Best Poems Written by Riley Emerson

Below are the all-time best Riley Emerson poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Pictures - POTD

Photographs hanging on a clothesline
Some in color, some black and white
My picture is pinned right up with theirs
In the sky filled with cumulus clouds

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025


Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Reliance

I am a hatchling
Who hardly knows a thing,
I don't have much of a past,
The world is wide and vast,

I don't know what to do
In my life that's bran-new,
I need someone to lead me
To where I should go and be.

I am a hatchling,
Warmth is essential in the night;
Soon I'll be a fledgling
Once I've grown feathers for flight,

I don't know what to do
In my life that's bran-new
I need someone to teach me
How to sing and fly free.

I used to live inside a shell
Now I'm fresh out of the egg;
I'm a chick coming of age,
I won't be trapped in a cage.

I now know what to do
I'm soaring in skies of blue,
I have someone with me
Two of us perched in a tree.

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Choose to Live

Don't believe the lies that have been said,
Do you truly think you're better off dead?
Shake that thought out of your head,
Let me tell you what is true, what is real,
My friend, you should choose to live instead.

Why do you meet the mornings with dread?
Wake up, come on, rise from your bed,
How about some breakfast so you'll be fed?
Wait at the table while I cook you a meal,
My friend, you should choose to live instead.

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Changing Season - 2 haikus

The gentle sunlight
On a winter afternoon
Shining on my face
Informs me how soon
Fragrant flowers will replace
The last soft snowflakes.

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Summer Vignettes

Cruising in a yacht
Sailing on the sparkling sea
Seagulls squawk above
 
Walking on the shore
Drinking sweet pineapple juice
And collecting shells
 
Taking a moment
To breathe in the salty scent
Of the pleasant breeze
 
Sitting in the shade
Under coconut palm trees
And licking ice-cream 
 
Waves washing away
Footprints left in the soft sand
And flooding castles
 
Shh, listen closely
To hear the sun sizzle on
The ocean's surface

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025


Details | Riley Emerson Poem

From a Feathered Friend

A bird flew up to me
And plucked a feather from her wing
She said, "Here, it is free,
"and this bottle of ink. Go write something,
"Put away your keyboard, lay aside your pencil,
"Use my feather as your writing utensil."

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

untitled haiku

dew drops adorning
the awakening roses
 ~ a morning present

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Where Are You?

When they all told me that day
"You won't see him tomorrow,
  he left home and went astray"
I was overcome with sorrow.

Something should have been done,
To keep him from falling into that pit
But no one helped their loved one
All they did was be ignorant and sit.

Where are you? Where have you gone?
My search for you begins each dawn,
It concerns me, your disappearance,
I will search for you with perseverance.

I wish I could have visited him,
Held his hand like a string to a kite 
Even stayed after the sun set, after dusk 
And talked with him all through the night.

I would have spoken or sent words of comfort
To give him some hope and to soothe his hurt,
But he never told me what he was going through,
All his secret struggles, I did not have a clue.

Where are you? Where have you gone?
My search for you begins each dawn,
It concerns me, your disappearance,
I will search for you with perseverance.

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

orange sunrise

an orange sunrise
softly kisses the petals
of dozing tulips

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

Details | Riley Emerson Poem

Floating in a Buoy

I should be going somewhere,
I should be doing something,
And be living a meaningful life
but I'm not, instead I'm just
Floating, floating, floating in a buoy;

Here is where I am
drifting nowhere near to anywhere
and I'm distant, close to nothing
distant and drifting
Floating, floating, floating in a buoy;

I don't know why I'm content
with choosing less than the best
for myself, not wanting more
not wanting more than
Floating, floating, floating in a buoy;

I won't be hot if I stay cold
I won't be close if I stay away
I'll never fall deep in love if I
if I stay shallow; and keep on
Floating, floating, floating in a buoy;

Overtime my buoy will run out of air
and I'll sink with my deflated buoy,
Will I drown or have the strength to swim
all the way back to the shore,
And then get a boat and use its sail and oars
since I've wasted enough time
Floating, floating, floating in a buoy.

Copyright © Riley Emerson | Year Posted 2025

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