Many things
exist beyond
never
truly known
Every night
I die asleep
in dreams
left unatoned
Waking up
the weight’s still there
each breath
in labor bound
As voices live
within my ear
answers
— still unfound
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Soulless
Dissected
A heart turning back
Jilted
Rejected
Last stab in the back
Mourning
New morning
The day unatoned
Nighttime
The verdict
Whose sentence disowns
Lovers
And lizards
The swamp but the same
Feeding
On hunger
Starvation the game
Cursing
each blessing
with heartache reset
Dying
While living
— new tears wait unwept
(The New Room: January, 2024)
Nothing
can be its own explanation
Nothing
can leave itself
Nothing
can give dimension to time
Nothing
unsaid is spelt
Nothing
is nothing till something becomes
Nothing
a word unatoned
Nothing
that last page of unwritten rhyme
Nothing
—a temptress unknown
(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)
Seeking the right answers
to all the wrong questions
The knife edge resharpens
the danger rehoned
Seeking the right answers
for all the wrong reasons
The rumors refester
—all truth unatoned
(Dreamsleep: December, 2022)
adrift in the cosmos
a vagabond world
haunted betimes
eternally cursed
for unatoned crimes
The lack of humanity
drives zero-sum
Away from each other
a darkening sun
What science explains
its methods conceal
Frustration attacks
lost cogs on the wheel
Desperation in charge
its point ever sharp
To pierce into nothing
but leaving its mark
That human about us
left bare unatoned
Quantifying our passion
—stripped clean to the bone
(St. David’s Pennsylvania: January, 2021)
I swallowed hard the feelings scorned,
to finish off my plate
But filled I was in sated form
a glutton postulate
I bit off more than I could chew,
with meat still on the bone
My stomach full of fiery barbs
—leftovers unatoned
(Villanova University: January, 2020)
M and M ...
bitter chocolate Exodus groaning
Desert vile hope
melting in the fetter-free hands
Wilderness wandering lust ... Egyptian longing
Some wanting to shortly shackle return
to the chains of long captivity
Be slave pawns in Pharaoh’s wicked plans,
such a reprobate pity
M and M
death yearnings —
The Living God,
those err tomb walkers chose to withstand
Murmuring ...
desiring evil, carnal things
Muttering ...
hatred for the daily, manna offering
M and M
Brash Luciferin arm unatoned,
vocal stones
hidden hand thrown
Cast angrily without any godly fear,
the fiery serpent
bit the deaf complainers in the ear
M and M ...
dark chocolate moaning
Godless cries drowning
in the desert sea
The Rock turned the dry land
into miry sand
Quickly
putting the sinking souls
in the smoldering place
they beggarly wanted to be
The stars that glimmer most,
Are the stars often mistaken for stones
For they are not stones-
They are monuments of those past,
Who have worked to the bone,
For masterment and marvel,
For love unatoned.
Never I felt so alone, as this night
that I lie here in fright
Passing on
Unabashed- unatoned
miles from home- THEY'RE GONE!
Empty….scattered…..Strawn
Shouldn't have run that red light, it was wrong
Now my family's gone
Souls have flown
with a flash- and a moan
quickly thrown- like stones
wind shield….. Crushing…..bone
Just one last drink I had said- wryly smiled
She was right- she was riled
All the while
I held fast- and I smiled
defense -and denial
Words….so vainly….. styled
She'd accepted with trust- always did
Love, protect- her, the kids
What I did
Braked and skid- as we slid
we flipped- the tree hit
White oak-….ripped….- and split
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.