I was born into fear,
All I could hear was yelling,
There was no telling what was next,
Perplexed I grew curious,
Furiously flexing i threw objects,
I knew when it got serious,
A series of events would take place,
Ending with a slap in the face,
Making me chase away the sorrow,
Until it came again tomorrow,
Borrowing peace,
Searching for a release,
Something to ease the tension,
Binding me to this dimension,
My body an extension,
My energy is in intention,
The direction set by a feeling,
Though fear is stealing the show,
Keeping me stuck in the shadows,
Being too afraid to grow,
Was keeping my energy low,
I'm letting it all go,
It's hard to do though,
Not worried if I go slow,
I know what way to go,
Throwing myself to the fears,
Born of Cosmic tears,
Created just to be here.
A bottle of water,
Bought from the store,
Could be used once,
Then thrown to the floor.
A can of soda,
From the shop,
Once used, discarded,
No need for more pop.
If I look at it,
From a point of view,
Where they don’t want many,
I could only name a few.
But alas, it is nature,
Of those who are made,
To go through the rhythms,
And all are paid.
Either through the means,
Of the cold, hard green,
Or through the senses,
Of what cannot be seen.
But alas, although,
It isn’t to harm,
It isn’t to hurt,
It isn’t a charm.
What’s done is done,
What’s happened has happened,
It gives me a feeling,
That cannot be fastened.
Inflation is a curse,
When supply exceeds demand,
The value of the product,
It is bound to fall.
It doesn’t matter,
How to customer may feel,
Utility always falls,
That can’t be appealed.
One day maybe,
The Law will fail,
But till then will my,
Insecurities prevail.
At the end of the day,
At the end of the night,
They will mean more,
And that is a fright.
Maybe these thoughts,
I deserve a slap in the face,
A punch in my gut,
It’ll put me in my place.
Silent footsteps don't make a sound
Forbidden love never to be found
I walk this lonely road astray
Hoping to find my place someday
My heart growing as cold as stone
Realizing my destiny's to be alone
Feeling loves warm embrace
To instead a stinging slap in the face
From holding one so dear
Just to lose them is my fear
Looking forward to heaven's touch
The love I know n loved so much
To lose it now is a shame
As I look into the face of my flame
Feeling the heat of burning desire
As I slowly walk through the fire
Watching the hope Ive had in the past
Turn completely into ash
SEEING FROM THE OTHER SIDE
For years, one has entertained the notion
That nations and cultures can always mix
There are customs and appearances, true
Some might close their eyes, as many do
Also their ears, as language can play tricks
Races no longer separated by any ocean
Yet integration recalibrates one’s identity
More for others to feel safe and sound
Yet difference is surely to be celebrated
Whether or not all verbs are conjugated
But gentle friction is healthy when around
Seeing people as they are and want to be
Step by step, perhaps talk over the fence
But all be aware, there’s no time to sleep
The pace at which such acceptance grows
It takes many decades, as one who knows
National cultural norms are buried deep
There is no gain in perpetuating ignorance
Learning and adjustment aren’t just words
It needs the occasional slap in the face
To recognise what passes for normality
But on further thought, is quite arbitrary
Turning away disinterested, is a disgrace
Embrace the new, mix whey with curds
Living is mocking the dead,
To dance while they rot instead,
Each breath that we take
Is a slap in the face
Cause living is mocking the dead.
Living is such a conundrum,
Every human that lives is a flawed one,
And we hardly deserve
Our time on this earth
So living is mocking the dead.
As the dead rest their bones in their caskets,
They are woken by the living’s loud racket,
And our machines scream
And we don’t stop to dream
And living is mocking the dead.
Because we live so we don’t have to die,
From cold bony fingers we pry,
Each gem and each Jewel
Bones make great fossil fuel
The living are mocking the dead.
We talk of the dead in hushed voices,
We secretly judge all their choices,
And the lessons we learn
We work hard to unturn
Living is mocking the dead.
I, too, dislike poems.
I’ve tried runes (and rampikes)
but that’s affected
rather than merely effete.
So I call them
figments.
When people query
What do you write?
at a barbecue or birthday party
I say soliloquies,
fractals,
fragments.
Self-similarities,
singularities,
sculptures (scriptures), geometric shapes and series,
three dimensional triangles, spheres
and differential equations,
fractured fairy tales,
Rocky and Bullwinkle,
rectal impactions.
On the other hand,
bits, bots, bytes
remnants, scrap, earth
gobs of phlegm in grains of sand,
shards of glass in a slice of hell,
hunks and clumps, curds and whey, sleet and pain, slap in the face
sub-atomic particles, cell organelles,
chunks of energy, cookie crumbs,
rusty trucks stuck in mud, dustings for ghosts,
just plain dumb luck, rocks, concrete, but not tweets.
The rain seems more angry today
A cold stinging slap in the face
A wake-up call perhaps
It will soon cling
Icily sharp
On the edges
Of a colder wind
Glistening branches
Tinkling
In Christmas card glitter
Shiver
As we wait
For the frightening
Flicker of the lights
And
A cold darkness.
John G. Lawless
©3/14/2023
I got this feeling,
I can't seem to shake.
Hope I didn't scare you,
My mistake.
I keep believing, to once
Again, see your face.
I know everyone thinks
I'm just a nut case.
This is real to me,
It still feels new.
I can't seem to get
Over, missing you.
Sometimes I wonder why
You don't call.
Then reality seeps in
And I remember it all.
With you gone the world
Such an ugly place.
Betrayal, lies the games,
A slap in the face.
No more sun, my world
A constant rain.
Ticket in hand, A seat
On the crazy train.
You never gave me
The chance to blink.
The look in your eyes
As you watched me sink.
I can't believe our love
Slipped from my hand.
I cannot comprehend
What I don't understand.
I'm a lost cause,
I want to escape.
Darkness surrounds me
In its invisible cape.
I'm spiraling down,
In a nose dive.
No way out,
I'm buried alive.
It is more than a tragedy,
Well, I think so.
A love gone south,
The old status quo.
Turbo1904?
This is not what we were taught in school
Fights, mayhems, police arrests and brutalities
In the soiled streets. Compatriots, it's never cool
To see so much blood and so many fatalities.
Competing banners are everywhere. A ticker-
Tape parade has gone wrong. Terror and horror
Got together for the wrong reasons, at the wrong
Place. There are too many obscenities in the song.
I am so stunned that I don't want to say too much
The images are absolutely nefarious and repugnant
This is unbelievable. America does not deserve such
A ferocious slap in the face. This is lewd and aberrant.
Copyright © October 2020, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poetry.
on this horrible day
who was born stupid with his dawn of setbacks
I remembered every scratch on the car's body
every slap in the face that life gave me
songs that don't fit well
you just clean and dirty again
that wound that doesn't heal, you know?
let's try to have a coffee
let's try to eat something, you say,
to replace vibration with warm things
by the velvety contour of momentary pleasure
but only this unprecedented discovery saves me
the amazing find
of another precipice full of words
boiling inside of me.
My generation did what we could
To make the world a better place
But sometimes for our feverish efforts
We got nothing but a slap in the face.
Weighy problems we could not solve
In spite of our many concerted efforts
So, we passed them to the next generation
To find ways to overcome our discomforts.
Overall, we improved the quality of life
Made mistakes along the way, we admit,
Some of them so far-reaching we regret
But, we did not on our laurels sit.
Your world will be different, I am guessing,
From the world that was handed to us
And while I won't be around I am certain
You'll have some thorny issues to discuss.
You won't be able to solve all the problems
Facing you in your new and strange world
Take some time to reflect on the criticisms
At us, your ancestors, you cavalierly hurled.
You won't solve all of your world's woes
Even the ones you are responsible for
But give us even a modicum of respect
And admit we triumphed over some, for sure.
written August 12, 2021
Just when one thought seeming to know,
the old slap in the face proofs its now.
Just primal miracle as answer performed,
naked forms by lovers deed adored.
Just letting nature has her way,
the essence that love is for its own joy.
Just as the principle makes a breach of law,
is to pursue that force of high ideal.
Just as the spirit of feeling is lost,
when sentiment in words by fear is tossed.
Just for the sake of hearts that yearn,
unfolding reality by attitude is the discern.
Just in the influence that controls the situation,
the hand of grace observes the continuation.
Just as the tears is forgiveness in itself,
be unashamed of soul herself.
Just to endure the pruning of heart,
putting them forward as pearl of art.
Just preferring failure understood,
to success gained by any falsehood.
Just honor those light winds blow,
towards infinite fixed stars we must go.
I sat alone in the cold dark room
I knew that he would be home soon
I really wish that people knew
how much pain I was going through
I heard a car park outside
if someone could hear me I would of cried
The door opened viciously with a thud
I would of ran for it if I could
I dream of a world where I am free
But Daddy was already looking for me
He dragged me out from under my bed
I knew he wished that I was dead
Slap in the face
Thrown against the wall
Beaten senseless
Did it help you at all?
Did it help with your pain
Did it make him come back
Did you ever wonder how it felt
To always be under attack?
So I just sit in my room
And I look at the ceiling
Afraid to tell anyone
what I'm feeling
Please help me
I can't take anymore
Suicide failed
And no body's there
Just walk away
that's what you always do
you don't care
what you put me through
I know I shouldn’t overgeneralize
So I’m not talking about every single one of you.
There’s one thing that shocks me and
I just have to spit it out and get it off my chest.
It boggles my mind and I really want to know
How did you learn to never say thank you?
Is it from being deluged with abundance
Senselessly and shamelessly since birth?
Is it from thinking it’s never enough
Or knowing inside it’s really too much?
You’re deliberately withholding and
We’re just not getting the memo.
Your silence holds an obvious message
As loud and clear as a slap in the face.
Are you bucking at this nasty habit we have
Of deciding for you what you might want
While we could just filling your pockets
With our abundance of free money?
AP: 2nd place 2020
In London, the crowds got to swoon
At a 20-foot orange balloon
Of a baby, quite plump,
Looking very like Trump
As he often appears – a buffoon.
His huge mouth is agape with a scream,
Surely spouting a foul-sounding theme
And his little hand grasps
What inspires some gasps –
That’s his phone, with its Twitter-type stream.
So the “welcome” the planners conceived
And that Londoners thereby achieved
Was a slap in the face
Bringing Donald disgrace
And the chance to see how he’s perceived.
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.