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Best Poems Written by Mark Elam

Below are the all-time best Mark Elam poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Ghosts

When I remember troubles now long past
Old feelings of despair creep forth afresh
Like specters full of dread that toward me cast
A pall of pain and sorrow in my chest

They rob me of the joys I have today
Diminishing the angels that are near
And to my shame I sometimes let them stay
To torment and to plague my mind with fear

To let them go I will now walk the road
With others who with me look straight ahead
And crying out for heaven’s lighter load
Together we must face and leave them dead

For now I have release from ghosts I knew
They disappear just when I look them through

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Hoodie

He comes quickly through the back door
Weary from wearing his faded hood
And we welcome him warmly once more
As all caring humans ever should

His illness we know too well to be
Many years he’s spent with us
He continues enduring the HIV
Over him our kind team makes a fuss

If only some people could just understand 
Then silence for good their hard gavel
They would truly experience a beautiful man
And their judgments of him would unravel 

For he needs their acceptance especially now
As the road is increasingly rough
And what is important is not the “how”
But let love and support be enough

Then his thirty year’s journey won’t come to an end
As the sun again bathes his dear face
And at last his long broken spirit can mend
Ever free to be safe in this place

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Cheese

Oh but it was such a glorious day
When the gods first took the curds from the whey!
Sprinkled some salt and a tincture of time
Aging the mix with a splash of enzyme
Giving to mortals what English call cheese
Pair it with wine and my palate agrees!












11.10.18

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Hatred

Hatred

In the past I just loathed their opinions and whims 
That I felt were too narrow and poorly thought out
For their stubbornness came from a mind much too dim
To see freedom and progress that no one should doubt

And I’ve wearied of trying to listen and learn
Of their views not my own, from a place I’ve not been
And I won’t take more time to attempt to discern
Their commitments and vows so exclusive and thin

So the time has now come to declare them accursed
And conclude that their motives have always been vile
And with those so enlightened to view them perverse
May their mortal lives soon be no longer worthwhile 

Once the hatred infects all perception does fade
A predictable slide to a deadly cascade

Details | Mark Elam Poem

The Parting

The Parting

Exodus 14

We stand sweating and thirsty by the shore
At the setting of Ra
A setting we’ve always anticipated
Bringing a glimpse of beauty to each day of toil
Beauty now eclipsed by a plumage of fire
Baking our scarred backs 
Reflected heat scorching past us 
To turn the red waters aflame
Red mixing with yellow 
Glistening and churning
What Gehenna must look like

For it was the beginning of the end when Moses came
Since his God awakened from prolonged slumber
Awakened no doubt by the prayers of devout widows
Widows who still believe the stories about Joseph
And safe-keep his bones
But there’s no denying recent events 
I thought we hated the Egyptians
But not compared to Moses’s God
And now what’s left of them are here
We hear their horses neighing, their muffled screams of insults and threats
All brought here by the same whirlwind of destiny
That besets us both

And now it is night 
The reds and the yellows fade to black
Vibrant colors swept away by wind
And such a wind
Spraying the salt into our faces
Immersing us, maddening us further with thirst
Hour after hour after cursed hour

Ra returns at last
Revealing a scene we will never forget
We face a gauntlet of dry ground 
The sea blown aside by relentless gales
The ground covered with clinging seaweed, craggy rocks, and freshly-dead fish
Shrieking seagulls are feasting and swarming like locusts
Holy smoke it is impressive
We stand agape for a moment
Then into this valley the old step first
Slow progress, stumbling, dodging, climbing
Walking through collateral damage 
Frequently looking back
Expecting to be overrun by our oppressors

Ra sets again 
We all have crossed
We turn and face the sea, now filling again
Swirling with them, horses and men
Gasping for air, dying one by one
Our tears unexpectedly cover the ground
Mourning a common humanity, a shared sorrow
And we feel again the heat on our backs
Heat from the endless desert, from an unknown fate
But O God
Still we thirst

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Religion

Divorced from rules we once held sacrosanct
The hunger pangs we felt were eased not stilled
We knew their judgments grim and hard embanked
Unrisen loaves that left us unfulfilled
Yet now our quest so fast and wild pursued
Creates a thirst for waters deep and clear
And fruit ripe picked must be our soulful food
To satisfy a primal longing here
But meat too freely taken lacks the salt
That flavored and preserved the elders’ bread
Let graceful limits come though finding fault
With reason we shall meet and make our bed

We’ll eat the skin and flesh and want no more
While casting out the poisoned apple core

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Arlington

Spread out below the home of Custis-Lee
Its rolling hills of hallowed heroes flow
In dark times there’s no better place to be
As sunrise sets the ashen stones aglow
And whether at the flame or at the tomb
Of those of promise shrouded young with death
There echoes in my ears the cannon’s boom
Proclaiming blessed ones who’ve drawn last breath
The famous men and women there now sleep
Victorious, now needing quiet peace
And with their lowly siblings’ spirits weep
All hoping that the days of war will cease

I long to walk those sacred paths again
In Arlington abide the best of men

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Tunnel

From a developing land
The body shakes 
Trembling in ancestral amber 
Swirling and flowing 
It must penetrate the light
Its destiny is that light
Away from the closing space
Mother-bound
Nourishing and holding

But then they come
Proclaiming and brandishing 
Curled tightly in this place
Hiding and frightening 
The amber turns to mud
Green and thick like tar
There is no escape
Pulling and separating 
The limbs freeing or fettering

Same result.
Unwanted here in a plentiful land

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Noseglasses

When my arms weren’t so long
Scruffy hairs on my ears
Puffy bags round my eyes
Saggy skin ‘neath my chin
And things close weren’t as clear
It was time for nose glasses

I was sad that nose glasses
Made my face look so long
And rubbed grooves on my ears
But I focused my eyes
As I looked past my chin
And saw things were more clear

When I needed things clear
I would lose my nose glasses
And my search took too long
For a rest on my ears
And the strain on my eyes
Put gray hairs on my chin

So I scratched my old chin
And thoughts came oh so clear
Of a pair of nose glasses
For each room wide or long
To perch high on my ears
And give aid to my eyes

Then I gazed with my eyes
As I wrinkled my chin
Loving faces so clear
Sights above my nose glasses
Lingered vivid and long
Speaking youth to my ears

Those sweet sounds to my ears
Caused a dance with my eyes
Smiled and dimpled my chin
Resonating so clear
Little ones and nose glasses
Bringing closeness along

Be my sight short or long
I’ll need help for these eyes
To see life bright and clear

Details | Mark Elam Poem

Time For Dessert

At the end of a romantic meal
A sweet glimpse of your breasts I will steal
Bathing soft candlelight
Spicy curves now in sight
Then a rhythmic embrace so surreal









11.17.18
For Sexy poetry contest