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 Sep 2016 John Rameu
R
surviving
 Sep 2016 John Rameu
R
This is what surviving looks like

falling apart
yet holding together
crumbling down
yet standing tall
 Sep 2016 John Rameu
Steff
I don't need you to save my life,
I just want something beautiful
To make me feel alive.

But if you were to be at my side
To help me through the days,
You know I wouldn't mind.
You never see the world the way it is,
You've never felt cold, hard truth;
Your heart isn't whole, or close to it,
Though it's never been torn in two.
They’re all around us, affecting our lives in unseen ways, causing worry, hesitation, confusion, anxiety, avoidance.

They bring us to our knees.

Fears control us in ways we never realize, unacknowledged and more powerful because of their unknown workings.

Fears stop us from following our dreams, from taking risks, from pursuing love, from seeking adventure, from speaking in public, from going into the unknown, from starting a new venture, from reveling in discomfort. We procrastinate, overeat, find distractions, because of fear. We are seized with constant worry, from fear.

And yet, these fears are just clouds.

They float into our field of vision, unbidden and unwanted, like a dark stormy cloud. We get caught in the rainshower and thunder, and feel that this is our entire world. We immerse ourselves in this cloud, as if there’s nothing outside of it and it will never go away.

But the cloud will pass.

The cloud floats away, like anything else. It’s nothing to run from. It’s just a passing cloud.

So watch the cloud of fear arise, acknowledge it, and watch it float away, like any other thought. Enjoy the chill of the shadow and the wind as it passes over you.

Then step into the sunshine of the present moment, beautiful and joyous now that the cloud has passed.

In each moment, we are OK. Even when fear arises, we are OK. Learn to trust in this OK-ness, the goodness of the present moment, the enough-ness of you, right now.

See the fear pass, and see that you’re still OK.

Once you develop this skill of watching the fear pass, and trusting in your OK-ness and enough-ness, you are equipped to deal with life, and get up off your knees.
Something worth sharing.
I'm riding in the backseat of the car,
drawing on the window,
dressed in winters best.
I just want to lay in bed,
hear your thick southern accent,
and fold into you over and over.

But I'm taking you for granted,
I was wild, I didn't know what I had then.
That love is something i'll never have again,
or at least, I haven't found it yet.
I live for the day that you'll wake up,
and come back,
but you never do.

I've filled up enough journals about you,
to write a blog of all the days,
all the weeks, all the months,
and all the years I spent without you.
But this isn't the notebook,
you may be noah, and I might be allie,
but you're never coming back.

There won't be a day that you'll see my face in the paper,
and come running back to see what it is you've been missing,
we won't reflect, and build new memories,
you've already established yourself one hell of a life i'm sure,
and i'm still wild, ending up as the one thing you wished I'd never be.
Truthfully, I think you'd love me now.
If you ever woke up, and came back,
but you never do, and never will.

So this is a memoir written to the girl at sixteen,
who under-appreciates your conversation and guidance,
I'd tell her be sweet, be loving, be kind.
You never know what the future might hold,
cherish what you have, because one day, it will be gone.

But it's time to grow up,
that sweetheart of a boy is long gone,
and it's time for his book to come to a close.
You can't keep hoping and wishing one day he'll come looking,
wondering what you're doing, where you ended up, or if you're alive at all.

You can't keep hoping he'll reach out,
and come back as a white knight,
to whisk you away to that wonderland in your mind.
Because he won't.
So do what you can now,
love yourself, find happiness for yourself,
and close the book.

To the girl I was at sixteen,
you're a fool,
but I know you won't listen,
you never do.

To the girl who had her head in the clouds,
and never thought to see what was in front of you,
it's okay, because one day you'll stop,
you'll realize you made horrible mistakes.
One day, you'll wake up,
and he'll leave you for someone else,
and he'll be happy.
Oh, I'm sure he'll be happy.
Because she probably would never treat him,
quite like you do.

So close your eyes,
you'll wake up tomorrow in time for school,
and just do me a favor,
and cherish those years while you can,
because twenty-three won't bring much promise,
I know this much better than you.

To the girl I was at sixteen,
one day you'll forgive yourself for all of the mistakes you'll make,
and you'll be beautiful, have your own house, your own car,
you'll be an artist, a writer, and everyone you know and hold dear,
oh, they're going to love you.

The arguments with your grandmother,
they're never going to get easier,
so listen to the boy with ocean eyes,
and just say yes ma'am, and let her walk away.

One day, you're going to be beautiful,
and nothing anyone says will matter.
You'll start to have it all figured out,
and when depression takes hold,
just say no, not like this, not now.
Close your eyes.
Don't give up so soon,
because one day you'll be loved,
I know this better than you.

Close the book,
Set it down,
what's meant to be will be,
we don't know what the future holds,
but don't worry, don't cry,
because life goes on.
 Sep 2016 John Rameu
Nina May
You've made the waves move
and time too
Replacing the rivers with springs
Where sweetness flows through evergreen
Not perfect no, but just close
Trees with shade, and shadows
I think of the life in the water around me
Not the danger of drowning
Diving into what was once murky
Not crystal clear, but just close
Blunt, abrupt, your waves surround me
But I can still resurface
Diving into what was once murky,
I can see the life around me.
There may be times when swimming is trivial
But with calm waters I may float
And if I sink, I’ll swim a little farther down
To feel the life around me, and to look up at the surface
If this freedom does not last, and the rivers turn to ebony
I will have the memory, of all your waves,
And the timeless shades and shadows of the three springs.
 Sep 2016 John Rameu
Mark Lecuona
I just don't know
I can only think about how it makes me feel

I will never know the word numb again

What is more raw than going there?
Let's go there

I want to think about IT

You giving your storms to another bird
You giving your oceans to another ship

They can only survive you

The dark separates the light from itself
But the dark is how to find the light
It always happens before the light
Like a porch waiting for the sun to dry itself off
You have to walk through it
You can't turn back
Time never does
The earth rotates the same way

North is north until the curve makes it south

Dark is dark
Until it's not

Because what happened, happened
You already were there

It's gonna repeat itself

You have to adjust to it's appearance its not going away you can't forget it's you or instead what happened to you your choice pick one

All the pages are soaked
You wrote them
Then tried to burn them
But your tears put out the fire
That's why you cry
To put out the fire
Put it out
Or let it burn
But do you want to burn

Or be a survivor?
 Sep 2016 John Rameu
H W Erellson
Out on the runway, screaming at grey engines
how did he not open his stomach up in front of the T.V.?
how did Tommy go on living,
the boy never showed, they were to fight at 3, after school
who will I fight now? Who will I hurt?
Who has survived the drowning
Black Atlantic,
bone nails clawing to shore,
writhing in the black tentacles
of scuba gear.
Who stalks the land anew;
unafraid.
for Max, whose wounds are fresh, but healing.
The epiphanies of my failures
and the reaper of reputations
strip me to the bone
strip me to the bone, and leave me bare to dry
licked repeatedly by the incinerating
UV rays of humanity.
Care not for me.
Care not.
Hold me never.
Laugh, laugh and walk away.

Left to my own, my ingenuity.
I build myself, I create myself.
I unbrainwash myself!
Years of reconstruction.
I succeed to emerge a greatness.
An inner entity of amazement.
No one understands.

Failure?  I wonder..
Pain always lingering in the depths.
Inadequacies, *******.
I push past, deal with, and battle face to face.
To leave dismembered on the floor.
Step on it, stomp it deep.
plunge it down to surface again in light.

ME
hold me, love me if your able.
Never take for granted,
my soul, not of this life.
This place, these people, this society.
I am light.
Capable of so many inconceivable things.
I am light
I need only when I let myself need.
I need you, only if to see me.
The true me,
The me no one can possibly see.
I cry, I love, I feel, I am awakened!

© Crystal Erickson 11/24/07
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