self-awareness poems

Cleaning Up | JD DeHart

I can’t clean up the entire
universe, but I can clean
up this tiny corner, paring
down my life, living just
a shade more reflectively
asking myself again
to search my motives
asking myself again what good and decent mean.

Hiding Places of the Heart | JD DeHart

I have now come
to believe racism lives more
deeply within us than
we know.
It thrums below the surface
of daily sound with a vibrato
that matches sexism
along with ignorance.
We can spend hours escaping
into other worlds and balance
our tongues on songs
of harmony
But we have to suss out
the hiding places
of the heart.

A Beautifully Sad World | Chris Byrne

The world is full of beautiful people yet we fail to see them.
They are the ones who sit in quiet contemplation,
Who have an air of beauty surrounding them,
Who never need anyone yet crave company,
Not out of need for companionship, but because they want to let Their light shine for those who can see it, hoping they’ll pick up A bit of it and make their own gleam brighter,
Often wondering if it was worth shining for those that never see or appreciate the light or if they actually see it; Yet still we glow brightly, a beacon in the dark for all those who don’t see, we continue to shine.
Even when we don’t see the beauty that surrounds us, we still try to put it out there for others to see, when we can’t see the light, we still shine, knowing that beautiful people don’t just happen.

United Hotel | Soodabeh Saeidnia

Hundreds of poets
Living inside me
Some are mature but master
in hiding the truth
Some are kids but write frankly
Some speak in mother tongue
but feel a foreign. Some decided
to migrate to an odd, faraway land
and never came back. They
inspire my poems
Some are believers, some not
They argue every so often
I’m not so interested in binging
on their hot bitter coffee
Anyhow, they never invite me
A few numbers are prisoners
Life-sentenced in the skull
Afraid to rebel against my heart
A few jailers too, grumpy, sullen
Control the mind from stem to stern
I lost some of them, when
they tried to pass the borders
And lost some more, when
a few tricksters promised them
a better life in a dream world
I don’t remember how often
they all stand on one thing agreed
I failed to bring them together
for writing a masterpiece but my poem
amalgamates the distinct pieces

More at https://soodabehpoems.wordpress.com/.

Shatters | JD DeHart

Do not be so brittle
and unrelenting
in this world, do not
mold yourself after flint
or limestone.
Such a life only erodes
in time’s waters
it eventually shatters.
Practice forgiveness like
an art, weave it, paint
it, apply it liberally.

A Narrative | Judy Moskowitz

With every poem I write
I’m putting myself
On the line
With no place to hide
Except the space
Between words
Giving breath to a flow
Of thought
Automatically spilling ink
As if the pen in hand
Has a mind of its own
I’ve been the sparrow
And the crow
The rebel and the wife
A headline story
Sound bites
Underneath the layers
Of dust
The many renditions
Of myself

Muse Dethroned | Pragati Gupta

Who was till now
preserved in my heart’s cove,
garlanded with
the world’s most precious feelings,
ruby tears and emerald moments,
visioned the modern reality
of breaks and lies
withering and eroding the same
for good.
Unknown pleasure I derive now
to have dethroned you
from the heart’s throne,
which you never deserved.
The feminine ferocity is questioned
by the rebound poets.
The red plaza of love is buried,
ramshackled,
the skin-deep faith I live for.

An Ink Blot Pen | Michael Kagan

Writing poems
I hope
Someone with a mind
Will tell me
What they mean
In a dyslexic ramble
Scrambled words
Easy over
Surreal abstract
Covered with numbing veils
It must be easier to contrive
Speaking gibberish
Escaping the page
As my fingers grip
The accomplice pen
A crazy dancer on blank paper
Forms symbols
The unconscious flow
of ink
A Rorschach poem
Tell me what you think

Arcane | Ananya S. Guha

I resist the arcane.
I have to come out from hidden springs unscathed. Too many symbols. I have to uncover all those splendid truths.

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