Tragic Flaw Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Carpe Diem

"Only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'twas always thus and always thus will be."
Carpe Diem. 
Nothing more than false hope and the possibility it promises, as real as, cars of sand. 
A call to act on boundless ambition inspires the populus, 
however, 
let you be reminded it is the same "tragic flaw" of hubris that has caused the demise of many men. 

Ambition caused Icarus to fly to close to the sun, 
he found the reality of Carpe Solem. 
Perhaps, same way man shall find the reality of Carpe Diem.

Painful Scar

By just one count, an awful miss 
Just like a drifted flying kiss
A million dollar prize in draw 
A one count miss like tragic flaw 

A lifetime spent for that one chance 
To have a taste of its sweet glance 
But playful hand of destiny 
Brought painful scar in memory 

Like one point miss in crucial game 
That forever tainted one's name 
A dream fell short by just one mark 
That lost the glimmer of its spark

Corona

sad faces and hearts
feeling useless and helpless...

what art thou? 
strange foe 
visceral show
from top to toe
open jaw
on the death raw

why bro?
shaking hearts and so
oh no
how do we know?

you are not that slow
you are fast to blow
body and soul
unforgettable
irreversible
sudden and swift sword
under one law
reaping at high score
catching a tragic flaw
just go
enough we saw
of a broken vow

oh... what a scary picture to draw!


To Fight Or To Flight

Out of his options: to fight or to flight, 
He chose, as any tragic hero does, to fight,
To fiercely fight, taking fighting as right
Act, to escape from cold, dreadful plight.

This man had, as any other, a tragic flaw, 
That turned his life to a puzzle — jigsaw;
Fingers’ tightness did draw his eyebrow,
While many had mirth in this tragic show.  

He battled in exams with pen, his sword,	
Which idly flew in air, making him bored,
But he fiercely did fight with his tool — wit, 
Never quitting the fight, nor being a misfit.

His pouring tears turned to a festive smile, 
And his sterile heart turned to a land, fertile.


*A 3rd Place* in the following contest (judged on Oct. 15, 2020)

Oct. 12, 2020
Will to Survive Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Silent One

Call

By Laura Dee
October 27, 2014

Echoes answer my call to arms
This majesty I couldn't harm
Maybe that's my tragic flaw
I never killed my dated laws

I cannot flex until I break
I'm doomed to repeat my mistakes
Feels so hopeless underground
Desperately escape the sound

Though my laughter may contend
Pass me by my fleeting friends
It gets me through the worst of days
Forgetting what I gave away

I drown it out when I'm alone
Days I won't pick up the phone
I'm stuck in here with all I know
Seems my wheels are just for show

Trapped and alone, this chaos within
It's hard to say where I begin
So leave the lights, I am the night
Please save me from my tainted sight

I pray one day this madness will seem
The faded ghost of a really bad dream
Until that day, I'm numbing the pain
Still figuring out if I'm going insane

I'm not your brother
I'm not your son
So don't call my name
It'll never be the same again

A David For David Contest

A DAVID FOR DAVID

Long ago there lived a man--
King David, poet, ruled a  land
As a singer showed his heart
As a warrior played his part
Tried to follow God’s great law
But he had a tragic flaw
Stole a woman for his wife
Took her gallant husband’s life
Cried out in the dead of night
For regret--- that was his plight
Whether love was right or wrong
Bathsheba was his heart's love-song


Cry Only For Those Who Cannot Hear You

The wind did stir the thought in kind wanting - for if she knew my soul, just a spark 
of it, I would be a rich man...

So long this ribbon of love that flows over the rocks of age and distant torment...
The gate keepers sit alone watching, waiting for the violators who dare not call 
mundane theirs...

It is those shackles which bind misguided dreams that which make fertile ground for 
the barkers at the door, for what else does one need to grey the vision and dull 
delight?

You carry the scent of the well-traveled said the withered old man - I too know your 
pain, that which comes from never knowing home - those of us who seek blindly 
that which the world cannot give - home is not a place but a thought in time and 
nothing more than a stop to rest your ambition...

Cry only for only those who cannot hear you, for it is selfish to do otherwise and 
seek home in the gentle embraces of those that know you...

Be kind to those who would bite you, for in doing so it will bring light to a dark path...

AND

Always rejoice in life - it pisses them off and helps them to see the tragic flaw of 
their diluted beliefs...

The Tale of Snowman

“Oh Snowman!” sing the children-birds,
“For what reason are you astray?”
He’d put some care into his words.
Who cares what snowmen have to say?

He’d long been keeping up his trade
Of mangling words where truths apply.
But well he knows in this charade
That half the truth is not a lie.

He has no friends or next of kin,
His wisdom wasted on the trees.
His words are lost like nectar in
A world devoid of honeybees.

A bachelor to ardor’s flame
Forsaken by a tragic flaw.
The green-eyed youths know not his name,
And never gazed at snow with awe.

His history’s a fable now.
Much like the ones he’d once unveil.
But never will it die, I vow;
For I have heard his tragic tale.

Man

The evolutionary advantage, and tragic flaw of man,
is the weight and scope of his own thought span;

No Intend Offend; Intend Ascend

High-frequency T.V.'s and Mp3's-
fortune five-hundred execs 
getting high on profit specs,
and migratory bird disease.

We live in a time where
teenage single mothers still have sex,
and the majority recieve hourly checks;
we all look on with an empty stare.

Illegal plants but legal drinking;
everyone is worried about what they wear.
They say it's bull, I say it's bear.
Fast-forward movement prevents forward thinking.

Prosperous few in a prosperous nation,
good on top, but better off below.
Destruction kills but also brings re-creation;
makes it easy to see some's inspiration.
High rise towers falling to their knees,
everyone wants, but forgot how to say please.
Tragic flaw pops up to say hello;
cross-examination of moral desecration.

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.

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