Poignancy Poems | Examples

Memoirs

    I go back there all the time
        in my mind when awake
        in my dreams when asleep

    They say, ‘You can’t go back’ 
        (so) I lurk unseen, in shadows
         a not-so-innocent bystander  

     inspecting scenes for authenticity
     re-directing them, providing elasticity 
        rewarding poignancy with canonicity 

     Perhaps you wonder what it’s like
     to review the span of a rich lifetime 
             I’ll let you know 
             ~ go back there first

Twilight Spring Fantasy

                                 

                                      5/7/2025



Twilight shimmers, in the purple poignancy at the birthing of our auspicious joyful Spring.

Let us love with abandon, dearest one, fragranced by the lilacs’ perfumed sweet timing!

Kitchen Spices - Aromatic Grief

Written: March 22, 2025, for contest sponsored by Craig Cornish

               ***********************

In the heart of my kitchen    spices exude their aromatic allure  
a harmonic blend of flavors    coddiwomples mute grief. . .  
cimmerian saudade in emeritus pickles, a nostalgic taste  
longing for a whiff of jasmine s p e c k s. . .
the acridity of blue cheese, the poignancy of bygone days. . .  
lavender aromas snip from vessels of proclivity 
       hidden under an ominous cloud of r e m o r s e
       on par with brimstone-soaked steam,
harmony strives to alleviate concealed pain
pleading palms to purge passed-over prose
as seclusion seeps still as a slow-spreading sickness…

Scathed by sadness    solitude simmers silently,  
In this mixture, marvelous magic manifests for mending   
spicy ambrosial nuances    partake in a gracious w a l t z 
pain intermingling with delight 
a buffet embellished    with dishes of acrid herbs,
the core character intertwines with previous fails   
textures and fragrances intertwine 
to create a tapestry rich in pain and d e l i g h t,
harmonizing sadness and joy in life's tangled web.

Petals of Pain

Soft tears stream down her sorrowful face
Petals of pain peeling away her peace
Drops of desolation that delve into dejection
Why, asks her depressed mind? 
Not another cycle, says her miserable soul
Unhappy sobs steal her joy and upset her mood
Precious prayers unanswered again
How much more can she take? 
Petals of perplexity pervade her poignancy
Hold on to hope, her heart says
The flower of faith blooms fresh and fair
Prayer's powerful potential is felt once again
Sometimes waiting is the answer
God can still work mysterious miracles
Petals of patience blossom through the pain

- MUSICISTA 1 -

evolving
sound
   in
     time
&
   space
understanding
participating
  in
    the
       poignancy
of
the moment
    connecting
each
   with
      another

Perfectionist Poet

Please pander to my
Perfectionism by
Pottering your purlesent
Peepers purposely past my
Permanently printed
Phrases of poetic poise

Pulling precious people
Past particular poison 
Pleases.
Pushing perfection points
Purposefully protects from 
Painful perception.

Perhaps a pedantic persuasion?
Perhaps a pen peaking in
Peppery passion or with
Personal poignancy or
Painted pastiche pictures of
Platitude?

Perhaps

May the Angels Whisper You Goodnight

In the dampness of those unslept sheets I find my solace 
between the linear moments when you held my breath 
and the last time we said goodbye:

Awakened by the thunder every calm fiber 
goes dormant as I toss and turn 
searching for the memory of your warm body 
The rain slips easily from glass to ledge 
and so do my tears; 
Life with all its poignancy, cannot reach me here 
beneath thick blankets of denial. 
As I pretend the night away death does not exist,  
nor does it live here, anymore
In the dampness of those unslept sheets I find my solace
through poetry in flight,  
although I leave it to the angels, 
to whisper you, goodnight !

Mirror, Mirror

An obscure, ambiguous figure looks back at me. 
Penetrating me, seeing right through my mask of lies. 
Knees buckle, arms shake, shaken as can be.
Glossy eyes filled with emotions no words could describe.
Grief, anxiety, anguish, and poignancy.  
Naked eyes looking back at me silently pointing out my flaws. 
Shoulders hunched, confidence lacking.
Arms crossed, hiding as much as I can from the figure. 
But she stares on, laser eyes carving my insides out. 
Consuming me, shrinking me, dooming me. 
What the figure doesn't realize is that she's backward and is judging herself.

Chime

We love those church bells,
do we not? Such chimes, such rings!
Are you a churchy type?
Or, like me, are you not?

Those bells we hear here
do have a rather angelic sound
(though, as we know, there are no angels).
But what a voice they have, those bells.

You don't do church, then -
like me and so many others?
But almost supersonic, those rings -
chimes that are quite a joy.

And they do bring to us
a historical flavour.
It enters our ears and hearts,
enters our ears and minds.

You have no religion, then -
that old-fashioned, out-of-date stuff?
Yet those bells send a sweet tang, zing,
almost a poignancy - sometimes sorrow, often happiness.

Ah, yes, we stand at that west end,
absorb those bells, that zing, that flavour.
We almost drink them, wear them -
yes, cherish and wear those rings.

(30 Dec 2022)

Tensions

TENSIONS
virtues
or flaws
underscored
&
restrained
then
reined-in

an
alternation
of
restraint
in
motion

a
versatile
satire
of
mood
in
poignancy
&
grace

NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE   using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.

Sentimentality

Oh the humanity 
the humanity 

Oh spare me the grief 
thy fake tears 
woe is me, mentality 
syrupy behaviour 
Munchausen propensity 
it sticks between my teeth 

Oh spare me the pathos
ham acting baloney
Phoney and pathetic 
pennyroyal tea fatigue 
Histrionic vagaries
self righteous piety

Oh spare me the maudlin 
attention seeking thievery 
Drowning in poignancy 
sentimental molasses 
Throw yourself to the floor 
overdosing in twee

Oh spare me forever 
stomach churning violins
emotional instability 
Wallowing in saccharine
exaggerated sob stories
But most of all 
the absence of apology 


Sentimentality Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
25/05/22

Step Up Close Walk Inside

tragedy
      ecstasy &
doom
in
        hazy
luminous
blocks

colour
fills our eyes
and
     enters our
                mood

wall scale
 abstractions
    fill the field of vision
to became an environment

 inside the space
    enveloped in luminous colour
  surfaces
 a sense
 of the sublime
         awe, vastness

a natural magnificence
 softly defined
rectangular cloud
 of colour
stacked symmetrically

a visual language
to evoke elemental emotions
 poignancy

murals in  relationship

form
 expressing emotions

Some April Day

Another June day this second of October
Warm and breezy a single cloud hanging over
The summer he relished with pleasure is past
Despite its poignancy, he lingers long and fast
It will slink away tomorrow's fonder oblivion
Marking one more day before he will leave on
Life's journey into autumn's blessed stillness
Thinks he the more rather than the less
About the value of those days which lie ahead
Faith and hope wrestle with gloom and dread.

Some April day, perhaps, a fourth of June
He will still be here and singing another tune
He will have made it through another winter
Will come forth from the dark tomb he entered
That June day the second of October
Warm and breezy a single cloud hanging over.

FIRST PLACE WINNER
Brian Strand's PS Contest
March 9, 2021

The Book On My Nightstand

The Mulberry Tree
outside is farther from
my window than the sun-
light that penetrates
my bedroom, 2PM-4PM.

The sun's yellow ribbed 
lines against the walls bar
the shadow of a stick
that sways as if to scrape
the paint of butter

vanilla hues. The tree,
shaped like a menorah,
is dappled with fruit colors.
I think of exits,
with their ruby glow.

His. Mine, especially...

the mauve violet 
tinge of night that spawns tiny
silver bursts. The caught "snow-
ball" in the sky, tossed from 
a collision, long ago.

A Mulberry Tree
is also in my bed-
room. Its arms are dressed 
with acrylic tints-
of butter-fly wings.

The poems are brief 
questions; statements, of faith,
of poignancy. They boast
of a majestic 
spark that lights the sky.

The dance of planets
in sync like the words
of the poem, their orbit
one year; two years; three.
Perhaps ten thousand.

The poem: age-less.

Through the lens of sun-
light, the bars-dusk stains-
prison-like- nab the branch
of the tree. So I will cling,
and swing, above the sea.

Jasmine and Poignancy

        Jasmine Tea and Poignancy


San Francisco and your soul's appeal.
Sitting in that Japanese Tea Garden.
You, whispering the readings of Lao Tzu.
Surrounded by the afternoon fog embracing 
us,so!
Swans swirled, serenely.
Enchanting, endless, eucalyptus leaves,oh!
We drank heavenly,hot jasmine tea.
And quietly wept over the child we lost.
To the prism of eternity.
Fog and tears mixed silently.



       December 22, 2019

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