"upend" poems
"Not interested. "
"We're sorry but we're not hiring at this time. "
Getting that email
Again and again
Is why i write this rhyme.
What am i doing wrong?
Did i really offend or upend someone?
Why do i keep getting my hopes up?
How do i find the audacity to hope,
Again then i get dumped on like a truck?
Unemployment *****
Jun 12, 2017
Jun 12, 2017 at 9:22 AM UTC
**** poor, dying for a dream,
or a drink, one more cigarette,
the landlord comes around, asking for rent
and the money is gone, it was never there,
so you smile and bat your eyes,
one more week, I promise
soon he'll be at your throat
with eviction notices that scream
louder than stereotypes of poverty
louder than your baby's growling stomach
louder than all of your meticulous schemes.
are you uncomfortable yet?
I've barely scratched the surface.
the stereotype that you fell into
doesn't suit you, single mother
wiping off tables and smiling your hardest
to make tips, bend a little further,
hike up your skirt, show some leg
some *** let them see your ****
generous patrons love that ****
you go home and scream into empty spaces
and curl into cold corners thinking of
Bukowski in cockroach rooms
eating candy bars to survive
and dream of an end to a means.
you play some Tchaikovsky
and hold your own flesh and blood
close enough that they can't leave you,
drink White Russians until your hands melt
and write **** that nobody wants to read
about your struggles, knowing that
you will be gifted with rejection letters
and apologies.
**** poor, it is a way to live
but if you prefer sanity, not one
that I would suggest.
it will devour you
destroy you, upend your hopes
and shatter your dreams.
god will not help you,
nor the state or the politicians,
but if you make it out alive
you could be stronger than
diamonds, harder even than
your own resolve.
Nov 29, 2012
Nov 29, 2012 at 1:35 PM UTC
You live on the canal,
by the little swan
that whittles the sun.
A sudden rush of clouds,
a clatter of sandals -
caprice of Dublin.
I knew of Dublin
and its grand canal
from old books tan as sandals.
I read Yeats for a swan,
Joyce for castle clouds
that yielded little sun.
But you, you were the sun!
You lit green Dublin
from within. Clouds
fled from the canals
of your eye. "Swansies."
And summer's far sandals
were today's sandals:
time shifted in the sun,
took flight like the night swan
through ancient Dublin.
You sent letters from the canal,
letters that divided clouds,
only to calve new clouds.
I've never worn sandals,
not ever, but when the canal
danced in my dreams, the sun
pierced my foot in Dublin.
You were my swan,
my elegant swansie,
killer of cloud,
conquistador of Dublin
in gladiatorial sandal,
herald and avatar of sun,
romantic of the grand canal.
Let me taste unclouded sun -
let sandals upend the canal -
send swans by the dozen into Dublin.
Jun 11, 2019
Jun 11, 2019 at 10:19 PM UTC
.
and your mug shot's shining through
it's a vision true (but the subject's taboo)
all ugly here
morning sunshine breakfast table autumn cool
you're poised to speak a fly lands on your lolling spoon
then i stand up merry
i make my vital move the table backs away distressed
your eyes raise
i flop open my faminous mouth and let the fumes draw in
Surprise !
(no time for you to hold surplus breath -
- form an expression - make any objection)
mechanism disjoints like the raw riches
i whip the plumb weight of my head and strike
mouth-chomp-grip over your scalp
and i am working you in
with swift jaw shifts and hingery
i **** on you with a smile and gullet
(past photos of you shuffle glaucous before my inner eye)
yap sock muscle i operate gumming on your head
(ours was the world ; we got so lazy)
budging in your hair dampened by my saliva
(our timid first meeting at a bar)
and airway and my teeth softly folding back
(us in bed-us in bed-us-in-bed)
and whole hog jaw agog
(the tourist we made as a couple)
i dilate and distend crouch low to take your weight
(the rise and falter of your sleeping chest)
upend your hands panic typing in the air
(the eyes of your investment in me)
your feet flinging the heft back and forth
your shoulders break in and forward folding
my chest cracks and wells
(gifts we gave that touched heart and others that fell short)
a complete engulfing meal of you
(your childhood antidotes and teenage feelings we discussed)
down my soft disposal
(all my memories of us in a fizz
and all the inaccuracies)
...and then i head off to hibernation
ferrying an idea that ' i have you now '
that perhaps you were my enemy
all this time
and i am digesting the beast
(what a feast !)
Sep 16, 2024
Sep 16, 2024 at 9:39 PM UTC
With a flick of the wrist
And a tug on my sleeve
I pull back my fist
And my lungs start to heeve.
The way that you talk
With the way that you get
The stride of your walk
How you wiggle your hips
It's makes me feel warm
Like a fire in June
But not a good kind of warm
Suffocating in a tomb
When I see you I tense
Every muscle so tight
And every day since
I'll be up for the fight
I will not fall back into the hole that I dug
Cause I'm better than you
You slimmy old slug
So think twice before you spit on me
Cause I got the salt
Just think how easy it would be
To upend my bottle and end you
Your fault
Because a slug seems to shrivel with salt
Dec 27, 2013
Dec 27, 2013 at 1:50 AM UTC
Tired
Brain spits words in fits and starts
The internal running commentary misfiring badly
Ideas stuck in bottlenecks
Traffic backed up and down the on-ramps
Leading off the congested thoughtways
Tired
Stormwater overflow pours out of blocked drains
Sidling up the gutters of fallen leaves
And other assorted detritus of modern existence
Spewing out over footpaths and under cars
And over the tops of the boots of downtrodden dawn treaders
Tired
Mountain pass impassable under it’s mercurial precipitate mask
Features only glimpsed in snatches
Like looking through a white picket fence while running
Thought trees bunching up around the middle
Warping under the sun and the scrutiny of others
Tired
Collapsing under the weight of the wave function
Subatomic particles currently in a state of nonexistence
Abandoned altogether by the Higgs, thoughts vibrate and dissipate
In extraordinary frequency and noise
Drowned out by the audible hum of the big bang
Tired
As if running a marathon in treacle
Start with a whimper then dribble to a halt
Running barefoot on salt flats
Or over pillows in stilettos
More time spent on face than feet
Tired
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
The court jester prances for the Big Queen *****
And her merry King of Fools with his band of merry drunkards
Quickly losing the point of it all
As words start tumbling down in random order
Staccato signal messages like binary or Morse code
Information overload threatens to upend the boatload
Like the military dumping refugees into the harbour
Buckle up armour and wait for the onslaught
Of somnatic visions, twisted psychedelic impressions
Land mine concussions in the fevered dreams of veterans
Who witnessed limb torn from limb
In the name of something nobody remembers
Lose their tempers and start a war on home turf
Jungles petrified into concrete monstrosities that blot out the sun
From the flowers that feed in the cracks of the pavement
Everywhere bereavement and none shall take leave
From the cold, impassive logic of Death
Who comes knocking as you read this
Wired
No chance of sleep now
This is why one shouldn’t write poetry late at night
Sep 26, 2012
Sep 26, 2012 at 12:41 AM UTC
Upon this poem I entertain relief,
From an uncertain journey with lack of reprieve.
A prayer delivers the same result,
A warmth in my being, an absolving of fault.
My thoughts are freed from their hampered state,
No longer caged by triviality or the dullness of fate.
Daily routine had exiled imagination,
But with this escape my thoughts upend reputation.
The daily grind had dampened my soul,
But looking toward heaven I envision being whole.
So small a thing to provide such release,
So fleeting a moment in a life so deplete.
But it’s just enough to keep madness at bay,
These times that I write and those times that I pray.
Sep 29, 2013
Sep 29, 2013 at 3:14 PM UTC
What I
remember
most
were the
sweet dimples
in the soft flesh
of your elbows
as you passed by
Although
they appear
on many
another’s arm,
only yours
upend
the unsettled
chasteness
of my dreams
Oct 4, 2012
Oct 4, 2012 at 3:37 PM UTC
the fractal dendrites
of earth-bound aspirations
upend themselves
upon the heavens
to symbolize a revelation
of
the rain
a verdant gesture
in the endless grey
the symbol
of an instant
within eternity
reaching out
into the bleak
Aug 7, 2014
Aug 7, 2014 at 12:43 AM UTC
”tonight we fall back,”
she calls from the kitchen;
as another year of savings
comes to its end.
but what she doesn't know
can't comprehend is
her partner’s been scheming
to create a new trend.
the time is approaching
he hardly can wait
to make his announcement
to change his own fate
he knows it’s his moment
to make his debut
to shine in the sun, yes
they’ll adore him, he’s sure
for in secret he’s plotted
their rules to bend
their idyllic practice
he’s about to upend.
those roll-over minutes
that each Fall they give back
he’s been saving them up
for a trip to his bank.
he watched everyone else
as their hour disappears
while he’s saved up his minutes
for twenty-three years.
so this Monday’s the day
that he’s cashing them in
a whole twenty-four hours
a full day to spend;
in trade or as barter
he could gift them for free
to spend how he wants
any which way he please.
or, when all of his friends
have to roll out of bed
he’d have twenty-four hours
to roll over instead.
its not counterfeit money
he’s sure that it's not
he’s just saving his own
that yearly he got;
it can’t be a crime
its not like minutes he prints
he’s just exploited in full
their time-savings mint.
so if ever you’re time-broke
you might heed his advice
your roll-over minutes
you will save if you’re wise.
Nov 3, 2013
Nov 3, 2013 at 9:47 AM UTC
Only you and the sun can turn the sky on
There are few things in this world
That a man can rely on
When this world grows cold, the sun's very fire gone
On the day that you must go
That's the day I will die on
Only you and the sun can fight the moonlight
Beat back the sadness
The madness of midnight
Sanctify the gladness, steadfastness of daylight
Bookend the badness
Upend the dark night
Only you and the sun can sing destiny's song
The darkest of your hours
Are brightest before dawn
If fate were unfaithful, or otherwise forlorn
Life itself would still be grateful
For the day that you were born
Only you and the sun are deserving of twilight
A state of solemn grace
And harbinger of starlight
Now face to face with you by the firelight
I pray that I wake
Beside you at first light
©Jason Cole
Nov 24, 2017
Nov 24, 2017 at 9:05 PM UTC
No high school sophomore ever grew up without
A naked lady plastic ballpoint pen -
Those furtive giggles in geometry class
Are not about theorems all risqué
After the FFA trip to the rodeo
Or the band trip to sunny Galveston
A pretty lady with a 1940s do
Loses her swimsuit over and over again
Upend the pen, and she's nekkid in the sun -
Whoever thought writing could be such fun!
Jun 9, 2019
Jun 9, 2019 at 5:43 PM UTC
i can't help
thinking,
just maybe,
if i could force the sun to stay away,
to leave me just the stars in its bay
and if i could bend those stars to suit my whims,
to bathe me in light i felt comfortable in,
just maybe,
i could love him.
if i could run the oceans into defeat,
to sprint until they fell at my feet,
and if tide and time would turn for me,
giving me a solitary victory
just maybe,
i could forget you.
if i could lift the storms away from harm,
gathering thunder and lightning in arms
and if i could soothe the squalling of the gale,
softening the blows from marring hail.
just maybe,
i could find a safer way.
i can't help
thinking,
just maybe,
if i could mould the unmalleable
conquer what i thought infallible,
and if i could upend everything i held dear,
and find some way to force my eyes clear,
just maybe,
i could walk away from you.
Apr 10, 2013
Apr 10, 2013 at 5:22 PM UTC
Bottle opener
Cracked vermouth
Naked lady
The kids grip their
Hearts
Like newly stolen candy
I'm a leaflet notebook
Fire parade
Fortune teller dressed in secrets
Kimono headdress
Ketamine lines
Upside down caligrpahy
Apple wine
Summer time
Open faced hamburgers
With the moon
On the infinite rise
Trickling melancholy
Purple moon
Hustlers under mailboxes
While grandma's line-up
To do the
Foxtrot
Sinister balloon
Of heavy-metal persuasion
Big titted foul players
Of foreign speaking
Soothsayers
Can it be that we
Are all out of players?
The ***** are in
The goals are scored
There's not a hand
Manning the board
Usurp the direction
Upend the powers that be
Peek through the keyhole
Discover the lies
Behind the masks of men
Who wear brightly colored ties
Music moves through
The meek feet of the weak
What're we all looking for
But the big vote
To take us all the way through.
Better butter down Sutter
Baby sitters been broken
The kids have gone missing
Instead of doves
We've got pigeons
Jul 18, 2014
Jul 18, 2014 at 5:55 PM UTC
Like a monster
wearing my own skin,
I question yet again
whether the cries I upend
are signs of intelligence or
the incoherent utterances
of an imposter begging
to be let in.
Nov 14, 2020
Nov 14, 2020 at 1:09 AM UTC
It's easy to take the easy way
Easy to pretend that what is, isn't
Living without a care because you don't believe in caring
Dying without a care because your life didn't matter
You made it to the roof, but you kicked away the ladder
It carried you up, but you say it isn't there
How does that work? Don't ask me
Because I'm wrong, right? Listen
You know it's right but you choose left
Walking away because it's easy, that road leads to pain
To death and burns, cuts
Rainbows fade, unicorns aren't real, but it sure is fun to pretend
Right?
It's fun to write nasty things, fun to offend and upend
Fun to push and pull, throw rocks, fire shots
Chainsaws don't give a peaceful sound
Guns hurt your ears, harsh sounds
It's merely a sound, but harsh sounds can break your ears
Harsh thoughts can break your mind
Thoughts of death can bring it, hasten it
No need to be chasing it.
Jun 2, 2014
Jun 2, 2014 at 11:48 AM UTC
Awake! this is life
Be not ungrateful for its toll
Cultivate an aura of contentment
Delve deeply for that thing they call a soul
Examine all your motives and intentions
Fling aside delusion in your path
Glimpse through tiny keyhole possibility
Harness all resistance with your wrath
Imitate great ones who came before you
Jeopard not the love within your heart
Karma cannot limit your ability to
Lacerate each falsehood all apart
Mingle with the angels out among us
Never rest until you need the sleep
Obviate the demons which cling to us
Perforate what makes you feel cheap
Querulous we walk the road to happy
Rutted as it is with mire and muck
Spare your energies and sweet entreaties
To walking ghosts who just don't give a ****
Upend all ideas that forestall you
Vindicate what you know to be true
Windmills of illusion won't enthrall you
Xcept when you opt to allow them to
Yesterday may blind us with her memory
Zelos might appreciate our idolatry
Jun 30, 2017
Jun 30, 2017 at 2:00 PM UTC
I remember just lovin this track for itself,
always gets a replay,never on the shelf,
used to listen for the love of it,never turned off it,
nowadays I think Prince was a bit of a prophet,
*** spreading rampant like plague,
9/11 made missiles out of Hijacked planes,
sample "it's silly no,when a rocket ship explodes,and everybody still wants to fly"
Now we have planes vanishing straight out of the sky,
the signs are everywhere,end times come,
everybody still marching to the same old drum,
*Politician's are new royalty,we're all just serfs,
if you're blind to the signs,you're just fuel like turf,
to keep the old fires burning,but it's time for change,
take the Illuminati Pyramid,and just rearrange,
upend the triangle,the worlds yours and mine,
worldwide upheaval,its a Sign of the Times :)* (this one just fell outta me!)
Apr 29, 2016
Apr 29, 2016 at 5:47 PM UTC
Beer like this forgets itself in the bottle
Strength unseen becomes a lie
A bitter and malty goodbye
The suds and silk are sly
And wander while they slide
Down throats that know no why
So drink to the end of questions
Upend the cup that brings confessions
A pessimist sees perfection
In the bottom of his empty glass
Sep 19, 2013
Sep 19, 2013 at 5:21 PM UTC
(Intro)
From her I get …
From her I get …
(Vs 1)
She validates my existence
Leaves me always wanting more
I just love her sweet persistence
Yes, she’s the one that I adore
From her I get …
(Chorus)
Action
Main attraction
Chain reaction
Satisfaction
From her I get …
Rainbows
Anything goes
All tomorrows
Only she knows
From her I get …
Laughter
Morning after
To the rafters
Ever after
From her I get …
Kindness
Color blindness
Love that binds us
To remind us
From her I get …
(Vs 2)
Days overwhelmed by stress and strife
My heart was hard my blood ran cold
You shared your warmth and love of life
That day we met when I struck gold
From her I get...
(Chorus)
Sunshine
Beautiful rhyme
Says she’ll be mine
All of the time
From her I get …
Romance
Rhythmic slow dance
Love at first glance
Taking a chance
From her I get …
Blessings
Effervescing
Love confessing
No distressing
From her I get …
True love
Say I do love
From up above
Fits like a glove
From her I get …
(Bridge)
If selfishness precipitates, love will evaporate
Throw caution to the wind then your life will upend
If selfishness precipitates, love will evaporate
How much better at day's end to be found kind
(Vs 3)
Knowing I’d be lost without her
Communication is the key
May God bless our love forever
Our three-fold cord eternally
From her I get …
(Chorus)
Action
Main attraction
Chain reaction
Satisfaction
From her I get …
Rainbows
Anything goes
All tomorrows
Only she knows
From her I get …
Laughter
Morning after
To the rafters
Ever after
From her I get …
Kindness
Color blindness
Love that binds us
To remind us
(Outro)
From her I get …
From her I get …
(Repeat and fade)
Mark Toney © 2023
Sep 2, 2023
Sep 2, 2023 at 10:56 PM UTC
The collapsing tide lurks
with rogue waves
gathering energy,
swaying to the moon
until it returns to upend
the diligent castles
we’ve built of sand
Jun 19, 2020
Jun 19, 2020 at 5:30 PM UTC
Don't you ever threaten me
with a good time.
I'll show you I'm the favored horse
4 seconds from the finish line.
Let's see how long it takes me
to upend my life.
It's been a fun night
but I am just about to freeze inside.
It's the Fall
and the way years go
Or it's me; just me
hanging promises from ropes
from this living room ceiling.
in the dark
searching eyes half-closed around me.
I'm just M-80 careless. Short fuse
about to blow
all these hopes, all these plans
across this carpet, out these windows.
Small man of stained glass
ribbon feet, slashed hands.
Favored horse on toxic lawn,
grazing glue shop grass.
Fall of 2012.
Cold wind, early snow
blowing in from the North
and getting deep and I know
I'm getting buried here.
I'll never see the Sun again.
And I have made my icy bed,
so let me sleep a hundred years.
Don't you ever threaten me
with a good time.
I'll show you I'm the favored horse
4 seconds from the finish line.
The winds have started howling
and the waterline's high,
but I've made my bed on bags of sand
so let me wash out at low tide.
Sep 1, 2015
Sep 1, 2015 at 1:20 PM UTC
I died.
Mommy, I died and I can’t tell you I did.
I can’t tell you that I’m sitting on the other side crying
because I’ve hurt you more than I ever knew I possibly could
I couldn’t sleep before,
knowing my heartbeats were numbered
so I counted them.
Sixty beats a minute, fourteen-hundred something minutes a day, thirty days for six months
60 times 1400 times 30 times 6.
I did the arithmetic so I could have one more math test to cheat on.
I ran laps and hyperventilated and did every upbeat thing I could think of to upend my pulse so
I could lie to myself.
140 times 1400 times 30 times 6.
It’s twice as big.
I don’t know if I can sleep now, and I didn’t tell you, mommy.
cause I didn’t want you to lose sleep then,
and I hate you’re losing sleep now.
Jun 29, 2018
Jun 29, 2018 at 7:35 PM UTC
In summer gath’ring they invoked the sky
Just throw of stones from where I sit, so bold
On pain of death, they risked both names and gold,
By pen for chance of freedom staked their lives;
Once bought with blood they’d plant some autumns nigh
A tree whose branches ever since could hold
Against the force of storms, growing so old
Though none can say now if its roots have died;
As children huddled ‘neath its shade cry out
Some grasp an ax, ready to strike, upend
Afraid these leaves once-green no longer breathe
While up on eager feet they march and shout
Unsure what perils may on them descend
Many yet hope to climb and still believe
Jan 23, 2017
Jan 23, 2017 at 7:48 PM UTC