OUR ORIGINAL POETRY: Share It Here

@seemsame

This really speaks to me. When tragedies like this occur, I find that a perceptive poet helps me grapple with and cope with the incomprehensible.

Thank you.

December 8, 2014 at 3:44pm

TRAGEDY IN FERGUSON : A REQUIEM

BY seemsame

Daily meals from a cereal box.

Daily jobs like moving rocks...

A raise?! She's making burgers, he's folding socks.

No time for meetings, unions or parental talks;

People are living and thinking inside the box!

There's no autonomy when turned into an ox.

Those "outside" get news from FOX

Showing foreign streets outlined in ghastly chalks.

The war started in our uniforms by Hawks

Pursuing running women while a man stalks.

A soldier is spent. Or, in underwear walks.

While folks outside grin and play with land mines or stocks.

An eagle-like group can prevent this pox

On a society geared on phones and clocks:

Grab men and women, so ogled as celebrities & jocks

To score a win! and save our Hansel, Gretel, and Goldilocks.

@seemsame

Extraordinary. As I read this, I kept imagining it as spoken poetry--performance art.

I admire your vision. I love your voice.

"Dear Joan: Acceptance Is Easy To Reject, Rejection Is Hard To Accept"

I.
Dear Joan,
I saw the 6-ft tall man sitting on a bench at the station today,
His presence gives an abrupt coldness that dry my throat in a different way,
His face stoned-think that's usual- with eyes that were sad and solemn yet astray.

II.
Dear Joan,
Underneath his coat- as he stood up- his physique is just normal- lean and tall,
Though, I can guarantee you a man that can catch someone if they fall,
A slender arms that can extend and get you so attached to him at all.

III.
Dear Joan,
Like usual, the loud whistling of the train covered the station for a while.
It's 10 o'clock in the evening- last trip, leaving no people in a pile,
How lucky am I, thought I'll be entering the train again with a bile.

IV.
Dear Joan,
I almost forgot to tell you that- while inside the train- our eyes did meet,
Hope I didn't give him a bad impression and a smile that's so discreet,
However, I had this whim to utter words with him in a talk so sweet.

V.
Dear Joan,
You know how troublesome am I, lonesome and pathetic, most of the time,
But, this cold yet tender feeling inside makes me find a mountain to climb,
And this butterflies all over my stomach is a first time, how sublime!

VI.
Dear Joan,
In a few minutes, making some noise, the train stopped onto the next station,
I know he will be getting out and I'll be in a state of frustration,
So I left the train, steps away from him though it's not my destination.

VII.
Dear Joan,
I know it's not my thing to stalk, but I followed him all along the block,
But he noticed me and nervousness dwelt inside me like a fire, tough luck
Melting gazes met and- to my curiousity- I've seen a heart that's lock.

VIII.
Dear Joan,
I don't know what happened, I can't find the solemness in him anymore.
He's still serious but not sad, it's emptiness he leaves behind every door.
Where is the man that I can see everyday at the station to stare for?

IX.
Dear Joan,
Yes, he's cold, dark, and mysterious- that's what I truly adore- you know it,
However, I don't want this emptiness he possess, nothing to submit.
Nevertheless, this won't let butterflies leave and change my feelings a bit.

X.
Dear Joan,
His shoulders stiffened more, emptiness darkened his eyes that were once just sad,
I thought we can embrace and lick each other's wounds once him is all I had,
I guess it's all just mere fantasy, it's impossible for him, too bad.

XI.
Dear Joan,
In my own astonishment I told him the words that were engraved inside,
It slipped from the back of my lungs through the tip of my tongue, nothing to hide,
As anxiousness consumes me, I swallowed cowardice and let all things slide.

XII.
Dear Joan,
Acceptance is easy to reject but rejection is hard to accept,
I ain't digging for scars, but actions aren't that easy to intercept,
Especially if it is something from the very sole we all just kept.

XIII.
Dear Joan,
He continued to walk after saying the words I refuse to write here,
I followed him again- not far, this time he's all aware up to his ear,
I know he wished me- just like how I wished my tears- to really disappear.

XIV.
Dear Joan,
He stopped along the side of a tall bridge and I- like a mimic, stopped too.
Thought his emotions were drained but he looked at me with eyes sorry- so true.
He shifted his gaze towards the vastness of the sky painted with pale blue.

XV.
Dear Joan,
Searing pain were dripping from his eyes, I thought I should be the one crying,
Echoing wails heard, a man slipping out from sanity, what's happening?
This person standing in front of me is someone who madness is calling.

XVI.
Dear Joan,
He might be mad but I'm falling for him- who seemed agonizing for years.
He took a step forward, closer to the railings, face still flowing with tears,
Then another step, made him standing at the edge- like a man without fears.

XVII.
Dear Joan,
I thought I'll be embraced by this man but it seems I will be the one to do it.
Well, it doesn't change the fact that I adore him, I'll be glad to commit,
"I can save you!" I just said in desperation, clenching my teeth to grit.

XVIII.
Dear Joan,
I need to stop this man from falling, out from the bridge and out from his mind!
However, all the words that I used to convinced him to stop were declined.
Tell me, Joan, How to free this person from the dark room he was confined?

XIX.
Dear Joan,
I think I finally convinced him- him that I love, with all that I can!
He bursted with another set of tears, squeezed my hand with all that he can.
He smiled- still sobbing. I think jumping out is already off from his plan.

XX.
Dear Joan,
I knew that fantasies and fairytales were not just fictitious at all.
I think I can finally breached his cold, difficult, and gigantic wall!

...But all hope were shattered as he let go of my hand causing him to fall.

@Risse,

This feels mysterious and searing and marvelous.

I hope you share more of your work!

I wrote this poem
straight from the heart
Expressing your emotions
Is a work of art
Changing the world
Doesn't need to think large
It's all about your health
And being in charge.
Stop being hateful
And start spreading the love.
You'll feel the difference in you
Doing the will of God above.
Forget about the haters,
Don't worry about the controversy,
Be the best you
And happiness you'll soon see.
Everyone has stress
I'm sure you know.
Just open your mind
And enjoy the show.
Helping those in need
Is the best thing you can do
It's what changes the world.
It says alot about you.
So forget about the end.

Lets work on a start.
Cause what really matters
Is what's inside your heart

@BigHeart4All,

This poem has real strength, and I suspect it would have unique impact when performed out loud.

I love the positive message; it inspires me!

RUMBLE

God prefers His instruments rusty, He eschews the shiny, sharp silverware
in favour of blunt humanity. Dancing dirt helping dancing dirt,
all of us afraid of our unclean nakedness, hiding it;
so it takes people who have rumbled in the mud
to help the ones who feel like they're inside quicksand.
Dried, caked clay beneath our eyes
like warpaint testament that we have
dived headlong into the muck
and are changed such
that we can smirk
with our mouth
underneath
and offer
help.

@RxPoet

An awesome poem. I love it.

@Tish1982, Me, too! I agree.

(I definitely prefer friends who are "rusty"! So nice to be with real people, wonderfully imperfect.)

I asked for healing, that's all I did.

Instead you took it to a fault.

Now ontop of my personal darkness

I have to prove my love to you.

I don't know what's worse.

I don't even know what's right.

I was hopeful and positive,

it would have been alright.

But when I came back, the light was off.

I had no friend...that promised to stay.

Maybe there is a reason as to why I'm afraid.

Because you choose to make it bad,

while I assumed safety that you'll understand.

But you complain, it's my character you say.

You can't live with a person that "never changed" her ways.

Periodical madness, depression, negativity,

You lost hope of me measuring up,

to your idea of me.

Love me. I begged, I thought you accept me for who I am.

To which you reply,

You were out the door right away,

when darkness came my way.

Now I wonder on my free days,

afraid to face tomorrow.

My fears multiplying in need of my conviction

That I meant it.

That I'll fight for us.

That I'll keep going even if your faith is gone.

But how can a bike go on,

if both wheels are losing air.

How will it move, if the chain's rust snaps like a hair?

We are this sad little bike.

Piled with expectations..--(which is completely different from hope)

Piled with demands, -- ( because we deserve our right to be loved)

Piled with the lack of faith...

that this relationship

is

worth

the

wait...

Maybe

At the end, we'll see...

Maybe

it just isn't meant to be.

Maybe

The sign that glaringly speaks

Is that

We barely thought of each other

Without thinking of "me, myself and I"

When love should focus on

patience, kindness, generosity and truth...

and a balanced

"less of me...more of you"

@weeping artist,

This poem "I asked for healing" felt so intense that I found I was holding my breath as I read it.

And "Maybe" is very true, sadly.

aw @Annie , gee thanks...really...reading it again it's still apparent for me...it's kind of heartbreaking...i love this guy so much....but my depression has made him lose all that love for me...haha. oh well.

I let the word die down in my heart

I love you

I try very hard to let everyone think that I'm okay. That I'm not hurt.

That you are nothing anymore

I can't help to say that I don't love you no more when you ask me

I'm afraid to say if I still am

I question myself if I still love you.

Do I love you still?

I am afraid if you know my feelings you will go away and that everything would end.

But what if it's not?

So when you try to fish me out with questions I just smile and say no, no, no and laugh.

Even when I feel like I want to cry because I want to hold you

You ask for a kiss in the cheek and I wouldn't let it

But in my mind, I've kissed you millions times

The moment I saw you again and look at your face, touch your hair, feel your warm..

I know..

I couldn't not love you

The feelings I held up inside come bursting out when I realised that I still love you.

I realise that I want to be with you even if that is impossible

And the most hurtful thing is that I realise..

All the things I do now, being confused with my feelings is just how I protect myself from being hurt

Darling, even if I had a millions reasons to leave you, I would still look for one to stay and if I had to choose again, I would still choose you

@Minyaa oh god this makes me cry

@weepingartist

@weepingartist aiyah, sorry that I send the reply without saying anything. Just want to let you know I feel honored for you to feel deeply about my poem :)

She is beautiful. She knows what gives her light. So, she became a sunshine.

@Sherly

Moth

Its tethered longing for Eden
Lay exiled in an hourglass
When it forsook its own freedom
It forgot what true power was

Its dreams of gleams once dominant
Grew pale enduring raw monsoon
Your iron sulphide covenant
Enchained the moth to its cocoon

And while it shall take flight no more
For your sharp claws slit through its wings
Unstuck in time it tries to soar
To find out what tomorrow brings

Hello, @Overdrive, I'm so happy to see your work again. The images here are wonderful innovative and thought-provoking. I think it would take several readings to start to comprehend everything that's packed into this poem!

The things that make me strong

Oddly enough have to do with you-

The smell of the grass because you've always loved football;

The rain, that one time we got soaked;

The tears, because you were the one crying;

Yes, these things make me strong

Like your words to me

Under the setting sun,

Or your little gestures before the day has been sung

For heavens sake maybe even just a kiss on the cheek

Anything you do is like a strength for me.

@NewRomantic677

Ahhhh. So lovely and interesting I had to read it over and over.

She was sly, he thought,

her smile curling into a secret,

her eyes reflecting in the inky darkness,

perhaps like a fox - moving with grace and cunning,

slinking along the pathway,

or perhaps more like a wolf,

fiercely protective of him,

with her chin tilted up as she walked slightly before him,

certainly she was a predator,

for she had caught him between her jaws,

forced him to submit to her insurmountable will,

she would probably have fit better in the wild,

the scent of grass and earth would cling to her,

for humans were too fake, too selfish, too absorbed in nothingness

to match her passion and ferocity,

and as he thought of what animal she had been in a past life

he realized how foolish humans were

to ever attribute emotions to other creatures

because they, like she,

were too wild to conform to mere words.

@CourageDearHeart

oh my god, the way this woman is described! It leaps from the page.

@Annie

Thank you so much! I'm glad she makes for a strong image :)

Trying to hold-

It' come again.

My dark midnight companion.

I feel the sadness and darkness mix with silence.

The place takes my voice.

I fight to stay positive and keep a smile

but these 4 dark walls make the world smaller.

You want to take my hand

but I hold back

self loathing seems safer

I hate having to start over again.

The music helps to keep me sane

the thought of losing makes me fight against my crazy.

I have friends I know they love and care

but still

this feeling remains.

I feel my mind getting darker.

I try and help you through your pain cuz I know what it feels like

We share a love who help those who are lost

But I'm just as lost most of the time.

I thought when I grew older this would get better.

I know there is light I know it will be okay

but reminding myself of this constantly is getting old.

I'll still try and smile and keep my head up.

But still this empty darkness frightens me.

I feel like sometimes the sadness will never end.

But still

I'll fight this darkness with a hopeful heart.

@batman4485

So much to love here. The part about holding back, self-loathing seems safer -- wow.

@Annie tyvm. as we all know here the struggle is real. Just trying to find something, anything to hold onto helps the darkness go away.

@batman4485

You are so right. And I think your poem will help others fight the darkness, especially the closing lines:

But still / I'll fight this darkness with a hopeful heart.

The strength in those beautiful lines is wonderful.

Depression.
They think it's just a word
They think it's just an excuse
They say "snap out of it"
Or "why can't you just be happy?"
I can't be happy.
My depression wraps me in a blanket of sadness so tight, I am physically unable to move.
To others,
It looks like I'm just being lazy
Or that I just want the attention.
But, don't you get it?
Attention is the last thing I want!
Depression makes me feel like
I'm being pulled to the bottom of the ocean.
Unable to breathe,
Unable to speak.
As I walk down the hallways of my school, I feel numb.
I feel completely hollow but also like my entire body is filled with cement.
It's like I'm stuck.
Glued to the ground.
Watching everyone pass me by and not being able to move.
That is what depression is to me.

Dear @Sophieanne6

What a Brilliant description of depression. Amazing imagery! The stigma of depression and lack of understanding of the suffering -- just makes it even worse to go through it.

Well done! I feel sure that many who read this poem will identify with what you've expressed.

(I realize that, when people are in the midst of terrible suffering, it may not be helpful to hear that it's possible to feel much better in the future. But, I'll just mention that, often, when we're young and do not have a lot of control over our circumstances in a very practical sense, we may have little chance of access to treatment; but, when we're older, we can often seek skilled prof'l help and experience real relief. It can be life-changing. I just want to suggest to those who are feeling this awful pain -- please don't give up, please hold on, there's hope.)

The time came and I hit a wall
Those around saw a noble's downfall
I'd had no sin I could confess
'Til red stains adorned my dress
The one before so white as snow
Torn in the woods where black winds blow
From maiden once righteous and pure
To sinner that no faith could cure
A life coated in darker paints
No longer one of the saints

But even if the sky falls and crashes
Even if my home was to burn to ashes
I can always find a new track
I can always grow new wings on my back

Though my heart stops with cramping pain
My old self I can still regain
The past horizon I have sighted
My past love still unrequited

@BloodHeart

I especially LOVE the line "I can grow new wings on my back."

With the strong beat created by the bold rhymes, I can just hear this poem proclaimed with a strong clear voice from a stage. The audience would go wild for it.

In This World

For those of you in this world
Who've never felt love before
For those of you in this world
Hating yourselves to the core

For those of you in this world
Who've been hated and used
For those of you in this world
Pushed around and abused

For those of you in this world
Hiding puffy, tear stained eyes
For those of you in this world
Telling finely spun white lies

For those of you in this world
Hiding truth from one another
For those of you in this world
Thinking you'll never recover

For those of you in this world
Broken and bent out of shape
For those of you in this world
No hope left except escape

For those of you in this world
Who seem to pass unheard
For those of us in this world
Who noticed that one word

@MoonofBrokenSpirits3823

This is SO strong and full of compassion. They rhythmic beat and bold rhymes compel attention to the message.\

(I have a question. In the last two lines there is a shift from "for those of you" to "for those of us," and I can't figure out the meaning of these two lines. Something is being provided for "those of you" who suffer, right? What is "the word"? I've missed something important -- can anyone help me figure it out?)

@Annie Thank you very much for the response, and I'm sorry for the late reply. "That one word" happens to be the word us. The simple change from you to us is not something many people notice and I wanted to see if anyone did notice the change by adding the last line to end it on a confusing note.

AN INTUITION

SOMETIMES I FEEL FROM INSIDE,

THAT IM IN THE WRONG SIDE,

I SENSE THE HEAT IN THE EYES,

HOT ENOUGH TO BURN A SILENT SKIES.

MY UNCONTROLLED THOUGHTS LEAD ME,

TO THE ANGRY BEAST IN SEA,

I FIGHT AND CRY THE DEVIL INSIDE,

HOPING THE GRASS WILL BE GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE.

MY FRIENDS ARE SILENT,

THEY NEVER SEEN ME VIOLENT,

I JUST WANT TO RUNAWAY,

SO I DONT NEED TO LIVE THIS WAY ANOTHER DAY.

I CRY IN DARK

BROKEN IN HEART

WILL MY MISTAKES BE EXCUSED

FOR THE ONE I CAN BE ACCUSED....

IM SORRY TO BE A DISGRACE TO YOU...DAD..

@ve99, this breaks my heart.

I remember wanting to run away from everything when I was young. Maybe not the same as you feel it, but an overwhelming yearning to get away from the pain and all the questions, just get away from it.

I hope you can see the grace inside you. You're not a disgrace but a wonderful light-filled human being. And if someone can't fully see that light, the problem is with their vision, their ability to see, not with you.