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203 · Sep 2016
Broken
Jamison Bell Sep 2016
Some of us are in indescribable pain.
Meandering through the days while barely holding onto to themselves. Clutching at a line so thin.

We talk to them, laugh with them, and say our goodbyes. And although you might think they're fine, they're not. You've gone home and they're still mired in their own misery.

Whether self induced or not, it doesn't matter. They're stuck in a perpetual pattern of loathing, usually it's self. There's no light.

There isn't much you can do to help them. You can call them, you can be there for them, but too often these endeavors are in vain.

Sometimes it gets to the point where their pain is the only absolute they have. They've embraced it because of its familiarity.

Too often these people are lost to us. They're broken. The damage is just irreparable. To stay yourself would only suffer the crushing inevitably.

We convince ourselves of things. It's an auto response to outside stimuli. Some of us go defense, others offense. Whether whatever it is we've convinced ourselves is true or not. It doesn't matter.

Tears in the rain.
201 · Sep 2018
For no reason
Jamison Bell Sep 2018
The day wells up the darkness
So that the moon may float
Upon an eternal sea of night
Candles and torches
Try in vain to hold it at bay
And much like us
They too eventually succumb to the folds of memories faintly cherished
She treads the night sea
Apathetically staring down
A millennials worth of curses, prayers, and accolades she’s heard
Weary of our woes
Now jaded, cold and grey
A soulless pearl
Forced to dance a celestial dance
200 · May 2016
Todd?
Jamison Bell May 2016
I tire of the same old.
Stories long forgotten.
Restless staring at the moon.
My will is broke and rotten.

I heard you once tell a friend.
Of how you long to be.
A necessity to someone.
Just as someone isn't me.

I've never been a destination.
Or a thought one would cherish.
I suppose to most I simply am.
One they wish would perish.

So as I said I grow weary.
Of these waxing gibbons.
Weighing on my soul.
These chains are but ribbons.

My words mean so little.
In so I don't mean much.
Holding on to memories.
Of when I felt her touch.
Jamison Bell Jul 2017
What a shame.
That we find ourselves.
In the here and now.
Instead of.
The there and then.
Jamison Bell Oct 2019
The dusty road hath grown grey
Time has been here too
A nomad appears from the east
And I ask of you

Tell me where the flowers grow
In hues of red and black
Tell me where the sun was last
And when will she be back

A tired wind pushed him forth
For he had spoken not a word
I wrote I love you on a ravens back
And I cursed that ominous bird

Cigarettes and crescent moons
Dead soldiers on the ground
We could say a thousand words
And never make a sound

You told me once long ago
How you wished it ought to be
And through the dark and stormy nights
‘‘Twas you I longed to see

Shall I set the world afire
To help you find your way
Perhaps if I destroy it all
Then maybe you’d stay
Jamison Bell Sep 2017
what are these days void of you? forlorn moments blending together into a slurry of grey.
dreams forever the favored illusion.
even when dashed against the rocks of a restless night.
their shards hold the images.
of something that never need be said in order to exist.
Jamison Bell Aug 2019
I hope one day you forgive yourself.

I hope you never have to know how much it hurts.

I hope you’ll turn to face the sun, so it can tell the universe just how beautiful you are.

I hope that you’ll see who I see when I look at you.

I hope a butterfly lands on you.

I hope one day you cry because you’re happy.

I hope that someone tickles your heart.

I hope you get to live at least one dream.

I hope I see you before you see me. So that I can have a moment. To court you, love you, and leave you. Before you do the same to me.

I hope. Not for me. For you.
198 · Jun 2017
Lucky?
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
How is it I can have 219 contacts in my phone, and none of them are friends or family?
198 · Jul 2016
The Rabbit
Jamison Bell Jul 2016
Ok. So I guess there was this rabbit or some **** you may find cute.
She only had three legs. She was also deaf and mute.

She happened upon a stream one day and decided to get a drink.
She never saw the eagle. There was no time to think.

She didn't die immediately for she was quite the little fighter.
She kicked her legs frantically until she felt a little lighter.

The eagle he flexed his talons and her rib cage he did crush.
As he soared towards the cliff her innards turned to mush.

The eagle feasted well that day upon our little friend.
Let's face the facts our little friend was ****** until the end.

I suppose that's how it goes, in the survival of the fittest.
You can be the prince of speed and still not make the list.

Sometimes it doesn't matter. That's when you do it out of spite.
Rage like Dylan Thomas, against the dying of the light.

For like our friend the rabbit, that hapless little *****.
Kick against that final breath until your final twitch.

**** death. (mic drop, bow, pick up the mic and hope I didn't break it cause it looks expensive and how many millionaire poets do you know?)
Do not use toothpaste to clean your toaster. It doesn't work.
Jamison Bell Jan 2023
I never knew you, I never met you, I never saw you.
I never heard you, I never touched you, I never felt you.
And yet, somehow.
I’ll never forget you.
197 · Jun 2017
Spoiler Alert
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
Where would I find you if I decided to look?
Alone in a corner, your nose in a book?
And what time would you say I could find you there?
If it were to matter, and I were to care.
And what could I say to avert your gaze?
Up from those pages of which you graze?
Perhaps I could offer a limerick or two?
An impromptu serenade just for you?
I hear you, I feel you, you want me to go.
I don't have a ticket and I'm late for the show.
I see you're reading "My Sisters Keeper".
Anna wins the case, but then meets the reaper.
Jamison Bell Mar 2018
We understand the futility of endeavoring to unravel the intricate illusions of life. We’ll acknowledge without hesitation that ultimately nothing we do matters.
We’ve discussed how the human psyche is just too fragile to grasp the truth of our existence. Ineffectual beings of nothingness. Meandering about under the delusion that we as individuals, have a purpose for being.
And yet, even under these shared circumstances. This mutual acknowledgement of understanding and empathizing with each others plight.
Funny.
That we still struggle.
With things as simple as ourselves.
Jamison Bell Jul 2017
I wish I could zoom in on my world.
Reign in the picture so to speak.
You're angry over your coffee not being prepared to your liking.
I'm a tad irritated at those individuals that think capitalism is the unquestionable means of socioeconomics.
You're excited because your new sheets from Amazon arrived.
I'm pretty happy about that baby elephant at the Pittsburgh zoo.
You're worried your daughter will turn into a liberal.
I'm worried about werewolves, solar flares, and running out of toilet paper.
I know it's all a matter of perspective.
I just can't seem too reel it in.

So do you want to buy a ***** pump?
196 · Oct 2018
Jaxon!
Jamison Bell Oct 2018
I’m sorry my little friend
Sometimes there’s nothing to tout
But that feeling is only temporary
For one day the sun’ll come out

What once was you held on to
Those days long have passed
It was but a dream, it would seem
To think those days would last

Don’t think that I’ll forget you
For that’s something I’ll never do
My life at one point had meaning
And it was all because of you

I don’t know what’ll happen
I don’t know how things’ll be
But to you I’m forever grateful
You brought out the good in me

You go on ahead and live your life
And I hope it’s an amazing one
And know that if I wanted anything
It was to call you my son
196 · Sep 2016
Just you
Jamison Bell Sep 2016
I'm going have another drink. Then I'm going to smoke a little. Afterwards, I'll read until I fall asleep with a book on my chest.
And if my dreams aren't of you. I'll try again.
Jamison Bell Nov 2018
It’s a funny thing.
When you’re forced
To face the fact that it’s an illusion
Reality a rock, shattering these things hoped to be true
So that when the sounds of broken glass have parted
And you’re left to stand amongst the shards
Bleeding and cut up
Looking down to find your reflection in what once was
The piece of a lie
And you hear that rock again
“You have to understand, nobody will ever give a **** about you.”
195 · May 2019
Heartsbane
Jamison Bell May 2019
Ashen words fall from my fingers
Twisted bodies of hope and sadness
Spread across a white floor
A crime scene of my thoughts on you

The moon, the ivory Phoenix of the night
Perches on her shoulder
As she traces her fingers over the corpses
Of the words I’ve murdered in her name

Scarlet clouds form in her steps
In the landscape void of color in my mind
She reigns in a world of my making
That I destroy and rebuild everyday

So as the stars fade into a sapphire hue
At the start of a new song
And the celestial waltz tirelessly continues
I’ll make you the same promise I made yesterday

Always
Jamison Bell Nov 2022
I don’t feel you anymore.
Back when
there was a halo around the moon and stars.
With your feet in my lap.
Cigarette smoke like moments disappeared into the folds between night and day.
You’d sometimes reach out for me.
It was like being noticed by the universe.
You circumvented my illusions.
And for a brief moment.
I mattered.
194 · Jul 2019
I wish I was more like you.
Jamison Bell Jul 2019
Light behaves as both a particle and a wave.
A day on Venus is longer than it’s year.
Polar bears aren’t even white.
Everything I see has already happened so I’m always in the past.
Love is just a biochemical/psychological response to external stimuli.
There’s a good chance nothing is real.
I don’t actually have free will.
The mind named itself.
This could all be a simulation.
There’s real lemon juice in furniture polish but lemonade is made with artificial flavors.
And every decision creates a new timeline.
I guess I’ll have the chicken marsala.
Jamison Bell Feb 2024
The door locked behind me.
So, sorry for that.
I don't know this world.
Or what is expected of me.
I'd go if I could do so without dying.
But you see,
there's this cat.
She doesn't look at me the way you do.
And despite me feeling the same way about you as you do I.
I have to stay.
Because, I can't trust you to feel the same way about her as I do.
193 · Jul 2019
Ya like dags?
Jamison Bell Jul 2019
People,
To me.
Are like puppies.
Adorably naive monsters.
That will inevitably
**** on my life at any given moment.
They’re not to be trusted.
Jamison Bell Apr 2019
I had a dream I didn’t care
My chest was open my heart was bare
I had a dream where I didn’t care
I looked about but you weren’t there
And I won’t sleep while I’m aware
That if I dream you won’t be where
I think I thought I saw you there
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
I simply don't have a reason.
There is no validation.
To continue this existence.
A permanent vacation.

I asked her for some help.
Of which she offered none.
So I'm thinking I should give up.
With this life I think I'm done.

I fell in love a few times.
And it was rather nice.
They never loved me back.
I gave up after thrice.

Now I go about the motions.
Pretending that I'm fine.
Still looking for that reason.
For an answer so devine.

I can't imagine being missed.
Not a single tear will fall.
The void lies within my reach.
For I can hear it's call.

It isn't hope that keeps me going.
It isn't fear that holds me back.
It's the pain inside I relish.
This ****'s like ******* crack.

So perhaps one day they'll find me.
Lifeless, blue, and out of luck.
Something something something.
Something something ****.
192 · Apr 2018
A word, if you please?
Jamison Bell Apr 2018
Your parting lips only serve to decimate. To remind me of what I already know.
How it is and what isn’t real, beginning to twist and intertwine to a point where I can no longer follow any stream of thought with trust.
I roll back. Holding my nose out of habit the dark waters in the back of my mind envelop.
Tranquility doesn’t reside here. There’s no shelter. No rest for the wicked. And I’m wide awake.
Chaos and order dance here. Like Astaire and Rogers. They waltz and spin across a floor of fire and ice. It’s beautiful here and there’s nothing to see.
I write here. I wallow in angst amidst the pages that don’t make sense. Dripping with ink and tears I’ll scratch at the walls in vain for hours. Until. That word that fits comes to me. That word that I hope will drive my point home and scream “*******!” into the deafest ears.
And sometimes I write about you.
My bane. The Achilles’ tendon that keeps me grounded. A reminder of who I’m not. One who cannot be so fortunate but must toil in a pit of my own design.
I’ll emerge from those tranquil waters. My bath that does nothing to cleanse my soul. And I’ll fall again into my role of perpetual sadness. Because I cannot see beyond death. Her wings unfurled before me. Her warm darkness longing to envelop and shroud me from my own reflection.
Where are you my love?
191 · Jun 2017
About time, amirite?
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
Well it finally happened. I've become too depressed to write.
Jamison Bell Jun 2019
She steps in like a Comanche nightmare
To steal away the heart and enslave it to her will
And the sun with its tired fingers, straining to hold on to the day
Sinks like I into the moons of her eyes
The night stirs no empathy from me
As I am alone
Still
Jamison Bell Jul 2019
What would it take?
The breath of me perhaps?
For you to see
The pieces of who I was
Chiseled scraps of memories
Littering the floor around me
Would you have loved that person
Before time took its hammer to me
189 · Jun 2017
I wish it wasn't so.
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
I suffer.
Day in and day out I suffer still.
Under the weight of a mind broken.
You think I don't want to heed your words?
To believe in you?
These things that you say.
They're not true.
They've never been true.
Not when it comes to me.
Perhaps for others, but not I.
I can't.
I want to. With all the conviction of a storm.
So desperately.
Nothing have I wanted more.
Alas though.
I know I don't belong.
Because, broken.
You say nice things.
But they're not meant for me.
188 · Sep 2016
Just another day
Jamison Bell Sep 2016
I have to think.
I have no other recourse.
My defense and my offense.
These things that come to mind.
Slain at birth for the sake of you.

I can't be.
I shouldn't be.
However I am.
Here now.
And I'm still thinking.

At my will kings fall.
Steel forms to my desire.
Anger is aroused when my fingers dance.
Destruction is of my construction.
I haven't stopped since I started.

I won't lie down.
Not with the dogs.
Or the sheep.
I'll tow the line.
To the edge of a cliff.

My ends do not match your means.
188 · Oct 2018
Narcissus
Jamison Bell Oct 2018
You get off on licking your own skin, lapping up that which you sweat.
It’s who you think you are that you love more than anything else.
A trough for the masses who seek to get their fill until you stop smiling.
Misery lies in wait while you bask in the glow of idol worship.
Getting off on getting off until all that’s left is a lie and an empty bottle.
You better hope that that mirror is as good liar as you are to yourself.
188 · Sep 2016
Well wishing
Jamison Bell Sep 2016
You ever think about what it would be like to leave yourself behind?
Just dispose of you the you and everyone else knows.
Venture out into the deep blue nothing in search of everything.
To be the you you always dreamed of being.

To live with reckless abandonment.
Or to take that chance. To risk all your known comforts.
To fall in love haplessly. Or to burn that bridge for good.
Why is it so scary?

Is the unknown that terrifying?
I don't know now what will happen when.
So does it really make a difference?
187 · Jun 2017
Don't I look happy?
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
It's a funny thing.
Loneliness.
You can be surrounded by people and yet have no one to talk to.
You're tempted to try.
To reach out to someone.
But.
You don't want to bother anyone.
So then.
You figure.
There's no sense in being around all these people.
It's just weird.
So you wander off.
In search of.
A quiet moment.
Out of a dream,
a dream you don't wish to have again.
You immerse yourself in thought.
You long to raise your head and see someone standing before you.
You don't dare.
Why do that to yourself?
Because you're a *******.
You look up.
As if the Devil himself raised your chin with *******.
You can hear him laughing when he sees the look of disappointment on your face.
So you take his hand in an act of complacency.
And the two of you while the night away.
Two demons laughing at the moon.
187 · Jul 2017
I ate the last pop tart.
Jamison Bell Jul 2017
Over the devil I don't know.
I'll keep with the devil I do know.
The devil I know is me.
187 · Mar 2019
Fools care
Jamison Bell Mar 2019
My shadow
Featureless, quiet, mysterious
Is a better version of me than I
187 · Jun 2017
It'll get easier.
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
Why do you cry?
Because you.
What about me?
You're not here.
That's no reason to cry.
You don't understand.
I do.
Why did you go?
Because.
Because why?
Shhhh it'll get easier.
No it won't.
With each new day you'll think of me less.
No I won't.
And before you know it, you won't think of me at all.
When?
Someday.
It hurts.
I know. It hurts me too.
Jamison Bell Sep 2016
We stand in the shadows.
Meandering about like blind puppies.
Repeatedly stepping in the **** we leave behind.
We can take off the blindfolds.
We could change things.
We don't dare.
We can't.
We've become to accustomed to the madness.
We've found comfort is the screaming.
Any other sort would only draw suspicion.
The darkness, the moonlight, the silence.
Bearers of our secrets and desires.
187 · Apr 2019
Where were you
Jamison Bell Apr 2019
I keep my head down
Not because I’m sad
But because I know if I look up
There’ll be no one there
187 · Aug 2017
A great Bloody Mary recipe
Jamison Bell Aug 2017
I feel like I've been bleeding for the past 45 years.
And you'd think by now I'd be smiling.
There were too many mistakes. Too many things said and unsaid.

Countless conversation soaked in whiskey and absorbed into the firelight.
Reflections and things you can trust the flames to never repeat.

I trekked beyond Insanityville to the other side of the tracks.
Alone.

I always just assumed someone would follow me.
I assumed a lot of things along the way.

Much like my life.
I don't know where I was going with this.
Ok so I lied.
187 · May 2017
Don't say it.
Jamison Bell May 2017
Thinking back I have always been the first to say it.
Longing for that mutual connection.
It evades me.
Acting as my shadow.
Always just out of reach.
Playing life's role as Tantalus.
I'll roll and re roll the thoughts in my head.
Before lighting them up and smoking them down to roaches.
Confirming whether or not it's real.
Then and only then will I dare to say it.
Never expecting a reply.
Always hoping they'll say nothing.
Unfortunately.
They'll always say something.
Typically a lie.
Replying in kind or repeating what I've said back to me.
With all the sincerity of a demon who's been ordered to bring back my soul at any cost.
It leaves me feeling void.
It'd be better if they'd said nothing at all.
To instead leave me at the precipice.
Staring into the sun to blind me in assurance that from then on I'd have nothing to look forward to.
It hurts when I hear them say it.
Why bother?
To placate me?
To salvage what's left of me in thinking it's what I want you to say.
Save your declarations for those of whom you honestly feel.
Leave my words for dead.
Because they'll never mean as much to you as you do to me.
So just leave the "I love you" to hang there in the silent night.
Hold your hapless tongue and go.
My ego needs not your pity.
186 · Nov 2017
A nursery rhyme
Jamison Bell Nov 2017
Existence is meaningless
Life is absurd
And yet we carry on

Watching soccer
*******
And worrying about the lawn

Nodding our heads
Appearing to care
Wishing we were numb

Woefully staring
Out into space
In envy of the dumb

And you may feel
Dead inside
Hopeless and exhausted

Lemme assure you
As life goes
You have yet to be accosted

It only gets worse
Better’s a lie
Even the devil hates it here

Life is pain
And pain is life
I hope I’ve made that clear

So cheers to you
Best of luck
I hope you make it out alive

Try to live a little
Instead of
Just survive
185 · Aug 2016
Not bloody likely
Jamison Bell Aug 2016
I wonder if anyone has ever thought about me as much as I've thought about them.
185 · May 2022
It’ll be too late
Jamison Bell May 2022
I have this weird feeling that how I mattered won’t be revealed until I’m gone. And I can’t help but wonder why.
What good will it do me then?
185 · Jul 2017
Leave it blank.
Jamison Bell Jul 2017
The lady in white asked me
"Is there anyone we can call?"
"No."
"You must have someone."
She said.
"Nope."
"Everyone has someone."
"You're not helping."
So it's not bad enough I went into cardiac arrest? You have to remind me that I have no emergency contact?
184 · Mar 2022
How I met your mother
Jamison Bell Mar 2022
So then I told her I toss off dolphins as part of my charity work.
She talked about her ex, the pastor, and I said that he’s a ****.
Her sweaty calloused hands then seized upon my thigh.
I know it’s called vitiligo but her face just looked like rye.
The night was going swimmingly so I ordered another drink.
I put it on her tab again and asked about her kink.
She said she’d like to have dumpster *** and probably get chinese.
I scattered soiled diapers down so she wouldn’t hurt her knees.
We ordered teriyaki sticks and I think she got chow mein.
I took a cab and let her walk as she said she liked the rain.
Back at her apartment she was over thirty minutes late.
I said she owed me **** and there would be no more debate.
Well I didn’t like the **** and I probably wasn’t very clear.
So that’s why I’m in the hospital, now tell me why are you in here.
Jamison Bell Sep 2019
Tracing fingers through the puddles of condensation laid out by a sweating rocks glass. Tangent timelines spreading out across the cosmos like dendrites reaching for that forgotten memory.
I live with the apparitions left behind by the things you’ve said. They follow me around from place to place. They smoke with me, they drink with me, and they remind me. Every single ******* day, they remind me. That you were right.
You laughed when I gave the Devil his cut because you think he doesn’t exist. And yet he does. In the details. The fine print to the contract we signed with our first breath that reads you can try and try and try and the Devil may care if you do but you probably never will. And that’s just the first lick from the whip you have to take and they don’t get any softer.
The ghosts of your words not withstanding. I still check my phone. They laugh at me but I do it anyway. It’s like holding my hand to a candle every five minutes to see if it still burns. So to keep the blisters at bay. I trace out lines in the condensation until the moisture runs out and I began again. Like I do everyday. Without you.
184 · Nov 2018
Fool’s Fool
Jamison Bell Nov 2018
Don’t presume to think that they love you, because the truth is that they don’t.
Nor should you ponder whether they’ll want you, because the truth is that they won’t.
They tried to warn you ahead of time, they were trying to save you the trouble.
Apparently they saw your future, just your dreams in ash and rubble.
You didn’t listen, you held on to hope to think it was at least worth a try.
Now you drink, you smoke, and curse. Because you believed in your own lie.
184 · Jun 2017
So?
Jamison Bell Jun 2017
So?
Where were you,
when they came back for me?
When hope left.
When doubt came back.
While the rain fell hard
and the moon hid.
Where were you?
I waited.
Where were you?
Jamison Bell Dec 2018
You have any idea
What it’s like to be a nihilist
******* everyday
Knowing nothing still exist

The scenery turns grey
And no more light gets cast
Contemplating nothingness
Any **** could be your last

(sigh) please bear with me
Lack of hope has made me nauseous
You people are ******* crazy
So one must be a little cautious

Look it’s not personal
You’re just not over here
Perhaps if you met me in the middle
Then we could have a beer

Until then my wayward friend
You keep safe your hope and faith
Just keep it over there
Your overcompensating wraith

Look it’s just not easy
You’re all so happy and delusional
Just makes me kind of wonder
If your crazy is institutional

Don’t you see it doesn’t matter
What anyone believes
All that’s certain is uncertain
You’re not the only one who grieves

So step down from your podium
And hand me Schrödinger’s cat
You could say that cat’s the doctor
Which makes you my friend, a rat
Jamison Bell Sep 2017
You were like the rays of sunlight that commit b and e on my house.
Unlike those pesky photons I didn't know what you wanted.
Perhaps you were like them. Perhaps you yourself had travelled almost 93 million miles and just need to rest yourself in the back of my mind.
An amber spark that reminds me to do the right thing.
Bending my will be ****** to the mystery that is her.
She's an unexpected contingency to a life void of contingencies.
I'm no longer who I was and I will never be again who I am now.
You had no right. Your actions were warrantless and your condemnation of my perpetual misery was reckless and without forethought.
Resigned, undefined, and out of line.
She. Her. Pacing. Back and forth back and forth.
Wearing a path in the floor of my thoughts.
Is there no drug, no place, no piece of a field for some peace of mind?
Jamison Bell Oct 2017
Ever feel relegated?
Trying to climb out of a hole filled with mud.
A relentless pursuit for freedom against an onslaught of forces beyond your control.
Even when the rain lets up and life seems to have turned in your favor.
You’re still in a ****** hole.
Eventually you just become so exhausted.
You start to think that you belong in that mud hole.
That you’re just not good enough to be up there in the light.
You were relegated to that hole.
And it’ll never matter.
You will never matter.
It’s just you and a shitload of mud.
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