Best Peripheral Poems
She held onto Saturday, with hands calloused and nails bitten
down
to the quick...her eyes saw sunlight and denied it's presence while she rocked, back and
forth, back and forth, to the ticking of a dishonest...
clock.
He told her, in words that cut the air as they fell from a razor sharp tongue, that she
still played the part of the victim, her little girl costumes uncomfortably small, and she
refused to hang herself up, for she had memorized the part and her voice knew
nothing
else.
Her lips parted, still stained with kisses and dripping with the acidic burn of
yesterday's stale tears, and she whispered the truth about choices as she unknowingly lied
to herself
again.
He handed her the script with a brush to her cheek, and she shook her head as life tumbled
viciously around her face, her peripheral vision capturing sight of years long past, and
she informed him that she couldn't read it, she told him she was
scared.
He took her hand and taught her how to smile with the slight tickle of fingers that danced
across a lifeline that posessed trails she was ignoring, he showed her how to not walk
backwards and
the appearance of Sunday if she didn't
trip.
She discovered the moment she was stuck and moved herself beyond the sunset, misty skies
so old that colors had faded and maybe yesterday wasn't as pretty as she thought, maybe
Sunday
didn't lie, and she came to an understanding as she straightened and tossed her sight to
the windows that glimmered with afternoon light...
that glistened with the reflection of twenty years past the weekend and the eyes of a
woman that had seen the formation of a smile
on
Monday.
Categories:
peripheral, life, recovery from..., time,
Form:
Prose Poetry
PAD is absolutely no fun,
it won,t even let you run;
my legs went bad in 92,
they hurt and make me blue;
can't even walk 100 feet,
that's why my work i had to delete;
the pain starts in just the calf,
then travels to the other half;
if I don't stop it goes into the back,
after that I can't keep track;
then I lay upon the ground,
and I roll around and around;
after an hour or maybe two,
the pain is gone the pain is through;
if I stay relaxed I sure look lazy,
but if I walk, I know I'm crazy
Categories:
peripheral, health, pain,
Form:
Lyric
On the peripheral of my life,
Drowning in the reality that surrounds me.
Absent.
Gazing longingly at the lives others seem to find so easily,
Coveting their love, attention, anger, anything.
Anything to make me feel part of this cold world that I reluctantly seem to exist in.
Categories:
peripheral, life, people
Form:
Free verse
They dwell in the peripheral
a place I truly dread
Not sure exactly what they are
I think that they are dead
They stalk the corner shadows
in the day or black of night
I sense their movements vaguely
always dashing out of sight
They themselves are darkness
having neither form nor face
When trying for a clearer look
they're gone without a trace
I used to think perhaps my eyes
were playing tricks on me
until that night while in my bed
they tapped me on my knee
When something laid down next to me
I felt the mattress sink
I threw the lights on straightaway
and poured myself a drink
I glimpse them in the darkened
halls and doorways here throughout
Sometimes I hear their mutterings
as they all roam about
There have been times when I can swear
they're right next to my ear
with breathing or faint whisperings
and I'm awash with fear
They dwell in the peripheral
that place I truly dread
I pray that I'm just crazy
and they're only in my head
2/22/19
Categories:
peripheral, dark, fear, scary,
Form:
Rhyme
....passing perpendicular
enable this feeble brain to
regain momentum
in its frenetic
pursuit of something
hugely prophetic to
enlighten you readers with a
rhythmic
avalanche of profound
Love.
Then again, thoughts that are
hovering can in fact be an
outright impediment
unintentionally causing a stammer,
guffaw, or some other sophistic
hilarity to erupt
taking all seriously serious
spirituality off into the mundane.
Categories:
peripheral, on writing and words
Form:
Acrostic
Caught up in life, in our peripheral we
Doors we enter, but do we actually see
Or does life's light, simply blind
A trait of us, human kind
These windows that attract
That can lure us eventually through
Is this luring on our radar
When feelings turn the screw
It's over a period of time
About bridges destroyed and rebuilt
Like the ebb and flow of the tides
To free us from life's silt
But it's these journeys of life that cut
When dialogue proved to be woven
Until we enter these doors of life
We'll never know our peripherals proven
Honesty of character, shows a halo touch
This other trait of human kind, I don't like so much
Categories:
peripheral, betrayal, life, lost love,
Form:
Rhyme
orange butter
fly
or yellow
jacket
on white
flower
of blood
root
Categories:
peripheral, beauty,
Form:
Free verse
Wailing winds rattle windowpanes,
with sounds of moans and clanking chains.
My whole world soon starts to shudder.
And my heart begins to flutter
as a violent sensation
shakes my house to its foundation.
Caught in my peripheral sight
I see a twisting in the night;
and debris swirling in the dark
as the tornado carves its mark,
Gazing into the face of death,
I grab my chest, struggling for breath.
Categories:
peripheral, 10th grade, anxiety, fantasy,
Form:
Rhyme
The train was zooming by,
When I saw her like a veil
A mystical angel
In the heavenly sky…
She was strolling in the street;
She was immaculately neat.
It was like a dream;
I wanted to scream:
Oh! God, Oh! Beauty,
I just peripherally
Saw the most beautiful woman
On earth! She was way gorgeous than an omen,
And prettier than an April bouquet of flowers;
She smiled and laughed like no other creatures.
What a Joy! What a Beauty!
What a treat,
To have mnemonically photographed such a woman,
Who smiled like a Baby,
And who educed a warm drop of rain
From my right eye,
Which caused my heart to beat
So profusely and to switch side,
And my spleen to quiver,
And my soul to beg and twitter.
Oh! God, this one had no flaws,
No scars, no thorns, and no claws;
No tattoos, no chains, and no rings.
Her hair was her wings;
She swam through the clouds like a proud swan,
Like a mermaid in the deep blue ocean.
Copyright August 6, 2009, Hebert Logerie, All Rights Reserved
Hebert Logerie is the author of several books.
Categories:
peripheral, angel, beautiful, beauty, emotions,
Form:
Rhyme
I fell to you, black and white
with technicolor hair
like a circus presentation
of emotion-
You were there.
I lifted you, gold and bronze
with medal and shine
like a trophy won impossible
to me,
when you were mine
I slept on you, pearl and grizzled heat
with a dream on banks of waking
like a long forgotten whisper
of a promise, still forsaken
undeveloped, but complete
I wished for you, silver limply bit the air
with fingers stained in white
like a photograph of contrast
fallen past the line of sight
to be popped in color particles
I wished, and you were there.
Categories:
peripheral, life, love, people, time,
Form:
Free verse
i congratulate and uplift
i never put down
does not matter if whatever is more than my less
i am proud
too many people put down
too many people spread hate
too many people waste needed energy
instead, why not encourage instead of discourage
there are levels of speed in life
there are timetables when it comes to blessings
there is One who Oversees it all
at the end of each everyday....it is up to Him anyway....
that being said, on yourself you are committing a crime
congratulate and uplift i say....instead of ultimately wasting your time
Categories:
peripheral, growing up, growth, how
Form:
Free verse
It’s a therapeutic journey
I didn’t wanna take right now
The shoe dropped
And now it's time to pull the knife out of my throat
And hear me scream for sympathy
The shoe dropped
And it created a ripple in time and space
So you can be here only when you wanna be
And I don't buy it, I never did
You're not reserved,
A restaurant table is
You just don't care to learn about me or engage like I deserve
And now it's time to pull the plug
Unless you're not brave enough to end this
It's about the time
To self incriminate for a lower sentence
But are you prepared to admit that you're broken in order to mend things?
Or will you shoot past skin and watch it burn the best part of me?
I couldn't get out of bed
My alarms a ticking time bomb aimed to make me lose my mind instead
My life meter is blinking
But I was too busy playing dead to pacify
And I was too busy crying to see myself in your eyes
Through a watery blur I saw a decades worth of let downs
And a hundred promises you were prepared to break
like glass at a jewish wedding
Now I’m welded beneath this bedding
Where you left me weak, weary, and waist deep
In my fire truck sheets
Don't threaten me with a lack of rest!
Like I needed another reason to undress
Hanging my head low,
Imitating the sly seduction of a rope
While the truth serum beckons me to confess,
Like I needed another reason to undress
But how is this all in my head when I can feel you on my finger tips?
Oh no
I’ve lost any reason to find you
Oh no
I’ve lost a good reason to go find you
You told me you’re not strong enough to fight this
You’re not a lightbulb
Find the energy to handle it
And then we’ll get back to this
Go ahead and worship your pride
Before I eat mine for the last time
Oh no
I’ve lost any reason to find you
Oh no
I’ve lost a genuine reason to reach out to you
To anyone else,
These are flashing alarms pointing to the nearest exit
But for me,
It’s only validation for a poisoned chalice infatuation
But am I just a fool for reliving it, knowing what it really is?
But how could this all be in my head
If I can feel you on my finger tips?
Categories:
peripheral, abuse, anxiety, emotions, love
Form:
Free verse
I watched the porch lights flicker on for them—
the laughter soft, the timing always right.
The chairs were full. I hovered at the stem
of every plan, then vanished with the night.
A window cracked, a voice that called too late,
a message read, replied to days behind.
No slammed door, just a pattern I could trace—
how even warmth turns cruel when misaligned.
I asked for little. Always just enough
to be let in. To pull a corner seat.
But glow is not the same as being loved.
And unaddressed omissions aren't discreet.
I stayed outside until I felt the chill—
no hate, no love, just quiet, quiet, kill.
Categories:
peripheral, anger, betrayal, dark,
Form:
Sonnet
a head that could not resist the turn
as eyelash lifts to reveal its joy
and from that squinted smirk of broken lip gloss
Time twisting one leg behind the other
ushers to continue
the promise only she
could keep
Categories:
peripheral, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
Perfect Peripheral Vision
David J Walker
There was a binder
On a calendar
Kept just inside my eyelids
Where everything seen
Was recorded
Everything
Especially the thing not seen
With eyes shut tight
On a dark night
Everything
Especially the things
seen from
The corner of my eye
Everything
in pastel colors
Painted on black & white
Snapshots of every
long past lover left in
Grandmothers shoebox
Until the day she died
Everything that
Sets off the sensors
of memories captured in
Perfect peripheral vision
Where is that binder
On the calendar
Have you seen it
Categories:
peripheral, visionary,
Form:
Rhyme