What Is Your Favorite "Manly" Poem?

[gamzultovah]

I have many, but this one strikes me this morning:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
~ William Ernest Henley

What is yours?...

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I've always felt Catullus carried a certain masculine charm through his love verses.

Ōdī et amō. Quārē id faciam fortasse requīris.
Nesciō, sed fierī sentiō et excrucior.

 

[haparnold]

If or Charge of the Light Brigade. Here's the text of If, by Rudyard Kipling:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

[curl]

"First I Look At the Purse" (G7044) is a 1965 song recorded by R&B group The Contours on MotownRecords' Gordy label. It was written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers,[1] the authors of the Temptations' very first hit single, "The Way You Do the Things You Do". This song reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the Top 20 on Billboard's R&B chart, peaking at #12.
����

"First I Look at the Purse"
Single by The Contours
The Contours singles chronology
B-side	"Searching For A Girl"
Released	1965
Format	7" single
Recorded	Hitsville USA(Studio A); 1965
Genre	Soul
Length	2:41
Label	Gordy G7044
Songwriter(s)	Smokey Robinson Bobby Rogers
Producer(s)	Smokey Robinson
"Can You Jerk Like Me/That Day When She Needed Me" (1964) "First I Look at the Purse" (1965) "Just a Little Misunderstanding" (1966)

The song received some added attention when it was covered by The J. Geils Band on their self-titled debut album in 1970. The song has also been covered by David Bromberg, Rod Stewart, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, The Cortinas and Nashville Pussy.

Some fellas look at the eyes
Some fellas look at the nose
Some fellas look at the size
Some fellas look at the clothes
I don't care if her eyes are red
I don't care if her nose is long
I don't care if she's underfed
I don't care if her clothes are worn
First I look at the purse!

Some fellas like the smiles they wear
Some fellas like the legs that's all
Some fellas like the style of their hair
Want their waist to be small.
I don't care if their legs are thin
I don't care if their teeth are big
I don't care if their hair's a wig
Why waste time lookin' at the waistline?
First I look at the purse!

A woman can be fat as can be,
kisses sweet as honey
But that don't mean a thing to me
If you ain't got no money
If the purse is fat....that's where it's at.

Some fellas like the way they walk
The way they swing and sway
Some fellas like the way they talk
Dig the things they say.
I don't care if they wobble like a...
or talk with a lisp
I still think I'm a good lover
if the dollar bills are crisp
First I look at the purse!

 

[downsouth]

Um, "manly poem?" I don't understand...sorry I don't, but I'm just an old school livestock farmer...

 

[3rdguy]

Andrew Dice Clay penned a few that I enjoyed.

 

[redglow]

"It's easy to grin, when your ship comes in and you've got the stock market beat. But, the man worthwhile, is the man who can smile when his pants are too tight in the seat."

Judge Smails

 

[prndl]

"There was an old hermit named Dave..."

 

[pianopuffer]

This is a favorite of mine. Not sure if it qualifies as "manly"...

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

 

[trouttimes]

Many Robert Service poems about the Yukon.

 

[warren]

gamzultova: You omitted your definition of "manly." My choice would be McCrae's In Flanders Fields.

 

[btp79]

D is for Daddy from Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book: A Primer for Adults Only by Shel Silverstein.

 

[jaytex1969]

Hired.
Tired?
Fired!

 

[sablebrush52]

What could possibly be more manly than this!!

I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea

He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shoppin'
And has buttered scones for tea.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I skip and jump.
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars.

He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps.
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around in bars?!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I wear high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie,
Just like my dear Mama.

He cuts down trees. He wears high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra?!

What's this? Wants to be a girlie?! Oh, My!
And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

 

[mso489]

James Dickey made his maleness a presence in his poetry, to go with his rep for womanizing and one-upping any other male (or strong woman) in sight. A really good poem, maybe not so much good company, depending on who you are. For shear flights of being alive, often along with being male, probably his sonnets and many speeches in the plays of Shakespeare, for vibrancy, insight, and pushing language to its limits.

Watch out for this spell-check, which takes one perfectly good word and replaces it with another making no sense in the sentence.

 

[voorhees]

There’s a place in France.
Where the naked ladies dance.
There’s a hole in the wall.
Where the boys can see it all.

 

[prndl]

Though technically not a poem, the St. Crispin's Day speech from "Henry V" is usually a toe-tapper.

 

[gamzultovah]

gamzultova: You omitted your definition of "manly." My choice would be McCrae's In Flanders Fields.

Manly it is, if you deem it so.

 

[gamzultovah]

What could possibly be more manly than this!!

I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea

He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shoppin'
And has buttered scones for tea.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I skip and jump.
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars.

He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps.
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around in bars?!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I wear high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie,
Just like my dear Mama.

He cuts down trees. He wears high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra?!

What's this? Wants to be a girlie?! Oh, My!
And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

Monty Python! Manly indeed...and funny too.

 

[gamzultovah]

Hired.
Tired?
Fired!

View attachment 2202

I said poem, Jay...not story of your life. ?