Don't attempt to cram existence
Into the confining cell you've hidden
Your light in imprisoning your
Freest thoughts in a bottle
Opaque and silent
Doubtful and yet
Unquestioning.
Christopher M. Swan 2008
Some days I feel like a miserable prisoner
confined and trapped though I'm not bound.
It seems there's a whole world out there
waiting to be discovered and explored.
It feels like there's so much more
and it's sadly out of reach.
Strange how I see it in my dreams ~
AP: 3rd place 2025
Prisoner of the
cursed phrase
shackled by the terms
Sentenced with each damning
breath
— inmate of what’s heard
(Dreamsleep: June, 2024)
I seek escape from this side of the fence where
Grassy thorns beneath my feet pierce my sole.
Scrambling, ambling, trekking to the freedom
Awaiting on the other side.
I search for pockets in my ascent
Digging trembling fingers inside
its moulded, muddy enclosures, securing each grip
Then clawing my way up until
I grope my way over.
Lest I should fall as my nimble and bruised tendons
fail me and my blood-thorned feet derail me
Let me land with a thud o’er the other side of the fence
Rather than fall on the familiar turf where my body is forever spent
And my mind, broken and bent.
The rainy season arrives
Today we have a gloomy and surly weather
It makes me feel heavy and depressed
Spaced out
Fed up
Finally retreat to a confinement
To avoid being wet out
The bustle and hustle of the outside
Being blocked out
An inner self is left
I feel somewhat alone and lost
Am l really alone
Of course not
I then think of my loved ones
I then think of God
Who is ever ready to attend to us
i come undone
the glue doesn't stick
the takers win
they are too slick
i just want peace
not too much to ask
they don't release
it's too much of a task
i seek a breeze
the sun won't budge
no hint of ease
no need for a nudge
i just go back in
return to the normal
the walls remain thin
no need to be formal
i bang my head
i swallow my pride
until i'm dead
now i can hide
Because of the end of January’s snowy days,
While roads are still covered with an icy glaze,
It’s a bit easier to handle this quarantine
The most frustrating thing I have ever seen,
Hopefully this spring will end the COVID craze.
written January 26, 2022
Four valved compartments
Quadruply lock you up from the devils
Push you nearer to God
With no bargains for confinements and short - cuts
No bargains for freedom but the rules
No bargains for dignity but the truths
No bargains for sentiments but only logics
Just for a normal blood circulation
And a positive way of life
To shower or not to shower
That is the question
That assaults me
Every time I scratch my head
Wondering
How doing nothing
Is making me sweat.
Well, I do some things
Like look out the window
And make sure the street is still there.
I love trash pick-up day
Like a little kid excited
To see the big trucks.
I check the mail frequently
The bills are even exciting now.
I do time on a stationary bicycle
Which somehow seems metaphorically
Mind boggling
Yet could be related to
My under arm conundrum.
OH, I sneak out and pet the neighbors cat
And in a fit of corona induced insanity
I trimmed my neighbors hedges.
Oh well, just another day in hell
Without the flames.....
John G. Lawless
8/13/2020
The frogs have laid their spawn.
Those little jelly blobs looking very good to eat,
like caviar or canape, extravagant, a treat.
They lie close by the waterfall damped by its spits and spots,
those hundred little jelly blobs, those black eye'd jelly dots.
The frogs had gone for years until the pond was built again.
Now with filtered flowing waters mixing oxygen to rain ,
and weedy bits and pieces helping fish to hide from cats,
and lillies in their basket with their shady floating caps.
I sit here on this sunny day and listen to the tune
that water's babble plays to cool a heated afternoon.
Will those tadpole birthing blobs inside their dome cocoons
coincide our breaking out from home's confining rooms?
Please may that be, oh may that be, and may that be quite soon.
The decree has disturbed my
desire to isolate myself in my cocoon. Loneliness
is now public policy, its armor pressed
with tenderness of genuine sadness.
Let my soul take command
without your rude intrusion,
lining up my door with
involuntary flowers, compromising
my ability to rejoice my seclusion.
Tangled reason and law
are for sale, of course
if I had a kid
even a cat or a dog, I
would venture pity on them
and obey my new unfreedom,
but my mind is made up in
favor of the wise men who
spell deity correctly and
are unobstructed by passion
for safety over nerves of
Liberty. The sumptuous
petri fish of restrictions is
never served under their
olive trees, for they know
only too well this virus
is not crowned by God,
only by men, who have
special eyes for misery.
*Feelings in Confinement*
These days, time is moving a little slower,
Days are like years and minutes like hours,
What is encouraging is the feelings of ours.
Wish you were here,
Time would have moved as fast without gear.
Those fragrance, whispering and mesmerizing scent,
Keeps me awake and alive like an earned cent.
You are the soul and the silence,
You are the truth and the self-esteem,
You are the patience and vivacious,
You are ubiquitous and flamboyant,
You are the future and clairvoyant.
These are the feelings of attachment even being detached.
Though we be confined
yet will our love’s true music
still sing out in joy.
FriendS of poetry soup, I will be gone for a while ...
I'll be back as soon as possible!
ALKAS POETRY
confinement in my home
a prison with mental bars
my mind wants to escape
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.