Sundered Poems

Twenty-First Century Wonder

Iridescent against sand and stone 
Lies and battle cries
California fields sundered and sterile
Networks of new wars 
Hungry feed the gas lamps and hollow 
Walls and eyes
Eye circles of influencers and titans in free fall
Self-defining nano gods rush to the cistern, dry as bone 
Breathe deep pregnant age 
Show us now our modern home 

May 24, 2025

Divorce Absolut

Divided, sundered, separated, we
Inhabit some place south of “what a shame”.
Vicariously, vodka got the blame; 
Opinionated arrogance? Scot free!
Recalcitrant? On that we can agree.
‘Comportment unbecoming’ means the same;
Establishing the language aids the game,
And if we are in perpetuity
Beholden to each other (and we are!),
Suppose we both ignore the papers signed.
Ostensibly, you’re free to use the car;
Logistics can go hang! Are you inclined -
Unless you have a better plan in mind -
To come around tonight, and raise a jar?

Served with Love

Delicate heart of mine I served silver plattered,
As I watched it get sundered and shattered,
I thought it swayed your palate gladder,
But you said it could flavor a little better.

Kintsugi

I promise you,
you are not alone
in your feelings—

the hollow ache
where they should be,
I feel it too—severed—
sundered from the mold, 
a lotus flower wilting 
in the dark. 

Let grace root itself
in the negligible cracks—
let your light spill into the 
fractures—

creating something 
new and worthy.

Blue Glow

Braving storms, push and pull piercing my 
Parched soul, while glazed in flaxen mists
Framing lingering dew drops 
Consoling my warped core, 
As I drift amidst 
Sweeping mistrals 
Calling me 
To the 
Blue 
Glow 
Of our
Ocean home,
Swaying to tides
Eclipsed by sundered
Coral sighs glistening 
Upon glossed ripples bleeding  
Devout love encompassing my 
Frigid heart, seeking the warmth of you.

Homecoming

Grief and love and wonder
Can scarce exist in so frail a place
As my fragile heart

Daughter of the Most High King
Your wick is trimmed, your lamp is full
And I am sundered, torn apart

Long together have we journeyed
O’er a road, sometimes a highway
At times, a rocky trail

O that you would not leave me
Wander boldly on ahead
Thoughts that make my courage fail

Love that’s nearly bursting
Dams beneath the eyes assailed
Watching as you breath

Would that you would stay a bit
Tarry in my arms a while
Before you leave

Wonder that He called to you
For the great adventure
To that far-off shore

Grief and love and wonder
Treasures of a life with you
Who could ask for more?

DIVORCE-

Divert I was you were, we were turnt aside, separate on spiritual, vessel side
In their mental health women often experience more negative effects
V Infidelity, arguing, infertility, and lack of commitment some of the top reasons
Official separation judicial dismissal of an assembly, partners, or official body.
Rupture breach parting sundered disjoin split dissociate
Covanant end to save our eternal soul broken no longer whole
Empty thoughts harden hearts broken miss spoken




12/4/23

A Lifetime

A rotted old house deep in the South
Was where I learned to shut my mouth
And keep my stockings high and my hems low
And take care of babies and learn to sew

And the very first thing I stitched together
Was made of cotton that had heathered
Was a pair of pants like my Papa wore
“For wearin’ ‘round the house!” my Mama swore

When I was ten I was grown enough
To wear layered dresses and shoulder puffs
To gussy up when I went out for a walk
And to court a man with dainty talk

I got old enough to leave the nest
And my Papa found one out in the west
A farmer’s boy with corn agrow
And I didn’t care enough to say no

Six babies to him I gives
Ain’t none of which who lives
I didn’t much care for them anyways
But now he works much longer days

But when he’d come home and go to bed
I’d creep around the dark farmstead
And saddle up his horse to ride
I felt like such a man astride

He done worked himself to death
On that horse he drew his last breath
The preacher offered three hundred
And my horse and I were sundered

Now as I sit, old and gray
I think about the final day
And maybe the Lord will let me be
Out of these bones and finally free.

My Destined Starlight

Soul
Breaking 
Lies whispered,
Seeking escape,
Soaked in caged deceit;
Mimes mocking withering 
Posies, left parched and sundered—
Suspended beneath obscured dusks,
Dripping amidst blinding aftermaths,
Idly shadowed by lewd scars of talons 
Amidst alcoves of echoing nocturnes 
Unshackled by your sweet afterglow, 
Healing me with the elixir 
Of our dawning horizons, 
Strumming eurythmic tunes, 
Suppressing starless 
demons, betwixt
Soul-stirring 
Destined 
Love.

Driftwood

fewer …

stars there are
in the heart of heaven
than the myriad ripples of brine that
gently placed me here -
tender tongues of tide that tossed me
and polished my bark away
shaped me smooth from jagged -
turned from beast, to beauty …
courses ago -
I was loosed from a tree
and lost to the sevens in a gale -
sundered from all I’d known
yet …
my journey was ordered
as all things are
made divine not by substance
but by ministration
and singularity …
for the universe, entire,
holds no other creation like me
the countless moments
and patient, boundless energy
that my trek required
would never have been wasted
on the unremarkable …
and though one sojourn has ended
something awaits
that is more infinite, even
than waves …
OR suns …

possibility.







Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, August 12, 2023

( photo taken 8/1/23 by Gregory R Barden, Ferry Beach, Scarborough, ME )

Pomegranate

Arid, bony-shanked carapace.
Shiny, weathered patina
tells of desolation,
Belies any promise of richness;
Yet when inverted,
Becoming regal.
A tatty, crown implies 
The ancient purport.


Tough, yet easily-torn in avarice.
Revealing, inner passion
Shrieks fecundity and blood, 
Gleams with shiny liveliness;
Yet when sundered,
Serried jewels.
A secret, inner-order shows
The abundant warrant.


Red, a study of translucence.
Deep-hued, each perfect gem 
Fades to stalk-umbilicus,
Foretells the unborn orchard;
Yet when amassed,
Bitter-sweet.
A fruitful sumptuousness gives life
The noble pomme grenate.

Broken Arrow

Some sense it
a tipping point being tilted.

You step back
into your mind's eye,
survey the present climate
sensing a dire change,
a new darker wind
stirs your thoughts.

Something went wrong,
something got too damaged.
In the stateless moment
where we were once unified
by the same dream
there is now a lack,
a narrowing of opportunities
for peace and harmony.

What you once loved and honored
is being dismantled,
its parts being carried away
by political gremlins.

The Great Divide is here
it rumbles under our feet
it pollutes the very air we share.

You want to run to the nearest hilltop
and shout:
"broken arrow, broken arrow!"

Alas ears are now blocked
and hearts sundered.

The rocking scale is off kilter
and a torn veil has fallen
from our eyes.

Dictum Dichotomy

Amulet graced by gems
clad for stratum prow

tawny glyphs
margin of witticism

& quagmire

extravagant dictum
trivialize shores trails

summer ousted
& waves of wrangles

sundered the ocean 
& swapped my spirit

in crimson burst
swirl to scatter

In demolishing ruins 
& twilight crumble 
slump of man

glittering Phoenix fire trail
scribble a cyan-xantos rhyme. 
 
bore a shallow rostrum

defective soothsayer 
haunts dreams? 

hilltops & both 
oceans & skies

cyclone of  emotions
&
lethargic sadness
soul storm mulling.

5TH Place Contest winner

Written: July 19, 2022

A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE CHOICE Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand

Mighty No More

Yet for a while, there side by side.
Her stature, stooped; he's standing tall.
Since time began, he and his bride
Upheld the realm, preserved it all.
His soul, his queen
Apart, ne'er seen.

Her end is near, eyes open wide.
He whispers dear; she hears the call.
They've shared the small; naught to confide.
Alone, bereft, awash in pall.
Scarlet, oaken
Sundered, broken

—————

For the Posie Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Emile Pinet
Written 06/01/2022

Wet Morning: Nature Does It Yet

I
Wet sky, I
Must greet morning
Rewards my eye
Flying beings swarming


II
Birds, bats, locusts?
Suddenly swarms sundered -
Sundered by Comorants
Usual places wet
None for drying
Winged variety morning
Commuting to feed
As employees do
Routines go on
Beautiful -- wet, too

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