My turn!!  :)
I was really depressed the other day, and had absolutely nothing to
do so I wrote this:

"too much"

Within the span of life, I saw too much:
too much trouble and fear, too many kisses and tears;
and yet I survived - survive - to see much more.
Cruelty, abandonment, addiction, a nuclear war which takes all Life and leaves
  only Death.
And it continues for far too long.
Girl sees boy, boy kisses girl.
Man makes passionate love to woman,
and then woman leaves, taken by a fanatic spray of gunfire -
a shower which takes man's newfound love in bloddy embrace and
  gives him emptiness in its place.
Or man finds man - or woman, woman -
and half is crushed in the unsanctimonious grip of
Acquired (as if it had been purchased at a Macy's department store; and
  perhaps it had, by their endless love for one another)
Immune (is there such a state of being for a human? is there any person
  who cannot be cripples, weakend, suffocated, killed by something?)
Deficiency (of what? iron? nurishment? love? all these can be found).
They call it 'Fate', I call it Evil.
I've seen too much already.
I'm ready to leave this shameless, hopeless 'Pit of Despaire'...
But I will see much more before the Reaper calls my Name.
I'll see babies ripped from their mother's womb;
Not by a stranger's lustful malevolence, but by her own soft hand.
I'll see humans beaten to death by fists of rage,
by sticks and stones ("may break my bones...")
because of who they love. ('Fag!' 'Dyke!' 'Queer!').
("but words will never hurt me."
they'll kill me!)
A child dies in the street, overwhelmed by pangs of hunger,
while those in the house she crumples in front of eat a Christmas dinner -
  just the usual honey-glazed ham and basted turkey - 
but enough to fill the dying child's stomach,
to save her life so she might grow older to see too much.
I'll see presidents assassinated, while others embezzle large sums of money
  from their corporations in order to spend a month in the tropical
  climes of Haiti.
I'll see teens murdered, while others steal money from their friends and
  family to feed a raging fire inside them which can only be calmed by a
Weed.
And I'll see a young girl, unloved by anyone, her cries for help unheard,
Her tears unseen, her behavior misunderstood,
her trembling limbs pinned down as the one person she thought she could
trust violates her innermost sanctity again and again, 
  taking her self-respect and will to live away from her,
  giving her fear and dread in their place.
I'll see her sitting at her bedroom window, looking out onto the sunny day,
  her radio loudly playing her favorite music, comforting her.
I'll see her index finger squeezing the thin trigger, implanting a piece
  of steel deep into her brain, another piece of steel dropping from her
  hand to the floor, her body following; her eyes staring out onto the
Sunny day.
The one she thought she could trust pulling into the driveway.
I'll see much more than this, even.
I'll see the world fall apart, split in two by a whirlwind of energy which
bakes everything into a mold of cinder and ash -
caused by the decision if a single man.
And you'll see this too;
Because you exist, because your heart beats gallons of crimson blood 
throughout your body,
Because you know that one plus one equals two...
But soon that one will equal all.
And you'll see no more.

14 responses total.

Depressing.

It is....But it's really pretty good....I myself am no poet, So I can't be
a very good judge.....(Sorry)

Does one have to be a poet to be a (good) judge of poetry? Maybe to
analyze it. 

Honesty is the best policy, this is terrible
the only truly depressing aspect of this poem
is that r. wodman likes it, poetry exists to 
make an expression concerning the very essence
of human existance, not to indulge in trite
political commentary, 
'Write a little most for show,
 Display the empty, what not to know'.

It's free verse.  I'm not a fan of free verse.  But it works.  It flows.
Some of the word-use is powerful.  It gets it's point across.  Ouch!

Fair enough, but surely it's possible to
distinguish between good and bad free verse.
This is bad free verse? (or do I lack the artistic
perception to appreciate something titled 'A Depressing poem').
"Clouds roll overhead, immortal mind 
 subconcious stirs,......"
You see it is possible to use free verse with
some internal rhyme scheme. Only individuals who have
consumed far too much LSD *enjoy* free verse!!!

I resent that.
I'm drug free and I love free verse.
Now go chew a maggot.

How's that for free imagery?  :) :) :) :)

Only individuals who have consumed far too much LSD
overtly *insult* other people's artistic tastes.

I'm drug-free (well, o.k., I do alcohol and caffeine) and prefer
free verse myself.

I find that free verse is harder to write than that which follows
a strict meter and rhyme scheme.  Perhaps that's because the choices
are less circumscribed; it's more difficult to find something that
works and does not degenerate into prose.

y'all wanna see depressing?? no, i won't show the really depressing ones, but 
i will show some lesser, yet still, depressing poems of mine... :
After pain
time can piece
a heart
back together...
after
a heart
has been broken
into too many
pieces
too many times,
the lovers
quit...
the loved
die.

here is another one:
FOOL

Once again
she watched
one leave...
walk away...
out of her life
forever,
leaving her behind
in tears,
in pain...
her heart lies
on the ground,
smashed again...
the love 
wrung out of it...
like the rest,
he came,
then he left...
gone, after he got
what he'd
come for...
to see
another fool
go down.

tell me what y'all think

The 1st one hits home for me, the second I couldn't
seem to relat too as well.

The second one seems more real, specific, powerful to me. The first
is a bit of a cliche.

Oh great, does that mean I'm a cliche?? <don't answer that.... : )>

now , that was good - free verse and all
the second was good too - though it sparks a light head 
here's a small, yet depressing one, wanna comment ? anyone's welcome.

i wandered alone in the desert in vain
oblivious of the thundering gale
for other things hovered in my mind
those that made me blind

a thousand miseries plagued my heart
like pygmy poison darts
they came on unrelenting
devastating a destroyed being

i trudged on without purpose
the head and heart a breed apart
trying to reach a consensus 
climax akin to the bad start

it saddened her - my whims
so much like unpredictable springs
what saddened me further still
were unrealised dreams

my name is ashok and you can reach me on mail : nistel@cyberspace.org
thanks for your time ... bye... chao.  au revoir.

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