I watched the porch lights flicker on for them—
the laughter soft, the timing always right.
The chairs were full. I hovered at the stem
of every plan, then vanished with the night.
A window cracked, a voice that called too late,
a message read, replied to days behind.
No slammed door, just a pattern I could trace—
how even warmth turns cruel when misaligned.
I asked for little. Always just enough
to be let in. To pull a corner seat.
But glow is not the same as being loved.
And unaddressed omissions aren't discreet.
I stayed outside until I felt the chill—
no hate, no love, just quiet, quiet, kill.
Categories:
peripheral, anger, betrayal, dark,
Form: Sonnet
Elevator! Take me to thirteenth floor!
I'm sorry, Dave! I'm afraid I can't do that!
Indeed the panel lights skip a beat,
Beyond the limit of what one hand can count.
Off the precipitous cliff into the valley periphery,
Into the shaky, rebellious and withdrawn teens
Between childhood, tears and grown-up years.
A baker's dozen, a boost to some!
Or the Loki or Judas curse of a gate-crasher supper guest.
Even the moon tries to squeeze
An extra quaff in 12 months of years and 12 hours of days.
For the number thirteen is an exceptional outcast
It's amiss peripheral, a step beyond.
Categories:
peripheral, growing up, lost, time,
Form: Free verse
The train was zooming by,
When I saw her like a veil
A mystical angel
In the heavenly sky…
She was strolling in the street;
She was immaculately neat.
It was like a dream;
I wanted to scream:
Oh! God, Oh! Beauty,
I just peripherally
Saw the most beautiful woman
On earth! She was way gorgeous than an omen,
And prettier than an April bouquet of flowers;
She smiled and laughed like no other creatures.
What a Joy! What a Beauty!
What a treat,
To have mnemonically photographed such a woman,
Who smiled like a Baby,
And who educed a warm drop of rain
From my right eye,
Which caused my heart to beat
So profusely and to switch side,
And my spleen to quiver,
And my soul to beg and twitter.
Oh! God, this one had no flaws,
No scars, no thorns, and no claws;
No tattoos, no chains, and no rings.
Her hair was her wings;
She swam through the clouds like a proud swan,
Like a mermaid in the deep blue ocean.
Copyright August 6, 2009, Hebert Logerie, All Rights Reserved
Hebert Logerie is the author of several books.
Categories:
peripheral, angel, beautiful, beauty, emotions,
Form: Rhyme
Perfect Peripheral Vision
David J Walker
There was a binder
On a calendar
Kept just inside my eyelids
Where everything seen
Was recorded
Everything
Especially the thing not seen
With eyes shut tight
On a dark night
Everything
Especially the things
seen from
The corner of my eye
Everything
in pastel colors
Painted on black & white
Snapshots of every
long past lover left in
Grandmothers shoebox
Until the day she died
Everything that
Sets off the sensors
of memories captured in
Perfect peripheral vision
Where is that binder
On the calendar
Have you seen it
Categories:
peripheral, visionary,
Form: Rhyme
a head that could not resist the turn
as eyelash lifts to reveal its joy
and from that squinted smirk of broken lip gloss
Time twisting one leg behind the other
ushers to continue
the promise only she
could keep
Categories:
peripheral, poetry,
Form: Free verse
They dwell in the peripheral
a place I truly dread
Not sure exactly what they are
I think that they are dead
They stalk the corner shadows
in the day or black of night
I sense their movements vaguely
always dashing out of sight
They themselves are darkness
having neither form nor face
When trying for a clearer look
they're gone without a trace
I used to think perhaps my eyes
were playing tricks on me
until that night while in my bed
they tapped me on my knee
When something laid down next to me
I felt the mattress sink
I threw the lights on straightaway
and poured myself a drink
I glimpse them in the darkened
halls and doorways here throughout
Sometimes I hear their mutterings
as they all roam about
There have been times when I can swear
they're right next to my ear
with breathing or faint whisperings
and I'm awash with fear
They dwell in the peripheral
that place I truly dread
I pray that I'm just crazy
and they're only in my head
2/22/19
Categories:
peripheral, dark, fear, scary,
Form: Rhyme
Wailing winds rattle windowpanes,
with sounds of moans and clanking chains.
My whole world soon starts to shudder.
And my heart begins to flutter
as a violent sensation
shakes my house to its foundation.
Caught in my peripheral sight
I see a twisting in the night;
and debris swirling in the dark
as the tornado carves its mark,
Gazing into the face of death,
I grab my chest, struggling for breath.
Categories:
peripheral, 10th grade, anxiety, fantasy,
Form: Rhyme
orange butter
fly
or yellow
jacket
on white
flower
of blood
root
Categories:
peripheral, beauty,
Form: Free verse
i congratulate and uplift
i never put down
does not matter if whatever is more than my less
i am proud
too many people put down
too many people spread hate
too many people waste needed energy
instead, why not encourage instead of discourage
there are levels of speed in life
there are timetables when it comes to blessings
there is One who Oversees it all
at the end of each everyday....it is up to Him anyway....
that being said, on yourself you are committing a crime
congratulate and uplift i say....instead of ultimately wasting your time
Categories:
peripheral, growing up, growth, how
Form: Free verse
Caught up in life, in our peripheral we
Doors we enter, but do we actually see
Or does life's light, simply blind
A trait of us, human kind
These windows that attract
That can lure us eventually through
Is this luring on our radar
When feelings turn the screw
It's over a period of time
About bridges destroyed and rebuilt
Like the ebb and flow of the tides
To free us from life's silt
But it's these journeys of life that cut
When dialogue proved to be woven
Until we enter these doors of life
We'll never know our peripherals proven
Honesty of character, shows a halo touch
This other trait of human kind, I don't like so much
Categories:
peripheral, betrayal, life, lost love,
Form: Rhyme
On the peripheral of my life,
Drowning in the reality that surrounds me.
Absent.
Gazing longingly at the lives others seem to find so easily,
Coveting their love, attention, anger, anything.
Anything to make me feel part of this cold world that I reluctantly seem to exist in.
Categories:
peripheral, life, people
Form: Free verse
....passing perpendicular
enable this feeble brain to
regain momentum
in its frenetic
pursuit of something
hugely prophetic to
enlighten you readers with a
rhythmic
avalanche of profound
Love.
Then again, thoughts that are
hovering can in fact be an
outright impediment
unintentionally causing a stammer,
guffaw, or some other sophistic
hilarity to erupt
taking all seriously serious
spirituality off into the mundane.
Categories:
peripheral, on writing and words
Form: Acrostic
I fell to you, black and white
with technicolor hair
like a circus presentation
of emotion-
You were there.
I lifted you, gold and bronze
with medal and shine
like a trophy won impossible
to me,
when you were mine
I slept on you, pearl and grizzled heat
with a dream on banks of waking
like a long forgotten whisper
of a promise, still forsaken
undeveloped, but complete
I wished for you, silver limply bit the air
with fingers stained in white
like a photograph of contrast
fallen past the line of sight
to be popped in color particles
I wished, and you were there.
Categories:
peripheral, life, love, people, time,
Form: Free verse