All the best cliches

While considering what makes a good poem, we discussed how cliches should be avoided. A website had helpfully listed a 100 or so of the most common. So we decided it would  be fun to try and use as many as we can in a poem. Here is one or two of the results!



COMING UP ROSES

According to my local garden centre
           'violets are blue'
I shake my head in doubt as I stare at
           white violets,
peering from under leaves in the tub by my door.

This garden 'will be the death of me!'
It draws me out and demands
           my day, my spring, my life.
My 'Archilles heel' aches from too much bending, as
     tasked to 'work around the clock', I remove
           soil, crocks, water and weeds.
I pause and stand upright in the 'golden silence'
    the number of tasks overwhelming.
'All in good time' allows for a pot of coffee
           and a new thought.
'Everything's coming up roses' except for mine!
These are indeed the 'thorn in my side',
    with clusters of aphids and silvering bark
          'as far as the eye can see'.
'The tip of the iceberg' I mutter
    and wait for 'my ship to come in'!

- Karen



MOUSE EXCLUDED

She waited
With baited breath
Her body still
Paw raised
Staring fixedly
More than meets the eye
A mouse
Patience
Stillness
All in a days work
All's well that ends well
Mouse excluded

- Pauline