like the rock for the centipede
or the shell for the hermit
take refuge under the moon
as the world goes quiet.
with silence like a serpent
taking shelter from the wet ground
anchor in gratitude
for the day that was had.
amidst your silenced tongue
there are sentences waiting to be spoken.
amongst your alienated adversities
awaits acceptance.
I have legs attached to feet;
Yet I can't even walk the sidewalks or streets;
I have a voice but I can't speak;
I have eyes yet can not see;
A breath I have but can't breathe;
mainly torso, leg some feet;
What am I to be...
centipede???
5/18/26
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr 2026
A Cool Centipede Cat
A centipede has lots of feet,
and as they shuffle down the street
to The Village where jazz is king,
they tap a rhythm that can swing
the syncopated, be-bop beat.
A Hundred Feet on the Ground
A bugle blast tooted loud.
Pride and apathy stirred the crowd.
It was a centipede and the sound
of a hundred feet on the ground.
The Gospel of the Centipede
The gospel of the centipede
is my sacred, guiding creed.
While profundity and wisdom, it imbues,
it is my wife who owns more shoes.
Centipede and millipede partner to open shoestore
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Don’t listen to that centipede.
That’s not something you need.
Pay attention to the earth’s surface.
Take a moment to look at their face.
Don’t eat corn on the cob.
It will make you sob.
Just like that small town ten miles away.
They just couldn’t keep them at bay.
Trick or take a seat.
That’s not something to eat.
Pantries are for evil things.
Do centipedes have wings?
If something doesn’t make sense?
And they charge you 50 cents.
Only pay a dime.
And they will pinch you one time.
A centipede runs very fast.
Their pinch hurts but doesn’t last.
Take a moment to let this insect grow.
That small town was all I used to know.
Take a moment to look at their face.
This is a being from outer space.
I came upon a centipede
whose family was in need -
sad news.
How, said I, can I assist?
Let's write a shopping list -
please choose.
There's just one thing
that, for us, you can bring -
that's shoes.
Please don't think it odd if I intercede
On behalf of the poor lowly centipede.
Though he does get the blues
When he has to buy shoes,
He's better off than his cousin, the millipede.
I’ll never forget the beauty of
a stare unabashed and
unwelcome in its own right
The public spaces in which
my mind unravels
from cords pulled tight
against hollow lobes
The centipede that stitches them both
together in the fading light with
tiny purposeful arrogant unwavering
masterful steps one at a time
With no guiding notion
other than grooves in the bark
of twisted branches
Though that very well could be enough
Multi-legs frighten me!
Centipedes and spiders make me jump on a chair-
up I flee!
Each of them scores!
Creepy legs crawl, then run- huge scare
deplores!
Fear streams
as my lungs blare
screams!
Multi-legs frighten me!
Creepy legs crawl, then run- huge scare
screams!
be as it may be
moving forward marching fleet
are the many feet
~
of allotted steps
march, March stepping steps walking
left right left stepping
~
it may be as be
moving forward marching fleet
of the centipede
9/16/23
written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2023
Took my centipede on a walk
We were only going around the block
And before long I knew
I circled the block once, he twenty-two
That centipede stepped on my toe
Hurt so bad I had to slow
Stepped on it not just once but again and again
Not ten times but ten times ten
After he trampled my big toe
Couldn't take another step don't you know
This is all he had to say
"If you cant keep up, get out of the way"
Sam the centipede’s arithmetic was bad
When counting to 100 it was so sad
Even though he had a 100 legs without dread
He found it difficult as an abacus to get ahead
For he would get to 50 and loose the plot
Having to start again was an infuriating lot
So Sam spent his days trying to work it out
With nightmares about it waking up him with a shout
So when you see Sam walking along
Lifting his legs in turn as a musical song
The wave of legs is Sam trying not to lose his place
As he does mental arithmetic in his head to keep the pace.
© Paul Warren Poetry
My mind's a snail's trail winding down my throat
Glittering triumphantly over the mountain peaks of each day
A fragmenting centipede of dead ideas several years long
Constantly chasing its growing tale, that's come full circle
Trimming a slimy scenic garden path of fear and doubt
Through a fragile shell left completely exposed to any soulless sole
A slippery slope to reach the top shelf of the trophy carbinet
Clinging instead to the empty spaces of the wall calendar
Your days are numbered, why not just surrender, but I'm a winner!
You can wrist some minutes of business success because, truly only time will tell
But personally, I would like to rest a tombstone and leave a blank memory..
Of the colourless selouhette of your insipid mind, what a dull thought!
Don't let the dust from my ashes blind you to who I really am or was
Let the blowing wind carry me, for I'm truly not worth your tears of flesh
I'll stroke and then poke your liver, to get you laughing, and choke you on your snigger
While dancing on the ceiling with you, my lovely dinner..
Centipede so tiny crawls
trekking on a fence
hundred legs, he never falls
I watch in suspense…
My two feet are bad, you see,
pain comes when I walk.
Should I be a centipede,
you would hear me squawk!
*Entry for Andrea’s 7/5 Trochee contest
When you touch me
I circle like a centipede
following to the rhythm of its coiling body
as you fondle hunger with your eyes
and I
feed you with my soft cries
the moon washed in the sky’s water
draped in the sun’s golden threads of ray
mind influence hands
to take care of an entire
body
with lust flooding in
marrying the hands of time
to painted white pillow covers
struggle
and
I breathe in
a fresh air of you
warm to the heart
and such memories old
still
survive in the soul
cold.
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