There once was a man named Rod Serling,
Whose tales were quite frightening and sterling.
Across the airwaves, strange futures he brings,
He'd show you odd truths of all different things.
A woman who was quite a brat,
Was shrunken down and sat on a mat.
By the window, a strange shadow grew,
She'd lost her whole world in a flash and flew.
A doll came to life, what a fright,
In the middle of the dark night.
From the toy box, she slowly did crawl,
She'd come to get revenge on them all.
A man who loved books more than life,
Lost his world and his terrible wife.
His glasses were broken, what a sad end,
He'd been given a life with no one to befriend.
Form: Limerick
As I touch your erogenous zone,
I think I'm there all alone.
But I'm there with your mother,
as in walks your little brother,
who proclaims it's time for me to go home.
Form: Rhyme
What ruse is so effective
that someone blatantly perverse
can succeed all so easily
to convince one after the other
to give it all up
to trade in their integrity
to renege on their values
to turn their back on any moral compass
to literally sell their soul to the devil
And… have the gall to walk among us
still with their head held high ?
Seems like we’ve entered an alternate reality
beyond the stretch of imagination
where nightmares are the new norm.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Form: Free verse
Let’s get this show on the road,
The car's still empty and we can't seem to load
Susie's applying makeup, Jake’s playing video games,
Mary’s scrolling her socials, where friends call her names.
I want to get to the airport, I want to be
clambering into an Impressionist painting of the sea
Ride the chestnut ponies, get back to something real,
My kids are in a rabbit hole, they forgot how life can feel.
(Chorus)
We're on an oven burner, like a doomed toad—
So let’s get out of here, get this show on the road,
We'll ride wild ponies, neighing by the sea.
We'll go back to living, we'll go back to free.
It helps sometimes to leave a comfort zone,
Children connected to the whole world, but to me they seem alone.
The old ways had their wisdom, and a simpler moral code,
Let’s flip this circus upside down; get this show back on the road.
Form: Lyric
Neutrality
not this and
not that
a zone which
is not a zone~
stories seem
outside the zone
and the seeker
in the story
looks for the zone
which is not
absent
Form: Free verse
amidst midnight zone
bioluminescence lights
indigo black seas
Form: Haiku
This place where I sit
so unfamiliar to me
this is not what I had imagined
not what I expected
this is not the path I was walking on
must have slipped through a wormhole
a mysterious splice in time
and materialized stumbling
on the other side or,
somehow swept up into a tornado
drifted on the blustery wind
spat out viciously, just like Jonah
to this place where I sit
with all of my stuff, my books
and other things and challenges
I’ve been here quite a while
this place where I sit
my hiding place, my shelter
my comfort zone, my kid calls it home
I’m grateful for this safety net
this place where I sit,
well rehearsed and polished
but I’m ready to move on
Form: Free verse
I have not looked for a while.? Yet its out there...
Somewhere.? I must find time..Before it fades
Thats time i mean.' Elusive to catch despite all
Our wiles.'
Form: Rhyme
Age does not define us,
But our choices surely do.
How I live my life may not
At all appeal to you.
We have to find that comfort zone
Between our younger verve
And, in our later years, that well
Of vigor in reserve.
Some people choose to stay at home,
Quite happy to embrace
The extra time to just relax,
Not going anyplace.
While others, with the end in sight,
Have trips they rush to plan,
Locations where they’ve never been,
To travel while they can.
There is no right or wrong in this;
All people must decide
If they’re ready to step off the train
Or stay on for the ride.
Form: Rhyme
Inspired by that Unseeking Seeker
I zoom into fantasy
I zoom into the m(eye)nd
I zoom into the Light
Or was it the darkness of thyme?
Parsley or Sage? Or was it some other Age?
Where I zoomed into bliss
What is all this?
Endlessness's beyond the zone ...
Zooooooooooooooooooom!
ARt ME
p.s. ... all the way home.
Form: Free verse
Rodman Edward Serling
at Ithaca College tried out for curling
he found he couldn’t sweep for the stone
and decided to write the Twilight Zone
Form: Clerihew
Goldilocks Zone
Perfect position
Just enough water
Just far enough from the sun
Just enough light
Just enough dark
Just enough land mass
Just enough Van Allen Belt
Just enough ozone
Too close and it would be too hot
Too far and it would be too cold
Too close and too much radiation
Too far and not enough
Too close and no water
Too far and it would be frozen
God knew where to put us
He placed us just right!!
*Astronomers refer to earth like planets as being in the Goldilocks Zone*
Form: Free verse
In the darkness of a man’s mind, he’s all alone,
His thoughts are a maze, with feelings like stone.
The mirror shows something not wanting to be seen,
Something inside him that he can not set free.
Stars disappear in a never-ending night,
He searches for answers, trying to make things right.
In this weird space where nothing makes sense,
His grip on reality starts to get tense.
Fate plays a trick, the universe laughs,
His world falls apart into broken halves.
In this place between shadow and light,
Normal stuff becomes something wild and bright.
Form: Rhyme
The silent woman watches,
Shifting in the cold.
Holding coffee in hand,
Watching over the land.
Swiftly through the falling leaves,
Laying in the water.
Boats carving gashes,
Froth burbling up,
In their wake.
The silent woman watches,
As the dock begins to shake.
Glimpses of egrets,
Scream their distaste.
The waves wash up.
Sea oats fall down.
Debris is scattered all around.
The silent woman watches,
Mud roils in the water.
Fish can't breathe,
No more river otter.
The silent woman watches,
The no wake zone.
She moans as the river groans,
Beauty chiseled away.
Form: Free verse
(A lone voice whispers)
As individuals, we don't sometimes realise the scope of utter hopelessness, until we unknowingly endure it
Or witness it
But within all that emotional spiritual warfare
A glorious Demarcation Zone always exists
Between
Pain and Salvation
Just awaiting courageous souls to cross it
To reach a new emotional nation
To find a new paradigm of looking at something filled with hope
To cope
A whisper of something glorious
Something to soothe the courageous
So when Hopelessness strikes
Look deep inside and hear that inner voice whisper
Hold strong
Try to stay the course
Cling on to your strength
Let's cross over
The Demarcation Zone
So when darkness looms
When all things seem despondent and desperate
Like Wormwood Star
The Dark Comet
Always remember
Your part in The Great Game
Is not over yet
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
A demarcation zone is a boundary or limit that separates two areas.
In this case, Hopelessness and Hope.
Form: Rhyme
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