Functioning Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Premium Member The Windmill

Standing proud on the top of a hill
Is a three legged stone windmill.
A unique structure in plain view
For locals and tourists to admire too.
No longer functioning but looking smart,
This land feature is a work of art
Weathering elements, strong in its place
Welcoming each day with poise and grace.

Premium Member BROKEN-

BROKEN
Damaged shattered
No longer functioning
Reduced to pieces scattered
Unable to function
Cracked, fractured
Busted


9/3/26
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2026©

Premium Member EXCAVATION

            Digging mind, started an excavation.
           Continued scooping to find sublime soul.
           Deep thought roaming in my introspection.
           How soul is functioning? Does it control?

           Digging mind started an excavation
          Mind yearns for, brain to 
          How soul operates, I cannot surmise.
         Sinking deep in mind on contemplation.

        Digging mind started an excavation.
         I need solid proof not an assumption.
         What’s the status of soul? Does it 
         to know: After demise does soul escape?       
              
          Digging mind started an excavation.    
         Whether soul exhibits identity?
         Getting no solution, but confusion.
        No concrete answer for its entity.
        
       Digging mind started an excavation.
        Where can I flee ! Emptiness embowered.
        Last phase enjoying prolonged vacation.
        Nothing left : Despondence overpowered.


Premium Member Breath He Give

What is it be human, complexity structure breath 
Are we just dust of earth, breath without a soul 
Molecular atoms functioning one thing keeps alive 
Heart of being, emotional rollercoaster we breathe 
What purpose to breath he give we walk 
With reason right or wrong determines destiny 
Good or bad shatters influence to great creation 
Beauty bestowed upon with grace to mortality 
To live pleasures of world outside of the spirit 

Ghost without feeling dead inside depths darkness 
Smile brings joy even through tears falling wet 
But do we live heart or world inside it exist 
Is our love more ourselves before others we place 
Only together we survive achieved success in strength 

What are we if not ourselves single functional organism 
Breath He Give, out of love gave his only Son 
Not perish, live life forever amongst hearts of mankind 
He seen greater opportunity, breath he give; 
just for you experience 
Love in beauty and shared bond in heavens of peace 
Breath he give, could be last; make everyday count 
Like soul that breath's, even if just air we live

Premium Member If someone had told me

If someone had told me 
that I would struggle to just be
would I have done something
differently or bring
something different to the table
or would I be able
to make the world better
or be a trend setter?
Very doubtful, but worth asking
because I am basking
in today's pain
and would like to keep the stain
of that pain
from being forever held
in my body and meld
my future to hold more joy
but it won't hold my boy
so I'm just spinning,
but I'm functioning, so I'm winning
and leaning on God
who is my sustaining rod
of strength when mine fails
and I just need to rail

Rules Are Rules!

They make our social life organized.
I respect rules. I dislike fake proudness
Treat everyone fairly.
consistently one should put these rules into practice.
That lead us and guide us safely through life in organized ways.
Rules are an integral part of our social and economic life and Behavior.
As well, main part of the functioning of society.
However, savages don't want order and tidiness.
A savage is like a balloon,
appearing huge to people.
But, in reality, he's almost nothing positive.
Full and shiny on the outside, empty and ugly on the inside.
He has no noble purpose. Nor true real faith.
Arrogant and conceited!
The most despicable of people are those who despise others.
Rule above all.
I love rules!
God created us equal.
Yet, some people are abusers and racists
exploit others and treat them badly.
They are hypocrites, flattering the powerful and the rich.
They are selfish and exploitative of the weak, the poor, and the needy.
----
I do respect rules
I dislike the savages
rules are rules that's all.
---
27 May 2026.


The Saturday Crossword

I finished a Saturday crossword,*
The hardest one offered each week.
It took me a while
But earned me a smile 
And the constant reminder I seek

That my brain cells, although I am aging,
Are still functioning well enough to
Fill in all of the squares
That some person prepares
So we solvers can track down each clue.

It’s a sense of accomplishment, truly;
Other puzzlers know just what I mean.
Though we do it alone,
We are, each of us, prone
To a chance to internally preen.

*last Saturday’s New York Times puzzle,
solved today

Premium Member Gamesmanship

It's sobering as Don gets madder and madder
While functioning under duress
That while we created "Shoots And Ladders"
The Persians created Chess

*Persia renamed Iran in 1939

Premium Member Blessed And Grateful


It has been three score and 16 years.
Those life experiences have been mixed.
Through them all, God's Grace was there,
Always reminding me of His loving care.
I am blessed, and I am grateful.

My EYES are great with my friend, 'Glasses'.
My EARS are functioning very soundly.
My TASTE buds are delightful, and
I love TOUCHING and being touched.
I am blessed, and I am grateful.

Never do I take for granted the sweet SMELLING
Fragrance of clean country air befriending
My nostrils as I inhale and exhale. 'Little
Pain has been the story of my life.
I am blessed, and I am grateful.

Death

Death

There is a kind of death that does not stop the heart but slowly teaches it how to disappear. I lived inside that quiet ending while still waking up, still loving, and still calling survival a life. Pieces of me were buried without funerals, and no one noticed because I kept functioning.I learned how to grieve myself while still breathing. I learned how to stay where I was dying because leaving felt like another loss. That is the cruelest part of this kind of death, it convinces you that emptiness is safer than change.The day I chose myself, something in me had to die. The version of me that accepted harm as love did not survive that decision. I am not ashamed of that death. It did not take me. It released me.I am alive now because I allowed what was killing me to end.

Warm Whispering Wind - Breath

                      Time-
                      Rhyme, 
                   Bells chime, 
                  Echoes mime... 
            How musics sublime;
Its functioning... through one's lifetime 

                     Birth
                    Worth;
                  Nice mirth, 
               While on earth. 
          God in every breath, 
Holds back blueprint of distant death. 

                        Fight 
                        Right, 
                     Off plight, 
               To stage delight... 
         Of bleak dreaming height
  And make prospect's fire reignite. 

                        Norm 
                       Storm
                    Platform, 
                  Age reform;
         What age needs conform, 
    That aging discovery transform. 

                        Take 
                       Stake 
                      Mistake, 
                   Lot forsake, 
             To silent headache,
  For blessings to staying awake...

Premium Member Alone Nevertheless Isn't Being Lonely

Alone Nevertheless Isn't Being Lonely

There are variations of existing alone
And loneliness. 

Finding security in Solitude, Retreat,  Silence,
Peace and Quiet. 

Functioning in Solitude with oneself is
Maturation. 

Introspection  recharging one's Soul.

Alone Nevertheless not Lonely.

Premium Member Undefined Enigma

Surreal awareness
the house an inch shell
of a functioning life.
The rooms
holding closets of
untold depth surrounded
by a moat chained locked
and a sign on the door 
"forbidden territory 
do not enter 
all who dare will be
altered on sight"
surreal awareness
enigma of no definition.

Premium Member At the Casino

     lizardly he slithers in
         nursing his sloe glass of gin

     lightning flashing from his eyes
         functioning to disguise

     who and what he really is
         rolling pairs of snake-eyes

     in the air a venomous hissing
         is there something I am missing

Premium Member Grief Notes

How grief feels is so hard to explain
and each person experiences it differently
For me, my violin holds no solace these days
there are many days that I could play and let
the music envelope me in comfort,
but not this journey

I am having trouble reading  
Being an avid reader,
this is very hard for me
I can get through a page or two and get distracted
and never get my concentration back

I am grateful I can listen, though and have
found comfort in audio books and music
Even the reading required by my work is 
extra hard and takes so much more effort
my attention span feels like it is a fraction of normal

I am functioning pretty well, but grief hits at odd
times and sometimes takes me under 
I know that the grief is a product of the love that I have
for my son, who is now safe and healed, but not 
present in my life anymore and there is a huge void

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