Squinted Poems | Examples

A Crimson Sky Breaks the Distant Shore

I squinted while gazing into the western skies
my attention drawn to banks where willows wept.
Twilight, a melange of magical moments in my eyes,
usually interludes when twilight colors were windswept
just before the juncture where daylight slowly faded 
and the reign between sun and moon were traded.

But tonight, "a crimson sky breaks the distant shore."
Appearing low across the horizon as if flames of fire 
or a canvas where vermillion paint fills every open pore.
Dusk glows with summer heat as shifts of light transpire.
Silently, the sun sinks, and the transfer of rule unfolds.
Trailing behind are gossamer rays of ambers and golds.

The Caterpillar

I watched a caterpillar climb a tree
Wondering why in the world not me, 
Taking it as a fortuitous sign
While seeing that poor critter climb.  

Holding my breath with squinted eyes
Thinking to myself, how very wise  
We humans are by strange design
While seeing that poor critter climb. 

Minute by minute in our eternal now
His journey and mine combined somehow,  
Over the branches and through the vines 
While seeing that poor critter climb.

Under summer skies and wandering winds 
Waiting to see where his journey ends, 
When butterfly wings suddenly spread
And that critter flies before my eyes, instead.  

© Terrell Martin, 02/09/2025

In the Cross Hairs

I stand lined up in the sights 
between black lines, 
going from left to right
going up and down, 
lines drawn as crossroads,
at the intersection point 
between chance and choice
sighted and aligned
in the cross hairs,
targeted by 
the sniper 
with squinted eyes
called
'Fate'

Two Mysterious Words

    A magic ring landed right next to me
       on it an inscription I squinted to see

    Inside a tiny heart I read my name
       when away it flew, just like it came

    So I sat me down, to try to think
       overhead, the moon seemed to wink

    And written up there, clear as a bell
       two mysterious words ~ Farewell, Isabel

Pirate Ship

     Once upon a time,
     A pirate ship came to mind.
     Large and flowing,
     With figure head all knowing.
     Leading the ship day and night,
     Into the latest pirate fight.
     Brought many a ship's crew to their knees.
     When Esmerelda held her cutlass high,
     Squinted about with her one good eye.
     The first mate squirreled,
     In a hurry,
     To turn the rudder left or right.
     Failure to obey,
     Would send the first mate to walk the plank,
     Into the sharks as he sank!

sixties cats

sleek and sneaky, stealthy too wherever they go
sixties cats crawl around sixties beatnik row
their eyes are squinted, they know where it is at
we are careful not to point out their ears are flat

they have a look only seen back in the day
they are always black, never orange, tan or gray
the sixties cats sit in sixties chairs, streamlined and fine
modern we thought back in those olden times

Sixties Cats

sleek and sneaky, stealthy too wherever they go
sixties cats crawl around sixties beatnik row
their eyes are squinted, they know where it is at
we are careful not to point out their ears are flat

they have a look only seen back in the day
they are always black, never orange, tan or gray
the sixties cats sit in sixties chairs, streamlined and fine
modern we thought back in those olden times

Disney Syllabus

Disrupted rough sea ripples shuffle
    audience anticipation
    Shift in seats, hammered hearts
    Pummel, fluffy microphone muffle
    confines communication
    To thespian garish starring parts


    Leading lady stands on X central
    scintillating stiff corset
    Holds ocean of faces transfixed
    Hushed haze of amazed attention
    long leg stride endorses
    Cancan colourful ruffled kicks


    Glitter adds amps to eyes squinted
    focus on filmed direction 
    Glow in spotlight, skin peach orange
    Sets character afloat, limelight lifted 
    dusk dim purple perfection
    Transmits her story beyond onstage

   
     Pivot pelvis razzle reactive samba 
     fast feet choreograph flawless
     Flashy features outshine backdrops
     For her love, Leading man clamours
     resounding auditorium applause
     Ensures her ego never lacks props




     
               13th June
         Theatrical Resume

Creamy-Porridge Skies

The creamy-porridge skies 
Gave us drizzle at noon 
  The sun’s drooping violet 
Palette squinted over the hills
And hid there, for the clouds 
Were annulling her will.
   
   At one the rain shifted its weight 
To white withering gloom,
With haste warmed to puddles 
Which watered the walk
Sustaining the blade’s colored 
Green-gray fluttering stalks
Which lashed in the wind 
As a whip’s cracking cord 
Snaps like lighting strikes 
Who writhe from the Lord 
With cries of agony found alone 
In those troubled with toil
And so sunk their roots 
Deep down the soggy brown soil.

   Thus, the bleak flat land 
Has been deprived of defense 
To be destroyed ‘til the freak 
Winds hush and relent.

Bye Bye Birdie

The farmer cocked his rifle and glared down upon the turkey
It wasn’t mist that made the farmyard and the turkey murky
His muddy specs and ageing eyes had made his vision blurred
And as he wiped his grimy specs he said this to the bird…

“Some folk say I ought to starve; my eyesight ain’t so hot,
But I ensured I heard the voice of everything I shot.
I bagged myself some lovely pork, you should’ve heard him oink
He hit the deck with quite a thud… his oink became a BOINK.

“My beef is fresh, as fresh as you, oh boy did that cow moo,
The racket he kicked up was like a knees-up at the zoo.
That tasty cow is gonna make a cupboard full of jerky, 
But all their oinks and all their moos ain’t gonna give me turkey.”

The farmer aimed his rifle at the poor old turkey’s head
He squinted as he muttered, “You’re my dinner so you’re dead.
So say your prayers because my shot you never will inhibit.”
But then the turkey hopped around while yelling, “Ribbit, Ribbit!”

A Summer Sight

A Summer Sight

burning white glare 
forces squinted sight ~
sons squat by pool squashing bugs


——————————————————————————————————————




Sally young eslinge
(C) June 25, 2022

Love's Waterloo

I looked at you a thousand times
before I saw you once
You never did look back at me
my vision sorely trumped

Till that one day I saw you clear
in substance and in form
But still I longed for one more look
where I still got it wrong

You’re with me now in all I say
and everything I do
Though never more than what this is…
a lovesick waterloo

I wish I could have squinted more
or glanced with just one eye
As stars misled a heart deceived 
—my fantasy belied

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

The Uncoupling

The day I left 
A true surprise
As you sat in a tub
soap suds in your eyes

I've called your mom and dad
And am going there to stay
until my mom arrives
whose currently on her way

You couldn't ,wouldn't ,believe
As you squinted through
Eyes you tried to aleve

You said ,"you know
There's no coming back,
If you decide to
Choose this track"

What burst from me
A laugh of glee
Though neither could believe it
I was finally free

After years and years
Of fighting this fight
I quietly threw in
the towel that night


While you had come to think
no level
Could you sink
that would ever have me feeling this numb

No anger,or fear
Nor holding as dear
to a place of peace
I'd succumbed

with a voice Paced and low
and devoid of dread
I looked you In the squint
And purposely said.......

Why would I ever do that ?

Problem With Cultist Emblem

Eagle-Rare is The Union,
All her members’ arms pinion, 
Not with a from-behind arm twist  
But thrills that can dare a long list …

You join her you pray to not leave,
You indiscreetly go ahead to leave,
You never cease to piteously grieve
Or emotive sighs endlessly heave. 

But please, in the open say it not:
Still on her white sheet parades a blot
And lives with a touchable problem
Singularly bought her by her cultist emblem:
A pair of squinted eyes,
Whose owners’ broad smiles are lies;
And teeth that can one stagger
Farther than an Arab’s Dagger …

And Alakara isn’t bothered about it,
Wherefore many think it is her dug pit!

Foxy Moxy and His Bride

I am in love with a real babe, Foxy Moxy said to his cousin Line.
Gabe was picturing a sensuous fox with a silver tail fluffy and fine.
You will meet her shortly, Foxy told him. She’s over by that pine.
Line squinted his eyes, but he could see no female fox sublime.

He was confused by Foxy’s declaration, where could she be?
Yonder by the tallest pine, Foxy told him. The fluffiest tree.
Goosy walked up to his cousin and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Line was astounded and gave out a growl and a squeak.

I know we are diverse, Foxy Moxy said to his favorite cousin.
But she has the heart of gold of at least ten women, maybe a dozen.
They married in May, under the pine so sweet, both of them happy.
Line kept his mouths shut, eager to see the face of grandpappy.

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