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2.7k · Feb 2021
Whitman
Nolan Willett Feb 2021
The weeds live side by side,
With the roses in a meadow,
Fallen branches of a dead tree,
Help its neighbor grow,
Nothing ever ends,
Death is not an impasse,
When you’re gone,
We’ll look for you in a blade of grass.
2.6k · Apr 2019
Weltschmerz
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
A resurgent nihilistic philosophy
A second lost generation
Disillusioned with the being of nations
Lost in their own antipathy
Confused by new sensations

A political theorist I am not
I like to wander in hills and clouds
And pick out kindred spirits in crowds
A thousand wasted battles fought
A thousand raggedy burial shrouds

The bohemians revel in their nonsense
Shall I my conceits and imaginations forsake?
Maybe a decent Lawyer I would make?
What is real and what is performance?
Which side of me shall I deem fake?

To which should I my attentions give
My unceasing love for liberty,
or a discontented bourgeoisie?
Material things I need to live
Yet still I am most lifted by poetry
1.8k · Apr 2022
Untitled
Nolan Willett Apr 2022
How far must the honey bee roam
To find an elusive flower,
And return to his honeycomb?

How long must a tumbling stone
Through a lonely landscape scour,
To realize its conclusive home?

How many do their fate bemoan,
Amidst the dark and latent hours,
Staining tears upon their cheekbones?

How do those, resting on their thrones,
Convince all of their own power,
And feign to know all that which is known?

Do we have power all our own?
Our own reasons to scour?
How far ahead is our fate sewn?

Do we let ourselves be enthroned,
To be a humble wallflower?
Or do we let ourselves be flown,
Into a troublesome unknown?
1.8k · Jan 2022
doe, dove
Nolan Willett Jan 2022
If one is inert
And ten is a breakthrough
You and I, in concert,
Add to a beautiful two.

If red is progress
And yellow is obscene
Us two, coalesced,
Somehow craft a verdant green.

With the earth above
And the sky below
I’d make a pretty dove
And you a peaceful doe.
1.6k · Oct 2021
A lovely Tree, Revisited
Nolan Willett Oct 2021
A lovely tree, so carefree,
In serene tranquility
With it I would spend my night,
And let come whatever might

Red-yellow leaves, sparsely wreathed,
Life into the air it breathes
Dying breaths, it pays a price
Gives its solemn sacrifice

It’s not fair, you’ll soon be bare,
Most will not even care,
At least for now, your leaves so bright
Make for such an enviable sight.
Lazy lines for a lazy day, 2019
1.6k · Oct 2020
Costume party
Nolan Willett Oct 2020
I’ll be your Dracula,
You know all I’ll need is your heart.
You be the wicked witch,
All you will need is a hooked nose,
‘Cause you already cast your spell on me!
1.6k · Jun 2019
Augur
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
In ancient unenlightened days,
There came a man whose triumph would’ve laid
Foundations for a better world,
Our inner compassions unfurled.
For we thought we found a holy seer,
To rid our lives of all our fear,
To tell us what to say and what to think
What to do and what to drink.
He did his best,
I can attest,
To warn us of that one,
Who would see all our progress undone.
Indeed, many in our history have been
Told what constitutes sin,
Left with a hurtful scar,
By one who never wandered very far.
And our true messiah saw
This prophet for a gaping maw,
Another of the tempter’s tricks,
A man whose touch could heal the sick.
For he loved God more than most
But found him in the cosmos,
Our divine provenance,
Rooted in collective consciousness,
Not an oath to take or die
Or a being to mollify,
Nor any kind of credo,
But an universal ego.
Heeding logic over gullibility
He recognized the liability,
One who would see them die for naught,
And stray them from the insight they sought.
But in trying to break the cycle
He heralded its arrival,
Enshrining the son,
In the cursed three-in-one.
He made a martyr
And thus followed generational slaughter.
Promising sacred haven,
Causing war and famine.
For deceivers are known to appear as savior,
For them there is no pleasure greater,
In casting down the righteous,
And rendering them mindless.
And so millennia could have been spared
From some cruelty our kind have shared-
So long and so onerous, never ending-
And our pity’s rending.
The earth’s inhabitants coalesced,
No longer their souls oppressed,
Saved from prejudice,
Alas, poor Judas.
Sorry I published this a couple times I had to fix some things and I like it so
1.5k · Jul 2021
Landmarks
Nolan Willett Jul 2021
Everyday, strive to be more real,
Silencing thoughts, you’ll begin to feel.
All your life, denying your innermost
‘Til you winded up a ghost;
But you’re materializing,
Corporeal, stabilizing,
Life beckons you outside
Patiently, though it knows you died,
And it’s so cruel, and mean, and so unfair-
but shake those platitudes from your hair,
Lace your shoes, forget your blues,
see if you can change your views-
Remember, you’re never someone new:
Rather, you slowly become more you
1.5k · Jan 2022
Rest
Nolan Willett Jan 2022
Rest your bones, shut your eyes
You have earned this worthy prize
Sweet relief, a deep sleep
Twelve hours pass, now repeat
Everything’s uphill
And likely always will
Your laments avow
You have all the time you needed now
Dream of all that may have been
Never get back up again
1.4k · Aug 2023
Paracosm
Nolan Willett Aug 2023
A dreamer finds her way,
Well-her and her companions
She met a previous day-
They speak a strange tongue,
But that is quite okay;
They march through pastel
Landscapes
From place to place
From quest to quest
Another dragon?
Another princess?
(That seems a bit cliche)
But she is quite content
And I am no character
In this event
Just its chronicler
They slay the dragon
And take its scales to market
The princess, with a good degree of flair
Takes a ride with her companion
(Did I mention he’s a bear?)
The dreamer is offered lodging
By a grateful King
She steals his bed at night
(They kind of have a fling)

And the sun crests the horizon
And our hero goes to work
Her friends will wait for her tonight
Did I mention she’s a clerk?
1.0k · Apr 2019
Saudade
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
Despair of a furtive root,
I try to keep the time at bay;
My ambition is rendered moot
And I begin to dread the day

And though I know it seems inane
My reality lives in dreams,
While my life is but a dream-I feign,
Since my life is faulty-it seems

Lost somewhere between hate and love,
apathy versus ambition
And the desire thereof,
Must I imitate affection?

Is love found? Or is it produced?
Is purpose found? Or is it set?
Is zeal found? Or is it induced?
Someone who knows I have not met.

I sought and searched for something new
But found and obtained something old,
I try and try to start anew
Instead I find I grow more cold

Our lives are fleeting and bitter,
I cannot seem to find content.
Through love and hate do I flitter
So I shall remain despondent...
I don’t know what to do
979 · Nov 2020
Untitled
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
Just one, red rose,
Red lips, cute nose,
A smile, bright eyes,
An hour, time flies,
Dancing, the rain,
Car drive, fast lane,
Forget, the time,
Useless, bad rhymes,
A drink, or two-
No, never that few-
The future, the past,
The outcasts, outlast.
937 · Jun 2019
Conditional Love
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
The door has been opened, the curtains lifted
That which is unseen now I see
And though through my life I have drifted
In woeful ignorance of its majesty
It’s beauty unknown to me
My soul is now uplifted
919 · Apr 2019
To My Forgotten Poets
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
No, you have not been published
And the unlucky majority have never heard your words
Your insight and your passion
Your love and your reactions
Your hard-crafted similes and metaphors
Will not be born on any sepulcher
But you cannot be distraught
Your creative genius was hard-fought
And your words are still sublime
And will stand the test of time
We may not be like Coleridge or Keats
Like Eliot or Yeats
We might not be the jewels in the crown
Maybe not meant for renown
But you still have undeniably
Made your contribution to the shrine of poetry
Your perceptions are astute
And your warped feelings acute
Besides, these people of genius were never
Recognized in their own time, ever
So let’s try not to despair
And let our words echo from nowhere.
912 · Nov 2019
Untitled
Nolan Willett Nov 2019
I wish I were like iron,
Malleable and flexible,
But I think I am more a diamond,
Pretty but not very practical.
904 · Sep 2020
Untitled
Nolan Willett Sep 2020
You say you hate the human race
I say you have a lovely face
You think you’ll never reach the place
I think that you would miss the chase
So I unlace
And you embrace
And with the world we keep pace
‘Til the day we disappear
And leave without a trace
893 · Jun 2019
Bartleby
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
If you’d like me to,
I would change my world view,
I’d lift back up the veil,
And learn to see in Braille,
I would cut out my tongue
And leave some songs unsung,
I’d go to bed at a reasonable hour
And adopt some face that isn’t sour,
I’d work a nine to five like the best of them
Till the lights inside go dim,
Get a little overtime,
Follow the established paradigm,
It’s not so big a deal,
So I will make no appeal,
I’ll put on a suit and tie
And wait my turn to die.
880 · Sep 2023
Porous
Nolan Willett Sep 2023
You are porous,
Blend your voice into a chorus,
Can’t help but wear your heart
On your sleeve, fall apart
So easily, and so frequently
Admittedly, sometimes even gleefully,
Feel every gust of wind;
Even drafts, make you bend,
Warping to all these demands
Making it hard to understand,
Just where others end
And where you begin
832 · Feb 2021
Polonius
Nolan Willett Feb 2021
When you realize you’ll never seize the day,
Never have the right things to say,
Your judgments are always erroneous,
You’re not Hamlet, but Polonius.
Though you know that all things must end,
It doesn’t spur your torments to mend,
A dutiful advisor,
Who never gets wiser.
It must be so serene
Never having thought you might have been-
“Neither a borrower nor lender be”;
I say, yet fear both apply to me.
“To thine own self be true”;
ah! Long ago, I missed that cue-
And all do agree,
The audience doesn’t need, my soliloquy.
Under all this weight so crushing
And the envy to just feel nothing,
This act’s end, now I’m certain:
I’ll die off stage, behind a curtain.
Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I wanted to write from Polonius’POV
828 · Apr 2019
INTP
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I wish I could find
The correct words and sequence
Of them to explain
myself.
806 · Jun 2019
Luddite
Nolan Willett Jun 2019
You’re in No-Man’s land, shells all around
Not yet forgotten, but not easily found
Silence is a peaceful but elusive sound,
What a poor excuse for a proving ground.
Lay down, meltdown, fade into the background,
‘Cause all you’ve ever known is letdowns.
785 · Nov 2020
Stardust
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
It’s when, to follow your dreams,
You give up everything,
And you, piece by piece, are consumed
‘Till you’re living in a nightmare
735 · Jan 2021
Untitled
Nolan Willett Jan 2021
A name follows you-
Even when you’re made anew.
Neither can you leave your face,
Or entirely forget your birthplace;
We must have done some misdeed,
In a past life, indeed,
Because we’re of a lower caste,
Doomed iconoclasts,
Fighting for nothing,
And eternally suffering.
And when we’ve had enough of it,
Enough of being misfits,
When we realize it was designed this way,
And that there is no “someday”,
Then we’ll venture six feet underground,
To tear a heaven down.
702 · Apr 2019
Apotheosis
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I would like to meet my true potential
I don’t think he’d be so provincial
I’d like for him to be influential
Maybe even presidential
And life would not be so abysmal
Hedonistic ways not quite so sinful
To friends and family essential
Words not so banal and artificial
But instead heartening and meaningful
674 · Oct 2020
The House That Never Ends
Nolan Willett Oct 2020
Tallies on the wall.  
Doors that rearrange,  
In strange, entropic ways.
That dissemble and confuse  
To keep two locked in the halls;
The lights flicker, periodically-
They spot shadows on their peripheral-
Likewise in intervals.
They seem to speak,
But only mockingly.
They did not choose this fate;
The house chose them.
Some must be condemned-
Like Minos and the Minotaur-
For a terrible hunger to abate.
Another tally in the frame.
They’ve been this way earlier,
Though their recollection’s getting murkier,
While hands reach from plaster,
Reaching to claim.
They must learn to love the maze
The freedom in being confined;
At least their goal is defined-
After all, once you enter, you may never leave,
And are doomed to tread the lengthways.

Outside cars pass and children play pretend
By a for sale home overgrown,
Inconspicuous, yet locally it is well-known:
You never get too close
To the house that never ends.
642 · Jan 19
Untitled
Nolan Willett Jan 19
There’s a secret path to walk
A language that nobody talks
A different world to see
Another way to be
Irrefutably
642 · Aug 2021
Here & Now
Nolan Willett Aug 2021
The past is not defining,
And the future’s a distraction;
So living here and now,
Is such a prudent action.
629 · Jan 2021
Untitled
Nolan Willett Jan 2021
Raw and uninhibited
Passion is unlimited
Lethargy’s been,
redistributed
If you’re a rebel without a cause
Than I’m a dreamer with some to spare
Our entropic revelry we’ll share
To make the world fair
Burn it down
Without a care
Put them on the ground
Smug when caught,
No longer when shot
A ringing, melodious sound;
Wall Street,
on its back feet,
Tumbling down
Avarice assailed,
No other options when
Democracy’s failed
And either side, is on their own side
And neither dissent abide,
They can’t break free
Of their lust for currency
So when mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
We’ll just love to watch it all unfurl
629 · Oct 2019
Sonder
Nolan Willett Oct 2019
A heavy, inward sigh,
As I stare at all the passerby,
Each with their own lives,
I wonder if they think of mine?
628 · Nov 2020
Salem
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
Take it as a compliment
Branded heretical.
Bring on the pyre,
And set it afire;
When they resort to
Crucifixion
You’ll know you have the right
Convictions
613 · Apr 2019
By Spring
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
By spring’s birth I will disappear,
Till then and only then I’ll last,
Amidst thriving plants and trees and fears
Oh, what an ironic contrast.

It would scream “He is an artist!
And we should have loved him for it!”
And I would remain untarnished
When I life’s pains and joys outwit.

Truly, it is miraculous,
The content and sublimity
Reached choosing to be impious,
Resolved to anonymity.

The wind ceases, the snow subsides,
The sun shows its duplicitous face.
Time has come, now nature provides
Artistic end to this snide race.
613 · Feb 16
Untitled
Nolan Willett Feb 16
Try your best
To remain unfazed
The world will test
You, leave you dazed
But you don’t have to change
In order to be free
Compromise or rearrange,
Who you want to be
Wear your heart on your sleeve
And embrace the pain
Dream a dream, make-believe,
And cast away disdain
611 · Dec 2019
Maladaptive Daydreamer
Nolan Willett Dec 2019
From a young age,
I took hours to imagine scenarios
Where interesting things happened,
Mostly to me,
To deal with an unkind reality.
A coping mechanism
That I never really grew out of.
567 · Apr 2019
Unitarian
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
Under ceaseless rejection it’s hard to maintain
Unconditional love for the earth
Unpromised and unmet loves keep you sane
In spite of all your life’s dearth
Never mind what the embittered say
No matter the truth of their words
Its always enough to live for the day
Leave your anxieties interred
An albatross flies over all our heads
Its our choice to shoot it
A presence exists that threads
Through all our lives if we  permit
The wheel turns again and again
Our muses love us if no one else will
Of forlorn beauty I’ll never have my fill
And I am relieved of any sin
We cannot succumb to cynicism
553 · Nov 2020
Untitled
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
When others look into my eyes
They see a thing to despise
I do not know what they see,
I wish they would just see me
552 · Dec 2020
Untitled
Nolan Willett Dec 2020
It feels as though something has ended,
Philanthropy has been expended,
People are left to their own devices
To sink into their own vices.
It’s not right, that we’ve lost our care
For how our fellow man fare;
Blind to one another’s pains
And entropy is left to hold the reigns.
What we lost, can we ever find
When we ourselves are so supine?
Nevermind we’re all one soul
That together form a reconciled whole,
Different branches of a single tree
Limbs that emblematize you and me;
And when we leave the poor out in the cold,
Forget and ridicule the old,
Renounce our secular vows,
We’re just splitting off another bough.
536 · Oct 2020
Lost and Found
Nolan Willett Oct 2020
We live in a world of lost and found
Get lost so we can be found again
And then retreat back underground
Until the process ends
517 · Mar 10
Quick haiku
Nolan Willett Mar 10
Antisocial, shy
Or have you lost the hope of
Being understood?
515 · Jun 2020
life, liberty
Nolan Willett Jun 2020
I love America
But sometimes I hate the U.S.A.
How do you spin,
Blocking airways?
Two party system;Our United States,
Couldn’t give better delegates?
And I despise all of the
Idol Worship,
Trickle-down culture,
Your distractions, weapons. Change;
not an endless hunt for newer things.
When Patriotism Trumps
Common Sense,
1776,
And we Masquerade our Liberty
Confined in an invisible pillory,
And you accrue,
While we make do,
At this point, if you are asking me,
Then yes, I would prefer shared misery
To your “equal opportunity.”
“Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!”
504 · Dec 2023
Mirror
Nolan Willett Dec 2023
I’m sorry, but who are you?
Did you take my face?
You look like me, but askew
Please don’t take my place.
492 · Nov 2020
Hello
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
I love the words that I read here
The ones that you leave spoken,
Your hopes and loves, doubts and fears,
The thoughts you write upon being awoken

Offering perspective,
Through a page, to see your reality,
Concocts a connection:
The power of empathy

Old, young, the chained and the free,
And especially the pariahs,
Whose words read to me
Like a personal Messiah’s

I read them from my bed,
Words of comfort, words of woe,
I suppose I could just leave it unsaid,
But I wanted to say hello.
490 · Apr 2019
Misanthrope
Nolan Willett Apr 2019
I think that I've been branching out,
You ought to have seen me before:
Idling abed, lying about,
Wasting away, frightened to live
I think that I've been speaking more
My own faults striving to forgive.

But I still need to feel alone,
I know you do not think like that,
Some days I must turn off my phone,
Some days I do not want a friend
And cannot stand to have a chat.
After this spell I'll make amends.

I do not hate humanity,
So I ask you not to conflate
or demonize my oddity.
Nor kindly do not misconstrue,
And most of all do not negate
The fact I love my solitude.
487 · Jan 2021
Hermit
Nolan Willett Jan 2021
I don’t get lonely
Or, if this is loneliness,
I much prefer it
483 · May 2020
Reconciliation
Nolan Willett May 2020
Truth is found when one can
Reconcile the irreconcilable
That’s why it’s so elusive
And Illusive
Because you can’t,not completely,
At least not humanity,
Paradoxes obscure, but also vindicate,
The all
And everything.
And creation is a scientist
And we are its Petri dish,
And creation is a mystic,
And we are its parish.
Science the soul
477 · Jun 2020
Crescendo
Nolan Willett Jun 2020
Small steps,
Cover more ground.

Quiet voices,
Make more sound.

Peaceful weapons,
Draw more blood.

Ten million drops,
Unleash a flood.
469 · Jan 2020
Centers
Nolan Willett Jan 2020
Dusk and Dawn,
Back-Streets and Alleys,
A portrait halfway Drawn,
The center of a Valley.

I like the In-Betweens:
Those things which have begun but not Ended,
Where things are not always what they Seem
And our belief is Suspended.

A jagged Mountain grasping for the Clouds,
Not quite there but well into the Sky
Like a prisoner Unbowed,
With a jailor to Defy.

The boring, uneventful Days,
Which alienate and leaves us Whirled.
Manifested, tangible Displays,
Of the Space between the Worlds.

Life is the greatest Halfway,
It’s not so long a Route.
So I will resolve to Stay
To see it all play Out.
466 · Feb 2023
Apophenia
Nolan Willett Feb 2023
Patterns everywhere, but what to foresee?
There’s Innumerable things to compare,
This OCD: a familiar bee, another tree,
If I only had the key,
Could make everyone aware,
I’m sure they would agree

Uneven roads,spilt coffee
How loathsome, how unfair,
All these patterns seem to be.
So many things to see;
And now what’s over there?
And what does it mean to me?

Their meanings flee;
Ignoring every prayer
From this humble devotee.
So now here is my decree:
I’ll renounce, forswear,
Over and over, plea and plea,
‘Til someday it lets its hold from me.
444 · Aug 2020
Eucatastrophe, Ironized
Nolan Willett Aug 2020
Poised to succeed
In all of your dreams
You have the support
And the means
Endured a painful trek
Metamorphosed from a disdainful wreck
But you’d rather be something else
Than a large paycheck
All the agonies
Pursued through wistful blasphemies
Have led to naught
But a sorrowful eucatastrophe
Because you have bills due
Things to live up to
It’s wishful thinking
Wanting to paint the skies blue.
444 · Nov 2020
Cold
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
I have learned how to smile through the rain
How to glimpse all the bright lights in the dark
You cannot be harmed when you love the pain
And you yearn for more which to embark
I feel the cold winds again start to blow
The sun hides and I can see my own breath
Freezing, blinded, and not from all the snow
But I no longer fear impending death
However tomorrow, or next year goes
I will not be content to hide my face
In spite of everything, my passion grows
And I will never give up on the grace
Seasons change, cold does not last forever
There’s no such thing as worthless endeavors
Sonnet
439 · Nov 2020
1984
Nolan Willett Nov 2020
“Perhaps one did not wish to be loved,
So much as understood.”
I’ve never fully understood anyone,
I doubt they’ll understand me,
And that’s ok,
It might just not be meant to be.
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