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2.8k · Jul 2023
Swim
Kushal Jul 2023
For the longest time it's felt like I'm drowning.
I've kept swimming.

This isn't where I'd like to take my last breath.

It angers me that I struggle to fight the waves.
And sometimes, all feels lost.
Yet...
Whether through ego, anger, denial, or the instinct to survive,
I cannot accept an end like this.
My lungs are not yet out of breath.
2.4k · Jun 2023
Pause
Kushal Jun 2023
Sit.
...
Breathe.
...
Release.
...

I'm still not okay...
But
At least now I can play the part.
2.3k · Oct 2018
Rerun
Kushal Oct 2018
I look back at all the things that I've done,
For a girl that i never won.

All the trinkets that sparkled
Under the moonlit sky.
Accompanied by a silence
As i waited for a reply.

All the smiles i created,
Just to see you elated
For a moment
That lasts forever in mine eyes.

All the poems writ and read
But never read.
The longing for you to understand the words,
Yet at the same time, not .


And after all the sorrows,
After all the pain,
I'm still where I started.
Standing in-front of a girl,
Trying to make her smile.
2.2k · Dec 2022
Game On
Kushal Dec 2022
Press Play
It's about time that I got into the action,
A little bit of flawless and now we got traction.

Player one and I'm feeling like a MC,
Onto the next arc with new opportunities.
RGB, I'm gonna light up the industry,
Fresh new world, yeah that **** was built into me.

Yeah, I'm not one to come and act all cynical,
I got a crew behind me,
Repping art so lyrical.
So, this wasn't a miracle,
We put in the work,
Now we headed past the pinnacle.

And this is just the prologue,
Just the beginning.
Even though we been at it,
We gon' keep on winning.

Look out for name on the web,
And here's where I said.
So, when they picturize my story
They'll know I meant it.
I've been on a winning streak lately. I finished my degree, won some contests, and have started my own Game studio! Pineapple on Pizza Studios (PTY) LTD, has received funding for 2023 and we'll begin working on interactive stories and art pieces through games.
Follow my journey by checking out   https://linktr.ee/popstudiossa  for all my socials and more in the coming year.
2.1k · Aug 2023
The Girl in My Dreams
Kushal Aug 2023
The drums beat a familiar melody,
And everything sways in rhythm.

It's as if I've been here before,
Cradled by the warmth of a thousand stars.
The flowers are always in bloom,
And even at sunset, the stars sparkle bright.

The hand that holds my heart...
I hope you don't go far,
For you've stolen my everything with that smile of yours.
1.8k · Jun 2023
Lost Art
Kushal Jun 2023
I sat in my room,
A rollup of green
Perched between my lips,
Bellowing away.

Above the clouds and gusts of wind,
I'd write these words.

I'm an artist for work.
It's hard.
There's always a worry for stability.
That worry now sits as the shadow of my works.
All impure,
Tainted by fear and anxiety.
Success is a goal so hard fought for
That I only see my true self in my poetry.

The one haven I've left for myself.
Working as an artist is hard. For me personally, it feels as though I've lost  my spark, always thinking on whether my art would help my career.  My poetry is the thing I publicise the least, and as a result, it's the only bit of art that feels like a hobby and not work.
The only place I can truly find art without any goal but expression.
Now to keep attempting to rekindle my fire for the rest of my art.
1.6k · Feb 2023
Dancing Hearts
Kushal Feb 2023
My heart beats.
Like a drum dancing to a melody of Love
Oh, how you've lost your feet in the shower of the sun.
I've been watching a lot of Bollywood lately. If you know you know.
This one was inspired by the music video for "Sweetheart" by Dev Negi from the movie Kedarnath.
1.6k · Jul 2023
Childhood...
Kushal Jul 2023
I think back on my childhood.
Times that we're still good,
Before they switched it up,
Like, "Now it's time for adulthood."

Spent 18 years behind a desk,
Told to play at break,
Now life feels unrelated, and it feels like a **** waste.

It isn't useless, it just isn't right.
Train me to throw fists,
Then toss me into a knife fight.

What'd you prepare me for?
I still struggle with my taxes,
I got a degree, but it feels like I'm still stuck with all the masses.

After all these years,
It feels like I was taught wrong,
Guided down a path that my heart and soul didn't sit right on.

And every now and then
I start to fight back,
But no one likes it when you start to vary off the track.
They pushback
Like, "No, not that".
But I am not you.
So, **** that!
And I struggle but you can't see it though.
Always talk about me like I'm a lazy bloke,
Say I'm part of the lazy folk,
But your path to happiness,
Is my ******* hell road.

I think back on my childhood.
Times that we're still good...

At least, that's how it felt back then...
1.6k · Oct 2023
Pestering Dreams
Kushal Oct 2023
Dreams aren't real, right?
They're just figments of a rampant mind
Anxiously piecing together the world that surrounds, right?

Why do I see you at morning noon and night,
Disrupting the schedules of trains in my mind,
You bring forth questions to a heart yet undefined.

I miss you.
That much I know.
At least...
That much
I can admit.
1.4k · Aug 2023
Heart of Strings
Kushal Aug 2023
Every thread, pulled from my core.

I dare not stop eager hands
Who find themselves in need of cloth.

Woven for all,
The un-woven man stands...

Losing all he has.
Before we give our love to others, we must first learn to love ourselves.
Kushal Jun 2023
The Journey of the Traveler,
Wandering with eager eyes.

Boundaries matter not,
Neither in earth nor sky.

There are no "End"s.
The destination is not what's sought.

Purpose is hard found on a map.
1.4k · Jul 2023
Where is me?
Kushal Jul 2023
Woe is me.
Oh, where is me?
Out of sight and gone with the breeze.

Woe is me.
Oh, where is me?
Danced on off into distance,
Your wonder has taken you far from home.

Woe is me.
Oh, where is me?
How far come,
How far gone.

Home...
Now a mirage under desert sun.
Woe is me.
Oh, where is me?

I think it's time to head back.
1.3k · Aug 2023
Blind
Kushal Aug 2023
The lights have run their wick.
The hands of the clock turn
Yet they weigh no bearing.
Eternity could pass in the darkness.

Where have I gone...
That there is naught to guide me?

Far from home...
I dream of meals surrounded by warmth.
1.3k · Jul 2023
Throne of Lies
Kushal Jul 2023
This kingdom of mine is cast in shadow,
Ruined by the sight of a light that once was.

The jester rambles on with has tales.
None bring smiles,
Not even to himself.

The king sends his men to war.
Battles fought with little purpose in victory.

The people suffer.
Lost and without guidance,
They lack even the will to fight.

This kingdom of mine is cast in shadow,
Ruined by the sight of a light that once was.

I wish I knew how to rule.
Kushal Feb 2023
For a mind unclear and sitting in wait,
A drip of exposition
Settles into a calmer state.

Questions asked, with answers that weigh
No bearing.
Although the clarity come with peace,
It would be better not to care.

Tell me what to do, where to go
And how to steer
Or help me come to terms
That
"Things don't have to be clear"
1.3k · Jun 2023
Hype Yourself
Kushal Jun 2023
It’s a return to form,
Breaking the norm.
Jumping all up in this *****--
Break the calm.

The only limits are the ones I set.
So, you better get ready cause I'm not done yet.
I've been chilling in my own space,
Living at a quarter pace
Now I’m about to switch the gears,
Couch potato pulling up in the race.

Catch this smoke
While I blast off,
See the words flow,  
Take it as a crash course.
Got the last word,
Don’t argue.
I already stepped up with the virtue.
Got the vision and dreams,
Plotting the schemes,
While I head for the top,
You're still sipping on lean,
So, when you see me prevail,
Don’t fall apart the seams.

My brethren.
This is heaven.
Turn it up to eleven.
Till now you’ve had the discount,
I've been sitting down at a 7.

Now I’m like a 2 for 1 with the double barrel.
Locked and loaded, with the bass and treble,
While you kickback with the recoil.
I step forward
Like a Beast
Boy
.
Hype yourself up.
You've got to.
You're worth the Hype.
1.3k · May 2022
Finding A Heaven
Kushal May 2022
One day I stumbled forward,
Falling into a bed of roses.
The thorns ceased to ***** as before.
They cradled me so cosy.

I found myself at a loss for words...
How could this be real?
After all the Hell I'd travelled through,
Set afire in search of a Heaven,
I'd so easily fumbled my way through its gates,
And seen a beauty I could never dream nor feel.

No, that's not it.
Maybe Heaven had found me?
Why would the Gods have blessed me so?
Why now? Why here? Wh-...

She held my hand,
And pulled me in close.

My questions quelled,
And I found an answer beyond any words my head could think.
We all find love. Sometimes we look and we find, sometimes we look away and find it, and sometimes, it finds us. As long as we are willing to love as we wish to be loved, Love will find a way.
1.2k · Oct 2023
What of love?
Kushal Oct 2023
I've been thinking about what love is...
And I've not a clue.

A home, safe from the tides that bash against shores?
Where one may rest a heavy head, without a need for alertness?

Or is it a challenge, one fought with an eager grin?
A back and forth where blades are forged sharper than before?

What of a mix? The two intertwined?
What or why? Oh, what and why?
When a tug beckons the heart
What does it mean?
I've not a clue.
Old timey phrasings feel more poetic and dramatic in my head, like an elegant performance set forth upon a stage, where chandeliers light a performance un-needing of further brightness.
1.2k · Apr 2023
The Lost Sailor
Kushal Apr 2023
There’s so much waffle in my brain.

Disorientated and distracted by an endless barrage.
A mixture of inane and insane, I’m unsure of neither heads nor tails.

High on a pedestal that sits safely above the rocky waves, I act as if ignorance could take me far from this hellish place.
1.2k · Jun 2023
Living Music
Kushal Jun 2023
As I lived
Music always lingered on every moment.
A soundtrack to every scene,
A beat for every memory,
Hummed and sung so joyfully,
Or cried out in agony.

The earworms I once bellowed out,
Till I'd emptied my lungs
...
I now listened to and understood.
Not entirely
But there was pain.
Tragedy.
Longing.
So much struggle concealed under a poppy melody.

How far I've come to sound like the music's changed,
When really,
It's me.
1.2k · May 2023
Whimsy and Wonder
Kushal May 2023
Where’s my whimsy and wonder?
There’s just fire and thunder.
Lost up in my head on every single blunder.

Did I do it wrong? Did I do it right?
I’ll stay up contemplating all night.

Never reach an answer,
But it’ll never leave my mind.
And through all this struggle, I realise I can’t find,
The wonder and whimsy I used to have inside.
1.1k · Sep 2023
Home
Kushal Sep 2023
A tree stands tall in a field of gold.
Porcelain petals drift along the warm winds
And land among the fertile soil below.

Life anew begins.

Some fall too far adrift.
The ground unfamiliar.
The winds without the warmth once felt.

Bloom as you will...
Home still feels so far away.
1.1k · Mar 2023
LOVE
Kushal Mar 2023
Oh, what force have heaven and hell devised,
That twists and drives the hearts of mankind.
To chase across the world,
Hearts both filled and broken,
Trusting in faith and hope
To bring us home.

When lost, one grieves,
When found, they smile.
Never is it a waste,
Yet always is it a blessing and a curse,
One that twists our journey on paths unimagined.

Risk it all.
The hurt
&
The happiness.

Live.
1.1k · Nov 2023
A New Song
Kushal Nov 2023
Love it when I'm singing this song,
But if I'm really honest
I don't think it'll last long.

I sound crazy, even when I hear myself think,
Clinging onto the past like I'm hanging of the brink--
I'm lost, and I think I found a new me.
Now torn between my past and a new faced reality.

Slowly come to know myself,
I show myself,
The things I really want from myself.
I think I know how I can help,
Myself.

Now with a new beat.
Life came and challenged me
To be a better me,
Stepping to a different melody,
A path that feels like destiny.
If I don't trip over my feet,
Clinging to a memory.
Kushal Oct 2018
Too many people
Think these silly games can work,
Because you  don't understand your own worth.
Trust me when i say,
"He's not going to stand for you at the end of day,"
But you can't let him slip away.
You hold on too tight,
So when you fall it hurts worse
As you slip into your darkest night.

But I've been standing here warning you,
By your side because im concerned for you.
But  it's hard to see you fall twice
Before you learn the truth.

Trust me, I've seen this play too many times,
Romeo Romeo don't give a **** if Juliet dies.
But I have to stand here trying to catch you when you fall fast.
And you're not the only one getting hit by the backlash.

I know that love is blind because your heart doesn't have eyes,
Yet you're still the only one who can't see past his black lies.
Love with your heart,
But still think with your mind.
Or your heart will keep breaking
Saying,"True love is hard to find."

To tell you the truth,
I  did warn you.
It might sound harsh,
But it's true.
Now all I can do is tell you it'll be alright,
As your tear drops glisten off my shoe.
This was written more as a rap out of frustration and anger fueled with  passion. It's hard to see the people around you keep getting hurt, and knowing that most of what you do to help can't prevent that. ( The tone was inspired by rapper NF, atleast it soundd like him in my head.)
1.0k · Aug 2019
I'm Fine
Kushal Aug 2019
"Are you okay?"

                           I'm always hurt,
                          Always in pain,
                          Every inch of my being
                          writhing.
                          An­d if you could fathom the
                         chaos in my head,
                         So monsterous that I pray you
                        never come to understand it.

                        Every moment of every day my
                        soul cries,
                       And if you looked into my eyes
                       you'd see it all...
                       Everything I hide behind a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."
975 · May 2023
Pity
Kushal May 2023
Pity me just a little.
So, I can lie to myself that you understand.
...
I could do with a helping hand.
941 · Mar 2019
Little one
Kushal Mar 2019
Oh little one,
You try to stand too soon.
Looking up at the stars,
With not a glance at the moon.

Oh little one,
Trying to run for the finish
To cover the most ground,
But never stopping to looking around.

Oh little one, Oh little one,
You stumble and fall down.
I hear your scream and your call.
Yet the best I can do,
Is let you lift yourself from the fall.
894 · Oct 2018
Worthy of note
Kushal Oct 2018
In my spare time I look for quotes,
Words truly worthy of note.
Love is where i land,
Looking for thoughts with an outreaching hand
To tell me I'm not alone.

I think hard and fall deep
As i stare at these words,
Envisioning what they speak.

"I'll tell you what love is," they say.
I agree in a way.
But it always leaves me running through a Labyrinth in my mind,
Searching for the love that I wish to find.

What do I want that's worthy of note,
That someone will someday see,
And feel the emotion in what I've wrote?

"Love is stupid. It's illogical. It's broken. Yet somehow it's the most fulfilling feeling there is. Love is when a smile is enough, and you'd do anything for it."
888 · Jan 2019
The King of Comedy
Kushal Jan 2019
I laugh through my words
So my pain goes unheard.
I joke through my darkest hour,
To drain the pain of power.

You won't see me frown,
But that doesn't mean I'm okay.
I'll take the crown,
"King of laughs,"you say.
I'll take the crown,
But the pain doesn't wash away.
827 · Jun 2021
The Feel of Happiness
Kushal Jun 2021
I Hate It.

Somewhere along the line I must have sinned,
What other explanation is there for this situation I'm in.
Imprisoned, in shackles, while one or both above and below cackle.

I am not permitted anything more than a glimpse,
Slivers of light through silver bars
That only remind me how dark is Dark.

I looking longingly towards solitude without temptation,
Yet I cannot separate the two.

Now I have an answer to a question I never before thought to ask...

Limbo is worse than Hell,
For you may still glimpse at the beauty of worlds above.
811 · Dec 2022
In the shade
Kushal Dec 2022
A Tree
Sat steadily at the centre of an endless field.
Never still.
Its branches grow, then fall.
From nothing, to green, then only decay,
Even the leaves come and go.
Yet, always there sits a shadow, constant behind the everblooming oak.

A boy fiddles with an apple as he sits within the shade.
He does not wander, only sits and plays,
Gnawing away at the fruits born.
I wrote this quite quickly. I'm curious to know what everyone thinks it means/represents?
704 · Sep 2018
Muse
Kushal Sep 2018
All I need is a single glance,
And the words pour out.
The poems write themselves.
And the songs sing on their own,

All I need is just one look,
Just a peak of your eyes.
Over the top of your book.
Just a glimpse of your smile.

A word from your mouth,
That etches itself into my mind.
A giggle from your lips,
That dances its way onto a page.

A touch of your hand,
That tingles my skin.
A playful punch at my arm,
That jabs at my heart.

Everything you do,
Everything you are,
Is enough to inspire.
You are… my muse.
696 · Apr 2021
Duet
Kushal Apr 2021
I'll kiss you between the lines
That say I am yours and you are mine.

Replace their names with ours,
And sing it till our lungs give out.

Our eyes will meet where the lyrics do,
And Bliss will tag along for the ride.
695 · Jul 2023
Critical
Kushal Jul 2023
Dissecting the world.
Eyes like hands,
Do the work of the mind.

Fearful of tremors.
Thoughts unchecked leave one unsteady.
Worry with every shake,
And eternity expands from a moment.

The hand cannot be stayed.
The eyes cannot be closed.

What medicine quells,
When the eyes glare at themselves?
689 · Sep 2023
Riptide
Kushal Sep 2023
Words fumble from my mouth.
I don’t know what I’m saying.
Just run on sentences for this role that I’m playing.

Lost and without a trace.
I seem to be stuck in the same place,
Running at a faster pace,
As the faltering smile fades from my face.

Where’s my heart?
It feels lost to the panic of the mind.
Slowly but surely, the sands fall,
And I begin to unwind.
Unsure of the direction inside,
And lost among the spiral that precedes the ******...
I wonder if I could pull myself from this riptide.
689 · May 2021
Rooted In Pain
Kushal May 2021
Lately I find I only write on pain
Feeling that it is all that is within me,
And nothing I do
Can wrench the feel from my heart.


Rotting...
Rotting...
Rotting...

I fear it has taken root...




I no longer see myself without it.
673 · Oct 2023
Hollow
Kushal Oct 2023
Something is amiss.
Fingers follow down the pages, but nothing reads right.

Wail and pain, silenced by familiarity.
Where is the line that was crossed over?

What hidden laws have been broke?
Those that impose a silent suffrage,
Ceasing manifestations of life.

Who dares curse a tree not to bare its leaves,
A bird to be without wings,
And a heart to be hollow?
658 · Apr 7
Medicated
Kushal Apr 7
I've been on the drugs,
Broken arms with the medicine,
Thrown in a hole I never dug,
They say the white walls are for my betterment.

They say it's for the pain,
Say it's for your head.
It must be on the outside,
Inside I feel dead.

Somebody pressed mute on the radio,
Now my volume dial's broke on the stereo.
Nobody hears me scream,
That I wish I could let go.
I wish I could grab ahold.

Looking in the mirror but I don't see me,
Just confusion and some emptiness,
Shakespearean with no remedy.
Woe is me, oh where is me?
I feel like I used to be a better me.

Now my volume dial's broke on the stereo.
Nobody hears me scream,
I wish I could let go.
I wish I could grab ahold

Another one down,
Another one drank.
Another time you tell me I'm fine.
Another time I wish I was.

I guess I'm not dead...
589 · Oct 2021
Waiting
Kushal Oct 2021
...
...
...
Still
...
...
...
Still.
...
...
still.
...
still...
­-
582 · Nov 2018
Blood Rose
Kushal Nov 2018
Love was what you said,
Yet the ***** on my finger bleeds just as red
As the roses you'd give as an apology,
With words drained of heart.

Thorns pierce my skin
As you do my heart.
Petals shed as life fades,
And from red to black they fall away.

A rose,
By any other name,
Still bares thorns all the same.
Hold careful
When held to heart,
Even the smallest blades can tear your apart.
573 · Apr 2021
The Artist
Kushal Apr 2021
I wish you could see my heaven and hell.
I dream you could understand it.
572 · Apr 10
The Devil of Me
Kushal Apr 10
An angel on my shoulder,
But my demons dug in deeper.
It whispers in my ear.
Like a nightmare in my sleep, yeah.

Sometimes I close my eyes and think that I'm a freak,
Every single moment just fumbling on the beat.
It makes me look at myself and think.
"Weak"
Feeling like the ground is stuck to my knees.
Already counted down from three,
Took a deep but the world's still here,
Took a deep breath, but I'm still drowning in my fears.

But I'm
Still trying, still fighting
The devil of me.
Lash out, but I'm the only one in front of me.
It's cold, it's hot, it's hell, it's not,
And I don't know what to believe.

Just
...
My own worst enemy.
568 · Apr 2023
Passive Child
Kushal Apr 2023
Scream scream scream!

The words bleed less,
If you scream it on the inside.
Quelle the racket.
You can seek but I'll hide.

Tides uneven,
To the left to the right.
Heave-** as much as can go.
Build a castle in the waves
Don't cry as it washes away.

Put it all where it's supposed to go,
Square to square,
Drone and drone.

This is not your place.

Throw a tantrum.
540 · Sep 2018
Beginner's mistake
Kushal Sep 2018
I think the biggest mistake I ever made
As I wrote these words upon a page,

Was the thinking that these lines were a limited stage
Thinking that my work was defined by a structure
Of quatrains or sestets or rhyming couplets.

Was thinking that there even needed to be structure
That there needed to be a rhyme.
My mistake was thinking that poetry has a look
That poetry has a flow, a correct way in which it has to be done
But poetry is not the amount of lines that you write
Or the amount of times you can rhyme the words at the end of a sentence

Because words that rhyme can still amount to no substance
Because poetry cannot be defined by AABB
Because my poetry is nothing but a depiction of me

So now I write from my heart
From my soul
From me as a whole
And if my emotion slips through the cracks
Filling this void with exuberant emotion
Then so be it
Because this is my showcase
And this is me
And on this page
Is my poetry
I wrote this years ago when a poetry workshop visited and we spoke to some poets. I have no doubt that this was one of those events that changed the way i write. It seems like a draft at a first glance, with a lack of punctuation and an odd structure but this was just something i wrote in one. I didn't go back or remove words, I just left it as it was when i finished it because to me it just seemed...pure.
536 · Mar 2019
The kids run amok
Kushal Mar 2019
The kids run amok
Setting fire and flame.
Trying to fix the world to which they lay claim,
Yet burn to ground all the good that remains.


Ignorance is the very thing that they oppose,
Yet ignorantly they justify the way that it is shown.
Pulling close the blackout curtains,
No light dare reach their shallow minds,
Filled with dreams of A freedom,
Yet robbing it blind.

All the things defended,
Yet they remain so easily offended.
When words don't come out as clear as intended
They twist it and turn till it is all but mended,
Then fight valiantly for its defeat
Looking not at any of the good,
But only at bad tweets.

Following the crowd,
A mob that only looks down at their feet.
March for it all and fill the streets,
Never looking at the facts,
Because it does not fit the narrative that they preach.


These kids run amok.
525 · Oct 2020
Thorns
Kushal Oct 2020
The smell of roses,
So sweet a scent.
Yet held in hand,
You insist on pricking my skin.
A poem for those who've been hurt by the ones they held so close to their vulnerabilities.
514 · Aug 2021
Recipe for Anarchy
Kushal Aug 2021
Silence is the only ingredient necessary
For my mind to unravel into anarchy.
498 · Jan 2019
Bubbles
Kushal Jan 2019
Dive in deep with me,
Let the waves wash over
And take us to eternity.

Hold me in your arms
And I'll hold you in mine,
Let the blue of the water,
Replace that of the sky,
But none of it matters like the blue in your eyes.

We'll sink fathoms below,
Where none dare go.
We'll go further down than the world knows,
And find paradise in a world unknown.

We'll drown in our love,
As bubbles pop at the surface.
483 · Sep 2018
Civil war
Kushal Sep 2018
These 2 sides feud on the inside.
Neither wrong, yet neither right.
Only different perspectives that collide.

Both logical.
Both in conflict.
There is no compromise,
No middle ground to be found.

Both war at the heart,
Neither yields or relinquishes their part.
They rage on through the night,
Through the day,
Unrelenting in their passion.

Every so often a foothold is lost,
And onward pushes the enemy/heroes...
Retaliation is a certainty,
And so it goes perpetually.
A tug of war wherein there is no real victor.

They tell me to choose,
Yet neither is right to me...
And neither wrong.
They say it is simple,
Yet lack the context and perspective to struggle as I do.
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