Short Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition

Collaboration and Peace

It’s not so difficult
For people to come together
In a spirit of
Collaboration and peace,
It just requires that we
Put aside the need to
Feel superior to some other
Person or group,
Label them as other so
We can push them aside,
Project our inner wounds on them,
Take advantage of them
For personal gain.
Getting along with others
Is possible, countless people
Co-exist in harmony every day,
We’re wired to be social,
Now all we need to do is
Heal the individuals who
Promote the mistaken notion
That we’re somehow different
From one another and always
Have to be in conflict.

False Narrative

He always has a
False narrative
Playing in his head,
Protecting him from reality,
Shielding him from
The things he’d rather not look at,
And who he’s become.

How to Solve All the World’s Problems

A strange bunch of
Confounded creatures we are,
Thinking only of our own needs,
Killing to amass more and
More meaningless stuff,
Smearing our inner
Hurts on each other,
Coalescing into tribes
Of beings who are just
As broken as we are.

How to solve all the
World’s problems:
Provide mental health
Services for everyone,
Starting in childhood and
Continuing regularly
Throughout adulthood,
In order to help people heal
So they are able to
Love themselves and others.

Some People

Some people
Suffer as children
And become adults
Who inflict the same
Pain on others.

Some people
Suffer as children
And become adults
Who alleviate
Others’ pain.

Labeled Normal

She’ll never wake up and
Wonder why she hurt
So many people,
A mechanism acquired from
Broken adults who never learned
How to be nice to others and
Passed it on to the
Next generation just as
Had been done to them,
Perpetuating reprehensible
Behavior labeled normal.

As of This Moment

It arrives and elicits
Questions not easily
Resolved, a perplexing
Serving of doubt mixed
With tentative hope,
A wish answered,
Respite from hardship,
Please let it be,
As of this moment
It isn’t and
Most likely
Will never be.

Bloom

A seed blows in
From some unseen
Place and finds a
Spot where it’s needed.
A little time passes,
Peace and love
Bloom everywhere.

Enduring

No respite from
This chafing wind
Blasting from the
Area between his
Nose and chin.
Words crashing against
Ears that would rather
Be anywhere else in
The world than here
Enduring this
But for some lame
Rule that says you
Have to shut up
And take it.

Everything in His Power

He grew up in a
Horribly abusive family,
Passed around from
One ghastly relative to
Another, surrounded by
Chaos and violence
No matter where he went.

Eventually channeled into
The foster care system,
He lived with several
Families that seemed to
Have other things in mind
Other than really loving and
Caring for children like him.

Now in his forties,
He’s successful beyond
His wildest dreams, and
Does everything in
His power to make sure
No one has to go through
What he did.