Short Poems Quotes

your hand
touching mine.
this is how
galaxies
collide. ~ Sanober Khan

To me many short poems read and write like beginnings that simply whet my appetite; I want to get over that. ~ John Barton

When I went to film school about three years ago, the first two years you're required to make a series of short films. I started making films based on short poems. ~ James Franco

Ruskin says that anyone who expects perfection from a work of art knows nothing of works of art. This is an appealing sentence that, so far as I can see, is not true about a few pictures and statues and pieces of music, short stories and short poems. Whether or not you expect perfection from them, you get it; at least, there is nothing in them that you would want changed. But what Ruskin says is true about novels: anyone who expects perfection from even the greatest novel knows nothing of novels. ~ Randall Jarrell

Fear is a hurdle that stops the expression ~ Andy Lindley

Sure, we thought the acres
That we tilled were sacred,
But how could we have known
That wheat can haunt like ghosts ~ Sherman Alexie

I like short poems with weird rhyme schemes, because that's what life is like. ~ John Green

I kept driving for a while, then stopped on the side of the road. Shining my brights on the road in front of me, I watched out for Leatherface while dialing Marlboro Man on my car phone. My pulse was rapid out of sheer terror and embarrassment; my face was hot. Lost and helpless on a county road the same night I'd emotionally decompensated in his kitchen--this was not exactly the image I was dying to project to this new man in my life. But I had no other option, short of continuing to drive aimlessly down one generic road after another or parking on the side of the road and going to sleep, which really wasn't an option at all, considering Norman Bates was likely wandering around the area. With Ted Bundy. And Charles Manson. And Grendel.
Marlboro Man answered, "Hello?" He must have been almost asleep.
"Um…um…hi," I said, squinting in shame.
"Hey there," he replied.
"This is Ree," I said. I just wanted to make sure he knew.
"Yeah…I know," he said.
"Um, funniest thing happened," I continued, my hands in a death grip on the steering wheel. "Seems I got a little turned around and I'm kinda sorta maybe perhaps a little tiny bit lost."
He chuckled. "Where are you?"
"Um, well, that's just it," I replied, looking around the utter darkness for any ounce of remaining pride. "I don't really know."
Marlboro Man assumed control, telling me to drive until I found an intersection, then read him the numbers on the small green county road sign, numb ~ Ree Drummond

[Red Dirt Marijuana] contains most of the great short stories in English that are not by Mr. Hemingway or Mr. O'Hara. ~ Robert Anton Wilson

The service beautifully reflected Chad's life, with memories and poems recalling his vitality and thoughtfulness. He was a kind, quiet man without airs or pretensions, and his service honored those beautiful qualities.
It happened that I was with Chad's parents when they saw him laid out for the first time. His father grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "You go rest high on the mountain, son. Rest high on the mountain."
I'm still moved to tears by that memory. His dad said it with conviction and pain, affirming both faith, and ultimately, life. ~ Taya Kyle

Due to their short bloom time, Sakura blossoms are a metaphor for life itself: beautiful yet fleeting. You'll realize when you're as old as me to hang on to the good times because they won't last forever. ~ Shannon Mullen

Genie

In 1970 a child called Genie was admitted to a children's hospital in Los Angeles. She was thirteen years old and had spent most of her life tied to a chair in a small closed room. Her father was intolerant of any kind of noise and had beaten the child whenever she made a sound. There had been no radio or television, and Genie's only other human contact was with her mother who was forbidden to spend more than a few minutes with the child to feed her. Genie had spent her whole life in a state of physical, sensory, social and emotional deprivation.
As might be expected, Genie was unable to use language when she was first brought into care. However, within a short period of time, she began to respond to the speech of others, to try to imitate sound and to communicate. Her syntax remained very simple. However, the fact that she went on to develop an ability to speak and understand a fairly large number of English words provides some evidence against the notion that language cannot be acquired at all after the critical period. ~ George Yule

In The Shadow Of The Night

All the clouds are gray, and the sky is dark as night. Soft words are spoken, and there's a twinkle, of a flicker of light.

The presence of a Man walks by, and Mighty and Powerful is He.
Kneeling down to pray, He says a prayer for me.

The sky becomes brighter, and the leaves of the trees turn green.
The flowers begin to bloom, and there's a warm gentle breeze.

Thank you Lord for setting me free... ~ Jerrel C. Thomas

All things come to him who waits - even justice. ~ Austin O'Malley

My father was an electrical contractor, while I used to deliver video cassettes on a cycle to people in Juhu and Bandra, including celebrities like Mithun Chakraborty. Mithunda remembers me and is very proud of me. He can't believe that the guy who used to come to his house in short pants has become so successful. ~ Madhur Bhandarkar

Love is mainly an affair of short spasms. If these spasms disappoint us, love dies. It is very seldom that it weathers the experience and becomes friendship. ~ Jean Cocteau

I wanted to do whatever was necessary to encourage your short dresses.'
I nodded. 'My legs and butt thank you.'
A wry grin slid over his lips. 'They are most welcome. ~ Ashlan Thomas

Fortunately or otherwise we live at a time when the average individual has to know several times as much in order to keep informed as he did only thirty or forty years ago. Being "educated" today requires not only more than a superficial knowledge of the arts and sciences, but a sense of inter-relationship such as is taught in few schools. Finally, being "educated" today, in terms of the larger needs, means preparation for world citizenship; in short, education for survival. ~ Norman Cousins

Lieutenant Governor Khan is the Governor in a funhouse mirror. He's short, rotund, and balding. I'm ~ Nat Kozinn

Long commutes make you fat, stressed, and miserable. Even short commutes stab at your happiness. ~ Jason Fried

Whether or not you agree with the outcome, the tremendous amount that the Manhattan Project accomplished in such a short amount of time–just under three years–is astonishing. It makes you wonder what other kinds of things could be accomplished with that kind of determination, effort, and financial and political support. What if the kind of money, manpower, and resources that went into the Manhattan Project went into the fight against hunger? Cancer? Homelessness? ~ Denise Kiernan

Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
'Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy ~ Christina Rossetti

Only foolish fishes wish to fly! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

The Peacemaker Colt has now been in production, without change in design, for a century. Buy one to-day and it would be indistinguishable from the one Wyatt Earp wore when he was the Marshal of Dodge City. It is the oldest hand-gun in the world, without question the most famous and, if efficiency in its designated task of maiming and killing be taken as criterion of its worth, then it is also probably the best hand-gun ever made. It is no light thing, it is true, to be wounded by some of the Peacemaker's more highly esteemed competitors, such as the Luger or Mauser: but the high-velocity, narrow-calibre, steel-cased shell from either of those just goes straight through you, leaving a small neat hole in its wake and spending the bulk of its energy on the distant landscape whereas the large and unjacketed soft-nosed lead bullet from the Colt mushrooms on impact, tearing and smashing bone and muscle and tissue as it goes and expending all its energy on you.
In short when a Peacemaker's bullet hits you in, say, the leg, you don't curse, step into shelter, roll and light a cigarette one-handed then smartly shoot your assailant between the eyes. When a Peacemaker bullet hits your leg you fall to the ground unconscious, and if it hits the thigh-bone and you are lucky enough to survive the torn arteries and shock, then you will never walk again without crutches because a totally disintegrated femur leaves the surgeon with no option but to cut your leg off. And so I stood absolut ~ Alistair MacLean

The life of the city cat is short but so sophisticated. ~ Jennifer Stone

It is terribly important to realize that the leap of faith is not so much a leap of thought as of action. For while in many matters it is first we must see then we will act; in matters of faith it is first we must do then we will know, first we will be and then we will see. One must, in short, dare to act wholeheartedly without absolute certainty. ~ William Sloane Coffin Jr.

Who was that?" Sam asked as we walked out of the photo hut.
"I work with him. It's cool," I said, rubbing my arm absentmindedly.
"He seems like an ass."
Mercy laughed. "But a cute one. And he has a cute one too. You're lucky he's all into you, Amerie. I say go for it."
I shot her a look. "You'd tell me to go for a psycho murderer, if he was cute."
"Meh. Life's short. ~ C. Gray

The short-term rage to be sated at the end of a barrel was too easy to act on. Staving off extinction required something else, something with more vision, something impossibly patient. ~ Hugh Howey

The media, the polls and our legislatures fortunately have short attention spans. ~ John Gutfreund

The short story feels like the most natural length for prose fiction, or certainly for the kind of ideas and situations I like to encounter. ~ Nicholas Royle

Time Out To Cry ©

All alone at the end of the day
The time, just a little past ten
Evening has come for a short stay
It's time for her sorrow again
The smile on her face she's been holding
Suddenly, she lets fall
And the feelings begin unfolding
She comes out of her personal wall
As the world settles down for the night
She awakens herself from a dream
And the girl they all thought had her life going right
Is no longer the image she'd seem
She takes off the disguise she's been wearing
Then opens her heart to the truth
Behind closed doors she's not caring
About life or love in her youth
So she sits by the mirror spilling tears
And cries by herself in the dark
A whole day of acting like she has no fears
Takes a lot from an empty heart
Inside she's lonely and sad
But acts like she's fine in the day
Revealing her misery, secretly wishing she had
A friend, or a promise to stay
She's ashamed of the truth she's been keeping
Living her hours in daylight a lie
And this is the reason for in darkness she's weeping
Taking time out from each day to cry

Written by Shannen Wrass

Copyright © 1995 Shannen Wrass. All Rights Reserved ~ Shannen Wrass

Gathering her bags, Alani started around the side of her house to the front door.
She drew up short at the sight of Jackson sprawled on her porch steps, a cowboy hat on his head, mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes.
He didn't move, and neither did she.
He had an utterly relaxed look about him. But then, Jackson had perfected a deceptively indolent pose that hid razor-sharp reflexes and phenomenal speed.
Last night, all night, he'd been far from indolent.
Breathing fast, Alani studied him. His continued stillness suggested sleep. Even when she inched closer, he didn't move.
He was now clean-shaven. A white T-shirt was pulled across his wide chest and shoulders, and hung looser around his taut abs.
Awareness stiffened her knees.
Memories of touching his body, tasting hit hot flesh, sent a tide of sensation through her veins. She swallowed audibly - and stared some more.
He sat with his long legs loose, one foot braced on a step, the other stretched out, his elbows back, his breathing deep and even.
Alani licked her lips and started to slowly, silently retreat.
"Don't make me chase you, darlin'."
Shock snapped her shoulders back. The big faker! He'd been watching her watch him. Teeth set, Alani asked, "What are you doing here?"
He gave a slow smile. "Whatever it takes . . . ~ Lori Foster

To make a long story short, Cantorian set theory helps unify and clarify math in the sense that all mathematical entities can now be understood as fundamentally the same kind of thing-a set. ~ David Foster Wallace

In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers. ~ James Boswell

he'd come to rely on her in the short time they'd been together. Could ~ Rebecca Zanetti

We are, on earth, two distinct races. Those who have need of others, whom others amuse, engage soothe, whom solitude harasses, pains, stupefies, like the movement of a terrible glacier or the traversing of the desert; and those, on the contrary, whom others weary, tire, bore, silently torture, whom isolation calms and bathes in the repose of independency, and plunges into the humors of their own thoughts. In fine, there is here a normal, physical phenomenon. Some are constituted to live a life outside of themselves, others, to live a life within themselves. As for me, my exterior associations are abruptly and painfully short-lived, and, as they reach their limits, I experience in my whole body and in my whole intelligence an intolerable uneasiness. ~ Guy De Maupassant

Many of my poems try to use a comic element to reach a place that isn't comic at all. The comic element works as a surprise. It is unexpected and energizing. ~ Stephen Dobyns

When I was a kid, a pickleball hit me in the back of the head, and I had memory problems. I was in a boarding school and the nuns gave me poems to remember to try and get the memory going again. ~ C. C. H. Pounder

Dante cuts short his excursion and returns to find Virgil mounted on the back of Geryon. Dante joins his Master and they fly down from the great cliff. Their flight carries them from the Hell of the VIOLENT AND THE BESTIAL (The Sins of the Lion) into the Hell of the FRAUDULENT AND MALICIOUS (The Sins of the Leopard). ~ Dante Alighieri

doves exist, dreamers, and dolls;
killers exist, and doves, and doves;
haze, dioxin, and days; days
exist, days and death; and poems
exist; poems, days, death ~ Inger Christensen

Life is too short to be mediocre... ~ Aanchal

Life is divided into three periods, past, present and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. For this last is the one over which Fortune has lost her power, which cannot be brought back to anyone's control. ~ Seneca.

Once in 1919, when I was traveling at night by train, I wrote a short story. In the town where the train stopped, I took the story to the publisher of the newspaper who published the story. ~ Mikhail Bulgakov

I wrote my first full book when I was fourteen, and that was 'Obernewtyn.' It was also the first book I had published. It was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to, and it was short listed for Children's Book of the Year in the older readers category in Australia. ~ Isobelle Carmody

I wish to stay drenched
forever
in those rain-blue eyes
in those...soul-reaching crystals

not moving a muscle
nor breathing
just
savoring
this turquoise ache
against my heart. ~ Sanober Khan

This earth will be looked back on like a lowly home, and this life of ours be remembered like a short apprenticeship to duty. ~ William Mountford