good poems

Where You Always Have Been

No matter what anyone says or how many
Facts are revealed or how much
Evidence is available or how painfully
Obvious the truth becomes or how dire
The consequences are or how strongly the
Tide of history pulls or how much
Discomfort ensues or how soundly invalidated
Your position becomes or how many opportunities
To shift direction arise or how the voice inside
You reminds you of your folly, don’t budge,
Don’t move, you’re right where you always
Have been, and may always be.

Get the Poetry Collection
Unconventional Being - Minimalist Poetry Book by Guy Farmer

Readers around the world have found pieces of themselves in these poems. Discover the collection.

Get Your Copy on Amazon

The Course of Events

It dawns on him that
Perhaps there is nothing
He can do, that he
Really has tried everything
Possible, that the only
Variable here is whether
The cause of his agony
Will gain some kind of insight
That changes the course
Of events, a healing of
Pain rather than
Tightening of the rack.

Empires Could Fall

He was adept at
Saying anything he
Needed to in order
To get whatever it
Was he felt he needed
At that particular moment.

People could perish,
Empires could fall,
But at least he
Was feeling great
At the expense of
Other human beings.

Perpetual Tending

A brutal thirst for anything to
Allay the unquenchable,
Overwhelming yearning to
Climb a fanciful mountain.
Eviscerate every challenge real,
Imagined, more the latter.
Increase the dose to maintain.
Tread water until the next wave.
A sense of invincibility demands
Perpetual tending, sustenance.
Stand in the dark staring
At the same apparition.

Standards

Although she didn’t know it
At the time, she was in the
Presence of extraordinariness,
A person who could inspire
Others and motivate them
To enjoy an otherwise dry,
Uninteresting requirement.
She took everything in and,
When it was over, made
A concerted effort to
Criticize the one thing that
Hadn’t met her standards.

Following

Startlingly conventional,
Seeking simple answers to
Complex questions,
Ambiguity to be avoided
At all costs.

Aggressive, sneering
At anyone who doesn’t
Agree with him,
Projecting unresolved
Rage on bystanders.

Rigid, uncreative,
Profoundly unfulfilled,
Chasing the rush
That comes from
Following the herd.

Shouldn’t

The words that can’t
Be said because someone
Said we shouldn’t say them.

The feelings that can’t
Be felt because someone
Said we shouldn’t feel them.

The life we don’t live
Because someone said
We shouldn’t live it.

Trapped

Walking through a
Large room replete with
Cheery people
Trying a bit too hard.
Slow-motion bubble,
A hapless figurine
Trapped in a snow globe,
Swirling storm.

Each smiling face,
Insecure diatribe,
Reminds him of other places
He could be, the dreams
He unwittingly left behind
When he decided to
Follow the safe path to
Boredom, uniformity.

As Angry People Do

A group of angry people met in a room,
Enraged because the beliefs they so
Readily, joyously, ruthlessly
Imposed on others were no longer
Popular; exposed as petty,
Disingenuous, destructive.

They machinated at length,
What to do about this conundrum.
The solution arrived in a flash of
Inspiration: Keep doing the same
Things that got them here.
A group of angry people stayed
Angry as angry people do.