on the lazy river
sailing down on my fun raft
time is standing still
The woman pondered
If what shwe has seen
Of the empty raft
Was it really there?
Where did the person go?
As far as she knew
No one was missing
Yet the raft was empty
What happened here?
She has returned back
To the river bank
Trying to figure out
What had happened here
She was looking closer
The raft was empty
No clues were seen there
She went on the land
Searching for clues
She spotted a jacket
The other shoe not found
She spotted a jacket
All found on the ground
There was no shelter
With no campfire
There were many clues
That did not make sense
No one was there to be seen
What happened here?
Clues told her nothing
What happened here?
Where is the missing per4son?
No one reported missing
How did the shoe and jacket
get there?
A mystery unsolved
A woman went walking
On the river trail
On a sunny day
Someone went rafting
Along a river
When she got closer
On the river trail
She noticed a raft
The raft was floating
No was on it
She thought it was strange
That no one was there
She looked all around
To see anyone
On the ground or hurt
There was no one there
She pondered a thought
Maybe someone drowned
Yet she thought
Maybe they got saved
I’ve seen the sphinx and pyramids
Climbed Kilimanjaro and Everest
Crossed the ocean in a raft, I did
So, which thrill was the best…
Lest you think I notch my belt
with each of these conquests
Sabbath meals with my family
are where I’m truly blessed
When my brother was fading away,
black chimes signaled for the demons to play.
They attacked all sides of my hobbled mind.
Treating the heart like an orphaned marble
They were rabid and had brackish intentions
Hope chipped away like a crowbar to cement.
In a dream, one of them took me into its sky
I clung tight to its undercarriage
begging for it to release me
It promised that it would if I said
that I loved it...I relented
It didn't keep its promise as expected
and we wrecked together.
I coddled a little amber cross....
(a field mouse in an owl's greying claw).
I was dismissed into a pillow of tranquility
The demons slowly drifting away...
as did my brother the very next day.
Let life's current carry you
to where love knows no sorrow.
Like a river that runs true,
time flows toward tomorrow.
Sail upon a raft of dreams
beyond yesterday's mistakes.
It's easier than it seems;
hope is all it ever takes.
Cast your worries to the wind
and feel your burdens lighten.
For as anxieties end,
the skies ahead will brighten.
Trust the map within your heart
to guide your inner steering.
For each ending brings a start,
as life’s fog begins clearing.
Afloat in a river of stars,
Ecstasy knits the raft of thoughts,
A destination is what I seek,
Sailing away mindlessly, expecting the waters to speak.
The water calmly paves the way ahead,
As the fog of disturbance clears.
Hesitation takes bravery’s stead,
A detour that feeds on our fears.
Darkness fills the air,
It shadows the glorious sheen.
The magnificent aurora- my trail ahead,
Now had been swept off the scene.
Left with no light and soul within,
An icy breeze blankets this shell of mine.
Out speaks a voice so thin,
‘Endings are where new things begin.’
Taking my dogs on a raft trip to North Missouri,
Solomon, Jasper, Jetsam and baby Madame Curie,
None of us are swimmers, but there is no real worry.
We float along in peace, none of us in any kind of hurry.
All of us without exception laughed:
On the Pacific Ocean a raft!
Why would one big waters dare with craft
And hope to make it without witchcraft?
All the big lips in the small room laughed:
One saw a snake's fangs and cold beer quaffed!
A nice tale but the teller just daft,
My cash not leaving my pocket's baft.
{Given time, they'll strike a match
against the flint face of your life.
Make a campfire at your expense
keep themselves toasty and warm.
Steal your sweet chocolate
turn your brain into marshmallow.
With their caustic thoughts.
They'll whittle a stick from your bones.
Make themselves the perfect s'more.
And watch you starve to death.
They'll fashion a graham cracker raft.
Paddle like hellfire out of camp.
Leave you to your burning de-cay.
Before you take sweet revenge
and release sweet karma all over them.
I swear the seagull’s cry
Mimics the tantrum
Of a waddling toddler in diapers
Who’s stepped on a thorn on shore
I listen from a distance
Not my trouble
How many perfect sticks have I thrown to Torch Lake
That have escaped the interest of my dog?
Maybe those temptations will reunite
Far away near the Yacht Club
Gathered and tied together
To make their own salvation raft
Ignore ignore these problems
I fit into the blue wavy famous
Lake Gogebic back float
Of my boyhood father
My head at rest a nest of drowned feathers
Van Gogh’s Earth inflating my lungs
Toes like nipples to the mouth of the hot sun
Ears cuffed by the loping waves
A glint
I must look like to others
Who wonder and worry with binoculars
How I am alive out here yet swallowed
By him.
Seeing the darkened clouds
accumilate
I spy through my mind's
eye
And feel the stormy winds
acidic rain sting all about
my naked face
And hasten hastenly to build
myself an ark / raft fit purpose
bespoke for wrecking
Using any material disposable
close to hand i can possibly find
So none the less i can sail
away above the crashing
tidal wave of black foam
pushing back
And stand aboard the deck i
cobbled out of adams brittle
fractured missing
rib bone
Scouting the horizon for the
1st sign
Of a glacier or dry land
in order to beech dock
this vessel and step my
feet ashore
And so anoint myself
King for the day and evermore
Purveyor of everything i see
before me 1 sole property
proprietor
In order to start and begin
the long hard process
and rebuilding again
Armed only with what the
storm has left behind in
it's wake
A fog moved in as we floated on a raft in the middle of a licorice ocean
and friends began dropping off into the sea swimming towards land I could not see and I wanted to go with them but I was afraid and then I tried but something held me back and plunged me from the raft onto the bottom of the ocean were I stayed for awhile drowning until a molasses fog wrapped itself round me and we floated slowly to the surface huddled together mourning, waiting for morning to come.
I’m a broken man
don’t know who to trust.
Being a broken man
allows you not to trust.
I’m a broken man
with lots of blood,
bleeding from the heart like a river.
Being a broken man
helps people raft on the red stream
And they don’t give a damn, whether you die in shiver
The moon is the only friend
who acknowledges my tears.
Stars, like a bodyguard
help me fight out my fears.
But sun, sometimes behaves as a foe
for his rays of light,
focuses me to reach my actual height.
Nevertheless, I’m a broken man.
Broken down piece by piece
by the sword, of the goddess of beauty
sharpened up with innocence, cunning ferocity.
Never even cared, if I’m happy or sad,
wouldn’t even matter if I’m alive or dead.
I’m a broken man,
who knows how to fix the glasses.
But, being a broken man,
There comes a why.
Why even bother , rebuilding it.
Everything broken down into bits and pieces.
And so am I.
After their patriarch died,
sea witches circled the night.
Those left behind clung to hope
on a raft made of his bones,
until sharkness devoured the light.
Sub Categories
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.