Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
I wish I had a book
of all the stories
of all my friends
So we could see
what we got up to
on our journey
to journeys end
How cruel a thing time is
How it drags us onwards relentlessly, against our will
No respect for our feelings, for what we might want
After all, assuming it's a man made invention
Why can't we decide when to go and when to stop?
When to run and when to walk?
Sometimes I just need a minute to catch my breath
Other times I watch the clock dilly-dally for hours
As it playfully skips from one second to the next
Blissfully unaware of the urgency that surrounds it
Then there are times when I don't just want it to stop
I want it to never have existed
Like when you look in the mirror then ask me if you look okay...
Like when I glance at you while you're reading...
Like when I see you doing anything really
In any given theoretical situation
That is when I want time to just not be
That is when I want time to just not be there
I love you like I love butterflies
But butterflies flying everywhere
a crisp silhouette
black on gold
she turns her head into the bitter wind
her hair turns it's back
the city is sleeping
street lights shimmering
crystal air
she turns away
cold
her fingers touch leather
it's wet
raining
inside the lining is soft
plastic touch
crackles
the filter sticks to her lips
golden light
sparks
she breathes
chemicals crash
her mouth
her throat
in her eyes
the reflection
a million lights
waver
as she drags on it
it draws on her
until
nothing
just ash
in the wind
once here
then forgotten

forever
I'm a different kind of lonely when you're not here
When everything I touch seems to miss you too
And we all just sit around in our collective grief

Books aren't supposed to miss people
My guess is that if books had feelings at all
Then really they would just want someone to pick
Them up and hold them

I can sympathise with books

If doors could talk they wouldn't ask where the
Hell we'd been when we got home late
They'd say that they just want to keep us safe and
Maybe try to keep out the cold

I wish I was still your door

My windows don't miss the times when you'd
Stand with one delicate hand on the glass and gaze
Outside in some quiet reflection
Unaware that I could see your reflection in the glass and was
Wondering,
Desperately trying to conclude
How biology, chemistry and physics
Could possibly have combined to create something

So terrifyingly beautiful.
It struck my chest like a train carriage,
and smashed my ribcage to dust
The last of my hopes held hostage
My very best hand, gone bust

Through the dark I see your eyes glinting
The deftness with which you aim
As all my universe is changing
All of yours just stays the same

Bare feet on the edge of the precipice
Beneath me, an ocean of glass
Is there any deed more gracious,
than being alone at your last?

But for you I'll save my last smile
My final act of defiance
This game was mine all the while
All great tragedies must end in violence

For every moment you daydream
Every time the wind blows your hair
When the world seems too extreme
In the background, I'll be there

Through time, you'll come to miss me
As metal begins to miss rust
I never thought I'd live to see
My very best hand, gone bust.
Hello Poetry; we meet again
my bored, unenthusiastic but sympathetic friend
Why is it you never seem to like what I do?
The rhymes, the rhythm structure, the ideas I write for you?

Or maybe, in my haste, maybe I've miscalculated
Maybe, it's actually me that feels discombobulated
I have had times when I've struggled with what I've written
I always die a thousands deaths, before I'm smitten

with how I might have dotted the i's, and crossed the t's
I'll hide behind furniture to be sure that no one sees
lest they lambast my catastrophic grasp on diction
With god's help I'm sure I'll conquer this terrible affliction

and actually construct a poem I'm happy with
Here are the laws, I'll live by, forthwith,

1. don't write about your pet hamster, no one cares
2. and you should probably steer clear of international affairs
3. remember no word in the English language rhymes with 'month'
4.
5. always know your subject, inside and out
6. Do weasels have noses, or do they have snouts.....?

...****, you can't even write out a set of rules
You; You have no friend in anyone that won't suffer fools
gladly, but sadly, I have another idea
another lacklustre shot at being sincere
I hate this vicious cycle,
hate every single bit
but yep,
I'll get my pencil,
grab some paper,
then just
sit
yeah

so we were stepping over sparkling paving stones
the air we breathed seemed to sparkle
and inhaling left a chill on my throat
the flawless silence was broken only
by the sound of her high heels
and the occasional passing car
I would glance at her
when I thought it might go unnoticed
and I loved how the orange glow from the streetlights
made her look warm when everything around us was so cold

'can I tell you something' she said
'sure'
'you can't tell anyone though'
'okay......'

'I'm engaged'

I stop walking

the silence suffocates me
I can't stop my eyes from falling
they search the pavement for answers
for something to say
I fake a smile and look back up laughing
'oh my god, that's amazing, congratulations"!

I put my arm round her shoulders and start us walking

'Aww you really think so'?

No
....just kidding, I don't even really know what it means
up until now I've only ever really thought of it as
the ugly little sister of movie scenes

don't get me wrong, I've always been fond of words that rhyme
I'll sit and search for similes
sniff out a metaphor from time to time

but in terms of poetry writing, writing poetry I should say
I never know where to start or
what's just ******* or what's okay

so I'm stuck in trial and error, there are no set of rules
It seems I've started building a house
but have yet to acquire the tools

so on I'll feel into the darkness, it really is a sin...
is this poem destined for greatness
or just destined for the bin?!
and into the night we ran, like animals
the lights on our ankles bounding into the half-light
excitement fizzled and cracked in our hair
we ran faster and faster and faster
I saw the edge come into view
in a split second it was right under my feet
I dropped towards the ground
my legs burning into a tightened coil
then shot into the air like a firework, spiralling
we arced our backs towards the moon
then, in that moment,
nothing,
silence
we hung in the air
I could see the ocean miles below
it was crystal clear
and blue and purple and green
so incredibly massive
The bear broke out the bear trap, and screamed into the air, that the very man that set the trap that had imprisoned him there, had better find a hiding place, somewhere only he can go, to escape the fall of every gaze, every crystal drop of snow, because now he has an enemy who is red behind his eyes, an enemy who will not rest until gazing on his demise...

Kanza caught the biggest fish anyone had ever seen, they say he speared it from the bank when he saw it glinting green, without his artistry and skill the village would be doomed, once their thirst became too much, their last hopes consumed, but everyday there was a banquet, such was his expertise, that anything that took a breath in the forest could be seized, be it bird or beast or wild cat, weasel, fox or hare, Kanza even told the children that one day he'd catch a bear...

The bear withdrew into the darkness, under a canopy of pine, he knew that it was true that if he could just bide his time, eventually a man would come to check that awful snare, then before he could take a breath, his life would end right there, because no living creature from the mountains to the plains, deserves to live out their last in tortured, searing pain. Seconds turned to minutes, turned to hours, turned to days, but the bear, unblinking in the dark, never once broke his gaze, until one misty morning, still glaring at the trap, somewhere through the misty trees, he heard a twig go...SNAP!

Kanza knew all too well how big a mistake he'd made, now upon his back ,a million eyes, he'd meant to evade, but little did he know the kind of danger he was in, because now, flying through the air, was something much bigger than him, a creature so incredibly fast, as to leave nowhere to run, a demon,  a spectre, of ancient past, all his nightmares rolled into one.

The bear broke forth like holy hell, his roar shook the air, his razor sharp teeth and diamond claws ,in flesh, began to tear, Kanza ******* hold in his scream, as all around turned red, he knew he only had a few moments left, before he would be dead. The bear ploughed into the undergrowth, uprooting two small trees, then quickly spun to stare at his foe, who dropped down to his knees.

And there they sat, each one staring at the other and each one learning, understanding, what it is to suffer, Kanza knew his wounds would soon have him feeling dazed, the bear had been wounded by the trap, then hadn't eaten or slept in days.

"I'm sorry", Kanza said, the words surprising even him, as a line of crimson blood ran from his ear down to his chin, then he felt the darkness, and the ground around went black, Kanza fell forward to the ground, the eyes in his head rolled back...

When he awoke, he saw his reflection inside two huge black eyes, his instincts whispered for him not to move, something he didn't think too unwise, the bear stared into him as if it was reading his every thought, there was no escape left, no way of not being caught, after what felt like an age of the world had passed, the bear withdrew into the darkness, gazing until the last, Kanza turned to see that beside him was his mangled snare, never again in his life did he try to trap a bear.
Night

The time has come
my little cretins,
to go and find a bed
and get in
So be still, be quiet
embrace the night
and for god's sake
don't let those
bed bugs bite

Morning**

The night has passed
and now it's morning
I'm having breakfast
and still I'm yawning
Pondering the day ahead
and how long 'till I can go
back to bed
"Sloths!",

she squawked,

almost incoherently,

I'd just took a sip of my tea.

"To most, they remain a mystery".

The remark remained a mystery to me.
I get deranged every time the seasons change. Sometimes I'll walk to George Square just to stand in the rain. And every door, every corner of every window spells out your name.

I'll start again.

I'll start again because that's all I have left to choose. Nothing left to lose. All I have left is a misty memory of you, standing in your two-piece dress confessing that we're through. And the rain seems to bend around me like, it doesn't want me too.

I'll start again,

Because this brain of mine, it wasn't made by intelligent design. It was made by atoms and molecules and time. I'll always tend to get philosophical. Especially when getting kicked in the teeth is topical. It's the only kind of self-preservation that I know.

You'll start again,

Like you physically can't remember. Like a gambling addict, desperately clutching on to that last dying ember of hope. You'll smile; but deep down you just feel strange. If the time has gone to reconcile, is it time to change?

We'll start again,

Not because we want to, because we must. Like two already weary travellers standing on the cusp, of another great adventure, where everything is the same.

Except us.
I met a girl, one day or night
who taught me how to live
An empty truth, you may observe
I hope you can forgive

She spoke of something more to me,
or so she did perceive
As demons sneer at angel's wings
when tripping on their sleeves

"Where have you been tonight my dear,
I trust you will not lie?
Because lying is a bow my dear,
I trust you cannot tie?"

Lost. I had no argument.
No angle could I find.
No brilliant light bulbs brilliant light.
No swift turn of the mind.

But, amidst my overanxious thoughts,
one detail sharply stood.
Of all my prior misdirections,
this one had to be good.

"I've walked in halls of marbled stone
and well carved wooden walls.
I've talked of nations fighting wars,
and when that they might fall"

"I've conversed the winter weather wild,
heard what spring may bring.
I've bolstered men who'd have fallen down,
sang with women who cannot sing".

"And now you nag nag nag at me,
when all I want is sleep!
Why can't you leave me well alone,
when towards my dreams I creep?"

"Oh! Please do forgive me,
My most almighty Tsar.
But must One sleep with One's head,
still resting on the bar?"
I must forget you now
It's over
and I've finally found the floor
but every time i look at you
I wonder why I haven't
been looking more
it seems I'm on a circle
of which there is no end
and I dislike this pain I feel
with every breath I spend
but nothing's unfamiliar
I've seen this place before
It's like it comes to find me
an old friend that I adore
but though I still feel cheated
some things I can't forget
still I'm not defeated
there's a little fire left here yet

— The End —