NEVER GIVE UP ON LOVE

The only way to end an unconditional love,
is through unconditional surrender.

But it takes a toll on the white flag.

Never lose the child in you

Never stop counting ladybugs
Never stop to count the stars at night
Never step on a crack, lest you break mothers back
Never walk when you can skip, jump and run
Never give up licking the spoon
Never walk past flowers without smelling them
Never avoid the sprinklers on ahot day
Never avoid sprinklers on any day
Never stop asking why? Where? How?
Never stifle a smile, sneeze or laugh
Never pretend to be someone else, without wearing shoes five sizes too big
Never pass up fairyfloss
Never stop kissing your mum and dad
Never put on a brave face when you get hurt
Never wait to say I love you to anyone

Never lose your inner child.
They may just be your first best friend forever.

Jolanta, that is very good.

Never Again


Never again
It sounds so contrite
So cliché
But I mean it
Even as I say
Once more
Never again will I believe you
Over me
No matter whom you are
Never again will I distrust myself
Never again will I look away
Never betray myself
My own soul
Never again will I give up
And walk away
Quietly
There will always be a fight
Never again will I sink down at night
Sobbing in tears and frustration
Because I gave up
When I should have held
Strong
Never again
Never never
I have grown too strong

Never Say Never

Please don't ever say "never."
Or it's the first thing you will probably do.
It seems that way at least.

Vow to never swear and the next thing you know
you'll be cursing a blue streak.
Vow to stay away from chocolate and you'll
be surprised how may candy bars come your way!

How about "probably never" or "I'll do the best I can?"
There should always be a little wiggle room with never.
The world sometimes gets in the way.

Never again (C) Richard-Merlin Atwater April 29, 2009

Ann Margaret sang: "Never on a Sunday",
But we poets sing: "Only on a Tuesday"
is it possible because of the "Twice Told Tales" of--
An "Anti", or not so, in poetic style.

Any other day would be OK, but never again
On a Monday, a Wednesday, a Thursday,
a Friday, a Saturday, a Funday, or even on a Sunday
'Cause that's my day of rest, with all the rest.

Only on a "2 for Tuesday", a Blues day, a Choose day,
But never on a 'Sestina day' will I ever try my best.
POETIC ASIDES I will try again, if i think it's worth
Another Munday, a Wenzday, a Thirst-day, a Fry-day,

A Saturn-day, even a Sun-of-a-gun day, especially a Two's-day,
But NEVER on the One-day called "Prompt-day"
For my "Free Style" I like the best:
Thus I say Never again! (Never say: "Never")
=============================================================
Poet's Note: I'm off to Never, Never-Land to teach Poetry!
Professor "Obi-wan" R.M. Atwater

Jolanta Laurinitis: You just gave me the "Never again-itis Blues" of reminiscing. Great job! I especially like the non-avoidance of sprinklers on any day. Reminds me of my daughter who always took the opportunity! And the conclusion on LOVE is wonderful,KUDOS Richard-Merlin Atwater

And...."Walt"---YOU finally made it to the TOP. Congrats!
Top of the day to you "Obi-wan" RMA

Never See the real Me

By Ian Phillips

Never see the real me
The one that pretends to love
The one that wishes to be someone else

Never see the real me
The one who wants someone else
The one who pretends to care

Never see the real me
Who says I love you
To reassure and lie

Never see the real me
Who sees past your look
And into the arms of another

Never see the real me
With the stone soul
The glazed eyes
The thinning lips.

Never Pet a Rattlesnake

Of course you wouldn’t pet a rattlesnake.
You’d hear its rattles, be warned away
from doing something so foolish.
Yet you insist on being nice to things
just as dangerous: strange dogs loose
in the park, for instance, and their
owners, strangers all, smiling, friendly,
but look at the hooded eyes, imagine
the rattling tails. I’m not saying
“never trust a stranger” – sometimes
you have to trust, when you’re stuck,
for example, on the side of the road
with a flat tire, or when you’re stuck
walking across the street in rush hour.
I’m just saying don’t pet anyone
until you’ve listened for the rattles.

"Never Forget Your Lunch"

As the day approached noon,
Salivating at the thought of you.
Lunch time approaching quite soon,
Packed up this morning like I always do,
Ah, but left home on a shelf,
A processed replacement on its way.
Disappointed, I could kick myself.
It's going to be that kind of day!

Never (Blank)

Every day is scary
soft, sufficient, swift, and stark.
Call it callous, craven, cold --
or overacted, foolish -- old.
Love life to the fullest while barely
scraping the surface to be frank.
Some nights end at the subway, some in the park;
but whatever else, your day will not be blank.

Never-ending Stories (C) Richard-Merlin Atwater April 29, 2009

"Watch out!" Peter Pan of 'Never, Never land'
Wendy, and I, are coming to teach "the Lost Boys" Poetry
Put on your thinking caps "Captain Hook" and crew
And let's see if you can outsmart "Tinker Bell".

She just graduated from Poetic ASIDES, along with her brothers
And they all kick a mean punch in asymetrical contractions
That never were meant to be anything less than FUN!
From "the Living Poet's Society" of Sisyphean, Never-ending stories.

Never Believe Everything You Read

He sat in his overstuffed chair
every night, reading the paper
while I did my homework.
Then we talked. I’d tell him
what I learned that day,
and he’d play devil’s advocate,
throwing out questions:
“How do you know that?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Where is the proof?”
My father’s legacy remains:
an abiding belief in the logic
of things and a love
for the reasons, the feelings,
the hidden motives behind words.

Never let the sun set

It starts with a space, as thin as a blade,
sliding between our twin spoons;
prising two separate bowls
from our forged wholeness.

It starts with a careless word
spat by a thoughtless tongue
into the thin space,
widening it to a fissure.

It starts with an intake of hate
and a sharp response
splitting the fissure,
cracking it open.

It ends with a king-sized
bed of a chasm,
and our two spoons opposing,
back presented to back.

never use deus ex machina
in a poem, story or play.
no one
will ever believe.
so I must use
rules
when I write
that do not apply
in real life.
else
how can I explain,
she walked into the room,
and I knew
life
would never be the same.

Haiku: Never Give Up

When you're feeling low,
don't despair. Keep moving on.
The sky's the limit!

"Never in a Blue Moon"

The house is gone now --
the croquet lawn, lemonade porch
and crabapple tree with secret nooks to climb;
the red shed filled with rakes and shovels,
the girls’ bedroom wallpapered in roses
and dining room with glass vases in the window.
Last winter, you gave me the blue quilt
you held every night in the nursery,
studying each patch, and wondering
where you would travel on the long way home.

Poet's Note: On previous poem of "Never-ending stories (see above)

Sisyphean is from GreeK mythology wherein Sisyphus was doomed to Hades to roll uphill a stone that kept rolling downhill again once he reached the top. Much like poets who write on a prompt day, only to find that the next day requires them to start all over again with a new prompt to reach the heights of a Never-ending story. "Welcome to Poetic Hades, called Prompt Day!"
"Sir" Obi-wan RMA

Never: An Open Letter to the Famous Poet Concerned About Climate Change

You lament over migratory birds returning early to trees
blooming in the wrong season. But all I can think about
are the two student poets whose work you will not hear today
because you insisted on going first and leaving, unlike
every other famous poet at this festival. Two poets
chosen to open for you because they revere your poetry.
Poetry we don’t get to hear for a half hour—a longer time
than listening to their work would have delayed you—
because you can’t pass up the chance to lecture us
about frickin’ dolphins caught in tuna nets
and whales dying from lack of fish. You bitch.
You make me embarrassed to share your social class,
with your privilege that enters the room before you
like a perfume so expensive twenty sperm whales must
have died to make it, that privilege you’re so blind to
that you put polar bears before people. People like these
two young poets, whose sunflower faces you don’t see wilt
as you gather your papers and walk out the door.

“Never Confessed”

Stare into darkness
replete
with the heat
of Sunday.

Never trust a sibling

A brown smudge of a bird falls
from its perch, spills the cup of rainwater
so thoughtfully provided. Josephine sobs
for the loss of her pet.

Jack hides his smile and inspects
the pebble nestling hot and luminous
in his palm. He wonders how many
of his sister's familiars he can kill
before the radioactivity decays.

A pale smudge of a boy falls
from his bed, spills the tainted lemonade
so thoughtfully provided. Josephine grins
and picks up the pebble that rolls
from her brother's blistered hand.

This one's for Robert.

Never have sex in a horror movie

Keep those adrenaline stoked
hormones in check. If you cave
and explore the body running
scared next to you, the audience
screams "No!" because they know
you're doomed. Your head will
cave just as your morals did. A
hangman's noose, a killer's axe,
who knows the way you'll go.
Just forget the sexy girl, the hard
bodied guy racing for safety with
you. And if you find a harbor away
from the madman, keep your clothes
on. It's the only way to survive the film.

“Never Not”

Never not call me honey
Never not stop givin’ me all you’re lovin’
Never not board a train and don’t come back
Never not call me baby
Never not phone me acting shady
Never not hold me tight
Never not stop doin’ me right
Never not kiss me fiercely
Never not stop making me hot
Never not call me cutie
And better never call me Judy

Never Get Too Tidy

I like a house
with books,
and magazines and newspapers
as well,
not too neatly piled,
please.

I enjoy a home
with smells,
real ones
from cooking and cleaning
and such,
no vanilla need apply.

I crave a life
with peace,
yet welcome are
the bumps
and fever
of sincere living.

I cherish friends
who last,
real ones
who know
who we
really are.

Never Take Your Eyes Off This Moment

Don’t even think about reminiscence
Or prophesy, this instant is the key.
There where it is, lying in front of you
Amidst the leftovers and bibelots
And train schedules for unknown countries.
Don’t lose track of it. Run your hands
Over it. Share it if you can and if not
Savor it all. Its form changes in the
Palm of your hand. It is all there is.

Never Never Land
By R. Chazz Chute

Never open the door to strangers
or relatives
or people holding clipboards
or the police.
Never close your bedroom door.
Never let the neighbors see you
watching them through the blinds.
Never use the stove,
or the telephone and never ever
touch the toilet seat,
even with your bottom.
Never eat chocolate,
or potatoes or anything hot.
Never play with other children
(they are all lice and bad words.)
Never tell your teachers the rules.
Never let them see you do anything
but smile, smile, smile
because Momma loves you.
Never forget Momma loves you.

Never dance
in public

the sight
of your abandon
is repellent
a mass of
rippling jelly

so unattractive

well
here is
my rule

dance
in public
and
in private
perfect or
not
abandon yourself
to music
and joy
shake
those wattles
roll
those hips

here is
my never

if people
look away
never stop
dancing

it is not
your abandon
they are
jealous of

it is
your joy

4/29/09

NEVER FEAR

Jesus said,
in spite of
low-flying planes
over New York,
swine flu,
pro-abortion governors
becoming national heads
of health agencies,
beheadings of Christians
and Jews in Pakistan,
and world-wide disasters
of epic proportions.
Why?
Because He has promised
never to leave us
or forsake us.

NEVER APPLY DEODORANT TO THE LORD

i mean meander your metaphors
i mean stutter your metaphors
i mean stagger your metaphors
i mean apply deodorant too liberally to a conservative
under circumstances happenstance photocopying
homesick birds' feathers flying to heaven
to add fragrance to clouds
never meander through starters
but get to the heart of the main course
to feast on a pheasant
as it is
and nothing more

Nice poem, Anders Bylund!

NEVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT

(The Not-So-Hypothetical Scenario)

Consider this situation poetical,
(Now mind you, it is somewhat hypothetical)

You are a bright and articulate person of passion
(for this exercise it's a woman we'll fashion;
and further more we wouldn't blame ya
if your name were...let's say Marie Elena).

You have this belief in your abilities
to "poeticize" sensibilities
and perform this task to wax poetic
(although you think you talent pathetic)

But you chance to enter...say a poet's challenge
and put your work into the rhyming melange.
So your submissions are posting (say a Brewer is hosting)
And you are apologetic in your pretense
that your work is worthy of recompense.

You think your error is of graveness
(but others yet applaud your braveness)
And your attempts are quite inferior
to others deemed superior.

Then you commit in words, a "verbal blush",
to keep your excellence hush-hush.
And those of wonder you hold high,
shouldn't allow you in their sky.

And in their wonder you see they're flawed,
because your own wonder they applaud,
Making their intelligence
much akin to flatulence.


So here are simple rules to judge your merit:

...if your words rhyme like every other poet's words;
...if your heart beats with passion like every other poet's heart;
...if your "blood" flows onto your poetic page the same as every other poet's,

then you should keep writing and just believe in what you do
(because we all do!) and make it the best you can do.

And NEVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT (unless you stand 5'0" or less, then you can not help yourself)

Never Stir a Mangy Cur, and Other Warnings

Never smile at a crocodile
nor grin at a terrapin.
And never snark
at a great white shark
or it might do you in.

Never chat with a fanged bob cat
nor rant at an elephant.
And never stare
at a grizzly bear:
You’ll find yourself quite scant.

Never play with a bird of prey,
nor cuss at an octopus.
A catamount
takes no account
of things like ‘we’ or ‘us’.

Never pooh at a kangaroo
nor gawk at a circling hawk.
And never tarry
with a cassowary
since it will never balk.

Please don’t think twice on this advice:
Precaution is your guide.
Don’t make a deal
to be a meal.
Oh well. At least I tried.

Richard,
I blush at that attempt, but I saw a final opportunity to perchance end up "on top" and took it. Mea Culpa. But it was delicious to see that I made it at least once!!

Never Do Drugs

"Never try drugs,"
the mother told her child,
"because what you never know,
you will never miss."

"What do you mean by that,
Mommy?" the little girl asked,
as she stroked her mother's
hair and gave her a kiss.

"Just never try drugs, unless
they are prescribed for you.
If you never know what they're
like, you won't miss the bliss."

These words stuck with the little
girl as she grew up and when
confronted with drugs, she said,
"No- what I don't know, I'll never miss."

Laurie K.

Day 29

Never Waste Words

My father was a brilliant man
doomed to boredom
by the choices he made.
Instead of choosing politics or writing
he ran a BA truck stop on the side of the highway
and raised five kids.

He could manage his business,
teach his children,
go through hours of his day
without using words. He had an entire vocabulary
of sounds: grunts, umhmms, hahs, hnns, unnunns.
His smiles and frowns, nods and shakes,
twist and turns, movements of his hands,
spoke the proverbial volumes
to those who knew him.
He was hard to love.

Dad died of a heart attack
when he was 57 and I was 18,
thirty six years ago, a lifetime ago.
In January of this year, only 3 months past,
working with a man whom I have known all my life,
and who still remembers my father,
Mike said to me, "You just growled at me."

Never retire

We work and work.
Our duties never shirk.
Until one day they say we have earned
That long idle retirement for which we yearned.
At first it is great not to awake and have to toil.
Letting our body and nerves begin to uncoil.
Then we discover something strange.
Suddenly we are bored and need change.
We try hobbies that for a while are great.
But then leave us at loose ends, so we abdicate.
Idle times bring idle minds
Plagued by forgetfulness we find.
More often to the doctor we seem to go
Our health declines along with our dough.
The only solution to this dilemma it seems
is to find a part time job to increase our means.
To move our bodies in worthwhile work
before we go completely berserk.
So never retire, just change careers
and you will truly enjoy your later years.

pretty funny, RJ! Would be wonderful to illustrate

Robert, loved your poem, I think it's my fave so far.
Jolanta, thank you so much for the reminder...much needed!
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Some Say

Never ask.
It doesn’t matter.
We come to the edge
of our limitedness
and fall over.

Also

Never grieve
at love’s diminishing
return.
It was only
the reflection we imagined
in another’s eyes.

I say

Never listen
to such rubbish.
Shake love down. Demand.
Is that all you got? Is that all?
What else is there? What?

Never Forget
N o way! I will not do that again!
E ver, ever, even in a hundred million years!
V ictory will never happen if I do that.
E veryone of us has to make a choice. And this is mine, most emphatically!
R emind me again, what was it I said that I’d never do?

NEVER SAY NEVER

Never say never as
The saying goes

Never say never--then
You won't add to life's woes.

Never give them what they want


Its a strong word never,
But its a good word,
A word to live by
In here
Especially in here,
This shit infested water where death swims with you
Where the souls of men have been forgotten and the ...
The ... humans that walk here watching over us
Are pathetic excuses at best...

Never give them what they want
Never do that
Never show them that they hurt you
Never show them that they got to you
Never show them that they pissed you off
Never show them that they broke you
Never show them anything about you at all
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE THEM ANYTHING THEY WANT!!!

They will use it against you
They will twist it all around to fuck you with it
They will never let you forget
They will never let it go
They will never forgive you
They will always rub it in your face
They will always pull it out and show you how you are LESS THAN HUMAN because of it!

And all this from the very people,
The only people you see
The only people you have to teach you how to be human
How to be people

Never give them what they want
They will kill you with it

Never Procrastinate Your Workouts

Kids and animals jump up
First thing in the morning,
Constant unrestrained energy,
Like every morning is Christmas morning.
But when I face the day,
With its myriad things to do I sometimes skip the gym
Where each athletic movement is like a dance
For the other dancers and the passersby.
When I practice my dancing,
Outside the plate glass window
I sometimes see girls whose tenth birthdays
Seem like ages into the future
Smiling and dancing, as they pirouette on the sidewalk,
Pausing now and then for a good long arabesque,
And I see those around them
Catching their joy, as they themselves
Merrily waltz
To their jobs, where they make others
Look and feel very good,
Like the doctor cradling the cup of coffee
That was poured by a waitress
Just like the one she once was years ago
In the very same restaurant.
In the gym, I constantly perfect a craft
Dancing
That I use to spread joy
But when I procrastinate,
I sometimes skip altogether
And feel the dismal reality of regret,
So I must end this poem
And waltz merrily off
To the gym!

Never Mind

Never mind, I'll do it myself
How many times had I said this
Those are the words someone wants
To hear when there's a chore
Needed to be done they don't
Want to do or will not do
Like the big pile of dishes to wash
Or the trash needs to go out
Mail to collect, laundry to fold
It's these little things
That should be shared
Because
Never mind, I'll do it myself
Gets tiresome

Never Say Never

No morsel tastes
as bitter as one’s own words,
rash promises spoken without
thought of things to come.

Yet down on bended knee,
“I hope I’ll never stop
loving you, “ strikes such
a sour note we laugh.

The hidden calories
piling up by middle age
may not be made
of sweets and bread,
but of all those nevers
we have been force fed.

Nancy Posey

Never Content

I must learn not to
overreact
to every hurt.
Knowing, if not yet
feeling,
that most people are
not doing anything cruel or unusual.
My wounds solely the cause of the way I react
to their insistence in
being more interested in
their own lives than mine.
How is it then
when you arrive
unexpected,
asking about my day
I am not
overjoyed?

Day 29: Never. . .

Never share yourself
completely
because,
like the turtle on its back,
you are vulnerable
to unprincipled
predators
who want your
soul and
spirit
and mean to have it
one way or
the other,
even if
it kills you.
I don’t want
to eat or
to be
turtle soup.

NEVER SAY NEVER

It started early.
I'll never get married,
famous last words.

It picked up speed.

I'll never
wear bell bottoms,
wear straight legs,
live in a city.

The snowball grew.

I'll never
go backpacking,
forgive you,
love again.

Never say never.

Never Fail to Inspire

Open
Look
Feel
Emote
Embrace
Challenge
Endure
Listen
Give
Accept
Enchant
Lift
Engage
Be
Truth
Peace

The who we are in the world
Is the who others are.

"Never Take For Granted"

Never take for granted a hot, slow meal and a mattress
or you may find yourself in Marine Corps Boot Camp.
Sleep? Another non-take-for-granted item: do it and
I will throw garbage cans down your linoleum hallway -
we'll see if you take it for granted then.
True Love - you scoff? Clearly you've never been privy
to this drug of choice. No one's ever offered, but when
they do, you'll know it. You'd better walk around with it
cupped in both hands, watching out for walls and poles
trying to jump in your way, forcing you to drop it,
smashing it into a thousand pieces, leaking water and glittery bits
all over the floor, like those shakeable snowglobes.
Dads. Ah! Another irreplaceable puzzle piece -
the next time you call me bitching, I'll simply hang up
on you - then you can call me before his funeral and
tell me what you know and how it's too late. I'll take the call
but I won't accept your apology. I tried to warn you - you,
who had a Dad until you were 42 - a warning from me,
who lost her whole world when she was only 10.

Never More

My parents, in a post-natal stupor,
named me after my father,
even though we were Jewish,
which means they were supposed
to name their child for a deceased
relative, and, yes, my grandmother’s
sister’s name was Leah, so
the letter “L” was available.

My father’s name was Leonard;
they named me Lenora.
Now, if you live in the Midwest,
the South or Pacific Coast,
you are saying to yourself,
“That’s a lovely name.
What about Poe’s Raven?
Your name comes from poetry,
isn’t that your passion?”

But I was born in New York,
land of particular accent,
and when I went to school,
my teachers and schoolmates
pronounced it “Lenoawra.”

My parents had some sense,
and immediately decided
Lenora was too big a name
for a little baby, called me
Lori, right from the start.

I like the sound of “Lori.”
It’s light, sings its vowels,
easy to spell, fits me well.
So, my friends, call me Lori.
So I have to hear “Lenoawra”
Nevermore.


Lori Desrosiers

Two possible entries for today's contest

Subject: Never ……

I swore “”Never again”
Would I
Kiss your lips,
Hold your hand
But I forgot
And here I am,
Finding out
Why I swore,
Most profanely swore
Never
To let you
Love me
Again.
































2
You often say,
“Love is
Never to say I’m sorry,”
Your thought
Is incomplete
The coin
Has two sides.
It implies
We love without regret
It does not imply
That you
Often transgress
And you
Always repeat
Like a scratched disc,
“I’m sorry.
I’ll never do it again.”
Again

And again

And again.

Not only is
Sorry
A sorry word,
“I’ll never”
Is an empty phrase?
If it
Merely means,
“Sorry
I got caught.”

Never Trust the Weather

The weather, never to be trusted,
never being what it seems,
for it can turn in a moment
upending plans, crushing dreams.

Plans for outside can suddenly change,
when a planted kiss, from a drop of rain,
suddenly becoming a drenching disdain
pounding against the window pane.

The weather, never to be trusted,
not even the sun, too much of it
can make your skin become crust,
peeling and flaking, turning to dust.

Tornadoes spelling disaster
for those in its path,
and hurricanes throwing waves,
leaving a vengeful aftermath.

You can not trust the weather,
it’s a down pour today,
forget I had an appointment
to ride a horse today.

Never Waste a Moment
April 29

The water tap drip drips
into the sink to my right.
a perfect metronome
to count out a steady beat
background to this poem
I write from this quiet place
enthroned like any king
while the spring wind calls me
outside this compact space.
Later I may gather
up the tools and washers
and take the tap apart
or step outside and rake
winter from the new grass.
For now I write the song
that dances in my mind
a love song to my life.

Hugh

Nevermore

It was a bright April morning
Waiting for the boot I sat yawning
Painful memory of yesterday's sestina
Looked at the date -- two's too many
When outside my window I saw a red bird gleaming
Set my muse to scheming
I WILL write two -- maybe four
Only the raven says "Nevermore"

Never Take Anything For Granted

Life is short and precious, too
so make the most of everyday
That God has given you.

Take the time to see the world
clearly with both eyes
there's so much beauty
to be seen
if you open wide.

Take the time to listen
to a friend in need
for tomorrow is not
guaranteed
to either you or me.

Take the time to share a smile
with family, friends, and strangers
for just a bit of kindness
Makes the world
much brighter.

Take the time to hold the hand
of the one you love
for God has given them
just to you
a gift from up above.

Life and love are precious gifts
I pray you never squander
for if you take them
both for granted
you'll regret it in the future.

Never Write Them Off


Never write them off
Family I say
they have the power
to hurt you like nobody
else may
they have the power to
put you in a place you don't want
to be
but they also have the power
to bring yourself back to see
Back to a time
shared only with they
Knowing you in a unmasked
young, undone and vulnerable way

Never write them off
Family I say
It is after all an exercise
in futility
Just when you think they're
over and done
They'll return and your past now begun

They will bring the gifts only they hold
a story of your life
as only shared memories told



Note: This morning before seeing this prompt I opened a package
that was filled with sentimental meaningly gifts and cards brimming with warmth from family members where relations had seemed cooled........What a delight...to receive... and to write!

Never point at a Spaniard

Never point at a Spaniard
He’ll consider it ever so rude
You can use your whole hand
Or a finger and thumb
But don’t stick out your index
He’ll take great offence

Never blaspheme to the vicar
It’s just not a thing you should do
He considers his faith
A matter for respect
And besides he’s closely connected
To powers higher than you

Never insult the family
Of a Japanese lady or man
They consider their honour
Beyond reproach,
They mustn’t lose face
And it’s worth bearing in mind
That they often have very large swords

Never wink at a Ferret
They’re shy and easily shocked
They find public displays
Of affection rather too much to bear
So don’t wink at a Ferret
And definitely, please, don’t stare

Never smile at a crocodile
Cause a crocodile has very big teeth
Which he’ll sink underneath
Your jugular vein
And bite your head off

No, never point at a Spaniard
Don’t insult his mother or pride
Don’t tell him his English isn’t perfect
And don’t criticise the Matadors
Pointing is rude in any culture
But particularly frowned on in Spain
So don’t ever point at a Spaniard
And remain aloof and distant to Ferrets
It’ll serve you well in the end

Iain

NEVER LISTEN TO SAD

Never listen to sad songs,
Even if you're sad, but especially if you're feeling
Vanilla. Sad songs can tip you over the
Edge. Never watch sad movies; you have to
Realize that the chocolate in them is too
Sweet for your mouth. Never read sad stories,
Tales of berry and butter pecan; they do nothing to
Open your eyes, but will tear out your heart.
Please hear my prayer. Never, ever,
Look at old photographs;
Old love letters, smelling of mint, are just as bad.
Other things to watch out for are old
Keepsakes; the custard within them can burn.
Listen to me; I've been there,
I know what I'm talking about. Never
Stop for even a taste, for it will chew you with iron
Teeth, devour and swallow you with a ferocity that
Even the living would envy.
Never listen to sad.


(April 29, 2009) Dianne Borsenik

NEVER TRY TO KID A KIDDER


Sharpies play deceitful games,
breaking hearts of those who trust
too much. Armed with charm they strike
with swords and slay the naïve.
Callous beneath a veneer
of soft wood, they mesmerize
those in their sights who, like deer
in headlights, freeze and then fall.
nearly all who encounter
louts like these are vulnerable
and chances are they suffer
at their soft hands and wicked hearts.

But those with equal talent
in these dark arts of trickery,
those who likewise know how to
maim and kill what seems true love,
they fight back, they cannot lose,
they know too well the signs,
the underlying meanings
of overtures and seeming
kindnesses and they either
stand up and do battle or
they simply walk away
and say “Never kid a kidder.
You’ve met your match in me!”

#

Never Do Today

Never do
Today
What
You can
Put off
‘Til
Tomorrow
If
There’s a
Reasonable
Chance
Someone else
Will do it
For you!
(Especially if it’s ironing!)


Iain

Never


Ever


Veer

Never Give Away Those Secrets...

Never complain, never explain:
It’s always germane when using Rogaine.

NEVER IGNORE AN ANGLE


" Why would God do such a thing ?"

The Doctor turned, defeated in the battle lost.
The mother stopped crying.
She remembered the Chaplin's gentle suggestion
let her Sons passing have meaning.

“A living bed" he had said
let his body be taken from it
to help others live
as Jesus on the cross


"Doctor," the mother said.
" May I speak to you a moment ?"


A year later this grieving mother was step-grandmother to
a new born baby boy born to young mother
that had received the gift gift of life
a liver transplant from her dead son.

Never die

Naturally,
Everyone
Vacates to
Ever after.
Remember, though,

Dead poets
Inspire
Eternally.

Linda Voit

“Never Assume”

Red face
Avoid
Dodge
Hide behind potted plant
Pretend carefully studying

If only
I had asked
A few
More questions.

“Never Let Yourself Go”

Never let yourself go,
In the midst of a relationship.

Never be the marionette,
That someone else is in control of.

Never get weak,
So weak that it hurts,
To stand up to them,
And say yes,
I am angry,
I am sad,
I’m not getting what I need.

You’ll just be left with regret…

NEVER GIVE UP

Never in a million years
should you give up on man
Life is an ongoing battle
we must overcome if we can
take each day as a challenge
step up to it and swing
let the angels be your guide
as the choir starts to sing
battle hymns rise and herald
the dawn of a new morning
as we realize that it's
a fair and desperate warning
telling us never to give up
that there's hope for mankind
to redefine who we'll be
if we're just given time

(may i suggest a way for us to override the left justifying, mine was supposed to come out like...)


Never


Ever


......Veer



(without the periods)

NEVER COZY UP TO A DOZEN DONUTS

Your regimen is in control
you're taking off the pounds,
the image in your mirror
is quite a bit less round,
You watch your calories and carbs
you drink a lot of water,
but your eyes get wide when you decide
to do something you shouldn't oughta.

You can't resist that peanut stick,
the Boston cremes look good,
you can see your belly filled with that jelly,
do you think you should?
Your stomach churns for cruellers,
the lemon custards ooze,
you can't decide (but you gotta hide)
whichever one you choose.

You peek around the corners
to see whose eyes are spying,
Your mind is racing, just which one
will be the one you're trying.
You lift the lid so claim your prize
you're dying just to try it,
then comes the phrase you do despise
"What about your diet?"

Then you walk away dejected,
your salivation's ceased,
Your craving for that plain old glazed,
is just about deceased.
So you grumble munching carrot sticks
when still you want to try 'em,
and you piss and moan 'til the cows come home,
"Just why the hell'd you buy 'em?"

Whether you're on Weight Watchers,
Atkins, "The Beach" or such,
Never cozy up to a dozen donuts
the pressure's just too much.

"A moment on the lips,
a lifetime on the..." OH SHUT UP!

Never Assume Things Stay The Same

Here's the thing
I need to say
its on my mind
in every way

you may not like it
though its true
and I must share
my thoughts with you

you hardly call
you barely write
I don't complain
or want to fight

yet I know
when you're in pain
you'll pick up
that phone again

unload on me
with more sad tales
use my worn ear
when all else fails

and through my anger
I can see
the ways in which
you're harming me

time goes by
it disappears
hours and days
and months and years

same old pattern
same old song
except now
I know its wrong

to wait for you
to hope, you see
that you'll have
more respect for me

I taught you this
would be okay
effort or not
I'd always stay

but I've grown tired
of this game
where our dynamic
stays the same

in real friendship
it takes two
but in this tie
there's only you

I know life changes
yes I see
its time to set
my crushed heart free

it will be hard
to deal with grief
but in the end
will be relief

I wish you well
and all the best
I let you go
so I can rest

and give my mind
a bit of ease
no longer wait
or try to please

the one who only
thinks to call
when she needs me
or not at all.

Never wear that hat again

Never wear that hat
again. It doesn’t flatter
you. The red is wrong
for the shades of pink that blush
your lovely face of blues.

Why Is There Ever in Never

Two elves in the Word factory
Working their fingers to the bone
in the Department of Negativity
working late and all alone
were handling the slippery “not ever”
when the “not” dropped and off broke the “n”.
They pulled the conveyor belt lever
Bringing to a halt the evening production.
Said one elf to the other “What are we to do?”
“Stick them together. It’s done all the time.”
And so with word glue they made one word out of two.

I Googled Never *.* and got some interesting answers about 'Never _____,' Here is one of the results:

Never Write-Off a Ferrari

The IRS loathes deductions
which are frivolously taken.
They’ll often point this out to you
and tell you you’re mistaken.
And if that happens (and it will!)
just tell them that you’re sorry
and also that you’ll never again
try writing-off a Ferrari.

Never Regret

Choice need to made each day,
Life, it seems, is just that way.
What to eat, what to wear,
Don't just listen, really hear.

Find true love, but you'll get hurt,
Still, look for it, don't just flirt.
Decide on children, follow through,
Don't just wonder what to do.

Try your best to stay healthy,
don't complain if your not wealthy,
Most of all, don't ever forget,
Live your way, with out regret.

Never, Never Let Melli go!
Ode to a person named Melli

Her bounce and winning smile
That made our life worth while
Her laughter gone from my space
Where once it filled the place
Never, never let Melli go.

From Maryland she came
To meet Dr. John was her aim
To learn and study at his feet
She thought was really neat
Never, never let Melli go

Every day a new eating place
Even one with a fireplace
A change for stay at homes
Living like closet gnomes
Never, never let Melli go

Canasta was the game she played
A flair for cards she displayed
The white table’s empty now
We will survive somehow
Never, never let Melli go

Took Ella and the saffron
Camera Made by Cannon
“Mom” and lots of stuff
She really bought enough
Never, never let Melli go

So now we sit in quiet air
Wishing she were there
Laughing as loud as she can
But that’s not the plan
Never, never let Melli go

Upon our faces little tears
Our hearts having little fears
Life will never be the same
Melli has changed the game
Never, never let Melli go

Never Hide from Sun and Rain

Never would the God of Abraham create a living thing,
aflame with longings and desires, and then permit no
way to honor them. Yet higher, higher, every nerve
and cell insist; potentialities rebel against such prejudicial
limits, which are death to them.

Think of it! Did Mendelssohn forswear his music with the
claim it brought him joy he dared not entertain? No
oratorio Elijah would the world have gained, no Scottish
Symphony, no Hebrides, no Fingal’s Cave. To turn away
from light is like a daffodil endeavoring to burrow
underground as if to hide from sun and rain and never
bloom, as it was made to do.

If self-denial is your cup of tea, then you must beat yourself
incessantly as some ascetics do, and live in cellars and
subsist on parsnips. All that’s pleasant, any twinges of well-being,
you must instantly suppress. Wear sackcloth — dress
to be uncomfortable and drab. By all means, take no pride
in your endurance or your misery, but chide yourself for
hedonism. Be completely occupied with others’ needs;
neglect your own, for self-indulgence is apostasy.

As for me, I mean to serve God’s people joyfully, according
to the talents and the inclinations God has given me.
“Everything is for a purpose — a horse, a vine, the sun. Go
find your purpose; treat the world and God as one.”

Never talk to a stranger
Never complain
Never eat lard
Never get in over your head
Never cheat, lie, steal
Never talk back
Never watch porn
Never pick your nose, especially in public
Never go out after dark
Never quit
Never run a red light
Never swear
Never lose your temper
Never be late
Never fart
Never hurt another person
Never wear white shoes in winter
Never swim after eating
Never go to sleep without brushing your teeth
Never
Never
Never
Ever miss an opportunity
To play
Expore
Dance
Try something new
See beauty
Do good
Learn
Laugh
Love

Never Wish For a Child as it Snows


Never wish for a child as it snows because as the first flake will always curse the womb. Oh, the daughter will be beautiful, the son will be handsome: as white as the death pallor, as dark as the mirror's backside, as red as the menstrual blood which will no longer flow. But they will both die. It is fate, as common knowledge as the little girl only being able to save her brothers by cutting off her own finger and feeding it to the moon.

Mother will die, and then her children. Because as soon as the mother dies, the father finds a replacement, if only because he cannot stand the thought of his bed being empty. This is his only role in the story: he has a child with this other woman. And then he disappears, into the woodwork, the water's reflection. The stepmother does not wish upon snow. She wishes upon table tops, fields, her back, and so this new child is born, free of curses and harsh colors. The new mother loves the new child and imagines her stepchildren melting away, their bones liquefying and dripping down into the floorboards, slicking the stone.

This does not happen. Instead, the stepmother splits into two women: one who hates the boy, the other who hates the girl. This has nothing to do with beauty but with the survival of her progeny. Both women have a love for apples: one to cook and the other to look.

So it happens that the stepmother who hates the girl devises an apple with poison skin. She licks around the peel, her saliva putrid with fear and disapproval. She waits patiently for the apple to dry and when the sheen has been reduced to a flat matte, she divides it into segments and places the fruit on the stepdaughter's dinner plate. “Now eat,” she says and the stepdaughter eats. She is dead within the first bite and the stepmother lifts the floorboards and drags her beneath, her own daughter standing behind.

And so it is left to her other half to be rid of the boy. The stepmother owns a gold gilded trunk filled with apples. The boy craves these apples, all of which have unblemished flesh, free of wax and fingerprints. But the trunk's lid is heavy and although he strains, he cannot get at the apples kept within. The stepmother croons to the boy, “Are you hungry? Would you like an apple?” He asks, “An apple from your trunk?” To which she says, “I would serve you no other.” She leads him to the trunk and lifts the lid. He leans in, staring at the apples, his fingers hovering over the round red. Just as he selects his apple and lifts it for a bite, the stepmother loosens her grip on the lid. Down it comes. His head lands among the apples, paints them redder. She carves him and turns the flesh to sausage to feed the father, who regains his physical form and takes his place at the dinner table. He eats his son and begs for more, to the extent that the stepmother's girl must go beneath the floor and prepare her half-sister's body for the links.

In this way, the stepmother is free and the curse has reached its conclusion. The snow is satisfied. It drifts down, covering footprints, sins, and graveyards. It feels nothing but cold. But things happen which the snow is unprepared for:

The girl's ghost comes to a prince. He loves her and they make love while he sleeps. When he awakes, there are children everywhere but no mother. He follows the ghost into the forest, into the next kingdom, follows her until she stops at the stepmother's door and gestures for him to step inside. There, he sees the stepmother walking from room to room, her eyes sewed closed and the girl's bones around her neck, the sister walking on her knees behind her, sweeping up ashes and splinters of wood. He slays the stepmother and puts the bones back together. He kisses the skull because he is in love.

The boy becomes a bird. He sings until the skies open up and lightning falls whenever he points with the tip of a wing. He sings for his sister, who goes outside and is dressed in fine silk. He calls for the stepmother, whose toes are now missing, and when she hobbles past the doorway, her face thin and dragging down, he points his wings and weights fall. They land upon her, crush her dead. And so she is gone, both halves committed to the ground, where they join together, and it is just one stepmother, veiled and haunted, dressed in burning iron shoes, searching the underworld for her only daughter.

And so it is. Snow based conceptions lack the happy ending of fancy balls and light spring breezes. Happiness can only be found if something dies many times over. Nothing can exist for long if it born in such pure hues and the snow knows this. Hence, why it falls and melts away, again and again, all winter long, while the would be mothers stare out of their bedroom windows while sewing and whisper, “How I wish I had a child that was white as snow.”

Never Break That West Wind

The sky went unrecognized all that morning
And through the afternoon
It was not until evening, the glorious gloaming
That began to slip in under the door,
And to gradually fill the room,
Cyclopean stars opening their eyes
One by one took their places on the loveseat
But I would not open my eyes
I would not look upon that sky
It's intrusion was a profanity to me
And so I let out a long, pleading, yet luxuriant fart
Like the wandering violin line that opens Beethoven's Op. 131,
Solid and lasting, like the art in museums,
And the stars sat politely, pretending not to hear it.

NEVER, EVER

You can get your words to live by
From the anchor on the news.
You can learn a funny story
From the man who's selling shoes.
You can parlay grannie's teaching
Into money in the bank.
You can get your daily Sartre
From a bum who hustles crank.
You can get your cautionaries
Out of Aesop and his tales,
And the shalt-nots in the Bible
Give advice that never fails.
There's poetry in coffee pots,
A world of truth in booze
But don't never, never ever
Pay attention to the blues.

Never Forget to Pack

clothes, contacts, computer
check
earrings, earplugs, edibles
check
panties, pencils, pillow
check
hairbrush, hair clips, hair gel
check
make up, money, maps
check
id, id?, id!!!

Never Tell a Witch You Haven't Had Breakfast

For she will not believe you
when you later try to insist
you aren't hungry at all
while your eyes keep straying
toward the bowl of hot broth
and the glass of sweet tea
and the plate of perfect morsels
all waiting for you to surrender
to the invitation you stumbled into.

You Will Never See Eye-to-Eye With Your Family

There is nothing more annoying
than your little snotty brother
armed with a mischievous grin
and his eye on the sight of a squirt gun,

and there is nothing more dangerous
than your curious older sister
armed with a tiny silver key
and her eye on the location of your diary,

and there is nothing more frightening
than your ‘good intentions’ mother
armed with a sharp pair of scissors,
and her eye on your fly-away hair,

and there is nothing more intimidating
than your hovering protective father
armed with combat knowledge
and an eye on your nervous boyfriend,

and there is nothing more humiliating
than your sweet old grandmother
armed with your naked baby pictures
and an eye on your embarrassed date,

but there is nothing more special than prom.

“Never Give Up” By: Melinda Elmore


When life gets tough
Never give up

When you feel you can’t go on
Turn your head
Keep pressing on

Life is short and full of doubt
Just keep faith
It will all work out

Remember, these words
“Never Give Up”
For life is a gift
Sent from Heaven above.

By: Melinda Elmore

Never Ignore Your Mother’s Advice


Stand up straight.

Don’t flirt or fawn
like some kind
of simpleton.

Keep your wits
about you.

Escape while
there is still time.

Avoid the suburbs,
vacuum cleaners,
Bible salesmen
and giving birth, or

lock yourself
in the bathroom
and smoke while
your children sleep.

Don’t pick at scabs.
Those necessary scars.

Thou shalt not wallow,
as if it were the eleventh
commandment,
and that easy.

Never Kill a Character when it’s Still a Child

I wrote another novel when the first was coming out
about a minor demon and his friends.
He hung about with Harold: the devil’s latest bout
of sowing demon oats brought dividends.
Now Harold married Gillian a vampire by trade
although her trade was more like dry-land piracy.
No “Stand, ye, and deliver” in a sheltered woodland glade
but more ‘Your money –and-- your life” you see.
In the latest novel which I have yet to complete
the vampire has a child by magic means.
And now the child’s in danger from the goblins and the feet
of a werewolf wishing wishes and the former fairy queens.
There’s no way to survive it but an early hatching plot
has Lucy take a hit from her dark sister
Now do I let her snuff it or shall I really not
and just say the spirit blade had missed her?
Whatever I decide I need to get the chapters made
and finish the darned novel in good time.
The book is hanging over me like Damocles’ blade --
at least the novel’s easier than rhyme!

Never Beat Your Drum Into the Dark Night

By Therese Haberman


Never Beat Your Drum
Into the Dark Night
Ghouls gather for a crumb
As soon as the moon glows light.

Stay clear of those chirping spring peepers
In bogs of mud and slime they climb
You will feel the willies and the creepers
As the hand stroke of midnight does chime.

Never leave your heart out on the door step
When darkness descends once more
A longing within you will have crept
Down your sleeve and out the front door.

Uncrinkle your toes, stop twitching your nose
The incubus lurks in your closet
Fast to sleep you must go, or don’t you know?
The sandman with take his deposit.

Never Stop Trusting that Love will Find You

If there is nothing else that I have learned
in all these years that I have been alive
it's that sometimes you can't help but get burned
especially if it's for true love you strive
A man can take your heart and treat it well
or crush it if that's what he wants to do
but never stop in trusting; don't expel
belief that love will find its way to you
Relationships will come and they will go
and each imparts a wisdom so unique
but when two hearts are one, then you will know
you've finally found the love that you did seek
Have faith and brush your hesitance aside
Take all love's faults and shortcomings in stride

Never Touch Me in Anger

Dad told me a man who touches
in anger is no man at all, a brutish oaf
who can’t control himself. I listened
(dutiful daughter not in play though), heeded
when that ex husband grabbed my arms hard,
shook me, left fingerprints in purple, blue, green.
Dad said the first angry touch of a man
should be the last touch at all from him. Fin.

“Never touch me in anger” is my mantra,
though this new husband’s gentle
man to the core. I need not listen
to my father’s voice, his admonishing
voice. I am finally, blessedly safe.

Never Mention My Father’s Feet (To Him)

He must shop. And I,
I must drive him. His favorite store
is polished and dim as a rich man's fire-
lit den. He staggers for carved meats,
becomes excited over meatballs
the size of a boxer’s fists, yet buys
none. I tell him: have them
if you want them! but he limps
like a determined desert crosser
for the jams, annoyed when I discover
his marmalade first. I follow
with the squealing cart, knowing
this, too, offends: cart-
song, shadowing (woman
with no country). It's been 42 years.
What am I mis-
sing?

He struggles for land legs
in the baked goods, demands
the last fresh 'everything' bagel
from a girl mute behind imperious
counter. Declares we're through.
Writes his pin-striped check
as those behind us stir un-
graciously.

A glance over my shoulder in the in-
fernal parking lot: my father is gone,
back inside for more. That quick.
How he gets away with it! I load
his frightful car in placid sunset.

skinned beasts
shipwrecked twins invaded
by native strains
left organs cooling
on a sacrificial plinth

There's no talking about my father’s ruined feet.
Later, I drive him to rent a movie
from a scathingly lit place where we are both
humiliated by the jackass
clerk.

“Nevers”: Notes to My Children

Never let them get you down.
Never see the glass as half empty.
Never judge a book by its cover.
Never let someone else determine your happiness.
Believe in the power of you.

Never speak before your think.
Never talk behind people’s backs.
Never leave someone out on purpose.
Never give up on finding your true joy.
The more the merrier.

Never disrespect your elders.
Never disobey when it comes to the important stuff.
Never forget older generations have a valid point of view.
Never lose sight of the good in every person, every day.
Search out wisdom.

Never stop taking time to rejuvenate.
Never forget that anything is possible with hard work.
Never limit yourself because of “what if’s”.
Never lose the passions you find, the fire in your soul.
Always try your hardest.

Never drink and drive or go with someone who does.
Never be greedy or stingy or uncaring.
Never give up on your plans for yourself.
Never stop seeing the wonder all around you.
Dream big.

Never think in terms of “nevers”.
Never stop learning something new.
Never believe there isn’t room for reinvention.
Never give up when the goal is admirable.
Feed your soul.

Never discount the love of your family.
Never lose your roots, your core.
Never think those closest to you don’t miss you where you’re away.
Never feel alone.
Feel their love. Always.

© 2009 Molly Logan Anderson

Never before now

I never thought I would see the day
the sun fall over and into my way.
I never thought you could have it all
without being frightened to take a fall.
I never thought I could be so free
to examine myself in truthful proximity.
I never thought I would find so much
stuff inside me to be so proud of.
I never will undermine myself again
by expecting less than what I can gain
I will never give up nor will I give in
this I happily chant day out, day in.
Never forgetting writing a poem a day
is more of a pleasure than before I’d say

I having a hard time posting my poetry in some of the previous prompts... what do I do??

Never Let Them See You Cry

Look sad as you want,
hold back tears till you're alone.
Poets should not cry.

Never River

Open, endless
Without origin
And from a distance,
It progresses lazily
A wide silky blue-grey ribbon
Cutting through, emerald and blue green peaks
That pierce the low white sky
Veins, little misty veils, fairies and pony tails plummet
And follow the greater course

Look closely
And the surface is capped white
By the furious East wind
Bitter cold, unwelcoming waters for swimmers
Commerce skims the surface
But does not settle in
Only the prehistoric sturgeon twists in its current
And make a home of these swift, persuasive waters

Passing below the bridge of the gods
Pushing inexorably West
To join, and rejoin, the mother ocean
And the sunset
That paints the surface amber, then crimson
Cool crystal turns to salty tears
Before the river is lost in the night

“Never Forget Who You Are”

You may change,
You may stay the same,
You may loose your way,
But never forget who you are.

Never give up on your dreams
****************************************

Never give up on your dreams,
Keep on visualising it and one day you will find,
You will achieve and get whatever it is not following the mainstreams,
Believe you will get it and it will be defined.

Whether its a dream job or a holiday to Paris,
Or being with the man of your dreams,
Be with your loved ones and rowing in a boat in Isis,
Keep it clear in your mind and not just in daydreams.

My Child Will Never. . .

I saw a young mother in the grocery line,
Her baby was sleeping peacefully in the cart,
She was watching a toddler pitch a fit because his mother
wouldn't let him have a candy bar,
(Personally, I think whoever came up with the bright idea
to put candy at the check-out should be forced to
spend a week with a room full of hyperactive kindergartners)
But anyway--
this young woman "hmmphed" and looked my way,
"My child will never act like that," she said.

Oh, you foolish girl--
Be rest assured, your child will not only pitch fits,
He will announce to the world when he has to poop. . .
Pick his nose and yes, eat it. . .
Lift up your skirt at church. . .
Create lovely designs with permanent marker
on your new sofa. . .
I didn't even have the heart to tell her what would happen
when homones came into the mix;
Actually, I didn't say anything to her at all--
I just smiled.

Just then the baby woke up and started screaming
in that high-pitched scream that could curdle milk,--
She tried to console him, but he would have none of it
And I just smiled.

Never draw on windows

Nor act like a child,
shivering in the heat
when your love trots
on the lawn below.

Nothing left to cling
to, except for scents
of innocent anxiety,
now that we are done.

Pull down the shades
between us, rebuild
your grown-up vaneer,
before the panes crack.

Reveal, in a fleeting
moment, what’s already
transparent: a look
is no longer a kiss. And

so firm up what softened,
what gave way, between us
recreate the boundaries
that only adults hold dear.

LaQuisha Hall
If you can't find some of the older pages, go to the main page for today's prompt and look at the left side of the page. Find the calendar and click on the date you want a prompt for. That will load a page that includes the day you wanted as well as a lot of other previous days.

I'm not sure if that was your problem, but I hope that takes care of it.

good luck!

Never Begin

Fulsome her rage pillowed deep in her chest she
Opens lips, takes in breath and
hold on girl, hold on breathe

Running the pace getting automatic the
feet doing their thing alone but
see the finish and stutter

Like legless birds we can make life soar but
should our eyes glance to land -
Baby, don't start!

-mv

--

Pearl Ketover Prilik: Great job with "Never write them off", and thanks for sharing the "Note-in-the-bottle" at the bottom about receiving sentimental gifts and cards from long lost relatives. I know the experience as one of 12 siblings! Richard-Merlin Atwater

LaQuisha Hall: Answer to your question: "PRAY!" I love your name "La Quisha". Help response: "Try and try again, and again, but NEVER give up on trying to RE-Post Prompts that don't take. File down each Prompt day to click on the post at the bottom for each day based on the calendar to the left of the POET ASIDES page
"Obi-wan" R.M. Atwater

Never Should Tony and Nora Meet

Small and quiet like a hummingbird,
lava lamp, honey voiced Nora Jones
has Holiday style and Ronstadt timing.
Adored by scores who have never heard
of her father. And what is a sitar anyway?
If crossed with Mr. inventor and
re-inventor of popular jazz Bennett’s
fine red wine always right-on perfection
you would get a voice-hypnosis that would
stop the world in its tracks. We would
have to pass legislation against listening
while driving or operating machinery.
There would be warnings against
drinking while listening. Schools would
search lockers and backpacks, confiscate
CDs, get the child welfare system involved.
Their progeny would have to be
aborted at conception. Listen
Nora and Tony must never meet!

Never let anyone else name your soul

Never let anyone else name your soul
for then they will chain you and charge you a toll
to travel the pathway that leads to the truth.
Down to the valley and city uncouth,
there to obtain supplies for your journey.
they'll try access you a price for the gurney

needed to carry your baggage until
you've learned what you need in life to fulfill
the destiny God created you for.
If they're still with you they'll seek to implore
you to retain the skeleton key
they use to define who they think you should be.

By now it is clear fatigue has set in
and all they will do is claw at your skin
trying to slow the progress you seek.
Nicknames and insults; directions oblique
steer you off-course until you know better,
but then they will try to make you their debtor

reminding you how they stood by your side
never admitting just how much they hide
ridicule heaped on your back with disdain
for what you allowed by their unchallenged reign
over your choices. If you detach
be careful of plots against you they'll hatch!

April 29 – Never

(After listening to the news today, I couldn’t resist this one!)

Never Wear a Pumpkin

Never, for a prank, run naked down the street
wearing only a pumpkin on your head.
Causing great alarm for the cop on the beat,
Leaving your motive hanging by a thread.

La Quisha---I could just squeeze you into a glass of orange juice since i'm from Florida. We can patnet a brand and call it
"La Quisha Orange Juice from Florida: RMA

Robert
what a lovely poem you've written today!
Also like your 'longing' and another I forget now...
Ok, post later here.

NEVER LAND IN NEVERLAND

Where'd you go to, Peter Pan?
Where's your inner child?
Did you think that "growing up"
meant giving up your smile?
The lessons learned in puberty
serve your libido well,
and the things you knew each time you grew,
they sure are working swell.
So don't despair at loss of hair,
don't feign a flatter belly,
don't exacerbate the things you hate,
to do so's really smelly.
Just realize your real prize
awaits the life you're living,
so, word to the wise, don't compromise
the gift of YOU you're giving.
Return each smile with grace and style,
Help out when people need you,
Stay on task and never doubt
the "love" we've all agreed to.
Be a better human being
and show the world your passion,
don't go around, chin on the ground
and attitude a-crashin'.
Don't give up on your happy thought,
and keep your wings a-flappin',
go through life and flash your smile
you'll be awed by what will happen.
So don't grow "old" in heart and mind,
the parade's not passing by,
And never land in Neverland,
just crow real loud and fly!

never use neosporin

it makes everything
a sticky and gooey mess
scars tell a story

Never Blink in the face of Adversity

Especially in a city,
When problems mount and taunt,
Hardly a minute without a prompt,
And no small amount of pity.

Never blink in the face of doom,
Especially in a room of gloom,
The prompts inspire and foster,
Work that emanates from a roster.

Work hard in the face of adversity,
Climb that eternal mountain,
Conquer everything with sheer perversity,
Risk limbs in infernal fountains.

NEVER...

Never lose the wonder inside when you look up at the starry night sky.
Never stop pondering the rocks and stones that you gather.
Never forget to stop and gaze at the fluttering of the butterfly.
Never stop enjoying the fun of bubbles and soapy lather.

Never forget to inhale the sweet scent of a blooming flower.
Never close your mind to new ideas and yet unknown dreams.
Never doubt yourself, always believe in your own power.
Never assume to know all, nothing ever is what it seems.

Never let the onslaught of someone's angry words destroy you.
Never let someone's critical sneer conquer your sense of joy.
Never let the loss of false friends make you lonely and blue.
Never lose the chance to laugh and make the life you enjoy.

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS AN EASY WAY TO BE SURE/TRACK EACH DAY FOR YOUR OWN POEMS OR SOMEONE ELSES YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ WITHOUT SCROLLING DOWN THROUGH EVERY POEM EACH DAY?

Never Say Never

Never is a very long time.
Like ever after, only worse.
Instead of spending forever
in eternal bliss, never getting

bliss at all seems a little
more final. Longer I guess.

Then, of course, there’s
happily ever after. Now
isn’t that like strumming
harps on silver clouds.

I guess never after is the
alternative, and who even

knows what that means? Like
lovers who swear they’ll never
fall out of love and then file
for divorce within a year.

Never is such a liar because
it stretches too far to know.

NEVER give up on Re-Posting Prompts that Don't Take
(C)Richard-Merlin Atwater April 29, 2009

Befuddle my mind, it's done it again:
My "prompt post" did not "take" AGAIN!
So I must re-post a hundred-and-one,
Call it frustration, it's just for FUN!

NEVER give up, NEVER give in,
Re-Post your "prompt poems" again,
So if they don't take, don't blame it on Jake
Just think of it "as a sin".

To be expuled, exhumed in time,
Removed from computer screen,
Blame it on Robert who lost it all twice,
Then go home to your thoughts and your dreams!
================================================
Poet's Note: Dedicated to the lovely lady with the darling "Orange name" La Quisha--"squeeze"--it's "orange juice"
Love to all "Patient Poets" who had to Re-Post! "Sir" RMA

Jolanta, you reminded me of my favorite age. Thanks.



Never Leave-off Being Six

Six is the most wonderful age to be--
old enough to read
and wander through the fairy-land of books;
young enough to go outside and look for fairies.
Young enough to have time to wander free--
time to play.

Young enough to dream of what you want to be
before circumstances narrow your choices.
Young enough to believe you can do anything
and that doing it will be wonderful.

Young enough to feel the shiver of excitement
with each new day and each time you go outside--
expecting some new discovery.
So young that the garden holds delights
in flowers, bees and toads..

Young enough to pick berries, collect rocks
and chew on bitter-sweet sorrel.
I still fill my pockets with rocks...
I like the red ones best.

I blow umbrellas off of dandelions
and pick wild flowers.
I watch the water from the hose flow in gurgling streams
and imagine fairies under flowers and leaves.

If I live to be a century
I hope I never leave-off being six.

Never Call Yourself A Poet

Never call yourself a poet
just write like you believe
and keep it to yourself---
the knowin'...not the poem.

Never call yourself a Godly man
just understand and lead with
quiet, kind example. Hold close your
counsel when you've not been asked.

Never call yourself righteous
just find True-North on that
carried-within compass and be prepared
to take the high road, the long way.

Never call yourself your
religion as a trump-card play
just judge less and let
forgiveness set everyone free.

Never call yourself humble
just disappear all but ears
and love for one another.

Never call yourself a poet
just write like you believe.

Never Forget

Never forget
watching ducks land
out at the bay.
Never forget coke and fries
at Mason’s drive-in.
Never forget
that night at the drive-in theatre,
McKenna’s Gold on the screen
we didn’t watch.
Never forget
our babies before
they grew into men—
colicky nights, folding diapers,
toothless smiles.
Never forget
steaks in the canyon,
fishing shorelines, campfires, nature hikes.
Never forget
Virginia City, Yellowstone
or Flaming Gorge.
And never stop loving me

Never, as in never ever never

If I can never touch your face
I can see you in my dreams
If I can never hold your hand
I can hold the things we shared
Do you hear me when I talk to you?
I will never know. But you are in
My thoughts and prayers, husband,
Daughter, parents too.. I’ll always
remember laughter and the times
We disagreed – all those little things
The substance of our daily lives
We miss them when we leave….
Will we all be together then
In that place where we all go?
That :never sends us back again—
This world will never know.

Rose Anna,
Control-F will bring up a search window. Type the name you're looking for, it will take you there.

I Will Never Go Back

To that store where the beefy employee with the square head
Who looked like Frankenstein
Chased me through the parking lot
Holding a small green cabbage high above his head.

“Did you leave this?”
He asked, his eyes darting furtively left and right
Up and down.
I had reached the relative safety of my car
And opened the window just an inch
To tell him no, it was not mine…
As though I would claim a cabbage that had been handled
Like a naked football
Even if it were my own.

But it wasn’t,
My produce, safe in plastic bags,
And he went off, down the rows of cars,
Displaying the leafy crucifer like a torch
And calling out,
“Who left a cabbage?”

Reminding me once again
That even a good deed
Like trying to return
A forgotten cabbage
Can feel like a descent
Into insanity.

Never Work a Job You Hate

I have dabbled in two
of the worst offenders in this regard;
selling manufactured housing,
AKA trailers,
and home mortgages.
It is hard to describe the miasma
one must float in to do these things.
Suffice it to say,
you must suspend your humanity
and operate purely from baser instincts.
Herein is a world where the kind of person
you truly despise excels
and is venerated by the powers that be.
Imagine the worst bully from your school days,
the one who purposefully and repeatedly
hit you in the nuts during dodge ball
as the hero of your workplace
and you get a notion of the horror.
Conjure in your mind’s eye
the most small minded,
mean spirited shell of a human
you have ever encountered;
this will be your boss.

“Never Never land”

She swirls up high, touching her head on
clouds – not the puffy, white thunderheads
that threaten rain but the wispy, foamy
ones that lazily dance in the sky, moving
only when a child gazes from their back
to make pictures: pirates, dragons and
elephants. Imagination soaring, waiting
for the moment when her dreams become
her every day, when she’s given birth to
a whole new form of art that no one can
claim, save herself. Her toes stay grounded
by the bed, where she still hears her mother
call for dinner and her homework still
beckons, wrapping her in mathematics
until her thoughts divide themselves, reducing
down to the lowest common denominator.
But at night she stands on her tippiest toes, her
points all pink and raw, to see the place she
knows she’s from, that only she can see; with
brightest yellows covering all: yellow cats and dogs
and yellow people, with yellow shirts and yellow
pants and yellow shoes with yellow laces and yellow
socks and yellow hair with yellow ribbons. Yellow
grass that’s glorious, like butter spread on thick,
yellow flowers that smell like cake and yellow skies
that contain the slightest trace of pink. She sighs,
her breath coming out in yellow puffs, she knows
the night grows long and down from her toes
she must come, returning to the place where they
call her Amelia, instead of Cordelia, as the yellow
people named her. She’ll be back again tonight,
or maybe even today during Science class.

Important text messages to those who live amongst the living:

NVER kill life Haikus

Nver

kill those spirits

that can & will create

innovate, generate

progress

(progress is the mark of a civilized society)

SEND

Nver

stay dead while u

live & walk among those

who give, as they inspire

true love

(true love is base ingredient for civilized progress)

SEND

Nver

Die b4 u

use ur life wisely to

synchronize ur heart & soul with

someone

(each of us flourishes in interdependence & connection)

SEND

Nver

Die b4 u

live, love and lose something,

someone, or peace of mind and it

returns

(Inevitable crisis can only be overcome through HOPE)

SEND

Nver

Die b4 u

Live to fulfill some dreams

that could only b achieved thru

blind faith

(Dreams to travel to reality on the backs of believing)

Always

SEND Love Haiku

Love means
sacrificing
today for a chance to
work for a better tomorrow
for all. (Love is ...)

SEND

Now I have to get back to work!

“Never go to bed angry”

You might feel it justified
To pull the covers
Up over your head

Angry words
Insensitive deeds
After all, it was deserved

But later those feelings
Of guilt, remorse
Will come back to haunt

Longings of unity
Togetherness
Infiltrate my entire being

Let’s put aside our differences
And agree to disagree
‘Cause I never
Want to go to bed angry again


By Teresa Lasher
© April 29, 2009

Never Again

Never again will I hear your sweet voice,
whispering words of love in my ear.
Never again will I see your radiant smile,
the one that lights up your face.
Never again will you touch my lush lips,
with your sweet and tender kiss.
Never again will you hold me each night,
snuggled in your loving embrace.
Never again will we be together, my love,
for you have left me forever.

Sharon, in "Never Say Never", I like the "wiggle", my sentiments exactly!

Never Anger A Skunk

It's not
worth it.



(I'll post a "real" one later ...)

Never Stop to Look Back

ignorance
may be our only chance
for freedom
once your feet
hit the road
stare straight ahead
go, go, go
behind you only wreckage
flame, devastation
ahead the skyline
look back
and you will have to change
keep going
and all will stay
infinitely the same.

Never expect love
to shrink in shadows:
subtle aren’t the points
of Cupid’s arrows

(I tried to write a haiku but this came out.)

Never ask your mother about her wild past

You only know the domesticated one, after all.
The other is a stranger, living deep in distant woods,
Who dances and sings and does dangerous things,
Who stays out late and puts nobody to bed,
not even herself.

Just as now, as she takes off her shoes
and walks bare footed through the newly
green grass, she is not with you for that first step.
She has retreated into her girlhood and met her untamed self
beside a river where a black bear fishes,
pulling out silver and gold.

never say sorry

apologies are for the asker
absolution for the forgiver

don't hold the past to a neck
like a knife, but sorry is just

another way of asking for
something that isn't yours

NEVER LOOKED BACK

the pillar of salt said...

Some nights comes a dream:

(on that blistering path
i put one foot in front of the other
leaving my home and my people
and followed you

didn't turn my head once
in spite of all my wailing
and the beating of my breasts

didn't think about the men in town
minding their own business
the women sewing clothes
children playing

when the sky broke open
and they died hand-in-hand
on streets that ran with fire
and stank of brimstone)

i walked upright and strong,

but only in my dream.

I did look back; it couldn't be helped.
It's easy to leave a place you live,
but not a place you love.
I often think, what if I hadn't?
and we'd gone on to Moab or Petra,
what kind of life would I have led,
hating you for tearing me away?

And for that aching shred of homesickness,
my head is turned back forever,
eroding in the night.

...but at least she'll never miss the place:
those halite eyes are fixed
upon the ruins of her crumbling city,
remembering and remembering.

“Never Comes Later”
There is a saying: “never say ‘never’”
It is understood later, which is pity
but God knows why, and it is right
and enough, though without question
- no thought, without lover – no love.

Never Stop Remembering

I remember reaching
for their hands
trying to secure them
before they left the car
before we neared a curb
before we left the park

I recall the time
I shut the door
too fast for fingers
just released
how my mind failed
to move me as fast
as my ears demanded.

I fancy many things
today, those years
so far behind
my trying to assure
a world I might
make safe, control.

I never fail to notice
mothers with their
little ones, their hands
clasped tight and snug
implanting memory
holding always
what is possible.

Never Miss the Chance to Love

“And never knowin'

What could've been

And not seein' that lovin' you

Is what I was tryin' to do
”
Rascal Flatts

Never miss the chance to love
Even for a little while.
It may hurt later,
Or it may not,
The gamble is worth the risk.

Never pass up the embrace of a lover,
The kiss full of passion,
The night you will always remember.
Memories made from the heart
Live on forever,
Comforting the soul on
Rainy days and dark lonely nights.

Never miss the chance to love
Because you may never get another.
Playing it safe will always
Leave you wondering
What could have been
If only
If only you had loved.

Never wait for the love of a father

Never imagine the father the man on your birth certificate was to the half sister. Never ask why you became a half daughter, or imagine it was she who was the good half. Never hang every birthday card that wasn’t sent,
or look at a photo of a young man like a phrenology skull.
Why not me? never should be thought. Note, but don’t invest
in the first man who broke your heart; he made you strong
and stood you in good stead. Abandon is not a word.
Iron flat foolish dreams of days they have in the movies
when you all meet up, shoot the breeze with riffled through words, sip tea and lay down facts, truth, understanding like a fresh table cloth.
It may never happen, all most of us learn from the past is to avoid its plague. Those familial embraces may be long lost, but given away, and will not bloom, only shrivel in your cold frame. There’s little use for noting resemblance, nothing much to be made of facial features like your own, the something missing from childhood photographs.
Don’t wait, if not never, but once you are no longer a child, for a long lost apology nestled inside a Christmas card to arrive, let all your new years eves songs really let family never be brought to mind.
Just think of them scientifically, faded faces on an old deck of cards, even if it was a hand you lost,
you played your best; now deal your own deck.
Don’t be tempted to be dragged back, for one more
game, find new emotional debt by investing in one more round
as if you can win each shed tear back. Change your name if you must,but only look at old photographs to shrink down the heads of your parents,float them away to an island,
a distant land where two people are just engaged in an experiment. The results are not conclusive yet,
you are still living,changing, forgive what you can’t forget
or can find no justice in. Don’t wait for an explanation,
just go on living, live harder on the day you open the paper
and find your father’s obituary, followed by a list of his loved ones that does not include your name.
Walk into the funeral with a straight spine,
if you can’t lie down any longer, say goodbye to all you never had. Expect no lesson, realization on any part.
You may feel you do and don’t belong here,learn more
from the eulogy than anybody told you, or than you asked.
Someone may make a joke your father saying you'd come for money, neither remind this godfather you never asked for anything, even acknowledgement. Have a smile at the ready that may not be polite, but uses it as a mask.
Drink only one beer, then shake your half sister’s hand; never look back. The invite to send off the ashes they promise you may never arrive, not one pinch of your father shared. Never ask. Just go on.
Your half sister says she’ll phone, the day never comes.
Stop waiting. Never wait again for love, now he's is gone.
Don’t be tempted to try to make that stranger
into your sister because that call will never come.
Your father’s ashes, as he was, scattered without you, flying to the sky. Don’t try to catch them,
just watch them go and let them blow away.

Never Title a Haiku

Fluid as water
No title can fit its thoughts
Mind wanders again

never forget the street lamp

Never forget the street lamp
Or wherever your from,
In otherwards the place you started,
I know we all have one.

Where the underdogs dream,
And the life gambler dwells,
The street lamp sees it all,
All including your tales.

So when you think nothings ever looking,
Nothing ever stares,
Just remember in the end
Never forget the streetlamp,
Never forget its always there.

"Never Found"

Where did my blue-eyed boy go?
He's lost in his mind,
Lost to his soul.
Who will make him whole?

Where did my blonde-haired boy go?
He's split in two and
Three and four.
Who will make him whole?

Where did my blue-eyed boy go?
He's needed here at home,
He's wanted by his clan.
Who will make us whole?

Never Speak in Rhyme (by Jeanetta Chrystie

I’ve been studying poetry
morning, noon, and night.
It seemed a clever hobby to
rhyme everything in sight.

Everything I say to friends
is coming out in rhyme.
They laughed at first but now they cringe,
Perhaps it’s more a crime?

I greet the postman and my dog
with unrelenting mirth.
But even at the grocery store
They question rhyming’s worth.

Everything I say these days
is coming out in verse.
So, is this really talent?
Or is this just a curse?

NEVER TELL A MYOPIC MOHEL,"TAKE A LITTLE OFF THE TOP"

It would be a bad decision,
when going for a circumcision,
to let a squinty Mohel try
to give a trim to your little guy.
Even if he wears his glasses,
it may end up just where his ass is.
Oy, what a boy!

Mazel Tov!

Never Marry Because.....


To avoid having to use birth control.
Children are not gambling chips.

To be an adult.
A gold band makes no difference if you are that puerile.

To be free from parents.
You may wish yourself back with them one day.

To be happy.
That is a state of mind, not a civil state.

To be like your friends.
Who says they have made the right choice?

To be something other than a spinster.
These days, anyway, the word is single.

To beat your sister to it.
Especially if she’s older and wiser.

To ease loneliness.
Being alone when half of a couple is worse.

To fall in love with him as you go along.
You don’t live within book covers.

To fulfil a promise you made long ago.
You may live to regret it.

To fulfil someone else’s promise.
This is even worse.

To get a Green Card or equivalent.
It will be your ransom.

To have a companion in your old age.
Who says you’ll live that long?

To have a go at interior decoration.
Do it on your computer instead.

To have a handsome husband.
His looks will fade – and so will yours.

To have access to his money.
If you don’t have it now, you never will.

To have sex.
It may be the only thing you’ll ever have.

To have someone to fulfil your dreams and desires.
He might expect the same of you – touché’.

To mitigate an unplanned pregnancy.
A baby is a reason, not an excuse.

To thank him for his love.
You are not a chattel.

Never marry because...
I told you so.

Never One for Gardening

If Norman had had a garden, a real one,
that needed weeding every day
and bore flowers and fruit and bright
red tomatoes in summer, things might
have been different. It could have kept him
out of the chair when the children raced by,
their noise getting under his skin like a spade
lifting anger from the bed it lay in.
It might have meant he’d get more sun
and all that that could do for his disposition.
It could have kept him looking forward
with hope, down with pride, up
in prayer for blessings earned with work.
Then again, it might have been
just another source of torment,
constant reminder of all he couldn’t manage,
image of how even his face was sunken in.

N-E-V-E-R E-V-E-R
(A Cento)

Never, upon awaking, have I been so empty;
Rooms are never finished.
I never should have thought of it again
Never would have thought
The truths of their pure lips, that never die.
I never hear the word "escape"
Proud word you never spoke, but you will speak
Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
You’re never there.
The eyes of your mare never close.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
And never a child awake but you
To clasp—what they have never clasped.
Some things you can never choose;
It’s never gonna be the same again.


1) Arielle Greenberg “Honey”
2) Agha Shahid Ali, "Rooms Are Never Finished"
3) William Wordsworth, “The Borderers”
4) Jaheim:Never
5) Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Queen Mab”
6) Emily Dickinson
7) Walter Savage Landor
8) T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land”
9) Cake, “Never There”
10) Meena Alexander, “Central Park, Carousel”
11) Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Mother”
12) Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sick Child”
13) D. H. Lawerence, “Virgin Youth”
14) Heart, “Never”
15) Bob Dylan, “Never Gonna Be the Same Again”

After yesterday, a couplet is simple! My mind is still tired from the Sestina!

Never Forget

Never forget the sacrifices of those
Who went before and met our foes.

Young and old they bravely came
Clearing a path to save our name.

Fighting their way across the land
Often alone and hand to hand.

Losing their farms and families
Brave patriots were these.

On covered wagon, horseback or foot
Strength and daring is what it took.

To sacrifice as they claimed a land
To be called America, the Grand.

So remember to give them a salute
Their sacrifices were not minute.

Never Let The Twenty-Ninth Animal Sing To You

Because
raccoons scratch canvas,
singing all the while
as they search out candy,
never let them know
that otherwise
its gargantuanly great to be alive
on the dunes, to be camping
on a moonless
night.

I felt ambitious today (or scatterbrained, whichever) and wrote two poems.

“Never Forget”

Don’t forget to pay the bills
Take out the garbage
Wash the dishes
Never forget to lock the door
Or turn off the lights
Never forget that poison ivy is not as benign as it looks
Don’t forget to wear sunscreen
Never forget that fanny packs are NOT in style
Neither are scrunchies, especially if you are a man
Never forget to check for toilet paper
Before you do your business
Also check to make sure the toilet paper hasn’t decided to tag
Along on the bottom of your shoe

“Never Forget v.2”

Never forget how much you love someone
Even when they’ve hurt you, upset you
And pissed you off
Never forget the small things are the things that mean the most
Like the letter on the counter
That reads, “I’m sorry. I love you.”
Never forget to make amends
Never forget to kiss him goodnight,
Good morning
Good-bye
And Hello
Never forget
How much he loves you

Never Fly Too Close to the Sun

We might all have learned
from Icarus

there is tragedy in heat
pleasure melts
in pandemic proportions.

NEVER DRINK FROM THE EDGE OF THE GLASS THAT'S AWAY FROM YOU

It doesn't matter how optimistic,
you will truly go ballistic,
even with a glass half filled,
your chocolate milk will still get spilled,
if you drink from the edge of the glass that's away from you.


Now, go change your shirt!

Never Surrender

Burn the reject letters
you’ve collected and submit the work again.
If your boss doesn’t like your efforts,
do it better than ever before.
Study for that test an extra hour.
Give a stranger a helping hand.
Call a friend to just say hello.
Stare down the barrel of the gun without blinking.
Never accept what others believe to be you.
Prove to the world, if only yourself, that you are
as great as you hoped to be.
Never surrender, go the extra mile,
If you don’t make it, at least make the ride worthwhile.

Never Say Never

It seems once you
say never
something comes up
and you
have to do
what you
said you would never
ever do.

The "Never's" of Poetry Writing

Never leave a poached egg in water
when trying to write poetry
It will turn from poached to hard-boiled,
disrupting its chemistry

Never try to get ready for work
then stop to write down a poem
The minutes fly by and soon
you'll find your mind has started to roam

Never try to write down a poem
while driving in your car
I tried this once and had to pull over
Not getting very far

Never give up on writing though
A lot can be said for that
This contest has helped inspire me
When my thoughts and words run flat

Never Marmalaide

Hot noonday, the pavement scorching.
A black cat prances in the street.
Thin and blotchy furred its harried eyes
Dart to survive, our eyes meet.

Something springs deep inside me
To offer water and food;
Black and wild no leather collar
With a desperate stare delude.

I toss my toast with marmalaide,
Last of all my lunch.
Stealth and crouched it takes
A sniff, a bite, a munch.

Black intruder strums my heart.
First food then water then shelter.
I welcome the wild within my home,
Its shaggy helter-skelter.

This back feline, now sleek and shiny
Observes me as its maid.
But, when I offer my toast again,
It glares, never with marmalaide.

Never Say I Didn’t Love You



Your pale, white feet, opalescent, petite.
Fine bird bones. The hardness of your


calf muscles, rounded and reminiscent
of Pan, your small, firm biceps, tough


enough to fight back when you were called
rat, runt, little one. Your smooth chest—I


loved to rest my head. Your long black hair,
wings of grey along the sides, burned me to


a fine emotion. I could not stand if you were
not standing, could not sit without you, breathe


without you, drink or eat. Red wine on weekends,
dinner with your cousin. His girlfriend. Board


games and your love. How I loved you, love you
still, your stubborn refusal to ever look back:


consistency. Sense of adventure, creativity,
compassion, need to make a difference. You made


a difference to me, and now I cannot forget you,
erase you; wish I’d never met you. Your fine


family, their welcome, the place in which you
lived, mountains, driving sea cliffs and Hollywood


panorama, Grace Kelly curves in the road, view
from her convertible. You, my view, all I wanted.


The skylight over us, crickets beside us, cats circling
and places to see. The end of us—of me, impossible.

Never Say Forever

It’s never clever to say forever.
Instead say,”Love? I’ll endeavor.”
For one never knows
whether love fades or grows.
Be safe, and forever say never.

Never Let Them See You Cry

“Cause I know you got some more tears to share,
Come on, let it go,
So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,
Honey, cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry,”
Janis Joplin


Never say you’re sorry if you’re not.
Those words lead the other person
To believe a change has been made
And that things are safe again.

Never say it’s all your fault if in a few
Weeks you’re going to decide you’re actually
Not the one to blame. This confuses
The listener over and over again.

And when they do all of the above,
Never let them see you cry.
It’s a sign they have the upper hand
And they will use your weak moment
To belittle your tears and always, always

Will turn on you in an instant.

layout lost, try again.

Never wait for a father

Never imagine the father
the man on your birth certificate
was to the half sister.
Never ask why you became a half daughter,
or imagine it she was the good half.
Never hang every birthday card that wasn’t sent,
or look his old photo like a phrenology skull.
Never think Why not me? Note, but don’t invest
in the first man who broke your heart;
he made you strong, his gift he never know he gave.
stood you in good stead. Abandon is not a word.
Iron flat dreams of days frm the movies
when you all meet up, shoot the breeze
with riffled through words, sip tea
and lay down facts, truth, understanding
like a fresh table cloth with boulders beneath.
It may never happen, all most learn from the past
is to avoid its plague. Familial embraces
may be not be long lost, but given away,
and now won't bloom, only shrivel in your cold frame.
There’s little use in noting resemblance,
nothing to be made of facial features like your own,
the part of you missing from photographs.
Don’t wait, if not never,
but once you are no longer a child,
for an apology nestled inside a Christmas card
to arrive, let all your new years eves songs
really let acquaintance of family
never be brought to mind.
Just think of them scientifically, faded faces
on an old deck of cards, even if it was a one you lost,
you played your best; now deal your own deck.
Don’t be tempted to be dragged back,
for one more game, new emotional debt
by investing in one more round
as if you can win each shed tear back.
Change your name if you must; only look
at old photos to shrink down the heads of your parents,float them away to an island,
a distant land where two people are just engaged in an experiment. The results are not conclusive yet,
you are still living,changing,
forgive what you can’t forget.
Don’t wait for an explanation, just go on living,
live harder on the day you open the paper
and find your father’s obituary,
followed by a list of his loved ones
that does not include your name.
Walk into the funeral with a straight spine,
if you can’t lie down any longer,
say goodbye to all you never had.
Expect no lesson, realization on any part.
You may feel you do and don’t belong here,
learn more from the eulogy than anybody told you,
or than you asked. Someone may make a joke
your father saying you'd come for money,
don't remind him you never asked for anything, even acknowledgement. Have a smile at the ready
that may not be polite, but uses it as a mask.
Drink only one beer,
then shake your half sister’s hand;
never look back.
The invite they promise to send off the ashes
may never arrive, not one pinch of him shared.
Never ask. Just go on.
Your half sister says she’ll phone,
the day never comes.Stop waiting.
Never wait again for love
now he's is gone.
Don’t fantasise you can make a stranger
a sister because the call will never come.
Your father’s ashes, as he was,
scattered without you, to the sky.
Don’t try to catch them, just watch them
go and let them blow away, fly.

April PAD Challenge
Linda Robertson
© April 29, 2009

NEVER

I never say “never”
or “always”
and I never make a promise,
because promises are always broken.

Oops…I just said “always.”

I guess I’ll have to change my beliefs,
and never again say
I will never again say
“never”
or
“always.”

I promise.

3rd time lucky!


Never wait for a father's love

Never imagine the father
the man on your birth certificate
was to the half sister.
Never ask why you became a half daughter,
or imagine it she was the good half.
Never hang every birthday card that wasn’t sent,
or look his old photo like a phrenology skull.
Never think Why not me? Note, but don’t invest
in the first man who broke your heart;
he made you strong, his gift he never know he gave.
stood you in good stead. Abandon is not a word.
Iron flat dreams of days frm the movies
when you all meet up, shoot the breeze
with riffled through words, sip tea
and lay down facts, truth, understanding
like a fresh table cloth with boulders beneath.
It may never happen, all most learn from the past
is to avoid its plague. Familial embraces
may be not be long lost, but given away,
and now won't bloom, only shrivel in your cold frame.
There’s little use in noting resemblance,
nothing to be made of facial features like your own,
the part of you missing from photographs.
Don’t wait, if not never,
but once you are no longer a child,
for an apology nestled inside a Christmas card
to arrive, let all your new years eves songs
really let acquaintance of family
never be brought to mind.
Just think of them scientifically, faded faces
on an old deck of cards, even if it was a one you lost,
you played your best; now deal your own deck.
Don’t be tempted to be dragged back,
for one more game, new emotional debt
by investing in one more round
as if you can win each shed tear back.
Change your name if you must; only look
at old photos to shrink down the heads of your parents,
float them away to an island,
a distant land where two people are just engaged in an experiment.
The results are not conclusive yet,
you are still living,changing,
forgive what you can’t forget.
Don’t wait for an explanation, just go on living,
live harder on the day you open the paper
and find your father’s obituary,
followed by a list of his loved ones
that does not include your name.
Walk into the funeral with a straight spine,
if you can’t lie down any longer,
say goodbye to all you never had.
Expect no lesson, realization on any part.
You may feel you do and don’t belong here,
learn more from the eulogy than anybody told you,
or than you asked. Someone may make a joke
your father saying you'd come for money,
don't remind him you never asked for anything,
even acknowledgement.
Have a smile at the ready
that may not be polite, but uses it as a mask.
Drink only one beer,
then shake your half sister’s hand;
never look back.
The invite they promise to send off the ashes
may never arrive, not one pinch of him shared.
Never ask. Just go on.
Your half sister says she’ll phone,
the day never comes.Stop waiting.
Never wait again for love
now he's is gone.
Don’t fantasise you can make a stranger
a sister because the call will never come.
Your father’s ashes, as he was,
scattered without you, to the sky.
Don’t try to catch them, just watch them
go and let them blow away, fly.

"Never Let Them See You..."
Never let them see you
eat the last doughnut.

Never let them see you
get mad.

Never let them have to
ask for your help.

Never let them wish they
didn't know you.

Never let a negative thought
take over your mind.

Never let a moment pass
without realizing its beauty.

Never let a card say
what you feel.

Never let your feelings
get in the way of helping.

Never let that smile turn
to a frown.

Never let them see you...

NEVER END A SENTENCE WITH

Mind your grammar,do what's right,
if you have a yen to write.

Mind your nouns they stand for things,
your verbs show action, they take wing.

Punctuation's really good,
use them all the way you should.

But NEVER, use a preposition
to end a sentence with.

Note to Self: Never...

Never write a sestina on frogs, thickhead.
Choral croaking overwhelms meter and rhyme.
Give it up to sonnets on princes or just
walk the dog instead.

Never Exhibit Foolish Consistency

Never exhibit a foolish consistency.
There is a place for hobgoblins,
and hobbyhorses, as well.
Foolishly exhibited, they tend to become
rather mainstream and ordinary.
The secreted consistency,
now there is a true monster.

Never lose sight of your dreams

It’s a cold world out there.
Hold onto what you can---
while you can.
Even if all you have
is a
Dream.
Hold onto it
both hands,
tight-fist.
If you feel it slip away---
Fight.
Keep your eyes
and all of yourself
focused upon IT.
For the nights
are long
and cold.
And sometimes all that
gets you through them
are the
dreams.

Never Ask Your Neighbor to Save the Environment when he used to be the Vice President

He doesn't recycle
There's no compost pile
He blacktopped his driveway
Shoot, he probably spit in the Nile

He stands in his yard
Spraying an aerosol can
I even saw him yesterday
Dumping out his oil pan

He turns up the heat in the winter
And the A/C in the heat
His carbon footprint is like
Bigfoot with swollen feet

But I'll keep my mouth shut
I will say nothing more
It's tough to get to talk to
A hypocrite like Al Gore

Never Noticed

A limp flag briefly rustles
against early light and a breeze
that lifts a lazy corner, a square
of fabric – a child’s eyelid
that rises, pestered by a mother’s
call, but returns to sleep, dreams
of Cracker-Jack puffs, plastic dinosaurs
forgotten in a backyard garden.

Never say never

Never say never
when asked if you could
never say never
'cause maybe you would

Never say never
when you think you can't
never say never
and you'll find you can

Never say never
will you speak to them again
never say never
make amends, lose the pain

Never say never
would you own another pet
never say never
you give love and you get

Never say never
will you do that again
never say never
experiences you gain

Never say never
will I write a poem a day
never say never
when you can have your say

I have been reading some stuff composed of heroic couplets recently, and when I started listing my possible "never____________"s, and came back later, I found them dancing around the page to show me they were already the ground of a poem.


April 29 Never, but never?

Never send your heart on ahead.
Never put pine cones in your bed.

Never fight with a Kung Fu master.
Never lean against wet plaster.

Never leave home without a prayer.
Never jump off a cliff on a dare.

Never run in July at noon.
Never garden with a silver spoon.

Never read the last page first.
Never use pond sludge to slake your thirst.

Always root for the underdog.
Always walk cautiously through a fog.

Read a poem every day.
Try to put your toys away.

These are good rules to keep in your head.
Or, you can make up your own instead.

Never Underestimate the Man in the Popcorn Stand

The cowboy in the blue bandana volunteers
His Saturday morning raising money to help others
Blue eyes glowing, lit from within shows his good cheer
Encouraging customers to join in with his infectious chuckle

Ready smile
Laughing voice
Willing to talk awhile
Leaves me no choice

I buy a bag of kettle corn
Munch on the addictive snack
Coated with sugar and salt

Both popcorn and seller brighten my morn
Got my mood back on positive track
Brings the doldrums from shopping to a halt

Never Pick

never pick a rose just before it blooms
never pick one single book when you can choose from volumes
never pick the losing team on a World Series bet
never pick your kids up late, they never will forget
never pick a brand new dress that doesn't seem to fit
and never pick this silly poem, I must be out of my wit

Never tell...

Secret thoughts live freely
in the minds of vessel dwellers.
Marooned for years
never reaching any seastrand.
Remaining securely seaworthy
travelling far and wide
but staying becalmed on the
evening tide
their precious cargo intact
unheard
unseen
unmentioned.
As the gentle rocking
motion soothes aboard
the qualms of disclosure. Betrayal.
A light breeze stirs up
waves, froth blows around.
White noise of crashing sea
drowns out the urge
to shout loudly from
the crow's-nest.
Echoing cries of gulls mask
merest whisper.
Only mermaids swimming deeply
catch an esoteric glimpse
of the inestimable hoard.
But they know steering safely
with great seamanship
the faithful will never tell.

Never pass a bathroom if you travel

Never pass a bathroom if you travel,
no matter how your husband rants and raves.
The one you do not use
is the last one of the day.
You’ve no idea how the bladder gets the craves.

Walt, bless your heart. I am stealing a few moments at the Laurelville library (wireless available) to post for yesterday, and to quickly scan for any messages to me. And then I encounter your "hypothetical" poem. You are SUCH a dear. I will truly miss our communication (and with the entire PAD community as well). Both my anniversary celebration and the PAD challenge will come to an end at the same time. Glad I am not who is prone to depression! Bless you! --Marie Elena

Rose Anna Hines- if you go Edit on your tool bar, you should find the promt "Find on this Page". If you click on that it will open a box where you can type in a person's first name and it will bring up each instance where that name is on that particular page. Very helpful tool. Hope this helps.

'DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS AN EASY WAY TO BE SURE/TRACK EACH DAY FOR YOUR OWN POEMS OR SOMEONE ELSES YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ WITHOUT SCROLLING DOWN THROUGH EVERY POEM EACH DAY?
Rose Anna Hines |dex dot digitsAT NOSPAMyahoo dot com'

Never and Always

It's hard to not say "never".
Say "never", not? It's hard.
So, if I never say "never",
I'll never say it's hard.

It's fun to say "forever".
Say "forever". It's fun.
So, if I do say "forever",
I'll always say it's fun.

Till the 13th of Never

Never ask about the bells
pay the toll

never cry milk tears
clean the floor

never ask directions
go round in circles

never make a person small
never make a person small

never kill a spider
wear a raincoat

never tell a lie
exaggerate

never open your mouth in deep water
hold your breath

never criticize your friend
except constructively

never say never


never pick up a cat by scruff
his claws will get you…

never is a long time
short poems may end abruptl


Carol A. Stephen
April 29, 2009
PAD Challenge poem

Never Be Broken (a how-to guide)

When you throw yourself over a cliff,
and you know you all will,
as we fools do from time
to time, prepare
for broken
bones.

The trick is to walk
with your head faced forward
your feet pointed straight ahead
your eyes open, and don’t be led
astray by rustling in the trees, a hawk
in the sky, and don’t follow the momentum
of some delirium, some daydream that talks
you out of your mission, which should be clear

after all, but if you have no idea where you are
then perhaps a jump off a cliff is what you need
to be broken, to heal, to start over, once again.

NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS

When I was young and oh so bold
I couldn't imagine growing old
On education I'd been sold
Entered college as I was told

Exactly why I didn't know
But I was sure I had to go
A few gray hairs no one would know
A quick haircut, they wouldn't show

Now each day I look in the mirror
Not for vanity but more for fear
My wife claims I cannot hear
My waistline larger with each beer

The job that college got for me
Was nothing but shear agony
When I was young I'd hike to see
What I now view from my old Chevy

Now retired and on a pension
Which was designed to ease my tension
But I'm getting older I do believe
Since social security I do receive.

NEVER

the truth of your soul
what is right and what is wrong
never compromise

Never Give

Never give away what you can sell,
unless it is what you love.
Then scatter it on the ground
like chicken feed.

“Never say your mine, all mine”

Oprah is the first guest in my new bicycle rickshaw.
She sits behind me on a plush seat, in awning shade.

We travel in silence down the Old Atlanta Highway.
Green breezes blow like a song,until we stop at a Quick Trip

because Oprah is thirsty. Holy water drips from my brow,
sanctified sweat for my Blessed Sister.

I station the rickshaw in the parking lot, next to a red
El Camino with a Rottweiler panting in the cab.

The dog lays its head on its paws as soon as
Oprah turns her gaze on him. She presses the folds

of her gold-belted dress, follows me into the store.
Cool air mists my face like a clear conscience.

For Oprah I choose water bottled in glass as smooth as skin.
Geraniums of joy bloom from my eyes until Oprah

shows me the milk carton with her photo stamped on the side,
an invitation for the world to search for their missing sister.

She who blankets them in quilts stitched with strength
and righteous anger. No sparkling water will slake

her thirst for justice. The road to Chicago will be a long one,
but my thighs are primed to pedal her back home.

She takes no pleasure in the playing cards flapping
against the spokes, the chiming of my handlebar bell

rings like lead. She knows I’ve tried to enthrone
her as my own goddess, an oracle for my ears alone.

Never Shadow

Meat hook syncopation. Blob after blob
plopped in trays, flash frozen, reshaped
and shifted on smooth tongued belts

that intestinalize factory guts. Peeled
and piled, stamped, sealed, selected
for consumption, soon to be bunned,

the coagulated effort of weenie creation.
Isn’t it genius? The forethought. Is it
day outside?

Never Play to an Empty House

You can study ‘til the moon goes down,
use scintillating quotes,
prepare a fascinating lecture
with explanatory notes,
phrase your questions perfectly
to stimulate response and
sometimes thinking critically
if the story’s not too deep.
You can innovate, cogitate, meditate
and think yourself to sleep,
plan ingenious group studies,
select the perfect media
to animate discussion,
or write simply to discover
what they think about the text
and discover something new.

But if upon the morrow you
instruct them from the heart
give them all your best, and
they sit there looking back
with eyes that seem as blank
as the margins of their books,
you know that all your planning
is going up in smoke and
They’re thinking, “What’s she saying?
What assignment did I miss?”
Here’s a bit of sound advice.
Please listen carefully:
Stand before them boldly and
say, “See you all tomorrow.”
Then go back into your office
And have a spot of tea.

Rose Anna Hines- Another way is to hit the Control key in the lower left of you keyboard and the F (for find) key. A box will pop up and you can type in a name or a word. Then hit the "next" box at the bottom of the window.

Never Underestimate the Power of the Pen

Words just have a way
of coming to the rescue
in times most troubled.

never do that

again that being the time
i stood atop the compost bin
to compact it for more space
it tipped over naturally suddenly
the slo-mo fall revealed a curiously
placed protruding ground pipe
aimed at my heart twisting
just enough to avoid a complete
impalement of an already broken
but at least still beating organ
there was less blood and pain involved
than flashing while airborne
the bruise eventually dissipated
but there's still the memory
the phantom tweak there
accompanying the heartache pain
i thought i'd never allow again

Never Put off Today

Tomorrow won't be today
until it is tomorrow.
Tulips borrow only the raindrops
of yesterday and the sunshine on the lips
of the next day's dawn.
Never put off what you could do today
until tomorrow's today,
when the rays of sun
may be gone.

Never Mind

I can't, I can't
write a rant;
I can't write free verse--
It's a curse.
I can't get to that 30th day
no matter how hard I pray;
oh, I'm in a bind.
But here it is the 29th. Never mind!

NEVER SAY NEVER

Never say never
cause just as sure
as you do,
you'll eat your words.

This is a
world
of infinite
possibilities.

There is
no such thing
as never.

All things
are possible
and will become.

Open your heart
risk being hurt
dance in the streets
love without fear
shout to the skies
But never never
say never.

never quit

aka whip it
aka keep on keeping on
aka never surrender
(although that song is silly
[still -- it inspires me somehow]).
the point being:
if you dream it is no dream
(well it _is_ a dream, but who are we
without dreaming?)
i mean to say
if you have to you have to
don't kill it before it can be killed
my therapist once told me
(climb every mountain too
while you're at it).

Marie,
Coincidently, my anniversary would have ended with the challenge as well. Mine was the 27th.

Never Leave Your Ipod Lying Around

Never leave your Ipod lying around,
Because if you do,
Your brother could add some of his songs or two.
You could be in the middle of work,
Listening to your tunes,
When a tapestry of obscenties flies about the room.
There may be a person waiting
Whom you could not assist,
'Cause you broke your Ipod and your hand
When you punched it with your fist.

NEVER WATCH YOUR LIFE PASS BY
By: Nikki Markle

You sit and stare, for hours on end
Planning your day around “your shows,”
While it lives your life for you;
Doing a much more exciting job of it than you ever could.

Don’t fool yourself that this is what life is supposed to be.
Your friends are as good-looking,
Your apartment is nowhere near as nice,
And witty-banter isn’t in your repertoire.

Don’t let the TV dupe you.
There’s nothing wrong with wearing the same outfit twice,
Answering your phone with hello instead of your last name,
Or even the occasional trip to the bathroom.

In your humdrum life, outside the box,
There may not always be a happy ending and
The bad guys don’t always get what they deserve,
But when your life’s credits roll, what will you have accomplished?

#29 NEVER

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

Mrs. Evans went back to school
A widow at 59
And become my favorite music teacher
Directing choirs and putting on shows

Fran was 89 when I learned
She could party later than me
Had a datebook fuller
than teenaged cheerleader
And still walked 5 miles for charity
after
A six-hour road trip,
Two hours of band practice
And a full lunch

By the way, she has sisters:
Nettie (her sister-in-law) is 102 and still likes to look nice
Val is in her nineties and walks faster than me
Eunice was 100 still playing
“On Wisconsin” by heart and eating ice-cream
like a kid

So,
picking up the violin at 30
And finding arthritis in the wrist
And trying out the cello and piano
Halfway to forty only to learn
The pain was too much
I picked up my sax at 50 and never looked back
It’s never too late to start
(John Holt picked up the cello at 50 and
wrote a book)

“Do you love
how you spend your day
so much that you never worry
about lunch or bedtime”

Then, you might live to be
97 like the physician*
who wrote that prescription.

*At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators

Never take yourself too serious
Never make yourself delirious
Never trust all kinds of rumor
Never loose your hope or humor.

If you keep your spirits high,
Misfortune may pass you by.

Never ….. By Jane Eamon 2009

Never stop believing
that anything is possible
There is no greater crime
than giving up

Never stop dreaming
for dreams are what hope
is made of
There is nothing so terrible
as forgotten dreams

Never lose your laughter
for it is in the rolling
of the belly that
sickness is cured
There is no pill or antidote
stronger

Never stop trying
for it is in the doing
that everything gets done
There is no greater satisfaction
then falling and rising
again and again

Never is a word like
should
It ought to be removed
from the English language

Never Give Up


Even when they tell you no
Even if you doubt you could
Even if you tried and failed
Believe, Hope, Trust you would

If you believe you can’t. You won’t.
If you believe you can. You will!
It may take a while but keep reaching
Learn a lesson then keep teaching.

Everyone dreams of something
Nobody wants to be nothing
Never give up and you will see
Yourself become what you were meant to be.

"Never Waver"

Though the cold winds blow
and everything seems wrong
never waver
because it won't be very long
before change will come
and you will find
a different way of seeing
a glimpse beyond the line
hold your ground
when you've found your way
listen to no one
make your own special day.

Never Trust a Three Year Old with Fish

The Cardie boys always had fish
in bowls on their bathroom wall.
Mom figured they were safe up there,
the youngest boy was not too tall.

A long time later they all died,
Goldfish don’t live very long.
Mom replaced them in a bowl on the table
since the youngest was now big and strong.

The next day one of the five fishes died,
strange since they were new.
The youngest flushed him down the john.
What else were they going to do?

The next day, another fishy died
the boys scratched their head in dismay.
What could be happening in that bowl
that caused fishes to go away?

The next day, while mom was cleaning,
her three year old crept into the room;
he had just picked up the third little fish
as mom came in with the broom.

“No,no,” she yelled to her little son,
“That fishy can’t breathe without water.”
He dropped the fish and started to cry
so here was the culprit causing the slaughter.

Mommy hugged her trembling son
and told him that it was okay.
He cheered up in minutes—picked up the fish,
headed for the john, “Mommy, watch him swim away!”

Never take yourself too serious
Never make yourself delirious
Never trust all kinds of rumor
Never lose your hope or humor.

If you keep your spirits high,
Misfortune may pass you by.

In a creative writing class I had taken
my instructor always had this advice:

"There are no wrong ways to write.
Just Write!"

I share that wisdom with you all now.
(As if you didn't already know!)

Never Say Never

I never planned to marry again.
Twice is enough.
Married for the wrong reasons;
To fulfill expectations – not mine
Or to have more kids - mine.
I said never when I was with him.
Two divorces made me a bit wiser.
I knew that relationship would
Not make a good marriage.
I thought I would need a good reason
To consider marriage again.
Then I met you, so different
From the men of my past.
Our relationship so easy and
Comfortable from the start.
Passion, love, friendship,
Companionship, support
Comfort and encouragement.
I see a future with you.
Do I need a better reason
To consider marriage?

Never Take Loved Ones for Granted

As a child, daily life was
Quite predictable:
We went to school
at the same time,
Had our lunch
At the same time,
Came home
At the same time,
Ate dinner
At the same time
And went to bed
At the same time.

There is a comfort
In routines and rhythms
In the week;

But it is poor
Preparation for
The unpredictable
Nature of living
Which is predictably
Unpredictable.

I wonder about my grandmother’s
Family history;
I wish I knew the name of the
Son who was given to another
Relative’s family to carry on
Their family name;
I wonder how my mother
Felt when she heard her
Fiancée was not missing in
Action and legally declared
Dead, but returned after
She was married to my dad;
I wish I knew her recipe
For my favorite soup;

I didn’t realize I would never
Taste her delicious cooking again,
Smell the scent of her perfume
As she swept out the door,
Feel the warmth and love
Radiating from every cell of her being;

Even 25 years later,
It’s still the hardest lesson to learn:
Never take your loved ones
For granted—
You never know what
The next day will
Reveal.

Never do...

She came on Twitter in a mood so bitter
that she said things she wished she hadn't.
Then her husband quit her for the baby sitter
leaving her not so much bitter as saddened.


Giving TMI on the internet is never a good idea
the traces left are indelible and impossible to clear.
It's something we should never do,
like keeping tin tacks in your shoe
or filling your windscreen washer with glue
or admitting you like the smell of poo.

Unless you want us to remember you
as the person who did things they should never do,
then please remember what I'm telling you:
NEVER DO THE THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO.

Never go back to him

He told lies daily
Said derogatory things
She finally left

Never Let Up

Never let up; be vigilant
Give thought to thoughts you think
Beware the thought thieves among us
Who steal thoughts in a blink

Shocking pictures flashed constantly
Before you everywhere
Meant to have you thinking the worst
And filling you with fear

Never let up; be diligent
Research yourself to find
Who is behind this fear campaign
Who benefits this time

Numbers blown out of proportion
Facts taken from context
Meanwhile their stock is shooting up
What will they think of next

Never let up; be positive
Become the peace you seek
Your strength lies in the way you think
Fear only makes you weak

See this for what it really is
See this as a setup
They cannot take the thoughts you think
If you never let up

NEVER THINK THIS POEM IS FOR YOU

When I was young
and thought myself
a rare and splendid orchid
blooming in the forest's deeps,
you stormed into my life
with work-stained boots
and heavy hands,
pressing yourself into me.

You fixed my eyelids open
in the blazing sun,
held me underwater
in the moonlight,
whispered in my ears
dark mysteries
that ripened underground.

And I believed you,
dreamed the world
spun on your axis,
spoke your words,
and traveled where you bid.

But then the precipice appeared
with you behind me,
bidding me to jump.
And when I turned to gaze
into your eyes, I saw
that what I'd thought
was love, was not.

So then I turned from you,
and found a different way
that leads toward songs
of brilliant-feathered birds
who fly above the forest's canopy.
From here I see
the whole blue earth,
gleaming in its place
among the stars.
And you––still tangled
by your mysteries––
lie far below, enshrouded
in your earthen cave,
mumbling incantations
to the night.

Never Learned To Swim

I never learned to swim,
but when I saw that white
piece of wood with black
letters painted on it—Swimming
Prohibited—on the side of
the road in Granby and
the teenagers driving
off from the same spot—hair
wet & matted to their foreheads—
I wish I did. I wanted
to be them, wanted to be, especially,
those girls in the backseat, imagined
them swimming with the kind
of boys that undo bikini
strings, the kind of boys
that disobey signs & leap.

Never is Impossible

Every time I said, “ I would never ...”,
I have had to eat my words.
I thought I was much more clever,
flying high like the birds.

In the wisdom, spoken by the sage:
“For everything there is a season”,
I see he spoke with good reason —
a moral gauge seasoned with age.

To kill, to hate, to destroy, ...
need not bring forth the negative.
In light of the divine imperative,
we may be left with no other ploy.

To nurture, to support, to encourage, ...
may not bring forth good.
In light of the evil one’s dark forage
such actions could be misunderstood.

Revision

Day 29

Never is Impossible

Every time I said, “ I would never ...”,
I have had to eat my words.
I thought I was much more clever,
flying high like the birds.

In the wisdom, spoken by the sage:
“For everything there is a season”,
he spoke with good reason —
a moral gauge seasoned with age.

To kill, to hate, to destroy, ...
need not bring forth the negative.
In light of the divine imperative,
we may have no other ploy.

To nurture, to support, to encourage, ...
may not bring forth good.
In light of the evil one’s dark forage
such actions could be misunderstood.

A poem about an actual experience let run wild in my remembrance.

“Never Pull a Hangnail. . .”

Never pull a hangnail
In an unfamiliar place.
The native germs residing there
Won’t treat you with much grace.

Your nail could get infected,
Finger swelled to twice its size,
While every touch brings fire
To your skin and tears to your eyes.

You try to drive to tourist traps,
And randomly yelp in pain,
Scaring bodies from inside the graves.
Mausoleum walls will strain

To release the victims bound by death
Who lie in buildings bare,
Not covered by the standard dirt,
Ever exposed to weather fair.

That swelling will resolve in time,
Returning finger to true form,
But it may be too late to put bodies back
In a posture that was once their norm.

If they could be buried below ground
Held fast in graves north of there,
There would be no danger of bodies
Popping up to greet the summer air.

Bog water hiding alligators
Now native to this land
Will fester with the rotting flesh
And remind you of your hand.

New Orleans is not the city
To abandon clippers clean,
For if you do, there may be damage
You can’t take back, and didn’t mean.

Never Forget to Say Your Prayers

“If I should die before I wake . . .”

And it’s not as though staying awake
will save you. Think of those things
outside even Jove’s control:
the blast, the bullet,
the careening car,
funneling wind, voracious fire.
Think of Vesuvious spewing,
Pompei’s people silent, silted.

Like boarding a train,
prayer is homage to the leaping hour.
It follows then that prayers unsaid
are a dance refused,
a gift unsent or put away unused,
the soul’s torpor on a hot afternoon
and no rain falling.

Never call it love

It wasn’t you I chose
it was your sexy scar
pirate slash under chin
light peach fuzz on tanned cheeks
quick catch in earnest voice
choked up full in anger
hearing radio news
over high breaking surf
as we lay on beached sheets
summer of ‘68

It wasn’t you I knew
it was breath in my ear
close attention you paid
confused dormant senses
awakening wishes
better left in slumber
until they could be named
wishes maiming, claiming
in retrospect shaming
fragile self-images

It wasn’t love we shared
but directionless doubt
exacerbated by
burnt fear beneath wild hope
dry void behind the fear
that peace might never come
and this was all there was
intercourse as final
recourse for answering
how who what when where why

banana_the_poet - You Rock!

Never let them see you

crack or cry. Never give anyone
the satisfaction of knowing that
they can effect you that way.
Keep your poker face and let
all the snickers behind your back
slide off of it. They don't know you.
They never will. Let them keep their
inaccurate views of who you are
and what matters to you.
When you are home and among the
counters and the cabinets,
the television and the radio -
that's when you can break down.
When you are behind the screen
writing another confessional poem -
that's when the tears are ok.
When you're in the shower washing off
the dirty feeling of another day spent
around shallow people -
that's when you can scream.
When you're in your bed and protected
by the warmth of your sheets -
that's when you can escape.

“Never Been a Below D-Lister”

You never forget that feeling
of victory whenever your
opponent had to drop down the slide
in Chutes and Ladders.

I’m sure it’s almost as exhilarating
as being in the bottom three on a
reality show, and miraculously
you’re kept around.

At one point I wanted to be on
The Real Life, but my audition
tape must not have exposed how
truly messed I am. Being somewhat
normal isn’t casting choice.

Now I clamor to be part of the
New Generation Reality shows,
where you aren’t just filmed, but
you are battling anywhere between
nine and fifteen others for some
sort of prize, and sub-par celebrity status.

Who wouldn’t want to be recognized
walking down the street by random
individuals calling out to you ‘Hey,
you were that asshole that threw
my favorite under the bus!” Or, “You’re
that wuss that almost got sucker-punched
when you were conniving and plotting.”

Life would be amazing, the little boost
in your economic status would give
you just enough of a taste of the
nouvelle riche life, that you would
continually whore yourself out to
any sort of reality show to gain
a status boost, and some spare cash.

Three years later, you’re living
in your mother’s basement, working
at a local pizza place, just trying to
get a buck, and you find yourself
recalling your glory days with some
trampy teased-up blonde, who’s only
talking to you because you’re buying.

Donald R. Anderson
Never Stop Questioning

Never stop questioning
for the authorities are there
because they wanted the power,
and power is for taking,
and taking is for taking from the weak,
and taking from the weak will expand
to the taking from all others.
With every question,
you may find out the exception,
where a rare select few,
not now and not for many years,
there was a fellow or lass
whom sought power out of guilt...
guilt for not taking responsibility
and for not being the one to save us
from those that sought out of greed.
The rest of the privileges for power
are only ones that the greedy need.

"Seasoned Broth"


"Never let them see you sweat."
His brow is furrowed, scarlet: unrepentant
sunburn. He excels at riptides.

No surfer he, he fights every
battle he can create, each victory
a shell upon his shelf.

At night, he battles on; demons
midnight-dancing laugh at his
seagull cries - as a boy

he Almost Drowned. Almost
drowned, they said as they
shook their heads and Poor

Boy, he is too frail. So they
scooped him up and spoon-
fed him - broth spiked with

pity and humiliation. He Almost
Drowned, so now he proves them
wrong. Each and Every Day.

NEVER PULL YOUR UNCLES FINGER

Mind your uncles when they're older
use this as a rule,
respect them in the things you should,
but never be a fool.
For should an uncle call your name,
never shall you linger,
And if he points and asks you to,
don't EVER pull his finger.

Never Neverland


It would seem such a treat
to be young forever,
to live childhood adventure
day after day as dreamed
in the fever of growing up,
tree house living,
pirate fighting,
alligator teasing
without the sundown call,
the school or church bell
or anyone to ever say “no.”
Even there, some on has to cook,
fighting leads to dying,
and sometimes,
the alligator
eats you.

Never forget to pray

Never forget to pray
to Someone
or No One.
Sex and shape of the addressee
irrelevant, only the message matters.
Whether words
or thoughts;
whether heard
or lost, like lint;
whether plea
or thanks --
let loose the feathers
that color your flight
and bind you
to what you have,
what you need,
what you are.

Repost- Whoops, slight correction to line 11.
Never Neverland


It would seem such a treat
to be young forever,
to live childhood adventure
day after day as dreamed
in the fever of growing up,
tree house living,
pirate fighting,
alligator teasing
without the sundown call,
the school or church bell
or anyone to ever say “no.”
Even there, some one has to cook,
fighting leads to dying,
and sometimes,
the alligator
eats you.

Never Talk to Me Anywhere in Public

When they were little, I taught them how to say "please"
and "thank you"; how to wash their hands and brush their teeth.

Now things have come full circle, and everyday provides
a constant stream of parental guidance.
Everything we do and see is rated PG:
I am the "P," and they are the "G."

"Mom, could you please not practice your French with the waitress!"

"Please stop asking 'Are you sure?' everytime I answer a question.
Like just now, when I said I didn't want any blueberry pie.
Yeah, maybe I changed my mind, but that was only after
I tasted yours. Well, maybe that's not the best example."

"And could you please not talk to me if you see me at the haircut place,
or anywhere else in public?"

"Could you please not look in the windows everywhere we walk?"

(Sigh.) ***** "PLEASE stop stopping every five minutes
to write things down in your little book!"

"Could you please not quote things I said to all your friends?
Especially not things from when I was five, giving me no way
to dispute them or defend myself."

"And I just want to point out that this trip took an hour and a half
longer than you said it would. See? I'm always right."

Never a Model Couple

We’re through fussing and fighting
We figured nothing out
O to be
A model couple
Road,
Time tested—
O to be
The model couple
Ne’r rose above the shout
We were ne’r meant to be

Though, ne’r meant to be
Without—

This poem is dedicated to Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy(SARK).


“Never Believe”

Never believe that
you are not enough,
you do not do enough,
you do not have enough,

or that you are flawed
or too different from others
to seek your dreams
and accomplish them.

Do not believe the voice
inside that tells you that
you are not worthy or that
others are more deserving.

Do not sacrifice yourself
for other who are not
appreciative of who you are
or everything you do for them.

Do not listen to those who
would make you doubt
yourself, who would tell you
their path is the only one.

Rather, follow your heart
and your dreams, believe
always in yourself and
that you are a gift to the world.

Never Sated

Ah, my sweet,
this is,
as you call it,
love?

After all
the low moaning,
dragging this way
your empty cup,
I say to you --
“there is nothing here
to fill you”.

You toss
even the most
luscious
juice
down,
nothing understood,
nothing remembered
but the,
ah yes,
pouring in.

Sad excuse,
sad little eyes,
we all need our witness.
But to be seen is a gift
of frequency,
not proportion.

You say
it is nothing
but every time
you are near
something of me
disappears.
And, I have fears,
my friend,
that could swallow
this bed,
so, you
and your hunger
are no match
for midnight's
wicked fuck.

I do not give
myself
lightly enough,
you say,
so I am leaving you this –
my deepest kiss,
my mouthful
of absence.

Never Forever"

Do you remember that
night
when we dream rode
the stars
into the infinite

You laughed as you told me
there was nothing after death
only love waiting
for us to become
One

So now I carry that
weightless truth
slow walking in the
rain with my
head uncovered
when everyone scurries
for shelter beneath the
cover of their bright umbrellas

I see with my mouth
listen with sleeping feet
carry
those pretty secrets
in that hollow space
between my ears.

(c) m.u.

Never Put Up with Bullshit

You haven't got the time.
Storage is always a problem.
Clutter is just another name
for bullshit.

When the pipe gave way
in the basement, I discovered
a subspecies of a subculture,
of the odd jobs man universe.

People who made a damned good
living by wading knee deep in
the bullshit: people willing
to pay anything to clean up

the crap. That was the theme
of Seinfeld, I swear. I'll do
anything for love, except
put up with the bullshit.

As much as I want you, its
just not worth it to me.

Nita -

Thanks for sharing the information on how to check and see if all your poems got posted.

Never Explain, Write A Jingle

I write the words to tell you,
What I want you to know.
You read the words, and say, "So?"
I use other words to tell you,
You read them and wrinkle your brow,
You ask me, "Really how
Could you say this? You?"
I ask you what you think I said.
You don't understand the words that I bled,
I really don't know what to do.
So I write one syllable words
And rhyme it like birds and curds.
And the mnemonic jingle gets through.

Never

Forever looms in the future
Haunting past of remember whens
And never to happen agains

Never Say Never
By Diana J. Baker

Never say never because if you ever do
I can completely assure you
That that thing you said you’d never do.
Is exactly what you will do.

I remember when I was a tiny girl
And I said I would never eat
The things my mother put on my plate;
But I did... I even ate beets!

I remember when I was in my teens
And I said I would never do
Anything the way my mother did
But now I do those things too.

Now that I'm older and wiser
I'm cautious not to say again
That word that's out to do me in.
I will never say never again!

Never live out of Regret

The joy stealer
The incessant peace killer

Don’t look!

Don’t muse,
Don’t ponder…

Don’t give it the time of day.

Move forward with your eyes
on the Prize.

Gaze into your destiny
with hope in your heart

that your tomorrow is not
dictated by your yesterday

Bury it in the sea
of forgetfulness,

Do not resurrect it
for your hope
lies in the One

Who took your pain
upon His back

So you never have to live out of regret.

By Lynn potter

Never

Has the ring of rain
In wells of water
And the resonance
Of pulsar waves
Between stars.
It’s just another way
To cross infinity.

Never Cry Tears in the Pouring Rain

Never cry tears in the pouring rain...

The breakthrough will be lost
in such a volley of scattered prisms,
causing the colors to bleed,
to run together, and wash out
the field of insight.

You will be caught up
in the rushing flood
that will drown out
the heartfelt essence,
the torrential stampede
back into an ocean of tears
that have been cried before you,
and returned to the
circle of all things as vapor.

Go back and
collect those precious moments
in a golden pail;
this is your holy water
that you can dip from
again and again
in the warmth of home
as you look out
on the pouring rain.

Never say never

Never say never
you will not
ever do this or
ever do that.

Never say never
you will drive
to Atlanta
but you did.

Never say never
you will not get
another dog
but you did.

Never say never
you will go to any
Mass but 5:00 p.m
but you did.

Never say never
you will go to the
store for someone
but you did.

Never say never
you will not go
out at night
but you did.

Never say never
you will sit
with somone
but you did.

Never say never
you will not
you will never
but you did.

Nita and everyone interested in finding a specific thing on a web page or where ever in a computer software/document (at least all the ones I have ever used this in and works with Explorer)

hold down the CTRL key with the F key (CTRL+F) a box pops up type in it what you are looking for hit enter or click on Next and keep entering / clicking till you find the one you are looking for (ex: you are looking for and; it will pull up the first "and" it comes to even if that is a part of another word like Andy)

Hope this makes sense

Never kiss a shark who's alive and awake, on the mouth

Never kiss a shark who's alive and awake, on the mouth.
I went looking for sharks to kiss in the south.
It was a dare.
It would be on the air.
Instead I got quite a scare,
and got the heck out of there!

Day 29 “Never ______”

Never Doubt God

If I had trusted God when I was young
I wouldn't have so many songs unsung.
For 'though the path seem rugged, dark, and grim,
He gives His best to those who trust in Him.

day 29


NEVER FORGET

Never forget that Sepetember Day
When 3000 souls were lost that day

Never forget the price we paid
The ash-covered faces that walked away

Never forget the hundreds of policemen
Who lost their lives while trying to save them

Never forget the crumbling towers
That fell to Earth in a rush of power

Never forget the pentagon
Where a plane struck and hundreds were gone

Never forget the heroes who were killed
That downed their plane in a Pennsylvania field

Never forget the President's cry
"We'll get them but on our own time."

Never forget the soldiers who give
their lives in combat so we all could live.

Never End a Sentence...

Never end a sentence, a preposition with.
Though lots of folks consider this a grammar-weary myth
or something only Strunk & White could even have thought of.
Your usage will not count for much, if you show preps some love.
And never ever start a line with a or but or and.
Because conjunctions like those preps can get so out of hand.
Infinitives that you might split will flunk you on a quiz.
Do not begin a sentence with ‘there are’ and/or ‘there is.’
And one more point, the passive verb – it’s not for you despite
the fact that it’s the bestest way to speak and think and write.
So in regard to all of this, thus ends this education.
Next? time’ we’ll! start, our; lesson” on- some* good_ old~ punctuation.

Never Trust a Snake

Never trust a snake to do a mouse’s job,
the witching hour hisses into the night air,
cooling the sweat on your brow and heartbeat
by heartbeat, knowledge comes. Softly, slowly,
building into a gasping howl of reconciliation.
The questions it brings, you don’t dare to answer
knowing full well the consequences of direct
association, blatant as it is with mushrooming clouds
of doubt and the lingering smell of lilac on the air. If
you are indeed addicted to the gnashing of teeth, then
I caution you, or perhaps you are a caution, a well-remembered
phrase, I can pull out of my pocket and fan you around, until all
your tricks can be put safely aside.

[wrote three today. really, two poems, and a song (or so my internal playback machinery deems it.]

Map to Neverland

Second star on the right.
But from what, Peter?
Oh dear.
My left brain has already
Lost the way, hasn’t it?
If I don’t know where to start,
Then straight on ‘til morning
Won’t bring me to a snug harbor.
I’ll probably end up a deck hand
On the Jolly Roger or even
Become a clocking crocodile.
Should have set out younger:
The lack of cartographic specification
Would not occur to a child.

© 2009 Chuck Puckett
29 April 2009


Never::Not

Such finality!
What will you must possess
To state the proposition.
The negative is impossible
To categorically prove.
The one example
That counters the thesis
Might wait just around the corner,
Grinning in its prescience.
I’d be careful with such
Exactitudes. They plead
So convincingly with
The universe to
Reverse the ruling.
And then you have
Existential egg on your face.

© 2009 Chuck Puckett
29 April 2009


Never::Not

Such finality!
What will you must possess
To state the proposition.
The negative is impossible
To categorically prove.
The one example
That counters the thesis
Might wait just around the corner,
Grinning in its prescience.
I’d be careful with such
Exactitudes. They plead
So convincingly with
The universe to
Reverse the ruling.
And then you have
Existential egg on your face.

© 2009 Chuck Puckett
29 April 2009

Never Show Emotion

Never get angry, never get mad,
never get resentful, never feel sad,
never do anything ‘cause that will
lead you back down that slippery,
sloppy path that you once travelled.
Yet, try stuffing your emotion,
it’s like keeping a beach ball down
in the ocean, your arms get tired,
your body will hurt and you’ll miss
out on getting a girl’s number,
because you are so focused on stuffing.
No never show your emotion,
just wait until you erupt, that sounds
like the more “practical” way to go.

Never Saw the Path Before
How did we miss it there before
A pathway on the forest floor?
It wasn’t there a week ago.
My dog is curious; he should know.
We followed it, just to see.
It looked inviting to my dog and me.

He sniffed and trot in fits and starts.
We left behind familiar parts.
I loped along and looked around
Till all seemed new and odd we found.
The sunlight shimmered and dappled things,
The Spanish moss, the mushroom rings.

Something glinted far ahead,
That something sparkled. “Let’s look,” I said.
Some butterflies had joined our trot
To investigate the shining spot.
Those butterflies flit and then alit
On a crystal boulder, so we sat on it.

What was this place we stumbled on?
The butterflies left and tumbled on.
We looked around to get our bearing
And walked into a lovely clearing
A field of candy, ripe for the picking?
I took a few; my dog tried licking!

Everything there was joyful and alive
From the brilliant orange cherry trees and jiggling purple hives
To the striped-coat rabbits and the little talking frogs
And the witty sheep that loved to leap off of fallen logs.
There were lovely crunchy pickles hanging on a vine
Every pebble glistened there or glowed a high-gloss shine.

My dog started dancing, then recited a poem
He said that he learned it by listening at home.
How can this be? It doesn’t make sense.
“I’ve heard of magic lands,” said he with canine confidence
I had heard tales of the Land of What-if.
That’s what the sign said pointing at a cliff.

We ran at the precipice, my dog and I.
That’s how we found that we could fly.
We glided and gamboled in the milk-patch blue.
From high we spied Sea Serpent Slough.
Circling like eagles on an air current
Aiming slowly downward. Afraid? We weren’t.

The sea serpents seemed to be having a race.
In and out of hidey holes, vanished without trace,
Then they simply reappeared three caves over
Dashing towards the finish line made of four-leaf clover.
They cheered for each other and cheered to the last
Then they invited us to join in their repast.

How could we resist them or their invitation?
We were overwhelmed by every sensation.
We feasted on kelp and shrimp (just a few)
They said it was naptime and that we were through.
We said our goodbyes and all bowed lowly,
Then flew back to the candy field somewhat slowly.

We knew it was time to wander on back
To where green was only green and black only black,
Where the rocks didn’t sparkle or giggle in the sun
Where beehives hummed with workers and not with fun
Back to the path that started our journey,
Back to our forest, a bit cool, very ferny

I looked at my pup looking younger, oh so cute.
He made a wistful kind of yap. He was back to being mute.
He could speak no longer, but I know he understands.
We’ll have more adventures into secret, magic lands.
We have a secret, my dog and me.
We know where the path lies behind a certain tree.

I am running out of space to write anymore.
My dog and I will venture back. Who knows what’s in store?
So when you find a path on the forest floor,
One that you’ve never seen before,
Consider just how nice is it when you follow through,
It may be an adventure for your dog and you.

[whoops. CTRL-C'd one poem twice, rather the song I meant to add. Well, here it is]

Never Said I’d Never Go

I’m walking
Don’t pretend I’ll turn around
I’m walking out of here
Down the street, out of town
Down the road because you know
I never said I’d never go

I’m leaving
It’s not that hard to explain
I’m leaving you alone
Catch a ride, hop a train
Maybe I never told you so, but
I never said I’d never go

This is not that big a deal
Lovers leaving all the time
Just pretend it isn’t real
Have a smoke, drink some wine
Just pretend I never left
If that will ease your mind
Or pretend that I am deaf
And I didn’t hear you cryin

I’m driving
Down a road I do not know
I’m driving in the rain
Through the sleet, through the snow
Where I’m bound I do not know
But I never said I’d never go
No, I never said I’d never go.

© 2009 Chuck Puckett
29 April 2009

"Never Wait"

Don't wait till the end of April
to write a month's worth of poems.
You will end up writing tripe till
midnight, while the deadline looms.

While I have your rapt attention,
don't wait till the end of the term
to complete your dissertation.
The computer will catch a germ

And you'll regret it in the end.
And another bit of advice,
don't wait to call your best friend.
She won't think it's very nice.

Never wait to do tomorrow
what you are supposed to do now.
It will only bring you sorrow
learned the hard way somehow.

Never Hit Your Mother in the Face with a Shovel

I can’t recall the evening exactly-
sometime during the holiday break,
before you went back to school.

I remember your hair, hanging wet
on your shoulders, and the eyeliner,
smudged where you’d been crying.

What rings in my head is the barrage
of shouts- I can’t stand being here-
I hate it I hate it I hate it.

You never said I hate YOU. Of course
you didn't really mean it. Still,
it’s left a bad impression on my mind.

This is a reverse ethere, in case anyone is wondering.

Never Doubt

Never doubt your instincts or your dreams to
reach for the stars, glowing in the dark,
like captured fireflies in the
bell jar, flittering their wings
to break free and escape
with burning embers
of a fire to
fuse your goals
into
one.

NEVER ASK THE SAME QUESTION TWICE


While it's true that nothing stays the same,
there are some things which you can't expect
to really change. I kept asking you the same question,
and even though you gave me responded differently,
I never got the truth. The lies changed, yes,
but what I wanted was the real answer.
I will never ask the same question twice again.

NEVER THINK OF PRAYER
Never think of prayer
as an obligation.
Pray to your confusion.
Ask that you not be felled
by sinister thoughts
of obliteration.
Pray not to become,
only to be.
The world is visible.
Pray to see.

Never say never
in case it automates
closed doors, or

you end up watching another
repeat of some overrated
007. Shock, horror!


Sarah James, UK.

Never Thought About It? Maybe You Should!

Never believe you are immune to bad things happening to you
Because the minute you get snug with that thought
you'll get a wake-up call
Life has a way of slapping you upside the head
whether you like it or not
it's just the way it is
No one ever said life was going to be fair

You might think you deserve that
guy
gal
job
house
promotion
parking spot
whatever ...
but you know what -
if it's meant to be, you will get it
if not, you have to learn to deal with it

You'll have problems with your
parents
friends
partner
spouse
kids
job
health
car
house
and everything else ...

Just remember that you never have to be a spectator
when it comes to your own life
Be a participant
make things happen for yourself
and don't get discouraged if things don't happen at the pace you expect

Live by the philosophy that everything happens for a reason
and you'll start to see a connection between all things

You've got to keep a PMA (positive mental attitude)
no matter what, no matter how difficult it seems at the time
Have faith, have trust, and above all else - Believe in Yourself

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON YOUR FRIENDS

A friend in need, is a friend indeed,
of that we've all been told,
Be a friend throughout your life,
they'll be there when you're old.
To have a friend, you be a friend,
I can't say it any clearer,
No one is poor who has a friend,
it makes you both much dearer.

A friend can help you in distress,
they'll aid you when there's trouble,
send a signal to your friend,
he'll be there on the double.
They'll lend a tool for fixing things,
they'll mend your broken fences,
If you have a trusted friend,
he'll come with no pretenses.

Unless of course you get divorced
and the scumbag dates you wife,
grab that bastard by the throat
and squeeze with all your might.
For if your bathroom towels are marked,
His and Hers and Larry's,
Brother go and get your gun,
hurry now, don't tarry.

A friend in need is a friend indeed,
he'll be there all your life,
but never turn your back on him,
if you can clearly see the knife!

Never again

Never again
will I lose myself so
my life resembles
an upended purse
searched for a token,
a lingerie drawer
tossed for a pair
of period panties.
I'm looking now
for the runaway pearl,
the broken gold chain
which can be melted
and formed anew,
the treasure
I forgot I was.

Never Forget

The boys, they are thin and restless. Thin and restless
as twigs being blown about.

And, the girls have stopped gathering them into bundles
expecting them for fire.

Mothers weep
throw themselves down along the river
where the tears dissolve in the mouths of fish
who know
to swim with the current.

Based on Experience

Never start a sestina in the middle of the night
When the house has gone to bed and has turned out all its lights.

Each time you close your eyes and you try to fall asleep
A line pops in your head and you know that it won’t keep.

So, you fumble for your pen and your paper in the dark
With a flush you write it down, then toward sleep you re-embark.

But the lines keep on a coming, ‘cause in all there’re 39,
As the clock strikes one then two, it seems you’re going to lose your mind.

And every now and then when your thoughts need realigning
‘Cause you’ve written so much down and the page is too confining

You move to your computer after stumbling out of bed
To input your revisions and to readjust your head.

Still with one more sestet left and the troubling tercet too
You doubt that you’ll be done ‘fore the sun comes shining through!

The alarm is set for five and the school day looms ahead
And you wonder what they’ll think when you ape the walking dead.

But somewhere in the midst of lines thirty-three and four
Sleep demands her turn and comes banging at your door.

No sooner do you dream when the nightmare rings its bell
And tells you that it’s time for you to start your day from Hell.

But before you leave the house you must reread what you wrote
And you realize in this Challenge it won’t even get one vote!

So this is my advice if this format comes your way –
If you have to write sestinas, try the middle of the day!

Never a dull moment

With you by my side
You always have a new dance to charm me by
Your name is, “what”?
You’re quirky and well,
Perhaps crazy
And not like an artist but…
more like Wilde
You wear your pants well
And you cross your arms
With a nose too frank
To speak things you know nothing about
Oh, well, you say
And order another Turkish delight
You’re cute maybe and maybe one day,
I’ll bake for you too peach cobblers and apple pie
We have dreams to live on,
Walls to paint
So eat your ice cream
And I’ll have a taste
Of your chocolate sauce
I was vanilla
Just cruising by a pink plain
You climb mountains in the dark
You sigh and explain things you invent
In your head; and maybe me too
You carve some line into a tree
You drink, you curse
You’re a false poet, an imp
You’re color is purple
Mine is green
But I’ll take the cake and your bait, wrap my heart
And we’ll eat it today
For tomorrow
We’ll stake the claims; dream up raspberry skies
Ringing bells
Reaching stars
Going way too far

Never Lose the One You Love


Never lose
the one you love,
for, if you do
you'll long
your life away
waiting for the taste
of their sacred lips,
the sigh
of an empty hour
wasted in their touch.
You'll roam the world
of never was
and wile the days
in in-between
wondering what
might have been.
Never lose
the one you love,
the heart in sorrow
does not recapture
the love again,
but only sinks
to fall and sag
and brighten
not a life
not lived.

NEVER COMPROMISE
By: Hannah Bowles

Never let go of the fairy tale qualities
of little girl dreams.
Nourish them with heartfelt honesty.
Life may have taken a few turns till it seems,
that you may never reach your destination.
Continue to believe in happily ever after,
fabrications of the imagination.
Find one who unites in heart matters.
Never settle for less in life,
little girls continue to dream,
keep the fairy tales seeds alive.
Plant them with love by the Living stream.

“Never do Today”

Never do today
What you can do tomorrow
Said the lazy man to his wife
The newspaper headline read
Wife claims idleness killed her husband

NEVER, TOGETHER

Never, ever,
when a score in age
fall in love with a man in
your dreams.

Never let your lips
meet his, again and again,
so real you know every
crease and curve.

Never study the faces
of strangers to find those
startling blue eyes,
that hair, that nose.

For no matter how many
times you look, no matter
how many prayers and
dreams you invest

Never, ever
will you find him
and every morning
you’ll awaken and remain

Alone.

“Never eat Chocolate”

Never eat the chocolate
On the ground
For I have found…
It is not chocolate.

Never Can We Go Back

Setting: bridal salon
Time: shopping afternoon
Action:

Daughter models "The Dress"
excited that she has found it

Mom gazes at her in the mirror
dissolves into unbidden tears
gets that faraway parental look on her face

Dialogue:

Daughter: Mom, what is it? Is it the dress?

Mom: No, it's not the dress. It's Winnie the Pooh.

Daughter: Winnie the Pooh?

Mom: Yes, for a minute there,
we -- you and I --
were alone in the Winnie the Pooh nursery,
curtains and balloon lamp
straight out of the Sears catalog.
We were sitting in the small brown rocker.
I was holding you close in my arms
singing that Peter, Paul, and Mary song --
the one written for a baby named Bobby
but the gender thing didn't matter.
The lyrics said everything
I carried in my heart for you.

No, the dress is very beautiful
and I'm happy you've found The One
but it wasn't the dress at all.
It was Winnie the Pooh.

And never can we go back.