I am avoiding... Hide me! I don't want to know of its existence.

I am avoiding myself, Hiding. I want to know if I exist.

It's time to reflect.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/MAFfpA6VO1 https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/nuRkl1BXXp

I miss you not only extensively, but inhumanly.
Not only how you miss a human, but also how you'd miss a lung.
Yes, I miss your presence - your smile, voice, and wit, your hands and their meter. (Plenty of poems to import for these, plenty of persons I've missed.)
But worse, I inhale and it doesn't fill me.

I waft around shadow-limbed, cropped neuron firings I don't know what to do with.
Suddenly, sometimes, I am only a shock-pulse, an ache.
Sometimes my heart razes bearings and my skin raises flagpoles, and I'm certain we're looking down the same line, somewhere, towards each other.

The coffee, usually cold now - is it my tongue, or do I sit longer frozen, not-holding your hand?
When my mind is elsewhere, when your name is nowhere, still you are a shape in my instincts.
A notch in the clock cycle, profound syncopation.
You comprise me so deeply, half my movements are yours.

It's true that when we said goodbye, I cried like a child (a human, conscious in grief).
But more than that, I felt firmware not-update
to this relapse in the lack of you (congenital condition).
My body, too adapted to the miracle cure -
unable to stop pinging.

Too heafed for rewiring, too known to forget
a body un-bounded, in-human bones set.

(Posted again since I made a mistake with comment links before)

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct2rrr/comment/l4cwzhn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ctlk76/comment/l4cwcs5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Inside-out all day, meeting ends. Ashamed
of feeling full, but looking to the forest.
Fantasizing about walking among tall trees
that see far.

One and Two

I felt a void, first in my throat. It slithered down to a more comfortable spot ridged in my chest. A little to the left,

There, that’s better.

It might fit perfectly there

right, won’t it?

Isn’t that what the past has taught you? Isn’t that what the path has taught you? The journey you’re on kid can be shaped just as unique and rare as you are.

In your chest is where it sits now. The same feeling- now rests in your stomach where it can expand and encompass and engulf your every fiber and survive the acid that craves to decay into something of your own volition.

But it’s as unique as you are. If we are unique, is our pain not just as unique? Have I gone too far into this? This pain that engulfs my stomach. Chronic.

Ironic how the pain enraptures your soul when it subsides. Multiple times a day or for a day and then another and then another. Repeatedly so, until it careers itself back into the void that ridges itself in your chest and fits so perfectly just at the top of your throat.

As unique as you are. Your pain is as unique as you are.

Man, if this phantom were only physical. How regretful this would be, and so there would be no blame scattered across these pages.

Instead, it sits and contorts and contours into the amalgamation in my fibers. Into the every strand of wilderness, like a forest of misbehavior, weaving my figure and framework,

the void, the pain, the amalgamation of my heart. Let beauty come from pain, if it can live in the blame of these words.

Link1 : https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/HrZXIUWSEE

Link 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/dJgtuJ2lic

I once was a spider, Now I’m an ant. I want to spin webs, But now I can’t.

One grain of sugar. A piece of a leaf. Two more legs, Would be a relief.

I live in a hill, With all of my kin. I miss my web, The flies stuck within.

I used to climb better, And scare housewives. Maybe next I’ll be a scorpion, In these many lives.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Zj2Kw2Ojh3

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/HjQnEh5exl

ribbed texture goes a long way when counting each line down the arm of the sofa,

almost 175 but will have to try again,

not sure if I was right to begin with.

It's not that I'm not interested in listening,

but you have told me this twice before hand,

I advised you plenty so I hear you,

no judgment but can't repeat myself.

My turn, trying to tell you all of my own woes,

the attention of your energy always changing, no longer engaging,

scrolling on your phone, nothing important no beckoning call to connect,

and the most reasonable thing to do is accept.

Never been a half life kind of person,

my first house rules in murky Scorpio water,

I'll take your secrets to the grave, sit with you when you wallow,

intense compassion for others, need to learn how to mother

my feelings, hopeful for balance, your friendship uncovers all I find fault

with my spirit, you can't reciprocate,

It's alright, but needing more than that tonight.

Dear to me, your laughter contagious,

you're happiness appreciated, a lesson in all or nothing,

I do not know anyway else how,

think I gotta leave now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cs7mww/comment/l46qucr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cs2oli/comment/l46s0z3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I illustrated deaths face upon a mirror;
condensation was my paint;

I bid farewell to my paragon and subsequently, I showered in bitterly cold water, and as it chilled me to the marrow, I let it drip into my soul.

Wrapped in a tough towel too tight,
I felt the water evaporate off my soul;

I teetered back to the mirror, the condensation was gone and so, my paragon was in absentia;
although paradoxically, death was still peeking back at me.

I only very recently have gotten into poetry; please critique as i’m trying something new with this one.

Feedback I left: 1. https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cseqwl/comment/l4clgnv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

2. https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cry5os/comment/l4ckmty/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Did you hear that? It sounds far away. It’s getting closer. Closer everyday.

Someone screaming. Can’t happen to me. Get under the table. Get up and flee.

Everyone’s nightmare. Someone’s bad day.
Off of the meds. Social decay.

It will happen to you. Someone you know. Just play the odds. The winds gonna blow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/3rtBdigWbi

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/gL3Svlx0OI

Tears in Gaza

The wives wail for their fallen husbands' embrace, The children's tears fall on their mothers' lifeless face, Men beg for mercy from soldiers in the fray, I weep, powerless to save them from this dismay.

Displaced and far from home, Amidst the rubble, they're forced to roam. Decaying remains of neighbors near, A haunting sight that fills hearts with fear.

It's not just recovery they seek, But survival, amidst chaos and bleak. Innocent children’s bones, a painful sight, Desperate pleas for bread, day and night.

The children of olive trees weep, pleading the world for aid, Their cries echo until they are silenced at last. How many lives must be lost before we call it what it truly is, I ask Not a conflict, but a genocide that’s paid.

The indigenous of the land nourish the earth with their tears Their innocence shattered, dreams consumed by fears. The planes fly above them, with terror in their eyes One last breath until their light dies

The Arab nations, their laughter echoing from afar, We watched fantasy films, cheering for the resistance star. But when confronted with reality, we're labeled as siding with terror, A narrative that seeks to silence and undermine, an unjust error.

Let the world hear their cries, their pain, and their plea, To end the genocide, to set Palestine free. May justice prevail, and peace be restored, In Gaza, where tears flow, their spirits soar.

• Julia Sawatzky

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/HmcvBpune5

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Hiskmohsl9

I was walking down to the cliff
And when I reached it
I started falling

I grabbed at rocks and branches
But did not pull myself up
I didn't want to
I kept falling

When fear of the crash outgrew the adrenaline
I pulled myself up
But did not leave
I didn't want to

I got closer and closer
Now, I'm holding onto the ledge

When I get back up, will I be able to sit?
Legs dangling off the ledge
Enjoing the view without struggle?

Do I still want to?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ctg23b/comment/l4c5m8v/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cs3d26/comment/l4c8bnc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

An empty bus plods along 
With somewhere else to be.
Over a belt of stone on silken water
Fed twice from source and sea.

Street lights dim and glow
In a dance with night and day.
Against a persisting presence
when backdrops fall away.

An accordian of cars
Convene then sparse.
So their rumbling fades
Like ripples disperse.

In this snow globe
where seasons settle and shake.
There’s an overarching presence
A solemn scene of one take.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct7haf/comment/l4bej0c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ctbv51/comment/l4bcc79/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I’ve had it easy
And I’ve been blessed
To only suffer the feeling
For those with less
And those with more
Of the carnage of war
That pounds unwelcome at their door
That brings down the roof
And scars the youth
Of tens of thousands
Who are used to playing
Going to school
And maybe just losing their first front tooth
And now a hand
And now a leg
And now a parent
And now a friend
And now a family
And now a future
And now the vividness of sense
Vanishing with their view
And what happens then, I cannot say
I only see pictures of their pain
This I’ve understood
That I have had it good
Though I’m trained to think that I’m in need
By the vulturous advertiser’s greed
And my problems have all been imagined ones
Internal battles with my own demons
The battles of one’s own existence
The persistence of my own resistance
To such inevitabilities of life:
Universal failures, strivings, strife
That distract all us living from our dying
But again there are the very many
Whose peace must come among with plenty
of things not other than agonies
Nothing other than tragedies,
And not of chance but travesty
The contortions of humanity
The results of the depravity
Of those hearts that are but a cavity
And callous to the gravity
Of a single person multiplied
By the millions more amplified
By the screaming of each and all
The loudness of unanswered calls
The desperate wails that overcome
The visions of the tons and tons
Of bodies piling in the sun
The former loved and loving ones
No longer…
looking like…
Persons
For evil ideologues there are calculations:
Who can we trick into taking our side?
Who can we get to fund our supplies?
When can we erase them and begin renovations?
What can we gain from this mass starvation?
And this is what the killers think
That flesh and blood
And beings that breathe
Have no value guaranteed
Not to mention the truths perceived
In years and years of life elapsed
In the children’s futures and elders’ pasts
No different than buildings collapsed
And we all can see
Though some deny
And others turn away their eyes
We all can think
And know the lies
Forget for a second our piece of the pie
We all can hear
The babies’ cries
How many more are going to die?
If you have the power it’s time to decide

​

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct9srh/comment/l4b38a4/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ctbv51/comment/l4b475w/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

Millions of sighs
millions of cries
silenced
by millions of clicks
millions of shares
and behind them
there is hope
as
a million eyes glimmer.

Review 1
Review 2

My eyes, scale this record 
Spin of never-ending 
Truth of us all
Why does it feel so serene?
 
Forward I only see the anthropoid 
Sight that tells stories 
The mouth that grudges 
Fear, hate; it creates
The ridges of simplicity  
Fluttering vespoid

Revolving, I stare again 
The lines tell confidence of a smile 
Passion spreads 
Love, strength; it sings
Isn't this repetition?

The spin; grips 
Over and over 
Blowing the Candles 
Another Passes

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct2rrr/comment/l4a16q1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct71wz/comment/l4a1fw8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

numb to my own emotions
but constantly caught in the tidal wave
of everyone else's broken
dragged under into a sea of glass
pierced by the turbulence
of their ever changing emotions
treading shards just to stay afloat
words of consolement and sympathy
slipping out amongst the gasping breaths
frigid arms outstretched
endlessly seeking the shoreline
but engulfed by the undertow
pulled beneath the oceans depth
crushed by the waves of their emotions

This is the first poem I have written since I was a teenager. Capitalization and punctuation felt weird, so I left it out. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the emotions and needs of those around me, and wanted to put into words the daunting feeling of managing their emotions and my own.

Feedback 1 | 2

All of it

All of it

She screams

Trapped in a hell we never chose

Your fire kept burning

It was the smoke that clouded your vision

You cried and fought and kept looking

Searching for that hope of finding the light

But my eyes rotted from their sockets

Apathy had paralyzed me as they left my skull

Rolling down my face as my last teardrops

Mourning the sunlight I felt

But could no longer see

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct2rrr/my_heart_was_already_yours/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1ct4z6p/lovesick/

《2 Snot and tears》 Alexander's final letter to God after his observation of Jude's much worsening condition. Alexander and Jude, the first humans on earth placed by God for the sake of repopulating it, Alexander explains his situation to God as he cannot bear the anguish of losing her.

How unfortunate, One is, to inhabit this.

Truly, To lose My beloved Jude!! And if that were to happen

Sparingly, In regard for me, Unalive me, Spare me by taking my soul away That would be in my own benefit I do not wish to breathe anymore No more bickering No chatter Once My beloved passes I might as well, Follow her, so, I need not fear her passing anymore And surely i won't cry:) Like before.

You see, It comes a stage One can no longer scream Out of despair Too many headaches MIGRANES And that's far past agony Complaining is just childplay. Wicked silly

As advised I should accept it, "Suck it up!" And make it a routine Reciting "God bless her soul" In remembrance for Jude Once she has passed. Madlad! Perse, she is to die It's only natural I should as well.

We should! alongside one another In solidarity As we did in everything else Dust to dust.

《3 Resignation》 Alexander has resigned from his trust and belief in this his creator, he no longer wishes Jude should stay alive, he has resigned entirely from the human nature of wanting and holding hope. He is fully prepared on following Jude, wherever her soul may go.

If this God does exist, he has crafted one's nightmares

Life is a struggle, this much is evident in every ecosystem in every corner of this world.

Life is a constant, ever-changing battle royale between predator and prey, disease and response, disaster and recovery.

Food chains are ruthless, multifaceted cycles of death from which no animal ever wins, only hopes to reproduce so they can pass the baton to the next generation.

There is equal part beauty and wonder as there is cruelty and destruction.

What kind of creator would want this, outside of one who wants to see death?

One could argue that the cycle is a necessary part of the miracle of life, but why make it so cruel?

Why make animals cannibalize, rape and cull just to survive?

Why make sweeping calamities that wipe out entire swathes of ecosystem at random?

If one is to believe, that God personally crafted life as we know it, and didn't just kickstart existence and let it develop on its own, then why would they make such a horrific world?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/mN5GpFGsfw

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/76DmYkSH3M

Today my mind
Feels empty
And there is
A gaping hole
In my chest
You took me
By surprise
When you slammed
Your hand
Into my ribcage
And pulled out
The piece of me
That I would have given
To you
Willingly

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/ZT0wJOTF6k

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Bsr2EDq9xf

1; 2

I've been getting into writing and art making lately and really wanting to work with poetry (why's it so hard - ugh! lol).
This is my latest attempt at a poem (free verse). I think it shows progress but I'm really looking for critical feedback on what I can work on going forward and how this one can be improved. It's meant to reflect a complicated/complex relationship - IDK how well that comes across.
Thanks for reading.
 

My mother is the wind

(which is to say, she is
air in natural motion, relative
to the earth's surface);

She moves invisible;
I see her dance with fallen
cherry blossom petals in May;

(Men have tried to map her contours,
as if knowing her shape and velocity
will bring them closer.)

She can not be held, but I feel her
– always –
(blowing with whatever degree
of gentleness or violence);

Knowing she is
there
can relieve a fever
in sweltering July;

She has touched every speck
of dust in this place
without ever knowing why;

She is
why I am
drawn
to the water; I am
a long wave rolling in from the ocean;

she finds me like a piece of prized sea glass —

the coolest blue-green
(in bony fidgeting hands);

When I breathe, my lungs fill
as a gust of love;

She is
more
than half
of my
favorite photograph: My mom and I
at the shore of the bay,
taking in the sea air
at peace,

where water meets land
and the wind kisses my face.

On a perfect day, I go outside;
I sway from my father's branches,
and watch
a little girl flying
a paper kite in the park
and I feel my mother's smile.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read my poem, I appreciate it greatly. I started writing poetry about a month ago and have been consistent with writing everyday, this is the first one I wrote while taking poetry "serious" so it means a lot to me personally. I started writing as a form of self-expression and a way of coping with the things that happened to me. This particular piece is about a brutal breakup I recently went through as well as my struggles with mental health, particularly self-harming. Please leave feedback, I would love to know what you think so I can improve my future pieces!

First comment

Second comment

Natalie, you were my drug

When we were together I felt high

But now I can't live

Because you've fucked up my life

.

I bet you didn't think

That rolling up my sleeve

Would show you my demons

And make you want to leave

.

You tore down my walls

Like a hot knife through butter

But now you don't want me

Because you saw that I'm a cutter

.

I wanted to love you

To make you my wife

But you lied through your teeth

So I fell in love with the knife

.

And if you wanted me back

I'd put aside my doubts

Just so I could get close enough

To rip your fucking heart out

.

I hope you look back one day

And realize what you did

That you gave me nothing

But broken promises

.

My hearts been passed around

Like a stripper at a fraternity

So If heartbreak was a drug

I'd be high for all eternity

.

I just can't stop crying

Or get you out of my head

So I think I'll save my tears

And just drown myself instead

.

What a beautiful scene

I can hear the waves roar

With you still in my arms

As our bodies wash ashore

.

I can't wait to see your face

When you realize that you're dead

As we're fucking at our funerals

With matching halos overhead

A myriad of possibilities weigh down my chest

Pinned down at a crossroads at the foot of the mountains

Held in place by arms of thick mud

Tall, thick, fluffy clouds hide the mountains’ peaks

Though I can feel their glare 

And hear their urgent calls to ascend

The unknown makes me wary

Will my ascent be in vain?

Will I hurt myself?

My feet feel safely at home, rooted in the ground

The grasp of the mud’s arms comforts me

I’ve surrendered to the unknown

And found solace in this stillness…

A clap of thunder commands the heavy clouds to release their rain

The mud’s arms melt away into a river

The sun’s heat burns the clouds into steam

Golden curtains of light fall from the sky

The mountains’ peaks revealed, naked 

It’s time for my ascent

The strength in my legs has atrophied with time

I am relegated to this lonely nest at the foot of the mountains

Their beauty remains etched on the horizon, waiting for me

_____

Jules Grant - check out my site here for more work if you liked this one - would love to connect with you!

_____

Feedback 1

Feedback 2

A foolish man once told me that I have no potential, and so I informed him;

I do not blame a foolish man for not seeing my potential, as I do not blame a blind man for not seeing.

.

.

.

.

4th poem I have written; I am trying different styles that is why this is short.

Feedback I have left; https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cs3d26/comment/l47m5up/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cr3sj2/comment/l47mo9f/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The song of a rhythm,

has no meaning

except movement...

some crescendos,

but mostly repetitive variations;

building up though,

as my strides take me higher,

upward,

not speeding, but heavy

with resonance.

I am a climber,

from the flats,

to the valleys,

and the ridges,

and moving, unpaused.

I feel like a bump,

heavy, and sometimes painful,

like a sore.

Onward, upwards,

onto the protruding earth.

1, 2.

It turns out,

All the predictions were wrong,

After a year,

Of silence,

Of loneliness,

Of ghosts and memories,

Of a life without,

I don’t love you any less,

And I’ll say it again,

Next year.

Comment A Comment B

I just started writing a few months ago and this is my first one ever. It's a bit long but I hope it's a decent read for everyone.

Here I lay alone with this anvil on my chest

up all night my body is screaming for some rest

Smile on my face with a sickened soul

Lost in the abyss, I see light but I feel so dull

loves all around me but I continue to feel alone

Solitude is me, I can only reach a Gray tone

Inside I'm yelling, SCREAMING! but I stay silent

no one can hear me as my voice lays dormant

Im Lost in this sickness and not a soul can see

The anvils holding me down, slowly drowning me

The tunnel vision of suffication narrows my sight

fighting to stay above, gasping, darkness takes the light

My Blinders aide me in protraying that im strong

Blocking the darkness, but im weak, internally I feel wrong

This haze called life is making it difficult to see

I don't know how to handle this I'm losing me

Its as if im split in two, one watches as the others on the edge

But the haze makes it difficult to see me on the ledge

It looks like little hands, yes, little hands, my little angles

Pushing me back from my inner demon entangles

But I trip and fall as my feet drag and become tangled

Once agian Ive become bruised, scratched, and mangled

Im moving to fast, I need to slow in order to gain a footing

But the anvil has me running from a feeling of foreboding

I need a guide to help me, to help find my way

But there's no one just me, can I find a better day?

I've got noway out, trapped with a depressing attitude

A Feeling of nothing better, I take who I am with gratitude

So I bury my darkness six feet deep in myself, in a tomb

But along with my demons I'm trapped in this room

some days I give all I have and still more is taken

Draining my soul feeling empty and black as a raven

This allows my demons to seep through my inner walls

While I'm still shackled screaming HELP! but it's an empty call

Once again my demons place this anvil upon my chest

Weighted down im imploding, I can't breath can't rest

Everything is so difficult while bareing this weight

Especially when I have to fake being in a happy state

They say a frown takes more work then if you smile

I know this is a lie, because when I smile I feel so vile

My battery is draining, smiling over stretches my string

Help! It's going to snap and the whip lash is going to sting

The internal pain is becoming normal, I'm growing numb

Broken in so many places im no longer whole only a crumb

The anvils weight is centered on my chest, i feel dred, doom

My breathing is forsaken, heart skips a beat, I feel gloom

I'm inches from an outburst I'm going to scream!

I Can't take it anymore my brain is dreaming the obscene!

What I've been hiding for so long is about to be released

The built up mixture of pain, sadness & anxiety is unleashed

Tears begin to flow, then turn to sobs, but again I'm alone

Locked in my room I need to be seen as if I'm hard as stone

I can't show weakness although I barely drag my own weight

I'm a man, I need to be the balance to everyone else's plate

Its bred in me to be the one that holds up this boulder

I need to carry the weight and be everyone's shoulder

Help! I'm still alone with this anvil......

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/lcaIunG8gv https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/7BzLtYUJJm

Under the sacred bodhi tree,
with Mara the trickster he rumbled.
His soul escaped samsara’s wheel.
Gautama, now Buddha, was gruntled.

Just a little smth from a daily exercise I do where I take the "daily word" from worddaily com, in this case gruntled, and write a quatrain containing it in a sensibly used context. A great exercise for vocabulary, I think.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1csi2wh/comment/l45vbtx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1csme37/comment/l45wrkh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Lead-laden steps and

Sympathetic stares

Lead the way to you.

A moment passes,

Recognition delayed

I struggle to see you.

———————————————

Pallid and Pale.

Hints of

Purple and blue.

You look nothing like

You.

———————————————

Lost is the lustre

You once possessed.

An empty shell.

A home with

No occupant.

———————————————

The room decays

Until it’s just us.

I stand frozen

Contemplating how empty

Our house will now be.

———————————————

I shouldn’t have let

You leave.

If I distracted you

Or hidden the keys.

——————————————

If I held you longingly

In a lasting embrace.

Would you still be here,

Life in your face.

——————————————

Questions asked

From somewhere beyond

But I barely hear them.

I just wonder.

——————————————

Where are you?

——————————————

At least I can stand by

Our last exchange.

“I love you,

I’ll see you soon.”

———

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/fUVtfHPv5Z

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/wFDNc3yNa8

This one was inspired by a quote that was floating around and fairly popular I’m sure most of you have heard it.

“When you grow up in a burning house, you think the world is also on fire.” Anyway, this is “Love’s Inferno” -REC …

I have always known the burn of devotion. My mother’s molten hands made and raised me

She kept me warm but on edge, never knowing when I would be burned. Her love is like living in an inescapable forest fire.

She takes over my senses, her voice crackles in my ears, spilling her cigarette perfume as it fills my lungs and stings my eyes, and her touch sears my skin to the bone as she envelops me in a hazy hug.

I am so used to the heat of love, feeling it on the backside of my hand through a closed door.

I open the window for cool air, and he’s there,

Pulling me out of my burning house and into his blazing world.

A match to a wick, my pride ignites his ego, our souls melt together, waxy colors of red and blue drip from our lips.

I yearn for the heat of home as his flamed fingers drag across my heart, scarring me forever.

If our destiny is to catch and burn, that won't stop us from bathing together in gasoline and ballroom dancing in an indigo inferno.

Burn blisters form on my hands, hips, and lips as he leads me further into destruction.

When I'm burned and brokenhearted, I’ll crawl back home to sleep at the hearth. My mother waits for me at the door, after a long drag from her cigarette she says.

“Daughters are destined to make the same mistakes as their mothers.”

Smoke flutters from her mouth enticing me inside, I put my pride aside and give in to it as blue lips shiver and I ask for a hit, salivating for the buzz of home.

1 2

Notice those
Who enjoy
The cold

It can mean
Parts of them are dying
Or have died
Without human warmth
They fetishise its loss
To stay alive

And then one day,
They don’t
They run a hose
From a Holden’s exhaust pipe
Into the passenger side
Taped over their mouth and nose

Lively and shivering

I knew his name but I never saw him

Until he was a mystery

Unsolved, lifeless

And thawing

\
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cs9rs7/comment/l44zjz7/
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1cseqwl/comment/l450gqc/

As a woman,

I see you standing there

In your pretty frock

And your feet bare;

Running as fast as you can.

As a woman,

I see you in school,

Ostracised and shoved,

Waterboarded in the pool;

Trying to think of an escape plan.

As a woman,

I see you at home,

Too naive for the man you trusted

Who wore you to the very bone;

Left you looking for support in an empty land.

As a woman,

I cradle you gently,

Resting you on my chest

Caring for you intently,

Promising to protect you for as long as I can.

As a daughter,

I stand there

While you scream at me,

As you say 'It's unfair!'

Crying the way you never did.

As a daughter,

I stay quiet

While you tell me how awful I am,

How I am worse that you ever were

Wondering if you every foresaw the person you became.

As a daughter,

I punish myself

When you tell me how it's not enough,

After I've sacrificed the last bit of my sanity

Trying to achieve the ideal you have set.

As a daughter,

I hug myself

Because I cannot let you do it.

Not when your 'I love you's come out as empty as they do;

Convincing myself that it's normal to feel this way.

As a daughter,

I wail and cry,

Shielding my smarting pride

As you call me a coward;

Accepting that I am what you say I am.

As a daughter,

My eyes search for you

When I am lost, when I am upset,

But you claw out my tearful eyes

Wearing them as jewels in your crown of Misery.

A crown that I will never be a succesor to.

1st feedback: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Ycf4Swa469

2nd feedback: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/gkkeH6RaKf