Nobody gets a kick out of writing hardship poems, for obvious reasons. We write what we know, and most of us are just as happy keeping hardship a stranger. That said, we all go through times of trial, and writing or reading cathartic hardship poems can lift our spirits considerably. Sometimes, we need to wallow in our misery a bit. Other times, we need to vent about it. Much of the time, though, we are simply looking for a ray or two of hope. In this section, Hardship Poems, you can be sure to find plenty of all three. I hope you also find some relief, as I did in writing them.
FINDING THE POEM YOU WANT: As you scroll through this section, simply read each snippet sample (usually the first four lines) to get a feel for the poem. When you find something you like, click “CONTINUE READING” to view the entire poem.
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The heavy desert heat
assaulted her,
shut down her cool,
absorbed her essence,
stole from her the
right to breathe.
When I am weakened by the pain,
the sorrow every life must bear,
I reach out for thy steadfast hand
and feel a sacred presence there.
The road of life is rough and steep
with little ease along the way.
Some rivers cut and plunge so deep
they throw us back to yesterday.
The phone rings.
Innocence answers cheerfully,
vanishes on a sigh.
Lightning shouldn’t strike twice.
Children should be bulletproof.
My path, at times, is overgrown;
storms brew beneath my swirling sky.
The sweetgrass curls and turns to brush,
scrapes tender flesh as I pass by.
Sometimes we zag instead of zig
or zig when we should zag.
We go small, meaning to go big;
slide home, but miss the bag.
When things aren’t breaking quite your way
and this world leaves you stuck,
crank it up.
