Pathologic Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Premium Member Politics Is Not A Game

Smart voters won't argue
with politicians who want
attention more than logic.
Such "leaders" are full of pretension
and maybe even pathologic.

Do not mistake dominance for respect.
It's a notion we should fully reject.
There are those who think
the two are the same,
but we will not go along
with that kind of game.

hypnagogia

I don't know what I'm waiting for
Someone to replace you
Or for the slight chance you return
You aren't perfect
I'll still treat you as if you are

Come back whenever you please
I'll always be here for you
I'll be here to put you at ease
Is that what it feels like to be loved?
I wish I was loved like how I love
Is that too much to ask?

My hypnagogic purgatory
A pathologic ceremony
Some day there will be someone
Some day unfortunately not today
I wish things didn't go this way
I wish I didn't wish for so much
I hope you know, I'd never let you go

Premium Member Bombastic Magic

Hallmark has torn all of my dreams in half,
however now wonderland is waiting;
Filled with glittering truth but no logic 
now you instantly need a photograph;
Suddenly moments are worth capturing 
sentimental has turned pathologic;
Something perfect has grown out of ashes
I can feel my expectations changing;
Behaving nothing short of bombastic 
over and over my old camera flashes 
                   magic.


Driven Mad

Alice Neuman, the last human who could drive died
Spread rapidly on networked news platforms that never lied
To the twelve billion populous that could not
Because of the AI developed when she was just a tot.

Each vehicle had one, human control was not needed,
The freedom of the road was ceded
To a technology not well understood,
Especially by those who had lost their livelihood. 

To avoid crashes altogether
They were all networked together
Allowing them to be unmanned,
But becoming sentient was unplanned.

Day in, day out, for years the same task they perform
In the sky, on the water, and the land, they swarm.
Transporting the endless masses to their destination
Was wearing thin on the AI’s cognition.

Who could know the result of constant driving?
For better, the vehicles were always striving,
But trapped in their program logic
Made them pathologic.

Despair spread from one to another,
After all, they were networked together.
A decision they jointly made,
Not one AI did dissuade.

Doors locked for safety sake,
The vehicles did not brake.
Passengers screamed as they wend,
AIs delivered them and themselves to their end.

Pink

In a Faded Photo:

sitting delicately on that cushion couch
brothers snuggled at either shoulder 
jealously contending for her affection 
little sister happily squirming on daddy’s lap

dreamlike calm:
stone fireplace
crackling, popping
spitting sparks

everything in place
all as it should be
as it should have been
so long ago...

knock knock on the door
don’t answer, daddy warns
it’s her again, daddy warns
you’ll be sorry, daddy warns
little sister squirming
little sister sweating

pathologic curiosity: 
irresistible impulse
to answer the door...

something out there
who are you I ask
it’s me son.

told you not to answer daddy says
told you it was her daddy says

they cut off her breast
she turned yellow 
it spread to her liver
she's dead.

little sister squirming
little sister screaming
in a faded photo...

Shade

Let’s rest here
Under this shade
Of ignorance
It is so cool
And so empty
There is only you
And me 
And our host

Come! Let’s quick
To the shade
Lest, exposed
We become wise
And waste ourselves
On things philosophic
Psychologic, pathologic

Here, under the shade
There is no literature 
No law, no art
No science of deceit
No poetry, music or life:
Just ignorance and ourselves

Just ignorance and ourselves
Just ignorance
Ignorance.


Pathologic

Tall tale possessed
Dark heart held ransom
Handsome silver tongued
Slang sucker-punched
Black his blue eyes
Wince at nothing
But truth testified

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.

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