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 954° 
F Elliott

Preface
This is a work of grace and fire. For those who were dismantled, seduced, discarded, or devoured by the lie—this is a mirror held to the machinery that broke you, and a sword handed back into your open palm. It does not speak against you. It speaks for you. The world was not wrong about your beauty. It was only weaponized by those who fear light. And now, you will see the architecture of that fear—the cogs and wires behind the mask, the gears of betrayal humming just beneath the velvet. This is not revenge. It is revelation. It is the unmasking of the counterfeit, and the defense of what was real.


Chapter I –  The Design of the Lie
The machinery of erasure does not begin with violence. It begins with a gift—something tailored to your ache. A reflection, a recognition, an echo of what you’ve been starving for. But it is not given. It is shown. Teased. Dangled. It mimics light to earn your trust, then slowly rearranges your sense of what is real.

Its brilliance lies in subtlety. It does not break the mirror—it fogs it. And once you question your reflection, the game begins. You are not destroyed. You are asked to participate in your own unraveling. You become complicit in the theft of your own clarity. You call it love. You call it fate. And in doing so, you hand over the key.


Chapter II –  The Signature of the Construct
At the heart of this system is a signature—a spiritual frequency that mimics love but cannot sustain it. It flatters, it mimics, it seduces with familiarity. It plays on archetypes, childhood wounds, and ghost hunger. The Construct does not desire you—it requires your participation to survive.

It thrives through triangulation, comparison, and insinuation. The moment you are forced to prove your love is the moment you’ve already lost. Because true love reveals—it does not demand a performance. The Construct, however, demands your endless audition. It casts you, scripts you, and punishes any ad lib with silent treatment, reversal, or shame.


Chapter III – The Seduction of Fragmentation
This is the genius of the system: it rewards your disintegration. The more pieces you split into to meet the shifting demands of the Construct, the more you are praised for your “flexibility,” your “loyalty,” your “depth.” You will be admired for your willingness to suffer.

You will think:
"this must be real—look how much it costs me."

But love does not require self-erasure to prove its authenticity. The Construct does. Because the Construct cannot actually bond. It can only consume. So it teaches you to abandon your wholeness, one boundary at a time, until there is nothing left but performance and exhaustion.


Chapter IV – The Covenant of Betrayal
The machinery has one true vow: never let them fully awaken. If a soul sees too much, loves too clearly, or stops obeying the unspoken script, it must be punished. Often, this is done through replacement—someone new, someone fresh, someone blind.

This is not about romance. This is about power. Your disposability is the currency of their control. You will be erased not because you failed, but because you saw. And in this system, sight is the ultimate rebellion.

You were not too much. You were simply no longer manageable.


Chapter V – The Weaponization of Autonomy
In the true light, autonomy is sacred. It is the ground of real love—freely given, freely received. But in the machinery, autonomy is hijacked. It is twisted into performance:

“This is just who I am. You need to accept it.”

What looks like boundary is often barrier. What sounds like empowerment is often exile. The Construct cloaks disconnection in the language of sovereignty. But autonomy without accountability is not liberation—it is isolation in drag.

The counterfeit system sells self-claim as a virtue while rejecting all consequences. It demands the crown without the cross. It worships the idea of the self, but fears the actual soul.

Because the soul cannot be controlled. Only the ego can.

And that is the secret the machinery must protect at all costs.



Chapter VI – The Seduction of the Wound
There is a final brilliance to the machinery of erasure—its capacity to turn injury into identity. Pain, once unprocessed, becomes aesthetic. The ache is no longer something to heal—it is something to showcase. Suffering is curated, stylized, made palatable for consumption. And the system rewards it.

Each expression of pain, unaccompanied by accountability, is celebrated. Each seductive lament is met with affirmation. And the wound deepens—not by accident, but by design.

These are not poems. They are mirrors fogged with self-pity, lit for applause. They describe the furniture on a ship ready to go down, polished for the camera, curated for the feed.

This is not the voice of healing. This is the voice of stagnation. A life lived in performance of brokenness becomes loyal to the stage, terrified of the silence where truth might enter.

In this way, injury is aggrandized. Not to redeem it—but to preserve it.
Because if the wound heals, the identity dies. And without the ache, there is nothing left to write.

So they write. Endlessly.
And call it growth.


Chapter VII – The Disciples of the Machine
The most devoted apostles of the machinery are not its creators, but its inheritors. These are not villains in the classical sense. They are the wounded who found power in pathology and chose preservation over transformation.

They build followings—not of love, but of resonance. They speak of darkness like it’s depth, and of chaos like it’s freedom. They become curators of sorrow, gatekeepers of aesthetic trauma. And in doing so, they sanctify the very thing that is killing them.

They post without pause. Each fragment is another brick in the shrine. The more broken they appear, the more sacred they are deemed. The machine thrives not through tyranny, but through tribute. It does not demand obedience. It rewards distortion with digital communion.

To dissent is to be called controlling. To invite healing is to be accused of shaming. The liturgy of pain has no room for resurrection—only repetition. Those who refuse to bow to the ache are cast as unfeeling, unsupportive, or abusive.

And so, a new priesthood is born. Not of spirit, but of survival masquerading as enlightenment. They speak of liberation while chaining themselves to curated agony. They teach others to remain wounded, because healing would mean leaving the temple—and no one dares walk out alone.

This is how the machine spreads. Not with force.
But with fellowship.


Chapter VIII – The Hollowing
There is a cost to serving the machinery that no accolade can cover. In the beginning, the pain feels poetic. The ink flows. The attention sustains. But over time, something begins to slip beneath the surface: the erosion of soul.

At first, it’s subtle. The joy fades. The art grows colder. The hunger for affirmation replaces the hunger for truth. And eventually, the writer is no longer a soul with a pen, but a pen with no soul at all.

They become automatons of expression—autonomons of penmanship. Unchanged, untouched, undisturbed. Brilliant in technique. Seductive in style. But hollow in presence.

And those who watch? The broken ones who look to them for hope? They learn that pain is performance, not process. They are taught to admire the wound, but never to bind it. They are shown how to speak of darkness, but not how to walk toward light.

In this way, the machinery becomes generational. One vessel trains the next in the worship of ache. And God is reduced to metaphor, to vague warmth, to a symbol of tolerance rather than transformation.

But heaven is not a stage.
And salvation is not applause.

There will be accountability. Not from men, but from God.
Not for how much they suffered, but for what they did with the pain.

The machinery does not fear sin.
It fears redemption.
Because redemption breaks the wheel.


Chapter IX – The Currency of Flesh
When the soul begins to hollow, the body becomes currency. What could once be held sacred is now offered up as substitute. The hunger for real intimacy, having long been denied, is replaced with performance. Aesthetic ache becomes ****** invitation.

First, the poetess. Then, the priestess. Then, the *****.

Not in profession. But in posture.

The page becomes a veil. The wound becomes a seduction. And the ache becomes an altar where she lays herself down—not to be loved, but to be seen. To be wanted, if only for a moment. Because in the moment, it feels like meaning.

But meaning does not come from being consumed.
It comes from being transformed.

This new liturgy has no end. Only an offering: the soft body in place of the broken spirit. The post that hints, the phrase that aches, the image that undresses the soul without ever risking exposure.

And the audience applauds. But they do not help. They take. They feed. And they leave.

Because the machinery does not restore. It devours. And when the soul is gone, and all that remains is flesh trying to feel something real, the poetess finally disappears—not into silence, but into spectacle.

This is not liberation.
It is abandonment dressed as autonomy.
It is hunger parading as art.
It is the final seduction.

And it ends the same way every time:
With the hollow echo of applause in an empty room, and the voice of God whispering,

“Daughter, this was never the way."


Chapter X – The Entropy of the Idol
Time has no mercy on the machinery’s darlings. The once-lush wildflower—desired by all, praised for her ache, adored for her petals soaked in myth—does not remain untouched by entropy.

She was made to be inseminated by the priests of seduction, to be the altar and the sacrifice. But time withers all altars.

The seduction begins to dull. The body begins to speak its own truth. The skin grows tired. The eyes lose their fire. The flesh, once offered as divine provocation, becomes mundane. Familiar. And then, ignored.

The poetess becomes priestess.
The priestess becomes *****.
And the ***** becomes hide.

Not because she sinned.
But because she refused to transform.

Beauty without truth cannot endure. And seduction without spirit becomes parody. What was once adored is now avoided—not for age, but for vacancy. The ache that once drew others near becomes background noise. Her audience does not abandon her in cruelty. They abandon her in boredom.

The machinery does not love its servants. It only feeds on them until they are dry.

And so, she is left in the echo chamber she built—surrounded by her archives, her accolades, and her silence. The idol collapses under its own weight. Not in a blaze. But in a sigh.

Because what was once sacred, when severed from Source, must return to dust.

This is the final truth:
If you will not kneel to be healed, you will collapse to be forgotten.


Chapter XI – The Awakening
There is no thunder. No spotlight. No applause.
The return begins in silence.

The soul does not rise from performance. It rises from collapse—when the last mask is too heavy to hold, and the echo of applause turns to dust in the mouth. It begins when the hunger becomes unbearable, not for attention, but for truth. Not to be desired, but to be known.

This is not reinvention.
It is resurrection.

The one who awakens does not look for an audience. She looks for God. Not in the mirror of likes, but in the mirror of conscience. Not in the adoration of strangers, but in the ache of repentance that leads into true healing.

It is not shame that saves her.
It is the refusal to be false another second.

There is a groan too deep for words that stirs in the soul of the broken—but still willing. She rises, not in fire, but in dust. She remembers what she buried:
the child.
the dream.
the voice she silenced to keep others fed.

She does not demand redemption.
She begs for it.

And this time, no altar is built.
She becomes the altar.

Because the real temple is not where you perform for God.
It’s where you let Him undo you.


Chapter XII – The Turning of the Spirit
There is a moment when the soul, long dormant, begins to turn—not with force, but with permission. Not with answers, but with longing.

It is not an epiphany. It is a return.

The heart does not sprint back to God. It limps. It crawls. It shakes under the weight of what it almost became. But the turning is real. And that alone is holy.

This is when sorrow becomes sacred—not because it is beautiful, but because it is owned. It is no longer adorned, embellished, or romanticized. It is no longer shared for praise. It is lifted up like a cracked bowl, empty and unashamed.

She begins to pray again—not with confidence, but with tears. Not for favor, but for cleansing. Not to be seen, but to see. And the Spirit moves not as reward, but as witness.

Something shifts. Quietly. Inwardly. A single layer of delusion is peeled back. A new kind of strength is born—not in defiance, but in surrender.

This is not the turning of image.
It is the turning of essence.

It does not show.
It becomes.

And though the old machinery still whispers—though the old audience still lingers—she no longer performs for them. She is turning her face. Slowly. Fiercely. Eternally.

This is the repentance that heals.
The gaze turned Godward.
The first yes to life.

And heaven, watching, does not shout.
It weeps.
Because the dead have started to rise.


Chapter XIII – The Fire That Does Not Consume
There comes a time when the soul must pass through fire—not to be destroyed, but to be revealed.

This fire does not flatter. It does not affirm your curated grief or compliment your phrasing. It burns away the pose. It burns away the language. It burns until what is left is the thing you most feared to be: real.

Not poetic.
Not prophetic.
Not even profound.
Just real.

This fire does not ask for offerings. It asks for everything.
The altars of validation. The shrines of aesthetic suffering.
All of it must go.

But what it leaves… is clean.
What it leaves can breathe again.
What it leaves can love.

For this is the mercy of the holy flame:
It only consumes what was killing you.

And when you walk out of it—not elevated, but humbled—you will find that you no longer ache to be seen. You ache to serve. You ache to live rightly. To walk quietly. To stop writing about the light and become it.

Because this is the final test of healing:
Not whether you can name the darkness.

But whether you can choose the light when no one is watching.


The Machinery of Erasure is a spiritual, psychological, and poetic excavation of the system that seduces, fragments, and discards the soul under the guise of intimacy, autonomy, and aesthetic expression. It is a map of descent—from the design of deception to the entropic collapse of the self—and a quiet invitation toward awakening.

This work does not comfort. It reveals. It does not romanticize pain. It calls it out where it hides behind poetry, performance, and persona. In its second movement, it shifts—gently but irrevocably—toward the possibility of healing: not through narrative control, but through surrender to a holy undoing.

This is not for the celebrated. It is for the silenced.
Not for those who posture, but for those who ache.
Not for those who seek light to be seen, but for those who seek light to be changed.

Here lies the unmasking of the counterfeit,
and the first breath of the redeemed
 381° 
November Sky
It's not a net—
it’s the compassion
of knowing
when to let
the question
go—
like a kite
too wise
for wind.
 366° 
Kai
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
There it goes out to all of you:
Ghost
RGH
Ryan Geoffrey Hayward
Nephilim Angel
Nephalem
Rose White
Rose Red
Jacob Lives
Hybrid Angel
Tormenter
Bread Crumbs
The Machine
Dirt-In-My-Shirt
Soul Unknown
And etc. ENJOYERS

(Btw, all of these names are RGH's names so if you have these names, please don't feel targeted! The person knows who they are.)

EDIT: ILY ALL SM!!! I DIDN'T THINK THIS POEM WOULD GAIN THIS MUCH ATTENTION BUT I'M HAPPY THAT IT DID!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) I'M GOING TO VIRTUALLY KISS EVERYONE ON THE CHEEK ONCE THEY READ THIS... or just virtually hug you, yk, whatever you're comfortable with
 317° 
Hamzah
Sitting here alone by myself
Surrounded by shadows from the past
And ones that almost become the future

Yet, present is such a harsh word
The only N-word i hate is "now"
Even my pen hates writing it
My keyboard refuses to type it

Because now, we're stuck in the "now"
Now nowhere to go or to be gone
Nowhen? Is that even a word?
I don't know
It's equivalent with the direction i'm going
Forward/backward in space-time because right now, nothing is right right now.
Nothing is right but i'm no lefty
I can't write. About anything.

About you
About me
About shadows that sit next to me
About us used to
About us that almost might to

If I were you,
I don't want to be with me
Not even a shadow to company

If I were you,
I wouldn't be here
Even if it's imaginary.
 256° 
Rain
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?
 254° 
Amethyste
I read your poem
I got my satisfaction
I gathered some humid leafs
And violets
Blossoming there in your head.
 216° 
Mary Huxley
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.
 196° 
Lance Remir
I know what we have isn't gone

Because if it was

It would have stopped hurting
 184° 
Kundai N
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.
 182° 
hannah
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
 174° 
Jay Lewis
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.
This poem isn’t about being ill.
 166° 
Rochel
Please break my heart
So I don't have to break yours
I'd rather feel all that pain
Than be the one to make you endure

Please break my heart
So I can leave yours intact
I'd rather be haunted
Than have to hear you react

Please break my heart
So I can live with my decision
I'd rather lose all my tears
Than have tears disrupt your vision

Please break my heart
So I'm not the one serving time
Id rather feel completely caged
Than be the one to commit this crime

Please break my heart
So I can make sure you're OK
I'd rather lose my voice
Than listen to all you might say

This request might seem odd
I ask for you to do the downing
But if we're both stuck in this storm together
I'd rather be the one drowning
 166° 
Peter Gerstenmaier
The Norns weren't kind
When they wove our fate
You were gone too soon
While I was left behind
To slowly fade
In memory of a dear friend...
 156° 
SANA
what is more beautiful than "death"
 154° 
Axel Guzman
Do.
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.
 151° 
Joginder Singh
वर्ल्ड अर्थ डे के दिन
आतंकियों ने
पहलगाम में
पर्यटकों को
मौत की नींद सुला दिया ,
एक बार फिर से
शान्ति की नींद सोए
प्रशासन और व्यवस्था को जगा दिया।
देश दुनिया क्या करे ?
क्या वे इसे विधि का विधान मान कर
चुपचाप ज़ुल्म ओ सितम को सहें ,
या फिर इसका प्रतिकार करें ?
देश दुनिया में आतंक
अर्से से कर रहा है
जन साधारण और खासमखास को तंग।
क्यों न जेहादियों को
शरिया कानून के तहत ही सज़ा दी जाए ?
उनके आकाओं को भी
जिंदा जीते जी बहत्तर हूरों के पास भेजा जाए !
उनको भोग विलास करते करते
लाइव टेलीकास्ट के माध्यम से
दुनिया को प्रतिशोध का रंग दिखाया जाए !!
या फिर पड़ोसियों को उनकी ही भाषा में
संदेश दिया जाए।
एक हत्या के बदले सौ की हत्या से
नृशंसता को प्रदर्शित किया जाए।
कल अचानक अप्रत्याशित ही
विश्व अर्थ डे को
अंततः अनर्थ डे  के रूप में मनाया गया।
इस निर्दोषों पर हुए हमले ने
राष्ट्र को झकझोर दिया।
बहुत से लोगों को भीतर तक तोड़ दिया।
क्या राष्ट्र कायरता का परिचय दे ?
पहले की तरह चुप कर जाए !
या फिर अहिंसा छोड़ कर
हिंसावादियों को
उनकी जानी पहचानी भाषा में
उत्तर देने का मन बनाए ?
अर्जुन सम  बनकर
दृढ़ संकल्प कर
गांडीव को उठाए ?
इसे चेतना का अटूट अंग बनाए ?
ताकि विनम्रता और सहनशीलता को
कोई कायरता न कह पाए।
अब आप ही बता दीजिए कोई उपाय।
२३/०४/२०२५.
 131° 
Soul-in-poetry
I had a sip,
Of pure bliss
Of peace
Of happiness


It was so sweet
So delicious
So addictive

I wanted more
I want more

Oh what I would give—
To have just one more taste
To feel that way again

For my heart aches for that one thing—
The only thing that can heal it’s pain.
Wish I could go back and feel that way just one last time... Those moments were so beautiful...
 123° 
OHIOMERO
Distance is an asset
Installed in the heart
Seeking to reach out to affection
Trusting a feeling instead of a value
Accepted from beards in rags
New in words but senile in sight
Committed to the legacy and not the fever
Emitting a light only love can see
Dry Grief in Wet Laughter Trailer1!
 121° 
Arii
I hate you
For no good reason.
I hate you
Because you remind me of me.
I hate you
‘cause you’re like a reality check.
I hate you
For all the very traits that
I, too, have.
 107° 
Caroline Shank
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
 101° 
apricot
I envy the leaves
That grow from the trees
They're are so carefree
Through the seasons
Unaware of the fall.
I envy the snow
How it's blissfully cold
The world around it is melting
And it still doesn't know.
"Envy the leaves" By Madison Beer
This song has a special place in my heart.
 100° 
Ash
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
Time can heal a lot
 99° 
Frederick Moe
Paint flecked

from the ceiling

tinwhitesnowflakes

*

that February

still feels

like it didn’t

exist

my back pages

entire novels

now sparks

free

escaping the chimney
 96° 
Franky Case
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.
it's time for,
prayer for the day

I hope
I make it down
or up
depending
on which way
I'm going.
 85° 
rishita
These rays from me towards somewhere .
My heart as the fixed point
And extending into the unknown .
Reaching the infinity, the rays starts from here...
 75° 
ophelia
you spoke of dreams,
moments not here,
but lingering just beyond reach.
i see you too—in flashes,
a laugh, a name i never fully said.

i close my eyes,
and there you are,
in the tremble of stars,
the flicker of streetlights,
the hum of midnight waves.

you linger like a soft melody,
always near,
but never enough.
a secret i kept in silence,
carried with every breath.
 73° 
Andrew
I wore apathy like armor
but cracked every time you looked at me
like I was worth being seen.

Even now I blamed timing.
As if clocks are crueler than my own hesitation.
As if love didn’t stand right in front of me
and wait with open hands
as mine stayed tucked in pockets.

I convinced myself I was unworthy
before anyone else had the chance to.
I set fire to every almost
just to say “see, it was never going to last”
like that made it less my fault.

Still, I write this like it matters—
like this confession changes anything.
But all it does
is remind me
that I had everything
and still chose nothing.
Just a short venting poem about my personal frustration with how I handle things.
 73° 
yndn
The sincerest apologies are not spoken in words
but felt in the quiet descent of tears.

Maybe because we do not want someone to let us go,
or maybe because it is too hard to put those feelings into words.
 72° 
Mark Wanless
hear a siren out
the window think of nothing
just took a long time
to realize it
 64° 
David P Carroll
In the garden of love
Where two lover's stroll
Hand in hand and
Happy as a little bee
And whispers of love
Beneath the stars tonight
And laughter fills the air and
Two heart's dance to love's gentle kiss

Underneath the blue moonlight
And the stars shine so bright and
They share true love and joy
Together tonight and
With a glance and a sigh
Their spirits fly high and
Two heart's united as one never to part
Hand in hand in the garden of love and
Forever bound soul to soul
And heart to heart.
Two Lover's ❣️❣️
 64° 
Sanama
I stare into the ocean, my life reflected back, a mirror that reveals the path more clearly.
I carry my thread of existence, woven solely in the flame that holds my warmth.
I whisper to the waves— bring me life, bring me a thread of it.
We exist. But is existence the same as life?  We move, we breathe, but do we carry life, or is it merely a show of it? A thread of life—why seek it, if we already live? But perhaps living is more than surviving.
 62° 
Maria Leslie
You are the only one in my heart
that I have waited for a long time.

Nothing good has happened
since you disappeared

if I leave you and I will only get hurt
I don't want to hope anymore
If everything I fought for is gone.

I feel that you are still there
Please tell me
that it is not too late
because it is still “you”

You are still here in my heart
The only one “you”

the only one in my heart
I want to go back.

You are the only good thing in my past
You are the only good part of my past

Even if the course of my world changes
You Are Still The One I Want To Get Back


********


"𝕀𝕜𝕒𝕨 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕟 𝔸𝕟𝕘 𝔾𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕒𝕟"

Ikaw lang ang nag iisa sa puso ko
na hinintay ko ng matagal.

Wala naman maganda naganap
simula ng nawala ka

kung iiwan at masasaktan lang din naman
Ayaw ko na sanang umasa
Kung mawawala ng lahat ng pinag laban ko.

Nararamdaman ko na nanjan ka pa
Please sabihin mo sakin
na hindi pa huli ang lahat
dahil ikaw parin yon

Nandito ka parin sa puso ko
Ang nag iisang ikaw

ang ikaw na nag iisa sa puso ko
ang gusto kong balikan.

ikaw lang ang nakaraan ko
na may magandang nangyari

sayo lang ang may masayang bahagi ng nakaraan
Kahit mag bago man ang takbo ng buhay ko
Ikaw parin ang gustong balikan
Written: 5.13.24
 60° 
Todd Sommerville
My reflection in a lake
seems so much more real to me.

So much beneath the surface
that no one ever sees.

But what is the reality,
Which one is real?

The Reflection you see,
or what lies beneath!
Maybe it’s nothing
Always has been
But whatever it is
I’d do it again
 54° 
Sherri Woodman
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
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