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Oct 28 · 72
Untitled 010
Jack Harrell Oct 28
If I'm an emotional train wreck,
would you be a first responder?

If I die and lay in rest,
would you love me any longer?

I question myself constantly
wondering what I could become.
Should I be more than this,
or finally will I say that I'm done.

I want to quit
I want to stop

But I can't

I have a debt to pay
and a price that will not drop

So I'll keep at it
Until someone want me shot, dead
someone other than me.
I seem to be the only who can see beyond the ******* and lies that I tell
to myself
Every day

You can do it.
Just keep going.
You got this

So like I said,

I'm an emotional train wreck,
but are you my first responder?
i liek trains
Oct 2023 · 115
Untitled 019
Jack Harrell Oct 2023
So you’re all grown up
You’ve made it this far
You’ve left the house now
You bought your own car

Your feet have gotten bigger
Big enough for your dads shoes
Your mind is strong enough to meddle
But your feet don’t even reach the pedal

You say you’re grown up now
But you continually act like a child
Giving up after a short time
I’ve never seen you smile

You can’t take the stress
This world has bent you
Out of shape you decompress
You’re completely torn in two

But that’s okay
It happens to us all
It’s a growing pain
It’s the wake up call
Ahahahha I remember exactly the context I wrote this in. I like to imagine that most of the people who would read this also have a locked collection of their own personal poems. Sort of a little journal of little sonnets and limericks that  aren’t meant to be shared. Anyway, this whole collection just comes from those. Those little shower thoughts that I take the time to jot down in my notes app.
Oct 2023 · 258
Crumbs
Jack Harrell Oct 2023
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything.
It’s 6:57 in the morning and I’m munching pretzels.
I don’t care about the crumbs in the bed this time.
Normally I would, but this morning I don’t bother.
I think it’s because I know that I’ll clean them out when I wash my sheets next week.

I have to be at work in a few hours.
I moved back to a familiar town because the stress of trying to exist in a new place was too much.
Normally I love a challenge, but I should have listened to my father.
He said “It doesn’t matter what you do, you’re good at whatever you try to be good at.”

And that just about sums up the last 4 years.
Not being good at anything,
Because I don’t want to be good at it.
Finding niche hobbies that capture my imagination for a little smidge of time.
But all the while my patience is gaunt in the cheeks.

So that’s why I don’t mind the crumbs in the sheets.
Forgot about this little community that I used to love. Anyway, I’ve recently been reminded of why I like poetry by a friend who shared a spoken word YouTube account with me. Small slant rhyme that only shows up every like 400 syllables yet still connects a common thought. Beautiful.
Jul 2020 · 194
Seeds
Jack Harrell Jul 2020
How do
You gather
Those seeds?
I need
Those seeds,
For my
Beautiful garden.

Gimme
How do you do it?
Jul 2020 · 2.5k
Untitled 027
Jack Harrell Jul 2020
My sunglasses twinkle
While they lay on your breast
I say “Go mingle”
You say “I’ll do my best”

We’ve been doing alright
We’re getting by
It’s been what, a week now?
Since either of us has cried

“Time to go” keys jingle
Crunching through the snow
It sounds like stale Pringles
“Why’d we have to go?”

“Why were we there at all?”
“I don’t know? Welfare call?”
“I just want to go to sleep”
“Our blankets run deep”

Keys jingle “Back. Finally.”
One slow upstairs trod

Above my door frame
A white board hangs on a rod

9 \ Days since last breakdown

“Scratch that”

Zero
I wrote this a while ago when I was a different person. May it bring you solace should you need it or a reflection upon your past self.
Dec 2019 · 282
The Final Frontier
Jack Harrell Dec 2019
Spaceman come back,
you'd only just made it here.

What's it like out there?
I wonder if there's no atmosphere.

Crazy, it seems to me,
that you have come so far

and all you've done

is leave
typed with no intention other than avoiding cleaning up after a dog
Jul 2019 · 296
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Jack Harrell Jul 2019
They say those
Who are afraid of heights
Aren’t afraid of the fall
But are scared they’ll jump

A leap of faith is all it takes
That’s all it took for me
To fall into the trap you made
I got stuck in your lemon tree

The fruit of the lemon
Is much too sweet
A whole lemon
Is quite a lot to eat

So sour it will purify your teeth

If my burdens be yellow
Then my teeth be white
My trouble they make me swallow
Until I blow out my light
Jul 2019 · 476
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Jack Harrell Jul 2019
Somethings I do
Just for me
Paint this picture under my tree
Pull out all my drawers to find one tee

Drive the hammer
to hit the nail
Swing my car  
to set sail

Hit cruise control from my chair
Stare off until I get a cramp
Lay in by bed and make basecamp
Randomly run my fingers through my hair

But that’s fine for me
It’s not all for you
Some parts are lies
Some are true

I can’t have everything I want
So I’ll imagine the rest
Even when I drift off
I’m never at my best

I’ve never fully realized my
Potential
Never completely fulfilled my
Aim

If life is a game
I
Forfeit and forgive
All
Jul 2019 · 178
Untitled 015
Jack Harrell Jul 2019
Big, sad eyes and heartless lies
Sitting alone she wants to cry
Making claims he wants to keep
Holding fast, we’re loosing sleep

We skate by time,
Were jumbled garbage
The Price of Love,
Is negative yardage
Jul 2019 · 295
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Jack Harrell Jul 2019
A jack of all trades
But a master of none
How many can I claim
Before I’m done?

Titular titles tumble from my tongue
Mumbling by mere menageries
Of often overlooked and occult occupations
Professional practices performed profusely

Waiting out the rain
Slumping through the pain
Perfecting nothing but aversion
New things tempt me like a ******

— The End —