false eyelash frog thought she was marvelously pretty.
She was boring, dull, insipidly predictable, not any way witty.
She put on false eyelashes and wore them all over the pond.
Everyone made fun of her, including the algae and frond.
a shiver in the night
beckons at the moon
yet never an answer in the wind
slowly most insipidly
a silence takes over from within
reaches deep leaving its touch of bitterness
while drop by drop a poisoned dart
tears scratching at the skin
till there it is gone
the smile the joy the warmth
that's just a memory
AP: Honorable Mention 2024
The Poet's Condition
by Michael R. Burch
(for my mother, Christine Ena Burch)
The poet's condition
(bother tradition)
is whining contrition.
Supposedly sage,
his editor knows
his brain's in his toes
though he would suppose
to soon be the rage.
His readers are sure
his work's premature
or merely manure,
insipidly trite.
His mother alone
will answer the phone
(perhaps with a moan)
to hear him recite.
Alternate Title: "Poetry Slam: The Hangup"
Keywords/Tags: poet, poets, poems, poetry, poetic expression, rhyme, editor, publisher, mother, readers, recite, recitation, reciting, performance, writing, reading, rap, slam, phone, telephone
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.