Carnival lights swim in circles like snakes guarding a secret,
machinery fog hovers question marks over heads of teen lovers.
Scents take me back to you. Pink sugar. Screams echo a thrill.
Lips touch and throats constrict inside tunnels of first love shadows,
merry-go-round parents cross fingers in hopes that the spinning
night air will tire a child. An omnipotent loudspeaker calls a win.
I sit alone in the silence of the night.
With the light shining through.
Just for you.
The light stares at you.
If only you were here.
If only you hadn’t gone too soon.
Perhaps the silence of the night wouldn’t be so heavy for me.
Black cinder carpet
Laid across fiery coalfields
Skirting infernos
My wife gently asked today,
My daughter smiled beside her,
My heart quietly found words,
Love filled both gentle eyes,
Truth deserved tender expression always.
You are my life's companion,
She is our living blessing,
You built warmth within home,
She filled days with laughter,
Without both I am incomplete.
One heart holds two rhythms,
One sky carries two stars,
One lamp shines two flames,
One melody sings two voices,
Both illuminate my entire soul.
You are my enduring strength,
She is my brightest tomorrow,
One nurtured every dream,
One renewed every hope,
Both complete my existence forever.
Love cannot be measured equally,
Hearts never divide affection,
You both are life's blessings,
Two names within every heartbeat,
My whole world lives together.
Darkness
Prevails as lights
go off, on a cold night
But for the ghostly gleaming glare -
Black cat
Copyright © 2026 by Crystal David John
Forest and Dove
Artist: Max Ernst
Turn on the Lights
White of his eye, orange nose, black bird.
Blue sky flying high above the dark forest.
Scenery is haunting; like the kid’s movie “Coraline.”
Disturbing, the feeling of being lost in the forest.
Nightmare of trees depicted as serrated teeth.
(Hansel and Gretel in a cage) dove’s bars behind him.
Is he free, can he flee; will the bars surround him?
The woods, towering like skyscrapers, tight
in the frame; childhood claustrophobia, intense.
The full-bodied bird appears to be caught
“in the headlights,” like a deer taken aback.
Tenebrous green and rust brown, skeleton stature;
shadowy beasts bullying, stalking, terrorizing.
I can’t turn away. My eyes take in the scenery.
No matter how small the canvas, the ink
seeps into my brain, driving me mad in the night.
Surreality; reality of the young and very old.
Street lights in the clouds
Beneath my feet is heaven
Kiss me Africa
A summer sky stretched wide and still,
Light moving softly, wild and free,
Clouds like thoughts that drift at will,
The day laid out in silver shroud,
Vision is a truth that makes us proud .
Summer light drifts in silver vision.
From Engaging All the Senses written by poet 24th June, 2026
I went into the movie theater with Joe
The plot drew me in, I went with the flow
The hero had flaws, the heroine was odd
Suddenly I leapt up and shouted "Oh God"
The emotional blowtorch had let out a blast
A reminder of my sickening past.
Joe led me outside to the cool evening air
He asked, "what possessed you to disrupt in there?"
My reaction died down, the alarm turned off
I looked around, gave an embarrassed cough.
Joe said "There's a psychiatrist down the road"
I replied, "No doctor can lighten this load."
I said that edges are blunted, when reality is stark.
I live in a watercolor picture rather than sharp
Joe downplayed my past, but looked sad:
he said "your shouting makes us look mad"
So I'll go without Joe to the movies, that's where I feel:
Maybe in that false world I briefly get real.
A cage opens that routine shuts tight
I can return to darkness when they turn on the light.
Joe and I can go fishing, that's still alright.
Three years of age cerebral palsy her condition
No outward signs she is lacking cognition
Though not yet able to communicate through speech
To meet her needs other signs she does beseech
Fascinated by instruments of music
In response her facial expression never static
The direction of each eye is misaligned
The radiation of her thousand watt smile so magically defined
Sun winds collide
With Earth's magnetic field
Iridescent phenomenon
In celestial skies
The aurora
Every city possesses such a person.
You rarely notice them.
They occupy no headlines,
command no armies,
leave no monuments of marble.
Yet somehow the world remains intact
because they exist.
The woman who remembers birthdays
others have abandoned.
The janitor who speaks kindly
to midnight loneliness.
The baker rising before dawn
to prepare warmth for strangers.
The teacher who notices
the child vanishing into the margins.
Their deeds are lanterns
too modest for celebration.
Still, when darkness advances,
it is these quiet flames
that prevent the night from inheriting everything.
History prefers kings and catastrophes.
But civilization survives
upon the shoulders of those
who practice unnoticed mercy.
Polar bear insisted on putting the string of lights up this year
After downing three cases of wine and a keg of not-so-light-beer
the other animals stood by, not terribly close, but rather near
Should they try to take the lights from bear? It was totally unclear
Gary, our gnome lights all of the candles in this church, the priest said
Go about your business, but this is taken care of, added choirboy Ned.
They agreed that Gary would be upset if anyone else did it for sure.
That gnome sneaked in and gave me a look that said “you are manure”.
In the silent sky, a veil of clouds,
Within it, a shy little moon—
Hiding beneath the shade of green trees,
The city today feels like a taste of a dream.
The distant houses fall into stillness,
The lights fail to speak their words,
The breeze seems to whisper softly—
“This night is filled only with your sorrow.”
Even the moon peeks through the clouds,
Silently holding many words concealed,
My heart, as if along with it,
Travels far on unknown paths.
From leaf to leaf, a melody rises,
In the night’s song, a gentle fragrance,
In the heart of the city, filled with silent tunes,
Awaken the deep feelings within.
Sometimes an unfamiliar night arrives,
Where all words disappear,
Only the moon and the heart’s whispers
Compose poetry in the silence.
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.