Vacant Poems | Examples

The Hollow City

(The Hollow City Cycle include:
The Hollow City
I Remember You -- the city speaks
Last One Left)

No footsteps echo on broken stone,
only wind dragging secrets through dust.
The city sighs—
its breath made of ivy and rust.

Windows gape like hollow eyes,
watching nothing, remembering everything.
A carousel groans beneath twisted vines,
still waiting for laughter
that will never return.

Billboards fade into ghost stories.
Sidewalks crack like old skin.
Somewhere, a music box plays
a broken lullaby
to the bones of joy.

This place is a tomb
with the scent of childhood chalk
and the silence of too-late prayers.

Whatever happened here
left no fire,
only
quiet.

Shelters of Silence

"In the USA, vacant homes by thousands thrive, 
while countless homeless struggle to survive. 
In a land of plenty, such homes stand bare, 
as lost souls grow, wandering in despair."

Vacant Minds

Her vacant mind.
So hard to find.
The reasons why her thoughts entwine.

Her loss of thought.
A fall from grace.
The pain is written on her face.

Her vacant mind is not the same.
She struggles to recall my name.

An empty void to fill this space.
Her memories we can't replace.

A timeless thought, lets not forget.
Decisions made with no regret.
And still i think about the time.
When things were good and all just fine.

It's something that i can't explain.
What's going on inside her brain?

But now and then i see a sign.
Your entwined thoughts, start to align.
It puts a smile upon your face.
A smile that no one can replace.

I’ve been there, saw her vacant mind.
Yet glimpses of her, time to time.

Her vacant thoughts are like no other.
This vacant mind is still my Mother.

Midnight in a vacant airport

Beneath fluorescent runway 
bars and stripped cars
the hollow hum of engines,
echoes of footsteps stretch thin 
across marble floors
ancient whores!

Ghosts in suits 
drift scarves 
through the fog of the sublime,
their eyes dim beacons
distant, never seeing what is before them.

The air tastes of cold steel
whispered departures of souls.

Meeting in the night,
where the walls sigh stories 
of strangers in long-forgotten halls.

Haunted faces flicker
dim-lit with memories,
half-formed, lost between 
departures gate of sleep.

Something transcends 
under flickering lights, 
moments shatter,
as the night swallows 
each step is endless
empty are the walls.

Shadows of worn-out places
their bones brittle with dust
cling to the silence,
waiting for voices 
that never came.

Through glass windows
the sky, void 
without stars
Moons. 


Or mooring
only the low murmur 
of engines call the living
And we turn, 
the weary. 

Gliding shadows of firmament,
caught between destinations unknown, 
and faces unseen!

Haunt untethered from this rest
to worn-out places
unclean!

A vacant mind in blooming garden

Ashy Prinia pair
Flitted across my garden
Catching something here and there

Yellow Portulaca flowers looked brighter
Once they saw this
Ashy Prinia pair

A lone lotus 
Swayed as the gentle birds
Flitted across my garden

I wondered how
They stayed happy while
Catching something here and there

VACANT CANOE

A big lake with an empty canoe
No one knows how it go there
A lake at that
One’s thought, “For Heaven’s sake”
What is your take?
There were no bodies found
Maybe they even drowned
Perhaps swam to shore
There are no clues to make it sure
Nobody has seen
No one knows what this mystery means
A Canoe, Lake and no occupants
Mystery alright
Seen in unseen
There’s no report of missing persons
All we have is clues
We definitely have a sleuth
Nothing to solve
How do you prove?
Questions upon questions
Only assumptions being suggestions.

Vacant

Vacant eyes 
Rough hands 
Mother's weeping
Water raging
Soul sleeping 
Angels grasping
Earth unholy
Glass breaking
Horns blaring

In Vacant Time-SHM

Beyond a small stream’s margin lay we two
beneath a giant oak which spread sweet shade.
We barely knew what next we ought to do
there, pleasure-sated from the love we’d made
within deep foilage like a carpet lush.
The grass, which from the bank seemed to unroll
with wealth of buttercups and trim of brush
continued past us, up a gentle knoll.
Wrapped in one another’s arms, we pondered
how the rill, once sprightly, now seemed subdued,
and how it once had rippled as it wandered
toward this sheltered spot of solitude.
Our brook, which kissed each boulder on its way,
in vacant time – with us – now sparkling lay.

(a haiku and a monoku formed from using the bolded words in this sonnet)

grass seemed to unroll
beyond a small stream’s margin . . .
wealth of buttercups

our sprightly brook - which had kissed each boulder on its way - now sparklng lay

On a Vacant Field

On a vacant field

A red fox meditates

A hawk circles

A squirrel rolls the dice

A school bus passes

An old man

A Vacant Mind

A Vacant Mind


                        Does not a vacant mind breed wanton thoughts
                            That may lead to wilful, wayward actions?

                             Can we let our precious life be a nought
                            And to be ever marked with dreary spots?

                            Can we let it be tied with teething knots
                              Or rather pull up our dull distraction?

                          Does not a vacant mind breed wanton thoughts
                             That may lead to wilful, wayward actions?

Too Far Gone

Her eyes shone like diamond pools, 
Only in distant memories and dreams. 
Once loving heart intensely beats, 
Exploding, bursting at the seams. 

The sweet voice of lullabies, 
Ever vacant, ever hollow. 
The sun always made her glow, 
In despair it simply wallows. 

Waves of time, 
Of intuition. 
Ever rarely, 
In her vision. 
Nerium bloomed, 
In her bright smile. 
Alone once more, 
In exile. 

Her eyes refused, 
No longer shone. 
That day I knew, 
She was too far gone. 


Date: 07/24/2022 

Contest title: Pick-A-Title, Vol 31 Poetry Contest 

Title Chosen: "Too Far Gone" 

Name of sponsor: Edward Ibeh

The Haunted

There are a number of houses 
Said to be haunted
Because they are vacant
Even with a beautiful location
Good designs
Said to be a dream house 
Maybe people's hearts are haunted
They wait for a good bargaining 
To sell to make extra profits
They didn't reach a compromise 
To sell  amongst them
The heir to the house is questionable
Someone died in the house accidentally
People's hearts are haunted 
Because they have some mischieves behind
They have no confidence in life
They believe rumours
They fear fate
Usually haunted are the hearts 
But not the house
And so haunted are our hearts that
We too have little faith in God

Vacant Perdition

Vacant Perdition


Reeling listless
Empty story
Gazing, endless
Mandatory
Purgatory
Muted motion
Thinking sorely
Null devotion

Sudden urges
Fleeting feelings
Will emerges
Sailing ceilings
Disused dealings
Mislaid purpose
Broken meanings
Without service

It’s insipid
Bouncing bluster
Wisdom wicked
Nothing mustered
Lacking luster
Sempiternal
Filibuster
Silence vernal

Hell's Vacant Room-

The doors of your heart is open;
I stand at your eyes those windows to your soul;
I embrace you I then walk to through your spirit;
I kiss the wall you stand tall;
You close your eyes;
I enter in;
And to our delight;
All is well;
We emerge together in hells vacant room


12/17/21
Written by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021

Vacant Hearts

When love goes away
There is so much of life it robs
They nothing left to say
But to listen to the echos of heart throbs

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