Best Denied Poems
expendable lives
our elderly, sick and poor
benefits denied
D.C. may call the shots now
God is the equalizer
*Written in honor of John Freeman
for his contest "Sayings of Wisdom"
I stood too long
in the public square
strangers wearing masks
desecrated my presence
tossed paint upon my visage
roped and toppled me
shattered my past
erased my future
all because I paused
to gaze upon the beauty
of a common ground
John G. Lawless
7/16/2020
stoic expression
though prickly thorns stabbed her breast
silent suffering
lingering sorrow
memories drift unbidden
closure is denied
How full is the earth’s beauty!
And how I implore the lengthening
Of just a day; that I may bask in
That days brief eruptive flowering.'
Oh how a blemish, throws my senses reeling,
As I pulsate to the Hidden altercation,
'That holds' the core of my habitations 'way'
Eternity is of how long a span?
I know not hereof! 'yet in this
World I crave that longer day.'
Long as the scent of roses reaching,
Climbing up to a too brief climax.
In this climactic world of too brief days,
How I long to know of immortal extemporal
A sign of eternal promise to existence
Once 'pon a swirling..'
Marred in the making, you clay of Creation!
How I compare of the fleeting beauties?
Held it the grasp of a miss-formed pulsating sway
Beauty exists because of imperfect
A balance of imbalance's one may say.'
So, no existence is invalid; ugly is..'
Yet I embrace it for doth not existence validate the unseemly
And does not indeed beauty court decay!
©Joe Maverick 6-12-2013
Denied, 2010
Vickie M. Ortiz Vázquez
Human
Human am I
So, I hear I am human
Therefore, human rights by nature are mine
Who have spoken of these?
Martin Luther King, Jr
Cesar Chavez
The Black Panther Party and the F.L.A.N
Human am I
Born female with a path
Grown to a woman with a guilty mark
So, I hear I am human
Therefore, human rights by nature are mine
Grown to a woman
Human still am I
Yet, simple human rights have been denied
To brothers and sisters of mine
Still human am I
Therefore, human rights are being denied
By those who can’t understand
What nature can’t denied
Human
Human am I
So, I hear I am human
Still a human am I
A woman with human rights…
DENIED
What can I do, for you are out of reach?
I weep and sigh in dungeon of my heart
I tear my clothes in anguish, I beseech
That of my misery you share a part
For I am here tormented in this place
I’m shackled to the wall of dark despair
While you roam free with sunshine on your face
You breathe the air of love without a care
And here am I in need of tenderness
I fear my death will come without a sound
This body long untouched by your caress
Will soon enough be lowered underground
I cannot live if passion is denied
There would be not a joy to see me through
Unending love must in my heart abide
And all I want and need is found in you
Yet, here am I, imprisoned in the gloom
For you have gone and left me sore in need
The flower of this love has lost its bloom
The crimson of its hue is what I bleed
Eileen Manassian
morning sun, a newborn babe,
exhales her first breath each dawn in mist
daybreak’s kiss
straddles the North Carolina and Tennessee line
Cherokee Nation’s last reservation
remains within a hazy, vaporous veil
nearly two centuries crept past
since 14,000 ill and hungry Cherokees
trekked the Trail of Tears
moving westward wearily
to sparse lands that precluded hunting, farming
by President Jackson’s ignoble decree
many perished along the trail
sacrificed to a selfish quest for gold
travelers still witness indomitable spirits
rising to life each night
as mist fades with setting sun
accusations of injustice
echo through the Smoky Mountains
to the tempo of tribal drums
Native Americans
reenact futile but peaceful efforts
to keep their homes
to remain one nation
to survive
to thrive
as ancestors did
scent of death ascends from sacred grounds
woodlands that have forever lost their greenery
now just cloudy scenery
peaks that resurrect dreary history
“reservation,” a trifling gesture
from a selfish territorial invader
speak to the spirits at sunset
beckon them to keep their honorable legacy alive
then feel damp anguish in foggy daybreak
souls returning to the forest floor
only to resurrect again
when darkness drapes the mountains once more
the curse
the shame
Smoky Mountains
Cherokee birthright denied
*Written August 20, 2014
All the noisy critters, warblers and the morning, young horse rider
have taken with them spring's harmony;
no longer can galloping beats and songbirds make this black, forest
echo with their delightful sounds of felicity;
winter has indeed stripped it of every beam of light and lovely flower.
That handsome troubadour who came from France was happy,
too anxious to get to Florence and live in courts of prosperity
and galloping on the unpaved roads below the majestic Alps
never thought of his mademoiselle who was also dreaming,
drifting to places where true romance lived in sincere hearts,
but sadly this was done on wishful thinking
from a rose-bloomed balcony as Juliet did...
without the intention of ever being wed;
hear her loud cry, " Troubadours don't remain faithful
for long...their desire for adventure makes all null! "
From that castle where noisy ravens gathered,
and shrilled, Marie with tearful eyes looked
over the enchanting black forest dullest than a grey, swelling cloud
which blocked the sunlight from entering her cold window
not frequented by a thrush that stayed behind
for unknown reasons and took shelter in the tower below;
" Poison is a sweet drink and when one is denied love! " she declared.
Copyright ( c ) 20015 by Andrew Crisci
There is a Facebook page called BULLYCIDE, a campaign to try to end bullying in all forms. They ran a poetry competition about 3 years ago on their page and I had the unenviable task of judging it. Then, the winner was turned into a song by me which then became the pages' theme tune...this is the winning poem.
Redemption Over, Forgiveness Denied
A broken child or a helpless teen
An empty place inside when hope might have been
A bully scorned, a crowd that hates
No one to turn to now, it's far too late
Actions taken, never justified
It doesn't matter how many tears are cried
Redemption over, forgiveness denied
The person you tortured chose death over life
You took advantage of a damaged soul
Destruction of innocence, an empty goal
You never thought that my child's fragile heart
Would cease to beat forever once you did your part
Actions taken, never justified
It doesn't matter how many tears are cried
Redemption over, forgiveness denied
The person you tortured chose death over life
Don't ask for forgiveness, it's not mine to give
You took my child's life, it's unfair that you still live
All I have are memories, the potential gone too soon
You are tied to me forever by a thread I'd rather burn
Actions taken, never justified
It doesn't matter how many tears are cried
Redemption over, forgiveness denied
The person you tortured chose death over life
My child was dearly loved, their memory remain
You may have been the one who made them break beneath the pain
But the fight against Bullycide grows stronger everyday
And your name unimportant now will slowly fade away
Actions taken, never justified
It doesn't matter how many tears are cried
Redemption over, forgiveness denied
The person you tortured chose death over life
Parents now trusted me enough to take my lil' sis out on Halloween!
Sis, a jellybean, me, a green bean, walked to get my boyfriend, just sixteen.
His pet monkey jumped out mean, bit sis, who got no candy, but a vaccine.
Sometime along the way,
The crossroads shifted.
Everything has changed,
As the innocence has drifted.
Vulnerable to existence,
And leaning to repentance
The maniacs in her head are just as relentless
As a bad memory just keeps pushing through her thoughts
She didn’t know how to stop it, for she was never taught
A rug on the ground, for she did not learn how to walk
The only hope she had was praying on a shamrock
She had none
She had no faith, no truth
The only virtue she claimed
Was the humanly lust
To survive this hell-hole and break from the cuffs
Dreaming for the day she can finally say “enough”
But what then?
Say she does gain the strength,
To finally rise up and break from the chains
The ropes that seized her mind
Shackles that detained her courage
If those restraints fell loose,
Will the world malnourish?
Looking back at the “thing” she had escaped,
A society falling apart
As if attached with scotch tape
Crumbling to pieces
As sanity is lost
No one seemed to mind,
How madness had become the boss
A jogger was raped
in central park years ago
some youths were accused
And with no DNA evidence
they were wrongly imprisoned
Kevin Richards was
among those convicted for this
crime, spending years in
prison ,but was later freed
when they caught the real rapist
Joe’s mama died of cancer when he was
just four. His loving grandma raised him well.
Brief, hazy thoughts of Mama make this grown
man cry. Exactly why? It’s hard to tell.
His memories are not of being hit
or yelled at, but of hugs and smiles denied,
of feeling he had somehow caused her pain,
of feeling helpless when his mama cried.
When thoughts of hugs not given long ago
come calling, Grandma has a hug for Joe.
entered in Brian Strand's Contest 229 (any topic or form, 10-line max) on October 26, 2016
Curses have been placed on me for no reason at all
I feel like humpty dumpty who sat on the wall and had a great fall
The enemy seek to devour me whole
Over my life, the enemy wants total control
Feel like my skull has been banged against a brick wall like a crash dummy
When I am in public, people just stare at me
Mistaken me as a foreigner that has migrated from another country
I want all the things back that has been taken from me
So many good things are due to me at this present time
So much beyond my imagination and I will be awarded for my crying
For the hurts, pain, disappointments, and heartaches, someone must pay
Who is man to number my days
I rebuke the curses that plan to overtake me
For the blessings stored up, release them 7 fold and I receive
At first, it didn't look like the blessings were coming- I cried and cried
For joy comes in the morning, the blessings are just delayed, not denied
Denied
With early sunset, the heart descends,
veils of dusk and inconstant eyes,
Set to return home, but one last flight,
as darkness tears and stains vibrant vibes,
My denied emotions ostensibly pretend.
Written Oct 27th, 2015
© Dr. Upma A. Sharma
Contest- any sad poem
Awarded 2nd place win
Sponsor- broken wings