Paradox Poems | Examples

paradox

I felt very distant from you,
But I couldn't be remote from you,
Why? I don't know
But this is not comfortable.
But also seeing someone else 
Watching you, crushing on you,
I feel jealous, but I shouldn't.
But now, you are in my life,
 I can't change it.
I tried to stop talking to you, but couldn't.
Even if I understand you, I am perplexed.
You seem familiar, even if you are an unfamiliar person.
The world serves no purpose for me.
Your name is what gets me going.
Even if you lie, it feels like the truth.
But it just shouldn't, I am denying this feeling.
I want and need to get over you.
But is it the right thing to do?

Premium Member looking

looking under
flowing waters of truth
finding my own


Love, version 2

Wounded
Distrustful 
Inured
Enthralled 
Fooled
Estranged 
Paralysed
Exposed
Resolved 
Consumed 
Scholar
Slave
Compelled
Searching 
Hopeful

Love, version 1: reflections on personal experiences of love, inspired by reading bell hooks

Wounded by its lack
Distrustful of it 
Inured to its absence 
In thrall to its allure
Fooled by its simulacrum
Estranged from it 
Paralysed by fear of losing it
Inexorably exposed to it 
Resolved against it 
Consumed by longing for it
A scholar to its foreign texts 
A slave to its compulsions 
Compelled to search for it
Forever 
Hopeful

Premium Member Trapped In Your Event Horizon

black    hole    lover 

you are 

and I, 

a prisoner in your event horizon

an astral point of no return

trapped in perpetuum-

two captive hearts

wildly beating

                                  out of sync

time warps, distorts-

cosmic love strings

unravel, become frayed

beyond repair-

despair

the universe

expands then contracts-

entropy inevitable 

so too our love-

white hot then space   cold

destined to spiral into

insatiable cHaOs


A    prisoner    I am 

in your

salaciously spun silken    web

and you

the    black widow

enticing me, luring me

until at last I am at your

mercy

pleasure and pain make for an 

alchemic, euphoric mix

but     prey    must be 

devoured in the end-

evil fangs penetrate 

my flesh

the poison in my blood

entrenched

delirium before    demise

still, with my 

dying breath 

I whisper-


more please


Premium Member Naive Faith

Some folks believe, "All things are true."
And darkness can alloy with light
Though sun arise, and skies shine blue
Some folks believe, "All things are true."
To Logos thence they bid adieu
Let now with good the bad unite
Some folks believe, "All things are true."
And darkness can alloy with light

Veracity

I have often wondered if they blundered
or if there's any truth to the advertising
within the words written on me
a simple clothing label advising
a promise a guarantee
100% Cotton
but does it refer to the garment or myself
the mere material it is printed on
a paradox perhaps
all of which goes to show
it's a dilemma the answer to which
this enquiring mind needs to know

Premium Member The Paradox of Time

Its elasticity is in fact a mystery ~
while time is free to flee as quick as lightning
sometimes it drags on for lengths of eternity.

And for all our hankering and longing
that time would move according to our wishes,
it's never anything but a fool's machination.

While youth is just a memory away ~
the magician waves his wand, and
without a trace into thin air, poof!

the decades swiftly vanish.



AP: 1st place 2025

Premium Member Correlation vs Causation

When you look around at the world
How do you know 
If it’s correlation or causation in effect?
You don’t.

The only way to really objectively know
Is to subjectively know
Which means we don’t really know squat
About the larger world outside our bubble.

And this ambiguity
Leaves us open to suggestion and doubt
And manipulation and control
By those with more confidence.

The truth is, no one really knows 
The workings of reality,
Whether what we see is correlation or causation,
But that has never stopped reality from working…

(7/21/25)

Premium Member Paradox of awakening

Thought precedes action, intent comes yet before,
arising from murmurs of a restless soul,
feeling incomplete, though each pore is a door,
to imbibe agape love, that heart may feel whole,
yet foiled by ego that always keeps a score,
so negating God’s light, we make do with dole.
He who wishes to ascend does not exist;
When the false falls, we transform as a bliss mist.

Premium Member Of Saltpeter and Soul

A line like serpent coiled round the saltpeter cart
Hoping to purchase health and healing, or
Gunfire spark
The merchant—a vendor of virtue/vice 
His ware—a white wonder of alchemical craft
Dancing in light and dark
He brokers that which bridges life and death
The sales of arms secretly sent for alms...
Betwixt his quiet, a question mark

Hobson's Choice - A Verbal Paradox

Thomas Hobson (1544 –1631)
in 19th century late
a Cambridge ostler and postal carrier
set his priorities straight
he owned a livery stable
of 40 Hackney horses or more
plus boots bridles and whips
and put the horse the cart before
after the animal left the barn
by bolting fast the door
and as precautionary balm
the nag nearest the stable gate
the worn-out equine storm to calm
was the firm rule he did make 
this one or none in the stall
was that which customers had to take
or do with no ride at all
but for the paying equestrians
either way they win or lose
as there was no choice but accept or reject
for any of them to choose

Premium Member divine paradox

as God’s divine spark
we are resplendent with light
veiled by thoughts clouding our sight

cessation the way
to reveal the light of Self
in the cave of heart aflame

Paradox Soup

I stir a question—
the answer swims like noodles
in unboiled riddles.

The Bittersweet Paradox

On sleepless nights, down winter's road,
A lonely knight in silence strode.
He raised his drink, a golden hue,
And bellowed deep, as sorrow grew.

A sudden quake—his soul it stirred,
And through the haze, strange voices heard.
He counted souls with trembling hand,
Each one like grains of dying sand.

The night grew cold, the stars grew dim,
No cheer nor warmth remained for him.
But lo! A ferryman appeared—
With staff in hand, four holes it speared.

Aghast, the knight beheld his face,
Time had worn it—left no trace
Of youth or mirth, just aching bones,
A mirror held to silent groans.

And then his glass—now slick with mold,
Slipped from his hand; he felt so old.
“Au revoir,” the stranger sighed,
To charred-eyed knight, whose heart had cried.

Then toward a light from darkened skies,
He went—no fear, no need for guise.
A star, perhaps, or something more,
A beacon to a distant shore.

And thus the tale, now soft and thin:
A knight finds peace from strife within.
For he may rest, his journey done—
A life well lived, a race well run.

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