Short Unwhole Poems

Look beyond this thick façade,
You'll find four seasons in my soul,
But take away a piece of Winter
And you'll leave me cut, unwhole....

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On the zig zag zenith
we will polarize
the camps between us
who don't realize
the gullible draft
of the patient soul
complacent idols
we will leave  unwhole....

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My mind is leaden with the crush 
     of pain—a numbness of the soul
that's not an adrenaline rush;
     but leaves me feeling yet unwhole.
Unwhole! Unwhole! And afflicted.
How goes this night unpredicted!?...

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Rivers run from the corners of his eyes,
Heavy currents ramping over high cheeks.
No longer present is the stoic guise,
Evidence of a broken heart from deep within it leaks.

Windows of a beaten soul,
Once distinctly opaque.
Now, a heavy broken heart that's unwhole,
Barely standing is a man who has felt a heartquake....

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I see inside, look to my soul
And know that I am still unwhole
I see inside, perceive my mind
And, lost, I know I'll never find

The truth that lies, a crystal tear
Inside the sea of all my fear
A perfect prism, known in night
Nor clear nor colored to the sight

I view into my soul
As words would fill a hole
I know my heart. My mind
Is what I'll never find...

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Sisyphus’ Silence

I sit, a silent, carved-out zone,

A soul entrapped, unlit, unwhole,

The majority’s tide grinds flesh to bone,

While others’ feelings wallow, roll

In mud that clings, a river’s drone.

Sisyphus slumps at mountain’s base,

Scowls at the stone, then dares a smile,

“Nevermore” hums through empty space,

The gods, once loud, now mute, exiled....

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Listen to poem:

marooned -- unwhole as i am
a piece of me missing
adrift in its emptiness
throbbing in angst

furious at the impending silence
yet clinging to it like i never want it to lift
hovering in limbo -- life being too short
to be caught in this game of catch-22



AP: Honorable Mention 2023

Submitted on March 23, 2023 for contest A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE sponsored by BRIAN STRAND...

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Dear moon child, 

Shining in the darkness, you’ve always had to be
Facing every struggle and turmoil, constant calamity
Your light so evident in the darkest of hour
Beauty that blossoms, fulfilled like a flower

For even when unwhole, you light up the night
Never failing to appear, such a lunar sight
Divine moon child, keep on standing strong
When you come into yourself, you can do no wrong...

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A father ails, a son's lover's lament
Steel rudders committed, what hues to lament.

No courage, the lover feels not what to speak
A channel untuned to the feast of lament.

Tradesmen and saints, what heed they at all?
The father feigns slumber, a weak heart's lament.

The lover replaced, made a crater unwhole
His plea unreturned, an unpromised lament.

One tender father, one lover's fair bones
Their son and companion, shared in lament....

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You take away what isn't yours
Treat all your lovers like your whores
Gain the trust of the innocent
Violate them til you're spent

That holy gift so very pure
A gift you simply took as yours
Leave them broken with no cure
Captain Vanisher

In five minutes you were done
A gift she could only give to one
It meant everything to her
But you didn't care, I'm sure

I only wish that you could know
Rendering all you see unwhole
To injure you like you did her
Captain Vanisher...

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A Victim is what it is...
Torn apart and unwhole
Feeling helpless and all alone.
Looking over one's shoulder
Never to know...
To run to hide one knows not where.
Is he here or is he there?
This stalker of the night...
I feel his presence,
I see him not.
I know he's there lurking in the night.
Is there justice in the land?
Cries the victim of the night.
As the night fades away
And the dawn turns to light
The victim still knows
He's just waiting for the night....

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