Best Compression Poems
Express Through Compression Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
3/10/2026
Nightingale - Compression Poem
morning darkness
I hold her feather
in my city's dead breath
walking on muddy streets
her song heard somewhere
sweet where rain's left
Black like the night,
he soars and tumbles,
an acrobat in flight.
Keen is his sight, and he’s
a playful mimic.
This bird is bright!
You concealed her
from the prying eyes..
Devotion she did swear
to her Saviour above..
a novice is she
in silent prayer
Contest : Poem of Compression
Penned 21 September 2013 by Seren Roberts
Thin screened nature
Unable to grasp
Splendiferous structure.
Feel the humility
Glory of the God
Bursts forever
=======================
28th Sept'2013
Dr. Ram Mehta
7th place win in
Contest: Compression poem by nette onclaud
** Syllables checked on PS syllable counter**
Stand on longlegs,,
cool shallow water.
Colors are pinks not reds.,
Tourists taking pictures,
as we look away.
Today no eggs.,
Things just weren't going my way
Nothing seemed to fit together
My brain was a cacophony of thought
The fifteen different classes and organizations
That ate at my free time
Were overloading the circuits of my head
So much so I couldn't think straight
A constant weight weighs upon
My mind. Myself. Me
It constricts my thoughts
It constrains my ideas
It contrives my theorems
It counterproductively places thoughts
It conceives evil desires
The weight is continuous
It weighs on my dreams
No escape is in sight
I don't want to talk about it
To literate it would increase it permanence
To converse I would vulnerate me to it
I shrink as it grows
The pressure is tenfold
I take one last look
At life as I knew it
There's a constant drone in the back of my head
Hide them
Hide them
Hide them
Hide them
A constant drone that turns my vision red
Hide them
Hide them
Hide them
Hide them
Snap
Snap
Snap
Snap
Every picture hurts
Crack
Crack
Crack
Crack
The facade's about to burst
I'm sick of living my life on a timer
It restarts daily, but it ticks forevermore
There's only one solution to the timer
But it's not available to me
They can't see why I hate the timer
They think the time on it is enough
Sometimes they ask why I need the time
They say, "If the timer bothers you, stop taking the time!"
"We don't take the time. So we don't have a timer. Look at us!"
Oh how I wish it were that simple
They have no timer, but they have all the time
They don't need to take it
They were born with it
I hate my timer
Stackable living
hackable lives
On top of each other
like bees in a hive
Inside a box
hard corners to know
A neighbor above
a neighbor below
Stackable moments
fractional lies
The walls serve two masters
invasion implied
All differences measured
in bedrooms and floors
A blueprinted nightmare
its maze underscored
Stackable meaning
the truth wearing thin
Its elevator stuck
stairs covered in sin
The higher you climb
the farther you fall
Stackable living
—the death of us all
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)
Contest: Express through compression
Sponsor: Nette Onclaud
Date: 07.03.2026
Little in size,
Chestnut orange charms,
Streaked with black, soars the skies,
A bundle of colour,
Cute whistling birdie ~
Sunrise surprise.
nightingale tune
upon steeple limb
in cool of summer swoon
up, down, up, down dance in
scarlet gauzy light...
lull waxing moon
Conceals beauty,
Await buds to bloom,
And subtle emotions,
Would else divulge,
Masks the reality,
Of the bride !
Written by Dr.Upma Sharma
On 01/10/13 for contest
'Poems of compression'
nightingales sing
mostly through the night
many phrases they bring
with long range and power
inspiring tunes
which poets cling
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SACRIFICE
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breaking the ice
of eerie silence
to make its mate entice
jargons on and on from
the shrouded bower
is truly nice
Place: 2 nd