Tortured genius
(a.k.a.)
... lucky bastard
(Septa R5: May, 2026)
We die
but once
while living
through a horror
a thousand times
We die
but once
ignoring
what our freedom
most defines
All life’s
a choice
our future claimed
when dealt
at our behest
Another
chance
to beat the dealer
the trump card
— in our vests
(Septa R5: March, 2026)
Never to discover
the limits of soul
Such is the depth
of its station
The nature of being
not what’s distilled
But what’s left
— from evaporation
(Septa R5: March, 2025)
When you have money
the world stops to listen
The content no matter
gratuity bound
The dollars indulgent
as charlatans glisten
Self-interest the mantra
— with greed to compound
(Septa R5 Train: January, 2025)
Seeing — Unseeing
the words drift away
far into the current
of what’s left to say
Passing my cortex
and into the void
where blind recognition
awaits to destroy
Familiar or foreign
once stopped in their tracks
new meaning escapes
with no looking back
The Poet’s eyes squinting
as light filters out
transcendence recaptured
ascendance remounts
Through slivering darkness
a vision appears
and mocking the order
old images clear
Those words once discarded
reform juxtaposed
through eyes resurrected
— released from the flow
(Septa R5: July, 2024)
That ulcer
in his
consciousness
bleeding
to be heard
A canker
of a
muted past
abscessing
every word
Cold sores
of detention
that fade
but never
cure
A virus
of his
hopes and dreams
recurring
— untoward
(Septa R5 Train: May, 2024)
Cotton is picked
before cloth is made
Footings poured
to support the stage
Laws enacted
before crimes take place
Love embracing
— for hearts to break
(Septa Train 30th Street: April, 2024)
Intellectual larceny
the academic elite
Immune from indictment
inured and effete
They swing their false knowledge
like weapons to maim
The truth left in ashes
— their lies to inflame
(Septa R5: February, 2024)
When born as old
then aging young
Youth before us
with laughter sung
Each day better
than one before
Sick or senile
the past absorbs
Born decrepit
our weakness shows
A mother’s milk
of hope to grow
As childhood waits
the future plays
Where years befriend
—each passing day
(Septa R5: January, 2024)
Paint in your heart
the colors symphonic
Images dancing
each note brushed with fire
Clapping and cheering
rhythmatic ovations
The prisms last opus
—concerto’s desire
(Septa R5: December, 2023)
Cultures dissected …
structured refusal
Cloistered eruptions
dearth to accept
Rising triumphant
they steal from each other
Defining their existence
—by what they reject
(Septa R5: September, 2023)
Bending a breaking point
rupturing time
Eons of history
skirting the line
Paradox native
our true D.N.A.
Truth as a concept
forever in play
Yessing and noing
transfixed in between
The jester in transit
all canons demeaned
Freeing the moment
the first wedded last
a twist to the turning
—where memory contrasts
(Septa R5 To 30th Street: August, 2023)
Tapering to a point
time pierces the veil
Unharvested moments
a gardener’s tale
Dug from the furrows
a voice has been freed
Whose final word spoken
—eternity’s seed
(Septa R5: June, 2023)
On the back side of deliverance,
our paths fated to cross
Your road going toward the light,
my direction all but lost
You stopped and turned toward me,
looking deeply in my eyes
Pity mixed with latent fear
—my fate so redefined
(Septa R5: February, 2020)
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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.