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 Mar 2013 Elsie
hellohappytori13
Spending intangible dollars at the mercy of my ever growing appetite,
Instead of buying my ticket out of this perfectly advantageous country,
Which focuses solely on my beauty and money.
I neglect my inner advice telling me to drop it all and run,
To where I can breathe and focus on God,
Promoting a healthier way of living and improving humanity.
Momentary hope that unrealistically characterizes perfection
As a quality that I can mentally download and miraculously make the above, true,
Never seems to linger long enough to actually induce action,
Which leads to disappointment draining the motivation essential to recover my missing pieces,
Which pushes me to crave cash I don’t have, to pick up that dose,
That hushes the unwarranted guilt that seduces me into thinking that I’m not incredibly blessed,
And that I can’t handle what I’ve been dealt,
Blurs the doubts I have about my abilities, my self- worth,
Forcing me into a state of content that awakens my creativity,
While vaguely being able to make out memories of let down led by myself and my mother,
Who was a part of what was never good enough for my idea of a perfect family.
I’ve wrongly accepted that a mediocre life-performance is to be had while following the crowd,
While obsessing over flaws that are negligible to my true purpose in life,
And with that I’ve become stifled by the decision to remain effortlessly stuck.
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Kate Deter
Only Me
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Kate Deter
Sometimes when I’m walking through the house,
A face floats up from the shadows, scaring me.
I pause and turn, looking at this other girl.
Who is this girl, this girl I keep seeing?
Who is this girl, this girl who keeps following me?
She seems familiar, somehow, almost as though
I knew her at some point in the past.
I raise a hand to touch her face, her cheek.
The girl does the same to me, reaches up and out—
Both both our hands reach only cold glass.
Is it really only me? Only my cold reflection?
But that’s not what I look like—
That’s not who I am—or perceive myself to be
On the inside, beyond flesh, muscle, and blood.
This person is a stranger to me, and I to her.
So why is her face on me, I in her body?
Why must I live a stranger, when it’s only me inside?
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Nick
8273482
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Nick
All the ****** things I gotta do for a living
And not to live
 Feb 2013 Elsie
etran
Lonely Barber
 Feb 2013 Elsie
etran
Swept the last strands of

Fresh cut hair

Locked the door

And went down the stairs



Slight vibration

On my left rib

Pulled the phone out

From underneath my barber's bib



Heard your tone

The regret and shame

Said you would leave me

For what's-his-name



Pounded the end button

Went straight home

Settled in my bed

And put down my phone



Two hours later

Puffy eyes and stuffy nose

Looked in the mirror

Grabbed my skin hose



Five hours later

Sore arms and wet napkins

Moist from not just

My lacrymose chin



My salty reflection

Stares back at me

Shame and guilt

Guilt and glee
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Marie Stehlikova
The world is an ugly place:
so they told me,
The world is a lovely haze:
so they told me.
All the intricate beauty and pains of the world do not satisfy:
So I told them,
stubbornly away once more.
deciding to be condemned.

General notion ruled: misunderstood.
Cast away to the world of Under the Table.
From mustard to baby blue breathing moods.
Hurt & so abandoned.

Left behind starving on lonely thoughts.
All but one pleasure undone:
Purple gathered me up in her arms,
shielding from hatred of angry lost mobs.
Under the Table I finally saw,
Colours, as I chose to forgo.
Among burn bright yellow tears & teal laughters
All smiling, teasing, dancing,
I uttered nothing less:
The world is an ugly place:
I spoke to them,
The world is a lovely haze:
I spoke again.
Death is the punishment for boxed repeating:
they told me.
And I sat Under the Table and listened.
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Amanda Victoria
I could tell you everything
and it would be okay.
No worries, no regrets.
there wouldn't be that creeping awkwardness
that makes us shy.
we could sit next to each other
and not feel guilty of our roaming thoughts.
Or hands.
and it would feel like only you and me.
a tremendously textbook loneliness
that was flawless.
It would rain, lightning would light up the sky,
thunder would tremble our hearts.
and when all is done, there'd be no need for words.
Because you would just know.
if only
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Taylor Tea
raucous bird
you explode in my chest
silver to hit the ones i hide
              in that iron case heart
they're the ones that hurt the most
             daunting fox, her courage escapes;
             swollen knight to suffer by self;
             fallen sun left only to destruction;
             holly saint with her selfish scepter;
but trapped there like stars
only left to implode & destroy
they would only ever be free
         wandering
                                 my
                                               mind.
late 2012.
 Feb 2013 Elsie
Taylor Tea
And then everyone kisses
and the show is over
and you get up from your seats
you drive back to your home
get undressed
crawl into bed

because it was just a story
it was just a book
it was just a film

you know that
you know that
you know that

you know that it's your life
they are filming
are capturing with words
that steal away a piece you
probably never realized you had

and everyone kisses
and everyone drives home
and everyone wakes up

everyone but me
the character
2012
Featured in my end of the year project for Modern Literature.
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