I've been a vegetarian since 1999, so I don't know why I write poems like this.
The Lion and the Lamb
Lamb said, "Violence is not the way of God."
Lion said to Lamb, "That's odd"
(and I quote verbatim)
just before he ate 'im.
Lion's Face Splattered Across the Front Page
Lion was out on parole
when he saw a Gazelle and ate him whole.
His attorney apologized for the pain
and would carefully explain
that the jungle king would plead insane,
but the jury found he was not insane, but droll
when he said he should've topped him with a jelly roll.
Carnivore Herbivore Dialog
The carnivore spoke, "I eat animals raw,
according to the jungle law".
The herbivore replied, "I won't even try it,
I observe a strictly vegan diet",
as he proceeded to gently chew
a burger of mushrooms and tofu.
The predator ate him in one gulp and said,
"I prefer my dinner to be grass fed".
Popping out from under time's ruffled sun
a regally vested, chit-chatty Robin.
Cheerily navigating the lemon lime grass.
Perhaps looking for a beetle or crumb.
He daintily hip-hopped into my ring
on legs of beige twigs and lute strings.
Gently tilting a Tiffany-kissed beak.
Offering a daisy chain of silvery peeps.
I thought him just another avian busker
hustling up a mate and something to eat.
I'd little to offer and vigorously apologized.
He just glanced toward his robin egg sky.
Then offered me, in pastels, a Basho haiku.
I volleyed back with crayon-streaked senryu.
Before gliding off to sweet memory land,
he gifted an orange gem from his regal vest.
I considered this day to be impeccably blessed
by Lord Robin of the lemon-lime grass.
A True Story
I Forgive the Past Me
I forgive the girl
who stayed quiet
when she should’ve screamed.
The one who apologized
for taking up space,
for feeling too much,
for not being enough
for people who never planned to stay.
I forgive the nights
she cried herself empty
and still woke up pretending
she was fine.
I forgive the way
she held onto people
with shaking hands,
even after they gave her
every reason to let go.
I forgive her for believing
love had to hurt
to be real.
For every bad decision
made from loneliness.
For every tear hidden
behind fake smiles.
For every moment
she blamed herself
for things she never broke.
I forgive the anger.
The fear.
The sadness she carried
like it was stitched into her skin.
Because she was surviving
the only way she knew how.
And maybe she was messy.
Maybe she was broken open
more times than she deserved.
But she kept going.
Even when her heart was tired.
Even when nobody noticed.
So I forgive the past me.
Not because the pain
didn’t matter—
but because she does.
Christmas faerie asked if she could take break
the reindeers snorted, which was a mistake
Santa chastised them for being rude to this miss
They were not given cookies after this
She sat on presents beneath a tree
watched Santa distribute things that were free
He apologized for his reindeer’s actions too
She forgave them and brought them a donut, blue.
I inhaled your blows like asbestos in my lungs
You smiled so sweetly while cutting out my tongue
Tabasco in my wounds, all the lies that ever stung
You didn’t even know it but I died so very young
I saw the ugly side of you each time I showed my heart
I wanted to be loved but you pushed us far apart
I’d give up on the dream of us if I was really smart
Because I should’ve up and left you from the very start
You never apologized for everything you’ve done
Just pointed your cold hatred at me like a loaded gun
Couldn’t be myself around you, I burned under your sun
So I lived inside your shadow until I turned twenty one
You took your anger out on me and punished me for fun
You hate that I’m just like you but that’s what I’ve become
So keep the bitter trophies of the war you never won
I’ll blossom through the cracks and I’ve only just begun
I've apologized all my life
for things I've never done
the wrongs that were never wrong
that's how you've made me feel
guilty,
embarrassed
for a lack of better words
pressure
you said
i was too much
too many questions
too many feelings
too many where is this goings
you said i was pressuring you
like love was something
i kept forcing into your hands
so i apologized
for wanting clarity
for wanting effort
for wanting to know
i mattered
i made myself smaller
quieter
easier to keep
but no one talks about
the pressure you placed on me
the pressure to wait
without asking why
the pressure to understand
without being understood
the pressure to accept
half-love
and call it patience
you wanted freedom
without consequences
attention
without commitment
and somehow
my need to feel secure
became the problem
you said i pushed too hard
but you were the one
asking me to stay
while giving me reasons
to leave
and now i see it —
i wasn’t pressuring you
i was just tired
of being pressured
to pretend
almost was enough.
Thesaurus was pouting, mad at me
I left him out in the rain you see
He was in a crate, but the lid came off
I apologized, he snubbed me with a scoff
It has been a rough week.
Monday was dog-eared and dozing.
The world ended on Tuesday -
so not a great start.
Wednesday, not surprisingly,
did not know how to break the news.
The planet carried on being essentially global
while millions of people seemingly not to care
that they were no longer there.
There were many afterlife tragedies,
rumors of leaky unsustainable beliefs,
suicides were tried but to no avail.
Everywhere there were catastrophic failures
of restroom facilities.
Thursday dissolved quietly
unwilling to confirm or deny its existence.
Those still able to crawl to work
did so in their dreaming skulls.
Friday absentmindedly tried to begin again
then remembered.
The few who thought it might only be
a cosmic PowerGrid blip
were assured by ghostly astrophysicist
that the world would return
and apologized for all the fuss.
However, as happened,
the weekend really was the END.
At my yearly review, she hands me a recap of my performance.
After a year of working weekends
overtime on short notice-
going the x-tra yard
taking on x-tra projects
dodging H.R (for the most part).
I would be getting .73 cents an hour raise.
My face must've turned gargoyle
because the newbie supervisor
lowered her eyes and apologized.
Nervously adding that she had no hand in determining raises.
Her pimply head nodding toward the ceiling....
Implying the flaccid raise was concocted by the ones upstairs...
Where underworked blonde birds and plump business casual lived.
23 years of work .73 cents an hour raise...
The vending machine on the first floor has candy bars for a buck twenty-five.
I think I'll go celebrate
yeeha.
Dad, I’m so sorry
I didn’t let you go to my graduation.
I will forever regret that situation.
To my dismay..
I never apologized for that day.
Never made amends..
Wasn’t a good daughter or friend.
I’m sorry Dad.
I’m sorry for every time
I made you sad
Because you were
the best.
Better than all the rest.
how many years I lived
without knowing the decision space in front of me
didn’t depend on the stingy calculus
of a lover’s whimsy.
I can’t believe—
how many times I mistook silence
for verdict, god’s understudy,
how many times I called a locked door just,
as if my wanting were felony,
my body a crime scene.
I called it love—
letting all other appetites eat first.
I called it love—
when I folded my desire, my voice
into a paper crane,
set it alight,
then apologized
for the smoke.
But freedom—
freedom isn’t a hand-me-down.
It cannot be conferred, is not a ribbon tied
to someone else’s mercy.
It’s my pulse still thrumming,
a window they swore was nailed shut
splintering, opening, opening.
Freedom is sky without edges,
my mind a kite unwound from every fist,
kissing my own lips,
striking my name like the last match on earth,
calling it holy—
to breathe without permission.
Gaza Sonnet
A doctor`s house with two daughters came under artillery fire
while he who worked at the hospital in Gaza
Trying to save life after yet another Israeli attack, lost both
His children, the military late apologized.
After the funeral, the good doctor did not seek help for his
Immense suffering , but carried on working while
grief unburdened was eating him up.
One day he went to the beach the sea was calm and blue
He undressed and began swimming he had to get away
A strong swimmer he swam long before an Israeli gunboat
blew him out of the water, red turned to pink and then
ack to calming azure as the warped thinking of the occupiers
said go he should have sought psychological help
For sorrow so deep that no well-meaning words suffice
I didn’t do that.
I didn’t mean to hurt you, you're too sensitive.
I apologized, you seem to have forgotten.
Apologize? Never.
Running your mouth, carefree.
Thinking you are perfect with no faults.
There’s more to life than just you.
Stop manipulating my emotions.
Why wound others with your words and actions? Does it make you feel special?
Why belittle others? Do you rest easier at night?
Why pretend to be friends then gossip about me? Does that boost your ego?
Do you see the monster in the mirror?
That monster you see is a narcissist.
My dog dug a hole large enough to push my husband’s F-150 into.
How do you know?
Because Poochie pushed Richie’s truck in there.
At least he apologized, right?
He is a golden.
I think they have manners.
Not yet.
He disappeared on Wednesday
The day after it happened.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.