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Best Poems Written by Faith Ellen Lam

Below are the all-time best Faith Ellen Lam poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Apoptosis

Sometimes I feel inhuman, like I am an alien trapped in the skin of homo sapiens, trying to fit in. This attire doesn’t suit me-- every act is pain. I look around… They move through life so easily… I want to scream. I want to find language that they will understand. Can they tell my struggle? Would they love me if they knew? I take a deep breath. I protect my cover and lift these lips into a smile. If I let them in, they will shut me in the dark. All will examine, dissect, gawk over. Some already do.

Don’t worry, I want to tell them. I work for no leader; I am no cancer; I pose no threat. I am just a mutation in the matrix of society, a minor misprint. Homogeneity will seek me out and destroy me… or I will soon myself.

It's the life cycle of every special thing.

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2020



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Silencing Light

Vision’s blurring around the edges now—
The perfect vignette for silent film;
The text screams bold inside your head;
The crickets wail from amongst the trees.

You’re the femme fatale in this deathly skit,
Doubling trouble with perfect smiles,
Charming your way through grim impasse:
To be or not to be.

Have you left enough clues as to your fate?
Will a savior know to find you?
Alas, there’s none here to save but you,
As the warmth he left creeps from you.

Perhaps blood shed will quench the thirst,
But veins cut once might drain you—
So listen still for a quiet step:
Executioner or lover.

What light from yonder window breaks?
It’s the after, not an angel.

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

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Sincerely Yours, a Book Worm

I am but a worm
Bowed down at your shrine,
Offering up
What small words are mine.

I know it's unlikely
Your heights I'll attain
So I'm resigned to repeat,
To revise yet again.

This drudgery, toil,
And all to what gain?
To lift up from this soil
A sweeter refrain.

My dearest book fairy,
Look kindly on me,
And give me some hope that
A poet I’ll be.?

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

Details | Faith Ellen Lam Poem

Studies At the Station

I sometimes sit
At the train station
And watch the people

Go by. They sweep past
Hurriedly, filling the quiet
Of my thoughts

With bustling energy.
Then a little one’s head
Will turn, inquisitive

Eyes questing to know more about
This curious lady in
Her red felt hat,

And for that moment,
The swirling hordes pause
And the world takes

Notice. Before his mother pulls
Gently on his hand,
Before she admonishes him

Not to stare—
I meet his eyes with a
Smile, in vain effort

To tell him that
I understand. We are both
Students of the world.

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

Details | Faith Ellen Lam Poem

Keep Pace, Rat Race

Coupes skimming fly, gently humming of engines and tires.
Listen closer, and hum turns to cheetah’s roar, pushing for
A harder pace, an impact-- No achievement is frictionless.
Jaguars leap and bound, a mile-a-minute, sometimes more.
The roads are not sky but earthy jungle, fighting for the fittest.

Who craves Icarus
Shall fall once more to Earth
For what goes up, must...

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019



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Music's Moment

wisps of air unite in glorious sound
spilling from the hearts of those on stage;
time freezes in the calmest, deepest way
five hundred watch, connected to one breath,
the spirit of one flowing, yearning line,
straining to hear the sorrow put to rest
farewell, mine past-- come later, future, too--
this moment is ours and music our divine.

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

Details | Faith Ellen Lam Poem

Spinning Shadow

I slowly tread the prickle-cold mat of grass
And savor the mud that squishes between my toes
The darkening night smells musky here, and damp,
And not just because there is a pond. The moisture’s in the
Air, wrapping around my arms, a warning of coming rain—
Splashes sound as duck lands on water
And the land and sky-bound birds splash, too,
In bursts of song and color that I can’t see, somewhere
In the muted browns of the nearby wood.
I turn my course to where the pavement starts,
Where the stars are blocked by towers of light—
Those that create so many shadows.
I touch one foot against the manmade walk
Of dry concrete. It’s rough and chafes against my feet.
I pass each streetlight. I watch my shadow spin.

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

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Breeze

Empty silk all full of life
Weaving so careless
Through matter and time
Dangerous grace,
Potent suspense
Forget the fall
Remember a dance
Fold round a chill
Warm, fuzzy caress
Gone is the slap,
Here is the kiss.?

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

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A Pleasant Day For a Drive

There’s something richly picturesque
About the contortion of a man who has just
Swerved into the left lane in order to throw ugly gestures
At you through your open window--
All for shifting to the right
So you wouldn’t miss your exit.

I smile back in relief that
He didn’t need to be in the right lane
After all

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019

Details | Faith Ellen Lam Poem

Love In Practice:

Love is curling up against your humming form
In the carpeted corner of a carefully soundproofed room
The soaring notes are meant for only these two hearts
These paneled walls built to hold sensation close
For what is music but the intimate caress
Of gentle harmony?

Copyright © Faith Ellen Lam | Year Posted 2019


Book: Shattered Sighs