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  Mar 2023 Shevek Appleyard
Jamie Riley
Hammer attack surgeries,
Farmer controlled nurseries,
A Llama themed bakery
And a duck.
Our body was well worn,
Born, bled then ill informed.
Skin shed
Torn
Dust to adorn a once pristene floor.
Bred to provide countless lives, more.
Martyr to a form it shall never see.
The water flows but cannot know
The extent of its captivity.
Shevek Appleyard Jan 2023
Lying
wide asleep, fast awake
vivid explosure slows
and shows
full disclosure, there’s not many who know her
for who she really is
A face before its baptised by morning
bleeding gums rotting lungs bed crumbs search history
regrets hidden away in unread books kinks and mysteries
internal monologue pillow talk a disarray of leaked promises

a catastrophe awaits
can’t manage time or money
always in a hurry
not really busy but never free
she is consciousness
she summertime
she is vanity
And even when her mind is anarchy
she is an open wound with all her insanity
a sweet hyperbole
so don’t take her too literally
as bold as a secret told in a whisper
and exiled for her  audacity
as ferocious as they’ll let her be

and in an instant it falls short
she rarely utilities silence
but asks   ‘do you talk to your thoughts?’
whether empty or optimistic
they’re ready, to present predicaments

lost to the night-time
she dreamt she was at crescent, longing to be full
its no coincidence she fains to the moons pull
A gatherer; fables of youth unstable to their intentions
solutions consumed by a draft that keeps
inherent phobias locked away
there’s a stray child with your voice in her head

you hush to comprehend her
a creator you made her
meander to your agenda
she’ll never be you
she’s wrapped up in
a plague of shame
a carousel of what makes her afraid
around and around again
deranged, insane and maniacally to blame
till theres a bittersweet beauty to every colour she can name

but colour exists within her
a short rush of boxed up souls stretching to the sky
a race of who can outlast the pace of august
and curtsy at the contrast
the mind infiltrates the gifts it gives
and she knows happiness is not a tap
her anxiety not a conviction to her minds confliction

a catastrophe awaits
wide asleep, fast awake
she will give all that she takes
Shevek Appleyard Jan 2023
I wake up to blue light
I see it when I close my eyes

frustrated and weighted by comparison
I filter my intensity
condense my personality
I show tongue and teeth but no failures or flaws

I see you in your squares, in all your glow
I want to see the dirt under your fingernails
want you to see me cry, my pores up close, counting your eyelashes
I don't want to see twenty pictures res of the same sunset
cascading down a feed that never fulfills
shades changed and tweaked at exposure
I am exposed ever day
but am I known
I want to see the world by your side
not through your phone
hear the sunsets reflect in your tone

I don't want to lose a bet with myself that I don't stare I don't scroll
lose my evening to a screen
my life to anxiety of how people see me
but I want to be seen

I want to know you beyond squares
and validation screams content for moments till I review my content
view myself in the eyes of another
a narcissistic shudder
I doubt and judge myself
wishing not to compare not to care
yet impulse is too lovable
addiction and algorithmic luring
habits savaged a daily instinct
to share
to show my life through squares
I need a break
Shevek Appleyard Jan 2023
Ivy
Stubborn in necessity
she purists the enigma of the sky
so swiftly she can walk on water
advancing with the tides

The ivy knows no boundary
Its trespass beckons open invitations
to nature's play ground
where hibernation feels like home

We who encourage this intrusion
onwards and upwards it curls around and we drown our fresh anguish
counting seconds between thunder
surrender sweet lyrics of the night

I am in awe at her
the illusion of evergreen
In strength and beauty
her laugh chimes dawn
she is between worlds
and we burrow in the avalanche of morning
for my baby sister who turned 21 christmas eve eve
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