Twins are wonderful subject for a poem. We find twins a popular theme in mythology, literature, and film. We think there is plenty of room here for lyrics about lookalikes, quatrains about clones, and musing about matches. Foregoing rhyme or meter, we present for you three free verse poems. Our first poem is about the duality of loss and recovery. Our second poem presents a shadowy tale of correspondence. Finally, our third poem drips into the spookiness of symmetry.
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Lost Twins, a poem
by Amanda Lynn
They were identical twins
and after the abrupt
blistering divorce
when they were split up
the pain had been palpable,
absolute,
and unfathomable.
It was not until years later
when by coincidence
wandering in the same park
under the same fluttering cherry blossoms
that they happened to see each other —
the recognition was instant,
the embrace,
lasting.
Shadow Twins, a poem
by Dustin Down
We all wondered about that little girl
who on occasion would look out
from the second floor dormer
of that old ramshackle house
and call to us
before the ghost of her mother
would pull her back in
to the shadows.
Her father was a rough, scraggly old man,
and he only left the house on stray errands
never talking to any of us,
always a furtive scowl on his face
as he’d drive off
sometimes for days on end
returning with boxes of what,
we never knew.
The day the police came
none of us should have been surprised
but, indeed, we were,
there had been twins,
two identical little girls,
lost in the glooms of that house,
where they went we never learned,
but we’ve always hoped,
some place, where the shadows flee.
Twin Bakers, a poem
by Isabel Tolling
Twin bakers,
two large bulky people
with sagging skin over brick.
They’ve faces of steel.
I can’t tell
if they’re male or female or both.
They’ve vast aprons
and billowing clothing,
stringy hair that barely reaches
their thick necks.
They stand behind a wooden counter
in an antique bakery shop
selling cream puffs and eclairs
and little rolls with strawberries on top.
One of them looks down
at something scurrying across the floor,
while the other just stares at you
and sees through you
sucking you in
through the eyes.
Fancy being shaken out of your poetic dream
by the cries of twins!
– Sir Walter Besant
All who would win joy, must share it;
happiness was born a twin.
–Lord Byron
We hope you enjoyed these poems about twins! We hope they inspire you to try your own hand at a double ditty or perhaps just a couplet or two. Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe!