Vanity Poems
Cigarette Smoke
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
On a warm, dew-weakened day,
Watching the grey void of a lost
Sense, anxious moments recline
On whiffs of ancestral propitiations
When rafters regain possession of
Filched roast fish, balanced with
The fumes of a wild dance heckled
By chokes of a chagrined weekend.
Who rises faster than smokes of a
Low tar, ascending
......
The Vanity of Existence
by Philip Freneau
In youth, gay scenes attract our eyes,
And not suspecting their decay
Life's flowery fields before us rise,
Regardless of its winter day.
But vain pursuits, and joys as vain,
Convince us life is but a dream.
Death is to wake, to rise again
To that true life you best esteem.
......
Time Marches On
by Aloo Denish Obiero
Time marches on, through dusk and dawn.
Time marches on, through silence and song.
Time marches on, unmoved by pleasure and pain.
Time marches on, unmoved by grief and glory.
Time marches on, past valor and vanity.
Time marches on, past fame and fall.
Time marches on, beyond triumph and tragedy.
......
Into Piles
by Jeff Bresee
What in the world are we doing?
Who are we trying to beat?
It seems like we live our lives running,
as if we are losing our seats.
We never stop building up towers.
We never stop spinning around.
We never stop piling up into piles
everything that we’ve torn down.
......
Crucifixion
by Jeff Bresee
They say that the truth is a hard thing to take,
but maybe it’s time that we see
that we as a people are nothing but fake,
ensuring that’s how it will be.
We stand up demanding there’s tolerance,
doing so with our fists in the air.
It’s truly the oddest dance ever been danced,
hypocrisy beyond compare.
......
Time Marches On
by Aloo Denish Obiero
Time marches on, through dusk and dawn.
Time marches on, through silence and song.
Time marches on, unmoved by pleasure and pain.
Time marches on, unmoved by grief and glory.
Time marches on, past valor and vanity.
Time marches on, past fame and fall.
Time marches on, beyond triumph and tragedy.
......
Cigarette Smoke
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
On a warm, dew-weakened day,
Watching the grey void of a lost
Sense, anxious moments recline
On whiffs of ancestral propitiations
When rafters regain possession of
Filched roast fish, balanced with
The fumes of a wild dance heckled
By chokes of a chagrined weekend.
Who rises faster than smokes of a
Low tar, ascending
......
Beauty
by Jeff Bresee
I see it time and time again
that beauty’s made by what is spent.
A beauty that demands a price
with outer glow and inner ice.
And observation seems to tell
it’s only as deep as the well,
for come the day the well runs dry…
......
Crucifixion
by Jeff Bresee
They say that the truth is a hard thing to take,
but maybe it’s time that we see
that we as a people are nothing but fake,
ensuring that’s how it will be.
We stand up demanding there’s tolerance,
doing so with our fists in the air.
It’s truly the oddest dance ever been danced,
hypocrisy beyond compare.
......
Into Piles
by Jeff Bresee
What in the world are we doing?
Who are we trying to beat?
It seems like we live our lives running,
as if we are losing our seats.
We never stop building up towers.
We never stop spinning around.
We never stop piling up into piles
everything that we’ve torn down.
......
