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Best Poems Written by Debbie Lee

Below are the all-time best Debbie Lee poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Divorce Ballad

Friend: He says I am a bad mother.
Me: What a mess.
Outcome: She feels broken, she’s falling down.
Hope: But she’s clenching her fists together now.

Friend (quiet and fearful): But what if he’s right?
Me: Tell him to look in the mirror!
Outcome: Her eyes meet my face, but skitter away (ashamed)
Hope: She is resolute, she wants the finality of divorce.

Friend (agonising): What if his love is better than nothing?
Me: He is nothing; you deserve more!
Because he gives you nothing but exhaustion;
Because he takes your oxygen and says shut up;
Because he offers only negativity and your boys,
Your beautiful boys, what if they think
That is how you should treat a woman?

So, my friend, sucking once again on
Her nicotine cancer-sticks,
Which are healthier to the soul
Than him, the selfish beast.

She has walked away, on bended
Knees, her back bowed in shame,
With a swollen face that cannot hide tears, but
Rightly she concedes both of them share blame.

Their heartbroken song
Cruel and slow like Calexico
Her face is strained, bearing that smile;
Her teeth tightly clenched, all the while.

Although I would like to search for some place
Where divorce finds an easy location of blame,
Best I can tell, it rests on angry shoulders,
Under which none of us feel the same.

Her pretty face, bitterly contorted;
Her barely-40 face, shamefully weary;
I try to recognise such anger, such hatred;
And realise it is pride that has left her so teary.

Please, my friend, cease your screaming now.
Because he is not worthy of your voice
Becoming so worn and hoarse,
Divorce is indeed your best choice.

His poisoned love,
There is no need to pursue.
He is not the lover
Who you originally knew.

Please, my friend, cease your crying now.
His lips mouth words of hope,
But you know the truth – he lies.
He just does not know how to cope.

You want to understand
How did this this mess unfold?
But know this: you are not to blame;
Nothing looks the same in such cold.

Your love song
Has become love lost.
Of which you should
Carefully consider the cost.

As for me?

I’m tired of being passive,
While he preys upon your fears.
I’m tired of wanting to fight,
Even as you shed for him more tears.

I’m tired of denied anger,
Especially when I see it in your eyes.
I’m tired of forced conversation,
When there is nothing but goodbye.

I’m tired,
Know you are too.
But it is always easier on the outside
Than within something so hard to do.

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Atrophy

I sigh my song of loss
Profound sense of frustration
At your hair now brittle and coarse
Which fuels my sense of desolation

You’ve been old my whole life
But strong in belief – and mind
Never guessed it could come to this
Or that I’d possess thoughts this unkind

Horrified by suffering
Amazed by the little things
Your paper-thin delicate skin
Each revelation acts like bee stings

Malignant emotions
Swollen with a sense of shame
Loved ones try to absorb your pain
Yet I’m searching for someone to blame

Ocean frost in my heart
I clutch to such small details
Firm grip or large blue eyes open
Former comfort of my hometown fails

May 5 you turned 95
Autumn has moved to winter
When did I last see my Grandma?
Easter Monday: for that I’m bitter

Church associations
Are hard for me to accept
Just like cellular atrophy
It represents what I wish to reject

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Emotional Bulimia

Have you ever realised
that everything you miss
is not all that special
or good to begin with?

Vomiting away my days,
it feels like bulimia.
You say you need your own way,
like drug-fuelled paranoia.

I take advantage of myself;
I’m wasting time and what is mine.
You know how to pick the best times
to hand deliver the worst lines.

And now that you’re begging,
words and lies you don’t mean,
I know this isn’t real;
you’re faking that you’re keen.

So I guess it’s fine I puke
all good sentiment away.
I guess it’s appropriate
you’ve entrapped your mind away.

I can do all that I’ve dreamed of;
my sharpened heel is on your throat.
It was my choice to play your game.
But as for you?  I hope you choke.

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Sanctuary

Sometimes I have an impulse to scream.
I’m so approachable, contactable –
Email, mobile, in person –
Is there any time that’s mine?
Do I need any silence?
Thinking time?
Control?
Self-control?
All is static.
I’m drowning in the silent noise of my mind.
Consumed everyday,
Everyday details consume me.
Could I take some time?
Some time to breathe?
Does time want its quiet second or two?
I know I make my choices,
I choose the way I live.
Yet I feel I’m captive;
Not captivated as I should be.
I could love time if I didn’t hate it so.
I want to love time,
Not run from it afraid for my sanity.
I feel safest where I’m in control.
Even if I know I’m never truly in control.
Time is not an intimate love,
Nor at peace like the brother I’ve never known.
Should I continue to run from insanity?
Or can I learn that time is a sanctuary?

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Venting

I do not recognise my own face.
I have stared at this mirror too long.
Features blurred beyond understanding:
My eyes, nose and mouth seem to be wrong.

Eyes
filled with uncertainty;
glazed with world-weary despair;
no longer conscious of suffering;
unwilling and unable to care.

Nose
wrinkled in self-disgust;
helpless against the world’s stink;
ignorant of all the sweet smells;
oh whatever would my Grandma think.

Mouth
no longer expressive;
sneering even to my Mum;
filled with universal distaste;
twisted by logic which has gone numb.

Mind
battle of good and evil;
just playing out in my head;
withdrawing from reality;
wishing for religion to be dead.

My intention is not to ridicule,
For platitudes so easily sent.
Empty ideology and rhetoric
Means I feel compelled to vent.

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps

Perhaps this is the price I must pay?
I fear there is no way to break free,
When I need to push you far away.

When I succumb to your whispered “Stay”,
Even then I know you’re bad for me.
Perhaps this is the price I must pay?

I cleave to your heart as sun to day,
Yet cry as I fall on bended knee,
When I need to push you far away.

Silenced by you when I want to say
“Begone, no more, please just let me be”.
Perhaps this is the price I must pay?

I feel entrapped, like a creature fey,
As you claim to love me but don’t see
When I need to push you far away.

Even as I want to capture prey,
Your animal heart beats so cruelly.
Perhaps this is the price I must pay?
When I need to push you far away.

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Wine-Dark

I am cautious
slightly anxious
mildly noxious
truly selfish

Trapped in blandness
so dangerous
unknowingness
I am toxic

With a wine-dark mood
I stifle my laugh
resisting a blush
conceding too much

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Sick

I am sick
Not tired
Not drunk
Just wired

Hardwired to you
Your retarded spark
Your neurons your charge
Your disguise so dark

Can I explain the unforgiven?
Without you I must disappear
Beside you I offer lust and leer
Within me you are insincere

Thoughtful words become my choke
I cry shameless tears of pleading
I have devolved to sick and tired
Of our unnecessary beating

And if you knock on my door?
I’ll slap you down front and back
You’re down and out for the count
All I am is precisely what you lack

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Salvation

Damage done;
I’ve harmed much
More than I’d wish.

Transformation
Within me.
What I lack,
Your virtue
Provides.

So if I fall will you
Believe
In me?
Even when I’m lost
Will you
Search
For me?

Confusion gone;
What was hidden,
Has become crystal clear.

To break the cycle,
I’m torn yet
Reluctantly
Turn to
You.

Hate is the burden I
Carry through life.
But if you’d accept
Me just as I am,
Could I be made
Whole once
Again?

Lost without a purpose,
Self-consumed with
Fierce doubt.

Yet it feels so wrong
To speak of freely giving
This calloused heart to another.
Can you forgive me?
Would you save me?

I’ve broken promises,
I’ve made many mistakes,
Too numerous to count even.
I’ve searched myself; I’m empty.
But the biggest fallacy I ever
Deceived myself into believing:
That anyone else could save me.

Salvation comes only from within.
And you have to believe you’re worth saving.

Details | Debbie Lee Poem

Here

Here,
Though I’m more used to fear,
I like where we are,
How you make me feel,
Every time you are near.

My lips, gentle caressing;
Our cheeks, subtle brushing;
Hands, a tender trembling;
Eyes, wide open to possibility.

You are the man I want to lie next to;
I welcome the whispered “I’ve missed you”.
I resist love, but know I felt this suddenly.
Now I long to fall into your arms.

I like how you sleep,
When you sleep next to me.
I like where you sleep, my dear,
When you curl along my spine,
Here.