Aphotic Poems | Examples

Winter And The Night Sky Aflame

In last clear winter night  
I saw red light like a phoenix
a light careening downward
against the canvas of aphotic sky.

Present were the planets 
which aligned among constellations,
passenger planes embarking with clarity 
out on their own ways.

Had they seen it too? 

or was it a figment of an exhausting mind 
combined with my unreliable eyes,
projecting a spectacle 
to shake me from malaise, 
return my sight to players
peeking behind the curtain, 
the world’s stage I put to writing 
exuberant in image and voice.

The comet of some past poet perhaps
showing off their place in eternity
as if the words were not already enough.

Absence of Light

There is a darkness in my life, 
a forecast of torrential rain that drowns my heart with sorrow,
and its gloom clouds my mind, 
washing away any hope for tomorrow,

This darkness overshadows me, 
eclipsing whatever light that remains within my soul, 
and the more I try to fight it,
the less I feel in control,

Tears spill onto my cheeks, 
tracing the outlines of a smile seldom shown, 
as I sit alone in this cave of a home, 
hidden from the world and hardening like stone, 

It's as if I'm dying inside, 
trapped within the confines of an epidermis tomb, 
while my cries for help echo through the barrenness of my existence, 
resonating with apprise of my impending doom, 

But in this aphotic zone in the depths of my core, 
my words are a sconce on the walls of my heart, 
illuminating the halls of my soul, 
so that others may navigate their way through the dark.

Life is a Song

Life is a song,
incomplete, yet soothing—
lullabies lulling the world to sleep
with its balladic lilt, gently swaying 
to the depths of its nomadic 
syncopation.

Where I can subdue archaic
hieroglyphics in hues of 
rose gold notes, invading my 
tentative aura, glistening upon 
tragic horizons,
for the wandering seekers, 
freely waltzing to arias of the moon,
escaping unsung passages to 
desolate wastelands,

where fiends roam in spite; 
surviving the clusters of 
rain drenched clouds,
draining the life out of 
sunken nocturnes,
lost in cataclysmic paradoxes
overshadowed by waves of  
monotonous soliloquy. 
 
Yet I crave the aphotic harmonies of 
its flesh and bones, 
cocooned in the stillness of 
shadows that align, 
stonewalling the 
world so bent on exposing me—
finding my true element,
inhabiting where life meets its end credits,
resuscitating sentiments long forgotten,
enabling me to breathe.

An Aphotic Place

There's an aphotic place; found within my percipience
Endeavoring; I will face it past, present, future-tense
My hope is that its destination; is evanescence
Support in overcoming it, you; will my persistence
As everything is rising to a convergence
May that one percent; never find its resurgence

Retrograde

you …

whisper me -
regular intervals, but
brief, dim … softly skipping …
like echos from a shadowy wood
the words trouble my spirit
with their dark gravity
soft-speak fingertips
burning flesh for passion’s sake
etching their truth
more fiercely than blood …
your desire about me, circling
but in opposition
contrary to my norms -
antimatter alchemy
a carnal conjuring pressed tenderly to ear
my world made mute with sound
your aphotic orbit
the breathy spin that pulls me 
outward, apart … 
to chaos …
to erotic entropy
to the black, starry vault …

you.





Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, May 1, 2023

Balaenoptera Musculus

Shipping mountains of expanse it gains the above,
a smooth sheen of aphotic immensity 
gate-crashes the sky.

We watch as a vast inclination to be enormous 
break free of the tenebrous deep.
It has now a ribbed and scalloped identity,
it is the depth made manifest.

I can no longer calibrate my mind, as the booming whale
surges past my physical insignificance.

That night
I could feel my fingernails growing in my sleep,
my thickening backbone stretching to crane upward
into an arching leviathan flight,

while my own shriveled and shed skin
sinks downwards to become mere morsels
for soft-mouthed bottom feeders.

Let Love Kill

Zoned out in the darkness
Time devours my vitality 
Trying to swim; I sink to the bottom
Meet me here in aphotic darkness
Our devilish souls can create a tsunami on the surface
And obliterate all other love
Light hearts, ripples
As we drink their shallow cries

Unite with me as I swim your depths
Wave after wave of divine pleasure
Designed to realign my spine
Chew my insides as a piranha
Our love is worth the death of earth
I'll chance obliteration,
In my blinded sight just to
drown in the depths as you destruct my soul

Rising Above Life's Tide

where there is darkness....
              there too shall be light

i stand amidst
the tide's rise
watching 
aphotic folds 
of night
diminish
beneath
day's canvas
in hues
of crimson
with tangerine 
splashes
atop the restless
waves

thoughts
lose themselves
in the depths
of churning sea
as i walk along
making footsteps
of life's paths
watching
memories fade

....past
        behind me



(inspired by a conversation with a friend)

Who Am I

I am not meant to be a speaker of truth 
I am not meant to be the bearer of knowledge
in my words you will find no wisdom of the ages
nor the conscience of my generation
I cannot offer you transcendental enlightenment
the afterlife yet alludes me
Nirvana, Valhalla, Heaven
mere abstraction while I walk this earth
my insights
but meaningless sardonic rambling
no epiphanies
no sage advice
only a searching wanderer
destined to quest
for that elusive word 
which someday may illuminate this aphotic life
and bring peace to my weary soul



01/16/2018

Haywire Ghetto

Haywire ghetto, lingering corpses, malingering sunshine,
Malignant malediction, staccato with disseminating stench,
Portending: ichor, insipid blood and wenches.

Juxtaposition of aphotic with aphotic; incognizant iniquity.

Noxious oxygen, attenuated jasper, jejune jardiniere:
Zion.

Smoke: implicative cornice,
Sherry or vitriol?
Ours, a world, that feigns polo in alcohol!!

-Pin Dew (30/04/2017)

Summer Sight

golden sunshine rays
promise better summer days
far from aphotic















Example For Summer Sight Contest
5-11-2016

Light Versus Dark

Light
                     Illumination, enlightenment 
                    Gleaming, brighting, shining
               Spiritual, sacred, ominous, aphotic
                 Deceiving, misleading, glooming
                           Heinous, obscure
                                   Dark










Nayda Ivette
12-20-2015

Silence

I whisper into the silence to see if anyone is there
While the moon casts a calm reflection I wonder what I will hear
The voices of timid strangers roaming through the night
Invited by the darkness convincing them that its alright 
And not to fear the sleeping giants nor their deep aphotic dreams
Embrace your somber phantoms they will help you find the light you seek
Then I stared far beyond the horizon into the great abyss of emptiness
At that moment all of my hell stood still and I know why I exist
Although my body is bound by gravity my soul is a billion light years away
Im still no closer to forever, but heaven is on my way

~JJF ~

Curse

Competence adheres to truth
The affliction begins to throb
Fracturing the enchantment
Paralyzing compassion

Yearning for the illusion
To break from the mind
Materialize into undeniable
Ensure the lighthearted

Initiation of dissipation
Retention collapsing
Reality emerges
Ecstasy subsides

A feared colloquy
An aphotic chasm ensues
Suffocation in isolation
The curse of infatuation

The Mourning Phoenix, Josephine

The Aphotic semblance rises against her face
The king of shame reigns over all
Her Hallows are mine
We are the same, Josephine
Explain to me this sacrificial empathy
Josephine

"I'm living; the slowest way to die"
Hold on, my Josephine, everything you feel, is killing me
"I'm the lacunous lover, I must go to my ashened grave
In death I will lay, every word, every pain
I'm the victim, I can forgive
I can't go on - don't feel their wrath meant for me"

My name was meant for elegies
Not for the Wardens' acrimonies 
I can't look at a man without seeing a killer
I must go-
Not for the love of the death 
For the fear of life"

My Seraphic Josephine
Through the ashes you will claim victory 
Don't you say you must die
Elysia is in your grave
Through the ashes you will claim victory
My Seraphic Josephine
You are The Mourning Phoenix

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