Long Self Poems
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Personal poetry about the way you feel about yourself
Long poems (300 words or more), most recently posted poems first.
Sonneteer
Poem Published
17th Oct 2024 8:38am
17th Oct 2024 8:38am
The Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book VIII - Asocial interactions
And there was time long gone when all went well,
A time of waking growth and sense of self,
A time when childhood's blithe enchantment grew
And blossomed blossoms rare and magical.
A year's duration then, no more no less,
The time I'd grown to seven years of age,
And one of Britain's cities was my home:
Not free but ignorant of cares and woes.
The world unfurled a constant source of joy
(Not known as such because nought else was known)
And hiding as behind of each delight
Was soon revealed another equal one.
The sun was out, I'd be...
A time of waking growth and sense of self,
A time when childhood's blithe enchantment grew
And blossomed blossoms rare and magical.
A year's duration then, no more no less,
The time I'd grown to seven years of age,
And one of Britain's cities was my home:
Not free but ignorant of cares and woes.
The world unfurled a constant source of joy
(Not known as such because nought else was known)
And hiding as behind of each delight
Was soon revealed another equal one.
The sun was out, I'd be...
62 reads
0 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
16th Oct 2024 6:35am
16th Oct 2024 6:35am
The Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book VII - Complexities of location
I feel that I begin to have a feel
For London's ways - although not born and bred
In this, the behemoth of towns, I've now
Lived ten years both in, and, at times, around.
Despite this past decade, I cannot claim
Familiarity - I'm worse than most
To know London in parts - and known fraction,
Small part that doesn't represent the whole.
And London seems a proud maturing oak
Which stands with roots as deep as branches tall -
I've lived in both the roots and canopy
But tend to gravitate to those things base.
In some respects...
For London's ways - although not born and bred
In this, the behemoth of towns, I've now
Lived ten years both in, and, at times, around.
Despite this past decade, I cannot claim
Familiarity - I'm worse than most
To know London in parts - and known fraction,
Small part that doesn't represent the whole.
And London seems a proud maturing oak
Which stands with roots as deep as branches tall -
I've lived in both the roots and canopy
But tend to gravitate to those things base.
In some respects...
58 reads
0 Comments
Everavalon
Poem Published
15th Oct 2024 1:23pm
15th Oct 2024 1:23pm
Jaiden
You take a sip of pop and cringe as the fizz hits the back of your throat.
Once in a while you get the urge to try something new. Something spicy.
You brace yourself for the extraordinary,
prepare your palate for a new texture,
whether it be grit or mush.
Whole or crushed.
You sidestep and linger,
fingering the food on your plate.
You stab it with a fork—a million times
and linger some more.
It's the fear of the unknown.
It’s the weight of the challenge.
I've tried to push you to discover all that’s available...
Once in a while you get the urge to try something new. Something spicy.
You brace yourself for the extraordinary,
prepare your palate for a new texture,
whether it be grit or mush.
Whole or crushed.
You sidestep and linger,
fingering the food on your plate.
You stab it with a fork—a million times
and linger some more.
It's the fear of the unknown.
It’s the weight of the challenge.
I've tried to push you to discover all that’s available...
#LifeChangingMoment
136 reads
3 Comments
ChloesPoeticInk
Poem Published
14th Oct 2024 6:30pm
14th Oct 2024 6:30pm
Lost in the Dark
Why does no one talk about how hard it is to heal,
When your comfort is in the pain, where nothing else feels real?
I’ve been drowning in this darkness since I was just a kid,
I don’t know who I am without it—don’t know if I ever did.
Who am I without the weight, without the scars,
Without the demons that held me in their arms?
I don’t know how to be happy, don’t know how to breathe,
When the only air I’ve ever known has been suffocating me.
I’ve lived in hell so long, it feels like home,
And the idea of healing makes me...
When your comfort is in the pain, where nothing else feels real?
I’ve been drowning in this darkness since I was just a kid,
I don’t know who I am without it—don’t know if I ever did.
Who am I without the weight, without the scars,
Without the demons that held me in their arms?
I don’t know how to be happy, don’t know how to breathe,
When the only air I’ve ever known has been suffocating me.
I’ve lived in hell so long, it feels like home,
And the idea of healing makes me...
#dark
#disappointment
#emptiness
#grief
#rejection
179 reads
0 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
14th Oct 2024 3:22pm
14th Oct 2024 3:22pm
The Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book VI - Relationship with alcohol
My use of alcohol was formative
(And formative - the way the word is meant)
It ruled my life for most of twenty years,
Addiction might as well have been my wife.
And when I come to talk of drink (the drug),
I fail to find the words and images:
I write restricted to the clichéd phrase,
I paint again what everyone has seen.
I used to think I was remarkable
And that my drinking differed from the rest,
Somehow in quantity (I drank the most)
Or quality (the greatest joy or woe).
But then a while ago and for some time
(The aim to win...
(And formative - the way the word is meant)
It ruled my life for most of twenty years,
Addiction might as well have been my wife.
And when I come to talk of drink (the drug),
I fail to find the words and images:
I write restricted to the clichéd phrase,
I paint again what everyone has seen.
I used to think I was remarkable
And that my drinking differed from the rest,
Somehow in quantity (I drank the most)
Or quality (the greatest joy or woe).
But then a while ago and for some time
(The aim to win...
49 reads
0 Comments
Everavalon
Poem Published
13th Oct 2024 3:52pm
13th Oct 2024 3:52pm
illa
She still has good days amidst the bad
loves kisses on the cheek and comforting hugs
she is brittle and pliant all at once
She’s not the glass of window panes
with a clear view to the inside
She is the glass of sun catchers
complex and multifaceted
Her cancer is all consuming but you wouldn’t know it. It’s almost as if she glances over it like the missing date on some hassling renter’s final rent cheque as you watch him push his glasses down his bridge to signal his intention that he’s apt to come back later and collect his...
loves kisses on the cheek and comforting hugs
she is brittle and pliant all at once
She’s not the glass of window panes
with a clear view to the inside
She is the glass of sun catchers
complex and multifaceted
Her cancer is all consuming but you wouldn’t know it. It’s almost as if she glances over it like the missing date on some hassling renter’s final rent cheque as you watch him push his glasses down his bridge to signal his intention that he’s apt to come back later and collect his...
#dark
146 reads
3 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
11th Oct 2024 5:34am
11th Oct 2024 5:34am
The Portrait of The Poetaster as a Man - Book V - Ingrained Attitudes
I do not know if they are attitudes
Or if indeed they are, if they're ingrained,
They might just be a form of prejudice,
Or false assumptions, those to which I jump.
They may not have a name, but they exist,
And are the kinds of thoughts I'm drawn towards
When it were best to show uncertainty:
It's these, my first impressions guide me wrong.
Although they seem to be quite innocent
These thoughts and attitudes can lead astray:
And thus I will confound the false for real
And take exuberance for beauty too.
With this mistaken filter,...
Or if indeed they are, if they're ingrained,
They might just be a form of prejudice,
Or false assumptions, those to which I jump.
They may not have a name, but they exist,
And are the kinds of thoughts I'm drawn towards
When it were best to show uncertainty:
It's these, my first impressions guide me wrong.
Although they seem to be quite innocent
These thoughts and attitudes can lead astray:
And thus I will confound the false for real
And take exuberance for beauty too.
With this mistaken filter,...
66 reads
0 Comments
poet5678
CHUCKLES 123
CHUCKLES 123
Poem Published
10th Oct 2024 8:59pm
10th Oct 2024 8:59pm
42 years of life you have given me Lord
42 years of life you have given me Lord
And
I am grateful for
The gift of life
That is so precious to me
My tolerance and respect is built around people
On understanding and empathy
There is another world for me to embrace
I always question what are they saying
I can do so many things
I need to have a desire to do it Lord
It doesn’t matter where I came from
The ability to triumph begins with me always
I like to say that risks always pays of
I learn what to do or not to do
I see your face in me
I talk to children...
And
I am grateful for
The gift of life
That is so precious to me
My tolerance and respect is built around people
On understanding and empathy
There is another world for me to embrace
I always question what are they saying
I can do so many things
I need to have a desire to do it Lord
It doesn’t matter where I came from
The ability to triumph begins with me always
I like to say that risks always pays of
I learn what to do or not to do
I see your face in me
I talk to children...
#greed
#grief
#hate
#heartbroken
#sadness
149 reads
2 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
8th Oct 2024 11:40pm
8th Oct 2024 11:40pm
Portrait of the Poetaster as a Man - Book IV - Complexities of occupation
In recent years I've worked in offices
And baulk at finding their environment
A social one that's harsh in attitude
Requiring skills that I do not possess.
A competence for which I have to work
Is social grace, that sought ability
To say hello and gain a kind reply,
Or use the universal gift: small talk.
I fail to make attempts at light exchange
And when I make attempts they miss the mark,
Ignoring conversation's interplay
My void words isolate themselves and me.
And thus my lame attempts to interact
Akin to walking on a...
And baulk at finding their environment
A social one that's harsh in attitude
Requiring skills that I do not possess.
A competence for which I have to work
Is social grace, that sought ability
To say hello and gain a kind reply,
Or use the universal gift: small talk.
I fail to make attempts at light exchange
And when I make attempts they miss the mark,
Ignoring conversation's interplay
My void words isolate themselves and me.
And thus my lame attempts to interact
Akin to walking on a...
59 reads
0 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
8th Oct 2024 6:52am
8th Oct 2024 6:52am
The Portrait of a Poetaster as a Man - Book III - Squandered Opportunities
Say, what should be if it should come to pass
That child of yours abandons favourite themes
Not through their inclinations or their wish
But through a strong parental influence?
What if a father were to use a bribe
In order to encourage his own child
To choose a course and university
Because that's what he wished that he had done?
What were a child as ignorant of worth
To see this bribe as motivating cause
In blithe decision as to what's the best,
In choosing matters that mould things to come?
Ignore the questions, as this came to...
That child of yours abandons favourite themes
Not through their inclinations or their wish
But through a strong parental influence?
What if a father were to use a bribe
In order to encourage his own child
To choose a course and university
Because that's what he wished that he had done?
What were a child as ignorant of worth
To see this bribe as motivating cause
In blithe decision as to what's the best,
In choosing matters that mould things to come?
Ignore the questions, as this came to...
91 reads
0 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
8th Oct 2024 6:28am
8th Oct 2024 6:28am
The Portrait of the Artist as a Poetaster - Book II - Objective state and hope
I have married three times above my state
(And cohabited as marriage requires);
If they were wives of Windsor they were not
Made merry having chosen me to wed.
The failing mine in each - my illness was
My fault, exacerbated by a mind
Persisting with the thoughts of malady
Beyond recovery - well yet unwell.
The wives that took the marriage vow were each
Aware of my acute and chronic faults
Although reality perhaps surprised
Their poor foresight, then ill-equipped for ills.
Not learning, it's as if I retrogressed
In passing each...
(And cohabited as marriage requires);
If they were wives of Windsor they were not
Made merry having chosen me to wed.
The failing mine in each - my illness was
My fault, exacerbated by a mind
Persisting with the thoughts of malady
Beyond recovery - well yet unwell.
The wives that took the marriage vow were each
Aware of my acute and chronic faults
Although reality perhaps surprised
Their poor foresight, then ill-equipped for ills.
Not learning, it's as if I retrogressed
In passing each...
63 reads
0 Comments
Sonneteer
Poem Published
7th Oct 2024 6:50pm
7th Oct 2024 6:50pm
Portrait of the Artist as a Poetaster - Book I - Incompleteness of self
I will attempt comparing you with me
Although in this I feel unable to
As there's no common frame of reference
And this a feeling I should emphasise.
Plainly said, I am me and you are you,
Sometimes united by an "us" or "we" -
But these few words disguise a complex world,
The communality of human kind.
I'm mystified as to relationships
Of self and other, straight perceiving strife
And differences in place of that concord
Which leads to mutual aid and harmony.
Most differentiate or distinguish
Themselves from...
Although in this I feel unable to
As there's no common frame of reference
And this a feeling I should emphasise.
Plainly said, I am me and you are you,
Sometimes united by an "us" or "we" -
But these few words disguise a complex world,
The communality of human kind.
I'm mystified as to relationships
Of self and other, straight perceiving strife
And differences in place of that concord
Which leads to mutual aid and harmony.
Most differentiate or distinguish
Themselves from...
79 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Long Personal Poems. Poetry about Self Reflection and Self Awareness. (Page 6)
