Blank Verse Poems

A rose poem
A walking cobbler came to Yasmin valley
That had a small brook with swimming ducks
Even though, since everyone wore clogs 
He decided to settle down in this pleasant vale

The cobbler was educated in Frankfurt and 
As we know the...Read More

Burgundy shades daub my dearly-bought garb
Lengths of silk, waist-gathered with a tassel:
umbilical tie to calico beau…
Embellished neckline of precious turquoise.

Dollops of lace, round the hips, drape mangled
Raggedly dangling like a worn flower…
Edging the hem’s rolled velvet, midnight blue.
Sinuously, along the...Read More

Where Were You?

Where were you
when my world 
had collapsed?
Where were you
when my world
was frozen cold?
Where were you
when my world
was flood-stricken?
Where were you
when my world
was lightning-struck?
Where were you
when my world
was ravaged?
Where were you?

Now you come
when all is
tranquil!...Read More

Purpose

If we examine now
What we are doing
And find we are not free..
We must then 
Put the doing aside
Perhaps only briefly
And be the observer
Of the doing..
Then the observer
Absorbs the doing..
No observer..No doing
Just what is happening.. 
And we notice freedom
Making reentry......Read More

Went to a postcard show today 
Capitalism in action!  
Picked up some nice cards
One dealer - whose parents were Holocaust survivors 
Gave me a break on the price 
Another collector at the show 
was an old Army buddy of...Read More

When love is not
A man meets a woman
And thinks she loves him in return
The kissing
the hand holding is the same
but something, something is wrong
after making love, she turns her back
away from him, not speaking.
He fell sadness and emptiness after 
the...Read More

It was the last day of the beginning of the end.
There were 4 last men from the 4 corners of the earth.
None knew the tongue of the other
None knew the face of the other
None knew the life of the other
They...Read More

You are The One
And divisions in Your Name,
You are The Peace
And wars are everywhere. 

You are the Creator
And killings in Your Name,
You are The Merciful 
And hate is everywhere.  
 
You are The Forgiver  
And sentences in Your...Read More

When guns become toys 
And innocence stolen,
When violence is a big joy
And kindness forgotten, 
The tears will be very warm.

When money controls minds 
No charity and no mercy, 
When souls become blind 
Not feeling Eternity, 
The prayers will be very...Read More

One last hope LOST-

one last hope LOST
say goodbye
tear stained
you once promised me infinity
so say goodbye
a child, One last hope LOST

Still birth born death
One last hope LOST
DIED AT BIRTH
STILL BORN One last hope LOST
Written words by James E. Lee Sr. 2019©



12/7/19
Written...Read More

         
                           My First and Forever Date


           ...Read More

They say Have Faith
But do they really know
Have they seen the light before
Have they seen for sure
I try to believe
But what’s left is we’re alone
Sombrely living 
And forever black clouds hang over
Even when it’s such a sign
Inability to cope sans...Read More

The kiss

her lips had kissed many a man a butterfly
Fragrant and vivid like a spring day in May 
Yet not to the point of pollination.
 She waited for a kiss that tasted of wealth
She dreamed of a castle and ballgown...Read More

The beauty of a sunset, she had
Clothed in burning scarlet velvet
Stories of her ghost the silent streets
Children feared her,
She got razing screams, mental
Her hands withered life away
Her horse walk drawn men, dead
Alive, they laughed her
She swallowed their joys, sorrow
Black energy...Read More

Real life always flows in
Covering the pictures stoked in the sand
Joyful fleeting thoughts
Faces and messages
Knowing but hoping no wave will come.


Sometimes just 10 minutes of closeness and calm
Often not enough to reach the school gate
No stage setting or plans can...Read More

The Land of dream

 Early Tuesday morning when the night
Glides into a new beginning somewhat reluctantly 
And no police sirens have been cutting the night
Till before and after sleep.
I will like to go to India. the vivaciousness of
The humanity intrigues...Read More

                                       I've...Read More

Too often 
 someone stretches the truth until it becomes the lie
and then defends its falsehood for all to hear and believe in
 but some wiser ones sense the truth that lay hidden
grab it by its fallacies and turn the...Read More

Sunday and sermon 


Sunday morning Tv is full of Brexit ad Trump
I switch off. The computer has cartoon time not much
Different from TV but funnier.
From the living room, the drone of a priest talk rubbish
Some ladies sing mournful songs.
Why this...Read More

A glass stands upon a table, 
Watched by arbiters of existential
State.
They observe the glass, to give opinion
As to its contents.

The Pessimist speaks: “There is wine
In the glass, and it is half empty”.
The Optimist, with shake of head
And wave of hand,...Read More

                             
          ...Read More

  
                   Star on the Tree


           she, with care, up a ladder climbs
           the gold star on...Read More

Note: Marsden Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, January 4, 1877 and died in Ellsworth September 2, 1943. He is Maine’s first modern painter to achieve international fame. His last paintings of Maine are considered by many as the glory...Read More

Idle sit the swords in bloodied rust
old glories faded in the long dull blades
lie about cold beauty's savage lives
masked within the scars of victors songs.

Words unbent repent in ploughshare shame
succumb to acquiescent mumbling
rising in the throat of strangled steel
tempered by...Read More

The healer

Do you remember the night when?
The floodlight came on as we sat by the riverside?
You said you loved me and I quickly said ditto,
A joke you didn’t appreciate.
 Mosquitoes flew like silent angles through air
In the mimosa night and...Read More

Read wonderful blank verse poetry on the following sub-topics: contemporary, iambic pentameter, life, love, nature, sonnet and more. Read a definition and example (where appropriate).