Scalding Poems | Examples

I Want that World

Her throat is a reliquary of shards.
Every sob races through burial yards.
Her words erupt.

Surgeons laced her scars not the stare.
Scalding eyes ignited the trauma's flare.
Sympathy was bankrupt.

Someone baptized her in venom
the spit of patriarchy, cold and solemn.
Faith turned abrupt.

Sold over counters like candy for cowards
Hurled like rosewater, laced with hazards.
A love-rage concept.
She didn’t get strong but radioactive
Unceasingly culprit and the captive.
Conscience stayed corrupt.

Law wore stilettoes for penance
Verdict tiptoed through violence.
Mercy collapsed disrupt.

Tourists of virtue post flash ads.
Empathy filters through grief pads
Healing cycles interrupt.

"An eye for an will make the world blind"
I want that world..
where no one sees a face and think its mine,
where no one falls in love and claims it like land.

Let blindness bloom in the rocky terrain of laws,
where suffering is measured in grams and minutes.

JULY SEARING SWELTERING--

JULY SEARING SWELTERING


Heated hot placement boils torrid;
Desert a blazed atomic fire;
Summer hot breath balmy pungent;
Searing aromatic spiced boils;
~

Summery canicular toasty;
Seething is fervent fiery;
Heated hot placement boils torrid;
Summer hot breath balmy pungent;
~
In this muggy sizzling fervid
Scalding warm glowing July day


7/30/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2025©

Volcanic Eruption Of The Soul

Unmet expectations strike hard,
hurting where they languish long.
Unkept promises are blows earned,
hitting where they find no resistance.
Unkind words are slashes harsh,
ripping through the calm conscience.

The dormant volcano within the soul 
then gets the upsurge of melted psychic mantle 
in the crust of brittle tolerance,
that collapses in the caldera cradling the vent, 
reaching the magma chamber in the core.

The soul erupts the lava in the wild,
burns the gentle patience as it flows.
Uncontrolled, it blazes the heart, 
undowsed, it singes the sane senses.
The smoke billows up thick and intense,
clouds the deranged essence.
Words rise like Sphinx from the toxic ashes,
perish the patient face of mental restraint.

The flame surges in the stream of neurons,
no longer the carrier of conformist signals.
From the volcanic inferno of the soul
the erupted fiery lava called anger flows
in the torrents of blistering words,
scalding whatever comes in the way,
blazing a furrow for the reticent life.

Ode to Beer

O’ fluid friend,—
			 —O’ liquid lover, please
embrace me, soothe my sootheless, stranded soul—,
										       —caress my restless thoughts, and set them still.—
O’ sap of spirit,—  
			   —sweet sip of ambrose!

O’ potent potion,—
			     —O’ magic mixture, daze
me, dazzle me, nuzzle me, numb my frill
fringes	|— 								       —|		      Droll Dame, find me a drooling fool.—
O’ nectar of the night,—
				      —dose me for a doze…

Keep me cohere,nt and comp,osed—‘sxcu,se me—
I’m stumblin’ on your slippy words,(I meant
mine,—ours?)and now you sweep me to the flo,or.
…
O’ fluke of fortune!, wicked whiskey’s woe!,
why wrong you me thus?, morn’s scalding sun askant
breaks blaring through my window,—	 head —  aches   —    …sore.

sugarcoat

chunks of dirt mingle with the bread.
cinnamon wafting in the wind.
a house of sugary bliss,
a promising deal of sweet paradise.

shoveling savories like a last meal--
bellies rising like dough,

suddenly shoved into a scalding scene.
outsides on fire,
insides igniting--
charred little children, 
burnt sugar lingering on their tongues.

But You've Heard All This Before

     She fell into his arms, so sweet
     He swept her off her glass-slippered feet
        But you’ve heard all this before

     They climbed into a golden carriage
     Where he took her hand, proposing marriage
        But you’ve heard all this before

     Kissing madly, their quivering lips so wet
     They rode off into the summer sunset  
        ~ Scalding their tushies to ash

Venom

I’m stranded in the desert,
Nowhere to run but through miles and miles of hot sand,
Nowhere to hide,
Yet I still look for shelter.
The hot sun beats on my back,
I feel myself burning,
And as soon as I take one more step,
I feel something under my burnt foot.
A violent hiss,
As if water touches a scalding pan,
I look down,
And I’m greeted with a coiled up serpent.
A shade of brown like that of dark chocolate,
Diamonds line its back,
Each one different from the last,
With two gleaming fangs.
I run for the hills,
Faster than I’ve ever run before,
I run and run and run,
And I finally escape the threat.
I bend down to catch my breath,
And I see the sand move under my feet,
A scorpion crawls out,
And 4 more follow.
They’re trying to sting me,
So I start running again,
The sun starts to set,
And I escape yet again.
As I lay my bruised and sore body down,
I hear a sound in the distance,
An owl sings a loud song,
And I know that I’m safe.

Americano

"Americano"

filter-dripped
watered down
weak coffee

artificial

the mood 
steaming diluted
swings lower, unfilling;

the wanting
lusciously dark
hot to the tongue

more rapid 
complex in richness 
animated 

scalding and sharp

Expresso
piercing arrow 
shoots straight to the heart.



Candide Diderot. ‘25

to hours

break and believe
in faith i dismiss, tree
though i exit
begone, and more
hide, in front of fair
let fall the tasting of me
blind is your loving waste
i'll be giant and brief
callousing the freckle you beg
did she get some off of you
casually?
did my decrepit posture run in cinders?
i have know in lies spiteful choicing you
that exit is only for the snakes sanity
she swam to the sleep longing for the sky
be leafs and fluster the scalding day for weakness
sing naught only become weaker fanning lessons
tree tops creek as billowing shame of you next
of you next, none have to know
where you dismissed life
none will follow, all are gone

Hard Loving Woman

She was a hard woman to love
She was the type to hold a grudge
Her tongue could cut like a razor
Cut to the quick, full of danger
She'd carve you up, make your heart bleed
Then smile so sweet, with eyes that plead
You would forgive her every deed

Her beauty was that of legend
Female form carved from heaven
When she'd walk by you had to stare
Graceful movement beyond compare
Her disposition hard and mean
She'd scorch you with her hateful scheme's
Turning from love to scalding steam

Kitschy-Kitschy-Coo

   Mona Lisa’s crooked smile	
      on a half-crushed Campbell’s Soup can

   Joe Dimaggio reciting his pronouns uneasily 
      then lowering his batting hand
         into a scalding hot cup 
             of ‘Mr. Coffee’

    Where have you gone, Mrs. Robinson?
       Where else? to the bathroom
             ~ Hemorrhoids again

    Barney Fife whittling Andy’s image to
       sawdust with a rusty pocket-knife
          -- contracting tetanus in the process        

    Andy Warhol grinning madly as the 
       word ‘culture’ is finally eliminated
          from America’s lexicon


    ~ All hail to pink, plastic flamingoes! ~

Fire In The Tongue

Unkept promises are hard blows
that hit the psyche unexpecting.
Unkind words are harsh slashes
that rip through the essence undeserving.

The mind becomes the fire in the wild,
burns the gentle patience as it flares.
Uncontrolled, it boils the blood,
undowsed, it singes the sane senses.

The scorching words stoke the fire,
the smoke billows up thick and intense,
clouds the disbalanced conscience.
Words rise like Sphinx from toxic ashes,
perish the patient face of restraint.

The flame surges in the stream of neurons,
no longer the carrier of forgiveness signals.
The mind turns into volcanic inferno,
erupting fiery lava called anger to flow
in torrents of blistering apathy,
scalding whatever comes in the way,
blazes a furrow in the timid life.

six ghoulish goblins go trick or treating

six ghoulish goblins glowing in the dark
one of them suggests a Halloween lark
painting crazy faces on jack-o-lanterns in the road.
a witch goes crazy; one turns into a loud toad.

another ghoulish goblin chases the witch away.
She has run out of spells and screams along the way.
black cat dances past them carrying a scalding pot.
wearing huge kitchen mitts, just like he ought.

five ghoulish goblins go out to trick or treat.
No one screams tonight as they go down the street.
On Halloween everyone looks spooky like a creep.
Tasty newfound candy lulls five ghoulish goblins to sleep.

Walks and Dishes

Dishes are piling.
I go on a walk, instead.
It rains, but…
It can’t hurt me, like the scalding water from the sink..
Watching puddles grow.
Worrying.
If I wait long enough, maybe the dishes will disappear.
If I wait long enough, maybe my house will disappear.
But dishes are always there.
They say walks are healthy.
And chores too.
I go back home, to bed.
I hate going outside.
I hate the dishes too.

Winter Bear

NA poetry contest
Sponsor: Ink Empress
3rd Place.

The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you ~ Rumi

To me, you were 
my youth.	

The remainder of my childhood dreams, 
the obscure smiles of benign warmth
the gentle whispers to a tear so meek
the flower bed veiling a breathing corpse.

And I had seen cruel strife
Trees of shade being cut off
Sipping the blues drained of life, 
I bore the scars of alabaster loss.

And I was told miracles exist
but people who get them don’t prevail
you lifted me so, I insist
painted my days, thawed my scalding maze

Stringent change left my cries muffled
I was just running, regretting the passing days
But you changed how I saw the world
let me pause, if not stop my ways

You made the skies live
you gave rain meaning.
You made winds breathe
you gave me meaning.

And I-
Loved.

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