Called For Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

The Blood We Chose and Didn't

He stands by the window,
 a glass of whiskey in his hand,
 watching the rain pull the city
 into little fractured mirrors.

Ten years, he thinks, ten years
 since the house fell quiet,
 since the brother turned thief,
 slicing chunks out of their father,
 not with blades but with empty words
 and promises that tore at their seams.

Love is a joke some days,
 a noose others,
 and tonight it’s the weight
 pulling down hard
 on the bridge of his nose.

He pictures his brother now,
 tall, sharp-angled laugh,
 skin folded with time
 and shamelessness,
 the guileless predator
 preying on the man who raised them,
 left him lighter in the pockets,
 heavier in the heart.

And though he loves him
 doesn’t he always?
 he could snap his neck clean
 if the moment called for symmetry.

But Cain and Abel,
 he wonders,
 were the gods wrong to decide
 who bled first?
 Some sins stink worse,
 and guilt is always tender.

Premium Member Cosmos Waterloo

When I first brought Cosmo home from the pound
he and Sassy played all day running around
But Cosmo started biting her on the neck
so for play Sassy gave Cosmo the reject
Cosmo determine to have his way
would hunt Sassy and try to force play
He still bit her made her cry
Sassy bite him back was my reply
But Sassy was submissive and wouldn't try
Cosmo is spoiled and won't be deny
This morning again I heard Sassy being chased
Cosmo had bit her she yelped running to her hiding place
Hear Cosmo growling than suddenly a scream
Cosmo wailing high pitch to the extreme
I called for him and he came limping to my room
all gravel in hunch back yelping and whining resume
I try to comfort him and saw no blood
he was shaken but not broken gave him a hug
Sassy was looking so innocence and amused
for Cosmo big ego she had abused
Sassy must have bit the big boy back
maybe now he will go easy on the attack
Nothing broken but his pride
Big Boy Cosmo would indeed survive
after I comfort him and calmed him down
he and Sassy together sleeping I found
Sassy lift her head up with a smile on her face
Cosmo my big giant puppy had been put in his place.

'Justice' was for whites only

Gunfire,
Shots.
Screams.
Bloodshed.

Bodies.
Bodies.
Bodies.

Except one -
The shooter,
Who - was - white
The victims,
DEAD,
All the victims -
Black.

The police, 
Arrive,
Ten - twenty minutes late.
The excuse -
Traffic,
There was no traffic that day,
They lied -
They didn’t care that Black life had been taken away

They arrived late,
Red and Black,
It was an egregious attack -
What was worse,
The faces of the police -
Stone cold -
Devoid.

The shooter was spared,
He was white after all,
They didn’t shoot -
In their words it would be ‘un-called’ for
The shooter lived,
The shooter - acquitted,
Why?
He was white -
And the victims Black
But obviously the courts did not say that,
They said he was mentally unwell - had a panic attack,
That it would be unfair for them to criminalise that -
After all this was his first offense, so he can’t be that bad,
Oh, also he has a family which means they need him back

The victims families saddened,
But not surprised - as history shows this has already happened


EMPTY POT ARITHMETIC

The aluminum lid he lifted.  
Polished clean? Hunger struck back!
“Your days are numbered,” he vowed 
To a woman who counted not coins, but breaths.  
“Did I drink with your money?”  
“No. You drank our supper.”  
“You sit at home without a job.”  
“You take loans. They disgrace me.”  
Co-operative shame on her doorstep.  
He called her liability.  
She called for freedom from foolishness.  
Both broke. Both bleeding pride.

Premium Member rainbow lake

rainbow lake had her own aura
shaman noticed the oranges and the blues
his Apache ancestors called for him to meditate
this was the lake of his grandfathers
Nirvana for his vision quest

THE RETURN SOLDIER

They were always high school sweethearts
And their new life was discovered
They were two lovers that was always thinking
And most of the time you would see them winking
They decided one day to get married
And they knew then it would be scary
But most of the time they were merry
They had one child
And that baby sure knew how to smile
One day late in fall he was called for war
She always knew she would have a big chore
He was overseas for two long years
And he return home to cheers and tears
They tried to get their life together again
There will be a lot of pain and just trying to stay insane
Marriage is never easy
Sometimes it drives you crazy
And sometimes makes you dizzy
It may take awhile to adjust
To get rid of the rust


The Life Changer

Brain betrays his reaction,
Eyes and all skull.
He went asleep while my orbs opened ajar, Sorrowful moment of heart. 
Brain sleeping but heart breathing fearfully, 
All dress wrathful, because mind lacks peace 
Toward test to be held on 20th of April.
The Day I’ve longed for here, fearful,
my hand seized.
Suddenly sorrow arose, 
And my finger refuse testifying my identity.

My hand, why have you turn your back at me? 
Why have you put me in this forlorn state of mind?
Blood, why have you put me in the shadow of impossibility? 
Vein, why have you not called for your blood? Biometric suddenly turned "The Life Changer." 
But why did my finger hurt me that way?
It ignored every treatment. 

God, your authority is of no one to question,
But why have you watched from that far distance?
Why have you not intervened quickly? 
Ten fingers of mine ask you on your way, 
But certainly, know you knows it all.

379 The 3 R's

379.

The 3 R's



The oppressive Spanish rule gained 3 Responses

From illuminated writers to infuriated armed forces…



Revolts became widespread from up to down

By Muslims, by pagans in a province or town

Reform was a movement against discrimination

By enlightened scholars who awakened the nation

Revolution called for freedom from Mother Spain

To end the years of their corruption and gain



…Through these 3 R's, we formed our identity

We've learned we're different, we have our own country!



-09/13/2015

(Dumarao)

*Philippine History Rhyme Collection

Premium Member Jailing Officer Crespo

They want to lock up Officer Crespo for 27 years
But is the case as it appears?
I got a letter from the Center for Police Defense.
They claim the accusation makes no sense.

Crespo was called for backup, drug dealers were speeding at night
They pulled over and pointed a gun, wouldn't that give you a fright?
He wanted to make it back to his four kids and wife
He managed to shoot first, killed but saved his life.

The court did not tell the jury about the drug dealer's crime spree.
Reading what he did that night, that doesn't seem fair to me
The guy had just beat up his girlfriend and he was high on a drug.
The car was stolen, the gun illegal, not the type to give a hug.

The letter made another claim: that the D.A. dislikes police
If the letter is correct, this witch-hunt must cease.
Cops don't start a day wishing to kill a man
Life in jail for manslaughter is not part of their plan.

If you get rid of good cops, someone else will fill in
You won't like the new enforcers; results will be grim.
I'm not a blind believer, we should follow every clue
But it's easy to make judgements when the gun doesn't point at you.

Premium Member A Mysterious Disappearance

 

I once had a cat,
she was so beautiful, sweet, and loving.
Mysteriously,
she just vanished one day without a trace.
I searched, called for days,
weeping into my pillow each night since.
I still wait  .. . though I,
found my cat in the garden deathly still.

the heritage

The heritage


This has been cold sunshine 
We opened the window and saw the sun
lightning up our bed
that pretended to be a lover's den
Meanwhile, in a country called for the time being
Norway, I'm told, when a foreigner gets 
a Norwegian  passport, he is registered as
a Norwegian 
It is said that 21% foreign people reside in
Norway, but with that eccentric way to
Look at who is a Norwegian or not there
might as much 40% 
Blood and culture do not matter much anymore
But it will be a sad day when the last Viking
hand in his heritage

Hope

I chased hope like a star fading in the gray,
its light soft as promises and sharp as chains.
I knelt at its altar, trembling,
asking for its touch to heal me,
but it scorched instead.

Hope, you say, is a friend,
but it is a foe in disguise,
demanding, ever demanding—
each promise a contract in invisible ink
that binds tighter the more you give.

I called for its grace in the dark,
but in return, it pointed fingers at my failures,
whispered blame in my ear
like the voice of a false god—
always distant, always just beyond reach.

I reached out and reached again,
but it danced out of grasp,
taunting, its hand an illusion,
its face a blur.
I sought it, bled for it,
and found nothing but an empty sky,
a horizon that only deepened the night.

There is no salvation in this game.
Only the illusion of salvation.
Hope has no face but the one you create—
and when it fails,
you wear its broken mask.

Suffrage

In hiding that women are locked outside of california's democracy we are not the same
Present has no further tense to be meaningful is to be regarded as dis-wanted 
The past tensing of crime upon a woman’s singular right to pass…….
This is a bearing which cannot be prevented from demand of answer
As to why and whom has allowed this to transpire

Concern and Certainty are appointed as law during these transgressions
Certainty does not to exist as fault is currently attempting to be absolved
There is no legal means for this function in the universe
Physics commands the mortal physique and as such we must itemize a budget
From the parameters of physics not to accost the day
Sunlight provides all manners of energy on earth
No hearing is need to destroy the present
Time has lapsed for celebration
The enmity clause is called for in euphemistic disregard of payment 
Payment for services rendered
Tax has been liened farther than constitution can hold
The back pay of motel keys is due forthwith  in thousand oaks california
To private citizens who have endured unendable slander and liable upon there house

Premium Member At times in life

I’ve allowed some obstacle to become a barricade,
and God let me know I wasn’t making the grade.

Straightway, that called for a critique of my belief,
prayer brought God’s solution for lasting relief.

Premium Member Evin Prison

Khaled was a bodybuilding champ in Iran
A photo shows a smiling and very strong man
Then in Evin Prison, at the mercy of nasty folk
His spine fractured, kidneys failed, heart was harmed, leg was broke.

Evin is a bad place, 113 degrees and no A.C.
I'm sure you can think of better places to be
One woman tells us solitary had no toilet or bed
4 months there then 400 days before she learned if she'd be dead.

Israel destroyed the Evin Prison gate
Then Trump called for cease fire, peace could not wait
I guess he didn't want to be dragged into a "forever war"
But for Evin's prisoners, Iran will close that door.

From the "dungeons of oppression" Khaled sent out a cry
He said "freedom of speech and human rights here are a big lie
But most Westerners know that.  It's just "what can we do?"
Until they come for us for their big plans include us too.

Sub Categories

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace