Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
You often find in strangers
what’s missing in yourself
The plus and minus forces
their magnet strongly felt

It’s easiest to outline
and trace the empty space
Of what’s filled in by others
—that you cannot embrace

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2024
She was darting through thoughts
I dart through hers
My brain tied in knots
Kicking with spurs
Her eyes darker than night
A bottle in her hand
Tearing down with words polite
Meaning hidden I understand
Pack of smokes in pocket
A state of misery
Launching like a rocket
No reason I can see
In foggy haze of confusion
Rain quit falling down
Bars closing in conclusion
Remained dimly lit around
Resting back against wall
Bricks of the front of our wet home
Could hear the substances call
In back of her mind to roam
Let in with welcome arms
Turn off lights one by one
It's about how want disarms
Forfeit to them almost none
In a day will return
Finding you the same place
Or someone better takes their turn
Does not matter
Just a different face
She falls asleep eventually
Giving her dreams attention
Call names and she will be
All things you mentioned
Written about my mom when she was still alive :(
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2024
A cake shared with everybody
Except me

Everyone anticipating slices

So no wishes

No blowing out tiny fires in vain

No spitty frosting
Little traces of yourself embedded deep into the pits of other's stomachs

Instead tie a balloon to wrist

Showing age in slow shuffling

Open ribbon
Unwrap the gift I painstakingly chose for you this year-
NOTHING!
When someone else has their cake, eats it, and then proceeds to eat your slice as well.
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2024
I never dream
I am grateful for that

You used to experience night terrors

No idea why
They occured every single night when you were young

I have nothingness until morning wakes me up with a brutal slap to the face

You occupy daydreams though
It is odd that in that realm you still retain that indifferent demeanor
As if I have conjured up your essence for a few minutes

Peculiar how you talk to me in the familiar condescending tone I have grown used to the past two years

Unusual because I would rather picture you the way I always yearned for you to be

My mind consistently has worked in a literal process though

Someone who left skull strives to remember exactly as they were

So in matter of seconds
Brain's wandering fantasies quickly transform into nightmares

Every occasion

So I attempt not letting my head wander these days

No amount of discipline enough to stop it

The harder I try containing it the more it roams
I rarely remember my dreams these days
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2023
You treat me like minefield
Challenging to navigate
Wrong step will cause me to explode
You take caution with your gait
Got pocketfuls of problems
Neither can seem to fix
Each door we try to open
Leads to wall of bricks
You keep telling me think positively
Optimism is the key to success
When the half-full glass topples over
Still makes the same size mess
Got a fence built between bodies
Separating flaws we don't wish to see
Compatability questionable
Cannot be who you want me to be
Your expectations of me skyscrapers
So high I will never reach the top
To scale distance I'd need to sprout wings
I won't fly because I'm scared of the drop
Good enough worry is not what I am
Painting your colors dark grey
Overhead clouds pour rain and we're drowning
Wouldn't blame you if you decided not to stay
I am fragile like a bomb not fragile like a flower
Next page