It Might Have Been
Sitting on a bench
In a garden,
Looking out over
A placid pond,
He wonders whether
It might have
Been different,
Memory embellishing
What never was.
Short Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition
Absences
In a small town
Bereft of opportunity,
He wanders slowly
Toward school,
Stopping along the
Way to throw rocks
At various things,
Smack light poles
With his skateboard.
At some point during
The day, the guidance
Counselor will confront
Him about his many
Absences and force
Another lengthy lecture
On him, all about how
He’s throwing his
Future down the drain.
At home, his mother
Screams at her
Latest boyfriend,
The one she chooses
Over him all the time.
He dreams of a day
When he can get away,
Have a room of his own,
Forget everything.
Our Friend
He visits once
In a while,
Our friend the
Squirrel.
We’re not sure
Where he lives but
It’s always a
Happy day when
He stops by.
Very Different
They spend a few
Brief minutes together,
Talking about the weather.
Neither utters the
Words waiting to be said,
Depth being difficult.
Vulnerability avoided
One more time in the
Name of nothing rational.
They say goodbye,
It could easily have been
So very different.
Untethered
Not sure what to do,
Questioning everything,
A path in this direction
Unpromising, just as in
Every other, struggling
To keep going with
Little to hold on to,
Persevering where others
Stay in hermetically
Sealed boxes of safety,
Never straying away from
Comfort, not grasping
What it is to dive into
The unknown, untethered.
Contort
I see his face
Contort, betraying
The inner conflict
That comes from believing
Something that isn’t
True, twisting reality
Into whatever it becomes
When it is extinguished
By raw fear and bias,
Self-preservation at
The expense of others.
The Alternative
The alternative to
Aggression,
Strife,
Anger,
Vengeance,
Hate,
War,
Competitiveness,
Injustice,
Brokenness,
Sadness,
All the tangled
Complications
Wrought by humankind,
Is always there,
Waiting patiently.
Love.
Love for self.
Love for others.
Love for all living beings.
Love for the planet.
Love for the universe.
All-encompassing,
All-healing,
Love.
When It Happened
It was only
When it happened
To her that she
Realized what
Other people had
Been going through
While she and her
Friends were
Putting them down.
Passing It Off
Just when it
Seems like things
Couldn’t get more
Appalling, they do.
Standard rules don’t
Apply here,
Just some strange
Perversion.
Passing it off
As normal,
This calamity
Of brokenness.