Iris Madden: Favorites

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Daisy Chain

It all became a void
as i fell backwards
endlessly
among the rocks that chimed
I told myself
"ive been here before"
and allowed myself to fall

It seemed to go on endlessly
tumbling, not breathing.
I was sure this was it
the end of something
but
just before the surrender
the moment of death
I faltered
I was afraid

The layer upon layer
that seemed to then become
a dream I could not wake from
kept running, fleeing.
Looking for the door
that has all the light
or dark

Even now, someone smirks
"you are still dreaming"
I laugh and agree
how would i know the difference?

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

The idea of love.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Daisy Chain

The idea of love.

Don't worry, I am home
Your return, forever warm
In my mind is your sanctuary
I hold you there
I can love you there
Remember your playful hair
Long to be under your skin
To taste the air you're breathing in
In this place, in this space
I can still kiss every inch of your face
Watch the moon shadow pace
With time slowing to an eternal chase
Oh how I love it here
The hairs on my neck salute you still
Succumbing to your every will.
This world defies all that is known
As I die and come to life, both at once.
As I drown like a feather
And sink like a stone
I remember feeling that once.
This land of me and you
Soon become a land completely new
Such a belonging, indescribable in every way
How I wish I could stay
How I wish it wasn't a dream
But that's all you'll ever be
My enigma, my ghost
my memory.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

mother

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Luke Gagnon

mother

My mother chewed her nails off, trying
to consume bones enough to
scrape away the
space that's always been
there.

She still remembers
from time to time when
she had to swallow
the whole earth
just to feel full.

She found herself afraid of her ribs.
So she built a panic architecture,
calcifying her lungs, breathing in
nearby rocks and tree branches,
scattering the animal hosts in
her spinal fluid.

By now the elephants
have multiplied,
stampeding through the open
cracks in her ventricles.
There could be time zones
in the cracks
but just the ones that are
still sleeping.

About once a month I worry
I'll turn into her.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

To Lose It All

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Hannuh Jacey

To Lose It All

To Lose It All

The tears the flood the sea are now dry.
A drought consumes your throat and gasping for air you inhale a dust that forces you to succumb to your fate.
You're living, you're breathing, and moving, and you're empty.
A shell of your former self. The ghost of a perfect stranger.
There's no complexity in disillusionment; And an empty locked room remains that way until a purpose is brought to its doorstep.
But without the drive, the purpose barely thrives.

Nov. 17th, 2008 1:10 a.m.

#love #empty #beautiful #purpose #key #emptiness #goals

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

strewn around

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Sankhya Amaravadi

strewn around

i leave my skin on the trees
and my brain in the clouds
my eyeballs sit in the rose bush
(watching all that goes past)
and my toes are stuck to the pavement
my lungs can be found in the nearest mailbox
(if you look closely you can see them still breathing)
my lips are in the catnip plants
kidneys on top of the telephone poles
but my heart,
my poor, beating heart
is with you

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Power Lines

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Annie Dark

Power Lines

It's early,
But not too early.
It's grey and calm and it's what I know to be the best.
Birds, so many birds for October.
Their nonchalance is refreshing.
Just easy and calm in the not too earliness of it all.
I think they like it too, the grey.
The grey is what I remember the most out of scattered,
Tattered memories.
And breathing.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Misguided Beauty

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Emma Amme

Misguided Beauty

Crying under the covers
half hoping that you suffocate
is not cute.
Breathing into a paper bag
because you can't breathe the air
that everyone seems to inhale so easily
is not pretty.
Ruining yourself on the outside
to fix whats on the inside
is not beautiful.
I don't care how many
line breaks you add,
how many fonts you change,
how many pictures you can etch into your skin.
It is not something to allude to.

Why do people romanticize depression and anxiety?

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Breath easy..

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Miss Rea

Breath easy..

It would be easy to love you.

Like breathing
second nature
without consideration.

But you overwhelm me.

Your words etched beautifully across the page,
while mine fall clumsily between the lines.
And your fingers touch notes so eloquently,
While mine fumble for a forgotten chord.

It would be easy to love you,
*But that's not what you have in mind.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

What Lies Over The Fence

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Jessie

What Lies Over The Fence

If dying is similar to sleep,
I'll lie in bed and count the sheep
They'll smile at me in passing-by,
And wait for me on the other side.

All will be glad when I finally come
The sheep will dance, and laugh and run.
And all the animals will see
That dying was the fate for me.

My loved ones back home won't understand
"We want you back," They'll cry in demand
But alas, I am much happier here
With the sheep, the birds, the rabbits and deer.

For what I lacked in life I have in death
And I'll never return to breathing a breath
If dying is sleeping, I'll sleep all day
As long as with the sheep I will stay.

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Trapped

Apr 2017 Iris Madden

Nat

Trapped

Everything is hard
Moving, looking, breathing,
Laughing, loving, speaking
I can’t do it
I can’t
I can’t
I CAN"T
They say you can
It’s not hard, just be

happy.

I say the opposite
How can it be easy when just thinking hurts
Everything hurts
I promise you I’ve tried
And tried
and tried
and tried
But every time I try I fail
Can you hear me?
STOP
HELP
Every time I fall, the climb back up becomes harder
Someone is smoothing down the walls of this pit as I climb out
When I fall again I know this
My hands try to grasp something,
Anything
to cling to
To pull myself out
Of myself
There isn’t much left to grab, it takes awhile
One more fall
Just one
And then nothing