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Best Poems Written by Steven Young

Below are the all-time best Steven Young poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Steven Young Poem

Once Upon a Colorado Christmas

Splendor of soft shoulders
caressed by sinking sun
Out my window the western slope
of the thick coated Rocky Mountains
Once upon a clear cold Colorado Chrstmas 
purple brushed horizon flecked with gold
filled my picture window 
Mesmerized I stood staring
at this huge canvas hung in the Louver 
God's and goddesses swirling about 
in a swath of psychedelic clouds
refracting the colors of slow dimming light
Mt. Olympus in my living room
I was seventeen living in a dream
high up in the sandstone cliffs
carved out by the west's Mississippi 
Nature, sweet mother of mine, purging
my childhood nightmare with sunsets
mountains, rivers and springs
On the banks of that fat river below
I listened to nothing but hope
Even in the echo of crackling ice
Even when she froze everything still
she made life beautiful 
Never ever did she
punish my anger 
but kissed it away with her love
with forests, flowers, birds and trees
She gentled my soul when I held her hand
and took me back from the jails and hospitals 
every time I ran
Seventeen, fresh from my last disaster
Christmas Eve eight hundred miles 
from expulsion and friends I missed
my dreaded return to the last place I left
There she was…
… arms spread clear across the valley
to hug me… her renegade child
My mother, bless her heart--
--wasn't happy to see her headache return
But my "other" mother was.. yeah
I took refuge in the painted cliffs and canyons that surrounded me 
and when I came down to the valley floor 
I would stop before the bridge 
and walk down to listen to the big water's mighty roar…
It never stopped rolling and never ran dry 
despite all obstacles 
and neither did I
My savior doesn't have a birthday
but I will celebrate my hope in "His"
Just that warm sun 
slinking like a coyote
over the western horizon 
that Christmas Eve
is all the hope I'll ever need

Details | Steven Young Poem

Just Say No

Just say no to sunshine
Trying to penetrate your dark doom
Wrap your black cloud around its fire 
Smoother it in your tears, in your grief
In your past trauma
Feel it struggle in your stranglehold
Feel its energy released, drained,
Spent in your grasp
As happiness gasps dying
Drooping, whithering away
Should it rise again to sear your darkness
Murder it
You're so good at feeling hopeless
Why try to feel anything but
Slay it again and again
Every time it swells up in you
Tempts you to believe that it will last
It will stay, it will dwell deep in your heart
Forever
Convincing you with slippery slick sly serpent tongue
To let the big lie slide inside you (again)
Where you tend it, hydrate it, and grow it
Until its even bigger than before
(Really)
Yeah... and you let it fill you up
Lift you
Thrust you gravity free
Ride that rocket to dizzying, breathtaking
Earth shattering heights
From which you know you'll be
Shot down like a rainbow
Stretched over the sky
In a spectacular, sparkling, dizzying
Exploding array of glittering joy
Spritzing the heavens, drizzling down
Coating your heart with sweet, warm
Delicious love
Only to have that scorching light

That blasted you full

Retreat from the depths of your darkness

And leave you emptier than before

Sighing with despair 

F___ sunshine

Details | Steven Young Poem

Identity Crisis

He says he saw "(this nation's)
Identity sold and robbed by immigration..."
And I remember
My first day teaching at the border school
First one there that August morning
Cows were grazing on the lawn
I walked into the office to report them
and the secretary laughed, "They're Hector's.
They sneak over the border sometimes.
He's on his way to get them."
The crossing was two blocks away
There was a hole in the fence 
Where all the kids from Mexico
Who attended school in America, crossed
Customs and border patrol agents knew them
AND watched them come and go 
Safely
It really was an open border then
And no one felt their identity was threatened
America was built on the backs of immigrants
And those who came in chains
They worked for pennies and nothing at all
While white culture treated them as inferiors
Are we losing our identity as white supremacists
Because people of nonwhite culture refuse to be our inferiors
GOOD
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Declaration of Independence (if you read)
People coming to America to live free and pursue their happiness
Robs our identity
Really?
People coming to America to live free and pursue their dreams
IS our identity
not January 6 insurrectionists
not election deniers
not voting rights suppressors
NOT white supremacists
who are destructive to others' lives, liberty, and their happiness
My duty as a TRUE American Patriot is to call you out
You threaten the very principles upon which this nation stands
And like it or not, we will confront you, and block your way
This great country is made of great people, 
not narrow minded _____
(Whatever fits)
I'm out

Details | Steven Young Poem

Make It Rain

Blinding silver streak 
Explodes
Rocks crash
Roof rattles
Cracked sky
Spills fury
Pent up rage 
Inflicted
Doors 
Windows
Blown open
Wild wind
Laces through
Snuggled up 
Tight and warm
Bear hugging 
Howling storm
Wrestling 
Chest crushing 
Rib crunching 
Dominion
Pinned down
Struggling beneath
Seeking for some 
Lasting release
I won't let this
Tempest leave
Make it rain
Forty days
And forty nights
Yet
Somehow
Some way
I fall in
Dream
It slinks away
And all I 
Wake up to
Is this 
Fresh morning
Kiss

Details | Steven Young Poem

Otter Love You More

bow riding 
Dall's porpoises play

sea otters, orcas
and bald eagles
every day

herding salmon

otter find another boat
and some porpoise

otter love you more
like I did in Alaska 

otter mend this net
love slips through
reel it in carefully
and stack it meticulously 
(setting it should
never ensue disaster)

a listless drifter
I have been 
tempting storms
and rocky shores

otter live this life on porpoise
like I did then
choose a destination
sail to better shores       (oh, give me a home
                                     where the sea otters roam
                                     and the bow riding 
                                     Dall's porpoises play)
otter love you more 
like I did in Alaska

Details | Steven Young Poem

Looking For Something

I am an old man
a deep well
an epoch marriage
a raven haired beauty
five above average kids
Orion deckhand and cook
teacher of the year
Bible study leader
jail preacher
song worship leader
NAU graduate --graduate school
ASU graduate --undergraduate school
life guard
breakfast cook
English tutor
Archie Brokeshoulder's well puller 
grain elevator operator
pizza chef
dishwasher
mental hospital patient
prisoner
welder
all region linebacker
wrestler
pole vaulter
3 high schools
4 jr highs
2 elementary schools
8 states
2 dads
5 moms
6 sisters
4 brothers
13 presidents

I am an old man
I'll swim a mile
this morning
and dance 
all night
golf tomorrow 
backpack Europe
visit kids in Montana
come back to Arizona
visit kids in Kentucky
do more Europe
come back to Arizona 
swim and golf
then who knows
India, Nepal, Tibet
I am an old man
looking for something

Details | Steven Young Poem

Dancing Bear

your eyes, black diamonds as dark and potent as your soul
your skin, the color of your sandstone mesas
your hair, a sacred silky, shiny, black mane
stranded with blue lapis, white shell, and red corral
Navajo princess with your big burning heart 
full of Native sorrow

generation after generation
of poverty, degradation and shame, 
opportunity stolen before your ancestors were born
your reservation a waste of stray dogs, alcoholism and dirty water
you 
are the most beautiful woman I know

beauty far deeper than your warm terracotta skin
I fall into the abysmal depth of your eyes
into such strong medicine
that in conquering you, I am conquered like Custer's last stand 
and lowered a realm or two
...a holy healing realm 
or two
where I see 
all that lies before and after
you

you are your beautiful people, you are your wasted land and all its shame
you are
your eyes
when I gaze into the glittering dark realm above
your eyes are all I see
"the brain is wider than the sky" said Emily *
but the windows of your soul
contain the whole multitude of universes 
inhabited by every bit of joy and sorrow

dark-souled
Navajo 
princess
you are more, more than all of them
so much more than this world

the drums are drumming a sacred beat 
and Dancing Bear moves the spirit world 
the bells your feet ring
and the feathers your limbs flutter
tell the greatest of the great spirits 
about this hell on earth 
make the sky listen, make the wind obey
make the way even

there is no time (and never was) 
for anyone to escape these words
It falls and rises again
again and again and again

dark-souled
Navajo
princess

knows

Details | Steven Young Poem

Crumpled Roses

bleeding red petals 
from too many
crumpled roses
dripping
from his 
book of poems

he thought he'd never
found his love
but
freedom 
always
won

morning sun
stretches
through his window
pounds the face
of the Peloncillos

early birds
from 
empty trees
reach out
 
while a parade of 
sighs 
knifes down the road

he tried not to
write her into
his stitched-up
Frankenstein 
heart

poor baby

another
crumpled rose 
in his book of poems
bleeding red petals

Details | Steven Young Poem

Even the Snakes and the Bloody Moon

sweet pungent odor
fermented hay 
dark and warm
slithers of light spit
through the cracks of the
warped weathered wood
old pie tin lies in the dirt 
in its corner
where the mean old bull snake
drank milk with the cats
and kept the rats and rattlers 
at bay
there's a buzzing and a hissing  
on the other side of this rickety door 
inside this old abandoned barn
I decided to explore
I'm about to shove through
but before I do
I look down to see
an Arizona black coiled up
its cold eyes 
drawing a bead 
whoa there little fella
didn't see you
used to be
I'd blow your head off
tan your hide 
and roll you up to toss
in a cigar box
with the others
now--I don't know why
you seem like
such a harmless guy
you didn't strike
well then won't I
and I like the light
reflected off your shiny scales
and the way you glide
so smoothly and methodically
over rough wood
nothing anyway
through that door
just old leather
bridals and reins
broken down boots
and rusty tools
outside 
light blinds
squinting to see
corroded red tank 
shot full of holes
every idiot with a gun
can't resist 
putting in another one 
and the dusty chaparral
stretches up to the cool pines
as far as this trail goes
I follow
just a 
not quite 
snake bit 
Arizona boomer
kick'n around 
couple of days after 
that bloody November 
moon
(I set my alarm to)
yeah
whatever it means
sometimes its better 
just to keep moving
with the sweet 
sun on your shoulder
no rush 
whatever I'm looking for
it's gonna find me
even the snakes
and the bloody moon

Details | Steven Young Poem

Couldn'T Be Prouder

I couldn't be prouder
than the day you were born
my beautiful little miracle 

your tiny fingers curled over mine
your pretty eyes captured me
and melted me
I loved you then
and every day 
since your 
arrival from heaven

we won't talk about what I would do
to anyone who would ever harm you
but that's what I thought holding you
for the first time
my precious baby girl

and we won't talk about
any struggles raising you
there were only a few
all the tears and pain in the world 
would never erase the joy 
I feel when you smile
and, my angel
you smile so much

on my arm 
on this day
I have to give you away
you are the most resplendent treasure

who wouldn't cry to see you
walking down the aisle 

your handsome groom 
whom I know loves you
as much as I do 
can't keep his eyes dry

reading vows 
from your huge heart 
only makes it harder
warm love tumbles
down my cheeks
just seeing the sky 
above you 
so clear blue
with a 
wispy white lace
canopy of grace
etched delicately 
over you

and that guy with whom
I like to barbecue
golf 
and share a good shot of
whiskey 

I love him too

and your little you
who lights up the world 
she's only two
lucky you
experiencing the blessing
I had
well "have"

my beautiful baby girl
who's teeny tiny fingers
curled over
my callused hand
who 
with her daddy
went on dessert dates 
played hooky 
and
hunted ghosts
in the old hotel
my favorite
fishing buddy...
 ...she'll always be mine

sun sparkling your gown 
like magic radiating 
from your soul

I couldn't be prouder
than the day you were born
but damn this comes close

my barbecue buddy 
could not ask for 
a more priceless gift
than the one whose 
gentle hand squeezes mine
just before it lets go

soft fingers curl 
tenderly into his

my precious baby

his beautiful bride