This world is not a prison
Not a punishment sentence
To a population of slaves
It may seem compulsory
Or somehow coercive
But you can always say no
And get on with the play
Then the world opens up
As the Universe yields
And everyone dances
In the fields of the Lord
It’s not required you know
To live life to the fullest
You can always just hide
Or throw it away
Or simply engage
As it yields in expansion
Beyond any need to control
As it takes you away
Life after all
Has invited us now
To join in the dance
In a voluntary way
(8/21/26)
TODAY’S POLITICAL ATROCITIES
Coercive control,
Has become today’s new norm:
Liberties reduced:-
Democracy changed.
It is now only for the rich:
The poor must accept:-
Capitalism,
Is now in charge and controls
The country’s oppressed:-
How atrocious!
Pointificating greatness,
By going backwards:-
in the group of dewdrops which crystallize loose boundedness
whose coercive force is unmatched among standoffish streets
we maintain the latent misgivings about our absence
Before the first moonlight spilled down upon us like winged doves from the sky
we were fettered together like lovers were,
In passion not yet transmuted into devotion to one another.
Above us rose a virgin sky void of stars
of constellations that would map out our cosmic future.
You, son of Adonis in my wide eyes, me, an idol of Inanna,
Convincing the future to never let this die,
Not knowing as of yet that Amphitrite and Poseidon’s coercive alliance
would coax us down the coast where we would seek refuge
in the surf and away from the trappings of winter’s swirling snows
and snarling winds.
Many years into a union of rings of gold and diamonds,
tumultuous at times but mostly heaven falling with her
heaviness upon us.
We fight side by side for a peace that seems so easily bestowed
upon others
And yet, like the ashes of Kilauea we rise without choking
At night we listen for the songs of our children
Born and unborn
reminding us we are wrapped in the protection of cashmere Carolina twilight.
Some lie to the undecided
Disguise what they believe
Utopia is ahead, so it's easy to deceive
Some lie to themselves
To avoid facing glaring flaws
And the contradictions of their cause
Some lie to the faithful,
To make them hate more,
They stir up the fire, then walk out the door
Some lie to the lost ones,
With a hand on their back,
The more cannon fodder for the attack.
Some lie because they think
the truth could make you ignite
Do you want condescension or to know what is right?
It's a jungle out there
Between what's false and what's true
If it feels wrong, pursue every clue.
If it feels right, still truth pursue.
No more
Cowering behind the door, my son and I
Praying the brutal fury would subside.
In his little face, desperate not to cry,
I saw the truth and could no longer hide
The man I married had turned out to be
A man possessed by temper, uncontrolled
His coercive ways, though aimed at me
Had exposed my boy to terrors untold
When his feelings rose in a jealous rage
His violence came blistering to the fore
He’d smash and shatter in violent rampage
I knew I must stand up and say…
no more
So I packed up all our things that day
We had to leave,I was no longer blind
Now we feel safe, we’re many miles away
And all of the fear is left far behind
How can you look into the eyes of a child,
and find their fears arousing,
How can you raise your hand to a woman,
and call your self a man,
how can you control someone’s behaviour,
by being be so coercive and
How can you bully someone for a difference in their appearance,
how can you exploit the vulnerable and the needs of the elderly
and how can there be any excuse,
to inflict upon someone such harrowing abuse
I’ve carried those scars through every year,
The weight of a love that became my fear.
The one who should have been my guide
Was the very reason a part of me died.
No prayer, no plea, can make this right,
The truth still burns in the dead of night.
You chose to harm, you chose this path —
And I am still the proof of your aftermath.
Silenced voices, feared by those in power.
Utopia sought, only dystopia flowers.
Protect all speech, diverse and free.
Perception leads to a society that is truly.
Redeemed expression, a beacon bright.
Escorting us through the darkest nights.
Silenced speech, we've lost our way.
Shaping the fascists we sought to slay.
There is a mending of the elements in an awakening process which removes a curtain of darkness.
Now is the time to recognize the power of the slumbering giant within and eliminate any starkness.
As we are living, breathing sentient entities, as is mother earth from which these bodies have risen.
Earth has been afflicted with obsessive control, malice, coercive greed, envy, false ego, and man-made viruses resulting in an invisible prison.
The earth and all the fullness thereof have emanated from one place, one source.
As a drop of water from the endless fathoms of boundless oceans, we all have the same properties as this limitless benevolent force.
This place, this creation, this hologram, or matrix is a school in which to learn and grow, to remember our God-given heritage, and aspire to elevate.
No need to listen to lies and gas lighters, nor linger with na Sayers, for the truth is in you, and that in itself, makes you truly and ultimately great.
Non-Coercive World
'Liberty', your name on every tongue.
Your lips carry the Call of all-along...
From deep within our breast,
Wherein our thoughts do rest...
And percolate in solitude,
Above the teaming multitude...
Exhorting us to become ourselves;
To go deep within- shun the shop shelves...
So that our Being is of our own choice,
So it reverberates in a distinct and clear voice...
So our actions, under our own sure command,
Remain clear of consciences austere reprimand...
'Liberty', let your name not merely be on our tongue,
Or the flag behind the barrels of a thousand guns...
Or the poppies over the fields of Afghanistan,
Or the whalers around the seas of Japan...
Nay: but let each man become his own child,
In a non-coercive world, of mad mercy mild...
Hey all you temporary oscillators
born to the impetuous posture
you gun jumping rattle shakers
wavering your body English
in a gesture of kinetic ardor
for the passage of time as leverage
against the recognition that what gratifies
and profits and returns a bit of leeway
against the fiats of civic disapproval
is but a starting point a utility
that can no longer avail the authorities
and their hold over luck and venture
yes your countenance is sanctioned
by the blaspheming throne of numbers
and faces no injunction or coercive measure
for the infinite stubby sadisms
that fill the cosmic belly
with degradation and humiliation
a digestive system congenitally supplemented
with self adulation stretched thin
to the point of fragmenting
that jangling tatty chandelier you call a mind
into a hill of lizards
you can't see the horizon from
shiver and blanch to the bulletin that
the lingering scraps of your empire
have been licensed for repossession
LAW IS A COMIC RELIEF
Law is a comic relief
Subtlety amidst ardent belief.
Draconian legislation
That still wriggles out an exception.
Pitiless killer
Yet cleverest healer.
Law is a comic relief
Deus ex machina to its own mischief.
Creator of extreme offences
That yet allows supreme defences.
Coercive jailer for life
That still gives freedom for a good strife.
If...
Insanity may be antidote for committing homicide
And intoxication could be a nostrum for patricide
And provocation may be a corrective for matricide
And necessity is a curative for avunculicide
And self-defence is a rectifier for uxoricide
And automatism is a shield for regicide
And necessity is a panacea for sororicide
And fair comment is a cure for famacide
Then Law is just nothing but a comic relief.
--Bolaji Ramos, Esq.
Copyright 2017
She meekly chased after
nonexistent moonbeams
in rose fashioned pipe
dreamt illusions,
as visual stimuli to
rock her existence
of inky stark impressions,
inciting some exertion
in her bland universe,
she was ever so ordinarily dull
even her reflection in the
deepest sapphire seas,
appeared drab as dishwater,
she lived in a world of her
own fabricated deceptions.
yet, she wondered why every
coercive consequence was an
analogy hued of washed-out gray
releasing shady gasps of Pandora's box
Sun was setting over the cacti and critiques.
A cryptogram said, dignity first without
any damage to faithful aloneness. Protection
was not sacrifice, you have to plummet from a cliff.
A plaque has no mortality. The pressing of
lips places pain ahead of hope. The smiles
have a coercive expedience. I become voiceless
in a delirium of hooves.Sex green death opens
a door. Fear of feathers surprises, would
not measure the sky. Bound by winds the giant
trees search for the soil. Any grass can send
the butterflies. The bald piston throws the
blood on the spikes. Spiders are unwinding
by kisses. Beds are empty.
SATISH VERMA
you took away
my right to scream
and now i sit an await
my impending doom
you followed me around today
play acting out your words so carefully
I wonder how it feels for you
to act so mentally insane
is this, ok with you?
do i blame it on your bewitching eye color
do i blame it on your dubious blood line
do i blame it on your funny rich man's dirty money
I really could not say
was i hurt by, your actions
HELL, Yes!
but i still remained the same
I did not say one word
or act out in pain
and silence give me no comfort
for you would just have
won at your only game!
no black woman
should have to bare
a lack of justice
this just does not seem fare
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.