5 Poems under 100 words

Works collected since 2023 with word count <100.

I like writing short poems. They force me to experiment with form and trying to express insights economically is a fun problem to solve. Here are 5 of such poems. Do read them on desktop or on landscape mode, if on phone, to experience formatting as intended.

Teaching my dad to tie his shoes

I taught him to criss-cross the lace,

pull the right end from

beneath, and tighten until the shoe fits his feet.
     	   To
      make an
  oval with the
       left end
   	  and
loop the right around it.
Finally, to pull from both ends
                    and
          make a bow knot.
Now, when he walks into
a room of C-suite “upper” castes, he’ll pass.

Cling

Rain drops hit orange cement; some ricochet and
some trickle down onto grey asphalt, into
pious puddles craving rapture from a callous sun.

Rain drops cling to brown hair; brown hair clings to brown hair;
brown hair clings to tank-top; tank-top clings to skin in shadow;
shadow of a uterus clings to ovarian breasts.
A shadow louder than a sheer Givenchy dress
at some Gala bereft
of vintage Casios and metal bracelets and creased socks in heels
and Gaspar Noe nightmares and Lars von Trier daydreams.

Piglet

I don’t always know
which of us is
soothing the other,

but as of yet
we’re still connected:
a hell-bound essence
preceding
heavenly existence.

Milford Sound

I have found Milford Sound to be Anti-
Babel: intellect was not used to pry
open the gates of heaven—so heavy—
but to let a bevy of lovelies
waltz on marsh.
                             Now it seems that you have found what
the philosopher and physicist sought:
a century of inquiry doesn’t
compare to life in a state so present.

Two Haikus involving Cats

I.

Cat is a contained
math equation; a stable
atom. Unlike us.

II.

Scratches, sunken eyes,
and sweaty skin: fair prices
for the joys cats bring.

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Thanks for reading! Three of these were my submissions for Tadpole Press, this writing competition that asks for poems capped at 100 words. Go check them out if keen.