Best Suddenness Poems
A Quiet Conversation In Church
Someone behind me stifled a cough
Turning around, the stranger nodded back
In the dim light
I made out a determined jaw
Felt thick fingers holding on to the back of my pew
I’ve been coming here for years he said
During weekday afternoons
When the Church is empty.
I pray in the quiet
And find peacefulness
That never stops.
From it I get strength, a resolve to go on.
Pausing he asked I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here?
I answered as best I could
I pass by here every day
And I thought it was time for me to come in.
He answered
Yes, strength and resolve are important.
But they come from the inside. No one gives them to you.
I had some issues but I knew I couldn’t hide in a bottle
And so, I came back to the Church on my own terms.
Still in the shadows
He whispered
I’m a veteran
The government will give vets pills to help them forget their problems.
The Church?
They try in their own way and when you die, they’ll say a prayer over you
But your family is the only one you can rightfully turn to for help.
I told the stranger
We were new to the City
That was so crowded and expensive.
We parted but not before he said
When you find someone
Open your heart and trust them.
Outside, my eyes squinted
In the suddenness of sunlight
Signs of Spring
Were everywhere
My cell phone rang
Her excited voice telling me that she got the job
She always wanted
Finally, things were going her way
I told her
We’ll celebrate
Go to the place you always wanted to go
In her breathless voice she answered
It’s so expensive
What else is new I replied
We’re going because this is special
Because you didn’t give up
You made it happen.
And then I realized the old man was right.
Categories:
suddenness, life,
Form:
Narrative
Absurd Walls:
By Mark Miller 03/08/2018
I sit in wait,
For melancholic relief
Consumes self-trust resistance.
Out from the clear and into the black shatter dust.
Although, I cannot explain its purpose or meaning for there is none.
Awareness prevents comprehension to the future posture rectitude.
Only leftovers illuminate on that origin which brings me to this momentary lapse.
Where time and space have no relevance.
The feeling of structure fades into the microwave static.
Only the emotion healing sustains.
Somewhere, out there in the cosmos lies the basal complexional of coexistence.
The complicit deranges.
The peaceful transits,
Our group comfort loneliness
Between the minimal change of selves,
Through the pulsar's suddenness
I return and am one with myself,
Time wraps around the feeling dissipates,
Gone like childhood memory from everywhere.-
Categories:
suddenness, analogy, beautiful, feelings,
Form:
Free verse
With speedy, gutsy ease
her Irish father rolls up the front room rug
Gaelic music lathers the air in merriment
Nelligen at 8, composed
snags our attention
in hard shoe clicking
her rapid, intricate footwork
its drumming effect, a heart pulsating
Nell's rigid torso
that trails upward to white-blond hair
bouncing,
catching light like weightless feathers
Small feet in black hard shoes
tapping
from toes to heels
Image fixed in place like her pale rose-bud skin
Up against the wall, I mimic her movements
My feet a tangled jigsaw
She laughs, kisses my cheek, tousles my hair
like tufts of grass
At 9, I want to go to her, to cradle her state of grace
for however long we are children
The suddenness of age frames our winter
A peer backwards through a series of lenses
to stitched moments that slide in memory
foot taps through our rooms
I know full well that I am responsible for my own mis-steps
for sitting out her dances
for never solving most puzzles
even when I pull back
from now
Poem composed: June 13, 2021
Categories:
suddenness, age, child, children, dance,
Form:
Free verse
Layer upon
layer upon
layer
Living always adds another thick layer over hope.
Sometimes hope is rescued from this layered darkness.
Then slung into the suddenness of light.
Gasping and wide-eyed.
What is it trying to say?
What is it thinking?
Will it re-sprout its wings?
Has its voice become entangled?
Can it still hold a golden harmony?
Will it still be peaceful- will it scream war?
Will it share secrets- will it listen to yours?
Has is it turned into a simpleton-a reclusive savant.
Does it remember the day it was born.
Or simply forgotten what it wants-
Is it still the big dreamer?
Dodging a million potholes of the reaper.
What can it teach you?
is it still tame or has it gone feral?
will it bite or will it kiss you?
will it curl on your lap?
will it love you forever or cut you in half.
Categories:
suddenness, imagery, introspection,
Form:
Free verse
I AM THE HERON
There is a stoicism to me
silent, self reliant, pensive posturing
suddenness of intent and action.
My aggression is calculated,
measured in response to need,
activated by impending threat.
Stillness is the garb of my determination,
patience in the solitude of calm
spring loaded – a sharpened, piercing, beak.
I still retain my forebears ways,
their ancient chiseled features,
dedication to the rookery’s domain
amid the din of springs cool birthright.
I will cross swords defending nests
asway in natures treetop rocking chairs.
There is a stoicism to me
//Heron – aggressive, self determination,, self reliance//
submitted to – Picture Yourself As a Bird – Poetry Contest
sponsor – Andrea Dietrich
5/16/2015
Categories:
suddenness, bird,
Form:
Personification
I was just walking down the street
when it hit me
a quick jab….followed
by a crushing right cross.
I staggered….stunned
by the suddenness of
a seemingly unprovoked attack.
Life, fate, Karma…WHAT!!!
I covered up, rolled, bobbed left,
feinted right, slid along the ropes
found the safety of the corner,
thanked Ali for the rope-a-dope.
I had forgotten the rules of life
“Protect yourself at all times”,
the bell will ring at sunrise
failure to answer the bell
will result in disqualification,
there is no standing eight count
you cannot be saved by the bell,
the bell will ring at sunset.
The sunrise bell summons me
to the center of the ring.
I touch gloves with life,
with fate, with Karma.
The dance begins slowly.
Slide smoothly but quickly,
stick, jab, counter, cover.
To date I have taken on all comers,
dealt with their strength,
outwitted and outlasted the cunning,
outpunched the punchers,
outpointed the pure boxers.
So I stand, battered, but triumphant
in the center of life, hands held high
awaiting another sunrise bell.
A wily, weathered, champion
challenging life, fate, Karma to
“HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT”
“FIRE AWAY”
John G. Lawless
6/19/2015
Categories:
suddenness, life, metaphor,
Form:
Free verse
When Z died
I had never cried
So much for someone
Hour upon hour
I would think of her
And a tightness in my chest
Would spread
As I thought of the suddenness
Of her passing
How afraid
She must have been
How she must have suffered
Even more than when she was
Living her life
My tears flowed
For my loss
And for hers
But then one day
The drops stopped
The ache ended
And I thought of her less and less
Did that make me
Cold? Callous? Uncaring?
Or is that the natural order of things?
A subsidence of depth
For tears that were wept
So many cried
Yet they have all dried
"Crying" - Written for "In Search of the Human Mind" Contest by A Rambling Poet
Categories:
suddenness, death, life, loss
Form:
Free verse
the hour late, I hesitate
to lift the shield of isolation
the walls lean in, as if to hear
they make believe, by breathing hard,
as if they sleep,
but I am wise to them, I am...
I know the sound, I know of eyes...
these walls have souls that live within
the air is solid, the light is dim
beyond my window, summer stirs
a sleuth that leers... , absurd it seems,
but watching me, I feel the burn
it shuffles in, with shades of black
a muffled step, through restless leaves
I catch my breath, ......yet strange, ....at ease
the curtain pants, with pulsing veins
I brush my hair, step out of clothes...
wait one moment to compose...
slip on a gown,
holding close my other self
the one who never dares to take a chance
I want to dance the seven veils,
for eyes that dwell beyond the glass
beyond my dream, ....they look at me
two eyes,they watch in black and white,
I feel the burning of the night
the suddenness of who I am...
she has no name
she has no shame
wanton, willing in the dark
it's sliding in the crisp black grass
I douse the light.........and step up close
to look again, through window's pane
no questions asked
the eyes aren't there.....
in black and white.......and by the gate...
nothing waits....
becoming clear
but I don't care......
in isolation............the walls are falling
and have old souls
I know they stare
I'll dance for them
I know for certain
they are there
_____________________________________________________________
Resubmitted for Contest: Premiere Contest # 10
Sponsored by Skat
Categories:
suddenness, dance, fantasy, imagination,
Form:
Free verse
Sudden awakening that day
A landslide from inside
Expelled
Deep resentments built for years
Tapping into fears
The day reason died
Dystopian awakening that day
Tyranny unleashed by choice
Willing
Votes for disruption
Volcanic irruption
Anguish given a voice
Rude awakening that day
The suddenness of realisation
Transformed
Promises on the hoof
With no basis in truth
A political improvisation
Crazy awakening that day
Diagnosed as insane
Overcoming
A rancorous election
Regrets in reflection
Trumped by bewildering pain
Categories:
suddenness, political,
Form:
Verse
An underlying theme
breathing sleepy, ice clear and blue
to stop you in your tracks
on a warm summer night,
after having pulled into the driveway
under the honey suckle awning
and hummingbird flutters-
To wait.
To plug up the windows with glass
and crank up the cold air.
To listen.
As sound waves on a variation
impound this lost soul
to redemption's hand,
buying back a love of music
and it's depth.
Ralph Vaughn Williams
at his best-
a weaver on a theme
by Thomas Tallis.
The introduction to a love,
sure to be life long,
of symphonic surges
which stop you, still and silent
before you can perform your next deed.
Let the onlookers in the house
wonder on.
Let them ask themselves:
"Is she okay? She's been sitting
in that car for a long time..."
For, when you arrive
(moments before your actual
psyche quiets down from the beauty)
they will see your smile,
and know with suddenness
that you have tasted goodness and purity,
and have bought back the rights
to your own "forever" -
just variations on a theme of life.
Categories:
suddenness, happiness, life, music,
Form:
Blank verse
pleasure i seek without you
pain i get from the thorns of curiosity
when i knock again, your blessing answers the door
i say nothing and leave to take a walk through the woods
i never look back and i quickly forget your name and telephone number
it is then that something in the auspices of suddenness clicks
life has no stoplight and even less mercy
realization can be a light seldom seen
growth i discovered despite you....
Categories:
suddenness, freedom, goodbye, leaving, moving
Form:
Free verse
I missed you today.
With an suddenness, a bereft slap across my skin.
When that familiar hair ahead of me on the sidewalk
turned.
And it wasn't you.
I missed you in the hollow of the moment of the stranger who wasn't you.
And with resounding howl
Like a grieving mother
I missed you.
I remember in the sheets we'd tangle,
I smelled them. I smelled summer air and my perfume
I smelled the your soap and your musk in that minute second on the street.
I stopped and I breathed in deep. Inhale, Inhale.
Before you turned and it was not you.
Like a sailor's wife on the shore
I watched as the stranger who wasn't you turned back down the street
Growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
And a thousand piercing stinging blinding pins of light forced themselves.
They stabbed my soul, and took my breathe.
Took your scent and the bed we lay.
On the street, on the street
as you walked away, the stranger.
Paralyzing me with your nearness only to be someone so very much not you.
I missed you and i stood in the street and gravity gave up it's pull to laugh at my foolishness
and my eyes filled with tears to celebrate their perfect deception.
and my bones forgot how to hold on for dear life
and i slid to the ground
to the ground
because
I saw you today on the street. The stranger that wasn't you.
I have learned the art of hiccuping you inside.
Memory, hiccup. There you are now tucked away inside.
Kisses on the soft hairs at the nape. Hiccup that away too.
And all of the hiccups came out in a swallow of your name...
A hundred swallows, truth.
They flew wickedly around my head gleeful in my faux pas.
And ten hungry vultures came to take the remains of my hope.
Pick away greedily at my anticipation.
Satied on the last of my blind faith and now they are too fat to fly.
And I am too weak to run.
Because I saw you on the street today,
The stranger that wasn't you. My beloved. My adored.
Such a peculiar street.
I will not pass this way again.
sahn
04/09/2014
Categories:
suddenness, absence, death of a
Form:
Prose
"Death is like an inevitable leap into the unknown. But we are sure to land in a state eternal either to be blessed or cursed" By poet
With the suddenness of a locomotive
that has come to an abrupt halt,
he fell motionless and in a coffin lay.
like –
all mystery sealed in a jar.
all agony compressed,
in a tremulous whimper.
all charms shut in an amulet.
amid,
the scent of burning incense,
frozen silence,
heaving hearts
and
silent prayers.
the chariot wheeled him along
in his last journey
through the mazy paths,
stretching, stretching endless
to a world,
beyond all galaxies.
to the Elysian Fields-
to a time, immeasurable
to abiding infinity,
to inconceivable eternity!!
March. 7. 2023
Re entered for Brian's Contest
~ Placed First~
Writing Challenge ‘J’ Words Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Constance La France
Categories:
suddenness, death, funeral, journey,
Form:
Free verse
BEACH MUSIC
Shells swish and scrape, popping
And bubbling in submerged suddenness.
Seaweed to and fro floating, slopping
On the deepening waves - an untidy mess.
Ebb-tidal pebbles chuckle chuckle, then
Rock and roll in brine-fuelled highs
Swept up the beach and all swept down again
Like line dancers ( remember those guys? )
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Categories:
suddenness, sea,
Form:
Imagism
I heard the clangorous salvo,
heard its joints pivot and shear,
the hips of thick branches crumble
as it folded into the night.
There was a fibrous unclasping.
The ground flew up
over its rebounding shadow.
This morning thigh deep
in foliage and catkins, I listen.
There are death throes, a green surf ripples,
rustling whispers.
Leafy mouths tremble. Bark lips
rattle and curl.
Vowels drum in burnt cavities.
It seems the suddenness of death takes time,
It needs a Requiem Mass of murmurs
to explain what the moment did.
Categories:
suddenness, poetry,
Form:
Free verse