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Jun 2023 · 849
house on fire
olivia Jun 2023
when the fire blows up, and the smoke engulfs the home we once knew
is it a sign for me to start running?
i bit too ******* the bullets as i waited
six months flew by, now i'm stuck staring at this view

frozen, anxious, twice as vengeful when you left me
"is it time to call mom now?" I asked you
but you smiled a maniacal smile as the flames spread from where you left the matches burning
i wish i knew better than to trust you to guard it

smoke and ash are all that's left of the home we took 20 years to build
i tell you "there's no closure when our doors are flimsy clothes from your soiled dresser"
clothes that were worn by people you said were just friends
and still, you never showed any guilt

i shake my head and play off these misfortunes as if they're a dream
as i fail and blame you for starting it
as i curse you for burning a fragile house to the ground
as if it wasn't the same house you lived in

the firefighters come and you tell the same sob story
i'll side with the truth and resentment, they'll keep me company as you bury me
remember this as the day when you burned out the good years
and the betrayal of your only family.
Nov 2021 · 342
crossing road
olivia Nov 2021
I've gotten a lot of parking tickets,
To know that all they take from you is money.
I've shut off a million alarms,
To go through the same loop every day.

And it's only been a month, I know
Since you dropped my hand and went off alone
But if the words never left my lips then,
Would you have stayed and listened?

I would've squeezed your hands tightly
And saw the mark my fingers left the next day
We wouldn't be noticing how the headlights shined brightly
And how your hair became red as it came.
-
-
-
You would have found it funny,
If I told you that I memorized every lot we went to,
I was never one for remembering things.
But it's embedded in my brain,
How ironic it is that our last and worst memory
Happened in the same place where I betrayed you.

And maybe a part of you already knows,
All the silent apologies I've got stuck in my throat.
Maybe one day I'll whisper it down the road,
But right now the pain is just too strong to let go.
Jan 2016 · 351
january 31
olivia Jan 2016
I don't know why I let this go on for a month
even if I knew how much it would hurt me
to see the same month ending
with you in the arms of another.
Nov 2015 · 598
2:00 AM
olivia Nov 2015
this time I'm not going to write a poem
about a person whom I thought I'd forgotten
about the person who once left me alone
yet I still love, in all of the poems I've written.
I tried so hard to let someone else
bring back the parts that you robbed from me
he pretended we were lovers that would never end
but he was never how I wanted him to be.
and what did I want, really?
all I ever wanted was for you to be replaced.
now I know better
than to pretend that you'll love me when you're sober
because your nights are spent dreaming of another
and your midnight is not for me any longer.

but I guess friendship is more important.
so here's another poem,
and it will be the last one I'll write about you.
olivia Oct 2015
But I don’t know how many times I have to whisper to the silence at night just to reassure myself that what has been done is just that - done. I can never bring back what I threw away and I can never take back a “no” that I once shouted proudly in your face.

I came upon this video of Phil Kaye’s spoken poem called “Repetitions.” He was right - if you repeat the same thing, over and over again, it eventually loses its meaning.

I’ve told you “no” a million times that it probably became a part of my vocabulary. I’ve gone used to reading your messages without even bothering to type a reply, that it became the first thing that I do every morning. I’ve always been expecting your “hello’s” at 6 PM, that I stay awake in the car even after an exhausting day at school. My phone lights up just to show your name, and I’ve gotten so used to ignoring it, that there came a day when I picked it up instinctively just to check if you said something.

Did you?

Did you say something?

No.

You always told me that you were willing to wait whenever I’m ready. I thought it was stupid, because you were so patient for something that I could never give you.

But I guess stupid works both ways.

By the time I realized what I was starting to feel, you shut the door that you only opened for me. Blaming you became a selfish option. I suddenly understood the pain and regret that came with what I had done. You will probably never know my motives and the real reason behind everything, but for what it’s worth, I wanted to give you the words that I always heard from you whenever I said all the things that I wanted to change about you, and whenever I made you feel like you weren’t good enough.

I’m sorry.
Oct 2015 · 743
October 5, 2015.
olivia Oct 2015
He liked me first, but that doesn't matter.
He loved me after that, but that doesn't matter either.
His feelings don't matter -
I told him that.
And ever since August, I told him it was better
if we both, reluctantly, stopped talking to each other.

But how do you scare your only hope away?
How do you tell the person who tells you that you're beautiful that it's not right for him to stay?

So I told him this, and I told him a lot more.
I made sure he heard me as I locked the door.

But he pursued me, quite relentlessly
And did all the things boys in love do.
He hugged me, complimented me,
assured I was capable of loving people too.

And I told him that he doesn't get it.

So now I'm sitting in this suffocating room,
I'm looking at the boy whose heart I mercilessly broke.
I think about how the words between us vanished into silence.
And I wonder if it's worth repeating -
That his feelings don't matter,
because if I can't love myself
I can never love him either.
Aug 2015 · 327
A Poem
olivia Aug 2015
"Write me something," he says.
So I did, but I wrote him a poem.
Day and night I all but fell asleep
Trying to find reasons to leave him alone.

"Sing me something," he pleads.
Well I did, but I sang him a poem.
Today I waited for him outside my door
And I've been doing it for three weeks but he never comes.

"Promise me something," he insists.
And I did, but I promised him a poem.
Tonight I wondered what went wrong between us
I was about to ask,
but her name was stuck in the middle of his teeth.

"Tell me something," he begs.
And it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him,
but I didn't.
because then I would have to tell him every poem
and it was the story of every smile
every laughter
every glance
every secret
every tear
that I had for only him.

But I could tell him a million words
sing him a thousand songs
and promise him a hundred vows.
And at the end of the day,
I could write him something.

But all we will be is just a poem.
Apr 2015 · 262
Reasons
olivia Apr 2015
There are many reasons to explain why I like you
And every day I find myself adding another one.
One to remind me that I wrote so much to forget you
One to tell me why this thing could never happen
One to show me how she’ll always be prettier than I am
And one to say how before we even started, it’s already good as done.

Well, you looked at me today.
But it was how you looked at every single person
And it was different from how you looked at her.
I start conversations that I know I’ll have to end myself
And I keep waiting for your long answers that I know you reserved for her.

It hurts me deeply
Because when they asked you to choose between the both of us
You never hesitated once to say it wasn’t me.

But tonight marks the night I ask you the question
“Will you take her to prom?”
You told me you didn’t know.
So I nervously gave her name, and you said it was the perfect suggestion.
And I realized that no matter how I try to make my hair wavy
How I try to speak calmly
How I try to smile beautifully
How I try to be like her
There will always be reasons why I can’t.

Like the many reasons to explain why I like you
But I’ll start erasing them every day.
Sep 2014 · 632
September 11, 2014.
olivia Sep 2014
Tuck in your white shirt
Sit near the field
It's getting too late now
Our eyes are just about to meet.

Wipe off that red stain
It's splattered all over your jeans
Each step you take gets louder
When you're walking towards me.

Tell me 'hello' once in a while
It's too early to say goodbye
Remind me before I forget
How I remembered you in my life.

Run fast before this fades
Because I'm telling you, it's too dull
Whenever you smile down at my face
I don't feel anything at all.

— The End —