Pain Poems | Poemist

Popular Pain Poems

Talking Turkeys!

by Benjamin Zephaniah

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas
Cos' turkeys just wanna hav fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked
An every turkey has a Mum.
Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,
Don't eat it, keep it alive,
It could be yu mate, an not on your plate
Say, Yo! Turkey I'm on your side.
I got lots of friends who are turkeys
An all of dem fear christmas time,

......

Let America Be America Again

by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

......

The British

by Benjamin Zephaniah

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,

......

The Slave Dealer

by Thomas Pringle

From ocean's wave a Wanderer came,
With visage tanned and dun:
His Mother, when he told his name,
Scarce knew her long-lost son;
So altered was his face and frame
By the ill course he had run.

There was hot fever in his blood,
And dark thoughts in his brain;
And oh! to turn his heart to good

......

The Spider

by Jane Taylor

"Oh, look at that great ugly spider!" said Ann;
And screaming, she brush'd it away with her fan;
"'Tis a frightful black creature as ever can be,
I wish that it would not come crawling on me. "

"Indeed," said her mother, "I'll venture to say,
The poor thing will try to keep out of your way;
For after the fright, and the fall, and the pain,
It has much more occasion than you to complain.

......

Recent Pain Poems

Lost for loss

by J’kuan Liverpool

I torture myself with these thoughts ,
Trying to make sense of me crumbling ,
A strong enough breeze could turn me to dust ,
But the wind is stalling it’s just dark and cold ,

I’m surrounded by a cage of broken glass ,
Picking up pieces of myself cut me little by little,
I’ve be played with broken & left for garbage ,
Once treasured with care , affection and love ,

......

Man Of My Word

by Frangipani Rhett

I'm a man of my word today
Because you never believed me when I told you why I was crying

I'm a man of my word today
I was a child then and somehow I was always your enemy

I'm a man of my word today
Because you told me you'd reject me
If I put myself first before my parent's priorities

......

stabber

by Mishka M

they stabbed you, and you apologized
for getting blood on the carpet,
a soft gasp breaking the silence
as if the air had betrayed you,
as if your lungs couldn't hold the weight
of what just happened.

“i’m sorry,” you said,
the words slipping out like instinct,
a reflex you learned long ago—

......

Bucket Pain

by Ally Bell

If pain were a bucket,
You'd be the largest one,
Pouring your trauma out like a faucet
Unto those who show you love
You're like a raging storm,
Leaving destruction in its wake
With thunderous words filled with hate
Yet still, I saw in you the potential to create
When you saw yourself as someone who should have never been born

......

the weight of words

by Mishka M

i am the shoulder, the steady stone,
the one they call when they’re alone.
their tears spill oceans, their hearts unwind,
and i am the net they always find.

i speak in calm, in careful tones,
patching the cracks of fractured bones.
but their pain lingers, it sticks like glue,
and when they leave, it stays here too.

......