousand years, first black age, Two thousand more, to find the stage,
Cast off Aries and cast Orion, to find beginning, of Golden Lion.
Man of Heavens, Beast agrees, Bull of Sky, Ox of seas,
Land of Punt, Land of Éire, Ogyges blue, hearts on fire,
All the seashores, all the mines, Tribe of Dan, from ancient times,
Port of Sais, Port of Thera, Port of Lagash, bygone era,
Sailor’s horse, Minotaur, a lyre is crying, strummed guitar, nation dying, abattoir.
Ochre foams to sanguine depth, there they rested, where Kronos slept,
He’ll never answer, he doesn’t care, we’ll never know, if this was fair.
Our hearts in sadness, hands on the gates! I curse you Poseidon!
. . .and your Sea of Fates!
Jun 4, 2016
Jun 4, 2016 at 7:58 AM UTC
As I ponder, perplexed by the possibility
Of a premature passing that may present itself to me
I consider and calculate
Though my conclusion may be crude
That the finest fix for my fear is a feasting of food
I munch on a morsel, my mouth making moisture
Overwhelmingly open to offal and oysters
I'd take them, temptation takes its toll
Curiosity for calories that I can't control
I'd have them, Hoover them, heck I'd hoard 'em
But by now I believe it's basically boredom
Not a necessity to nibble the nosh
It's late I ate a plate at eight, I can wait my gosh
No, I know there is no need
To slurp on soup or scoff some seeds
Only fatigue fuelling the feeling to feed
Got to get to grips with this gross and grotesque greed
Choking on choices, trembling in my chair
Do I punt for the pudding, the peach or the pear?
Selecting such seductive sweeties
Or dealing with death, diets and diabetes?
While I wonder and weep about what will win
My insatiable starvation stumbles on a sin
Not funny you'll find when you're finished and fat
'Cause in the kitchen on the counter there's a KitKat
Four fiendish fingers fascinate the feeling
So seductive, my senses soaring to the ceiling
Try to meet it, cheat it, beat it, defeat it
But what the hell, I don't care, I'll just ****** eat it.
Aug 27, 2016
Aug 27, 2016 at 5:08 AM UTC
To watch or not to watch.
That is the question;whether it is nobler in my mind to suffer the feels and emotions of addicting shows and yet be so in love with them.
To watch, to cry.
One more episode and only sleep will help me to end.
The heartache and the thousand cinematic shocks the writers are obsessed with.
‘tis a consuming world with everything I wish.
To watch, to cry. To cry-- perhaps too much. Ay, but it's worth it.
For, when watching these shows and knowing what feels may come, when we have shuffled off this depressing factor, we must not forget the humor that makes happiness last oh so long.
To watch characters travel the depths of space and time.
The detectives prove wrong the proud men and even the relationships and love ‘tween the main protagonists.
The insolence of the hiatus that even patient fangirls cannot take. When we go on great adventures with a hobbit and a ring. Who could bear the long wait? To punt a sweat is a weary life. To discover world's unknown from books or shows. We travellers never want to return.
Our fangirl hearts burn and even still
We would rather bear the tears we have Than live in a world where there are none. Thus Fangirls are not cowards, not at all
Thus we are heroes so very proud
So we proudly say take flight on the enterprise with Captain Jean Luc
We bare our lights sabers alight
And lose ourselves in the action
Go we now happy as could be-- off to fangirl forever
To be normal? Ha! Never.
Aug 1, 2017
Aug 1, 2017 at 8:29 AM UTC
Wrongfully Accused
Everybody wants to know,
what happened so long ago.
It was a day just like this,
been awhile since I had to reminisce.
Got in my car and went to work,
back then, I was such a ****
Me and my wife had a huge fight,
it went on, all the past night.
Long before cell phones and beepers,
never even knew, she had some peepers.
Came home from a long day, with roses,
the house was destroyed by explosives.
Neighbors said they heard arguing,
all last night, till the morning.
No one saw any strange people,
after I left, everything seemed so peaceful.
I was questioned, then taken away,
put in prison, for quite a long stay.
Begged the judge for some mercy,
they found me guilty in a hurry.
Spent five long years in prison hell,
each night I was violated in my cell.
Then one day other houses started to explode,
all wives went on a lock down mode.
The evidence was so overwhelming,
meanwhile my ******* was swelling.
After six long years, I was finally released,
couldn't wait to get a real super feast.
Then I went on a man hunt,
this guys ***** I'm gonna punt.
Then there he was a peeping tom,
carrying what looks to be some kind of bomb.
Thought about calling the police,
but I figured, I could handle this ugly man who was bald and obese.
This guy never saw me coming,
his **** crack, made me think he was plumbing.
I grabbed the fat **** with gun in mouth,
it was him, I had no doubt.
I saw him before stalking my neighborhood,
what I'm gonna do to him will not be good.
Shot the ******* in the face,
his memory got a quick erase.
Brains splattered all over the ground,
his body was never found.
Stuck his fat *** in my trunk,
went to the bar and got super drunk.
Put him in the nearest lake,
still I had a major heartache.
I will say this, I never have pooped like this before,
but now my nightmares haunt me even more.
Dec 23, 2013
Dec 23, 2013 at 4:43 PM UTC
Wanneer n mens jou gedagtes laat dwaal, oor die jarre laat verdwaal dan besef mens weereens die wonderwerke van mense.
Mense wat sterk is, sterker as wat ek is.
Mense wat wense laat waar word, soos in n storie lyn waar alle hartseer verdwyn.
Dan is daar n spesifieke mens wat ek die beste voor wens.
Wat my elke dag laat weet dat pyn mens nie kan terug hou van n lewe vol lewe en geluk nie.
n Ware punt van krag, wat regtig niks terug verwag behalwe die omgee en die liefde van n mens wat niks het om terug te gee behalwe n dankbare hart nie.
Jy is my beste maat, my nooit verlaat, my buddy en my sussie.
Ek is jou grootste fan dall. Beslis is jy alles en meer waarvoor ek kon wens en sal jou altyd lief he en trots wees op jou. 2016-04-16
Dec 20, 2016
Dec 20, 2016 at 1:30 AM UTC
As new immigrants
We were sent
Irish Sweepstakes
Across the blue.
Too young to understand
The ponies,
I understood the secrecy
Of keeping secret
The lottery.
Half a century on,
Life is the lottery;
A more exhilterating
Game of chance
Than a one Punt ticket,
And the bookies
Give good odds.
May 1, 2015
May 1, 2015 at 8:43 AM UTC
Numb is the one and the only unexplainable feeling
Unstoppable growth through the low, lonely ceiling
You need to Age-less and decide what it is you want
You need to confess your clear addiction to the hunt
it's 4th and very long and yet you still refuse to punt
Forever distracted by the smell of another new ****
Well, I want to experience life, and try almost everything
But If you had to choose one, what would Santa bring
It's a problem that's not solved, but hindered, by a ring
It's a familiar carol, stuck in your head, everyone can sing
Winters becomes spring, to summer, then falls to a fling
Even the exceptions suffer an old familiar sharp sting
SO live life to the fullest they will all mutter with cliche
SO give to the richest while all the poor kneels to pray
Get in line little Sheople because it's now time to obey
Let us pine for the notion that God has instant replay
Because a karma less existence creates utter dismay
Truth with real consequence deviates a ghostly stay
Wondering Souls wandering until the end of the day
Finally found the right words...but nothing left to say
Aug 15, 2012
Aug 15, 2012 at 3:56 AM UTC
Summer's still here, it's nearing fall
Worldwide excitement, it's FOOTBALL!
This season starts the fans are wild
Time for the game, the players are riled
All in orange, tailgating before
Manning takes field, the crowd they roar
Toss the coin, we will receive
Want ball at half, won't deceive
They punt real high just watch it soar
Takes a knee, the twenty, no more
The blazing sun, outside it's hot
Cold beer and dogs, the fans they bought
The first pass is incomplete
Groans from throng and stomping feet
The second play, under control
Our running back finds a huge hole
First down their forty yard line
Thus far we are doing fine
The ball snaps and Peyton drops back
Four man rush, he's down for the sack
One more pass it's intercepted
To the fans this is unexpected
Out comes the opposing team
What's this, for Manning they scream
It's Eli in his red, white and blue
This is too much, you feel it too
Brothers face off in a game
Greatness is all in the name
Both teams run, tackle, hit hard and pass
Tied game, seconds left, do we come in last The field goal squad must do their best
Prader lines up, misses all in jest
OVERTIME :-)
Sep 12, 2013
Sep 12, 2013 at 1:05 PM UTC
The P inside lifts to shallow pools of thirst and moving pictures.
P is purpose, personality car crashes to park the private Idaho.
A sign of the cross, will not stop P.
Prove it to the pin drop puncture of ****** on heat,
insecure to many tongues dripped in keroscene pantomine.
P is pretty. P is pop. P is pandamonium. P is plucky. P is pink.
Patter, panky, pips, puddle, paraquet, puncuation.
Property is theft Parker, pity, purity, punt, plunder, *****
Past, paint, pander, pringle, puppy, pesky, pest,
petrol, patrol, pamper, pastel, plunder, pongo, plip plop.
P.................
Dec 19, 2012
Dec 19, 2012 at 3:25 PM UTC
Swift punt to the soda pop tin
Littering the low lit path before me
Flash back to kick the can
And hopscotch jumping rope
To wittled cans from which to smoke
And losing family to knotted rope
Years pile on tense shoulders
Bearing zirconium smiling teeth
Finding diamonds in my grief
But always pacing forward
To flash back on bronze days
Glowing like bonfire embers
Finishing the last of the thirty rack
Never realizing I was drowning
Just sad and aloof and smiling
Smoking bad **** from a PBR can
Jun 2, 2021
Jun 2, 2021 at 2:35 AM UTC
Push and Punt
I wander where you are heading,
punching above your weight?
Sometimes resolvent
with a leathered face
where's the forgiveness?
like a two way mirror
it stretches both ways,
culpability I hear you opine,
when you kick the germane tin can,
if you had known the source
of your ails,
you'd have less of the turbulence
Jan 17, 2013
Jan 17, 2013 at 6:26 PM UTC
You see this secret side of me
Something I was never meant to be
With you I tried so hard to save this sacred place
But never getting there is my disgrace
Sometimes I feel like you’re watching me move
In and out but always and never to soothe
I wish I were lazy enough to do what I want
But alas I can never catch the ‘punt’
Syllabus to dexterous minus the outstanding wit
Equals my life with you and why I have this need to quit
Nov 27, 2011
Nov 27, 2011 at 2:01 AM UTC
Just who the hell
Do you think you are?
In your house that is so
Twee
Just who the hell
Do you think you are?
YOU
are
NO
more different than
ME
Just because
You have a car
Just because
Your old man works
YOU
think that these entitle
YOU
To all those extra perks!
WELL
**** YOU ALL
**** YOUR WAYS
THE TIME HAS COME TO RE-APPRAISE
~
I am angry you were nasty
I am angry you were cruel
Surprised
YOU
didn’t march us
to the
***** Ducking Stool
And what exactly was the crime?
In the safety of your home?
Were there far too many children?
With a natural freedom born to roam?
Did not one of you ever stop to think?
What went on behind
Closed doors?
Or were
YOU
Indignantly repulsed?
Fervently abhorred?
Well … Let me tell you for nothing
My father was a ****
Yet
YOU
hid
behind your curtains
Surely
WE
were
WORTH A PUNT?
I even fulfilled your small town prophecy
When I learnt to rob and steal
It was never about the money
It was only ever about the thrill
Seven little vagabonds
Seven little ***** of sin
“Be careful where you step my sweet”
“For, they do not hold our Lord within”
Mr Roberts …
“How dare you walk these streets?
Glowing with civic pride
Did you not know your
wife’s back home with her pumpkin leg’s spread open wide!
Oh…. Yes … your brother was often a frequent guest
While you brown nosed
on your
Monetary quest”
Mrs Philips …
“Hubby … taking the boys to camp again?
He sure likes to drill them hard
Does he make you take it up the ****
Does he leave
YOU
His
CALLING CARD?
I could go on … with tales of pain
I could go on … with tales of woe
But
That is
NOT
MY PURPOSE
For it was so very long ago
I just want to make you realise the pain left in those children’s hearts
They really were so much more
Than
the
Sum of all their parts
So next time you cast aspersions
With
your
Judgemental eyes
Remember
Each time the knife’s stuck in
**A
Little piece of that child dies …**
Nov 13, 2010
Nov 13, 2010 at 9:11 AM UTC
I spent my whole life being told to simplify,
To "just get to the point".
Always asking, "How?" But never, "Why?"
Until I smoked a joint.
That's when I felt something inside of me,
Pointing out the irony.
So I gave the idea a punt,
Because that advice made me more blunt.
So sharpen your wits,
And keep them about you.
Because boxing gloves and fists
Are pretty **** blunt too.
May 18, 2014
May 18, 2014 at 3:23 PM UTC
If I could just take it
and roll it into a little ball
and punt it in it's nether regions
I think I could actually find
something to like about the season
I don't want to see the big fat *******
all in Red, touching, smiling at my kids
I don't want to hear Christmas Carols
that never, ever, seem to leave my head
If the Christmas fairy
doesn't stay out of my sherry
I'm going to choke the *****
with the Christmas lights wires!
It's bad enough that she
puked all over the tree
Her decorating skills
leave a lot to be desired.
Why?
Why?
So much torture!
Misery is just buried
underneath a pile of
brightly coloured tinsel
Happiness seems to be manufactured
straight out of the world
of HALLMARK...
Instant joy!
It almost seems so simple!
All the baking, sweating, storing of food
in Tupperware that have mysteriously lost their lids
All the cheap items I lost on EBAY
to last minute sneaky bids
But for one tiny smile, from a child...
I do it for my kids
Nov 23, 2013
Nov 23, 2013 at 3:27 AM UTC
My eyes racing from word to word,
I hold in my hands a whole new world.
With these scratches on this page,
Today I'm a spy, tomorrow a mage.
I'm on a journey to the center of the earth,
Then I'm a teen questioning his worth.
I'm a girl suffering from cancer,
Then I'm Santa rushing Prancer.
I'm an assassin on the hunt,
Then a footballer about to punt.
I'm the boy chasing the girl,
Then in 80 days I circle the world.
I'm a man in an iron suit,
Then I'm a death god craving fruit.
Behind these words is where I live,
But believe me, It's a world I would never give.
Jan 18, 2014
Jan 18, 2014 at 5:09 PM UTC
cut it up shredded the letters
broke 'em apart
L
L slashed it at its
mid-no-point of no return
just lying lines now
__
lying about dying nice and slowly
O
pierced the O
slices lying on their dead side
squeezed the juice out of me
returned the ***** my sweet favors
( )
V
got my vengeance
cut that loveless *****
smack in her pleasure punt point
no more pleasure for her
her wholey holes cheating me no more
\ /
E
extra special slicing n dicing
bled all over the street
after bleeding me all over me
twisted them into~ ~ twisted ****
just like it twisted me.
you want to say it plain?
pleasure.
the love ***** is dead
__
~
| --
~ '
LOVE
cut that ***** love
up good
cut it out
of my body
now it's dead
just like it
done to me
Sep 6, 2018
Sep 6, 2018 at 5:57 PM UTC
Punt
Warm and windy, not November at all
The rains have wandered everywhere
But this dusty grid of dead turf
Punt
Sail, sail and turnover, it’s beautiful
Rebecca would like it here today
Open, wide open and free
The dirt smells like the forty other fields
Where I’ve spent the best part of my life
Punt
Wonder -- I wonder
If those purple shirts were lined down
***** and sweaty, ten abreast
With pain and determination in their eyes
And blaspheme in their breaths
Could I hit it?
Concentrate; head down, follow through;
I doubt it.
Punt
Terrible; missed it
Wobble like a falling dove
From the spray of that old double-barrel
Bounce wrong, like a sad story
It ends with a bleak emptiness
Keeping up is impossible
Reading less, running slower, timing off
Knowledge fading, the science doubles its contents
As I wander in the ignorance that surrounds me
Punt
Short, so short; no power left
So long and so short the time simply ceased
It would fly so strong then
But dribbles now
Punt
Jog to the ball
The muscles ache, the lungs rebel
Give way to the young you old fool
You can’t cut it anymore
Punt
The winds are turning from the north
Winter is so close
The time that could not end is over
And I miss it.
More, better, higher, super, greatest
The future lies ahead
But I miss it
Jan 11, 2023
Jan 11, 2023 at 5:10 PM UTC
N man kan ook net soveel vat.
Of kan hy meer?
Stof vergader in my kern
My bene toe onder n wit sy net.
N hartklop van gewigte wat val,
My teen die bed vasdruk.
Elke versreël eindig met n punt.
Elke strofe sonder rym.
Dit is nie n gedig nie,
So hoekom hou ek aan met skryf.
In n amper-liefdesbrief:
N deuntjie sonder noot.
*** okal die besonderse seer.
In my antwoord wil ek skree.
Ek stagneer jou meer,
maar stilstand is my dood.
Feb 18, 2017
Feb 18, 2017 at 12:52 PM UTC
He was bent over
almost in half
bent over a pool table
concentrating on the next play
but there were no *****
on the table
just a body
dressed in gray sweatpants
a holey shirt, and only one shoe
The pool cue was chalked with blood
but his hands were steady
Crack
Splintering wood against bone
fractures symphonic ally
in tune with ancient jukebox greats
warbling the hurts
of somebody done someone wrong
but I don't want a piece of that...
that which has spread someone
who never meant anything to me
across the green of the pool table
trying to punt individual pieces of them
into six different holes
I'm shadowing myself in the corner
next to the jukebox
but his eyes find mine and I'm surprised
his are Blue
like an ocean
like a cloudless sky
like a sapphire under the sun
like a fire burning too hot
like deep frozen ice
His seriously kissable sensual lips
tip enticingly upwards
in my general direction
asking... imaging
He with you?
asking but not believing
you with him?
Mutely, I wither beneath the notice
and nod with a shake of my head
I'm not here, I'm not here, I'm not here
But here I am being scrutinized
from a different angle
In front of me
he's standing, tracking my gaze
to the non action at the pool table
now over, there is a new game in play
but he didn't ante in
as he found a new game
Me
and the stakes are high!
A finger runs lightly down my cheek
across my collarbone and down the V
of my deeply cut T shirt
skimming knuckles across the slopes
of barely there maturity
down the inside of my arm to my wrist
to the palm of my hand
twining into my numb fingers
raising them to press a open mouthed kiss
to my white knuckles
with a promise of
I know where you live
Out the door, alone, across the parking lot
and into the car I own
he's watching
waiting for me to turn my back on him
and he's got it
he'll find me
I realize as I close a door
that has little hope
and less lockable appeal
that he does indeed now know
where I live
He won't forget
Apr 13, 2013
Apr 13, 2013 at 5:26 AM UTC
I take the fat bottle of wine from the shelf,
the smooth of its label and its dimpled punt
in both my hands as if to weigh it
before palming its slender neck knee-high.
It's placed in a crisp paper bag for me
and then it's swinging against my step,
snug from the stained-white roads,
in quickening tread my grip forgets its hold.
Already my eye gleams its opening
before a swift and satisfying emptying.
Blood pouring bottle dismissed
cork whereabouts, unknown.
Jan 3, 2015
Jan 3, 2015 at 4:21 PM UTC
Words are not inherently ugly
Humans attach their grotesque behavior to the malleable medium
And money education trains
The youth about the importance of the unimportant potion
Sprinkled like lemons and grapefruit across the forest
Most and all were not tall enough to reach the nectared fruit
Textured bumpy and satisfactory and fed through factories
To make the educated money wrapped back in the loop
Scoop some Kafka soup, and chew the beetles
Bumbling and fumbling through your cheeks
Pinching beaks and streaks of lightning and thundered blood ran trickled and thud
Upon your open front steps; accepting misfits and **** and other assorted
Atrocities and monstrosities of destroying human beauty for feud and smoky wealth like stealth
In the middle of the night. Sky and pry your eyes to see the mind behind the eye you pried and spied on your inner mind that spine that ran down the central line to the bony roots and sooty
Footprints you stint and punt skunks across gardens spread with gold leaf and fake teeth that
Fed on the gold leaves and healthy sleeves of fruit ribbon sliding down their throats and training
The train that sped and fled to the brain where its caboose took refuge in the huge open space
The wasteland and sandy shores that sat on the crevice of the nestled edges across the peaks of the brain membrane that weaved and waned throughout the outer rims of the end of the circles through which you see to see.
On these slippery banks, words and earthly things are mixed by the human
Nature in a saturated and man made ugliness.
Feb 9, 2019
Feb 9, 2019 at 7:41 PM UTC
Outside the crop has wintered,
tall husks of green lopped over
and fumbling for sunlight.
There are rules to the arrangement.
The limits of energy and
abundance, lost somewhere in
a fray of hot sound, cold
Frame for the crop to weather.
Let it slip away. Humble yet
whorish for warmth, bare skeleton
of being from which to frame the
Praying, hand scraping concrete.
Find that voice. Put it in a box.
Punt that box into oblivion, a fire
of sunlight, warmth, a burning skeleton
Begging for life; hollow shell.
Mar 31, 2017
Mar 31, 2017 at 12:59 AM UTC
They sit
on the riverbank
on rickety stool
or upturned buckets
elbows resting on knees
hand on rod or simple reel
they sit, they wait
they contemplate
and cogitate
hats on heads
with scrapes and muck and holes
old sandshoes
that have long forgotten
the words white and tennis
shorts or trousers
that sit comfortbably on the hips
and old threadbare shirts
they sit, they stare
into the bright river wake
they take breathes of air
they of the ambience intake
about them is a calm
a stillness, a balm
and tho flys hover
and create bother
there is grace
as they swat
and bat them off
their face
even when they hook
a catch, there is a rhythm
to the fight, of reel and splash
as the duel, to bring the hunted
to heel, be it snagged boot
or that night's meal
they sit, they stand
rod and reel in hand
and thake a punt
on the aquarian hunt
with net and esky
and can of bait
they sit, they wait
and the world
revolves slowly
to them, there is
something sacred
something holy
about the time spent
on the riverbank
catching fish
catching up to oneself
time given to repent
relinquish, replenish
to reinvent, a soul
they sit, they wait
they contemplate
they consecrate
simple things to holy
these old men who fish
on the riverbanks
an ol man river
watches and gently
smiles
Feb 18, 2017
Feb 18, 2017 at 10:02 PM UTC