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If
If freckles were lovely, and day was night,
And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,
Life would be delight,—
But things couldn’t go right
For in such a sad plight
I wouldn’t be I.

If earth was heaven and now was hence,
And past was present, and false was true,
There might be some sense
But I’d be in suspense
For on such a pretense
You wouldn’t be you.

If fear was plucky, and globes were square,
And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee
Things would seem fair,—
Yet they’d all despair,
For if here was there
We wouldn’t be we.
Shevek Appleyard Dec 2022
spring struggles from the ground
wet with winter
saplings searching for a sky
lusting for softer scents
a sound of radiance

every year,
the seasons feel more uneven
thirsty flowers screaming 'drink the downpour'
mycelium magic dreaming 'keep breathing'
in fear that the green wont reappear
burrow in decay till may
till smiles feel sincere
lying still
I'll listen to the roots gossip
until the tree grants me safety to resurface
to feel purpose I reserve

a dethawed metaphor
flesh of the dirt
just flirt with the earth
make it the world you deserve
cherish her
so bulbs burst fresh as you tease them
and the cold dissolves
indifferent to longing or worship
as she intended
like rutted enchantment

my feet are bare again
and summer grants me all I forget I live for
Shevek Appleyard Dec 2022
some days there's happiness in the mundane
the rain will fall and you'll smile because of it
you'll tilt your head
to catch droplets on your tongue
and it will taste like marzipan
even your tears glint yellow-gold
like liquid sun

you'll miss the bus
but it'll make you laugh out loud
for real
and no one is there to hear it

and then you remember that you're late for work
and you don't even like marzipan
Shevek Appleyard Dec 2022
she used to crave symmetry
but recently she's been gorging on chaos
it fills her up but unfulfilling is the gap
opened by her loss

the more she pours into it
the more the cliff crumbles
into waves of need unfruitful

chaos leaves only debris
watch it swallowed
like your sorrow
by the relentless sea
Shevek Appleyard Dec 2022
I see signals in other women's heartache
She doesn't want to be this miserable
portrayed by a thump thump and a catcall
"Your reputation proceeds you"
The one they branded on you
to swallow till you fall
reduced to a statue of lust
cracks in all the things I want to trust
so seduced by my stress
perplexed by the mess
of what's been said
he's a **** but,
in his head
he's infected by sincere ideas  
to strategize the fear he feels and creates
standing up to monsters you fed that ******
then fled to be branded again
With unwilling touch
curses and hexes
hummed under his breath
still i'm vexed by whispers that keep me awake
reminding me, how easy I break
I won't feel the shift
I won't see him repent
Until everyone knows the meaning of
CONSENT

This is her obligatory story
There are shards in every women I see
Because none of us are liberated
Until all of us are free

We've been silenced
Sentenced
And not taken seriously
She
Her attitude her attire
Her reputation
Her beauty
The weight of moment
Shifting through me
I move through time like my agenda isn't living
Because you gave thst a different meaning

Every walk
!!!!!!!!
Stop shaming women AND men for speaking up
Shevek Appleyard Nov 2022
A fable you follow to re-define
you're just a drifting journey
Shifting as time reminds
The speed you want to observe
It's easy to swerve, rewind
and reminisce in the bliss
Stung with the force of a fist
Too naïve to privileges
Vows we've stained with sacrilege
Promises pained with a phantom kiss
Whispers of locked lands, levitation and foraging
Moonlight sour with forgiveness
investigations to find our minds myths

Trapped in an internal orchestra meditation
That binds us to the trees
Like you're tied to the sound of the sea
A separate generation
Entwined on the same path to be free
Triumph in a ship that sets course to breathe
Leaving better ways to make history

Crucial cemeteries of virtual memories
An abominable sorrow
The cockles of cuckoos fools food tomorrow
Hestia's restless with reckoning
Following fables less
Suppressed by the mess of her head
Following nonsense yet to be said
Follow the scent of juniper to bed
Burnt out fireplaces
Save your graces
for fables that subdue you to death
Change is relevant
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