Best Unfamiliarity Poems
I am whatever you say I am...
but, let's get back to reality...
Three short years ago, this room shined welcome mats across a screen of doldrums.
A place of unfamiliarity that screamed,
"You don't belong!"
Yet, a voice of reason spoke and said,
"Expand yir' roots. Venture beyond the comfort zone. Academia resides inside that room, but know you won't be alone."
Repeatedly,brainwaves declined what my wife and editor had told me.
I'd say,
"no way, I'm givin' up my soul for free, they read, they pay, like it's always been, the way it's going to always be!"
Unbeknownst to me one day, and with a slight of hand, my "Open Sores" were put on display and surprisingly more than a handful of great ladies and nice guys began to give feedback on what I had devised.
This interaction was something very new, helpful, and impressive. For a change, it was something real.
For years, those around me were quick to give praise with hidden reasons. Constructive criticism is amazing, and I welcomed being corrected or set straight.
Now there are those who choose to shut me down without explanation, and call me names.
DO NOT mistake me for sophomoric! These words bleeding from my guts have no style and need no approval. There is no thinking involved here, no plan. If you don't like it, fine...don't censor or bracket me in. So what if I am illiterate? If you don't like "street poetry" or the pathetic stuff I write, don't read it. If I offend you, tell me.
We should welcome those who are different than us.
Words of truth inspire movement, like fire.
I came to this room to expand my horizons, step outside the box, learn, help, grow.
There will be no apologies dealt for being different, or for being labelled as something uncomfortable to you.
This has been an ok room so far, but there is some clique trickanery going on.
If the dictionary must come into play, let me recommend looking up the term "Poetic License."
True, I may not be the writer you prefer, or aspire to be....but tread carefully my friend, for you have no idea of my profession. I've made a fine living, for a good long time, spewing words onto paper. I came from nothing, and may still be nothing to you...still, I do what I love, have no boss.
I am not an aspiring writer who dreams of a life, I live my dream. In conclusion, I must wish you luck in finding what you peddle poetry for. Until then, keep
Categories:
unfamiliarity, confusion, dedication, depression, devotion,
Form:
Free verse
Alyssa danced in the center of the
empty historical ballroom.
Imagining suitors standing in line
for one more waltz around the artistic
ceramic tiled flooring.
Her dress, ivory full, swept the floor
as she turned and sauntered on
winged slippers.
Elegantly breathtaking… enchantress form;
mesmerized an onlooker athwart
the chamber.
His eyes fixed as she pirouetted to
a silent melody.
Observers gathering in amazement
as she tip-toed gingerly in a dance
with butterflies of her fancy.
Swaying her gracefully thin, delicate
arms above her head; back and forth,
hypnotized in herself.
Oblivious to tenacious eyes concealed
only in cracks of walls, Alyssa dances
ever so genial.
The onlooker from across the chamber
floor, hesitates to accompany her.
He walks towards her and slips his
wieldy arm about her torso.
Her eyes open and smile as her hand
falls leisurely into his cupped palm.
Simultaneously sliding, gliding,
Alyssa closes her eyes feeling his
heart pulse; radiating as one.
Tenderly, he pulls her close, wedging
their unfamiliarity.
Their eyes touch in an upheaving
embrace as if known forever.
Reticently they speak
-through Alyssa’s dance-
shared only in brevity of the moment
while an aristocratic minuet
stills the hush…
Copyright © 2008 By Caryl S. Muzzey
This was written for my granddaughter at my son and daughter-in-law's wedding. Alyssa
was five and pretended it was her wedding
Categories:
unfamiliarity, love, granddaughter,
Form:
Narrative
Do you remember a song from not too long ago
by a popular singer of the name Tommy Roe?
This man had many hit songs credited to his name.
Some were certified gold records that brought him much fame.
From all music by this man of popularity,
one song became stuck with unfamiliarity
Not going too high on the charts, unfortunately;
this was a selection from his album called “Dizzy”.
Apparently not making him very much money,
the one I am referring to named “Heather Honey”.
At a fast food restaurant where I would often go,
there was a girl working there that I wanted to know.
Not too pretty, but I was interested in her.
She worked almost everyday at a cash register.
Never noticing me when I gave her my order.
this young lady considered me just a customer.
One day, another co-worker was sweeping the floor.
While I was seated at a table near the front door,
she said, “I know you’ve been watching that girl over there.
I will bet you like her by the way I am seeing you stare.
You are here almost every day in all kinds of weather.
If you’d like to know her name, I’ll tell you, it’s Heather.”
I was frustrated thinking to know her would be nice.
If maybe, there is a subtle way I could break the ice.
Then I remembered the song by Mr. Tommy Roe.
So to the nearby record store is where I would go.
Getting this bright idea while thinking to myself,
going to the forty-five RPMs on the shelf,
there was one copy of Tommy Roe’s song remaining.
I bought the record with three bucks I was retaining.
I returned to the fast food restaurant the next day:
“I have something to give Heather” is what I would say.
While I sat at a table, a manager then said:
“She’s busy now, so could I give it to her instead?”
So I gave the record and said: “say it’s from me”.
From the back, I heard conversation very faintly:
“That guy gave Heather a record called “Heather Honey”.
In the time I was there, she never came to see me.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, life, social, song, food,
Form:
Rhyme
Second sight in some infants, short tenure belies
Unbiased newness unpicks societal manufacture
To passers by, lurking spiritual assets recognisable
Pervading expression classifies their clairvoyance
Such was toddling dandelion darling, Aubergine
Unphased, observant, chillingly serene in nature
Cherubic smirk absorbed traits, antics compiled
Tea coloured irises brewed extracted evidence
Aloof by default, addictive was desire to amuse her
Surfacing sufficient wit to captivate earned pleasure
Complex humour her veracity seeking palate required
Ego's growth ensued causing her copper eyes to flare
Taut uncooked dough forehead bound words in focus
Incidental text in her proximity statue faced savoured
Without parental prompting, pillared wisdom widened
Constant calculation of her purposed component
Memorable eerie moment in Aubergine activity
I surreptitiously witnessed striking behaviour
"Don't tell Mummy, I was once burnt alive in fire."
She confided in her soft toy 'school' semi circle
Watching her calm revelation, mildly humilated
by my unfamiliarity with her zany brain's structure
Her sophistication held me dauntingly hypnotised
Haunted by her thirty month old pre life mystery
Written 18th June
( I just noticed today's date sounds a bit like 'Aubergine')
a word name I thought suited a little tot called Lexi
at a Day Care Centre I worked at a few years ago.
After putting this poem up, I realise
Aubergine sounds like Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'arc)
swapped syllables.
Didn't plan the poem to mention fire.
I had only the concept of outstanding baby girl when sat to write.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, baby, child, confusion, fantasy,
Form:
Free verse
They go to the beach
beyond the big trees.
A salt march where the sound
tumbles around them.
They walk through
their unfamiliarity and differences,
taking a hundred photographs.
Strange to walk
through sand in the cold,
passing remnants of broken brick walls,
shrines made of plastic, steel rods and flags.
The sea birds wired together swirl overhead
and damp down like
a foamy cotton bedspread on the shallow water.
They look for deer but don't find any.
So much history here
but the story isn't pieced together
and narrated for them.
They can just see the outer edge fragments
that penetrate into their own time.
The animals go about their business,
surviving the winter as the companions
walk through the sand with their imperfect shoes.
What the animals do is not their business.
Spying on the animals is meaningless.
Their origins are not known to them.
They don't own their own histories,
have no claim to them. It is owned by people
who no longer share their knowlege bubbles.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, animal, history, time,
Form:
Free verse
What is fear but insecurity
He who cannot face unfamiliarity
Categories:
unfamiliarity, fear, mystery,
Form:
Couplet
I am a republican, i speak with utter certainty
I believe in my own facts, the press is my enemy
I support global warfare, paying for them warily
I support oil revenues, with climate killing clarity
I support big tax cuts, with debtful hilarity
I support seniors, paying for them bareily
I support guns, with mass shooting regularity
I support walls, preventing laborer familiarity
I lie with impunity, truth an unfamiliarity
I am evangelical, i lie with cool piety
I believe in family values, of a corporate variety
I rally your sympathies, with solicitous demagoguery
I believe in my health care, yours with insincerity
I believe in my future, yours very narrowly...
Categories:
unfamiliarity, class, earth, humor, political,
Form:
Political Verse
I sprung from fertile soil like a garden blossoming into a mosaic kaleidoscope of
vibrant colors
|that I no longer have the ability to see|
but I still feel the ghostly rose petals haunting my skin
~Heart hardened by the cold harsh bite of the wind~
my bones rattle as they echo as If they were fabricated from tattered tin
*Kissing me softly like morning dew on a Tulip only to wake in the silhouette of my snowglobe dream*
-That now seems all too strange to me
I simmer as my blood starts to boil-
Why am I so strange to me
Unfamiliarity in familiar features
Ghostly silhouettes of my parent's features
Here I lay writing as my all deserved place
As an abolished creature
Here I lay biting my own flesh just to bleed out a trace
Letting the emotion trickle down
my clammy skin as I submerge myself in the depth of Winter's icy cool touch
A cold thick glass window in the New Hampshire downpour fading into the grey skies
A distant memory blanketed in a monochrome gradients of nostalgia
These scars are the only thing that stays in this place
A gradient scale of grey
An alien feel of being far away
I long to be redeemed from the ultimate rejection
As I sit here and I compartmentalize my feelings section by section
I'll dissipate into the wind and search for answers in any direction
Anything to avoid the place I came from I see traces of in my reflection
Categories:
unfamiliarity, 3rd grade, addiction, dark,
Form:
Free verse
The world is such a big place,
For such a little one,
Unfamiliar and unforgiving,
For a girl so naive an young.
Unfamiliarity sires awareness,
As you sojourn through the years,
That were paved with much happiness,
And gladly, only a few tears,
Many have tried to shape you,
And some you never knew,
The only person you should emulate,
Is the person you turned into.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, appreciation,
Form:
Light Verse
Deep within my heart a hollow resides,
A hidden love, concealed from prying eyes,
Its flames, like embers, burn softly and glow,
With no hope of flaring up from the faux.
Only in secret, do furtive eyes meet,
Forbidden yearnings, longingly discreet,
These stolen moments, are all we can keep,
So shallow, when we yearn for love so deep.
Each furtive touch, a tremor in the dark,
Each kiss hesitant a flick fleeting spark,
Each murmured whisper a tell barely heard,
Each eye to eye stare, shortened and blurred.
This love blighted gets unrequited stalled
For love secret, is never love recalled?
For love secret is never love recalled?
We built a secret garden, safely stone-walled,
To hide our love away, but it did not work.
For straying innuendo and eyes did smirk,
Suspiciously following our sneaks away,
With no let-up in surveillance every day.
From jealous stares, glares, winks and snooping eyes
That traced every move, with evidence their prize.
So we must keep meeting in a secret place,
With no walls, never a completely safe space.
Never in the same space or place, repeated,
To ensure our enemies are defeated.
We must also meet less often to allay.
Our secret love must fade, but never away.
Our secret love must fade, but never away.
Living on in spirit, forever and a day.
We will cherish the hidden wink when eyes meet.
The faintest furtive touches when we greet
The smell of body aromas in passing.
The softness of familiar voices laughing.
The wait-a-while lingering on your smile,
Feigning unfamiliarity to beguile.
Our secret, our love in secret must live on.
Like the paint on canvases fades upon
The staring glare of light shining year on year.
But our love's spirit will forever endear.
For the spark, flare and glint of love's affair.
Like bottled wine matures and ages to better fare.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, lost love,
Form:
Crown of Sonnets
this town is a stranger, multiplied
both they and i, completely unknown
this motel is home, while i abide
home, yet i'm out of place, all alone
i find myself missing people that, most times
i do not even like, very much
yet i find comfort in these rhymes
from emotions, come words i can touch
i am a lonely man in Smallville
i carry a stigma, whereever i go
unfamiliarity is a fearsome creature, still
if only, if only, my heart would show
another side i hide within
vulnerable, and all to sensative
i am a man, of both virtue and sin
at odds often in this world i live
i wish life to be splendid
want people to have feeling
never again to do what i did
and spend no more time kneeling
now i know it does not hurt me
to surrender to lifes unchanging surprise
it is a chance to grow, with honesty
putting aside weopons, or disguise
when i meet a new person again
i hope that they are not an opponent
relationships are not just lose, or win
but a way to grow, in only a moment
i'll open up, when opportunity is knocking
express myself, the only way i can
take my chances, before fortune goes walking
i believe that i am, a worthy man
i'll make an effort, to accept what is new
take a minute to notice the unexpected
realize that the stranger is both of us, it's true
that contempt, or caution may be misdirected
there is that time, when i walk by
when you could reach out to me
we could become fast friends, or ally
seeing who, and what we could be
i will not hide, within the throng
or run away to live in solitude
i freely admit, the feeling is strong
i want my life, and my world renewed
Categories:
unfamiliarity, recovery from...world, people, people,
Form:
Prose Poetry
So this is what you companies are renting these days?
What you have right here certainly does amaze.
This hybrid car is not much bigger than a go-cart.
Now that I’m in this thing, where do I start?
You have given me a card instead of a metal key.
This car runs on both gas and electricity?
The dashboard has strange unfamiliarity.
These controls are not what I’m accustomed to see.
This car might be Japanese, but it’s Greek to me.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, adventure, business, car, car,
Form:
Rhyme
I was broken,
I decided to go,
I was down,
I decided to come,
I didn't mind the distance,
Neither the unfamiliarity with the place,
Or the costs it take,
I just want to run away,
And as I ran ,
I never thought you would come,
You with the bright smile,
We ran from the cruel place we know,
A thousand steps and we are there,
A place our eyes haven't seen before,
A place our heart had been looking for,
it is the place we found,
Heartlocks locked on handle of the bridge,
Lovers boating in the grand canal,
Tons of people roaming around,
Taking pictures of the scenes they love,
A place we had been was a real paradise,
Though the distance was quite far,
With someone to run with,
All the moments are worth it.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, best friend, heartbroken, loneliness,
Form:
Free verse
Infinitesimally scaled people
Of the forgotten planet
Pitter patter the surface of their planet.
Almost atomic in demeanor!
Though bulldozered many times over.
They mutilate, bleed,
Their infected flesh ooze with green.
Infinitesimally scaled people
Of the forgotten planet,
Live their lives
Scavenging from the
Garbage Bins.
Infinitesimally scaled people
Of the forgotten planet
Look upon the vaulted sky and
Pray
To be remembered!
Once in a while,
perhaps
On their national remembrance day!
Infinitesimally scaled people
Of the forgotten planet
Cry real tears like us human beings!
Their offspring are reared on mother’s milk.
The floor under their feet creaks;
Unfamiliarity creeps into their existence!
So they freak and hit the streets
Living on the cardboard scraps again!
They shave and shower on the streets!
Infinitesimally scaled people
Of forgotten planet
Inject themselves with opium like
Substances!
Sometimes they trip and sometimes they expire!
Categories:
unfamiliarity, allegory, allusion, emotions, loneliness,
Form:
Rhyme
You smell like an unfamiliar address, and
I look like a stranger with perpetual eyes
I wait for the rain like I wait for you
in mid-July, but it's summer now.
You look like a poem, and I sound
like a song; long stolen. I write letters
addressed to unfamiliarity
and blame you for everything else
I'm still nine at heart, getting lost
with people around. You're twenty-six years away
searching for me in a different crowd.
If I didn't look like a stranger, perhaps
You would've found me by now.
I still taste half rotten and blame you for
everything else.
Categories:
unfamiliarity, 11th grade, absence, age,
Form:
Free verse