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 Feb 2016 Jayanta
Jordan Frances
Where I'm from
Most kids have never heard the words
"We can't afford that."
Where I'm from
Is marked by men in business suits
Who always seem to work a little too late
Where I'm from
No love for my curves.
"Are you really going to eat that?"
My largeness makes me a target
Where I'm from
Closet bulimics
Binge drink and purge in the morning
Fakeness is the measure of success
Why do you think the popular girls all look the same anyway?
Where I'm from
They act like choosing between a salad and a burger
Is actually a ******* decision.
Where I'm from
****** problem
Know at least three people who lost the light in their eyes
Because the monster blew out the candle
Where I'm from
It might as well be snowing year round
The people are so cold and white
Where I'm from
Nearly every parent is a narcissist
Believes their child is the next Ronald Reagan
He is their idol, after all
Where I'm from
There is no "two-party system"
Republicans win every local election
Where I'm from
They value the sanctity of life
Until one of those lives is an unarmed person of color
Then their tongues become laced with haughtiness and gunpowder
Where I'm from
Makes excuses for bad cops
Welcome to Small Town, America
Where we decorate our racism with jewelry
That way, no one knows the extent of its ugliness
Where I'm from
I ask questions, get shot down
Like Trayvon's body as it lies like an arrow in the street
Why is his life worth less than mine?
Where I'm from
Thinks abortion is ******
If we care so much about babies
Why do we not care that Tamir Rice was twelve
When his last breath was forced from his collapsing lungs?
A baby.
Where I'm from
My privilege becomes a loaded gun
But I will not fire
I try to keep the safety on
Safety on
Because I know I have the potential
To act on the only way of existing
That I have been taught
Where I'm from
At least half my friends' parents were divorced
I was told lying to get ahead
Is better than speaking up
Here is my voice for those who have been silenced by oppression
Where I'm from
Has shown me you cannot outgrow your bloodline
I have betrayal in my background
This is who I was meant to be
Where I'm from
They taught me to pray
So I pray daily
That these hands with the potential to shoot
Will instead pave roads for people
Who cannot currently walk down the street
Without the fear of taking their last steps.
Inspired by Clementine von Radic's "My Hometown"
For Trayvon, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice and countless others.
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
That One Guy
I was so scared.
Scared I'd revert back
To become who I was before you.

Simply wanting you
Is not love to me,
Even though such thoughts
Cross my mind constantly.

Love is doing everything
To make sure you find comfort.
It's knowing that you are safe
Whether it is with me
Or with another.

Knowing someone else puts a
Smile on your face
Hardly hurts
Compared to the rest I feel for you:
More than words can say.
More than anything.

I want nothing more
Than to see you happy.
Maybe not with me;
Maybe it is with him.

But in my mind,
It's you that matters.
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
Gigi Tiji
Untitled
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
Gigi Tiji
there is a thing
this thing is not a part of anything
and this thing is not a physical thing either
as such it is not a part of space
and does not take up space

what is the location of this point?
from where did it come?

physical things emerge from space.
from where does this point emerge?

the point emerges from a place that is pointless
what is this pointless place from which this point became?
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
PrttyBrd
Your presence is tangible
Across the vast expanse
Yet, I hear not your voice
I feel not your longing
Mine, is the only heart I hear
Alone, for the first time in eternity
Alone, wrapped in your essence
Just a whisper of warmth
A choice all your own
To be alone
A choice that you have forgotten
Includes me
For we flow throughout each other
Still, here we are
I feel you trying not to feel me
And I close my eyes
Praying death over a life that begins here
And ends without you
'tis not a choice could I make
'tis not a life...alone
2716
I adore you
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
Katlyn Orthman
My lung expand
Slowly they deflate
I'm breathing in
Just a bit too late

My heart contracts
It beats inside
My lips are raw
From the pain I hide

Biting at them
I chew to think
My nails were perfect
And now they shrink

These thoughts are constant
They never end
I wear a mask
And play pretend

My stomach is empty
I hate to eat
I loathe the feeling
It's too complete

And I am broken
A jagged mess
After all these feelings
You confessed

I'm slowly gathering
My parts again
To build my mask
And play pretend
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
nivek
Spirit World
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
nivek
Its a longing natural as nature
wanting and needs in the balance

When all you feel is ready to disappear
dissolve, come apart,

To reform
in the spirit world.
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
katie
the world
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
katie
last night the world slipped in
quietly through my window;
police sirens, car alarms,
church bells, rainstorms
collecting in a pool
on my bedroom floor,
coffee cups clinked and
kettles boiled,
babies were born and
ashes were thrown
and though I was tired
I stayed up all night listening;
the collective madness
of the world
lulled me back to sleep
and i woke with its bitter
sweet taste on my tongue;
craving more.
 Feb 2016 Jayanta
aviisevil
so immersed was I
in my dreams
I forgot that the sky
was perhaps more empty
than full of my being
that clouds weren't real
my fingers scarring through them
and when the sun woke
I was sleeping still then
to be made in the dark
in the moonlight when
I was not there yet
but I was afraid of them
every whisper I could not hear
the rain I could not bear
falling from an empty sky
full of stars
from am endless horizon
painted with scars
and I remember watching
the mountain crumble
I remember walking
in a boundless december
tasting the winds of winter
echoing the last summer
when I was not cold
when I was still who I was
the man in the mirror
only a child without life
on the edge and alive
now I let go
of everything
with every melancholic breath
and now I realize
perhaps it was all
in my head
every door and wall
every tear that falls
I wish someday I can forget
what I never came to know
as they put me to rest
it was all in my head
they were all inside my head
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