Poems About Life
by Ken Sanes
Jump down to Poems About
Life: A Selection
Or jump down to poems with
little or no rhyme
The poems that are linked to on this page (with
the exception of some poems at the bottom) are by me. Their subject is
the essentials of life and the human condition, which is to say, they
are about love and compassion, and joy in nature, as well as about the
more disturbing aspects of life, including suffering, war and death.
Some are about the passage of time and the meaning of art, and about our
sense of fascination and bewilderment at the mystery of the world.
The purpose of these "poems about life" is to use the power of words to evoke
an experience in you that can deepen
and enrich your perceptions. And to evoke experiences in you that
are deep and rich in themselves.
The poems take a number of forms. Some rhyme,
and play with words and ideas in a way that I think many readers will
enjoy. Some are filled with poetic elements even though
they don't include rhyme. And some have a more prose-like
quality in which most of the lines are still coherent units of meaning
that unfold on the page.
A fair number tell stories. Some -- especially
some of the better poems that use little or no rhyme -- try to evoke a sense of empathy with the speakers.
But whatever form they take, most of these poems depict humanity trying
to find what is good and true -- but also driven by fear and
destructiveness -- as it struggles with a difficult world and with
motivations that are hard to understand. Some depict humanity's
struggle with the ultimate limitation -- mortality -- which makes them
poems about life as well as death.
Most are relatively easy to follow, so people who have come to think of
reading a poem as a chore (or a test!) may still find
a lot to like here. A few of the poems are more enigmatic and complex because they need to be that way to have their effect.
In their essence, all are performances. Or at least they are
more like performances than
they are like essays (which is true of poetry in general). They are
patterns of words that use meanings, stories, sounds, imagery and
ideas to offer unique
aesthetic experiences, which can deepen the reader's perceptions of
life.
On another page, there are also a handful of
short stories,
some of which have themes and perspectives similar to what is
found in the poems. And there is a page of commentaries on
one
category of poems about life -- nature poems
by well-known poets. These expand on the themes of the website by
revealing how nature poetry is an expression of the human condition.
Finally, there is a page of exceptional
short poems by famous
poets, many of which are also about the essentials of life.
On this page, below, I recommend starting with
the rhymed and unrhymed poetry in the first section, titled:
"Poems
About Life: A Selection". It contains some of the best work,
including "The Lookout", which is one of a number of ars poeticas that
describe why I write poetry. The
second section is "Poems
About Life: Unrhymed Poems." The third and fourth sections are additional rhymed
and unrhymed poems. Finally,
the last section, as stated below, are the
poet's dreaded long poems. There are also a handful of links to
poems about life by other writers at the bottom of the page.
Of course, it can be said that all poetry is about life or, at least,
about life and death. But many of these poems explore this theme in a
self-conscious way and try to get at the essence of things in a way
that I think many readers will appreciate.
I hope you like what I have to offer. If these poems about life and death work for you, they will put you more
in touch with your own humanity, and deepen your experience of yourself
and the world around you.
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Some of my best rhymed and unrhymed poems
about life.
The Bard's Last Tale
A short poem about life and love.
Things To Do While Waiting
One of a number of rhymed poems about life and
death, written in a popular style that many readers
will find ironic,
fun and a little
bit
haunting.
Light
One of a number of related poems about life
and light, in which the speakers describes
waking up to the sun and a new day.
Ontologic
One of a number of poems about life in a
postmodern age,
that asks how can we reconcile
ourselves to the world revealed by
science.
The Food Addict's Dilemma
One of a number of fun poems about life and food.
If you've ever tried to go on a healthier diet,
you'll appreciate this.
We Seek Him
A brief, spiritually oriented poem
based on
monotheism.
The Lookout
One of a number of poems about life and nature,
as seen
through
the lens of an extraordinary
experience.
It has similarioties to the poem, "Lookout at the Lake".
Bed Bugs
Life in bed.
Passages
One of a number of story poems about life,
the
passage of
generations and selfless love.
Not by Design
One of a number of briefer poems about life
and death.
Gnosis Darkness and light.
An Idea From Mystical Philosophy
One of a number of poems about life as an illusion.
This one conveys an idea from mysticism
in which the world is described
as
something
that is being
thought by a cosmic
mind.
The Quest for Perfection
A broad overview in a poem about life in history.
In three stanzas.
A Meditation on
Life and Death
One of a number of unrhymed poems about life
and death
that looks
at
how our lives unfold. This
poem tells the truth
about mortality in a direct way.
The
world is like a movie
One of a number of short poems about life
in the universe.
Time Scheme
One of my briefer poems about life in time,
which is also about poetry and death.
..\
;
/
,
Gothic horror through punctuation,
in a poetry
form
I call a punctuation pictogram. And, yes,
that's
the
title.
Telepocalypse
A gothic horror poem about life in death, and about
one
of the most
distressing aspects of the contemporary
world:
automated customer
service
voicemail.
The Gift of Light
One of number of short poems about life and light,
in which
the speakers describes
waking up to the sun
and a new day.
A New Day
Another short poem about life and light.
Every morning we rise
with the sun
A darker take on the theme of life and light.
The Marchers
A poem about the living dead, in which fascist marchers
go Gothic. The poem
uses
an unusual
technique
to create
its effect.
Representations
One of a number of poems about life as an illusion.
The
poem asks if we can
know
the world, or even
ourselves, or if everything
we think we know
is just
a
representation in
the brain.
Lookout at the Lake
One of a number of poems about life and nature,
seen through the lens of an extraordinary experience.
Danse Macabre
A poem about a living thing studied by science
that invades the bodies of ants and turns them
into zombies.
There is only one story
One of a number of poems about life and its
connection to storytelling. This is a description
in poetic form
of why we tell stories.
The weight of the world
One of a number of poems about how we should
live and see the world when the universe
revealed
by physics
doesn't make any sense.
The Curator’s Love Poem
A poem about life and love in a museum.
Day Dreams
Another of my poems about life and light --
and the motivation
for writing poetry.
To His Reluctant Sweetheart
One of a number of poems about life and physics,
in which a suitor, of sorts, offers another
take
on how
we should
live in an impossible universe.
They fly in eight hours
A modernist poem about geese that fly over
the Himalayas.
A Day, Just Now
Joy in nature, briefly put.
I'd Like
to Raise a Poem From
The Deep Spring of Life
One of a number of poems about life's deepest
perceptions.
The End of History
This poem is an expression of horror at the history
of violence
and the way it could culminate in a
nuclear war. Some people may
find its
depiction
of the end of human life disturbing.
This Is the Kind of Day
This poem is an expression of joy
at the arrival of
new life
in
spring. It appeared in Decanto
Magazine in April, 2012.
Poems with little or no
rhyme that will hopefully evoke awe,
amusement,
compassion and other responses in readers.
To live in time
One of a number of poems about life divided.
Call and Response
This story poem about summer camp offers a
perspective on why we tell stories
and write
poems about life.
The Dance
A poem about life as a dance.
Pie Talk
An apple pie a la
mode with a convincing sales
pitch
tries to talk someone out of
listening to a
very frustrated
broccoli.
Library Book Sale
An unexplained occurrence in a library basement.
Looking at a Poet on a Bridge, Looking
If this poem works for you, it will be a
roller
coaster ride through a vision of history.
When the sun sets in
the evening
One of a half dozen poems about life in which
the speakers describes waking up to the sun
and a new day.
Awe of Nature
A poem that asks: how can we be
in
awe of
nature's beauty when
we are
appalled by
all the
death and suffering?
The Stuff of Life
The last of six poems about life in which the
speaker describes waking up to the sun and a
new day. But this one asks
if the world is
a
jigsaw puzzle with pieces that
don't fit together.
The Self
Human narcissism and self-involvement.
The Leader
A story about fascism that has similarities to
"The Marchers" but with a very different form.
It is an important truth
A philosophical
statement in poetic form
about
why we tell
stories.
Family
A poem about life in the
ultimate
dysfunctional
family.
Parents' Lament
A collective lament by parents.
Apostrophe To Winter
The speaker in this poem talks to winter about the
snow,
the
darkness
and the cold -- and about spring --
until finally
it becomes clear the speaker is also
talking
about something else.
Another Way
One of a number of poems about
life as seen through
an extraordinary experience.
More Rhymed
Poems About Life
Petition
The first of three poems about some of the things in life
that many of us
would like to be protected from.
Away from Our Door
Poem two.
Grocery Wish List
Poem three.
How can we live
in a universe like this?
How should we respond when the universe
revealed by physics doesn't make any sense.
Recipe
for a Good Life
A short poem about life's meaning and fulfillment.
Clues To a Crime
Another of various poems about life and the
meaning
of things.
Ars Poetica
Nuclear Voice Mail
A poem about the twin horrors of modern life:
nuclear holocaust and customer service voice mail.
Ars Footsie
Poetry as footsie.
More Unrhymed Poems About Life
The World After
A gothic story about the long
sweep
of history. It started
life as a poem but reads like a work of short fiction, now.
We
Remember Maria
One of a number of poems about life, death,
memory, and love.
I Am the
Venus of Laussel
An ancient work of art speaks about the past
and
present.
The Ruin and
Ice Dragon
Long Poems
These are the poet's
obligatory, dreaded long poems.
Seeing With a Cosmic Eye
This is a hybrid of a story, essay and poem about life
in a vast universe.
Two notes: it is for the patient and
motivated reader,
and your perception of the world
may change
after delving into it.
Let Me Tell You a Story
This is a long poem about life and storytelling, seen
against the panorama of history. The poem is in nine
sections.
Among other things, it portrays
humanity
caught
in the snare
of time -- and its own
foibles.
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Note: A literary device that is used (or used in a
modified form) in a small number of these poems can variously be described as fragmentation, juxtaposition, the creation of collage-like forms or
spatial form.
This is where parts of the poem don't follow the conventional progression of
narrative
flow, description or the unfolding of an argument. Instead, there is a
break
between parts of the poem, so the poem seems to jump from one thing to
another in a way that, hopefully, intensifies the reader's experience.
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A note from the author
I have another website of prose essays at
transparencynow.com.
And
here is
some (older) information about what people have said about that website and how it
has been used in classrooms.
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Poems About Life: Copyright © 2010-2014 Ken Sanes. Most of this work is on file with the U.S.
Copyright Office.
You can send your thoughts to letters@kensanes.com
or make
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