Get Your Premium Membership

Best Poems Written by Vanessa Roach

Below are the all-time best Vanessa Roach poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

View ALL Vanessa Roach Poems

Details | Vanessa Roach Poem

Ghetto Girl

Cold heart nothing matters,
Bad choices, spiraling faster
Numb the pain, nothing matters,
This is her; the walking disaster

Flashing lights, cop cars
This time she’s gone too far
Nothing matters, because no one cares
Mother’s shooting up, Daddy isn’t there.

One more tattoo, one more scar
Distracts them all from the cuts on her heart.
She’s seen the fights, dealt the drugs
Dollar for dollar, spare the love.

A dropout she is, criminal she will become
Carrying a wicked mouth, and her daddy’s loaded gun.
Life is never easy when you’re digging for gold.
But it’s too late now; to the devil her soul is sold.

One day she’ll regret this path, wonder ‘what if..’
But she’ll wonder it from a cell bed, cold and stiff.
What if that teacher in jr. high, had asked about that cut above her eye.
Or what if in grade eleven they told her not to drop out; instead asked why.

Maybe then her story wouldn’t have been over so fast,
she might even hold that master’s degree at last.
She’d be a lawyer, doctor, something more
Something better than the woman crying silently on the prison floor.

Copyright © Vanessa Roach | Year Posted 2014



Details | Vanessa Roach Poem

The Girl Behind the Mound

The dead march ahead,
But she hides behind a mound
A wooden barrier is all that protects her from being found.

Their soulless eyes burn bright,
As they walk ahead on
Trudging through the darkness as it swallows the dawn.

Their eyes are hungry, as they smell her soul’s essence.Her breath accelerates when they discover her presence.

Darkness swallows her as she whispers her final prayer;when morning comes she will no longer be there.

The dawn spreads its wings,
But dark clouds billow down,
Crying their grieving tears
For the stolen soul that will never again be found.

Days pass ahead
She’s buried in the ground
And they cry silent tears
For the girl behind the mound.

Copyright © Vanessa Roach | Year Posted 2012

Details | Vanessa Roach Poem

Grace

She walks to school and studies 
all day,
Hoping her A’s will make her 
parents notice her in some 
way.
But they open another bottle 
and raise it to the sky,
Ignoring the sad little girl who 
just walked on by.
She lays the paper down with 
an A marked in red,
But her mother is lying face 
down, passed out on the bed.
The same little girl comes to 
school the next day
Bruises blackening her eyes 
and cuts scarring her face.
The teachers wonder but none 
of them ask, 
It’s hard to see the pain behind 
her smiling mask.
For the little girl who tries so 
hard not to cry
Every day is a battle, a 
struggle just to survive.
But one day she’ll shine, 
escape the pain and fear,
She’ll find a way to love when 
all she’s ever known is hate,
But only if you stop it before it 
becomes too late.
So listen to the child with scars 
on her face,
Unknown to the world but to 
you she is Grace.

Copyright © Vanessa Roach | Year Posted 2012

Details | Vanessa Roach Poem

Pass On By

He remembers the days of laugher, the warm rug by the door.
But now he watches from the street; deserted by the family who didn’t want him anymore.
The children laughed and played with him for a while,
But now nothing’s left for him, not a pat on the head or even a smile.
So now he lies by the tree with critters as his only friends
Wondering if this loneliness will ever end.
He begs for food with sad empty eyes,
But he goes unnoticed as they pass on by.
A girl sees him one day, a girl walking alone
She takes him to her car and offers him a home.
This same girl feeds him, plays Frisbee during the sunny days, 
And at night, by the foot of her bed he lays.
For even though his fur is mottled and he’s too thin,
She looked past the physical imperfections and saw his heart within.
So now Max has a home, a friend, and has been named,
So many things are different now; everything has changed.
Max would like to ask you, that if you see a dog with sad brown eyes, 
Please give him a home. Don’t pass on by.

Copyright © Vanessa Roach | Year Posted 2012


Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry