Rigor Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Rigor

I held his hand, cold as ice
I held his gaze, fixed as ice
I held his heart, stiff as ice
I held his guts, pale as ice
I held his hair, thin as frost
I ripped it off
I held his hand

Young

YOUNG
Young and strong and full of vigor
So proud to answer the call
Crisp new uniform 
Standing sharp and tall
Solemn with intent
To serve for one and all
His country and comrades
He bravely manned the wall
To stand against the bitter foe
And endure war’s awful squall
With valor and service true
Til the fateful fall
Then home again and still young
But only full of rigor

Rigor

That is one thing about rigor:
It can Intact Man disfigure;
Like a cell phone reconfigure 
The Stout left A Sorry Figure…

You won’t yourself in public show;
Not a new thing in you did grow; 
Slaving at a task “Your New Foe”
Hours taking to turn a toe!

It’s a big stab from stretched rigor:
It leaves not the same one’s Vigor:
I used to know a strong Igor,
Not dead before stripped of vigor…

Some men it’d enveloped in dust.
Good pipes now struggling with rust;
You don’t energy drink dismiss
 Nor caffeine you can handle miss.


1986 Rigor Vita

i know i will live beyond these weird moments
but I was cleaning the attic after the furious wind
when I found and caressed your crumpled photo

thought I was gradually forgetting you
the drunken cars and the rising sun
on that beach that won't come back

funny that this is the same wind
that took the love that would save us...
looks like he took the opportunity
and brought the hate that now seems to dominate...
the wind is taking everything
I looked where we left our smiles
but there was just a sign that said dead end

Rigor

Rigor
 
The pond in the village had a film of ice
and the snow under the elm tree had the aroma of 
roasted nuts and sweet honey 
there were no old women in the village they had been
melted into lard, and old men were salted and put in barrels
they would last for years.
It was a place where survivors live and to do that one had 
not to eat your own new-born.
Cabbage and carrots and the spindly arms of old men
Kept the village alive while bankers skiing in the Alps 
The British full of discontent waited for the US 
To rescue them Anglophone, never mind the rest.
The old hatred between the French and the Germans
Was making Europe healthy again with Belgium and
Holland with costmary cowardice sided with all

The Rigor of a Long Journey

My bom bom pains me
In hurts very deep in a silent mode
And all luxury leads to no cozy
Cause, I’m beaten very hard by my subordinate

Am tired of this marathon to an endless road
The long awaited destination of no approach
The unreachable Canaan land
For a virtuous land, who can find?

Still, unimaginable heating thorns bake my ass 
Into a piece of cake
And my knees jerk 
In the presence of no stimulus

I wonder when this Canaan land shall be reached
And the heating thorns kissed off my crying ass


Rigor Mortis - Tanka

my death is so slow!...
its footsteps mark my seconds,
its breath veils my heart...
behold, with its frozen eyes
has touched the words between us...

Rigor Mortis

The Madness Continues

Rigid as steel he sleeps, stiff and lifeless,  
Inert, a shell of a man who liked to laugh.  
Gone through the valley of death him who   
Once was filled with much capacity to love.  
Rest in peace, brother, whoever you are.   

More of the same will most certainly ensue      
Out in the harsh, unforgiving desert sands.
Rue the day when leaders set forth agenda  
To pursue wily enemies with phantom WMD.   
In the mortuary a chaplain kneels in prayer,
Soldier takes his last, long journey home.

Rigor Mortis

I must have died,
but when -- I don't recall.
Some year, some day,
some crucial moment
came and went unnoticed,
upstaged, perhaps,
by a grocery list
or too-tight shoes.
A quiet time later, though,
when the world was out to lunch,
I thought of you -- 
and nothing happened.
No sprangling pain
felt keenest in the palms,
no paucity of breath,
no gallop in the veins.
Instead -- surprise,
a leaning toward regret,
then numbness all.
Still, I might a Lazarus prove
to word of yours -- 
but lacking that,
what wants of dying now
is just the public part.

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.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace