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Free Verse

Bespoken


What they don’t know

one can only assess  

What they can’t see

they can never possess

What they affirm

they can never deny

What they proclaim

they can never imply

 

Things they impugn

only traitors allow

Things they assume

they will never avow

Things they besmirch

they will never applaud

Things they embrace

they will never defraud

 

Once they betroth

all suitors be damned

Once they constrict

to never expand

Once they commit

to never rethink

Once they get sober

to never take drink

 

If they remember

those promises cast

If they retender

the future and past

If they stay open

the visions will come

If they’re bespoken

— the truth zero sum

 

(The New Room: January, 2026) 

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Kurt Philip Behm

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This Poem's Voice

Your Poem's Voice

PersonalThemeAbstract

Philosophical exploration of knowledge, commitment, and truth with abstract conditionals.

SparseMeasureDense

Dense paradoxical statements stacked rapidly; multiple ideas compressed per line.

DarkSentimentBright

Predominantly dark: betrayal, damnation, constraint, contradiction; some redemptive ending hope.

StillEnergyExplosive

Explosive negations and stark contrasts; declarative intensity with forceful semantic collisions.

MicroLengthEpic

16 lines of primary text; falls within 16-30 range.

PlainFigurativeOrnamented

Personification, paradox, and implicit metaphor; heavy rhetorical structure but sparse imagery.

LyricVoiceDramatic

Lyric abstraction with dramatic conditional statements; impersonal yet rhetorically intense voice.

Free Verseprotestspiritualidentitypersonificationrepetitionparadoxalliterationrhyme scheme

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