They call you mad if you dare act too rough,
then call you weak if you’re not tough enough,
do not care much when we receive good news,
but flock like locusts when someone is screwed.
The claim to hold our leaders to account,
but only one party will they ever denounce.
They interview, claiming truth is their goal,
then cut it up, to smear you and to scold.
They claim that they must go speak with all sides,
but then only reprint a tyrant’s lies,
show endless contempt for their own nation,
yet whine when facing recriminations.
They strut about like they’re some privileged class,
but their high words get debunked rather fast,
say ‘objectivity’ like it’s a shield,
yet preach narratives, rather then what’s real.
Think we should trust only folks with bylines,
when internet proves them wrong every time.
They misinform, those useless, lying hacks,
I wonder if we can bring the stocks back…
Sometimes our minds speak to us,
Summoning us to embark on their journey,
They show us the pathway to the light;
It is our choice if we wish to remain in the night.
Within us, the good hides in the chamber,
Struggling to put the bad to rest.
Sometimes the latter is recalcitrant and willful;
The responsibility is ours to give room for the former to be dutiful.
There’s a gathering of our conflicting emotions outside the window,
Recriminations blooming in the meadow.
Tendrils of darkness entangle our thoughts and minds,
Conflicts arise in various kinds.
Yet within us is the light that brightens the gloomy day,
Leading us to the luminous pathway.
Our better angels are the stars that adorn the night sky;
They are the heart’s silent cry.
August 3, 2025.
I beheld the quaking aspen, shaking and gold
I quaked in resonance with the breeze
If you're young inside, you never get cold
Its recriminations that make your spirit freeze
I wept beneath the weeping willow
It felt like the right place to cry
Under its cascades I found a pillow
Had a sad feeling, didn't know why.
When autumn colored I found a burning bush
Its red leaves engrossed my mind
I was aimless; needed a push
A small voice told me which path to find.
The wind sounded eerie through the screaming tree
I thought of ghosts, and the sum of all fears
I looked for clues at the canopy
I learned life was not as it appears
They laugh when I followed the cedar and oak
then turn around to tie their ship to any fad
To be swayed by trees may be a joke
But following herd river is just as bad.
I'll take a subliminal hint from every tree
Can you trace your worldview from what planted the seed?
I'll go with botany, to some degree
You can go with the river; I'll go with this creed.
follow the poolside shadows
Venus of Delphi
daughter of bitter waves
peek through the peephole
of my glaucous thorax
open your byzantine eyes and
spurn your locomotor ataxia
one glance at our vitreous hands
– a sight for blind sore eyes
one brush of our riveted lips
– gone astray in malformations
one ponderous confession later
– immaterial as a shadow of the lash
let the weeping corpuscles lie
swarm and jostle in the grotto
rattle and blather away our days
I’ll wait for your recriminations
fall asunder under your touch
fastidious in my entomology
let the bouquet glide downstream
the scytheman is still in his kingdom
then we rejoice in endless daze
the lingering beaten with bravura
The close of an era has arrived,
Frayed tempers are quelled,
Surging recriminations are nipped in the bud,
Nothing is left in the mud.
The morning light brings hope,
The unknown does not rule the day,
Hope is no longer a crumbling clay,
The white flag has been raised.
There’s a sweet recognition in the air,
Embraces are accompanied by tears of joy,
There’s no hidden ploy,
Etched in stone is the cease-fire day.
The silence between wars harbingers a new dawn,
Gloomy faces now wear a glow,
Twilight brings no fear,
And annihilation is not in wait to emerge from its lair.
February 7, 2025.
Dreadful masters of deceit at its creation
Censorship and fear, hallmarks, it’s inception.
You think, ah, that’s just ancient history?
As the news marches you happily into misery!
Race-baiting, how you love demonstrations!
Forgetting the lessons, the recriminations.
Skin color does not make you superior!
Just a slick word that justifies terror?
Into the night, you run, text and curse?
Making this planet, not better, just worse!
***Written on the murder of a young, Black
male, at the hands of five Black Police
Officers, who are labeled as “racist!”**
Such argumentation is clearly,…Fascist!
1/27/2023.
A new world,
A new home for all,
Everyone on equal footing,
Even distribution of resources,
None needs necessities,
I’m not held by the pangs of hunger,
My brother doesn’t dwell in shanties,
The world is not ravaged
by sicknesses and diseases,
Crime and hostility
do not lurk around the corner,
We don’t indulge in recriminations,
No one takes a pound of flesh,
Guns, bombs and missiles
are not wielded by us,
We don’t hurl them at each other,
We raise no walls,
The air is clean and conducive,
Nature is in its pristine state,
Unharmed and not endangered,
I’m not at my brother’s mercy,
I’m not his puppet,
A world for the weak and strong,
A world for the low and mighty,
A world for the gifted and paranormal,
Brotherliness entrenched,
United with one voice.
Recriminations take the backstage,
Angry words pushed down the drain,
Hate speeches take the exit door,
Let not my words be misconstrued,
Ask for me to throw more light on dark areas,
I might have stepped on your toes,
I ask to be pardoned,
I was only expressing my feelings.
Let’s come together,
Let love flow without pretence,
Let’s speak the truth in love,
Let’s make room for one another besides,
Weave a web of true fellowship around,
Entrench brotherliness
despite the barriers that abound,
It’s a world of complexities and perplexities,
We have to row against the tide,
It’s a place deeper than we can view,
Let’s maintain our balance
as the unexpected unfolds.
Like colours,
We can complement one another,
Let’s weave our fabric
together and make a colourful piece,
Let’s integrate our cultures,
Foster a home for all,
Our ideas pooled together
to surmount any problem,
No weapon of mass destruction,
No test run for its escape flight.
April 8, 2022.
I'm wet. In the sun’s heat, rain & urine stunk.
Suit, socks & tie ruined, so was I.
The game ended in the early hours.
That time, had had its thrills but now,
Pockets empty, my mind now active,
Recriminations re- surfaced.
Who was ‘’Beating me up’’?
Who could I blame?
What would ‘’They’’ say?
What could I say?
God & Me
God, is a perception. a feeling, to me.
His name and form of worship are not relevant.
Sometimes I feel Him and others do not.
Sometimes I'm feeling Him very close, and others very far.
Sometimes He speaks to me and I do not hear.
And others I am with Him and I suppose He is not t listening to me.
Sometimes I get without asking,
And others I ask Him and get nothing.
As two friends, among us, there are no mutual recriminations.
In this position, at least, we appear to agree
In the closeness or in the distance
We, simply, are.
A being, whole and complete.
Not on this earth to be your treat.
Not for one second, to fulfill. your
perfect expectations.
Never browbeaten to meet societal
recriminations.
These clouds, ominous and forever
flying!
Blustery winds, without kindness.
A hurricane demanding that you be other
than you.
Until the very second of your dying!
1/10/2022
Where peace and kindness do a waltz.
And your friends as towering pines grow.
Accepting you, respecting you, as you are.
Velvety true, not for a second, false!
Oh, no, my girl as God lives in you.
Friends lift you above false allegations.
These rare angels, having not any love
limitations.
Blessed be their soft souls.
Absent any recriminations.
Just joy and love’s gentle laughter.
Not a whisper of recrimination.
12/13/2021
If given we are told and lead
to believe
That no 2 people not even
identical twins
Are the same
Then why on earth could
anyone think we are bound
to get along
And in any way be somehow
shocked we can not even
agree on the simplest most
important issues
Such as respecting a difference
of opinion without it descending
into violence and recriminations
I often think given we we're are
the only species gifted with the
gift of speech opposable thumbs
and fingers
Then how when it comes to conflict
resolution we lead with fingers pressing
triggers not our brain to have the
final say on proceedings
Rather than use the power of speech
to save countless lives from enduring
the insanity of war
And grieving aftermath that ensures
Other than that we have been
taught and learned nothing
from history
Apart from the fact that the
sword is the chosen weapon
of choice and mightier than
the word
Denver wheeling
Spinning,
Thinning
Itching,
Scratching
Black box shouting,
Pause recording
Stop stalling
Part 2
I want Air Force 1,
Fuelled and ready to go
At my command
Draped in invisible camouflaged
blue shadowed by red arrows
Part 3
I wish to see the falling angel
for myself
Viewed from 1st class champagne
in hand washing caviar and truffles
down
In questionable company
Part 4
Knock , Knock
What's the dark secret you
are keeping well hid behind
Black door with golden number 4
Part 5
Or more to the point
What's the actual cost
Per say in human lives
Or bribes to the contrary
Part 6-6-6
Taxation donated sponsored
Death becomes
charity / clarity
The devil's in the detail
Part 7
Why there is no,
Part 7
Can't you see
As at the stroke of 8 the white flag
was clearly raised and so to
with it the towel thrown in
It's all over bar the shouting
Extra , extra nothing left to do but
read and write and crow all about it
Service an agenda and ramp up
the recriminations
Renegade master,
Power to the people
I dithered , dathered circumspect
Picked up winded said mantle clock
Winded yes , but yet did not set the
time correct
For i was myself beside ,
disconnected still stuck up
caught up
Fretting festering over the
ensuing arguments and pending
postmortem
Am i in shock
Should i be in the dock
Should i be called as both
witness for the prosecution
and defense
And do i should i have a case to answer for
Crimes both present my conscious
cohesion thought bought and paid
for future proofed
Aloof and soley based on half truths
and recriminations
With social D.N.A thrown into the
mix for good measures
Always a pleasure never a chore
unti all we are left with and know
Is even if or when a clock is
winded up
Unless it's time is set correct
It's use and job is deemed
redundant pointless
Reduced to merely ornamental
circumspect evidence
In the trial of the century
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.