Best Conflicted Poems
I looked out at America
from my porch the other day,
Unusual, it's appearance,
seems so different I would say.
Problems in abundance,
so many that I see,
but this was once America
a special place to be.
Remembering recent times
my thoughts I could convey,
flowed freely, not a worry,
of what I had to say.
Judgment's made of people,
and who they just might be,
a great man's words remind us,
more than color makes up me.
As people so divided
the politics at play,
E Pluribus Unum
a motto we betray.
Attacks from the left,
reactions on the right,
these political old cronies
wage a never ending fight.
Opinions, such a chasm,
of who that we should be,
a country this divided,
can never remain free.
It's time now for the many,
to answer, lest we fall,
to get back to united,
an "America" for us all!
Boy, such a gas
Boy, so much fun
Boy, what a job
Boy, wanna run
Oh, the pleasure
Oh, the pain
Oh, the freedom
Oh, the strain
Gee, a poem?
Gee, with blanks?
Gee, let's try it
Gee, no thanks!
Got an idee
Got a glimmer
Got to figure
Got to simmer
Look, it's coming
Look, it's here
Look, I'm rhyming
Look, my dear !
Eek, I'm stymied
Eek, can't think
Eek, come on brain
Eek, on brink
Dang, I'm close now
Dang, I've got it
Dang, the word's come
Dang, in pocket!
Scrabble's a fine game
if with a Q not hobbled
But to tell you the truth,
I'd rather be BOGGLED!
I’ve been restricted from birth’
I was born with a leash
I’ve never been on land and I feel like a fish
Restricted like a boat caught on land
I cant float on shore because I’m stuck in the sand
Starving because of words that I ate
I can’t build a future and I can’t go on a date
I’m just an abandoned car left without rims
Even a cadaver dog can’t sniff the cent of my dreams
Dashed by my own flesh and blood
They say “Its thicker than water” but I’m stuck in the mud
My success is unfair to them’ and I don’t belong
So I decided to write this poem’ but it won’t to be long
Sometimes I wish I could swap with someone in prison
Because I’ve been stuck in this pit for long & I’m freezing
Restricted, by my own fear, to utter the whole story
Frightened by the servants who gave the devil glory
impossible obedience required
as she melted with reluctance
in familiar mystery
a lonely splendor broken
by bewildered whispers
and weak hearts unite
Lay
She never thought this would happen.
She broke protocol. She never thought
that she
would fall in love with a man at all. But it's
fifteen years
to late and she's already a wife and a
mother. To a beautiful
husband and daughter who she adores
and smothers.
This was not supposed to happen but it
did. He was
supposed to be her next victim but instead
she married
him and had a kid. She found the love of
her life and now
she doesn't know what to do. She's like a
fish out of water.
Conflicted, lost and without a clue. She
loves his dark coffee
brown eyes and the structure of his
jawline. She love's the golden
olive tone of his skin and the shape of his
behind. She loves that he
cooks her breakfast every morning and
massages her back when she
comes from work. She loves kissing every
section of his body and how
he enjoys watching her twerk. When he's
away at his naval base. She
loves how she can hold her daughter and
see her husband through her
child's face. He was supposed to be her
next victim. But love conquered all.
She couldn't bring herself to kill him. To
pull the trigger and watch him fall.
She knows that she has a lot to answer
for. The heinous murders she's
committed in the past. But as she waits
for her judgement day. She is
determined to make the marriage with her
baby last.
Look at Me
I don't feel sick,
Yet something inside is twisted
Not in body, but in the sap that shivers within.
Are these petals not what you envisioned?
Look at me.
What did I do wrong?
I sing the songs you taught me,
My voice trembling a whisper against the wind
Does its fragile tune echo your hidden sorrow?
I grew as you grew,
Reaching upward, seeking light,
Only to find emptiness and solitude.
I swayed as you swayed,
But the rhythm felt foreign.
They said life is tough,
Yet there's enough rain in this puddle that never seems to want to dry.
Look at me.
There are flowers beside me now.
I'm sad, but they look up to me,
Wearing petals that resemble yours.
Perhaps the sun touched me more than I realized.
Maybe your love was present
A warmth I never noticed,
Too busy seeking shade that mirrored your shadow,
Waiting for you to bloom beside me,
Blind to your own petals struggling to hold on.
You were a flower too,
Worn thin by relentless winds,
Roots torn by unseen storms.
Maybe you gave all you had,
Even if it didn't feel like love.
Now I stand where you once stood,
In the same garden,
Soil dry in familiar ways,
Loneliness whispering through my leaves.
And I see you
Truly for the first time.
But this realization feels almost wrong.
The child I was still waters his pain,
Still wonders why the sun rose for everyone but him,
Still lies awake under stars you never pointed out.
If I reach toward you now,
Unfold my petals,
Am I denying him?
Pretending he didn't cry in silence,
Or bend under the weight of being unseen?
That's the ache
The conflict
The bloom caught in between.
Now I know what it takes to grow alone,
To carry generations of broken stems,
And still try to blossom for others.
But my pain is real.
It doesn't wither just because I understand.
And I'm scared that if I reach back,
I'll be plucking out the parts of me
That survived without you.
So I stay rooted in this confusion,
A flower still trying to face the sun,
Still holding petals that remember you,
Still wondering
If love that's too late
Still counts.
Look at me.
Look for love in your heart
I'm leaving you with:
Someday you will recognize
Some breakups are doomed.
Today I can be an unfulfilled poet
Snoring and heartlessness
alike star at night
without its dense knots
Even if it is a short iteration,
bouncing over time and space
It will only be a matter of perception
to see and be seen
To appear to be bluntly clear.
Written: March 1st, 2023
i wanted it all
yet i couldn't let go
to grasp the future
of my dreams
there within my reach
AP: 1st place 2022
Holding onto uncertain acquaintances
Afraid of being lonely in this big world
Good grace comes to those non deserving of its light
Pain and sorrow tortures the kind of heart
So I live conflicted, refusing to face the truth of my peers
Consciously aware the disappointment that life brings
I know the agony of lonely nights
The familiarity has me nervous and uncertain
What tangled web we weave?
Caught in the web of pain.....
What cruel-hearted fiend would fashion a soul,
only so it could bow and sing empty praise,
pretending that love is some worthwhile goal,
expecting satisfaction from meaningless days?
Not I! Tis not me who is blind and absurd;
I will not subscribe to such wretched design-
Infinite power in the breath of one Word,
What need of me could have the divine?
O Lord, spurn me not for rebellion and doubt,
You are mine, I am yours, allegiance I swear.
These fears that I harbor are death; drive them out!
And take me softly into your loving care.
A lover must question his love day to day,
And questions I keep, but with joy I obey.
9 April 2018
a common denominator
eager, calm, procrastinator
all those hoping to be greater
take on the ego deflater
self aware, in tune and clear-eyed
the completely bonafide
abruptly lost, quiet,tongue tied
embarrassed, trying hard to hide
silent, conflicted, filled with doubt
almost escaped but can’t get out
upset, angry, ready to shout
cannot help but let feelings out
poets and suitors, who speak thereof
hell below to heaven above
shallow, first, true or just sort of
every one a seeker of love
I really shouldn't,
But some part of me want you,
And I don't know what to do.
Dear lord I'm addicted
All my morals are conflicted
The necessities been evicted
I ought to be convicted
And I should be restricted
As it was depicted
Some would say predicted
Once I became subscripted
That I'd soon be afflicted
And definitely unrestricted
It can't be contradicted
'cause to poetry I'm addicted
When I walk in
you are sat
with arms crossed
loosely
watching
two woodlice,
one trailing behind
too slow to keep up.
The light bulb,
too white
for a cosy
living room,
is naked
without
its lamp shade
and it reflects
in your eyes,
a tiny white dot
like a lone star
in the night sky.
Is it ridiculous
to say that
eyes are like mouths
because yours
are open right now.
Sweet, sweet betrayal;
The horrendous pain of relief.
What God or higher power
Has granted such a blessed curse?
Wonderful loss;
The world begins to turn again,
The cycle resumes.
Love and all it brings
Can omce again be
Fully appreciated.
All distraction is quelled
And the nest is peaceful,
Awaiting the gift of life.
Love is granted to the deserving:
My true love, my child,
And my beautiful angel in heaven.
All is well...
Wonderful, chaotic peace.