Julie Butler: Favorites

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Melinda Éva

Cigarettes filled
the void in our lungs
until we filled that place
with each other,
dependent on something
full of life
instead of something
that fills us with death

...because I want to live

#love #life #death

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Apu Used to Tell Me

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Melinda Éva

Apu Used to Tell Me

Apu used to tell me,
as storms would haunt the night,
that the lightning was from God's camera
taking a picture of all that He treasured
The thunder was the rolling film
ready for another capture
And the rain was from the angels
crying at how beautiful His creation was

…and still is

#love #poetry #family #blessed

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Empty Hands

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Melinda Éva

Empty Hands

"If I take what I have
am I holding on to anything at all?"
This life I'm leading,
is it one with substance?
I don't want to reach for water
only to have it trickle though my fingers
leaving me with cold, empty hands
covered in scars to prove my struggle
but void of anything physical to show for it
as I sink into the holding place
of forgotten things
I want to flourish in the sea,
have the waters hold me above,
rock me back and forth
as a sort of comforting gesture,
and feel the warmth of the sun
as I float further into the horizon
forgetting to look back
"I'm never coming back again"

Inspired by the song "Anything" by From Indian Lakes

#poetry #hope #thoughts #water #inspiration

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Buried

Aug 2015 Julie Butler

Melinda Éva

Buried

As you fall to sleep you tend to lay
as if you'll be buried where you stay
Your back to your sheets, arms over your chest,
head heavy on your pillow as you seep into rest
I question if you're breathing, still hanging on
barely able to see your chest rise and then fall
But the moment you turn your head over toward me
my heart jumps at the thought of your eyes opening
I'll fall weak to your warm, resonating stare
and bury myself next to your body there

#love #death #sleep #admire

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Around and around

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Olga Valerevna

Around and around

How do I express this without taking it too far
I'll lend you both my eyes so I can show you what you are
We'll put our feet in places where the sun is always ours
And lay beneath the open sky to watch it fill with stars
The air that I am breathing through the lungs that you provide
Is something like the lightest breeze I want to keep inside
I'll listen to your stories as the melodies unfold
And put them in my pockets, they'll continue being told
Remember where you're going let me follow while I can
I'll meet you on the other side of everywhere I am

finding your happy place

#happy #place

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Insignia

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Olga Valerevna

Insignia

Enough with all the anger, enough with all the skin
I'm tired of the people that I've been letting in
This nothingness is lonely and more than I can take
I want to be remembered as nobody's mistake
To sing at every silence and hum at every word
Put all of it in poems that everybody's heard
I'd like to sit in thicket and let it swallow roots
That flourish into gardens and harvest many fruits
Without the fear of waiting or wanting to escape
Release the sense of longing for somebody someday
The thought of it is simple and easy on the eyes
A mess of little secrets I've come to recognize

all a shambles

#eyes #mess #secrets

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Heavy Treads

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Olga Valerevna

Heavy Treads

if i can't sleep beside you i don't want to sleep at all
i'd rather be an orphan in the places where i fall

and i'll continue living like i never had a home
make everywhere i'm going just another place to roam

there's not a single step that i can purposely explain
but all of them collectively are holding fast today

it's not the kind of feeling you could ever even dream
i'm nothing but myself the days i'm nothing like i seem

some days weigh more than others

#days #heavy #tread

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

In the 3rd world

Jul 2015 Julie Butler

Olga Valerevna

In the 3rd world

what is fairness in the eyes of those who never see
a life outside of here and there where everything just bleeds
it's in the roots and fills the veins with water lacking air
and breaths are shortened all the more until there's nothing there

if what we had was only this imagine what you'd do
so realize it's been this way for many people who
have told themselves the world exists to burn up what they have
the end is often yesterday tomorrow musn't last

for the people who truly live one day at a time because tomorrow may be worse, it may not come at all

#tomorrow #yesterday #theworld