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 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Amethyst Fyre
With a thought I can destroy the world
Just a word, really

It hurts me that it's hard
To make it another day and still remember to breathe, but

I still have to fall in love
So I can't let myself leave

All it takes is a thought, a word really
Why?
And I am falling from this world

So I promise myself not to think so much
I'll dance instead
You'll find me running barefoot across the world
My hair wild behind me
I will leap over "why" and shake hands with "what"
Maybe then it won't seem so hard to breathe
And I will rejoice that, in the cage of my youth, I did not, once and for all, destroy reality

One day, I will fall in love

Instead, I will set the world free
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Amethyst Fyre
I throw my fist to the sky
Air gripped between my fingers with pride

And then I see them,
The rivulets of soap coursing down my wrist

The milky white tears tracing over my veins
Was I ever even here to begin with?

It only takes moments for the water to wash me all away
I'm not really sure what this one means, but I kind of like it. Hope everyone's doing okay.
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Amethyst Fyre
I understand the appeal
Right around now I could almost go for it

After dad died, we swore we would never drink or do drugs or anything like that
We didn't get the people who did, but I understand now
How the same day-after-day can drive you crazy
How I don't want to know myself right now
Hell, I want to lose every piece of who I am, I don't want to be aware or in control
I want to be gone

Let go

I understand the lengths people will go to run away from this world
But I cannot succumb
No, instead I will paint with all the buckets of misery and infinity I can find and turn my world into rainbows
As far as my eyes can reach, poetry as often as my lips can speak
I will survive

In closing, what I've really been trying to say is just this message to myself:
*Please stop telling me I want to die
Alcoholism runs in my family, sometimes I think about these things late at night
There was a different first paragraph, but it didn't fit right into the poem
(I understand why you drink a little too much each night
Why that cute little kid in the movie we just watched
is actually dead right now
Because he shot himself up to go somewhere better)
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Amethyst Fyre
Staring into her brown eyes, I find myself lost

You, I whisper, almost afraid
For this is the first time there is hope of her actually listening to these words
I reach out, my fingers hover right under her chin

You I tell her
are beautiful
And you will survive
No, not just survive
You will live


I love you

I catch a smile flash across her face
And though it does not stay, it is enough for now

I leave my reflection in the mirror and hug my words close to my heart as I walk on my way

I love you

I hug the words in between all my broken pieces as I walk away
I don't, but one day, I promise we'll get there
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
shåi
'what do you
want to be when
you grow up?'

'what do you plan
to do with your life?'

'you can't make money
doing
that....'

this age old question
acts as
the intersection
between dreams
and reality

people ask this question
and i am rendered speechless
a voice lost in the
howling wind of promise

their piercing,
expectant gaze
like paparazzi
cameras

i put on a mask
my own shadows
loom in the night

'oh maybe,
i'll be a nurse
or a pharmacist'

i am safe
as warm approving
nods beckon

'oh i want to be
a writer'

nods turn
to disfavor
like a star
falling out of the sky

when has
authentic happiness
become a servant
to dishonest disinterest?
(b.d.s.)
follow your dreams
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
spysgrandson
Teresa climbs on the bus
before the sun, if she has
the fare

to get there, where she
makes the bread; she's been at this
two of her nineteen years  

yet she has fears, they will
come for her--green card or not;
though they like her rolls

she kneads the big *****, pulls,
pinches, a sculpting of dough, a laying
of trays, one after another

then, from the Iglesias,
they come, decked in their finery
though she does not see

she only hears the litany
of language she can't comprehend,
a clanging of trays, laughter

the urging of the jefe to work
faster, bake the bread; the communion
wafers did not fill them

now they are here, breaking fast,
forgetting the words they just heard
the songs they sang

Teresa does not complain; she
is glad to feed the worshipers, though
they will never know her name

nor will they stop for
her in the pouring rain,
the blistering sun

Teresa never wavers
next Sabbath will be the same:
dawn, the dough, the oven

it is the work--her hands
which make the bread others break,
the grace granted to serve

holy, holy, holy...
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Denel Kessler
Eyes wide
you do not allow
oblivious sleep
shadows branded
on my retina
reveal all contrast
tattooed on my shoulder
a skeletal hand
this illusion  
pins me down


your questions
have no answers
questions remain
asked again and again
I swear
I know nothing


You say everything
is immaterial
subjectively real
ideas existent
in the mind
of the perceiver
I am

(you insist)
a true believer

Parched and shrinking
I ask for mercy
you bring the cup
to my fissured lips
but it is empty
a vessel of air
you murmur
there is only enough
for one
what will you give
in return?


Heavy metal
arpeggios of wind
head bang
petulant faces
inured to rain
a repeating refrain
in falsehood
lies your truth

but even you
cannot halt the dawn
a dark horizon
pulls the strings
powerless
you sink
behind the cloud-
wall of your storm

is it safe now to close my eyes?
three times whisper
be gone
              bright fiend

a weary incantation
spell of protection
the yawning wind
done with howling
hums reassuringly
                            
                       *“a change is gonna come
                                                            ­      imagine
                                                   ­                            peace in our time”
“A Change Is Gonna Come” written by Ben Sollee
“Imagine” written by John Lennon
“Peace In Our Time” by Elvis Costello and the Attractions

A sleepless night under the relentless moon, listening to a storm coming in off the Pacific.
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Amethyst Fyre
My soul is shaking
And though terrified,
Of how every moment I feel my bones rub against my back

I am elated
The tears rush over my hollowed cheeks, blurring the sun in my eyes
They catch my breath and sweep it back to my mouth, back where it belongs

Yes, I'm terrified of what I've become
But after traversing land after land of darkness, I can finally say

I really and truly do not want to die.
 Apr 2017 Elizabeth
Juliann
Trust is like a flower;
Every time you break it
You rip off a petal and stamp it into the concrete

Trust is like a butterfly;
Every time you betray it
You break a wing and render it flightless

Trust is like a brick wall;
Every time you crush it
You chip away at the cement
You knock out the cornerstone

I still have petals
I still have wings
I still have mortar
I still have bricks
And here I stand
Albeit unsteady
But I am ready
Yes, I am ready.
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