She’s waiting patiently
for this all to end.
The sickness has caught on,
and there’s no medicine.

The dark thoughts
begin closing in.
No matter where you look,
there’s no happy end.

I read your poem
I got my satisfaction
I gathered some humid leafs
And violets
Blossoming there in your head.

Life feels too heavy.
Too many worries.
Too many pressures.
Too many responsibilities.
Too many hardships.
Pain.
Despair.
Hope turns to despair.
Happiness turns to numbness.
Calmness turns to pain.

Too fast.
So bleed.
Bleed.
Bleed.
Till everything is silent.
But it’s not silent.
It’s not working.
Making me panic.
Why isn’t it working?

I've been lately writing poetry!
Oh? What do I see?
A perfect poetry site waiting for me!
First poem, proud of it!
Oh? Someone in my messages?
This guy seems sweet
And he's hoping I don't get beat!
Pretty songs for me to listen to!
And a drunk man messaging me...?
“You're only making yourself a victim because you're cutting yourself"
Oh? Okay- thanks for the paragraph/drunk rant?

Shining lights on all of my latest poems?
Thank you! You're so sweet!
….oh…talking to me about pedophiles…got it…
Why are there so many sad songs?
WHY DOES THIS MAN HAVE SO ****** MUSIC TASTE AGGGHGDGFGCC

Oh? You wrote a poem about the 764 and absolutely humiliating them?
Great! Good job!
…But uhh… why and how did they make a virus only going after your followers that are minors? Not funny!
Why is this man warning me if they threaten me? Is he trying to make me scared on purpose?
Blaming the Japanese for this virus now, huh?
Oh? Now blaming someone else named Pax to be part of the 764? Crazy

…. going to another website? But you're so fun!
May as well click on the link you sent me so I can join you

Drunk rants with me? That's okay!
Giving me gold so I can freely make poems?
THANK YOU SM
Daily texting
2-10 hour sessions
Why are you drinking everyday?
You're making me concerned for your health
I told you to stop drinking, papa
You promised me you'd stop
All you did was keep on drinking

Commenting on every poem I made
Oh? So suddenly I'm a “nasty *****" when I have done nothing to you? ありがとう!
We have a suicide pact now?
I'm going off the bridge first?
Don't mind if I do

Oh? Another poetry site? Okay…
I really don't like the way this site works, can't we just message each other with email?
Yes? Yay!

People bullying you on the internet? That's not okay!
Why would they accuse you of being a *******?
Letting me join an uncensored group to back you up? Great!
Sending me to a Reddit page to back you up?
Alright!
….oh … they warned me and I didn't do anything….
******* this man is an actual *******…..
gotta go fast like Sonic
pack my bags and leave

Oh? I betrayed you? Crazy
We were just friends
Can you stop spitting my name everywhere?
It's like you're so obsessed with me
Stop trying to be the Eminem to my Mariah Carey
Made a poem about you and you HAD to take it down?
Never thought you'd want to hide your identity THAT hard
Oh? Betting on my suicide now, are we?
Sending me multiple emails, desperate for me to come back to him?
I'm not that ******* naive or gullible
It's crazy if you think that about me
…I did tell you to send those photos of your cut open arms but I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND DO IT

Being racist?
“Japshit”?
Why are you so obsessed with my Chinese genes?
“I thought I can use Kai because of her Chinise genes because the Chinise was known to be very good spies. ☝️🤓" へー! Didn't know that!
Also, that's not how you spell Chinese, my fellow kind sir
Threatening people to come to America with a Katana and slice us to pieces
So envious, I see
You're just mad because we have a little bit more freedom than your drunk *** does

Oh…. Talking to me about ****
Got it
Thanks
I didn't need to be taught about METART or some **** like that
I'm only 12 years old
You ***** *****

Well…this is the aftermath

i sent a leaf
down the river
it was easier than
folding paper boats
and
swimming
upstream

i watched it leave
down the river
it said goodbye
father rock
mother tree
and
cascaded
downstream

If my life were a book
I'd be written in and torn apart.
My pages are punctuated with a fishing hook
You may read it in the dark and the light.

My life will be a novel
No picture book found near here.
The writing sprawled in codes, so very hard to tell
All the words underlined.

If my life were a book
I promise to save each chapter for you.
It's the only part I travel to
Rereading parts of just us two.

Your name shall cover the book
Your life is what shines through the pages.
I'd beg for someone to make it while on my deathbed
And I shall be there full of life while lying there lifeless.

If my life were a book
Chapters one to ten would be torn out and missing.
It'd look more like a small notebook
With all the racing memories all coming and going.

The text of all sizes
From all the yelling and whispering.
From all the hidden faces
From all the cuts and now makings.

If my life were a book,
You'd beg to lock it far away.
To keep away from all it took
Even acknowledging it'll all still be at bay.

You'd tremor while turning the page
Except for beauty, only to receive ugliness.
With all the barriers that are brought with age,
You'd be faced with the opposing cages.

If my life were a book,
You'd wait for all the small parts within the lines.
All you had to do was look
You'd see the counting of the spruce tree pines.

You'd pray to read more
Looking for the music, laughter, and adoration.
Nothing about these things shall bore
You'd be far too busy looking for the dove.

If my life were a book,
It would be filled with mysteries.
But that's what made you look
To see that mystery and misfortune are more significant than a crown.

You disappeared,
Emotionally -- like a breath --
With no goodbyes;
or observable changes

You disappeared,
Instantly
Like life
--when death had paid a visit --

your sandalwood scent,
Streams of roses,
And sweet smiles
Simmer in my summer memories.

It is with bonecrushing sadness
that i report the
     Loss.
The Life destroying
dangle on the
     rope
God provided.

Almost is a hateful
word.
Almost is the
rip on the
     Stick
of Hope.

What now do you want to
     Know?
The War served by the
     Friends of Allah
Praise to His name.

The escape to the West
     failed.
The Earthquake finished
    Our completeness
from happening.

Your Dream became
your

Ticket to Hell

And mine to the
Unmade bed
     empty of Time
and Pleasure

To the Days of our
     Lives
Never to be

Led.


Caroline Shank
April 23, 2025

Time can heal a broken heart
Time can heal scars,in part
Time can heal pain
Time can heal shame
Time can heal all the same

A silver pocket watch
sparkles in the sun.
Magpie, watches, waiting,
for its time to come.

Behind a locked door, there lies a child

You hear the sound of quiet crying as you look at their red face,

Their fever coming to a boil,

Their skin clammy and aching

Their throat so sore it makes no noise

They look into your eyes and
You see defeat,

the wish to scream never coming true

Their eyes turning into a swirl of black nothingness, it almost swallows you hole

I’m a doer.
That’s just what I do.
I’ve done so much
And still got much to do.

Life is strange ,when
Sitting here doing nothing
Puts me in a strain.

Tired of the pivoting
And changing

The doing
Is never ending.

Some days, I smile and I don’t know why,
Other days, I sit and just let time slide by.
Coffee gets cold, texts go unread,
Thoughts spinning circles inside my head.

Some days, I win little fights with my doubt,
Other days, I barely crawl out.
But I breathe, I try, I take one more stride
And that, for today, is enough on my side.

A journey long, through countless miles
Yet the heart, walks with smiles
Time took the glow, not the flame
Every new turn, is but a quite game.


The past leaves shadows, but none to blame,
I move through silence, to meet the divine.


Susanta Pattnayak

Drop by drop his sanity runs dry,
And vanity urges to pry,
Alas,
When there is a hope for peace to find,
Man becomes a weapon unwavering of gods' sign
and his silent glare ,
He becomes a grave ,
A mount of flesh ,
With no soul to save ,

Maybe it’s nothing
Always has been
But whatever it is
I’d do it again

You didn’t deserve my art
You didn’t deserve my mind
You didn’t deserve my poems
You didn’t deserve my heart

But I gave them to you anyway

I am an Olympian,
An icon veiled in honey,
A statue, supple and soft,
And delicate, yet sunny.

A warm and yielding presence,
Lush curves in sweet excess,
A form the stars designed
To cradle and caress.

When you kneel at my altar,
You do not touch my skin,
You touch a sacred daughter,
The secrets deep within.

I'm made of earth and moonlight,
And stories never told,
Desires claimed at first sight,
Unsorry, daring, bold.

Your own personal goddess,
The marble melts to flesh,
A silent, whispered promise,
Of lace, and silk, and mesh.

So come, do not be nervous,
Lay bare your hidden fire;
What stirs beneath your surface?
What is your true desire?

Autumn's breeze i can feel,
The winds are blowing,
the leaves have sunk.
Fields of Orange,
Summer is done.

The Fall of The Amber leaves,
The quite whispers of Autumn's glow.
Winter is near,
Animals will rest.
now it is time to be at best.

wonder what it feels like to be truly truly happy

Because I only know how it feels to be sad

Yet I only read about what’s familiar

Never what’s unknown

Maybe happy is what I fear

Maybe learning about it is the first step to finding it

This strange soul calls to mine,
Alluring, fascinating, vexing.
This strange pull, as a rapid wind,
Somehow pushing, still pulling, and taxing.

Strange spirit speaks a foreign tongue.
I speak with no tongue at all.
I would give my soul, my heart, a lung
To stop its decay. Here leaves in fall.

Strange spirit presses soft, then firm.
My spirit falters often.
Strange spirit ever lives and learns,
Cradle, sky, to coffin.

I don't know why I cried,                                                           ­                       
                                                                ­                                                  
when you walked away,                                                            ­                          
                                                                ­                                                        
I felt like we had died,                                                            ­                            
                                    ­                                                                 ­               
long before that dark day                                                              ­                    
                                            ­                                                                 ­         
    I think I was still holding                                                          ­                                                                 ­                                                                 ­                        
on to a sweet memory                                                           ­                           
                                                                ­                                                        
as I felt my heart folding,                                                         ­                             
                                   ­                                                                 ­                     closing in around me                                                               ­                       
                                         ­                                                                 ­            
It had really hit me,                                                              ­                      
                                                                ­                                                 
that our love was gone                                                             ­                     
                                           ­                                                                 ­      
and I would then be                                                               ­                           
                                     ­                                                                 ­      
forever lonely & alone                                                            ­                      
                                          ­                                                                 ­       
My heart was aching                                                           ­                               
                                 ­                                                                 ­                
and no one really cared,                                                           ­                                     
                                                                ­                                              
inside I was shaking,                                                         ­                                  
                              ­                                                                 ­             
broken & scared                                                           ­                                   
                                                                ­                                                  
We both knew it was coming                                                           ­             
                                                   ­                                                                 ­
but let it happen anyway,                                                          ­                
                                                ­                                                                
both hell- bent on burning                                                          ­                                                                 ­                                                                 ­                                     
the one we loved in every way                                                              ­                     
                                           ­                                                                 ­          
a lesson worth learning                                                         ­                               
                                 ­                                                                 ­              
look at what we've done today