Refusal Poems | Examples

Trixie ignores my refusal to write

I won’t write, I tell my muse. I refuse.
She laughs at my won'ts, my cant's and my do’s.
Most know Trixie; she brazenly dictates to me.
She is puling my strings, never letting me be.

I’m serious, I say. She laughs at my plight.
She forces me to stay awake most of the night.
Magnificent poems climb into my head.
Trixie will tell me when I can go to bed.

Acceptance

A welcome gaze, the sun shines ever present
Peering through thin overcast curtains
With the lightest of light’s gentle touch
The paint brush of the effervescent
Yuletide glides through the spectral air
It caresses the cadaver walking the path
Unaware of the beauty that surrounds
Gentle winds dancing with wispy hair
I was unfamiliar of this
The stinging of tears born from rage
Manifesting apparitions of our past so pleasant
The infanticide of a future yet to stumble into stride
I admit my adamant refusal to accept the present
Where murders migrate above me,
Where my spirit drifts in the atmosphere
This time, the clock has stuck like a gavel
The haunt of her hands on my wrists 
the most pleasant of shackles.
Will there ever be a moment where I accept change?
When will I simply accept this weather
For what it is? Sharp, stark, and serene
When will I finally say,
“This is where I need to be.”

Detolf

Today was the first day I held 
a sledgehammer with intention
Callouses connect palms to fingers
tiny fleshy boa constrictors.

There is no catharsis
I know this to be a hollow act
With a face smithed of iron, 
a body lathed with linseed wood,
and a head full of nothing.

No I am not thinking, I am
in fact refusing to do so.
This is an act of refusal
I am choosing childish behavior.

The empty parking lot
execution spot greets
the glass bodied shelf
Which will no longer take
the space of memories it held.

What should be cold and angular
Void of anything aside reflection
is a monument of mourning
a future I shall never know.

Light refracts upon my cones,
my tunneled vision only to show
a mangled miscarriage of the man
I can never grow into with you.

The Refusal

It started well,then why couldn't it end the same?
Don't trust that voice in ur head which says
"For me you are lame 
For me you have no shame
For me ur feelings are just a game"
It could be a feeling of despair
They call it rejection
But it's not only the reaction
And if you know you know
It's not always better to show
the hurricane going inside
The confusion which is unable to guide
somewhere leads you to hide.. 
Maybe the truth which says
"To feel everything so deeply is not alone a blessing"
Indeed it's a curse as well
But unluckily that doesn't means
 that feeling from my side is still not lacking
Hoping of you to still not yell
It was, is and will be hard to tell
If it's not love, then it's not even hate to sell
I only want you to remember...

"All that starts well, ends well"...!

Deaf Ears

When our suggestions fall on deaf ears
And what we think carries little weight,
We begin to realize our deepest fears
When ideas we cherish do not resonate.

Saddened by another’s lack of concern
When our suggestions fall on deaf ears
Deep down we feel a bit of heartburn,
Occasionally it wells up in bitter tears.

At heart, we have their best, our peers
And share only what we think is wise,
When our suggestions fall on deaf ears
Or, are met with utter disdain and guise.

‘Tis best to slough off disappointment
Replace it with thoughts of good cheers,
And follow up with a fun entertainment
When our suggestions fall on deaf ears.

FIRST PLACE WINNER
Written April 31, 2022
Brian Strand's Standard Contest

A Simple Stance and Refusal To Dance With Stupidity

A tender heart
is capable of what?

A warm light
in the coldest
and darkest
moonless night;

An embrace
and refusal
of playing
the arrogant
and smart;

I see but then what?

A harmony of
rain droplets
carefully descending
everywhere around 
touching our cheeks
offering more of life
and wiping out
tears of deception;

I see! What more? 

A reminder
that pain is just a drill
among the drills of life
targeted towards
our weakness and fragility
and meant to make us
feel strong and learn
a daunting lifelong lesson.

I see but then also what?

A tender heart
is capable of courage
Like a noble soldier
Deciding to turn down
an invitation of death.

A candid heart
beating to life
refusing to join 
dancing with death
and unwilling to fall
in the trap of taking 
desire for love.

- Chokri Omri
(Tunisia, 2021)

My Nonexistent Refusal Skills

My refusal skills are pretty much non-existent.
I grew up in a small town where most people say yes.
Others use words like no, absolutely not, not my clowns.
I say okay almost immediately to any request coming my way.
For where I grew up anyone who said no was labelled a trouble maker.
An outcast, a do-badder,
I know it is crazy, but I really do
want my reputation for being a pushover fully intact.

A Refusal To Believe

A Refusal To Believe

After I read about it and further perusal,
Punishment may be cruel and unusual;
Did have disdain;
They were insane,
And to believe it my soul had a refusal.

James Serious Mysterious Horn
Retired Veteran and Poet
Bolivia, NC

Refusal To Duck

REFUSAL TO DUCK

Tucker sits on lawn chair sipping his pop.
Two bullet holes like flies land on backdrop.
A retired mechanism.
He’s done with tourism.
He’s a sitting duck in front of a shop.

8/16/2017

Times Refusal

Youth takes my hand and holds me back,
  as old age points the way 
 
Unwilling yet to leave this Spring,
  as Winter calls my name

The image in the mirror fresh,
  the one my eyes now see

Of Lochinvar and Lancelot,
   in dreamlike fantasy

The children see me older though,
  their children older still

My spouse afraid I can’t accept,
  what time and seasons will

I hold on tight to wings that splay,
  o’er fields both green and gold

And shun the backstairs of my fate,
 —refusing to get old

(Trumbull Connecticut: February, 2017)

Refusal

Forevermore I’ll still desire you,
Despite that never shall you speak my name,
I’ll always love the silly things you do,
And think of how delightful life can be.
When first I kissed you underneath our tree,
Where now a forest grows of guilty shame,
My heart discovered pure serenity,
And thus refuses ever split in two.

10/31/2016
A/B/A/C/C/B/C/A

Refusal

A cuddly Harp Seal, when just a bub,
Swam further south and slipped into a pub,
The barman gave a wink,
Have this whisky to drink?...
“No way known, it’s Canadian Club!”

Refusal

Refusal

Stood on top my desk 
rope over a beam 
postman knocked three times
there is hope
a letter
a publisher has sent me a letter
I open it and laughed
it is another rejection
something about my spelling 
lack of punctuation and commas 
the publisher
used to be a teacher

Refusal To Pay

My cries of forgiveness 
And painful regret
My sins of the flesh 
You could never forget

I begged your forgiveness 
For so many years
But the louder my heart shouted 
It fell on deaf ears

You fed off my misery 
And thirsted for my pain
But I saw in your face
All was in vain

So no more will I suffer, 
beg or repent
You sucked my emotions dry 
and my patience is spent.

But my resolve is much stronger 
And I cast you away
My hurting is over 
I no longer shall stay

The price for your forgiveness 
I see is my soul
Escape from your torture 
Is now my life’s goal
 
I’m through with your lies 
And belittling ways 
I choose a new life
And I choose not to pay

Refusal

I embrace the dark as my own
Where shadows pale and absent light
Threads of time never sewn
Like the sun to never meet but a single night

And travelers grow but weary
Drifters sought for homes to stay
Evermore to never be constantly
Have I not yearn but a single day?

Out of phase, out of place
Everywhere is but nowhere all at once
Illusions and dreams, never again to chase
Have I a light from darkness to be given chance?

Allow me to refuse for a moment’s pause
If all shall disregard in kind
It is but treasured because its lost
That of missing, perhaps anew shall promise find

From light... was darkness my own?
Shadows but all eluding from sight
Time found, never promised home
And I see the sun absent shadowy night

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