read contemporary poetry online Archives

These Things Prove It | Carol Gilman

The ants are back.
The dove is gone.
I hear you clearing your throat.
This means everything is doomed.
I am doomed.
These things prove it.

I hear a baby bird chirping to be fed.
I smile.

This means that everything is okay.
I remind myself that I am not doomed.
That I can change my thinking and response to things happening around me.

It’s annoying the ants are back. I can handle it.
I am sad about the dove. I can feel that sadness.
I hear you clearing your throat. That’s what is happening. That is what you are doing. It has nothing to do with me and who I am.

These things, my thoughts, prove it.

Svetlana, Strange | Stephen Mead

October 24, 2023 / Best Poetry / chernobyl poems, human condition poems, immigrant poems, read contemporary poetry online, read modern poetry / Leave a Comment

All that yellowing—–
like Van Gogh’s portrait
of Madame Ginoux,
while from your grin of gums
two silver nubs brightly gleam.

Your eyes roll with an “oi vey”
shrug amid the swelling
while blisters bleed
an egg yolk stain
sunset to sunrise
over every bed pad.

We each take hold of a balloon limb
and look to you or your devoted
Chernobyl husband,
his rumbling Russian, that foreign
noise any heart can decipher,

and while we look, we hold
the going of golden Svetlana
in faith’s font of morphine,

the anguish, the light.

More at http://stephenmead.weebly.com/.

Larger Than Life | Kenneth Vincent Walker

September 17, 2023 / Best Poetry / confidence poems, perseverance poems, read contemporary poetry online, strength poems / Leave a Comment

From the mundane
To the profound you
Approach everything
With style. Those who
Know your name can

Attest to this fun fact.
Though branches may
Be broken and scars
Show their tracks. Ways
To hide the fine cracks

You’ve come to master
Even though you fight
Depression behind bars
Of your laughter and wit,
Which is no big disaster,

Because you are larger
Than that, larger than life.
Even birds chitter-chatter
At the sight of your light.
So upon your departure

Burn brightly, burn bright.

This Developed Nation? | Wandering Biku

September 14, 2023 / Best Poetry / diseased society poems, poetry online, read contemporary poetry online, social change poems, social commentary poems, social justice poems / Leave a Comment

In this Developed Nation, a 19 year old woman sleeps in a bag in a door way.
In this Developed Nation, a working family of four relies on the local food bank.
In this Developed Nation, grandmothers live on a pittance and die lonely.
In this Developed Nation, my friends use drugs to fill a spiritual chasm.
In this Developed Nation, stateless refugees are kept in cages while processed.
In this Developed Nation, slave labour is abolished, but persists.
In this Developed Nation, the media patronizes and panders to the lowest common denominator.
In this Developed Nation, the unscrupulous employers bulldoze workers rights.
In this Developed Nation, the population is kept divided and ineffective.
In this Developed Nation, ‘I’m not a racist…but…’
In this Developed Nation, black people are stop/searched nine times more than whites.
In this Developed Nation, under four percent of rape reports end in conviction.
In this Developed Nation, seventeen percent of adults take anti-depressants.
In this Developed Nation, suicide is the biggest killer of men under fifty.
In this Developed Nation, children cut themselves to relieve pain.
In this Developed Nation, I’m a snowflake if I care.

What has this Nation Developed into?

Lyrics | Susy

September 14, 2023 / Best Poetry / conceptual poems, lyrics poems, modern poetry, read contemporary poetry online, sensory poems / Leave a Comment

The lyrics sounded like in the black water I can feel everything. The words were sitting next to each other floating around and I saw them as a closed eye sees a rainbow. They expressed a need.

Dominick’s on Arthur Avenue | Stan Morrison

July 22, 2023 / Best Poetry / happiness poems, memories poems, nostalgia poems, read contemporary poetry online / Leave a Comment

Tiny storefront restaurant
The middle of the block
Packed, waiting outside
Large family style tables
Mixing arriving guests
With no printed menus
Only two entree choices
Maybe salad or veggies
Red or white in carafes
Owner guards the register
Silently adding up the bills
Tells the waiter il conto
Nothing ever written out
Always an even number
Cash is the legal tender
No Michelin reviews
Just the best bar none

How I Spent My Quarantine Vacation | Stan Morrison

July 19, 2023 / Best Poetry / coronavirus poems, covid-19 poems, humorous poems, quarantine poems, read contemporary poetry online / Leave a Comment

I had nearly nothing to do
And so much time to do it
Rearranged each room for Arc Digest
Every drawer is now clean and redone
All of my socks and my jockey shorts
Passionately ironed and neatly arranged
Shined shoes put back alphabetically
Clothes closets emptied and rehung
Total grooming plus daily mani/pedis
Ordering food online a daily highlight
Meals planned for the next six months
Rewatched past seasons of everything
E-mailed annoyingly and repeatedly
I wearily got up the very next day
And started the list all over again