the human condition poems

Broken | Steve Denehan - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Broken | Steve Denehan

Murmured conversation and cutlery scraping.
Into the restaurant he came,
As out of place as anyone has ever been.
He was older, enormous, bedraggled.
His shoulders were wide, straining against a greasy brown coat.
His hair, matted, above a weathered face.
Stopping, he seemed surprised to have arrived in the restaurant.
He turned to face our table and we caught eyes.
Words, of a sort, fell from his mouth and landed on the floor.
He was escorted out and the silence was filled once again,
With murmurs and scraping.

Hello, Win. | Alexandre Bartolo - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Hello, Win. | Alexandre Bartolo

Her eyes gaze at
a lady with implanted hair
across rosé cheeks,
screws spiking
children’s necks,
Egyptian bands
enrolling firefighters’ bodies,
cliché bloody teeth
coming from my gums.

“It this Halloween,
daddy?”
We tell our children:
“Lies often have shorter legs.”
How can I
tell her this is not?

Should I tell her
the lady has hypertrichosis
which her insurance won’t cover?
Her childhood peers
were murdered by the soon-to-be serial killer?
The mighty Estate
won’t assist His more-burnt burdens than heroes?
My company
is moving towards tax-breaks?

Interim Report | Neil Creighton - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Interim Report | Neil Creighton

Unseen, we hovered above the planet.
It has retained much of its beauty:
grassed plains, high mountains, sky and cloud,
spectacular displays from land and sea.

However, we noted damage and scarring.
Floating islands of plastic and huge holes abound.
Grey smudges and stagnant water indicate
considerable pollution of air, water and ground.

We also noted the dominant species
has a limited, self-centred thinking.
Inequality and poverty are rife.
Egalitarian ideals appear to be shrinking.

Problems demand altered consciousness.
Poverty, resource plundering, increasing population,
primitive energy sources and climate warming
indicate a need for global cooperation.

Most of the wealth is controlled by a few.
To protect it they exploit a common flaw
which enables many to be easily manipulated
into the absurdity of destruction and war.

We believe they slumber in partial consciousness.
They are not yet fully awake.
Further development may require
an emotional and intellectual earthquake.

We will return in a millennium or two.
The species has potential for distinction.
We conclude with the hope that their folly
does not ultimately lead to their extinction.

Drinking in the History | Michael Kagan - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Drinking in the History | Michael Kagan

Gray clouds blacken the dusk
A sliver of moon
Shivers in the ocean
Little sunbursts in his head
Throwing back shots
Numbness
Flowing through his veins
Garbled messages in the tavern
Try to comfort a fire
That will not surrender
A muted scene of fishing boats
Eyes closing down on the daily frazzle
Generations seek to dull
One empty net after another
A fish out if water
Doesn’t want to feel the hook ripped out
Throwing back shots again and again
fermenting at the edges
here in these forgotten towns
burning in collective pain
memories and history
swirling down the drain

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