Parentheses Poems | Examples

Between Margins and the Dreams

"I would like to see you living in better conditions." Hafiz

Exiled and devoured by smart bombs,
The alchemy of history, rises above
The dazzling explosions, and the fury of shock waves.
Read the winds that blow in time’s face,
Of high struggles and passages of hope
Between the margins and the dreams,
Recurring parentheses in ancient books.
They live in their offering, their fists of courage.

Liturgies of the Flesh

You arrived like dusk—
not falling, but folding the sky inward,
your body a benediction
I knelt to translate.

No prayer passed my lips,
only the hush of devotion,
tongue pressed to the scripture
written in your trembling.

And when you opened—
not like a door,
but like dusk releases the bloom
too shy for daylight—
I drank not of desire
but of trust, poured full.

Your thighs curved like parentheses
around a secret I was meant to hold.
Your hands, constellations mapping
the shape of surrender.
We traced each other in tides,
language drawn from salt and ache.

I descended beneath reason,
rose beneath breath.
My name vanished into your gasp
as yours bloomed on my tongue.

We were not two,
but twin liturgies—
each mouth a chalice,
each exhale, gospel.
We worshipped without altar,
knowing the body is the holiest text
we dare not read aloud.

And when we broke,
it was not into silence
but into starlight—
shared, swallowed,
sung.

English Should Be Easier

A semi-colon connects two thoughts together
An exclamation mark screams out its cause
You don’t have to wait until the end to breathe
a comma can give you a pause

A question mark begs for an answer
Quotations usually mean this is not mine
A colon tells me there is a list
or the second and first parts are combined

Then there is the hyphen, En dash, and Em dash
It’s really hard to tell them apart
The hyphen is the shortest and Em is longer
to explain them I would not know where to start

Don’t forget about parentheses and apostrophes
Slashes, brackets, ellipses, and…other stuff
But my favorite punctuation is the period
it tells me when enough is enough.

Emagi Jones In Parentheses

David Jones ' IN PARENTHESIS'

      .(  PS- a by the by )

A Silence Knows the Fairest Reason

I attended three sermons in a row 
In the neighborhood church on Jackson.

Tear dropped there too, on the quran of mine, sky-blue colored
And on the cover of the hymn prayer book, it strangely rhymed.

Sermon, 
On Fridays and Sundays 
Are they two unknown roads of Robert Frost?
Equally worn out? Equally taken along frequency?
So that strangers are mostly certain about the Tan, Sine and Cosine?
After an incessant rain , we could tell each other a tale , stopping, “Reign!”
Parentheses are like a memorandum of understanding, priorities of your own.

Papyrus,
After 5 pm, if they all there turn color blind to moo moo all the cows!
Cows that can type, and can create superb hypes!

I pressed, paused and neglected my churned up pasteurization
As for now,
Meaningful work-life -balance will do a sieve analysis, as per annum
Soup egg drops in an ocean of  lemon grass
To make a way
As the cook was befitting!

Does not matter anyway, better leave her precious to leave or granted to go!
Silence is gold at times, and dollar values are poisons!

In-Activity or Inactivity
A silence knows the fairest reason!

Three of My Favorites

So many more. Just a sampling of favorites, per contest instructions.
For each poet I have included a sampling of titles in parentheses.

THREE OF MY FAVORITES

Gershon Wolf

Gershon lands me in stitches.
In his wise and funny hands,
I can’t help but smile or laugh.
A grin happens, belly twitches.

(Sex Sells, War is Hell; Tingles, Twitches, Creaks;
Scant Solace in the Solstice, Old Bessie)

Caron Krutsinger 

Caron carries me to Wonderland.
Her muse and faeries’ mischievous.
Earthbound - school, kids and pets.
Her quaint stories, written offhand.

(Sleeping Elfin Baby, Santa Puppy Begs for Bones,
Unicorn with the Rainbow Tail, Fluffy Fat Robin)

Evelyn Judy Buehler

Evelyn’s poems’ immersed in hues.
An imagistic touch of stirring magic.
God will gift her with eternal colors -
Not one of them, she will refuse.

(Clashing Colors, Scarlet Noon, Green Door, Moonlight Blue)

12/30/2022
Who is your best PS poet or poetess Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Sotto Poet

Tozer-Deep

Tozer, deep - thoughts
well explored with-
in the realm of man

Thankfulness, for what man
cannot touch -
deep mysteries of an eternal God

our speech, no matter
how profound cannot reach
the depths, God’s eternal 
storehouse

A few things stored:
his love, grace, mercy

What’s left to explore:
(between the parentheses 
of eternity)

Jesus

Jesus

Shepherd of my fugitive spirit shower “grace,” 
Emmanuel’s “joy” to hollow “life” in “holy” art,
As nail scarred hands I adore in tender embrace.

Selfless servant your signature of “faith” impart,
Word, as Judah’s Lion enfold this thirsting deer
To caress my uncircumcised and rowdy heart.

I sink into profound omnipotence -“love” so near,
Anointed “hope,” slow to anger, flows stellar 
Pure compassion heals blind deafness -miracles clear

Crucified gentle dove reconcile my residue of scars -
In nascent dawns dedicated to the living Daystar.

6-9-21
Contest: Jesus
Sponsor: Regina McIntosh

Prompt words
Holy, hope, life, joy, grace, love, faith

6-8-21
Contest: Jesus
Sponsor: Regina McIntosh

Couldn’t get bold or italics to work so I put the prompt words in parentheses.

A Wish

Sent home from second grade, a star 
With glitter all around it
Was lying on the table; I was
Happy to have found it.

My grandson had to write his wish
And in his neatest hand,
He came up with a wish I think
We all could understand.

“I wish the world could (simply) stop”
(From) “wearing masks (real) soon.”
(Words in parentheses are mine
So rhythm stays in tune.)

A poignant message for today
To which we can relate,
For children’s eyes are first to see 
The truth they’re quick to state.

Psycho Cat - It

Psycho Cat - IT

"In my sabbatical dreams after quarantine"
Visions of life run again at full steam
A little stiff, a bit arthritic, like
"The eerie board walk creaks near the beach of white sand"
Shifting on trails in forests of shadows
Moaning an elegy – enflamed eulogy -
"When they told me of psycho cat’s demise"
A sad voice of aching news, realized 
Not really a psycho, just catnip crazed,
Leaping in stagger – last of her nine lives -
While "the label, I hide, on the wine bottle"
Too many reminders of the passing
Of psycho cats in quarantine - alive 
In my sabbatical dreams quarantined.

Contest: Collaborate With Me
Sponsor: Kim Rodrigues
9-30-20

I couldn't get the bold function to work so I put your lines in parentheses.

A Poem For the Haters

They're all in this together, some sort of (machination)
This hatred is gratuitous, or is it just my imagination?
I may not be rich, at times a bit frugal,
I (envisage) in my head insults thrown at me- they're brutal!
At the (periphery) of my mind are some feelings that are hurting
I feel like everybody hates me. It's a bit (disconcerting).
I'm being consumed by this sickening (qualm)
while the repugnant jerks teasing me are all so calm.
I got nostalgia on the brain for when I was the queen.
Haters, I implore you, stop being stupid moody teens! 


This was written for an English vocabulary assignment in high school. At the time, I felt like at least half the school hated me. I didn't know who to trust. Why am I making it sound like this is in the past? It's really not. This crap is still going on. I don't know what to do. All of your kind comments on my poems make my day. Thank you.
Anyway I'm putting this in a contest for unique words. I had to bold the words but wasn't sure how, so I put them in parentheses.

In a Lonely Garden

In a lonely garden there' s a shrine
where upon a rough hewn stone is writ:
“GOD IS LOVE.”

The devoted supplicants make wail,
water the flowers, feed with crumbs
the sacramental dove.

A priest, decrepit, feeds the holy fire,
rakes the embers of the holy hearth.
Heaven is grey above.

Daily he laments in doleful orison,
unbinds the holy  scroll and reads:
“Thou shalt not kill.”

His sentence is short and simple,
 without exceptions and parentheses,
declaring God’s will.

though many about have forsaken
Love’s fane, have fallen prostrate
before a god of ill.

And this god has three faces,
one wreathed in pleasure’s smiles,
when the cup is full.,

a brazen face of terror
wrought in hatred’ fire,
And a skull.

The Stage

The Stage

We are often alone when we write. 
We use ink, or blood, depending.
The color often defining the mood. 
A quill, a feather a plume, 
a sharp PIN indeed, to prick…the imagination. 

8.5 x 11 a scary place. 
On the computer it is easier, as I can change the view.
Yet it is far less personal. 

A pad of paper, a single page…
A chance to perform;
speaking out for fun, 
teaching skills, traditions, 
gathering and protecting history,
our very way(s) of life. 
Things we can share with each other,
if we dare spend the time, for it is short.

Capitalization, pronunciation, time honored commas…
Parentheses, run on sentences that never stop chasing ideas.  
Colors of paper, instruments of recording,
harsh and soft, tools of the trade, 
worthless without hands or more importantly
thoughts to guide them. 

Speak out, speak up, speak for, speak with…
even stand up, and dare to speak against!
Use your chance to build and not tear down. 
All eyes upon your words, 
as they fight to represent something greater,
than “self”.

Exclamation Point

The landmark was given the name 
"Exclamation Point," and indeed it became 
the most exciting place I'd ever known!
The "parentheses" between us shone
of sun "dashes" splashing 
on the "comma" aquamarine.
My fashion "square bracket" charms swayed 
like my body stayed in Mark's trustworthy arms.
Our eyes simultaneously met 
the first "asterisk" set in the sky, shining brightly.
"Make a wish," he whispered softly, 
"and close your eyes tightly."
When I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee! 
The "question Mark" asked next 
was actually my silent request!
He pulled the "asterisk" from the sky, 
and lovestruck eye to eye, 
he gently slid it on my consenting finger.
Then suddenly swans graced the stage 
like a princess rescue in a storybook page.
We agreed to continue our courtship that day 
the "semicolon"ial  biblical way.
How difficult it was that magical night, 
amidst the "ellipsis" Little Dipper kite, 
but we wanted to honor our great Creator.
A longing "period" of three months later, 
down a driftwood isle along the same sand 
our "carets" met "ampersand" hand-in-hand.

4/19/19

Two Fires

In a lonely garden is a shrine
where upon a rough hewn stone is writ:
“GOD IS LOVE.”

The devoted supplicants make wail,
water the flowers, feed with crumbs
the sacramental dove.

A priest, decrepit, feeds the holy fire,
rakes the embers of the holy hearth.
Heaven is grey above.

Daily he laments in doleful orison,
unbinds the holy  scroll and reads:
“Thou shalt not kill.”

His sentence is short and simple,
 without exceptions and parentheses,
declaring God’s will.

though many about have forsaken
Love’s fane, have fallen prostrate
before a god of ill.

And this god has three faces,
one wreathed in pleasure’s smiles,
when the cup is full.,

a brazen face of terror
wrought in hatred’ fire,
And a skull.

• Short Parentheses Poems
• Famous Parentheses Poems
• Best Parentheses Poems
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• Long Parentheses Poems
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