Poetry
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But what will I be if I never get these things sorted out?Is my potential still wasted,Or is it waiting?Is my potential bottled up on a shelf collecting dust in the back of my cabinet?Did I stuff it into a closet that I’ve lost the keys to?If I never find something to be great at,What…
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You laid her in your tears,She was your sponge. Soaked up your trespasses, As if it could keep you dry. Bound her hands, So no words came out.Tossed her in your basementOf broken mirrors. Hysterical ladyArmed with the ice pickFrom the lobotomy,She escaped from. Squeeze her out,You’ll see the blood,She wore for him. Then you tell me,What she…
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A witch I know, A few gray hairs. Her smile brings Rays of fire,To the coldest homes. She’s lived in a house that’s haunted, She knows,What I know. A star like Barnard,A guide with a light,I’m so thankful,She’s walking next to me. Hands clenched tight,She sees her mountain top,It’s tall like mine. That look in…
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Does the lamb know She was raised In a lion’s den? Do the lions knowThey infected her bones, When they gnawed On her like a passing snack? Was her mother A sheep or A subservientLioness? Do the lions know, She was never a sheep, But a tiger, That took a while, To find her stripes and fangs? Their lamb escapedin the sinking dusk. Uncertain if she…
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“This ones real nice to me!” I’d cry about my next crush.“Because boys only want one thing. Trust me, I’ll help you find the right one.” Daddy kept the boys away from me. Looking back at the Wreckage of my love affair’s resume. It’s a sad and broken scene, Full of brutal insensitivity. But each…
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Searching for a backdoor, To the universe’s thumb. Begging her to let me pushOn her levers, Please, I beg, grant me a luxurious fate. Let me be the special one. Let me deny the truth of death. Universe pick me, The holy one, Let me never die. All that has been before, All that walks…
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Growing up with a bullyFor a father,Can twist up a young human’s guts,No two humans respond,The exact same way. Some learn to be anything,To survive the next fight.Their brains learn,To accept any challenge. Chaos swarming his bones,Rattling his growing mind. He learned what he needed Was total control. Building a life, Escaping those early days.…
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It’s just business,words written,emotions shared. Energy in motion,Doing what must be done. It’s not personal, No attack on you. The disruption lives In the memory of cells,Bubbling up, Burning hot. The things said about you,Shouldn’t really hurt you,Remember what you always told me. It’s just business,Saying what is true,Dealing with logic,Sticking to facts.
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Can you trick yourself Into believing Everyone can hear you screaming? While you violently rage Silently in the bathroom mirror Because it’s just you in there. Come undone, they never hear a thing. Only one witness to your violation and pain. Anger doesn’t give you more control. That’s the lie it sells you when you…
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She said look back, so I did. She grew up, and learned she’s not a doll. And you still can’t lie to that book. Once the feather has been gripped, What is written is forever a moment of truth. Perhaps not forever, But with that ink,She spoke her truth. She sobs when she writes about…
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7th grade, standing in her carpeted bathroom. Told her I didn’t think college was for me. A tight lipped lasered eyed mother,Took me by the shoulders. With severity not often heard by her sweet mouth,She said to me: “There’s nothing in this world for a woman Without an education.” I didn’t yet understand women had…
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Mom, are you watching with disapproval?Dad, are you saying what a victim I play?Are you both still running away from the pain you’ve made? A little girl learning how to do flips,Just to get you to look at her. Breaking her back in pieces,So she could bend the right way for you. There’s no pressure…
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When my fingertips are greenIt means I’ve died.But for a tree, It’s a sign of vibrant life. Rosy cheeks,Blood rushing through me. Red leaves,Watching them die slowly. Veins map my body,Like branches on limbs connected to the trunk. Searching for the secret of life inside the opposite of the air I breathe. I watch it…
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We look back, And it’s all we got. Tick, tick, ticking by, When will it end? No one can say for sure. When it’s time to take our final rest, unique as the finger print, We carry around. Once a lap,We stop and look back. Memories traded For time spent,In seconds, weeks, and years. It adds up to our whole life. We live the whole…
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Isn’t that what you taught her? With every remark from your greasy lips,That pushed boiling tears To sizzle down her face. Didn’t you teach her to grit her frozen teeth and endure the baron cold? Didn’t you teach her to wear pain like a tiara,As though it makes her something great? Relentlessly fighting against your…
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Sliced to bitsIn meer moments as your fingers invaded me. My soul died once, And dead it stayed. My body: the haunted carcuss dies a thousand deaths. Slowly, Day by day. Ruined RelationshipsJob loss.This body bleeds out endlessly the things You did to me. Refusing to refuse to rise,This body drags me through this life,…
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Cold wind Warm sun The bees will hide,How will I tell them? Everything new going onFor me. Will the bees wonder What’s become of me? Will the bees know If I’ve come under fire? Try as I might,I can’t find the bees. They must be informed,Maybe it’s too late. Maybe all my bees,Have found a…
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I was too afraid. Stood tight as a pencil,Behind the evergreen tree. Holding its needles, She hides from the notebookScreaming for her honesty. The blue fairy calls to her,Always holding the book, Her sparkling feather,Held gently by her palm. Tell me your secrets, Her siren sounds. She knew better, Than to ever ever look. You…
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Do you remember the first time you felt safe?Do you remember the way it tasted? Swallowing the soft thump Of a heart finally, at rest. Do you remember the first time you were afraid?Did you shake and hyperventilate? Chattering hairs screamDown the back of a petrified spine. Do you think you deserved these things? Were…
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I see him stamping ants In their home, while they’re collecting food. I sat next to him, watchingThe magnifying glass, Ants on fire, At his hands. They did not matter to him,What good are little things?Where do ant burning boys go When they are grown? Do their fingers tear into peaches? Do their hands wrap…
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I don’t want to confess My sins today. They say,Thoughts hold power. Thoughts can be sinful. You see the cake and devour more than just your piece behind the secrecy of your own eyelids. A defective doll Prancing around, Town to town,Burning beautiful Places down. In search of more sweetness, That flashes to ash in…
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On the branch, The leaf goes. Dripping to the ground, The water flows. Down to my feet,The lead goes. In my hair,The blaze glows. Through the sky,My scream goes. In the dirt,My body grows.
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Safe hands Touch only when wanted. Safe hands Caress gently up, willing and excited legs. Safe hands Hold other hands softly, Never by force. Safe hands Only slide into pants, Directly invited inside. Safe hands Never pull back to strike. Safe hands Don’t squeeze fragile things. Safe Hands Don’t hurt things. Safe hands Don’t take…
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Snuggled in tight, his arm around my neck. His legs wrapped around mine to hold me down. My flailing screams,Bursting out of control. My small body,Shrieking for help. He couldn’t hold my feelings long enough to walk me through them. So he held onto me, until my feelings stopped. There was no escape. His headlock, an ironclad cage. Foaming at my rabid…
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When did I decide I wanted to be alive? The moment I tried to die. Skating along a thread, A cosmic miracle I hold. I replay the memory that will never become too distant, 85 mphLooking down, my foot is led. 91mphI know how to handle a car, 97 mphBeen doing it since the beginning.…
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On nights when I toss and turn. There are no cold sides left on my pillow, I imagine I’m a maiden that’s been sent off across the sizzling pink pond. I imagine they sent me here to find a better life. I force my heart to believe mothers sending me letters, I just can’t receive. …
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Fingernails clipped with chattering teethRed bumps protrude from a scabbed and blotchy face. Hair frizzed and fraying at the half blond ends. She peers into her reflection, Do homes exist without the sting of humiliation dancing on liquored up lips?She is uncertain. She knows she cannot roam their hallowed halls anymore, The gallows, a couch…
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In her attic, hot with sweat I look up at her desk. The prettiest gel pens rolling around. Stamps Falling out of drawers Ink packs stacked too highFlowers pressed on paper Shimmering in the small lamp light A smile lit up her face whenever we were hereI never understood How they said she was cruel…
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Inside the hive,Can you hear your mind? When the lights turn off,Do you feel the shadow? When the Buzzing begins,Does it crawl under your skin? When the light clicks on,Do your fears melt away? Outside in the garden,Can you see the siren lights sing? When you look in the sky,Does it seem small up there?…
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Do not fear They demanded of us. From the moment I can remember,The world was scary. There’s something out there,They told us. He’s here to save us. All this fear, it’s lying to youTrust in that thing out there. They’d insist. Lay your fear aside Everything that’s scary,It really isn’t real. it’s all a faithless…
Healing Birds Fly Again 