LL: Poems

May 7 · 327

LL May 7

you, who asked me if
I already brushed my teeth —
I said I'd prove it
when you come closer and taste
the mint from my very tongue

2025/078

#tanka

May 7 · 125

Picking up | Tanka

LL May 7

Picking up | Tanka

you, who keep singing
a song after leaving the
room — coming back and
picking up where you left off —
like you never even left

2025/077

#tanka

May 5 · 134

Tempered | Tanka

LL May 5

Tempered | Tanka

having a blacksmith
for a father always set
the house on fire — some
children get tempered like steel —
some get brittle like charcoal

2025/076

#tanka

May 5 · 112

Miles | Tanka

LL May 5

Miles | Tanka

the thing about it —
walking for miles with storm clouds
overhead is that
the sun becomes a distant
memory, and the shade — home

2025/075

#tanka

May 4 · 181

Locks | Haiku

LL May 4

Locks | Haiku

I carry you like
old locks fastened to a bridge —
I unlock nothing

2025/074

#haiku

May 4 · 115

Keys | Haiku

LL May 4

Keys | Haiku

I carry you with
me — heavy keys to locks that
I no longer have

2025/073

#haiku

May 4 · 127

Warmth | Haiku

LL May 4

Warmth | Haiku

silence, your silence
is not a void — it is a
warmth I come home to

2025/072

#haiku

May 4 · 129

Muffle | Haiku

LL May 4

Muffle | Haiku

muffle every groan
and moan,
and whimper,
and sigh
with your mouth on mine

2025/071

#haiku

May 3 · 327

Flower | Haiku

LL May 3

Flower | Haiku

you only water
the plants when you need them to
flower and bear fruit

2025/070

#haiku

Apr 25 · 134

Reclaim pt. II | Haiku

LL Apr 25

Reclaim pt. II | Haiku

as long as the sea
ends up on top of me — claimed
inevitably

2025/069

#haiku

Apr 23 · 181

Give | Haiku

LL Apr 23

Give | Haiku

what if the only
thing I can give you are the
things I leave behind

2025/068

#haiku

Apr 23 · 116

Carelessly | Tanka

LL Apr 23

Carelessly | Tanka

if you're the sea I'd
easily drown in — I am
the sea-beaten cliff
you can safely wonder from —
of carelessly jumping off

2025/067

#tanka

Apr 23 · 143

Reclaim | Haiku

LL Apr 23

Reclaim | Haiku

I saw you walk in—
to this place like an ocean
wave — reclaiming land
(I'm the land)

2025/066

#haiku

Apr 23 · 185

Cicada | Haiku

LL Apr 23

Cicada | Haiku

summer is the call
cicadas hum and chirp to —
I answer, find me

2025/065

#haiku

Apr 21 · 120

Lose | Haiku

LL Apr 21

Lose | Haiku

focusing on my
pain is how I lose the hand
I'm holding right now

2025/064

#haiku

Apr 21 · 125

Meaning | Haiku

LL Apr 21

Meaning | Haiku

can life lose all its
meaning — and could there ever
be one without love?

2025/063

#haiku

Apr 20 · 175

Bird | Tanka

LL Apr 20

Bird | Tanka

joy would always leave
me like a bird that flew out
of its cage and — when
it came back knocking on the
glass — I wouldn't let it in

2025/062

#tanka

Apr 13 · 393

Floodgates | Tanka

LL Apr 13

Floodgates | Tanka

I don't tell you things
because explaining in length
things long brewing's like
standing at the floodgates of
a river as it empties

2025/061

#tanka

Mar 26 · 137

Get | Free verse

LL Mar 26

Get | Free verse

if I have to kneel before your body
to get what I want — and
hear songs of quick shallow breaths —
soft praises — from your mouth agape
— no wonder they call it

a TEMPLE

2025/060

#free #verse

Mar 25 · 99

Stopped | Haiku

LL Mar 25

Stopped | Haiku

know that if I leave
I didn't stop choosing you —
I stopped choosing me

02/28/2025

#haiku

Mar 25 · 272

A lone | Haiku

LL Mar 25

A lone | Haiku

always a lone chair
at every table — am I
meant to be alone?

02/27/2025

#haiku

Mar 25 · 111

Stuck | Tanka

LL Mar 25

Stuck | Tanka

right at that moment
when the sun disappeared, I
should've broke orbit
instead I stayed in place — stuck
exactly where you left me

02/26/2025

#tanka

Mar 25 · 135

Got off | Haiku

LL Mar 25

Got off | Haiku

this feels like a long
ride where everyone got off —
and then it's just me

02/25/2025

#haiku

Mar 25 · 103

— | Haiku

LL Mar 25

— | Haiku

for eight hours a day
I die at my office desk —
and then I drive home

02/24/2025

#haiku

Mar 18 · 164

Raging | Haiku

LL Mar 18

Raging | Haiku

a raging river
of thoughts, a stream of words — the
rest flows out as tears

02/23/2025

#haiku

Mar 17 · 236

Pressure | Haiku

LL Mar 17

Pressure | Haiku

I can work under
pressure — is it your job to
put pressure on me?

02/22/2025

#haiku

Mar 13 · 137

Exist | Haiku

LL Mar 13

Exist | Haiku

take me by the hand —
that is how I'll know for sure
that I still exist

02/21/2025

#haiku

Mar 12 · 144

Stop me | Haiku

LL Mar 12

Stop me | Haiku

stop me — stop what we're
doing just so I can get
on my knees to plead
(don't)

02/20/2025

#haiku

Mar 12 · 394

Exactly | Haiku

LL Mar 12

Exactly | Haiku

teach me how to look
at you like I know exact-
ly what we'll do next

02/19/2025

#haiku

Mar 6 · 108

Own | Haiku

LL Mar 6

Own | Haiku

to those who told me
they did it for my own good —
I'm not good — what now?

02/18/2025

#haiku

Mar 4 · 328

With | Haiku

LL Mar 4

With | Haiku

if I can only
be happy for you and not
happy with you — f***

02/17/2025

#haiku

Feb 24 · 251

Sky | Haiku

LL Feb 24

Sky | Haiku

to see you smile like
Sakaguchi Kentaro —
is my sun and sky

02/16/2025

#haiku

Feb 22 · 216

Lung-full | Haiku

LL Feb 22

Lung-full | Haiku

oh how I wish to
be kissed like I'm his first and
last lung-full of air

02/15/2025

#haiku

Feb 22 · 129

Which | Free verse

LL Feb 22

Which | Free verse

when my palm is on
the side of my face
and my fingers curl
at the back of my neck
I can't tell
which
feels which

02/14/2025

#free #verse

Feb 22 · 97

Foreigner | Haiku

LL Feb 22

Foreigner | Haiku

my skin is foreign
land — just as my hand is a
foreigner on yours

02/13/2025

#haiku

Feb 20 · 162

Missed | 6 words

LL Feb 20

Missed | 6 words

missed my turn.
distracted.
missing you.

02/12/2025

#6 #words

Feb 18 · 113

At home | Haiku

LL Feb 18

At home | Haiku

not in my room — yet
out here in the midst of this
storm — I feel at home

02/11/2025

#haiku

Feb 18 · 175

Act | 6 words

LL Feb 18

Act | 6 words

one-man show.
acting okay.
performs daily.

02/10/2025

#6 #words

Feb 18 · 133

Footfalls | Haiku

LL Feb 18

Footfalls | Haiku

I hear rain coming
like heavy footfalls of my
favorite person

02/09/2025

#haiku

Feb 18 · 93

Mondays | Haiku

LL Feb 18

Mondays | Haiku

Mondays are for things
often left open from the
night before — close me

02/08/2025

#haiku

Feb 17 · 150

Soft | Haiku

LL Feb 17

Soft | Haiku

made of soft mornings
humid noons, quiet evenings —
I dream of summer

02/07/2025

#haiku

Feb 17 · 176

Sweeter | Haiku

LL Feb 17

Sweeter | Haiku

infinitely slow
yet certainly numbered — this
makes summer sweeter

02/06/2025

#haiku

Feb 17 · 159

Grandma's | Haiku

LL Feb 17

Grandma's | Haiku

you're the summer months
I spent in Grandma's house — flowed
infinitely slow

02/05/2025

#haiku

Feb 10 · 119

Chance | Tanka

LL Feb 10

Chance | Tanka

you hear my nightmares
because no one would take them
and you would tell me
you had one too last night as
if it's not mere chance — but fate

02/04/2025

#tanka

Feb 8 · 95

Taisei | Haiku

LL Feb 8

Taisei | Haiku

**** I keep losing
you in the crowd, guy who looks
like Kido Taisei

02/03/2025

#haiku

Feb 8 · 122

Crowded room | Haiku

LL Feb 8

Crowded room | Haiku

thank the gods we're in
a crowded room — I would've
confessed* where I stood

(*or came out)

02/02/2025

#haiku

Feb 8 · 193

Poured | Haiku

LL Feb 8

Poured | Haiku

days — blurry, nights — hazed
time poured in a glass-like stream
unremarkably

02/01/2025

#haiku

Feb 7 · 115

Start slow | Haiku

LL Feb 7

Start slow | Haiku

if you wish to know
me, start slow — I'm an image
still painting itself

01/31/2025

#haiku

Jan 30 · 131

Disengagement | Haiku

LL Jan 30

Disengagement | Haiku

can't tell if it's the
cold air — or disengagement
that makes mornings hard

01/30/2025

#haiku

Jan 29 · 196

Anguish | Haiku

LL Jan 29

Anguish | Haiku

you only listen
when you hear the alcohol
talking — in anguish

01/29/2025

#haiku