Faces are a wonderful topic for poetry. Each face is a poem telling a different story, and this poem constantly changes from moment to moment. If you can get beyond a person’s simple façade, and catch the subtly of mood that lies under their mask, then you will know you have become a great poet. We can’t promise anything so pretentious here, but with our lyrics and verse, we have done our best to produce a small series of original poems for you our reader. You will find them only on Shadow of Iris. We hope they bring a look of joy to your own face!
Face Off, a poem
by Marya Ophir
He sat down in the chair
and promptly removed his face,
then picked up the newspaper
and began to read
about a sale on pretensions
and affectations
to be held on the morrow
at the local ministry.
Faces Back Then, a poem
by Dustin Down
We don’t understand faces any longer.
We don’t understand attraction—
Time was, back then,
when life was harsh.
Physically, it took a toll—
you were out there in it,
meshing with it and the cold hurt.
Too much smoothness frightened us,
but a rough, worn face,
a face that could take it all in
and keep it, then still move on,
that was a face that reassured.
So back then
everyone wanted a face like that—
Now the biggest concern
is knowing when and how to smile
so as not to show you’re so dumb
and that older face has gone out of style.
Everyone’s afraid they don’t quite fit in
and it shows in their faces.
Your Face, a poem
by Justin Thyme
Works of art
written in flesh
and played out
only once;
the turn of your lip,
the twinkle in your eye,
the sudden tear
that falls
in just the right place.
Small Little Faces a poem
by Tamara Knight
Small little faces
peer out at me
from flowers that bloom
only under the full moon.
Snapshot, a poem
by Paul Bearer
Your face holds in it for me
an attraction so strong
it devoirs me and leaves me void.
I see you on the street corner
and I try not to stare
but your face is so beautiful.
It’s like a miracle,
you’ve the grace of an angel,
and my only desire is one look.
With a glance I want my eyes
to take a snapshot
that indelibly imprints your face
upon my memory;
I want to burn your image permanently
onto my retinas—
One more look is all I want,
just one more, and
I promise it’ll be my last;
just a brief casual glance
so that I can die, satisfied.
Oh, I’d like try to tell others about you,
but they’d only laugh, as if I’d seen
a UFO, Elvis, or the virgin Mary.
The light at the street corner changes
and you walk across—
I dare not follow you,
I change my direction
and I head the other way.
A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.
—Honore de Balzac
We hope you enjoyed these poems about faces. It’s so important for a poet to get beneath the outer exterior to see what real. We hope we managed to do that a little here. If you haven’t done so already, make sure to go the side bar and follow Shadow of Iris, so that you don’t miss our next great poem!