Understated Poems | Examples

I prefer Simple

simplicity cannot be understated
a persnickety word
pompous and arrogant
she puts on airs
I prefer
simple

Killick

Killick Poetry Contest // Sponsored by: Craig Cornish
( 7th Place )

Written: August 26, 2025


I never chose the burden
but life pressed stone and rope into my hands.
I lowered it into the unsettled sea,
and waited for balance to return.
The sea murmurs of leaving,
of slipping past every safe haven,
yet I stay, steady on hidden weight
gripped by the understated endurance.

Some may laugh at its rawness,
a patchwork anchor of scraps and stone
but I trust its unshaken clutch.
It does not shine,
it does not speak
yet it keeps me from dissolving.
The killick teaches me this:
strength is not perfection...
it is simply staying when all else pulls away.

A Little Thirsty

Understated Dehydrated

trust me

trust me
trust me like your trust fund baby
trust me like the world is crazy
trust me is too understated
i mean feel me
feel me like the world might kill me
haunt me like abandonded buildings
crawl into my skin like bugs into a healing
old wound that never closed
i need you that close
i need you to really know
how will you ever grow
if you never go
a little bit insane
chase me like a runaway train
kiss me like its pouring rain
claim me with your disgraced name
stick it on the end
ill take it
take it like a shot of whiskey (so smooth)
take it like the cure that saved me (i need you)
take it like my heart is bleeding
and there's just one ounce left
and i'm gonna give it to you (i would die for you)
chavez

Birthday poem for my niece

As you settle into year 15,
 reflect upon what came before.
The 14 years of being you,
allll creatures/people you adore.

There have of course been troubled times -
Life does not spare the least of us.
But these misfortunes must not blind,
The chance to grow a little more.

Your willful beauty, strength of poise,
undoubted talent, all employs ...
To make you who the world does see.
Now we; we see much more - for sure!

A gentle empathetic heart,
The understated counterpart,
Of outward guise. We love this part!
And wish you joy, with all candour.

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

A Shadow Of Hardball

Ebon bafflement descended 
from the Sun-bleached sky;
A penumbra of illuminated lies,
this world needs to be reprimanded;

A joyous ballet of obliteration;
Fooled by the doe eyed sweetheart,
they stare into dank rotting art
disguised as impending salvation;

Wearing cheap plastic glasses,
the audience so easily led by a trend; 
Commanding naked eyes ideas ascend
delaying the hypnosis of the masses;

Temporarily deprived of the norm, 
blindfolds serve as a wake call;
So begins a civilization’s cleanup,
reform is now the one playing hardball;

Magnetic pull of a weary shadow,
that bold charisma brings a brief pause;
Evolution echos a bright ring of applause,
with understated yet monumental flow.

Peter

Denied again, again, again
My God, my king, my hope, my friend
To think that I could ever mend
My shame, my pride, my lies.

To deadly hills they take Him now
A crown of thorns upon His brow
The King of Kings, but no one bows
I’m absent when he dies.

In bitter tears they said I waited
True—if sorely understated 
So my soul falls desecrated 
Curse my horrid deeds

Hours pass and days elapse
Spirit gone, my lungs collapse
I’ve fallen victim to the traps
In thinking of my needs

Then I am called, I follow John
I look and find the stone is gone
And only linen lingers on
To dare the war is won?

I see Him. I am awed. Elated
Doubt undone, eradicated
But, in shame, I wait for hatred
From God’s only Son

With all the courage I possess
I turn my eyes, on Him they rest
My heart is kicking at my chest
I know I’ve failed the trials. 

Tension mounts, and there’s a pause
I’ve broken all His love, His laws
So He should not forgive my flaws
He looks at me and smiles.

Reach Out With Kindness

I know the power of a kind word
When feeling isolated or alone
To know someone is there for you
You are no longer on your own

Feeling victimised or vulnerable
Judged or dismissed
Ignored , mistreated
Invisible …..like you do not exist

The power behind a kind word or gesture
Is somewhat underrated 
It has the strength to move mountains
Its human connection and worth understated

Hearts in Jerusalem

   Living simply
     rejoicing
   in their callings

   He, a shoemaker
     finest quality
   long-lasting leather

   She, a seamstress
     understated grace
   in bridal gowns and accessories

   home - Lower East Side
     1930's NYC tenement-style
   hearts - in Jerusalem

   Their bags packed
     ready to go
   Hark, Elijah heralds the dawn

21st Century Man

Educated and evaluated

I exercise an active plan

Captivated and dedicated

I'm my one and only fan

Motivated and understated

I get by the best that I can

Aggravated and constipated

I'm a 21st century man

Left Or Right Or Wrong Or Strong Or

My questions remain endless, such as,
    Why do we love, or why do we fight?
Because we might engage in these together,
    While both may be wrong and right.

Complexity is certainly understated,
    As these solutions lie deep in the mind.
Where we may use one hand as a weapon,
    The other to caress, as if kind.

Can we ever find an answer,
    And pick or choose which one's are best?
Or is our moral compass constantly spinning,
    Watching true north leading east or west?

Regardless of the curiosity, the search
    Continues to a future that suits belief.
Although the faith may have shortcomings,
    As if it's been stolen by a common thief.

This journey of humanity, may
    Lack direction from time to time.
Yet its fate shows increasing potential,
    As long as it avoids the perfect crime.

Of the Larke Cumb

(etymology of a surname: Larcombe) 

somewhere in the deepest dark of Somerset,
was a secret cumb, I know of not yet
where ancients did note
that many a Larke would wing,
for food,
to brood, 
and sing

in those times a cumb was understated
with trees aplenty in it's forest,
where insects
unabated,
invite the Larke
fated
to dance with them as their guest.

as such, much gratiated,
the Larke engages in a courtship thrill, 
throwing it's voice to dating,
in hope of mating,
and is satiated
by the success of its trill.

then men came to this place,
farming and deforesting,
such that the Larke could not sing,
leaving only space and doom,
and yet men called themselves
"of the Larke Cumb"

'tis still a mystery, where this might be,
twixt tarmac, concrete, or brick maybe,
but it sealed the Larke' s fate,
closing it's garden gate,
as such, was a sad sick twist really

The Splendor of the Rose

“ THE  SPLENDER  OF  THE  ROSE”


       A ROSE IS JUST A FLOWER UNTIL YOU SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND
       LIKE A KISS THAT STARTS A FIRE YOU HOPE WILL NEVER END                        
       LOVE IS COMPLICATED AN UNDERSTATED WORD
       THE SOUNDS OF A SONGBIRD WAITING TO BE HEARD
       LOVE CAN BE INVISABLE AS IT TAKES ON MANY FORMS
       SWEET FRAGRANCE PULLS YOU IN AS THE ROSE CUTS YOU WITH ITS THORNS
       OUR PATH IS FULL OF BUMPS AND UNEXPECTED TURNS
       NEW LOVE LIGHTS THE WAY AS ROMANCE SLOWLY BURNS
       THE ROSE SPRINGS FROM A TINY BUD TOO SMALL TO EVEN SEE
       A ONE IN A MILLION CHANCE FOR THE BEAUTY IT CAN BE
       LOVE STARTS WITH A SMILE AS TWO HEARTS COME TOGETHER
       WITH LITTLE CHANCE OF LASTING ONLY TRUE LOVE STAYS FOREVER 
       THE FLOWER OH SO BEAUTIFUL BUT EVENTUALLY IT DIES
       THERE LIES A HIDDEN SECRET NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS
       LOVE IS LIKE A MIRACLE THAT SOMEHOW SURVIVES
       THE MAGIC’S IN THE FLOWER THE SPLENDOR OF THE ROSE

Love-As Simple As Can Be

How many books, songs, poems and movies have been created 
on the supposition that love is complicated?

Within their writings flows this message…
sometimes histrionic…sometimes understated
that, if it’s simple…it can’t be love…because love is complicated.

Example after example is given to prove their point with certainty
but there are others of us out here who look at love and beg to disagree.

For us love is as simple as realizing we are not alone…
that someone else’s happiness is more important than our own.

There are those of us whose hearts and minds have joyfully come to see
it is life that can be complicated…
but love doesn’t have to be.

Elegance of the Fifties

Long striped gloves gave her an elegance
Understated glamour, familiar in the fifties
The sixties claimed a bit of this romantic chicness,
However, the fifties owned it without bragging

• Short Understated Poems
• Famous Understated Poems
• Best Understated Poems
• Read Understated Poems
• Long Understated Poems
• Understated Quotes