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13.2k · Jul 2014
Turtles
Brendan Holland Jul 2014
Turtles swim swiftly in the sea
Its fins propellers from its shell
From the predators it can quickly flee
Because turtles can go in land or sea
Which makes this task quite easy
So being a turtle is pretty cool, you can tell
Being able to swim in the deep sea
And having a home that's a shell
This poem has a specific rhyme scheme of "abAaABab" with the lowercase letters being the same word.
2.7k · Jun 2015
My Wave
Brendan Holland Jun 2015
You're my wave
Waiting to reel me in
Unexpectingly
Without my consent
Into dangers of
Unknown happenings.
You're calming and
Beautiful though.
Crashing up against the sand
Like when you crashed into my heart.
I'm reluctant to go back in
Knowing how a whirlpool of your
Serenity is only a cunning
Façade
You put on to distract me
Because when you finally pull me in
I can never escape.
2.0k · Aug 2015
Wanderlust
Brendan Holland Aug 2015
I want to be lost in you
I want to hike every crevice
Explore every pore
Shake hands with every freckle
And slide down your hair
I want to backpack your lips
They are so soft, like I'm floating on daisies
Rock climb up your legs
And jog down your arms
I always thought wanderlust had to do with places
But you made me realize
I could have wanderlust for people too
1.4k · Jul 2014
Insomnia
Brendan Holland Jul 2014
When you can't sleep
You're never really awake
But you're never really asleep.
Yes that was stolen from Fight Club
But it captures the feeling perfectly
Of restless nights
My mind is wandering everywhere
But then
Not moving at all
And i try to count sheep
1...2...3...4...
How does the universe work?
No stupid brain go to sleep!
But it doesn't.
I have to get up in 4 hours.
Is there even a point of sleeping now?
Or will this just be another restless night
Of endless wonder and sudden desires?
I try to sound poetic
But it's hard when you have to get up in 3 hours
And the sun is just hitting the horizon.
Darkness is still enveloping me though.
There is no escaping it.
Maybe that's what insomnia is?
Not being able to sleep, to appreciate the dark.
2 hours now.
I can hear a bird chirping.
I still haven't slept a wink
Maybe this pillow just needs flipped over
Again.
And Again
It's never really cold.
They should make that
1 hour now
I can hear people start moving on the streets
Fully awake and ready to start the day
Cup in hand
Focused
The alarm goes off
Or does it?
Thats weird
The clock says 11 PM.
Well, time for bed I guess.
1.2k · Sep 2017
Bleach
Brendan Holland Sep 2017
I keep drinking myself to oblivion
I get ****** so much medusa would be jealous
I can't stay sober
I was high in love
Now I get high to forget
To erase you from my life
Like you erased me

But you wrote yourself in permanent marker
Across my heart
And i am stained all over
That no bleach can take out

Now, I compare everything to you
1.1k · Aug 2015
The Lighthouse
Brendan Holland Aug 2015
Beckoning forth
The     Lighthouse
ominously       glows

Like                   a fire
Through      fog
  Dangerous

Like sirens
So beautiful
Such consequences

So why
So   light
So     dark?
Brendan Holland Jan 2016
I could talk about how you caught my eye

Like an insomniac catches the cold

But how cliche

I could talk about the whimsy in your eyes

The way they light up 

When you speak passionately

But how cliche

I could talk about how you taste like home
Where I could sleep in peace forever

But how cliche

How can one go on?

When miles of words are already written

When thoughts have already been thought
When feelings have already been felt

When beauty has already been beheld?

I hate being optimistic

But everything has already been written

How could my metaphors be any different?

But it makes sense

Because darling,

I cannot think of any word that describes you,
To me

Even our vast vernacular

Cannot contain my emotional state

For you look of a color never seen

A flower never felt

And a song yet to be heard

Simply put

I can’t describe you

You’re not beyond beautiful 

You’re beyond words
Brendan Holland Jun 2015
She catches my eye
like an insomniac catches the cold
I can't see her face, only
the back.
Who is she?
I'm drawn to her like a bee
to a flower
or a bear
to a rushing river.
The flowers in her hair only
mimic her grace
and the bliss I feel
from her like the
ocean's current.
Maybe it's because she's a
mystery?
She is an unknown, exotic
island I feel predestined to explore.
She is paradise,
and I'm just now getting off my plane.
786 · Oct 2014
Art
Brendan Holland Oct 2014
Art
When did art
Become a trademark symbol
In tall, structured buildings
Built on the color green
786 · Oct 2017
Nightmare
Brendan Holland Oct 2017
Sometimes I think I'm in a nightmare
And I'll wake up next to you
And all of this will be over

But you're never in my bed when I wake
Only sleeping in my mind
Tucked away behind where regret and jealousy collide
Melancholy blankets cover your soft skin
Tender cheeks kissed by my disappointment
My depression plays with your hair
And anxiety massages your back

And when you do wake
You exit my eyes as tears
But somehow
You always find your way back to your bed
727 · Jul 2014
Love and Nature
Brendan Holland Jul 2014
Love is like the rain,
because although when in the clouds,
the droplets may fall from the sky as rain,
they continue on for the chance of  
forming a beautiful crystal snowflake

Love is like the trees,
because although some die before
their prime, others live on for thousands
of years in harmony, and people gather
around and stare in awe at their beauty

Love is like the sun and earth,
because although the sun can not get
too close to earth, it still provides her
with sunlight, and energy, and anything
she needs to get through another day.

Love is like the dirt
because although it gets stepped on
everyday, it still provides homes for other
animals, and it provides plants what they
need to to grow and survive

Love is like nature
because too many times, people don't take
the time to appreciate it all of it,
but if we stopped and looked around,
we'd see how beautiful it really is.
555 · Dec 2015
Nostalgia
Brendan Holland Dec 2015
I feel nostalgic with you

But why?

It couldn’t be because of how long I’ve known you

For our time together has been short

It couldn’t be from long conversations, drowned by thoughts and feelings 

For we talk much, but not forever

But it’s worth remembering

Because your thoughts pierce my skin like knives

Bleeding my bad blood out
Through the cognitions contained in your cranium that control and combat every whimsical thought I have ever had and turn it on its head like a top, spinning my mind endlessly into oblivion with words like wine and ideas like cigarettes

For I feel nostalgic with you because, well,
You’re all I’ve thought about for years

Dreamed about for years

Fell in love with over and over again for years

I’ve known you ever since I can remember

I just didn’t know you were real
542 · Aug 2014
Stargazing
Brendan Holland Aug 2014
A wretched world and a string of shiny stars
Spread out across the sky in neat patterns
Are the perfect metaphor for how I feel about you
The world being me of course, constantly moving
In circles either direction and never going anywhere
Ruining myself with the thought of you as the pills
And drinks go down destroying my insides
Because I cant get your beautiful shiny eyes
And the bright complexity of your mind
I wish so deeply to get involved in out of mine. Your
Ideas are the light bulbs that go off in the
Mindless TV I watch, trying to get my mind off you,
But I can't because it seems every night, whether it be rain
or a clear night sky, you are always there right in front
of me in a taunting but beautiful fashion I love so much
531 · Jun 2015
Sonnet
Brendan Holland Jun 2015
Shall I compare thee to a winter's night?
Thou art just as peaceful and as serene
With the falling snow being the only light
Shining bright unlike summer's grass green
A snowflake kisses my cheek just like you
The only noises are thoughts in my head
And you breathing on my neck like you do
My thoughts consist only of what you just said
I feel your warmth like being near a fire
And I cuddle you like a blanket would
With pajamas on straight from the dryer
I want to kiss you, if only I could
You look so beautiful to me tonight
With you here, everything will be alright
508 · Jul 2014
The Hanging Tree
Brendan Holland Jul 2014
The leaves swiftly swayed in the wind
As he calmly walked through them
Not a sound was heard throughout
No crushing leaves or break of a stem

The stars shine bright like diamonds
In the night sky the moon is the only light
But he needed it to be dark
He couldn't do the job if it were bright

He stumbled steadily across the trail
His feet making quite light imprints
But he still kept trotting on
His skin still at a chalkboard black tint

The moon almost setting now
But he was almost there
The coffin was set up already
At the top of hells stair

The sun almost up now
But he found the body in the clear
His wife hanging from the tree
The only thing he had left was fear

His calm walk stopped suddenly
And he hung the rope parallel to her
And stepped closer to end like her                  
And this time it would be for sure
482 · Jul 2014
Religious Rant
Brendan Holland Jul 2014
Isn't it ironic? That every religion preaches love
but almost every war has started because of religion?
Because every religion seems to think that they're above
And that there has to be a division?
Why do churches preach love and then all we do is hate?
Hate our fellow brother and then think that we are saints
Say they're going to hell for that pork upon they're plate
But then it's okay, when they go and assassinate
In the name of their religion, oh so then its okay
Because they will go home and pray
Pray and they will be forgiven when they lay
their sins on the table to be judged by the alpha
It doesn't matter what they did in life but the omega
will let them in as long as they accept him into their heart
Nothing else is required, so nothing you need to start
in life. Life is essentially pointless. Oh wait, no its not
because you have to force your religion on the distraught
Whether they want it or not, because you sought
to find the answer as a robot but have you ever thought
What if this isn't how its supposed to go?      
Maybe there's something else I don't know?
Because some of you can't go any lower
You judge my lesbian friend before you even know her
And gay marriage has officially been evicted
And who did that? Benedict did
So two guys asked to get married and he said nope
But what's wrong with two guys wanting to elope?
Nothing. But everyone has a different interpretation
And it's different across the nation
So we have these different cults of Christianity
Thinking they're smart, but they're groups of insanity
And I don't think I can take this anymore
So if you see me passed out of the kitchen floor
My answer is pretty simple, no need to explore
It's the crazies outside my own red door
481 · Aug 2015
Late Night Thoughts
Brendan Holland Aug 2015
When someone says your name

I don’t hear it

I feel it

In my bones, my skin, my lungs, my heart

The way I feel when you say mine. 

A voice so pure and delicate

It sounds like an angel spreading her wings

In the pale moonlight.

Like honey

Dripping from the clouds above

Down a waterfall of serenity

Flowing through me like rain

Radiating warm drops of bliss

With each passing moment.
481 · Oct 2015
Solar Love
Brendan Holland Oct 2015
I see her in the east en'tring my world
Shining streams of optimism and hue
So bright a light, peaking like a turtle
Yellow and orange, with slight shades of blue
I see her right above me, en'tring noon
Bringing life from night to all those around
So we hit our peaks, albeit too soon
But the world turns, the sun starts to cast down
We get a beautiful sunset sight
Purples and maroons cover my dy'ng fate
Because even the day must turn to night
And before you love it all, it's too late
Just as ev'ry morn the sun comes to rise
So it sets, halting eternal demise
449 · Oct 2014
Untitled
Brendan Holland Oct 2014
I want to write as well as Ed Sheeran can sing
As well as Vincent Van Gogh could paint
See that, that would be my dream
Because they craft these masterpieces
Of art and soul and make people feel with their eyes
The way I wish I could do for you
But no words I write will be enough
No choice of adjectives too flattering
Too exquisite or too alluring would be enough.
Your beauty is as breathtaking
As the photos I see of natures perfect art,
When it tries to compete with you.
Your presence is equated to the peace I feel
When falling asleep to acoustic covers of songs
Or the sound of rain pitter pattering on a tin roof above
446 · Aug 2017
i am winter
Brendan Holland Aug 2017
I am winter
Stung by your speckled summer skin
And jellyfish cheeks
Hanging in my room like a painting
Always staring at me
Sculpted by certain strokes
I could never see

Ominous fall air
Wallowing in waves
The ocean you are
Filling my room to the brim

A blankets touch
Warm like leather seats
On a summer day

Nighttime dreads
My night mind
Where you are the lead
In my favorite drama

I see no spring
Time has stopped
Endlessly and forever
432 · Aug 2015
Closer
Brendan Holland Aug 2015
Your kiss echoes through my body

And spreads through me like honey

And warm cough syrup

The world stops 

And for a moment

Just a moment

My pain goes away

And yes, it’s cliché

But it’s hard to describe

The feeling I get

Like mountains carved by a stream

And it makes me realize

That sometimes taking poison

Is better than letting the blood

Run down your throat

Into your abyss
388 · Jul 2015
Storm Thoughts
Brendan Holland Jul 2015
As a kid, I was always scared of thunderstorms. But as I have gotten older, I've discovered a unique beauty to them, and I’ve always wondered why this changed.
Maybe we grow to love the rain and storms, because we feel empathetic towards Mother Nature’s own pain and suffering, and it helps us to drown our sorrows in her tears.
376 · Nov 2014
Untitled
Brendan Holland Nov 2014
From across the hall I see your lips pursed together at me
Below your sulking gaze upon my own eyes
I make a dumb joke to get you to at least smirk
You give me a smile I can only describe as wry

I don't even need gravity to fall back into your grasp
Figuratively and literally you will always have me
Because you look so beautiful with your nose scrunched up
With big brown eyes as elegant and simple as an oak tree

With words that move my heart at irregular patterns
And ideas that shape how a person should think
A touch so gentle and smooth you place on me
It breaks my heart to be away even just to blink

I feel calm with you like a fireplace in winter
Or as relaxed as someone laying out by the blue sea
But my stomach sinks like a ship when I see you with him
Because we both know that that should be me.
374 · Sep 2017
Regret
Brendan Holland Sep 2017
Sleepy eyes
Are awakened at night
By thoughts overpowered harm

Regret
Is like a paper cut
And lemons are my favorite food

My own rain stains my cheeks
Leaving them red
And cracked

Night know no bounds
Though, neither does the day anymore
362 · Oct 2014
Life
Brendan Holland Oct 2014
I've been asked recently,
"What are three things you want in this moment right now?"
And at that moment, I did answer them
But now looking back, I realize what I truly should have said
Nothing
I didn't want anything, that moment was perfect as it was
You see, even though the sky was cloudy,
And drunk people were letting off fireworks,
And I was in the company of a girl who I laughed with
But still found it hard to look directly into her eyes
Without butterflies flying in my stomach at every word she spoke
It shows the world isn't perfect
But I'm alive in that imperfect world
And my imperfections parallel everything around me
And that means I am alive
And most importantly
Living
And when I am living, then it is always a perfect moment.
342 · Oct 2015
10-5-15
Brendan Holland Oct 2015
How unique!

Paper to pen,

Pushing thoughts through

Onto old, refined papyrus

That doesn’t know it’s self-worth

As I write

I etch my mind in history

Otherwise, what evidence will there be

Of my once forgotten thoughts?

But paper and pen,

Like the wood it comes from,

Is everlasting

Until it is burned

By fires of hate

And touched

By venom of ignorance

So I write this down,

Because it just may be

The last thing I ever think.
316 · Aug 2017
Drowning
Brendan Holland Aug 2017
Help
I am drowning
In midnight

Winter comes
And erases me
My summer breeze

So many months
Gone like grass
In its place
Frigid sharp snow
Piercing like arrows
Tearing my skin
And heart

Help
I am drowning
In snow
Winter takes my life
257 · Dec 2014
Untitled
Brendan Holland Dec 2014
The hardest part of loving you,
Is watching him do it better
211 · May 2020
Alone
Brendan Holland May 2020
The air around me blows
like static --
water rushing
on a porcelain countertop
full of both memories
and feelings.
weeping roses cover
my nostalgia for better times
but the noises!
oh the noises!
***** at my brain and force
me into staring at my own hands.
Quite small, they look
in comparison with what I believe them to be.
Humming  and whirring strike
the darkness around me.
I can't believe this used to be home.

— The End —