Anger Poems
Is/Not
by Margaret Atwood
Love is not a profession
genteel or otherwise
sex is not dentistry
the slick filling of aches and cavities
you are not my doctor
you are not my cure,
nobody has that
......
Lot's Wife
by Wislawa Szymborska
They say I looked back out of curiosity.
But I could have had other reasons.
I looked back mourning my silver bowl.
Carelessly, while tying my sandal strap.
So I wouldn't have to keep staring at the righteous nape
of my husband Lot's neck.
From the sudden conviction that if I dropped dead
he wouldn't so much as hesitate.
From the disobedience of the meek.
Checking for pursuers.
......
Aftermath
by Siegfried Sassoon
Have you forgotten yet?...
For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same--and War's a bloody game...
Have you forgotten yet?...
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.
......
Lord Walter's Wife
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I
'But where do you go?' said the lady, while both sat under the yew,
And her eyes were alive in their depth, as the kraken beneath the sea-blue.
II
'Because I fear you,' he answered;--'because you are far too fair,
And able to strangle my soul in a mesh of your golfd-coloured hair.'
......
On Living
by Nâzım Hikmet
I
Living is no laughing matter:
you must live with great seriousness
like a squirrel, for example--
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
Living is no laughing matter:
you must take it seriously,
so much so and to such a degree
......
Who really are you?
by Kevin Junior Ojang Ojong
I sat with a man long enough, and I didn’t know his name. We were together always, and together never.
He came to me when I called, and he came when I did not. Cloaked in black with a sash of red like blood distilled, a red that could not be described.
He had fire in his eyes and always wore an expression that terrified me.
We sat in silence while the steam rose from his body, and his answers to all questions were grunts and grunts alone.
“What is your name?” I asked him and he said “I am an emotion”. I thought to myself then you must be Anger.
......
45. For My Authoritarians (2)
by Kea Campbell
I feel like a dog on a leash, nailed to the ground in your yard.
How is it my happiness dictates your profane and wicked ways?
Your hearts are like water, shifting like your states of minds.
One moment you're warm and fluid, and the next you're cold and stone.
Although we don’t see eye to eye, there is such a thing as compromise.
Your authority almost killed me the first time around.
How are you so blind-sighted to all the times you've let me down?
So, the next time you ask me why I don't want to stay,
Maybe you'll look back and finally acknowledge your mistakes before it's too late.
......
tranquil ocean
by Yunnie R.
tranquil like the ocean at dusk
in tune with the push and pull of the moon
and when the sea breeze comes smelling of musk,
it curls and whispers into my ear 'soon'
and when I hear it I recall when I once felt relief,
not really looking nor thinking that the next day
it would shift and turn into an overwhelming grief;
how it then felt as if what was torn hadn't been my trust–
but rather a broken wing and I am then hit with dismay
......
All's Fair in Covert Fuckery
by Frangipani Rhett
Something must be wrong with me
To make me care about a man
Who can't take the time to reply to me
Or simply give a damn
I can only make assumptions
At this point I'm less upset
That he only wanted to fuck me
But too bad for him, I'm not done yet
......
blue flame
by Mishka M
a blue flame flickers in the dark,
so small, so cold, it leaves no mark.
it burns with nothing but a hollow ache,
like a wish i never got to make.
the fire dances, but it's far from free—
it's trapped in something no one can see.
its light is sharp, but never warm,
a quiet scream, a quiet storm.
......
