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Bansi Adroja Jan 2022
I want to fall in love with you all over again
where it all started
on that corner of Hyde Park
watching the leaves change
on the edge of 21
walking home in the rain
living as if nothing would ever change
Chris Chaffin Jan 2021
In 1972,
Nixon shook hands with Mao
and the world turned its back on Taiwan.

In 1972,
Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka,
Okinawa returned to Japan,
and Jane Fonda became Hanoi Jane.

In 1972,
twin Olympics were held,
hungry tigers on wooden skis dashing
down the white slopes of Sapporo,
while the streets of Munich ran red
with the blood of slain Israelis.

In 1972,
Elvis was still the king,
Elton wasn’t quite the queen
and Prince was still a quiet teen.

On September 21, 1972,
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos
placed my grandmother’s homeland under martial law.
I was born that day
while my grandmother wept.
Shrika Oct 2020
"...to live again."

As I meld back into the
scarred infinity,
daffodils blossom
in my frostbitten dimples
giggles run wild,
over the slumbering
reminiscence,
the tide's ebbing away
slow and sure,
I kiss the raindrops goodbye,
yet,
the child inside,
never seems to die.


"I wish..."
Nur Anis Athirah Sep 2020
twenty one
between an adolescent and an adult
a pretty number, don't you think?

twenty one
two decades of breathing and screaming
one year of confusion and uncertainty

twenty one
too young to handle; too old to let go
what they want us to do though?

twenty one; it's hard
expectations and desires fought inside
one foul step, and you fall in despair
for you, generation z, desperate for a change
Nat Lipstadt Apr 2015
21 hours ago
received the message below,
from a fellow poet, here,
now somewhat, more disappeared,
resting in the shady quietude of
Elliot's servers

a mere 21 hours ago,
a thunderbolt telegram
of virtual dots and dashes,
well received

she,
whose name
you have forgotten,
even if you knew it back when
and,
I shan't knowingly now reveal...

perhaps if you were
one of the
multiyear variates,  
still here, still seeking
solutions
to the
equations of the
human formulation,
one of the veterans of the
early word wars,
when the line between fellow poet
and human being was full of
invitational openings,
tween those dots and dashes,
we all eagerly entered those places,
crossing over into
those human openings,
making poets into friends,
yes,
if you webbed here back then,
you may have known her too...


21 hours ago -

"there's a reason
I got to know you,
even though that might
sound silly.
In a way,
you saved me
two summers ago..."
~~~~~~

this message,
teaches me to remember
the power of words
supercharged,
be careful what you
write,
you just might save a
soul...

didn't not ken, well enough
the pressurized curve of her bend,
though read all her private journals,
her thesis academic,
her private ascetic analysis
and poems that milked & masked
the angst of a life
really real hard

today
reread,
tried anyway,
two years of messages

could not feign
the pain
unintentionally recovered
while looking for
clues to myself,
this purported savior


all I recall is
a woman near her ends
woman near no means
but knowing the meaning of
the power drink meaning of
"just going on"
that was dug deep in between,
and how we traded poems
for each other,
and I called her,

daughter

but from now on and within,
when I see a message
time stamped
21 hours ago
I'll be
better ready
for the
explosions of myself
21 hours ago
"However long I don't talk - for whatever stupid reason I never have the courage to talk to others when I am lost in my life-- I still think of you and I hope you know that. I still think there's a reason I got to know you, even though that might sound silly. In a way you saved me two summers ago..."
letters to basil Mar 2020
XXI
dear quinn,

you can't stop
playing the
violin
because
you're afraid
of breaking the
strings.

and you can't stop
talking
because
you're afraid
of pushing people
away.

love,
quinn
Riley Jan 2020
We met in a beautiful way,
But we didn't know that we're both cursed.

There's many things I wanted to say,
But the Separation came first.

At the beginning of the journey - Me,
At the very end - You.

We're both stuck, don't you see,
Our shadows are lurking, that's true.

So, pushing ourselves away,
We're both losing each other.

I will trust the Universe,
To break the Curse from one another.
John Glenn Jan 2020
When you're 21
and barely
employed
and wholly
depressed
people expect
you to pull
your ****
together
and handle it
well,
you ought to say
f*ck you
**** is nasty
and I expect
to flush mine
down
the toilet drain
muteD Jan 2020
A mother’s touch is
suppose to be tender,
one you would lean into.
But, instead
I would flinch.
Not for fear of any physical pain
she could cause me
but only because
she never touches me.

“you are really damaged”
21 years of searching for
a mother’s love
will do that to you.
Searching for that missing piece
and hoping that if you do everything
she wants and everything
you can possibly do to help her
that maybe,
just maybe,
you’ll finish the puzzle and
she’ll love you.
Which is absurd because
she won’t
and she can’t.
How can a mother love her children
when she knows of no love herself?

Cat and mouse..
A game I’ve always hated
but a game I know all too well.
because she always flaunts
what she knows I want
right in my face.
She knows what I crave
and how to make me weak.
My one true weakness,
Family.
Well, the idea of one
because I have never had one before.
A family to call mine?
One that would love me unconditionally
and honestly?
The universe has
a sense of humor after all
and it’s Me.
My whole life I’ve been looking for the love only a mother can provide.. needless to say, that search is over and I have turned up empty handed.
Serol Dec 2019
I was abandon, famine ran rampant while i was stranded on this planet.
And if I’m being candid, my life has been so bland when, I think about the future it brings me so much shame. How am I supposed to escape from a past so traumatic with pain?
You don’t understand it, a bandit eating sand and granite, eyes were slanted while I was painting on this canvas.
We’re from a city where dreams were never granted i’m in panic from these circumstances, because when i really think about it there were never any chances.
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