Under the SEA, MARIE the MANATEE
made a PLEA: “Stop your WAIL, Sir WHALE.
Your TALE is upsetting my PRIME watching TIME;
it’s a CRIME SHOW, you KNOW.”
Sir Whale continued his LONG, STRONG SONG,
While moving ALONG below the BOAT AFLOAT.
A GOAT named ADELE waited for the KNELL
from the BELL, while Marie swung a SPOON at the MOON.
The BELL used in the FAREWELL suddenly FELL.
It hit a SHELL. “It left a DARK MARK!”
the SHARK said. “She’s in BED with a sore HEAD.”
He READ, “She’ll be in all DAY, or so THEY SAY.”
The Dolphin DETECTIVE, though SELECTIVE, was EFFECTIVE
in his OBJECTIVE. He found a remote down the SLOPE from the ROPE.
“I HOPE that’s not mine,” CHATS Marie to the sprat KATZ.
THAT’S when the BLUE remote came into VIEW.
Sir Whale went COLD: “HOLD on, I SOLD that remote
to OLD Barry, whose CANARY is CONTRARY,” he said.
They VERY nearly MISSED the TWIST;
Marie HISSED, went RED, and quickly FLED.
Simply
Empty stories
But nonetheless
May be startling
Entertaining and
Scary for
No one at all..
SUPPOSE
No longer do I suppose
A canvas under cloth
A was within the swirls and strokes
Unfinished, you are lost
But once, your mystery
What I chose
To look at you and brush
Suppose within the swirls and strokes
To wonder wanderlust
sup·pose
s?'poz
Assume that something is the case
on the basis of evidence or probability
but without proof or certain knowledge.
Sunset depends on whether one
is looking up or down, angle changes
perspective – at the horizon it is all
sort of the same anyway. Day and
night a circular contraption, the mechanics
of stars and planets. Our sun the center
of existence for us most would agree,
the hub of light and shadows, how we
mostly live in the shades, where things
meet and crisscross. Transitions our
greatest mysteries, topics morphing
often without warning. Weather, surf
and sea, glaciers on the move, the
human relationships most confounding of all!
Found a book with some rose petals
pressed between the pages...God knows
how long they have been there, a volume
of great antiquity. Someone carefully placed them
long gone – perhaps promises made; I hope they
yet carry? History badly repeats itself! Wishing
love goes on as well...set aside a fond dimension,
safe from both heaven and hell.
I Looked Up Toward the Sky
There's only Half a Moon, Why?
Where's the Rest of Her
Maybe it's Lunar
Some Meteorlogical Thing
A Meteorite?
Now What Shall We Do?
Looks Like Someone Broke the Moon
How Shall We Fix it?
Use a Giant Bandaid?
Taken by a Rocket Ship?
By the Astronauts?
Landing on the Moon
The Astronauts put it on
Fixing her Boo Boo
What About Landscape?
Maybe we'll Rebuild the Moon
Put Back what's Broke
Once Beautiful Place
Now the Moon has Half a Face
Nice at any Rate
I can Fix The Moon
I will get a Long Ladder
Go and Spackle Her
I'm no Genius Yet
I Know when she's Fooling and
It's a Lunar Thing
Maybe Over Time
Luna will go and Heal Up
Then she will be Full
I Waited a Month
It Rained Night of Full Moon
Nothing could I See
A Few Nights Later
When the Clouds had Cleared Away
Moon Came out to Play
She Looked Full that Night
She had Healed Up Alright
Now she Rules the Sky
Copyright ©? Jeff W. Watson, September 29, 2026
I have a grandson
that likes to climb cliffs --
I worry.
Have a wife that frequents
Facebook --
I worry.
Have a dentist that enjoys watching
horror films --
Need I say it!?
True though, worry never solved anything --
I worry about that….
-----------------------------------------------------
Hi friends!
High, friends?
I have had both,
those in high places
and those simply flying….
Falling is another thing to worry about,
whether from thrones or self perpetuated peaks --
All the same to death my guess…?
Some folks I know achieve that beautiful approach
To compliment the fables they’ve been told
They’re able to fall down the rabbit hole
Which doesn’t mean they’re sleeping on the couch
Their Wonderland is always at the service
How did they do it, I don’t have a clue
This harsh reality, is it a wonder too?
If so, it’s not the book I’d like to purchase
Each wonder has its aim, so what is mine
Has never been occurred in my mind
I’ll be so very grateful if you tell
But I am in the dark, you cannot hear
And even if you do, you are not near
No wonder pushes me down through the well..
I heard a voice behind a wall
but not a human voice at all
more near an evil siren’s call
but darker than
yes darker than …
it carried horror, fear and pain
and stung my ear like acid rain
that haunting, desolate refrain
of aching sighs -
unearthly cries …
it held no kindness or content
resounding with a horrid bent
its beastly song did not relent
not rhyme or rule
it pounded, cruel …
I should have left that wall alone
but mys’try lived inside that moan
a-pleading with its mournful tone
my self aghast
it held me, fast …
and when I thought I’d take no more
a light appeared, then shined a door
but I stood still and thought before
I prayed a bit
then … opened it …
well, when I looked, my heart grew old -
my blood turned ice, my marrow - cold
from what my gaze would then behold …
that thing so vile
it turned to smile …
and then …
Copyright © 2026 Gregory Richard Barden
~ POETRY AGAINST POVERTY ~
( photographic art created copyright-free by the author with Gemini AI / Meta AI software )
Somewhere between the god and demon rift
I staggered on the edge of reason’s drift
As silence fell upon a sightless soul
I sat within a darkness none should know
Had I not shared my sandwich with a child
Held the trembling hands of those beguiled
By the preachers and the poachers Ponzi schemes
As tears fell on the embers of their dreams
Now echoless the empty chambers cringe
Soft organs overwhelmed by endless sins
That dance within the shadow of life’s needs
To fill its vacancy with ancient creeds
The preacher a mystery weaving fraud
That serves a lost and needy demon god
“Here!” “Come see my plane fly; my train choo choo!!”
“Look at that funny cow mommy, ‘moo, moo’!”
“Faster, daddy, faster!” “Again, yes, wee!!!”
“One more story mommy, p,p,p,please!”
“I’m going out.” - “Where?” Mum asks. - ”Hmmpphhh… Just out!”
“Where’s my shoes? Why isn’t this washed?”, I shout.
“Board games night, really?" "I have friends y’know…”
“My life is over… he dumped me”, I groan.
“Oh, woe is me, my life is half over!”
I expected a house, kids, ring, rover…
the dream job; not dole and redundancy!!!
“I’ve a bunch of cats now living with me!”
“Phew!” “Two moments on the sofa, free from…
them!!” “Yes, the kids rule the roost, all day long!”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Though, I could do with some more time away.”
“A new lease of life!” “Barely past forty!”
The golf, wine, cheese… “Grandkids, go be naughty!”
“What a time it is, hey, to be alive!”
“Old, ha!” “I’ve learnt to just live and let jive!”
09.27.2026
(For the Five Perspectives Contest - each stanza representing different ages: 5, 15, 30, 50, 70.)
CRAZY EIGHT
No one knew
When she arrived
Or when she'd disappear
She would just drift in with the wind
Ginned up
Like she'd be hitting
All the ritzy joints in town
And never without her bête noire, "Kitty"
A crazy eight midnight black Mercury Coupe
They were inseparable
A couple of cats on the prowl
In the tall grass
She sure was some kinda dame
A real pearl
You could count yourself lucky
If you bumped into her
But you know the thing about luck ...
The splendor of books enthralled me early in life,
being attracted by the weird animations imprinted in them.
The nascent imagination of the five-year old
morphed within me as an exploring book worm.
I grew up with other timely interests in the transit,
many passing passions came and went,
but looking for mystery the childhood book worm grew
as a constant companion creeping secretively in my head.
The lure of books attracted me to the bookstores
like an obsessed honey bee to the posy of flowers.
I enjoyed the flavor of the mystifying nectar,
concealed in the suspense scripted by Doyle or Christie.
In my journey through the corridors of unveiling mystery,
created by Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot,
I took up their roles till I reached the precinct of the last pages
where the ace sleuths solved the enigmatic puzzles.
Although my old myopic eyes degenerated very much,
the strain over the years made the failing vision blurred,
the senile book worm still crawls to find the mystery clues,
letting me feel the power of fiction.
When the fire dies
do embers still burn
When the flower wilts
will the fragrance linger
When the game ends
do the players relive it
When food is tossed
will beggars eat it
A passerby, unknown -
She knocked on my door.
Where did she come from?
I sure didn't know.
Nor did she say
Or, if she would stay -
She didn't say either
Where she would go.
She left quite abruptly
Without a goodbye -
Yet, she looked so familiar
I couldn't tell why!
And I was left wondering -
Who could she be?
When I looked in the mirror
She stared back at me!
Was I then the passerby
Passing through life -
With my fair share of joys,
Sorrows, struggles and strife?
Where do we come from?
Where do we go?
We are just passersby -
We sure do not know!
a sugar maple leaf slips free
counting toward One proof
the Seven Mysteries
God, I count prime gaps
I watch prime numbers growing
only primes orbit
a rule sends one step
loops return periods double
recursion counts One
an iteration
within fluid smoothness frays
water turns inward
can you see the curve
study elliptic rank shifts
findings test the rank
questions spiral out
unknown patterns circle back
pi bends into sight
a proof can be checked
still search cannot prove it now
checking outruns search
every loop turns east
the count folds back into form
through form, God's Haiku
the sugar-maple leaf settles on frost
children of the corn start to awaken
Mystery Categories
Definition | What is Mystery 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.
Related Poetry Forms
riddle, conundrum, subtlety, question, enigma, secrecy, problem, mystification, perplexity, stickler, cliffhanger, twister, occult, puzzlement, cryptogram, crux, difficulty, poser, why, charade, oracle, sixty four thousand dollar question, thriller, stumper, abstruseness, grabber, whodunit, chiller, teaser, inscrutability, sphinx, rune, rebus, brainteaser, braintwister, closed book, inscrutableness, mindboggler, tough nut to crack,