Best Red Rimmed Poems
The Tear Collector
Tears they fall, sometimes bless-ed
In their burning
Watered reminders of a hearts capacity
To connect emotions
Soft welling they sting
And find their language of wet lashes
Run their courses
As ancient rivers carve their way
Through stone barriers
Tears collected vanish in vanquished aches
Evaporate to silence
Leaving their mark, their fragrance
Breathed in the molecules dispersed
Cut to the edges of wishes
Images of longing
Hearts slowly breaking in two
Still holds you
Weep for you
I do
Behind the hard choke rasping and sobs
Moans sniffling for a beauty
Both found and lost
Delivered Jesus to red rimmed eyes
That see beyond and into the sanctity of pain
It cried; I; not for myself
But for you, for her, the rest of the world
Broken by innocence
And ignorance
The heaving heavy chest digs its well of sadness
In slow counted beats of blood
Grief for love
With these sickles gouged deeper to the flaws
And spread their knowing further
Into the fathoms of your soul
Tears; the reflections of venerated smiles
Become the augury of responses
Of sight pierces the darkest, fallen pool
Tears; the written messages of sorrow and laughter
Covert their collection of sacrifices
And fall bless-ed humane
The merciful and pitiable denizens
Of a stronger more courageous face than Gods
They beat with the bravery of flesh
More holy; than heavens sacred
Have these tears
For more sure they are in their tactile salt
Are these tears
Have lived
And in your tears a more profound betterment exists
More, much more of life
Stronger
Braver
And more courageous
To face their own existence
Than the pretence of their presence
In God
Categories:
red rimmed, life, love
Form:
Free verse
A red-rimmed sun of summer,
of the sweat of the workers,
the salt of their brows.
Shoulders to the grindstone,
the strength of sinew and muscle,
hours of their labors.
The Lord of their lives
and their eternity-
gives them a dreamer's sojourn
in the welcomed moonrise. ~
Categories:
red rimmed, 7th grade, 8th grade,
Form:
Free verse
We walk the rocky shore and you lean heavily on me,
Mother, bruising my balky arm -- muttering "Ay, Hijo!".
A few steps and, breathless, we are both exhausted.
Your once-brown eyes, gone gray, are like
concentric rings rippling from a random stone
thrown into this polluted pond in winter.
Cataracts cloud your lenses; they have a ruptured look --
purple, jellied -- like the eyes of a dead fish which I poke,
perversely fascinated. It is puffed and rotten.
Your eyes are puffed, too, red-rimmed,
moist with tears that brim over
though you try to blink them back.
That you love me and I you,
and that we wish to extend
our time together, is clear.
As clear as the fetid water in the pond,
as clear as my conscience when I drop you
at the Home, having invented a meeting,
to which I must hastily fly.
Categories:
red rimmed, angst, caregiving, depression, family,
Form:
Narrative
Thrice I attempted to express my feelings,
Thrice I failed miserably.
A fog covered every part of my soul.
A storm darkened my brain,
But no lightning lit my thoughts.
All that was sweet, is dead.
And I am dying too,
Slowly but surely dying,
Slowly, till with the finality
Of an auctioneer’s blow
Death’s axe shall fall
Like a yellow karate blow
Then shall I be cut in twain:
But not yet, alas not yet,
My death but lingers,
Now I only wane.
Oh, curse the world.
Has the time come
When I must close my red-rimmed eyes
And give up my ebony soul
To the chaos and darkness below?
14 September 2021
Placed 1
Word Chosen No 2
''L'' Contest New or Old Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
Categories:
red rimmed, endurance,
Form:
Free verse
The Lobsterman
She sits alone, hands gripping her coffee cup
Staring out the window at the mist that shrouds the village,
Watching lazy rivulets of moisture meander down the glass
Where is he she wonders, her imagination fearing the worst
She brightens at the crunching sound of footsteps
Approaching up the cottage walk
The door opens, he's home, filling the room with his presence
He removes his slicks as the oceans scent permeates the kitchen
"You're late, I kept your supper on the burner, sit down and I'll get you a plate"
He drops into a chair, acknowledging her offer with a smile
"The traps were light today" he says, "my catch didn't cover the fuel"
He starts to eat the meal she placed before him, his thoughts lost within himself
"Tommy came home from school today, excited about a field trip" she says,"asked if he
could go"
"Its gonna cost $20. I told him I'd talk to you about it"
He looks at her and she can see the pain in his eyes, the stress lines on his face
His eyes red rimmed from too little sleep and too much worry
"I've got to pay my stern-men come Friday, and a payment on the boat is coming due
Might have to let one go til things get better, but a lot less traps I'll be able to pull
Can't make no promises about the field trip, but I'll see what I can do"
He pushes back from the table, says "I'm gonna go take a shower now"
She waits til he comes back to the kitchen and they sit and talk quietly together
Abruptly he says "I'm thinking I may have to sell the boat and take a job in town"
She is startled by his statement, shocked he would consider such a thing
All he knows is lobstering and the sea runs in his veins. Her heart aches for him
"Why don't you sleep on it" she says. "You're exhausted, You need to rest"
Together they retreat to their bedroom, but sleep eludes them both
She lies there thinking how much she loves him, how hard he works to earn their
keep
He lies there thinking of tomorrow, wondering how much longer he can survive
She wakes before the dawn, the bed already empty,
He has departed for the harbor in the dimness of the morn
She knows the sea will always be his mistress, her siren song seducing him each day
She feels the helplessness and fear surround her, and she prays for a better catch
today
Categories:
red rimmed, life, people, seasea, boat,
Form:
Narrative
dare I close my eyes
where dancing fiends haunt my dreams~
red rimmed eyes falter
Categories:
red rimmed, adventure, confusion, mystery
Form:
Haiku
slow fading
of a red rimmed glow
candle lit
that held at bay
the cold moonless night
its soft hiss the song
that filled so
my heart with warmth, trust
in which I bathed
while winter held
its eeriest concert
that has reached
its final days ...
but you, my dear
forget me not, as I will not
soft hiss within your heart
Caro's choka
© 03.12.16
Categories:
red rimmed, conflict, inspirational, thanksgiving, tribute,
Form:
Choka
My guitar strings in the moonlight should be something beautiful,
but the cold liquid white just makes everything harsher.
–not soft like snow, but deceptively fine –
Light is discordant
like my clumsy fingers that keep
mutilating the restless heavens with their attempts at mourning.
Why won’t they move right,
Don’t they realize how much depends on perfection?
I’m right here; I mutter to the stars and pray they spread it out over you
Like the night they hold up while atlas dreams.
But I’m not there. I’m not even anywhere –
I can’t put a finger on me.
I’m not real. I whisper over the translucent shell of my existence
and drench myself in intangible alabaster…
and I’m not real because I need your voice
to tell me I’m not invisible,
to stop me from falling up like a red balloon.
I don’t want to be the scar in the sky anymore.
I’m looking at patterns of patterns of the beyond
and no matter how many constellations I calculate in my head
the lines here, here, and here, easy as you please
I shiver because I know it makes no sense.
Not like we did.
I’m walking on edges of that metallic element of pale
and grasping red-rimmed fistfuls of atmosphere
but they’re never close enough, the stars–
and that’s why they’re there. That’s what I’ll tell my children.
They’re just the paint-brush splattered whim of
some malevolent deity –
Maybe we all are. I write it down, “paint-splatter of flesh”
tracing finger-prints through indignant sprigs of lawn.
But I might as well be writing on the bathroom mirror
because the words still won’t come out right.
And now everything’s backwards –
and you can’t fall up
and you can’t explain god
and you can’t fix light, even if it looks broken
and you can’t reflect sound, even if you angle it just so.
I can’t live like this.
Categories:
red rimmed, angst, life, loss, lost
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
A Sunny Winters day
Cool sun kisses skin.
Pastel coloured ocean
Shuddering salty sea
Pink apricot morning sky
Seaside meditation tape.
Rolling frothing waves
emerge at fast intervals
Driftwood on the shore
Gold sloping sand dune
Giant swirly starfish studs
Seagulls squawking high
Leopard jelly sea slugs
Spiky red rubbery corals
Glittering foam sparkles
Extreme low tide no wind
Cuttlefish , tiny shells
Haystacks of seagrass
Jelly baby jube aneama
Soft small gentle waves
sound like a waterfall
Seagull flock flying low
red rimmed pale eyes
breathing hole red beak
red webbed feet high
flushed to body in flight.
Categories:
red rimmed, animals, nature, sea, seasons,
Form:
Alliteration
The poison apple
Found her lips, red-rimmed, unkissed;
She collapsed into a virgin abyss.
When you found her there, you carried her home,
To keep her as your very own.
You waited above her as she slept for days,
And shook her body with violent craze.
"O bride, death white, awake!"
She was pure as a child who burns at the stake.
She slept right through your true love’s kiss,
And died without such treacherous bliss.
Categories:
red rimmed, death, love,
Form:
Rhyme
On a damp Sunday, where the grass and earth
Call my name, out from the tangle of covers
On the humid wind, the forest beckons
With her arms of fallen leaves, twigs
Ferns uncurl
My heart is pounding in my black sweatshirt,
I unzip it and touch my collar bone, and then
The rough arm of a sycamore
Just when I thought I was King
She sways in the wind and wrestles me down
Just when I thought I was good at letting
Soft earth mend my brow, just like the worry doll
The white lilies and morels fade away
I know the moment when my heart pounds
And refuses to drive to work, to go back
And I scream silently, but I’m reflected in the lake
Lines and red rimmed eyes, but, something else
I spread my arms and look up, in time to see a Red Tail
Following along, parallel in the grey sky
Let’s let that be enough, crown of feathers
Enough, gentle lake wind
To dream another day to a close
Categories:
red rimmed, nature,
Form:
Free verse
The frost has etched the green grass white.
Lavender clouds chased a red rimmed moon.
The maples branches writhe with fright
and I'm alone in a cold, cold room.
A light snow lifts the nascent gloom.
Moon caste blue shadows sparkle, now dance,
as twigs skitter across the flurried lawn.
They seem to twirl on point, they prance.
I watch through the pane to the dance drawn.
The bleakness of night is now redrawn.
A symphony of woodwinds flute,
reeds whistle and brush a rousing beat,
deep in my heart a delight roots;
I'm warmed now by a scene so sweet,
snow for Christmas what could compete?
Categories:
red rimmed, hope, nature,
Form:
Quintain (English)
No, she mustn't cry out loud,
Every pain she must but hold;
No tear must make its way from the sides,
Of her pained, grieving, red rimmed eyes.
Into the casket she can't help but stare,
At the boyish, chubby face so fair;
And wonder why she can't seem to hear,
The sweet voice she once held so dear.
It is but a matter of time, she says,
To every person who tries to close the case;
Lazy boy he's always been but he'll,
Get up from his sleep when he's had his fill.
What will it take to convince,
A loving, doting, caring mother since;
How could she who could still hear her child cry,
Help but think her very senses lie.
Oh, this cruel, cruel war,
Is like unlit fireworks in a jar;
To protect it from every spark that flies,
The soldier is who pays the price.
When is this atrocity to stop?
When will the terrorists but realize;
Greater good is though what they hoped to gain,
Their humanity is what they've mercilessly slain.
Maybe one day the ball of gold will shine,
Onto an earth once more pristine;
Where no mother will ever grieve for her lost child,
And at no border will heaps of bodies be piled.
Categories:
red rimmed, war,
Form:
Rhyme
why my eyes gritty
red-rimmed and not pretty
conjunctivitis
why my lids slammed shut
what this sticky oozy stuff
conjoin whatitis
Categories:
red rimmed, fun, humor, word play,
Form:
Senryu
Those big blue eyes
Red rimmed and tear-filled
Hugging me tight, choking
Back sobs, pleading “I’m sorry”
Oh little one you have nothing
To apologize for, it’s not
Your fault, you did not choose
The life you live
How often do you feel
Ignored, overlooked,
Even neglected by one
Who should love you
More than anything
Poor little child, you know
You never have to feel
Lost, lonely, or sad
If you need someone to
Hug your emptiness away
I am here, always
I may not share your blood
But you have captured my heart
And I want to give you
All the security and attention
You have needed for so long
Not from birth, but instead
A twist of fate,
One of life’s unexpected gifts
Now and forever,
You are my son.
Categories:
red rimmed, family, love
Form:
Free verse