Popular Observational Poems
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poetry about life, society and the natural world
Popular poems, listed in order of their popularity this month.
the sometimes painful folly of being sentimental
(and other lessons learned)
"After this, there's really nothing left"...
she says, almost absentmindedly,
while pulling out a tiny black velvet bag.
(have no doubt, this was her mostly playing martyr)
I quickly catch the simultaneous swallowing
of the huge lump in her throat,
proof, that was more telling than she'd like.
She went on saying (with trademarked bite)
that she'd gifted my sister
some old piece of her jewelry as well—
perhaps a ring
or earrings ...
"After this, there's really nothing left"...
she says, almost absentmindedly,
while pulling out a tiny black velvet bag.
(have no doubt, this was her mostly playing martyr)
I quickly catch the simultaneous swallowing
of the huge lump in her throat,
proof, that was more telling than she'd like.
She went on saying (with trademarked bite)
that she'd gifted my sister
some old piece of her jewelry as well—
perhaps a ring
or earrings ...
#mother
#TimeHeals
#frustration
#daughter
#healing
324 reads
28 Comments
Exercise Tiger
April 28, 1944
Devon, England
It was only a planned rehearsal
or so it was meant to be
taking place on the beach
of Slapton Sands, Devon
for the invasion of Normandy.
But coordination and communication
don’t always go as planned,
resulting in not only friendly-fire injuries
but the death of 749 American servicemen
by e-boats of Nazi Germany.
April 28, 1969
Devon, England
I was only ten-years-old
the first...
Devon, England
It was only a planned rehearsal
or so it was meant to be
taking place on the beach
of Slapton Sands, Devon
for the invasion of Normandy.
But coordination and communication
don’t always go as planned,
resulting in not only friendly-fire injuries
but the death of 749 American servicemen
by e-boats of Nazi Germany.
April 28, 1969
Devon, England
I was only ten-years-old
the first...
#war
184 reads
26 Comments
fruit tree
i.
each word you spit
instead of convey
sits heavy as a grave
on your shoulders
we can’t carry the whole world
in our arms, especially
across barbwire beliefs
and minefields of thought
whispering ‘enemy’
it’s time for a proper burial
if we can reach the river
and lay it all down
without giving in
and killing one another first
ii.
i once wanted to build a poem
resembling a tree house
made of light and truth
so that anytime it...
each word you spit
instead of convey
sits heavy as a grave
on your shoulders
we can’t carry the whole world
in our arms, especially
across barbwire beliefs
and minefields of thought
whispering ‘enemy’
it’s time for a proper burial
if we can reach the river
and lay it all down
without giving in
and killing one another first
ii.
i once wanted to build a poem
resembling a tree house
made of light and truth
so that anytime it...
#hope
#trees
156 reads
16 Comments
Ode To Misery
I’m a stone in a world of flowers
the curious call of moors,
the old crow language
of wings circling
their ancient dead
peat bodies rotting beneath the weight
of seventies murder. The swaying
New Romantics surrendering to the dark.
I am grey beaches in homeless overcoats,
banshees of Tudor shipwrecks
shaking bone rattles in violent storms.
I am poverty
and steel
and recklessness
an IRA wound on a city wall; coal crowns
of Thatcherite rule haloing unforgiving
stomachs of shoeless...
the curious call of moors,
the old crow language
of wings circling
their ancient dead
peat bodies rotting beneath the weight
of seventies murder. The swaying
New Romantics surrendering to the dark.
I am grey beaches in homeless overcoats,
banshees of Tudor shipwrecks
shaking bone rattles in violent storms.
I am poverty
and steel
and recklessness
an IRA wound on a city wall; coal crowns
of Thatcherite rule haloing unforgiving
stomachs of shoeless...
#grief
#LifeStruggles
#ghosts
#despair
#Britain
163 reads
13 Comments
Annoying Sexy Body Opinions
"You look greatest when you feel like a damn Queen"
-Most Girls, by Hailee Steinfeld
A disturbing number of guys I've known have had their opinions on what I should/shouldn't do: how I should wear my hair, the clothes I wear, what beauty treatments/products I spend money on, and if I do/if I don't wear make-up that day, my ideal body weight, what I should change (or not change); you name it.
It went over their heads that I could give two Fxs less about what their opinion is on the matter.
What I want to do to feel...
-Most Girls, by Hailee Steinfeld
A disturbing number of guys I've known have had their opinions on what I should/shouldn't do: how I should wear my hair, the clothes I wear, what beauty treatments/products I spend money on, and if I do/if I don't wear make-up that day, my ideal body weight, what I should change (or not change); you name it.
It went over their heads that I could give two Fxs less about what their opinion is on the matter.
What I want to do to feel...
#women
#sexy
137 reads
19 Comments
Barbie
She looked just
Like a Barbie doll
Platinum hair
Pulled back
In a long ponytail
All dolled up
In her beach going
Clothes
Proudly flaunting
Her big Barbie boobs
Sadly, she was
As plastic
As they come
Like a Barbie doll
Platinum hair
Pulled back
In a long ponytail
All dolled up
In her beach going
Clothes
Proudly flaunting
Her big Barbie boobs
Sadly, she was
As plastic
As they come
#women
#fiction
54 reads
17 Comments
excavation
In this cage, blood alone
will not break this bondage
it takes sweat
to excavate the key
that fits the lock
we can salivate
like a rabid dog
pushing against the bars
our ears ringing
with our own voice
beaten down
by the bouncing echo
our teeth will not gnaw
through this curse
we'll break by the weight
of our chains first
and our mile long howl
on the way down
will do us no good
we have to dig
all writers do
will not break this bondage
it takes sweat
to excavate the key
that fits the lock
we can salivate
like a rabid dog
pushing against the bars
our ears ringing
with our own voice
beaten down
by the bouncing echo
our teeth will not gnaw
through this curse
we'll break by the weight
of our chains first
and our mile long howl
on the way down
will do us no good
we have to dig
all writers do
#LifeAsAWriter
#WritingPoetry
135 reads
12 Comments
profundity of kitty litter
one of the most profound things she ever said in my presence
had nothing (& everything) to do with life
my little sister is a wealth of unexpected knowledge
but this statement has always stuck in my mind
we were sharing a house at the time
splitting household chores & expenses
among them...4 cats between us
she came home one day with a new kind of kitty litter
scoopable...which wasn't a thing until then
I watched as she filled the box
then frowned when she pulled out a soup ladle
placing it neatly in a jar beside the pan ...
had nothing (& everything) to do with life
my little sister is a wealth of unexpected knowledge
but this statement has always stuck in my mind
we were sharing a house at the time
splitting household chores & expenses
among them...4 cats between us
she came home one day with a new kind of kitty litter
scoopable...which wasn't a thing until then
I watched as she filled the box
then frowned when she pulled out a soup ladle
placing it neatly in a jar beside the pan ...
#sister
#memories
#learning
#wisdom
#PersonalGrowth
92 reads
13 Comments
It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at
We drive through flats
that are more grime
than home
it’s where we’re at—
at the supermarket
where yellow stickers
dishonour good food
in a way it doesn’t deserve.
There were two food banks
on the way
but it’s exactly
where we’re at
filling a trolley to a tenth
of its capacity until
a stomach reminds
a human how little
the body needs
to survive
.
.
.
I struck gold today.
...
that are more grime
than home
it’s where we’re at—
at the supermarket
where yellow stickers
dishonour good food
in a way it doesn’t deserve.
There were two food banks
on the way
but it’s exactly
where we’re at
filling a trolley to a tenth
of its capacity until
a stomach reminds
a human how little
the body needs
to survive
.
.
.
I struck gold today.
...
#FreeVerse
#Britain
#poverty
119 reads
6 Comments
listen carefully
I.
If you don't know
something is a
question,
then how do you
know to ask it?
Ii.
it isn't that you don't
understand that's a
problem
It's that others don't
understand that you
don't understand
that is the problem
III
when someone says
to you,
" Don't you think that."
they are not asking
you what you think,
they are TELLING
...
If you don't know
something is a
question,
then how do you
know to ask it?
Ii.
it isn't that you don't
understand that's a
problem
It's that others don't
understand that you
don't understand
that is the problem
III
when someone says
to you,
" Don't you think that."
they are not asking
you what you think,
they are TELLING
...
#humankind
85 reads
16 Comments
Deep Underground Community
(without fear or favour)
written in shared ink-stained dreams
shared where words dance in creative
woven tapestry of ethereal canvas
the unions of souls can be found
the whispered promises of love
entanglement in earthy passions
shared transcend the physical
as they are puffs of smoke
creative and heartfelt it may sound
they are born of mere words
for in deep underground
nothing is what they seem
surrender to the realm where poems reign
let us weave our tale verses entwine
creating...
written in shared ink-stained dreams
shared where words dance in creative
woven tapestry of ethereal canvas
the unions of souls can be found
the whispered promises of love
entanglement in earthy passions
shared transcend the physical
as they are puffs of smoke
creative and heartfelt it may sound
they are born of mere words
for in deep underground
nothing is what they seem
surrender to the realm where poems reign
let us weave our tale verses entwine
creating...
#funny
#WritingPoetry
#SelfReflection
70 reads
12 Comments
A Comforting Inevitability (2024)
The sun rises beyond its normal horizon —
from this point on are all things changed
a switched journey is inked in the upper house
since missing truths have merely been mislaid
a sense of new order emerges with increasing frequency
as patterns of deliberation give way to a singular path
the new base-line points to a tropic of conversion
with questions answered before even asked
in the final analysis one moves beyond looking back concerned
and looks forward with a kind of anticipating TLC
where, of all the many futures...
from this point on are all things changed
a switched journey is inked in the upper house
since missing truths have merely been mislaid
a sense of new order emerges with increasing frequency
as patterns of deliberation give way to a singular path
the new base-line points to a tropic of conversion
with questions answered before even asked
in the final analysis one moves beyond looking back concerned
and looks forward with a kind of anticipating TLC
where, of all the many futures...
#spiritual
#LifeChangingMoment
#SelfReflection
85 reads
6 Comments
DU Poetry : Popular Poems about Life, Society and the World