Best Imprisoning Poems
Let Me into Your Heart
I fell so in love with you from the start,
but you’d built a fortress around your heart.
Imprisoning your love inside of you,
was like Alcatraz – it couldn’t break through.
You’ve been a desert flower rare and wild;
you’ve been a lost soul on a mountain side.
But hearts can heal from deception and pain…
just as the sun shines brighter after rain.
I’ll break you out of your iron cocoon,
and watch you soar by the light of the moon,
like a butterfly flitting by with glee…
let me into your heart, I’ll set you free.
08-20-2017
Contest: Let Me Into Your Heart
Sponsor: Julie Leigh Rodeheaver
Placement: 3rd
His monkey-fascination made him own a “monkeyrium”
There, monkeys and cousin apes in their gladdening crusade freely reign
Unlike the sea creatures in the imprisoning aquarium
The funny troops have liberty in their haven’s domain.
Those monkeys, midst animated cartoon characters, are my son’s delight
Their cheerful quirks, especially that of Chimpanzee Charlie, won his heart
How they perk him up with their mirth-oozing sight
Along their varied careening turns and twists of witty art.
Caring monkeys caught first his curiosity in the creation story
Then they amused him as musicians in Noah’s floating zoo
Now, their charm’s presence is felt in my son’s territory
As they showcase their loving ways like humans do.
Yes, the monkeys are pulling my son’s faith-string of glad disposition
Pushing him to stride during his therapy sessions midst his disability
Prodding his spirit to get up with glee for his prayer position
Prompting him to sing… even amidst obvious difficulty.
My special child’s “monkeyrium” is his wondrous paradise
With monkey-ape-stuffed toys he plays with, and can dearly hold
Thru them, I thank and praise the Lord Who’s good and so wise*
For granting my blessed boy great privileges he can enjoy and behold!
*Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
First posted on May 21, 2018
Edited on November 26 incorporating the following words: Charlie, Cartoon, Characters, Curiosity, Careening And Crusade
2nd place, "Charlie's Cartoon Characters Curiously Careen And Crusade Poetry Contest"
Sponsored by Caren Krutsinger; judged on December 16, 2018.
Maze
Oh my Heart, why do you seek
the ecstasy of Eden's garden
when love is a daunting puzzle.
Woe is you, you fool;
for you dare to travail
through its sinuous paths
filled with deception and treachery
... ruled by a sweet-talking, sensuous
serpent, sinfully seductive
with his cajoling, forked tongue,
promising every heavenly delight.
Greedily gulping wine-filled songs,
frenetically feeding on empty poetry,
you’re blindfolded and lost
on a dead-end street,
bumping against a wall
of steel gray misery,
imprisoning your soul and
turning your hopes and dreams
into doubt, desperation, and despair.
Oh my Heart, you’re trapped,
suspended in a twisting maze...
of unrequited, lethal love.
Contest: Maze - 10 Word Challenge Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Dear Heart
Date: 06-23-2020
Placement: 4th
Conjuring anxiety, obstructing path of hope,
A quivering hesitation, frightened to cope;
Fear is omnipresent causing anguished moan
Agitating aspirations in distress of unknown.
Fear is darkness, a trepidation upon norm,
Worrisome, trembling, turbulent as storm;
An obstacle threatening progress of life,
A messenger of panic, an architect of strife.
Treacherous to audacity, fear is a cheat,
A betrayal to victories, fretting of defeat;
Fear is melancholy, an expression of gloom,
Hampering courage, perturbing in doom.
Fear is a loathsome impediment to goals,
Dashing endeavors of endearing souls;
Averse to commitment as love goes awry,
A remorseful cry, where lost kinships sigh.
Unwelcome emotion imprisoning ambition
Unleashing inaction of paranoid inhibition,
Fear immobilizes, as if, bird trapped in cage;
Paranoid, valor-less, upon life’s center stage.
January 21, 2023
Placed 1st: Fear Is Liar Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Sotto Poet
Gravity conquers desire
It devours and absorbs all
In the black colorless heaviness of the inevitable
It is the ballast of conflict, fear and hate
Its weight takes everything in the fall
Hope, faith and joy all fail in its evolution
Before the powerless sovereign gate
Closed and locked
Imprisoning the spirit to degenerate
From the freedom to unfold
The Karmic soul's fate
This breed of men and thought
In the times of now and not
Is the reason for wars and discontent
The wrought iron passage to nothingness
To free the change
To light the way and eliminate
This dark and human less place
Gravity it seems to me
Is not what it means to be
It simply holds the universal place
When it comes to setting us free
We are the Captors and Creators
That harbor its departure to be so
Free
Wrestling with time,
an illusion supreme
Its trinity empiric,
three masks to deceive
Past, future, and present,
our dreams undefined
Outside of their stricture,
new presence unrhymed
Rejecting convention,
short sighted and slight
Imprisoning our vision,
with capture and fright
In seizing this instant,
its moment sublime
All truth flowing freely
—unfrozen in time
(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2019)
An immigrant nation
Imprisoning immigrants
Not equally born or not born
Of its natives and considered
Criminals is indeed oxymoronic
In a country founded by immigrants
Thru usurping and uprooting indigenous
People of their bordered lands
And nearly extincting them
Via hue-skin oppression
In a supposedly new found nation
Baptized with the the blood of those
Who simply became natives of a new
Claimed land that would no longer be theirs
Saved their newly assigned residential bordered
Land areas whose nourishing earth-grounds
Were later re-stolened in oxymoronic thanksgiving
Thus today’s oxymoronic musky trumped oligarchy
Should be no surprise to those who have survived
All the worst that has preceded our present day
Mayflowering defecation on democratic equality;
As with previous oppressive demonic political oppression
Let us dawn our liberating-overalls and get to work on
The new needed political repairs required to flush
Down political oppression over the coming years
In our continuous fight to be truly liberated
From any and all oxymoronic tuslated
Oligarchical power-mongering
Trumped political governing
Now being live streamed
And televised, 24-7:
Counter-revolution
Against us!
P.S.: Always be aware that liberation must be
Fought for and won and is never given;
Likewise let power never be bought:-
I hate you
for crushing my dreams
making me feel small
taking away my personality
not understanding me
I hate you
for making me feel old
for not carrying this load
I hate you
I hate you
I hate you
for imprisoning me
your world all you see
your dreams
your goals
what about me?
I hate you
for making me cry
I hate you most for that
tears splish splash down my face
you see
and yet you don’t
you pretend
you walk away
you have what you need
it's given to you
sugar coated and sweet
and so you live another day
while I'm dying
in this world of pretense
I act like I’m OK
I’m not OK
I’m not Ok
you make me want to die
stuck in my room
suffocating
no future calls to me
the past only taunts me
your ghoulish lies haunt me
you took away
everything that made me...me
every hope falls away
you left me...
broken
I hate you
for what you’ve done to me
broken winged girl
when I once was an angel
I twist and turn
trying to mend them
those battered wings
I can’t repair them
I can’t reach them
And so I sit
on my fantasy's windowsill
remembering the wind beneath my wings
remembering what it meant to fly
but now broken am I
I hate you
you make me want to die
A broken winged angel
Who once could fly
Eileen
You tread on others without care
Hiding behind your tyrannical God
No longer will I appease your lies
With a humored smile and nod
‘Cause it’s all about you
And the garbage you spew
With no regard for the lives left askew
By all the hurtful things you do
Imprisoning an innocent with ignorance and fear
Inside your religious bars
You’ve used her against us too many times
And left us with emotional scars
You torture the defenseless without excuse
We always knew your screws were loose
But never again will I endure your abuse
I’d rather dangle ‘round a noose
All fond memories have been shrouded
By a blanket of mistrust
To know that we’re related
Only fills me with disgust
It seems you’ve got no conscience within
You’ve no apologies for previous sin
You’d do it all again with a stupid grin
No remorse for betraying your own kin
No inconvenient favor was ever too much
So pray your God is as merciful as mine
For if your ‘rapture’ truly comes
You’ll be paying a hefty fine
From the depth
of your
anguish, you
wished
me into existence. Like
Athena, I
came
to the world
fully
grown and armed, so to
disguise
you in a cloudy
mist and allow
nobody
to hinder your
progress.
I was
born seeking
your eyes, guided by
memories
of the future to be and
endowed with
a voice so powerful it would
move
even my enemies to weep
for me. Like
Orpheus, I
mourned
your loss resolving
to find and bring
you back, never
doubting you
were behind
me never
turning to check, in fear
of loosing you
forever.
And I banged on
the Gates of Hell imprisoning
you, threatening
my revenge till the door
opened for me to enter. Like
Ishtar, I
descended
in the frightening
Underworld, stripping off
my garments, adornments
and defenses, one
by one, just
to find myself
naked
before you.
Looking into your
troubled
soul, I realized I
could not
win you
back to Life unless
I accepted
to live and die
through the pain of my
existence and make
myself anew. Like
Chiron, I
gave up
my immortal serenity
to lift your everlasting
burden and share
it with you.
Voices of the silent whispers echo deeply disturbing fact
debates hold principle those with brains tear down structures
human rights ignored opening up a can of worms within morals
where truth is hidden away questions agenda
envelope of forgotten yesterdays sealed fate
Honour amongst thieves new world order social control
handshakes grasp secret societies revealing dark shades
cover ups underneath the veil careless actions endanger security
desert storm powered by the central bank hidden secrets leak oil
Where the so called elite are born without sin lawless diamonds
with their silver spoons attached empty vessels without moral right
classifies perfection untouchable agents of death
In the heart of a free man looking at the system
creating slavery cutting wages spying imprisoning freedom of choice
Applying pressure drones killing families
within a cloud of dust or inside evidence to support such horror actions
criminal murderers sitting in their offices should be banged to rights
leaving no place for hope or a just democracy strikes issues flawed
To fatten their purses behind the revolving doors open guess
Suffering begins with espionage
loveless pride exposing sheltered acts
dragging your heals security council protecting the vulnerable's need
instead liberal intelligence with your reductions clearly speak volumes
threatening the poorer field positions you without care
Royalty who profit from others pain hidden agendas lie
conspiracy theories can carry truth to the button
because something is hidden away under dressing why
we ask ourselves those not brainwashed
dirty arms deals laundering ill got money gains
The heads of states
they are clearly breaking the law
justice is so corrupt fact
every Joe soap knows
they only give us the partial truth
optic nerve cell centre brings up a live wire
They do not give a rats ****
who use uranium tipped enriched missals
poisoning the earth's crust stringing us along as peace keepers
arming terrorists is an act of war against peace makers
countless innocent have died at the hands of murderers
Faustus was an inquisitive man
Obsessed with a burning desire
To feel see and understand
The secrets of God’s universe
He was not afraid to make a deal
With the power that can make him feel
Omnipotent standing on the mountaintop
With the whole world under his feet
In the Himalayan highest hidden spot
Enveloped in eerie silence sinking
In the clouds in full moons shine
He saw the universe widespread
In a plain pattern in front of his sight
Like a canvas of a primitive artist
Expressing the longings of his heart
In a few simple strokes of a brush
And hectic colors swiftly layered
On top of each other in a way
He could see the pattern
Slowly and painfully emerging
Through the surface of abstract
Landscape of shapes and forms
Intertwining in emerging storm
Created by his racing mind
He can feel his heart beating
In this colorful pulsating pattern
That was brought to being
The night he made a fatal deal
For the price, he could not afford
His suffering soul became homeless
And lost forever in the outskirts
Of the abandoned world forever lonely
He desired to reduce the unbearable
Complexity of the world around
To the simplicity of a human mind
So, he could savor it and understand
In his lonely cell inaccessible to the world
And open only to his racing mind
Not even his heart was allowed
To enter the forbidden realm
Of unknown scary threatening world
That he was discovering slowly
Inside his incognito psyche
Faustus desperately wanted to know
And understand the mysteries
Of the infinite timeless world
Imprisoning it in his mind
Like a butterfly flying away
Locking it in the darkness
Of his lonely cold ascetic cell
With glassy eyes staring
The magnificent pattern of the wings
Of the monarch butterfly
Getting lost in his own drunken
Desire that made him high
Like an addict who can’t stop
Just a thought that he is the one
Can savor the secrets hidden from men
In thick darkness protecting him
From anyone else glancing at them
By the morning with light reaching
The window and squeezing inside
Through the metal rusted bars
Of his soul’s prison that he built
For himself the moment when
He invited dark powers to come
Mephistopheles stepped inside
In white angels' alluring disguise
And collected his ultimate prize
I, who now sit alone by this barren shore
Looking vainly out to sea as if
I thought I could espy distant Crete,
Have become a source of ridicule
Among these lesser men,
Who strut and title themselves architects
And brag of the hovels they erect and call palaces,
Built for the king of a land that knows no better,
But, ignorant of Geometry and of Number,
Are merely charlatans and young fools,
While I (an old fool) sit here unused and rusting.
I, who built the dread Labyrinth by command of Minos,
Where he imprisoned the monstrous Minotaur
And every ninth year sent seven girls and seven boys,
Tribute from a defeated Athens,
To their deaths in its dark depths
To be devoured by that mindless thing.
But when Ariadne asked for my help
To save her lover Theseus from that fate,
Foolishly I gave it,
And Minos turned his rage on me,
Imprisoning me and my son inside that very prison.
In my arrogance, I devised a plan
To escape from that which was inescapable.
And this I did, but still was trapped by the sea
And by Minos’ black ships that roamed it.
From wax and the feathers of seabirds
And by my knowledge and craft I devised wings,
And we soared into the cloud-flected sky,
Away from that island prison and free.
For hours we flew on our wings over the dark sea.
I took care not to fly too low,
Else the sea spray dampen the wings and make them heavy,
Nor to fly too close to Phoebus
In his daily journey across the sky,
Less the wax melt.
But my son forgot my warnings,
(Or perhaps I forgot to warn him; I can’t remember now),
And he flew too high and the wax melted
And he fell and the sea swallowed him.
I flew on then, alone,
Until I reached this primitive land
Far from Minos’ reach.
I burnt the wings,
And kept my name and my knowledge
Hidden from the people of this land.
And so I sit here idle,
While above me the birds fly
Where, once, I flew,
And gaze out to the sea
Where Icarus lies.
Tears fall and I crave
tears fall and out the window I gaze
to a place of peace where a piece of me
belonged to something special searching
to heal hearts suffering in silence
Tears fall and I hurt again
tears fall but I cant relieve the pain
of a child struggling to see past
the darkness imprisoning dreams
holding back tomorrow's teachers
leaving only a life of crime
Tears fall as I fast
tears fall as I wonder how long this can last
ribs protrude, feet inward, head down
a life lost while to the birds I toss
the bread of life but wide eyes still cry
not knowing what happiness brings
where childhood lies and everyone sings
Tears fall but I know
tears fall as my heart grows
the winds of change
begging to give all I have
for just one chance to hold, to mold
a brother, a sister, a mother, a father
with freedoms fragile touch
Before my end I hope to intercede
and the only trickles left will be
the hunger for hope
and the love I bleed
Fear is the formidable enemy
confronting us all
day in, day out;
imprisoning those of us
refusing to fight it.
An albatross around our necks
choking our throats
with a vice-like grip
It can be so paralyzing
it makes us crumble or fold...
under pressure,
or plant seeds of doubt
in our minds. It freezes
our dreams and desires
to a standstill...
and we become hesitant
to seize opportunities
Our bodies tremble,
our hands rattle
our hearts beat like a drum,
and our pulses tick like clock
when fear steers our minds
into fight or flight mode.
Our fingers fidget with each other.
Our palms are sweaty,
and our nerves are jumpy.
The best way we can fight fear
is facing it head-on
and using it as fuel
for courage.
Date written and posted: 02/04/2018