I hate my thoughts, my mind ain’t alright,
It’s a freaking battle and i'm losing the fight.
I can’t change my past, or the mistakes that I've made,
Whenever I make progress, it all starts to fade.
My insecurities are bigger than me, they take over my mind,
I overthink everything, and I become blind..
Blind to reality, so I give into temptation,
but then i keep going because my kids are my motivation.
I get sidetracked so easily, I don't get things done,
I overwhelm myself, before I've even begun.
I have no agency, I can't choose anymore,
I'm a slave to my addiction, that keeps me wanting more.
It’s a never ending cycle, that i need to break,
I already know the steps that I need to take.
I just need the strength that only God can give,
I wanna keep trying, because I wanna live.
The essence in us is the same as the essence of the sun
Cast to be found and displaced
stake and brave to a common bound
new to a four-point barrel of rolls
because me this search point opening
bumper speed as slow to show eternal
for they came brain to some knowledge
In inspired to college for they are acknowledged
to brave and creep lot and low in each
believe and see us fetch for they are gone
let us see your heart at our neck
so, believe a person outside but won't chief
food of support bait on the court
range to a bird that is frowned abound
girl is spins above order just and open
sidetracked or railroad tracks
walk a pound trail of Bizzle and God
rapper of obtention or complete mindless
nation wise and starting writing to best
space minds earth higher combine special gifts......
I was going to become a teacher
I thought it was my calling
I was young and thought it best
to go to university straight out of high school
before I'd go to teachers' college
Well... things did not go as planned
for better or for worse, who knows
I got sidetracked ended up taking a job
education got shelved for longer than expected
So I worked and launched a modest career
No guidance maybe no brains ~ who knows
But in the end I realized the truth ~
if you don't choose, life chooses for you
Go for your dreams or risk living with regrets
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Is this a lie?
Do you believe the truth, in fact?
Is this a lie?
Substantially, you do belie
the whale of a tale is fact-packed.
The honest truth can be sidetracked.
Is this a lie?
Forever putting things down.
Glasses,
Books,
And pens.
Never able to find again.
Sidetracked around the house.
Lost in thoughts.
Starting to complete a search of a room,
Forgetting why I went in so soon.
Not attending to a thing.
Glasses,
Books,
And pens.
Until I need those again.
Next the start,
Of recalling it all.
Where I've been,
What I saw.
And when.
A clue is always nice.
Usually find if I look in same place twice.
Glasses,
Books,
And pens.
Walking a mile in these shoes, Some of
us say it's learnt behaviors and that one
becomes accustomed to treading
through these life's interferences of
one's decrees.
Walk a mile in these shoes, Some shoes
are a little imperfect, some a bit too
small, some tight, some too big, some
just fit perfectly, the walks may often are
long, winding ups and downs walk a
mile in these shoes, crystal stairs
these shoes never walked upon. Life's
lessons oftentimes seemed Cloudy,
Sidetracked, full of flags of judgment
often waved towards me.
Gossip, Slander, staring at a barrel of
a gun placed upon my temple, violated.
Loss of loved ones, sadness, depression
now overwhelms me walk a mile in
these shoes.
Healing is a life-long process walk a
mile in these shoes.
I consider myself a technologically savvy old geezer. With a simple utterance of “Hey Google, show me cute puppy videos” my world is filled with hours of mindless entertainment. I can do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linked-In about as well as any old-fashioned Neanderthal. With all this modern-day technology at my fingertips you’d think my need for paper and pen would be overcome. Not true. All this technology represents the one thing that destroys my creativity. ‘DISTRACTIONS’. Maybe it’s the fact that a pen or a pencil can only do one thing. Transfer my thoughts to paper. No puppies sliding down a snow-covered hill, what’s the weather in Outer Mongolia, or share this photo and God will send you money. There is just me, a pencil and a clean sheet of paper. Nothing creates inspiration more than a sharp Ticonderoga #2 pencil or a fine point red stick pen. Or maybe it’s just that my addled old brain gets so easily sidetracked by shiny baubles.
We shall overcome
unless we’re distracted first—
Oooh cute baby goats
True happiness
By Michelle Morris
27/01/2024
True happiness is rare
For humans are eternally striving
Getting sidetracked by the shallow
When we should rather focus on mindfulness
True happiness is possible
For each and every soul
When we embrace our perfect selves
When we heal and become truly whole
True happiness is found
In the end of an ending
In the beginning of a beginning
Understanding the space-time continuum
True happiness is not artificial
Or the false bliss of chemical suggestion
It is in every single moment
We can enjoy life's imperfections
True happiness is real connection
With ourselves and other souls
Beyond national borders and cultures
Accepting everyone has a role
True happiness is beyond limits
Thinking outside the boxes they use
For everyone is unique and needed
To make this Universe perfectly attuned
True happiness is our destiny
If we can become authentic creatures
Show our majestic sparkles and magic
Create a Utopian kind of Eden
© Michelle Morris, 2024
I had a firm plan. The first three steps were sidetracked.
Mismanaged, mishandled, they blew up.
I am flexible. I went another direction, trying to prevail.
Wanting my original plan.
It did not happen.
I changed my plan a tiny bit, not willing to give it up yet.
God threw roadblocks, accidents, and mountains in my path.
Irritated, I began to pray for my own plan.
I was determined to get my way and I begged Him to give it to me.
The answer was no.
It took me a long time to realize it and give it up.
I was discouraged and unhappy.
Not willing to go in a completely different direction.
But alas, the path was out of my hands
As was the plan He had for me.
I went into this God plan kicking and screaming.
It was never my plan; it was His plan.
Weirdly enough, it ended up being the best plan of all.
I know this because I had twenty jobs before I found my career.
I think the career I had planned would have never enticed me like this one.
Pause...
Inhale. Exhale...
You can't undo things that have been already done.
You can't make decisions when they don't make a sound.
You can't turn back when you're already there...
You can't surpass time without feeling despair.
I can't just stop thinking like this.
What is life going to be?
Taking two roads at a time, will it be blissful and free?
I was trying to be rightful taking my own place.
But that didn't work!
I shut my good pace.
If there will only be time to allow me to take a few steps backward,
I'd like to recreate and keep moving towards...
I'm on the other side of the road, sidetracked and inflicted.
What will it be if I'll take the other?
Will it make a difference?
The art of decision-making mesmerized me!
It gave me a picture of myself but that isn't something that I want to be. Dignified and strong, is this how I was made of?
But I wish to be more! Something that I ever dreamed of.
Lei Strauss, 2020
Captivated by the flesh
never reaching the buried spirit
captured deep within.
Looking for trust; we are sidetracked by lust.
First, look into the whites of their eyes,
watch their smile, measure their laughter.
For then you shall find what you truly seek.
Smell, the freshness of innocent breath.
And know assuredly
That hate, and selfishness has not
calcified their hearts.
Recognize lust as ignorance,
that ignores spiritual wisdom
and taints the mind with deceit.
As we seek the soul, we are sometimes
captivated by the flesh.
Never reaching the buried spirit
captured deep within.
Be guided not by the glitter,
but let the love of righteousness be your bow…
Aim your arrow STRAIGHT toward the soft marrow of the soul.
If to know true love is your aim, and spiritual peace be your goal.
Communication
Talking, Singing, Dancing,
Writing, Drawing, Praying,
Signing, Listening, Seeing,
Reading, Cooing, Touching,
Bridges in a list few,
That allow One to Two.
Or Expansion of One,
If the Ability to Be Common,
Is Ever Shrunk, Compromised,
The Feelings Become Numb,
We are Un-Mistakenly Downsized!
Laryngitis, Soundless, Sightless,
Senseless, Absence of Hand-Eye 'Ation,
Robs Togetherness, Socialization,
Leaves Us Cast Out of the Nest,
Pilfers the Spirit of Essence,
Drastically Diminished & Lessened,
But Perhaps the Worst Singleness,
Is to be Alone in a Crowd,
Where They Choose Their Game,
Foreignly, Ours is Not the Same,
Then, Sidetracked On Our Own,
We Grow in Dishes Petri,
Rhythmically Communicating Poetry,
Layered Verse Reaffirming Terse,
Each Syncopation a Prayer,
Gratitude Individually Communed,
Catalyzing December to June!
not
walking
in my sleep
but
waking
i take a pee
and
making
my way back
to bed
intending
but instead
get
sidetracked
a very horrible accident
The eagle landed and proudly placed a feather.
Into the cool, silent lunar sand.
Man hasn't been back in a long time.
It's a difficult and expensive journey.
People become bored with repetition.
Funding dips- starships explode.
Governments get sidetracked by oil and war.
Mars is our new mistress.
An icy redhead, skulls tattooed on her chest.
We want to tempt gravity again.
Plant rows of corn and humanity
Swirl our toes in the cold red sand.
But Mars is nothing but a stepmother.
Uninviting, with a starry cold face.
She'll never provide warmth or much of anything.
But what about Mother Earth?
Our beautiful blue-eyed mother
Garnished with evergreen and water.
Miracles of life around every bend.
Providing everything for her selfish
pigheaded, war children.
Forever the faithful guardian.
What about Mother Earth!
Last January, winter lost it's chill
By May the summer's sun had turned me brown
I watch the leaves late August, change at will
Time's speeding up or am I slowing down?
It brings to mind, a boy, which I once knew
While young, he put a dream up on a shelf
It sat there many years. Oh, how time flew.
While he got sidetracked searching for himself
And then one day while sitting in a swing
His body tired, each passing year a mile
With autumn closing in, he thought of spring
And how time turned his dream into a smile
How quickly through the glass our trickling sand
One day a boy, the next, a tired old man.
by Daniel Turner
Sub Categories
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.