Framed blemish.
Heavy as a tumor.
Solid as surrender.
Dig into epidermis.
Uproot the moment.
Unclean kernel.
Hard, cold reflection.
Show me pretty.
Clogged pores.
Yellow teeth.
Rheumy eyes.
Ugly is as ugly does.
Smile at the mirror.
Try to forget.
This is you.
Forever unlovely.
Look at what you did.
Children are so cruel.
Rose scented perfume.
Disguise the stench.
Excrete from every orifice.
Sweat soaked lace.
Urine stained ribbons.
Paint and purify the meat.
Shave the head.
Smear on foundation.
Sever the lips.
Dust with powder.
Extract the teeth.
Cauterize with lipstick.
Amputate the feet.
Brush on eye shadow.
Saw through hip joints.
Smudge on blush.
Open up the abdomen.
Suture with mascara.
Remade.
Smiling through distortion.
Deny the trauma.
Repair the shell.
Convincingly Beautiful.
Improbably clean.
We went to climb trees
in the jungle gyms of green apple orchards,
bare legs dangled
toes dipped into shady pools of sky.
Secret girlfriends climbed barefooted
onto impossibly roomy branches,
their skirts improbably short,
in the swinging bowers.
Memory plays its tricks
perhaps it was in a golden cornfield
that the apples turned red and tempting
our differences
revealed in circles of sunlight.
That summer spread itself
like buttery new mown hay,
and deep within it we happened
together,
never guessing
that a chained and confused adolescence
was about to steal us away
forever.
Streams: It's so improbably wonderful that
the trickle of a lazy stream can eventually
join the chorus of a powerful ocean.
ocean's lions roar
above mighty sea birds soar
streams trickle on in
August 03, 2020
Traditional Haiku - Nature Themed Contest
Sponsor: Tania Kitchin
There have been moments in my life enjoyed
more for the forest than the fallen leaves.
White drops of ink that improbably bleed
right off their journal to rupture the void
no one had known existed ‘til destroyed
by the birth of a daughter her father needs
in such a way that such a need exceeds
all fathomable measurements employed.
The type of moment that tames tedium
and makes it bearable: a mismatched sock
in hand to the sock on foot - every time
worth a grin when the laundry stacks up grim;
the type I once stood on admiring my flock
‘til grey wolves in weeds taught my daughters rhyme.
I hate me
More than any of you could
Still i am
The man who stood
Gravity couldn't pull me down
Looking through space
From the outside in
Taking each pain with a widening grin
Improbably Probable
normally curious
but curiously abnormal
Sliding down elongated giraffes necks
with glee stolen from innocence
Outwith so small to the vastness within
Take your best shot
I say with a grin
As my tears trickle down
i watch through them to see you all drown
Give up world
Take your own advice
The seconds between my first and last beat
Gods crushed between my fist
The amoebae grows a backbone
Your pains have found a home
Take this warning
as your staple food
Still i am
the man that stood
Strip me of time
and flog me with life
Rip me with lyrics
and blind me with sight
Push me down
with all that you might
Cause from this spot
i will stand
simply
because
i
can
Suspended improbably on shoulders
Hunched by years of glacial attrition
And threaded through a forest of boulders:
The path that holds the key to my mission
I speak allegorically, because
This tortured path has ne’er been seen before
And every rock is a problem that was
And every chasm is an open sore
Each footstep will demand its pound of pain
The raven keeps score of the promises
But I will endure until I unchain
The bright drops from the dark cloud’s surfaces
And refract the light from the Sun, to send
To the Heart of Gold at the Rainbow’s end ~
A vertical sliver pries into the doorway, a beam from the watchful eye in the hall
While amber stars in cages, captives in lampposts, shout prophecies beneath the moon
Obscured by trees
Their cries filter into the window
And uniform basketball players with fake simulated faces run improbably about my TV
Defying the nighttime but not their fate, programmed by someone not so different from me
Ones and zeroes
Light and darkness
Somewhere sleeps the faithful Christian homeless man with fatigues and a fatigued face
Obscured by shelter
If I do not see him, I pray someone else will
If I cannot give to him, I pray someone else can
His chipped Styrofoam cup no longer empty of dollar bills
Ones and zeroes
Light in the darkness
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.