In a looking glass world
Everything looks about right
But is in fact backwards.
Now tolerant modern liberal societies
Are taken over by backward tribalists
Who call for the death of their hosts
While those few places
That still preserve their borders
Are called xenophobic and racist
As their populations simply live in peace.
Increasingly men think they can be women
And women men.
There are even some socalled conservatives
Who think they are conservative,
And best of all are the many liberals
Who actually think they are liberal!
The delusion runs deep
In a looking glass world
Everything appearing real and true
While it is only a mirror image.
(8/29/26)
Shh... you take your abuse and keep quiet.
You're convinced nobody wants to hear about it,
that nobody will believe you or take your side ~
You're an enabler that keeps the cycle going
and you're delusional if you think things will get better.
What will it take to give you the strength to break free?
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
In the distance she hears the thundering sound of
hoofbeats
coming nearer, nearer, so much nearer.
She strains her eyes peering into the misty
darkness,
looking for the zebras she knows are out there.
The sound of the hoofbeats is getting
louder—
she steps back hoping they won’t see her.
Moving forms burst from the darkness,
horses
racing past her, quickly disappearing.
She turns and faces the darkness, listening for the
hoofbeats
of the zebras. She waits, and waits, and waits…
I stumble towards the sunrise
dragging ghosts that flow through my fingers
clenched fists not enough to maintain a grip,
yet they keep their grip on me.
Staring blankly at the living.
A thousand eyes speak curses
I was never meant to hear.
Where am I to drink,
to quench this thirst
and dwell amongst them?
I divide and merge
with the hands of a broken clock
each thought ticking, creeping
towards time’s end.
As the shadows surround me
I withdraw into myself
there, beneath the overgrowth,
I hear my spirit speak:
Where am I to turn
when nothing makes sense?
I linger along the river,
chasing hope around the bend.
The wind speaks in whispers.
The night crucifies.
Sister moon, forgive me
hold me close in your holy hands.
Keep me from the echo
of all I can’t withstand.
Father, could you save me?
Is this all that I could be?
Through the gaps of dying trees
I hear my mother scream for me
and I wake.
The childhood oak outside my window
sways in the morning wind.
Light pierces through the branches.
Mist glistens like constellations.
And yet
I cannot tell
if I have found my way home
or only dreamed it so.
The news provide harsh lessons.
I was so naive about politics & politicians.
It's not about creating a better world.
Where did I ever get that idea?
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
He needed a rude awakening
A sudden splash of ice cold water
to come to his senses
He got it and more
More like a lightning jolt
Handed to him on a silver platter
He didn’t see it coming
He took life for granted
Quite happy living in delusion
He thought he was immune
Assumed time would always be his ally
Shocked when things fell apart
Blind with obsession he led his life
Living in the bubble within his head
Blissfully oblivious to the reality around him
And now washed away by the tide …
Dreams being nothing more than cheap fantasies
House of cards come abruptly tumbling down
Daring destiny isn’t a clever life strategy
Hardly believable he didn’t see this coming
The future now looks bleak
AP: 1st place 2026
You can look back now
being much older
for they had pulled your number
in the lottery
you had won the grand prize
an all expense paid trip
to neverland
courtesy of Uncle Sam
hand me down helmet on head
slightly used peace in hand
in turn....
you marched
others had before you
falling prey to an unforeseen enemy
some....a surface wound....
the others are all dead
shall we hold a funeral
where no one will come
and everyone will cry ?
some surrendered to hallucinations grasp
pseudo-reality for sanity's sake
the sane could have only dreamed reality
but you had won, you had found the answer
you crossed over....the brook beneath you
babbling under the pretense of happiness
crimson from end to end
to no-end
not all among us walk the talk
preferring instead to debate
both for and against the motion
ego continuing to stalk
sealing vulnerable soul’s fate
doomed to drown in earth life’s ocean
He messed up and created his crisis,
he should have foreseen the outcome.
In his delusion he did not think through
that no one would be around to save him.
AP: 2nd place 2026
Procrastination is an ugly sin
It may feel good in the moment
You might think nobody will ever know
You may even have the best intentions
But eventually it catches up with you
then you have to pay the price
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
"He is different" --
She said after their first date,
Her clown makeup on.
Lipstick red on a pig
Batting her long lashes works her charm
Last call at the OK corral
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 2nd place 2025
This is the modern age
And Life is so passé
That death is what is left, clearly Left,
And so needing to be celebrated
In every child killed, foe assassinated
And human made infertile
In the depths of their confusion and delusion.
What is there that death can hope to conquer?
Not happiness, because even the deadly
Are often happy - celebrating death,
But joy, which is a fulfillment
In something that transcends death,
And the simplest word for that is
Life.
(10/6/25)
It’s easy to be happy in La La Land
As time goes by in warped perspective
Billy Bass singing “Don’t worry be happy”
And meerkats and warthogs gleefully
Reminding us to “Hakuna Matata…”.
In fact it’s everywhere you look
When you’ve turned inward.
While the real world outside swirls
In veritable chaos,
Everyone can understand the need for a little break,
But as the world turns
It’s clearly the place to be
If you want to be alive.
After all, Life is often under appreciated
While happiness is usually overrated.
But happiness is the result of a life well lived
Not its cause, and when we forget that
We end up chasing our tail round and round
Like those tigers Little Black Sambo
Brought home to his mother in a cup of ghee.
(10/4/25)
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.