Free speech for me but not for thee
Is the Brave New World
Version of the 1st Amendment
Careful what you wish
It’s what you’ll vote for
And what you’ll get.
(9/17/26)
The eyes are the gateway to the soul
But hers was a hell I never expected
A tragedy so deep, I couldn't help but fall
A cut so deep, I couldn't pull the knife
A love story so tragic, it became bestseller
But I still couldn't stay away
I got so entranced that her name was synonymous with mine
I couldn't help but stay.
THE STAGE IS MY PAGE
I don’t write poems—
I live them/
Jazz is my heartbeat/
poetry my voice/
truth my purpose/
I don’t sing the words/
I paint them/
in sound, soul/
and hip-spoken stories/
Man, that’s the vibe/
I speak the music/
all day, every day/
words, beats, people, power/
Real voices change the world.
Dreams don’t work/
unless you do/
Speak it/
Live it/
Love it/
Every verse is a movement/
a music poster for the mind/
The mic is my pen/
The stage is my page/
You still cherish
that rag doll from your childhood.
As if you never grew up.
When you change the water in the vase,
lightly stroking the lily stems,
I am moved…
You always bloom when surrounded by flowers.
And when we lie side by side
for eternity, half-immersed in sadness,
it seems to me that life is not to be taken
too seriously.
Who are the tyrants within?
The ones from past experiences, yelling opinionated.
Younger Self.
Sitting at a bar,
Yelling jokes and sitting stagnant.
More naive Self.
Stuck in violence,
Accepting anything as love.
Childless Self.
Hopeful but uneducated,
Incapable of understanding eternal love.
Sabotaging Self.
Feeling like the good is closing,
Grasping onto each joyful moment in fear.
Conditional Self.
Requirements to embrace again,
Forgetting how far they've come.
I've met these TYRANTS...
I've sat along side them in empathy,
Who am I, accepting them again?
It is not where you have been,
or the color of your skin,
that determines your real worth.
God loved you before your birth!
So…be still, listen and know:
what life will to you, now show,
and wherever hence will trod,
He is with you…Go with God.
- by Darrell Simmerman © 2025
Oh patriot, oh patriot!
Indeed, their voices we
admire – anthem of those
selfless who God and country
did aspire! Gave their all.
Oh husband, oh Father
went into fire, returned
not~ from battle’s lethal
muck and mire. God
above, having all thy
supposed power, let us
remember them not just
with prayer and flower,
but by a greater humanity,
blessed rule of Christ's manifest
loving presence ever with us.
Dear Host of heavenly
bower, oh God, our Lord
rescue this earth, teach us
to forgive and treasure, such
gift of life, each soul of Your
Own Sacred Body Measure.
I awake and here I am,
naught but a mere mortal man.
Why came I this weak way,
restrained in fragile skin,
little but stiffened clay,
imprisoned as are all men?
Flesh will away, that soon day,
to the dust where it had been.
Then I will really be Me,
with mind and soul soaring free.
- Darrell Simmerman copyright 2024
America care about your children, your family, your land, your environment and send the others to the place that makes them happy.
America has cared for many, has lost many, continues to care for many, yet has failed to take care of its own.
America is like a business, like a clan, like a passed-down vine that has grown and learned, and continues to grow with each new season.
America care for your children, your family, your land your environment and send the others to the place that makes them happy.
America care for your freedom, freedom to grow, freedom to learn, freedom to be free and many more ways that make us proud to be American.
End the genocide of America and care about your American family, send the others that hate America to the place that makes them happy.
God gave us freedom, God is freedom and love and many other positive things that we love.
Lifting prayers to God, today and always.
I have to admit
at times I am intellectually
lazy – settling for the thoughts
and leadership of others. Being
wrong is a heavy responsibility
when it comes to life and death.
When it comes to failure or success.
The chef knows the heartache of
a bad flavor. The captain, a sunk
ship. The father, no roof over his
family’s head. What must God think?
With infinite wells provided, and so few,
having the blessed opportunity, willing to
draw for themselves.
-----------------------------------------------------
"Youth is too often wasted on the young"
as Freedom on the Free!
I am a proud American,
Nothing more, nothing less,
No tags to wear,
No labels to confess.
I am not blind to history,
Nor unaware of our mistakes.
Like nations older than our own,
We've known the risks that failure makes.
Yet through the trials of our past,
We learned, endured, and found a way.
To rise above our broken roads
And build a stronger path each day.
History is not a chain to drag,
Nor a script we must obey.
It is a compass in our hands,
To guide us forward on our way.
I know what this country means to me,
A truth no one can redefine.
Not by titles, not by degrees,
Nor by a different view than mine.
So let me stand where I believe,
Without demands that I conform.
Leave me be, and walk in peace,
No anger, only calm and warmth.
For I am a proud American,
Nothing more, nothing less;
A citizen of hope and freedom,
Without a need for anything else.
I’m just an American, and proud to be!
By James C. Chapman
Where is room for sublime
in Trump-Modi era
if we talk about
grief, trauma, social justice
liberation, health, job
happiness in a culture
of divide and rule through
rightward extremism?
comics of history
in lanes and bylanes
search lingams for new world
threat murals of mutiny
recreating new forms
unearthly light and space
in old tales sacred for
visions of heritage
I don’t share their tangerine
nor stream in their landscape
even if I’m consumed
in blankness of fire or flood
There are two Americas today
One that puts its faith in the system
The other that puts it in the people
The first is the Left
The second is the Right
And this is the way it has always been
One side relying on the power of the State
To impose its will on the individual
The other side relying on the individual
To build, protect, support and celebrate this nation
The irony of course is the system
Relies on, and feeds off of these very individuals
One side wants to tear this nation down
To rebuild it in a vision of hope and change
The other wants to build on its traditional foundation
To simply make it great again
And make it even better
The Left and Right are not two wings
Of a single birds
Not two sides of one coin
They are instead two fundamentally different
Visions of what is right and wrong
What is the light and the dark
America, we are at a crossroad
What will it be, fun and freedom
Or anxiety, depression and terror of tyranny
(9/9/26)
they were as always
those sycophantic spirits
are you awakened ?
(Weekly Magnetic Poetry Challenge • September 7–13, 2026)
There are strokes that come from various
sources
These strokes can be words that turns to
strikes
There are words that hit harder the first of a
pugilist
And there are words that calm the nerves like
a balm
We are all wordsmiths mastering our trade with
strokes
Some of the words uttered carelessly have caused
wars
While some carefully grafted words has ceased
strife
History has an array of predilection of such
issues.
We carefully and judiciously use the resources
of the word we have.
(Written on the 8th of September, 2026)
Freedom Categories
Definition | What is Freedom in Poetry?
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.
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ability, autonomy, black african american, citizenship, democracy, emancipation, exemption, flexibility, immunity, liberation, opportunity, power, privilege, release, relief, right, self determination, self government, slavery, sovereignty