Best Neglect Poems
Time never wasted
Envious of you sitting in this basement
Never a waste
Followed you with much drive
Now my time is occupied
Sometimes wishing I could die
Not in my nature so I strive
Wished and waited for that time
back stabbed betrayed and denied
Feeling I’ll be alone till I die
Always wishing to be by your side
Now my time is occupied
Striving for a better life that I can survive
With hopes to provide
For we have a mutual tie
Loving you will never be a lie
Time to suit up and try
Beginning to realize we’ve been freed from a lie
A relationship shouldn’t be a one way street
Except for riding on the road to defeat
For I pray you accomplish all your feats
You left me in this seat
Now my time is occupied
Just know I’ve loved you before
During and after this defeat
Neglect
by Michael R. Burch
What good are your tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is your concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?
What good, the warm benevolence of tears
without action?
What help, the eloquence of prayers,
or a pleasant benediction?
Before this day is gone,
how many more will die
with bellies swollen, wasted limbs,
and eyes too parched to cry?
I fear for our souls
as I hear the faint lament
of their souls departing ...
mournful, and distant.
How pitiful our "effort,"
yet how fatal its effect.
If they died, then surely we killed them,
if only with neglect.
To you I'm just an afterthought
Endearing name that you forgot
A half remembered romance plot
A once frequented sacred spot
To you I'm just an alibi
Some one to cover up the lie,
for when you're with your ride or die
The hush of do not question why
To you I'm just a sideline thing
Someone to keep there in the wing
Who'll nurse the wound, remove the sting
To treat you like a hero king
To you I'm just a pastime game
You play when bored and feeling lame
A mundane chore to keep you tame
To cool your passion's burning flame
To me you're not even a thought
My mind is here; my heart is not
Your love has been erased, forgot
To me you are a dead end plot.
This truth to you is yet unknown
You're blind to signs that I have shown
One day you'll wake up all alone
Regretful thoughts all that you own
Eileen Manassian
I tremble before you, my vying emotion
I thought I could be loved with complying emotion
My mirror used to love my sight
there is no more of that undying emotion
Neglect tore at me, scattering me into shards
This whole life of mine is fragmented by self-denying emotion
Love is what you give away
To anything but my trying emotion
If you came back it'd be too late-
You permanently left the scar of dying emotion
"The worst feeling is to be ignored once, then twice,
then again and again by someone you consider precious."
by Betsy Kenton
Life's bittersweet lessons have taught me well
that on the ones we love most, we should dwell.
Not chained or tethered as a master to his slave.
Love, given freely will not yield reason to grieve,
but if neglected, a broken heart will perceive
the bond's been broken and passion it will waive.
Do not express your tender words of devotion
and later tell me you were wrought with emotion.
I'd rather not have known the taste of your lips
if now you ignore me with indifference and neglect.
I'd walk away from you if treated with disrespect,
if what you once felt is in the state of total eclipse.
Love can bring tears of sadness or joy to one's eyes.
To be slighted or snubbed can lead to ardor's demise,
but to be cherished in love's embrace fulfills the need
of nurturing each other as dew sates a flower's thirst.
Being slighted by someone you hold dear is the worst
feeling when the roots wither after planting love's seed.
He sat in his recliner in the balcony,
the evening soft breeze so cool, tender
with his eyes closed as if in a trance;
The light breeze swept along his wrinkled skin
caressing everything it touched on its way
at the tiny square balcony garden -
the blooms, leaves, herbs
and his soul soaked in its soothing touch!
His drowsy eyes still closed
he sat in reminiscence of the past
of all that had happened to him:
Now in his mid sixties - creased, faded skin,
withering tree - leaves drying and falling;
His once flexible brain losing elasticity
as is his skin - little by little,
with no one at his side
to talk to or care for him.
All Alone!
He heard the evening chorus of pigeons,
and opened his eyes to see
them flocking across the sky,
as they swooped and soared in
various shapes against the orange sky.
His eyes brightened at this sight!
Again, memories of so many incidents
recent and past - flashed before his eyes:
the loss of his better half to an accident,
the abuse, the neglect by his sons,
those disturbing exchange of words
that only made matters worse,
the endless wait for his sons
to return proved futile.
Ducklings that he devotedly cared
Flew swiftly away from his homestead.
Leaving him
All Alone!
He heard the tinkle of the windchimes,
as it swayed in the gentle breeze.
His mind dissolved in its mellifluous melody!
He has fallen down for the umpteenth time.
He has no vigour left
or desire to get up and move;
He is gradually mastering the art:
Of being dissolved
In the fragility of life
Like a scattered dust...
To be gently carried away by the breeze!
Embracing that precious moment!
All Alone!
Date: 11/03/2020
Submitted for Ambedo Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One
Second Place
resisting change
has not
done me
any favors
losing track
how times evolve
perpetually convinced
that my priorities
line up
yet neglecting
to reevaluate
my brain kept in a fog
I’m quite delusional
reluctant to question
my ways of being askew
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
“A wound gets worse when it’s treated with neglect.” – Stevie Nicks
My heart aches,
like the sun aches for the moon,
but stalling became my shackle,
knowing an evolution was never
on the horizon;
wandering stark habitats—
paradoxically, a devoted outcast
tangled in neglect;
I lay isolated soothing my soul,
mending the wounds
I didn’t leave behind.
Truth is, love is a foreign oasis—
thrust into silence—
spiritually battered and bruised,
consuming the deplorable ruins
of those with sinister stigmas
attached to their very core—
void of fading humanity.
Blackberries start as white dots in a sea of thorns
The flower will fade, and a green berry will join
Protected, it will grow and be pink
Safe from even a massacring mink
Larger, it will swell until it is red
No enemy can lay down their head
Darker and darker until it is black
The berries are ready for an attack
Sour, but delectable
The thorns are detectable
But what about the thornless blackberry bush?
Poor girl, she starts off white
Like the others that night
She grows into a misshapen berry
Unlike the others (who are), lucky? Very.
She stays as the others grow
Poor berry, behind she tows
The rest are protected by thorns of steel
But this poor one just needs a deal
From green to pink to red to black
The other blackberry is held far back
If only she could get some thorns
To protect her from the world's horns
The neglected female, without protection
Her parents have given her no love and affection
The other ones shall grow strong
Their parents are never gone
-September of 2020
Our aged among us need love, care and compassion
Not someone callous, lashing out at them with hostility
Someday you too will be so frail and weak
Is that the way you want your last days to be?
Consider yourself lucky to pass on at an early age
For you very well may get someone serving you with rage
I doubt seriously you could take what they are receiving
With endurance and strength their dear hearts endure
You’re not made of the stuff they are, not by far
For they worked hard, had compassion in all that they did
Your day will come soon enough for needing some help...
We will see you then, as you plead for attention ...
What goes around ... comes around ... Just remember that!!
As you lay in bed weeping, ‘what’d I do to deserve such treatment?’
You know who you are, and what it is that you do ...
A disgrace to humanity you have taken upon you!
I pray for the ones that are in your care
For they truly do not deserve at all to be there
They have given their lives way beyond your capability
And you cause them to live with such humility
Just get out! ... let someone else do the job
For many do care and are much more desired
You sicken me far beyond comprehension ...
Just leave now! ... before another life is forgotten!
Through the generations long before we're born
Hearing from our ancestors through unspoken form
Enters the human being supposedly once in love
Sins laid out on scrolls from the Heaven's above?
In as much as mankind must believe through faith
Nothing that is said guarantees we go unscathed
Oh how many times must we lay sin to our door
Founding lies and smiling while pretending to adore?
Nothing that is said will conquer the secret within
Exactly like our ancestors so cunning we pretend
Giving way to neglect of the wife and a child
Living for the moment in pretense awhile
Enjoying every thrill that seldom comes the way
Conjuring every feeling hoping it will stay
The Lover that is had...will always rule the day!
There's weeds in my
garden I can't use a
ho(e)
The man who could
pull them don't care
no mo
The ****'s overgrown
I might need a plow
But it's waited so
long that it's no
use now
When we planted the
thing we both shared
the work
Then one day I
looked up and said,
"Where is that
jerk?"
My back started
aching, legs started
to tremble
The beetles and
grubs began to
disassemble
All the love and
attention we put in
this thing
It's as rusty and
broken as my diamond
ring
He comes around
every once in awhile
And kills off small
weeds with a casual
smile
He tosses out a few
grubs with an 'I
love you'
I halfheartedly
reply, "I love you,
too"
Then I start to
remember as he walks
away
The tomatoes and
herbs we planted
that day
The cucumbers and
beans and corn and
beets
Represented by
kisses so warm and
so sweet
Flirty little winks
over coffee and
toast
The occasional
ass-squeeze -- gone
like a ghost
Making love was like
water to our
marriage bed
Reaffirming our
promise we made when
we wed
But with years of
neglect and a long
dry spell
I can say pretty
surely, this thing's
gone to hell
'Cause there's weeds
in my garden too big
to pull out
The bulldozer's just
me with a scream and
a shout
It would probably be
better to burn the
thing down
Forget about
gardening -- go out
on the town
To a place no one
knows me and I don't
know them
Where I sip on my
drink and -- Wait,
what is this stem
I just found in my
hair, damn those
infernal weeds!
I guess I should
stay here and tend
to the needs
Of the beautiful
garden we let go to
waste
Plant some kisses,
caresses -- so good
to taste
For love, like a
garden, needs
tending to grow
And weeding, and
hoeing and raking,
you know
It's back-breaking
work, but the payoff
is sweet
For the
soul-soothing feast
we both love to eat
We're starving each
other, pissed off
and pissed on
The garden we
planted has been
gone too long
Neighbours hadn’t seen Johnny since his beloved wife’s funeral
Even then, no one thought to check if the old man was okay
Gasps of horror were heard when his body was discovered
Limply hanging from the rafters of his bedroom ceiling
Even the post piling up in the porch hadn’t alerted anyone
Clasped in his hands a picture of his darling wife and a cell phone….
The last number he had dialled was the Samaritans
Contest: Deep and Dark
Sponsor: Broken Wings
12~25~15
maternal instinct
mothers love eternally
why did mine not know
01/03/2020
I sabotaged my eight-millimeter childhood.
I never knew Sartre
But I contorted my latex face,
Burying my nothingness in family films.
My child was scripted to be ugly, skipped over
In comic relief.
Only recognizable as Menoetius,
My only animation was insolence.
I believed nothing in myself,
I knew nothing.
I sought my masquerade in
Metaverse avatars,
Really just 2D analog shadows,
Swaying waves of gray on ashen tv tubes.
Without convictions, I was convicted.
My craven rudeness landed me
In squalid wreckage,
The debris of my dormant sea,
Forsaken a million or more times,
Rebuffed and scorned,
I succumbed to my dense exhaustion.
I shut down where sleep had no form,
Where space-time is an illusion.
Some hint of dream touched and aroused me.
Some anamnesis so much greater than any containment!
I awakened sweaty, wretched, and authentically flawed,
savoring the sudden phenomenal enigma,
Ready to learn the endless patterns
of all the passions and sciences.