All our lives we flounder about untangling intricate ties—
First, with our parents, our siblings, our spouses then
our kids, our in-laws, our relatives,
Later, we squander time away unraveling our differences
with our peers, our friends, our teachers, our bosses,
our colleagues and our associates,
At the end of our lives, we struggle
to come to terms with our beliefs, our faith,
our dreams and our aspirations, our gods and our demons,
It’s the good old death that finally cuts the Gordian knot!
~ Contest: All About Family
~ Sponsor: Len Gasun
Christmas lights were my downfall said the sorry cat
I thought I could string them, why did I think that?
They were tangled up from the get-go, it was not my fault.
I had retrieved them from a wicked witch’s vault.
those Christmas lights were magical, and mean in many ways
It took me sixteen years and seventeen extra days
to disentangle the lights; it was a chore beyond belief.
It took most of the best years of my life, said that cat, Beef.
Trapped in the past, I bring it to the present
The chemicals mutate inside of me
I’m moving backwards to the sea and sand,
According to the fate I cannot flee
The little problem hides in mutual recognition
Our ignorance is woven into stilled
Bleak tapestry, but I revise the late edition
Untangling the decrepit threads, I’m thrilled
To tell you, love, that we’ll be here one day
But to rejoin our paths from present seems a bit
Unrealistic, so I’m working out the way
As it was stitched, and it’ll be a perfect fit.
swimming
against currents
of constant confusion,
a comedy? a tragedy?
this life...
is it...
a cup half-full?
or perhaps half-empty?
'tis far more puzzlin' than jigsaw,
i'd say
no doubt
an enmeshment;
one cannot ascertain
the byzantine complexities
of it
in truth,
an entangled web
tough to extricate from;
untangling life's knots only get...
tighter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On hooks they dangle, memories spun in glass~
Refracting fire’s light like frozen laughter.
Nights hum softly against their curves,
As fingertips trace the year's last ghosts.
Mercury gleam of a childhood long since gone,
Each one a silent carol, waiting to be sung.
No two alike, yet strung together~
Tangled lights, untangling time.
Silvered edges catching the tree's last light.
Each one of us
is taken up to the devil’s hill,
where he lays a smorgasbord before us.
“What would you like,
my son,
my daughter?
Money?
Fame?
Power?
Control?
Sex?”
You start to walk away—
but fall
on your very next step.
“What’s the matter, my child?
No angels here to save you?”
He smiles.
“Come now—choose.
It’s easier this way.
No mountain to climb,
no blisters,
no scraped knees.
Just fun.
Excitement.
No rules.
Everything you’ve ever longed for.”
And if you’re not careful,
he’ll trap you—
wrap his offer in charm
and pleasure
until you spend a lifetime
untangling his grip.
So when the call comes
to climb the mountain,
ask:
Whose voice is this?
Whose plan is this path?
God does have a roadmap—
but He only reveals it
one step at a time.
He never promises
riches, fame, or ease—
but He does promise
love,
joy,
peace—
if not immediately,
then just beyond
the next door.
So take His hand.
Walk down the mountain.
He will steady your footing.
When facing a wall of fear and pain, I stand.
Laughing, as hope and calm slip from my hand.
I climb tree branches, easily, swiftly and timely.
Each thread a steady beam that holds me upright.
Up in the canopy, I cheer up, and start to sing,
A hymn of praise that only being there can bring.
I rise higher, holding trunk and bough with delight.
Each fork a foothold lifting up into the light.
I rejoice in the chaos of tangled twigs and leaves,
That encases me with living walls, roofs and eaves.
Their whispered voices rustle solace in the breeze.
Bringing peace and joy, untangling my spent unease.
A careless slip — I lose my grip and start to slide.
But the tree clutches me, with a sudden, saving guide.
It breaks my fall and sets me softly onto the ground,
Its roots bear and steady me — till deep peace is found.
Slithering and Creeping Along the Moonlit Path
Where Dark Desires Permeates the Hidden Caverns of My Heart
An Enchanted Road, A Supplicant Ritualist Journey
Beyond the Seas of Perpetual Agony
Confronting Sinister Vices In the Canyon of Piteous Wails
Seeking The Crossroads of Equilibrium Where Virtue Prevails
This Path Navigates the Depths of My Soul Harbor
Abode to My Grotesque Daemons Balanced by Angels of Blissful Splendor
Goddess Luna, Witness to Submission and Surrender
Mystical Luminary With Her Reflective Glow
Reveals the Doorway Pillars of Emerald and Gold, Arch of Ivy Hanging Low
Precept by Precept Steps on the Battened Cobbled Stone Road
Paved with Desire, Despair and Hope Inward Pilgrimage To the Moon Sage's Abode
For I Am a Wanderer of The Dark Night, Purposely Endowed
Untangling Threads to Complete My Soul's Contract I Vowed!
Hecate Whispers Songs My Shadows Sing
Of Liberation, Perfection, Growth and Healing.
My mind’s the only shelter where I hide
When troubles overcome and fear spreads
My mind’s a room where I can sit inside
Imagining I’m safe, untangling threads
Attempting to detach from grief and pain
I seek for consolations of all kinds
My mind is working hard to keep me sane
And it’s the only place where I can find
My dearest darling J, who’s gone from sight
Into another world where one day I shall go
But till my mind is living, every night
She comes to sing the song we used to know
No conscious life without the mind I gain
Only the presence of the mind provides reality
Inside my mind I touch the sun, and feel the rain
Your smiling face, my J, reminds of immortality.
Ambient noise, the silent song of day,
TV static, and this high pitched ring.
Creating a vision through bloodshot eyes,
A vacant gaze meeting solemn void's stare.
Dreaming those vivid details as they play,
Savoring each moment and bitter sting.
Knotting and untangling all the ties,
From disposable camera that we share.
If the world was ending,
I'd wanna be next to you;
witnessing the last sunset,
in the mirror of your pearl-shaped eyes
I'd kiss the oysters that cradle them,
one last time before it's too late.
I'd trace your bittersweet tears
with a trail of kisses,
tasting the salty ocean that
burns up your wounds and fears.
untangling your brunette mesh,
as they tighten their grasp
afraid to let go;
I'll embrace you,
until your ice-cold body
melts into my burning chest.
blinded by the myths of forever,
will the dawn rise on us again, ever?
So I'mma love you every night,
like it's the last night.
Your smile fades, the dimples too
no longer creasing your ivory skin,
i can see the sunglow and the sunset
vanishing just like me and you.
Your lips tremble,
whispering fractured syllables,
I'll kiss them for a while,
cherishing the screaming silence,
and die with a smile.
In shadowed halls, I've followed the quiet threads of power,
Charting each muffled cry, its subtle sway in time,
Silently navigating the veiled histories held in their gaze.
Indeed, the world is more than a stage for veiled hands,
And the moon a silent sentinel of their secret rites,
In hidden rooms, the sacred vow shifts to silent betrayal.
I turn not to the relics of old secrets worn thin,
Nor seek the stark truths in ruins of ancient bonds.
Shadows are draped like promises, speaking of deeper dawns.
I've roamed the archives under the quiet moon's watch,
Untangling the snarled webs of alliances that bind.
Yet, they hold fast.
Sometimes, I long for the veils to be drawn back completely.
In the quiet corridors, triumphs speak their tales;
The secret heart pulses with the rhythms of old truths.
Forgetfulness is my new friend;
its frequent visits- I defend.
Quite unannounced, it comes and goes
to steer my mind into repose.
Although annoying- I must say
it makes me laugh in my dismay
of losing track of simple things
that fly away as if on wings.
A friend, I call it- since I know
it's part of aging and will show-
when brains are filled right to the top-
untangling thoughts come to a stop.
So when I'm frustrated that day
as it comes by and plans to stay-
I just relax and stay resigned,
and before long, my thoughts unwind.
But all in all, so far I'm blessed-
speak of forgetfulness in jest.
I'll keep on aging- best I can
to make the most of my life's plan.
combing my unkempt hair
unraveling years of not caring
my freedom knotted with reckless abandon
untangling each strand of dissatisfaction
cutting as curls fall away
each length a strand of injured time
January 30, 2023
Bite Size Contest #60
Sponsored by Line Gauthier
The mouse ran through the house through a hole in the wall
while the cat lay sleeping down the hall.
cheese his favorite he could not find,
sculling along squeaking while wiggling his behind.
A cat, a cat he sees chasing him down the hall,
Laughter and an uproar with echos off the wall.
This little mouse still running through the house,
As the cat meowed with his speed like lightning
The mouse ran up the chain of a cuckoo clock,
His tinny paw stuck in the middle hanging in pain.
The cat below meowed, I have got you now,
then clock struck 12 moving the chain.
The tiny mouse was taken to the top,
untangling his paw from the cuckoo clock.
He sat atop with two teeth smiling then said,
today you are a cat,
Without a mouse atop this cuckoo clock
Sub Categories
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.