United States Air Force Academy

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Poetry

Whether it’s free verse or rhymed couplets, shaped poetry on the page or spoken word, poetry offers us a way of deconstructing and constructing language, as well as building lasting images, metaphors, and scenes that speak to the emotions and experiences that inform every aspect of our human lives.

  • Alexis Ford
    На Озере

    It’s golden here–
    Baked into a film reel,
    Already memory

    Wilderness shines as its mother touches down;
    We could swim to Belarus, beyond, name a world—
    I’m in it, with you.

    Tomorrow, our bellies full of the grapes we eat today,
    We’ll be drenched in contentment–
    Enough to put grins on our faces
    Every hour of the dazed ride home.

    And we will know our luck to have tasted this.

  • Anika Stickney
    Galatea's Awakening

    From the dark, my vision was filled
    with light I had never seen before.
    My eyes settled on the cause:
    a man staring back admiringly.

    As he chipped my marble with every touch,
    I inhaled affection, adoration.
    Never had I thought lungs could fill so much.
    Never had I dreamt of my inflation.

    But did he dream I’d have a voice and exhalation?
    Am I free, or in his clutch?
    Will he ever let me down
    from the pedestal he placed me atop?

    Still, he saw my beauty in the marble,
    he sculpted who I am today.
    And yet, does he even love me,
    or simply worship what he wants to see?

    Boy's Club

    I just found out
    Its key sign appeared
    I just found out
    Looks like it’s worse than I feared
    I just found out
    My hope disappeared

    I just found out
    All symptoms were ignored, I conceded
    I just found out
    I asked can it be cured? – wait no don’t answer I pleaded
    I just found out
    I asked if it can at least be treated?

    I just found out
    Now I’m filled with glee
    I just found out
    It can be removed quickly
    I just found out
    Oh did they mean –

    I just found out
    Its key sign appeared
    I just found out
    Looks like it’s worse than I feared
    I just found out
    My hope disappeared

    I just found out
    “All symptoms were ignored” I conceded
    I just found out
    “Can it be cured?” I asked – “Wait no don’t answer” I pleaded
    I just found out
    “Can it” I now asked “at least be treated?”

    I just found out
    Now I’m filled with glee
    I just found out
    It can be removed quickly
    I just found out
    Oh did they mean –

    Liar

    You noted that my words were just hollow.
    In one sentence I would wind you up, yet
    in the same breath I blew a sirocco
    until you shattered from my word roulette.

    Sweet words I would say to stifle your fears,
    And just like I hoped, they started to stick.
    My Siren song, a slick wax, clogged your ears,
    muffling all the world’s harsh rhetoric.

    Humid to arid became your mind’s land.
    My breath unneeded to dry my words out.
    Now none could stick to you how I had planned.
    They mix with the world’s sounds and your own doubt.

    If I didn’t claim that “I’m worth nothing”
    Would you believe me that you mean something?

  • Daniel Jeong
    American?

    I regurgitate the phrases my American friends say,
    Selecting American as my primary language.
    Trading my heritage for belonging and running away from my Korean shadows,
    Red, white, and blue are becoming my drugs.
    My mom’s kimchi tastes sour and foreign,
    My dad’s discipline and reproof are barbaric and un-American.
    Calling Jonoven’s mom Gloria, wearing my shoes in the house,
    Am I American yet?

    Though a provoking, yet gentle spirit whispers,
    The blue, soft sounds of forgotten vowels,
    The red , enticing smells of traditional jigae
    The white, reverent bows toward parents, elders, and older.
    O defecting heart, forget not the footsteps of parents’ sacrifice.
    Remember your birthright, embrace who you are.

  • Daniil Andreevich Tourashev
    The Decline

    Over half the city’s growing population, the Jewish diaspora composes
    To more than 30 factories’ operation, its working class bolsters
    Daugavpils, Latvia’s Jewish religion includes 40 synagogues
    None of them are ready for their existence’s epilogues
    They came – killing, violence, and suffering brewed
    Hunger among the ghetto’s 16,000 ensured
    Today, less than 50 of them remain
    Together they must bear the pain
    These are now foreign lands
    One synagogue stands

    Icarus 2022 Decline Memorial

    Icarus 2022 Decline Memorial

    Images provided by the author

  • Elizabeth Warner
    Falling

    One day I was falling
    And he picked me up too quick
    Almost like he planned it
    Like he wanted me to slip

    November came too swiftly
    And I changed right with the leaves
    All the things I left behind
    I didn’t see him steal from me

    Out of all the things he gave me
    And all the things he took away
    A broken heart was the greatest
    But it never was here to stay

    I never really loved him
    I just wanted to love myself
    I guess I thought that came through well
    And I just needed help

    But then again he never loved me
    Or even wanted to hold my hand or let me dance
    I wish I said goodbye and good luck
    Cause he just wanted to

    So now I hate cuffed baggy jeans
    And yellow button-downs
    Pages made of gray
    And girls who fall for the love he threw around

    And every time that I argue
    There’s a bit of him in every guy that I debate
    When Nirvana plays too loud
    Or that movie messes with my brain

    I never really loved him
    I just wanted to love myself
    I guess I thought that came through well
    And I just needed help

    But then again he never loved me
    Or even wanted to hold my hand or let me dance
    I wish I said goodbye and good luck
    Cause he just wanted to

    So I guess I’m saying sorry
    Every time that rage flashes in my eyes
    When veggie tempura makes me wanna puke
    And lemon cake with rose takes me back to that night

    So I guess I’m saying sorry
    Every time that rage flashes in my eyes
    I just never want to go
    go back to that night

    safe in port

    Ships in bottles still crash on blue waters,
    and I didn’t know then that I’d never grow taller.
    So I’ll crash this bottle;
    And watch these lies grow smaller.
    Plastic fish still float in water.
    “Sink or swim,”—they both make you stronger.
    Sails run dry on golden sand,
    A pirate tiptoes over stolen land.
    Look for the reflection off the sea:
    make sure that it’s not glass between you and me,
    a familiar glint and perfect sky.
    I’d say I didn’t see this coming
    But the only thing worse than a coward is a lie.
    Let me sail around this bottle once more,
    And let me realize I’ll never leave port.
    prop up this ship with twigs and leaves-
    pretend it’s not swimming in ragged disease.
    I’ll keep it to myself, shards of glass and all,
    thanking the Lord that ships can’t fall.

    Sometimes

    Sometimes I dance just to press my heels into the floor
    and sometimes I fall just to feel a little more.
    Just to know the ground is there;
    Just to know how much hurt I can afford.

    Sometimes I look for a wishing star and watch it til it dies
    and sometimes I find a wishing star inside somebody’s eyes.
    Just to know the world isn’t fair;
    Just to know some stars survive.

    Someday I’ll live for more love than just a sunrise
    and someday I’ll find a purpose in the low tide.
    just have to wait until midnight has passed;
    just have to wait until I get over these goodbyes.

  • Emma Redmond
    A Son’s Leap

    Life and death:
    Opponents or teammates?
    Freedom is like a grave, waiting to be filled
    Yet those who never experience it,
    Are sentenced to wonder—
    To dream and never know.

    The option to leap is always there;
    But what will you land upon?
    Who else is to suffer your choice?
    One cannot bear the answers,
    Without sacrificing for the question.

    Bright blue skies, Icarus was limited
    By his father or the implications of his choice?
    The wings were meant to fly,
    He was sentenced as the pilot.

    The finality of the tombstone is collective,
    Yet, independent is the full weight,
    Of what you did and did not do.
    Which is heavier?

    A son took the chance,
    And received a casket filled with answers.
    His father moves forward with loss,
    But only Icarus knows the gain.

    The Place Where Megan Played

    There is nothing like a Long Island sunrise,
    Spent with my dad, overlooking Cordwood Park.
    Where beautifully impossible shades of orange and purple
    Paint the clear water, yet to be disturbed.

    All I have come to know is outlined by this shore.
    But do I want to know more?
    Ambition is a one-way plane ticket;
    Comfort lies only in what you are leaving behind.

    Being ready is a lie, a mirage in a cruel desert.
    If I wait, the perfect time will never come,
    Surmounting regret will eclipse this perfect sunrise.
    To understand value, I must know the pain of absence.

    Words cannot describe the pain it took to leave.
    But if the waves never came, the day would never start.

  • Gabriel Reiman
    Chameleon

    Jewels remain still gleaming
    Sapphire in her eyes
    Douse me, drown me, this and more
    The left guard always lies
    Tell me this, when all is done
    That empty doesn’t last
    Let me reach out, touch your face
    Drink deeply from that glass

    Elegy

    Wind off the mountain

    A farewell to sun, clear skies

    The storm says it all

    A Riddle

    The trees, not the fire

    Ice, not the harshest sunlight

    We, not what breaks us

    Love is Blood

    Your tongue cuts

    The bruises on my

    Fear in your grip 

    And in my eyes

    Love is blood

    Come taste

  • Georgenis R Reyes
    A Fairy Tale

    I lived in a fairytale,
    With feathers all around my body
    To protect my sensitive single-layered skin
    From the harm of every cell that surrounded me.
    My guardians took care of them,
    To make sure a single thorn did not cross.
    And with selfless working hours
    They kept me and my feathers out of danger.
    I was taken to a place I have never been,
    Is this a dream? Is this paradise? No,
    These are the moments created by your guardians.
    Same guardians that are sitting next to other guardians.
    I see other children, also covered with feathers,
    I guess I am not the only one being taken care of.
    They get close to me and call me a friend,
    I think it is normal, so I welcome them.
    Together we jump, scream and play
    Until no more joy was left to take.
    And while flying in this paradise next to my friends,
    I feel butterflies coming out of my chest.
    I open my eyes; turns out, I woke up.

    All of a sudden I am all grown, and no longer have feathers to protect my skull.

    My guardians still love me, right? That is all I care about.
    What a relief, they do, but I knew something was off.
    I try to stick the feathers back into my skin,
    but I could only do it if my guardians wish.
    But wait, apparently they do not!
    Does that mean I am on my own?

    I hold onto my guardians super tight
    To never let them go,
    but it is not me, it is them.
    They are not willing to hold on.

    How can you let go of what you proclaim to be your love?

    The worst thing, they do not want me back, and that is what breaks me the most.

    Life is not the same, not anymore.
    God, I beg you, please take me home.

  • Gerrit Tamminga
    Job Sonnet

    Where were you Elohim Shomri?
    Where were you when grandpa died?
    Where were you when no one chose to befriend me?
    Where were you when the world turned their back on me?

    Where were you O Little Youth?
    Where were you when I conquered the grave?
    Where were you when I made Eve for Adam?
    Where were you when I had to forsake my Son?

    Though I defiantly demanded a response of El-Shaddai,
    He answered me and forever be my cry:

    Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
    Praise Him all creatures here below,
    Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,
    Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

  • Jeremy Chen
    The War Has Ended

    The war has ended, people said
    You’ll find your peace some way
    “The Boys Are Back!” the paper read
    Some boys were left to stay

    I find myself inside a field
    I’m left to stay behind
    I hold something – the gun I wield
    A bullet’s on my mind

    It really wasn’t all my choice
    I’m pretty sure I’m dead
    Across the sky, a lack of noise
    A bullet in my head

    I’ll stay here for a little while
    And watch the clouds go by
    And on my face I’ll wear a smile
    Though I was left to die

    My skin is cracked, my bones are bleached

    The critters in the field
    They see my corpse, they see a niche
    A creature for their yield

    I don’t know how long I’ll stay here
    The flowers start to grow
    I think it’s been a couple years
    Where am I? I don’t know

    The war has ended, people said
    You’ll find your peace some way
    And now I’m quite sure that I’m dead
    My peace a price to pay

    I Saw a Kid Running Today

    I saw a kid running today
    In mirrors, his eyes met mine
    The sun sank down, farewell to day
    He ran against his time
    I knew exactly why he ran
    He’s facing splints and splits
    Yell “Through the pain!” and “Let’s go, man!”
    I know it helps his grit
    He steals a glance down at his watch
    And smiles at his feat
    Ignores the chafing in his
    And smiles at his feet
    From careful starts, from slower miles
    To his first three point two
    I’ve seen him face all of the trials
    He thought he couldn’t do
    I know that kid! His name is mine
    One month, one week, one day
    With every run, he beats his time
    And tells doubt “Not today.”

  • Jeremy Piñon
    We're the Worst

    Wouldn’t it be nice
    If your writing was good,
    so I wouldn’t have to edit every essay or email for you?
    And you cared about me,
    or others.
    If you took responsibility for your actions,
    And not just the good ones,
    but the ones that absolutely destroyed me.

    Girl, you’re the worst,
    You know that you’re the worst.
    But you’re something I can’t lose,
    If you grew up a little, that’d be a first.

    Wouldn’t it be nice
    If I wasn’t so pretentious,
    And I stuck to my word?
    I stayed and waited for you
    And didn’t play “Runaround Sue.”
    If I didn’t have to move away
    To chase my dreams
    Even though they all involved you?

    Girl, I’m the worst
    I know that I’m the worst
    But I’m something you can’t lose
    If I grew up a little, that’d be a first.

    Wouldn’t it be nice,
    If we didn’t call it quits?
    If we worked it out,
    And just didn’t give up.
    If we lived closer to each other,
    Grew at the same pace,
    And it was no more “You or Me,”
    Just “We.”

    Girl, we’re the worst
    We know that we’re the worst
    But we’re something we can’t lose
    If we both grew up a little, that’d be a first.

    Postcards

    I’m writing to catch you up on the places I’ve been

    I’ve seen Jesus play with fire that I was standing in

    The devil take a dip in water that I was drowning in.

    Smoked peyote with my tribe

    And walked the badlands on my lonesome.

    I’ve cheated the dealer,

    And dealt with the consequences.

    Hitchhiked across the country,

    Grew my hair,

    Shaved it,

    And grew it again.

    I’ve gotten tattoos with ink only found in Japan,

    And drank beer from a stein on the highest of the Swiss Alps.

    Toured Vietnam on the back of a scooter,

    Raced down the autobahn in a Mercedes,

    And rolled my truck in the red dirt of Texas.

    Kissed the Pope’s ring in the Catholic Country,

    And skinny dipped in the Amazon.

    I fought a war in the Middle East,

    And pet penguins in Antarctica.

    I opened my third eye in Boulder,

    And rocked at Austin City Limits.

    I’ve lived only a little,

    But laughed the loudest,

    Loved the deepest,

    Cried the hardest.

    And woke up to the birds singing

    “Po-tee-weet.”

    Lucky Penny

    I’ve got myself a lucky penny

    Found it on the way to school

    It shimmered and shined in the sunlight, so sublime

    So I picked it up and shoved it in my pocket

     

    I’ve got myself a lucky penny

    Pulled it out during my test

    I winked at it, and it winked back.

    The ideas flowed, the numbers checked out.

    It was my lucky penny and me.

     

    I’ve got myself a lucky penny

    Took it out during my workout

    Loaded the bar and winked at it

    The iron became weightless, my PRs shattered,

    It was my lucky penny and me.

     

    I’ve got myself a lucky penny

    Took it with me to grab a coffee

    Approached this beautiful girl with copper hair

    Scored her number and some caffeine

    It was my lucky penny and me.

  • Joi Harvey
    Night and Day

    My love for you is never consistent

    One day you make me discouraged

    Fighting with my pick as is strangles the strands of my 4C hair

    Late nights twisting out my hair while my arms and shoulders feel the weight of the world

    The weight and pressures of the world to protract my scorching straightener
    And unravel my crown of afro textured hair

    Withholding my dark locks from the Lord’s resemblance

    Makes me forget the days you conform to my patient swirl

    Coiling perfectly to the shape of my bronze fingers likeness

    My anti-gravity curls, my stairway to heaven

    Bringing me closer to God as he touches my hair of wool with his rays of sunshine

    The endless updos, braid outs, silk presses, and afros

    That only my Negro hair, my naps and curls

    Have no limit to what it can do

  • Jorden Gidrey
    Love Like No Other

    Your effect on my life is unimaginable
    Every time your touch glides across my skin
    I feel 400 years rush through my veins
    Your hands strangle my neck
    Like a freshly tied noose
    Our bond so vigorous and ​​deceitful
    The trauma runs deeper than the Atlantic

    The mistake and misfortunes so full
    Your sin and intentions overflow my thoughts
    Like a levy under distress
    Your false promises chain me to your history
    And my ancestors pass on their misery

    They call you The Land of the Free
    But they never tell you it comes with a fee

  • Lindsay “Bones” Cordero
    After the Hurricane

    Everything has shifted
    into something intangible.
    I am grasping at water
    shocked when I open my hand to find nothing.
    I can no more hold onto water than I can you.
    Our last conversation…
    the ring of your voice…
    The way you would say:
    “Well hay!”
    After you passed
    I panicked.
    I wrote down everything I could remember
    of our last phone conversation.
    Your insistence I do as mom said
    and put away anything Laura could blow away…
    I wish I had grabbed you
    with the same urgency I stored belongings before the storm…
    Held so tight
    Asked you questions I never knew I would need to ask
    Reminded you how deeply I love you
    Asked you if you wished we had talked more
    I know I do.

    All My Memories of You Keep Coming Back

    Grief is
    My hand in yours
    I am five,
    elated to attend the school you teach at.
    I blink.
    Empty house, no power from the storm
    dust settled on the precious things
    you would scold me for touching.
    I look at the stone of the fireplace
    location of a battle
    My brother once waged
    with Green men.
    When his army marched up the mantle
    the greatest casualty was your clock.
    Porcelain Delftware, white and blue…
    Ticking silenced with a smash.
    “Well boys, pack em up. We’re going home.”
    He coaxed plastic troops safely out of harm’s way.
    I am sure you were infuriated
    but you graciously cleaned up the messes
    all your grandchildren made.
    You did not say “I love you”
    so much as showed
    in every meal prepared
    every story read
    every song sung Sunday morning…
    your voice rang higher than heaven.
    And as I sit before you
    one final time
    Papa by my side, your daughter-my mother-by his
    I finally know what it means to have a sense of place
    Surrounded by all our family
    resting beneath ground.

  • Meilyn Jade Wong
    A Long Wait

    Whether to stay or leave, I do not know.
    I lay with knots that can’t be untied,
    Fearful of what will be said, yet
    Holding in all this love, craving eternity,

    But tonight, it will be disappear and sink
    To the cold hard floor, I know it, and
    Down, far down I see, the end,
    And silent words spill from my eyes.

    The fluorescents scour the hall as the sun sets
    And the night falls closer. A distant truth gathers,
    Bringing a painful choice that will heal more than it hurts.
    Simplicity doesn’t come that easy.

    Hopelessly waiting for the end of my happiness.
    It’s gone, the lights go out.

    Letting Go

    Physical and real it seemed
    No question of doubt, only fear
    Overlooked due to the want and need
    Wrapped up tight, consumed with joy

    Too happy, blind to the dark
    Cravings for the love and special feeling
    Forgetting what was lying beneath
    Nowhere to run, no one to ask

    Suffocated, trapped all at once
    Believing, denying, that it almost felt right
    Lost in a spinning machine
    A cycle that would not let me go

    But with much strength it spun no more
    A hurt I’ve never hurt before
    So caught up in this false reality
    Never really over but wishing it was.

  • Michael Ernst
    Confusion

    My eyes open to the darkness
    So much it blinds the light.
    I think I see everything
    Yet nothing is in my sight.

    The urge to go back is strong
    To the deep and harsh embrace,
    While unconsciously losing who I am
    Fear keeps me in my place.

    I can’t, I won’t, it’s all I’ll never do
    But force it nonetheless.
    Escape this trance
    And start it all anew

    I look in the mirror and question what I see
    There’s always a different face
    Nothing is the same
    Nothing has changed
    Something has taken it all away

    Hollowness fills my head as I look around
    I thought I was truly gone for now.
    Where did I go? What did I leave?
    Is there anything inside this husk of mine?
    Issues arose from questions and thoughts

    I’ve done nothing and yet everything is finished.

  • Nate Bone
    Untitled

    With one turn of a key and the start of an engine
    And hour and an age too soon
    You were gone
    I’m glad I know the truth

    I remember we both loved colors, bugs, and cars
    Your favorites were red, just like a ladybug
    I remember playing with matchbox cars in the hallway
    I gave you my favorite car because you loved it
    They say you died with it in your hand
    I’m glad I know the truth

    They told me what had happened
    For I know of others that were told differently
    You had moved away, or changed schools
    Without ever saying goodbye
    I’m glad I know the truth

    We painted my matchbox cars red for you
    And placed them all around the neighborhood
    Memories of you on every corner
    You would have loved it, walking through, finding your favorite things
    I’m glad I know the truth

  • Sean Richard
    Stutter

    Others can’t see you, so you deny me
    The pleasure of their pity. I’m alone
    As you take more than my ability
    To captivate with charm. You are a stone
    In my shoe, yet I cannot dare to limp.
    You let me run, but I could run faster.
    Every step you tell me, without a lisp:
    The past, the future, could have been better.

    The stone is here to stay; though, when I peer
    Into the dreadful depths of my two shoes,
    I find myself, a dusty souvenir,
    Staring back at me. This is never news,
    Yet it still is the hardest truth to bear:
    My stutter isn’t what my life does impair.