3 | 31 Poems for August 2017

Love, I understand, that I may never fully understand you.
I want the chance to always hold you tight like a pair of Levi’s jeans.
It doesn’t really matter whether they are black or blue.
As long as these hands always get the chance to hold and caress you.
Love, I know you want the world but I can only give you mine.
It’s not much but I hope it gradually becomes a place where you’ll always want to spend some quality time.
On days when it gets harder to breathe or speak, I recommend *****.
You’re a woman with substance and I’m drawn to your melanin.
Beautiful cocoa butter skin, what’s there not to love about you?
Your love is never enough; I’m always left yearning for more.
In a world ravaged by cold wars, we need to know what we’re fighting for.
I understand that I may never understand the struggles you always go through.
Life will bend and stretch the both of us into painful shapes and that’s why we all need someone to talk to.
Sometimes we tend to forget how it feels when someone listens.

You’re more than just dimples, curves and a pretty face.
You’re more than just punchlines, metaphors and similes.
You are a woman with substance and I’m drawn to your melanin.
Each day I find more reasons to fall deeper in love with you.
On days when it gets easier to breathe and speak, I recommend wine.
I understand, that I may never fully understand you.
But after all, what’s the world without enigma?

2 | 31 Poems for August 2017

How are you so certain of a love that you’ve never truly experienced, but only seen in your dreams?
The love and faith you have in our future endeavours has got me listening to Love in the Future for hours on end.
I am not having any second thoughts about us, I’m just doubtful of the intensity of my love lately.
I have honestly lost count of how many times we’ve broken up – I’ve never been good at math anyway.
I’ve had to acquaint myself with the truth just so I could look you straight in the eyes without flinching.
Love me unconditionally until the day when you can finally feel my heart rapidly beating inside your chest.
Somehow love has eluded me ever since we’ve parted ways so I’ve been avoiding commitment these days.
I keep doing this thing wrong and constantly putting myself in places and spaces that I don’t belong.
On some nights, I sporadically smell your perfume on the white cotton sheets of my memory.

1 | 31 Poems for August 2017

I’m embracing the flaws that I have been blessed with.
Thoughts scatter like rain when your head lives in the clouds.
It’s amazing how people always find these hands of mine incredible.
They admire how these hands constantly transform simple words into beautiful poetry.
What more can I tell you?
I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms.
I’m a lover without a lover, but never loveless plus I write poems on the pages of people’s hearts.
I met a girl with a soul like a library and every time I see her, she keeps getting thicker than the plot does.
I guess that it’s no mystery why I am obsessed with reading, I always have a book in my hand no matter the season.
For days on end, I’ve been yearning for my love to be intensified by the pulchritude of someone’s presence.
When you look at me, what do you see in my place?
I still yearn for soulful conversations filled with happiness, love and laughter.
The kind of conversations that will be accompanied with red wine and music by Emeli Sandé, Sade or Erykah Badu.
What more do you want to know?
I’ve fallen in love with my own solitude, but lately loneliness has gradually begun to creep in like a thief in the night.
Love is blind and that I already know, but I never want to write these words without a muse.
Love is not a mystery; it’s every beautiful thing that I ever wanted it to be.

Jen, never worry because I promise you that everything is going to be okay.
Your mind is as breathtaking as views from Table Mountain and your love is as beautiful as the Sistine Chapel.
Life for us was different a few weeks ago, silhouettes of dreams keep me holding on to a different hope.
Two minds flooded with dopamine, our disagreements show that we have more issues than weekly magazines.
But our love proves that nothing has changed in regards to the connection that we share.
I still write about you in hopes that one day you’ll read all these words and hopefully find your way back to me.
The moment that you opened up your eyes, I was right there by your side and my love for you comes as no surprise.
When my blue skies have turned grey, I listen to that one Emeli Sandé song and reminisce about you every single day.
So babe, it’s okay you can hold me now, hold me down and hold me always.
Listening to Long Live the Angels and taking note of the colours in my dreams.
When the relentless heat of the summer sun drove me crazy all I could think about was your smile and those beautiful brown eyes.
I’ve come to accept that love is a part of me even when it’s apart from me.
Jen, never worry because I promise you that everything is going to be okay.

I’m walking away from vulnerability and closing my heart off, I’m better off using my heart less.
I was close to the cliff like Clair Huxtable but a part of me felt like jumping off.
I probably look like a fool right now, expressing all my feelings in full right now.
I’m hurting and I know that I’m not perfect; the weight of all these words has gradually become a burden.
You are the words I tried to say when my mouth was shut and my larynx was flooded with silence.
Heartbreak comes in the morning when the sun is shining, when the wind is blowing and my coffee has gone cold.
Forever is a myth and the future is uncertain; the weight of all these words has gradually become a burden.
Somewhere in my heart there’s a void, a void that I hopelessly walk around trying to avoid.
You made letting go seem so easy, detachment was always something you were good at.
I wish that you receive everything that I couldn’t give to you, there’s so much of myself that I could sacrifice.
I hope that it was all worth it – you abandoning the home you’ve made in me.
A friend once told me, *“Don’t make homes out of people because they always leave and take everything you own with them.
Or better yet, they stay and ruin everything you’ve worked so hard to build.”

I get high off my lows when my life is rapidly moving out of control.
I wish someone had told me that drugs come in the form of people too.
I love waking up whole to the bonfire of a warm and loving soul.
But I know that you will eventually grow tired of me somehow they all do.
Diligently dealt with depression before and I’ve been silently subjected to a detrimental allure.
This obsession with depression will have me in a state of regression.
I have visions of nightmares when the night stares, this is my confession.
I have been falling apart while trying to piece together my broken heart.
Love does not know the pain it heals and pain does not know the love it seeks.
The doors of my closet lead to a graveyard that has been burdened with my endeavours of trying to be someone worthy of your love.
Depression hit harder than the recession, it had me regressing and constantly questioning my level of progression.
I wish someone had told me that drugs come in the form of people too.
If someone alerted me then I wouldn’t have fallen so deep in love with you.

You were always online but never on line in all ways.
For days on end, my calls and messages would go ignored and unanswered.
I left my heart far away from the margin on a page that was carelessly ripped out from my book of thoughts.
Forever is a myth and the future is uncertain; the weight of all these words has gradually become a burden.
At around 2 a.m. in the morning I am usually up thinking about you with no hope of finding sleep.
I am usually up listening to a wide variety of songs that exceptionally complement my melancholic mood.
It’s hard walking away from a girl whose arms I’ve always wanted to run into.
What should I do now with the love that I’ve always wanted to give to you?
As I toss and turn, my earphones inevitably become as tangled up as the words I’ve tried to say to you.
The words that I have tried to say to you are now slowly suffocating me.
These words keep depriving me of the air that I need to breathe when I think about the greatness that we both could be.
Forever is a myth and the future is uncertain; the weight of all these words has gradually become a burden.

I love you and always will but I can no longer beg or force you to stay.
I don’t know how much more pain and heartbreak my heart can take.
Don’t fall in love with a poet because your heart will break and you know it.
I wish someone had told me that before I fell so deep in love with you.
Within your circle of friends someone knew that you were falling in love with someone new.
But you kept me waiting all this time just so you could let me down like gravity.
I gave you the galaxy but somehow you still needed more space – that was very imprudent of you.
My Buzz Lightyear heart was willing to love you to infinity and beyond.
The buzz my love gives out could last for light-years so this is more than just another toy story.
Love does not know the pain it heals and pain does not know the love it seeks.
It’s hard walking away from a girl whose arms I’ve always wanted to run into.
What should I do now with the love that I have always wanted to give to you?
Someone knew that you were gradually falling in love with someone new.
You should have known where I was coming from; I was doing just fine before you came along.
Someone knew that there was a possibility that I closed myself off from loving someone new because of you.

Don’t make homes out of people because they always leave and take everything you own with them.*
Home doesn’t feel like home without you and because of that I’ve stopped building homes out of people.
But I saw the beauty of the world in your eyes and it always gave me hope.
I’ve been feeling homeless and now I’m always home a lot less because of you.
You are as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside and that’s why people are still drawn to your aura.
Depression hit harder than the recession, it had me regressing and constantly questioning my level of progression.
Purple jacaranda petals spread all around my feet as I patiently wait for my heart to make a sound.
This hopeful romantic knows that hearts get broken like mirrors, records and promises do.

All the jacaranda trees in Pretoria still remind me of the beauty that is you.
When the relentless heat of the sun drove me crazy all I could think about was your smile and those hazel-brown eyes.
I spend some nights drinking my favourite wine by myself but this bottle of Pinotage will always taste better in your presence.
I still want to hold your heart like the lonely autumn trees hold the fragility of clinging leaves.
But you’re no longer mine to love and the thought of you being with someone else kills me.
Hearts fall to the ground like jacaranda petals do but unfortunately the view is not so beautiful.
Purple jacaranda petals spread all around on every street as I patiently wait for my heart to make a sound.

It’s funny how things change,
you used to mean everything to me.
Just so you know, only dead fish go with the flow
and I’ll never be a “go with the flow” type of lover.
I don’t ever want to wade into love with you.
I want you to love me wholeheartedly
but if that’s something you don’t know how to do,
then maybe you should pack up your uncertainty
and just move on with the rest of your life.
It’s funny how things change,
you used to mean everything to me.

My earphones are as tangled up as the words that I’ve tried to say to you.
The words that I’ve constantly tried to say to you are now suffocating me.
Depriving me of the air I need to breathe when I think about what we both could be.
Here I stand gradually disintegrating just so I can try to remain whole.
I wanted to escape from the cold and nestle myself deep inside your soul.
But you’ve changed now and you’re no longer the same person that I fell for.
Allow me to whisper the words that held together the shattering glass that you’ve become.
I know that through their utterance you will finally feel your heart beating to the rhythm of our love again.
My earphones are as tangled up as the words that I’ve tried to say to you.
The words that I’ve constantly tried to say to you are now suffocating me.

i’m walking away from vulnerability
and slowly starting to close my heart off,
i think i’m better off using my heart less.
i was close to the cliff like Clair Huxtable
but a part of me felt like jumping off.
maybe i should leave my heart on Pluto
and consider becoming permanently heartless.
pain and heartbreak come in the morning
when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.
i know i probably look like a fool right now,
expressing all my feelings in full right now.
i have been wracking my brain all day
and constantly wondering what to do right now.
you made letting go seem so easy, i want to be just like you.
detachment was always something you were good at.
i still miss you right after my first cup of coffee in the morning.
i’m losing sleep praying that i’ll be good enough for you.
i know i probably look like a fool right now,
expressing all my feelings in full right now.
mi amor, it’s evident that you’re the one that i adore.
so when i say that you’re the one know that i am sure.
i still miss you right before my last glass of wine in the evening.
love isn’t love if i cannot have the chance of sharing it with you.
i’m losing sleep praying that i’ll be good enough for you.
let’s start over because my heart says that you’re the one.

i know you know that i write too many love poems
but i know that already, so please tell me something new
tell me what you think of No Ordinary Muse or August Blue
i tend to forget about every heartbreak that i’ve ever had
the moment my fingers pick up a pen and write the pain away
lately all these love poems have begun to sound the same
i’m starting to think that my right wrist is getting quite rusty
i don’t know much about the world around me these days
hearts get broken like mirrors, records and promises do
i want to love until my time is up like God left the clock on the ceiling
i write too many love poems lately
because love is something that i can actually understand

31 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I know we’ve both been told not to make homes out of people.
Because once they are gone, we will become lost in the world and slowly begin to feel incomplete.
But you can run into my heart, build a place called home and make it yours.
So when people ask me about your whereabouts, I will just tell them that you are where you finally belong.
Hope you learn to love your thick thighs and those beautiful brown eyes.
You are as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside and that’s why most people are drawn to your aura.
I still want to hold you like the lonely autumn trees hold the fragility of clinging leaves.
Home is where the heart is, it’s where the art is and I never want you to leave.
It won’t matter which book I’ll be reading; your love will always be the scripture that my heart believes in.
The first time there was peace inside my heart was the very first time you began loving me.
I know that I could live off your heart if mine ever stopped beating.
We’ve both been told not to make homes out of people because once they are gone, we will become lost in the world.
But you will never lose me to the wind no matter how hard it blows.
So let me love you wholeheartedly, not in words but with my actions.
I had given up on love and happiness before you walked into my life.
From a distant stranger to an unforgettable muse all the way up to sharing a beautiful view beside you.
Run into my heart, turn those four walls into a home and make it yours.
So when people ask me about your whereabouts, I will just tell them that you are where you finally belong.

30 | 31 Poems for August 2016

You’re introverted in ways that others find offensive.
But you’re different, you’ve acquired my entire attention.
Beautiful cocoa butter skin, your complexion is truly a blessing.
I don’t know what tomorrow brings, I just hope that you’ll be in it.
I don’t know if tomorrow will come but I pray that you’ll be in it.
Sometimes these words fail me, but fortunately you never do.
I often find metaphors in the spaces between your fingers.
I regularly pray to God and unpretentiously thank Him for your existence.
Even though I barely say much, I know He’s always listening.
I often find metaphors encrypted in the midst of your silence.
You can always talk to me; I am always willing to listen to you.
You’re introverted in ways that others find offensive.
You’re different, something that not everyone knows how to love.

29 | 31 Poems for August 2016

The girl with a soul like a library keeps getting thicker than the plot does.
So I guess that it’s no mystery why I am obsessed with reading.
She knows that I always have a book in my hand no matter the season.
The day I realised that words could touch her, I wanted to become a poem.
The type of poem that Rudy Francisco’s pen always dreams about.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s winter or summer, when she is the breeze I can never forget to breathe.
She gently holds me in her hands like her favourite author’s best-selling novel.
She told me to write poetry until my heart runs out of ink and my soul runs out of paper.
The girl with a soul like a library fell in love with me not for my words but because I love reading.
She’s composed of all the love poems my pen never had the courage to write.
Because sometimes the pulchritude of her presence is too heavy for blank pages and simple words.
The day I realised that words could touch her, I wanted to become a poem.
The type of poem that Reyna Biddy’s pen always dreams about.
The girl with a soul like a library fell in love with the boy who loves reading.
Reading the lines on a woman’s skin is poetry and too many men are illiterate.
So they will never truly understand the fact that liberty begins with literacy.

28 | 31 Poems for August 2016

The battle with cancer is won but unfortunately the war is not over.
White sheets and peaceful dreams, this hospital is starting to feel like home but you feel all alone.
You’ve been here for two whole weeks now and the doctor won’t tell us what’s really going on.
Your organs are slowly giving up on you, you feel like something is bound to go wrong.
White sheets and peaceful dreams, sometimes reality is not as clear as it always seems.
I pray to God that He cures you and I pray to God that He hears you, if only cancer was just a star sign.
I hope your family gets here in time, I heard the nurses say that your operation starts at eight.
I’ve been drifting in and out of sleep, I guess you’ll be in the ICU before I see you.
The battle with cancer is won but unfortunately the war is not over.
This whole thing hurts but I try my best not to let my emotions show.
It’s sad to see you drifting away like autumn leaves on a windy street.
I don’t know if heaven will patiently wait for you but I pray that you recuperate.
As soon as your family got here I inevitably cried with the rest of them.
Your days are numbered like a numerical keypad and that’s why you’ve been asking for heaven’s telephone number.
But I pray that you pull through with immense alacrity because the war is not over.
This whole thing hurts but I try my best not to let my emotions show.
White sheets and peaceful dreams, sometimes reality is not as bad as it always seems.

27 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Today I am finally breaking free and slowly stripping away all the things that seem to burden me.
In due time I’ll be fine and I’ll eventually find what makes me laugh and smile.
I’m not where I want to be but give me time, I misplaced my favourite watch.
I need more 808s and less heartbreaks – music that will take the pain away.
I need something that’ll make me forget about my problems just for today.
Love isn’t always magic sometimes it loses its energy and remains static.
But I want to feel it anyway, whether it quickly overwhelms me or slowly begins to fade away.
I am finally breaking free and slowly stripping away all the things that seem to burden me.
I left my heart far away from the margin on a page that was carelessly ripped from my book of thoughts.
My hands are freezing and my heart is bleeding, this whole thing hurts but I try my best not to let my frustrations show.
Before my whole world began to fall apart I knew that I was in too deep like Omar Epps.
All I was trying to do was love you better but I never thought that you’d ever pack your bags and leave.
I am slowly falling apart and all I can think about is gathering the pieces of my broken heart together.
Today I am breaking free and stripping away all the things that burden me.

26 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Wondering how life will pan out from this moment on as ****** by Usher keeps echoing in the background.
Maybe it was wrong of me to have you stay by my side while your mind was already drifting a million miles away from me.
My love and faith will be dissected; you’ll even go as far as quoting me out of context based on the messages that I’ve sent.
But that’s something that I should expect because I’m also at fault like tectonic plates.
Charles once told me that things would change but not always for the better.
He said as long as I prove myself to be King then I’ll eventually find someone as phenomenal as Coretta.
But Charles I’m slowly losing hope, that Skype call we had on August 14th gave me some perspective and maybe I’m doing something wrong.
Because all day I’ve been sitting here all alone while contemplating if I am going nowhere fast.
Wondering how life will pan out from this moment on as Let It Go by James Bay keeps playing on the radio.
Maybe it was wrong of me to have you stay by my side while your mind was already drifting a million miles away from me.

25 | 31 Poems for August 2016

A few months ago you didn't know that I could write or recite like that.
My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines.
If my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished then just know that I wrote from the heart.
I know that love is a beautiful thing but sometimes I feel like its main intention is to tear me apart.
So don’t be too surprised when I tell you that I’m slowly falling to pieces.
The ocean in my muse’s eyes reminds me of the colour of the sky and how I want to dive into the depths of who she is.
The world has made her feel like an abandoned church but in my eyes she’ll always be a cathedral.
She will always be a cathedral and you can say hallelujah or amen to that.
We are from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms.
Went from breaking up, breaking down, breaking through to finally breaking new ground.
So even though I’m hurting now I know I’ll eventually be safe and sound when a new season comes around.
I’m still fascinated by spring, jacaranda petals and the countless anthologies that Mother Nature continues to write.
Reading the lines on a woman’s skins is poetry and too many men are illiterate.
So they will never truly understand the fact that liberty begins with literacy.
My notebook is full of broken masterpieces that fail to come together like contour lines.
Even if my art goes unappreciated, unnoticed, unloved and unpublished I will always write from the heart.

24 | 31 Poems for August 2016

This is not my life, it’s just a temporary façade, if you listen to my voice you’ll discover that it’s my disguise.
I fully acknowledge the fact that I am not perfect but I’d love to believe that I’m worth it.
The hardest part of saying goodbye is seeing me cry and knowing that I’ll no longer get the chance to see you smile.
I wrote this on a Tuesday morning while listening to Siegfried by Frank Ocean while reading the pages of a Dan Brown novel.
I’d build Rome for you in a day and make you forget about all the negative things that critics always say.
Heartbreak comes in the morning when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.
My heart breaks as I try to piece this piece together and hopefully find peace by the end of this masterpiece.
I’m tired like the Michelin Man but I still have great drive like a brand new Bentley or Benz.
Some days I’m more Bukowski than Dickens, flipping through the pages of my life as the plot thickens.
They say perception is flawed and distorted, perception is key and I need to find a locksmith.
Contemplating about unexpected goodbyes while living off a temporary high.
A part of me had already anticipated the heartbreak so this time around the effects were less detrimental.
My eyes and mind are blinded by the love that my heart obstinately believes in.
I’m thankful for your love, you gave me something to believe in but the time has come for me to be leaving.
This is not my life, it’s just a temporary façade, if you analyse my poetry you’ll discover that it’s my disguise.

23 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Say something, and no, I am not giving up on you.
I just want you to listen to Diddy Bop or maybe that Freedom Interlude.
I just want to know if you’re listening to the words that I’m saying.
All that I’m trying to do is live right and give you all the best parts of me.
No matter how hard I try, I can never write a poem as beautiful as you.
I do not know if that says much about me or the words that I constantly use.
Wrote these poems from the heart so every single word you read or hear is guaranteed to be a pulse.
I’ve been digging the soles of my shoes into the ground just to keep myself steady and balanced.
I hope that our love has a happy ending or keeps overflowing until infinity finds a need to end.
Being loved by you and loving you is the only thing that makes sense right now.
I’m banking on you to not withdraw from the love we have both invested in.
I still smell the sweet scent of your presence on the white cotton sheets of my memory.
You are the first love poem that I ever wanted to write back when I didn’t have the courage to.
Say something and I promise that I will follow you anywhere God leads me to.
I’m Lonnie Lynn with the poetry and maybe that explains why we have a lot in common.

22 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I’ve been looking all over for you, so tell me where have you been?
You can’t seem to remember how you got to loving me the way you do.
I wrote this at around 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning while thinking about you.
You will always be my favourite love poem, written on the sands of time.
Now that I’ve finally found you, I never want to write our breakup poem.
I didn’t know how good love felt until the day you began to love me the way you have.
Sometimes my communication skills are as bad as my handwriting is.
But my kisses are as good as my intentions, so you can go ahead and rub your smile onto my lips.
You have become the poems and stories woven in the veins of my loving heart.
You are the reason why I remained whole while my world was falling apart.
I’ve been looking all over for you and I’m glad that I’ve finally found you.
My hands were writing about love long before I knew what poetry was.
But I didn’t know what love was until the day you began to love me.
I’m banking on you to not withdraw from the love we have both invested in.
Even though the world may read the pages of my heart, my poetry will always belong to you.
Now that I’ve finally found you, promise me that you’ll never let me go.

21 | 31 Poems for August 2016

The cuts on her wrists help to express the feelings she cannot put into words.
Despite the pain she feels,  she feels the urge to constantly hurt herself again.
I want to be her sunshine through the rain and be her love through the pain.
She once said "Self-hurt became the only way to cope, I'm hanging by a thread and I hope no one cuts the rope."
Maybe no one will ever truly understand the type of love and happiness that she has begun to humbly demand.
The teenage girl who cuts herself knows that morphine cannot ease her pain.
She bleeds every night and believes that her scars will make her feel all right.
She has been tirelessly walking around with the burden of a broken heart.
She uses countless razor blades just to refrain herself from falling apart.
Mom doesn't know because during the day her scars don't clearly show.
Carefully concealed to avoid the eyes of prying friends, she'd rather converse with a stranger.
Inflicting pain on herself became the only way to cope, she's hanging by a thread and hopes that no one cuts the rope.
The teenage girl who cuts herself is trying to exorcise the demons she has regrettably danced with.
She has wounds a Band-Aid cannot cover and experiences pain that morphine cannot dissipate.
The teenage girl who cuts herself is patiently waiting for love to dominate.
The cuts on her wrists help to express the feelings she cannot put into words.
She believes that her marks and scars will eventually make everything all right.
The day she embraced God's love, her demons questioned the value of their existence.

20 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I began writing this at exactly 03:58 a.m. on a Sunday morning while listening to Charles de Gaulle to JFK by Bas.
Lately I write my most honest pieces during the early hours of Sunday mornings while everyone is still fast asleep.
Wonder what the view is like from Charles de Gaulle to JFK, 30 000 feet in the air.
But anyway, you and I still got bad blood between us like sickle-cell anaemia.
Reminiscing back when I used to be close friends with a girl named Amelia.
Guess we drifted apart as soon as I moved back to Pretoria, maybe the distance dismantled our friendship.
I’ve decided to do this all alone and if anyone’s coming along then let them come along.
I wish I could drift way with the scent of this cup of coffee but a few minutes from now it’ll be colder than your shoulder.
Always wondered if you’d head to Cape Town to go study at that school of brand leadership we always talked about.
But you chose to stay at the Pretoria campus because of certain unforeseen circumstances.
In 2014 I got accepted but unfortunately the tuition was too high like Wiz Khalifa and my mother couldn’t afford it.
That’s why I may have the perception that dreams delayed will always feel like dreams denied.
I’ve been praying for three whole years for a miracle, adjusted my faith and became more spiritual but still nothing has changed.
Guess I’m just young and unlucky; my hands are freezing and my heart is bleeding.
Navigated through space and time just to find the time to give you space.
Words unspoken make way for a silent devotion, this whole thing hurts but I try my best not to let my emotions show.
Wonder what happened, we suddenly stopped talking several months ago.
Maybe you have changed, I just hope that you’ve changed for the better.
I am slowly falling apart and all I can think about is gathering the pieces of my broken heart together.
Maybe you have changed for the better, I guess no one works that hard to stay the same.
My hands are freezing and my heart is bleeding, this whole thing hurts but I try my best not to let my emotions show.

19 | 31 Poems for August 2016

These ideas of nightmares I usually have when the night stares.
I know that I unintentionally pushed you away several times that day.
But listen to me, regardless of what happened I still need you to stay.
I’m trying to make more memories but my Kodak has run out of film.
Maybe I should buy a Canon and digitally capture these moments for forever.
“You’ve got hyperhidrosis but don’t sweat the small stuff” is something I imagine you to say.
The future is uncertain and things inevitably change but I’d love for you to stay.
I could try to act all tough and conceal my fears but I’m as scared as you are.
Back when this connection was ignited, we never thought that we would end up this far.

18 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I want soulful conversations filled with happiness, love and laughter.
A little bit of red wine, Sade, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu will do.
Time is wasted so I patiently wait for the clock to get sober eventually.
The sincerity of my words is embedded in the movement of my verbs.
Hope you learn to love your thick thighs and those beautiful brown eyes.
I want to hold you in my arms until you forget what loneliness feels like.
I read your body like the pages and chapters of a novel that I never want to stop reading.
Reading the lines on a woman’s skin is poetry and too many men are illiterate.
So they will never truly understand the fact that liberty begins with literacy.
If you incorporate piano keys into my heartbeat, then I promise that you will fall in love with the melody.
I want soulful conversations filled with happiness, love and laughter.
A little bit of chardonnay, Maxwell, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu will do.
The world is nothing without you, the world is blurry without my muse.
Hope you learn to love your thick thighs and those beautiful brown eyes.
I don’t have much but I have you and with God on my side how can I lose?

17 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I understand the fact that I am not always easy to understand.
Loving me is complicated and maybe that’s the beauty of it all.
I never really knew how to handle this beautiful thing called love.
So I always thought that someone would be able to show me how.
“You’re not easy to love” are words I’ve heard too many times before.
My hyperhidrosis is evident but how long will you keep on looking?
I know that my smile is flawed and crooked but it’s worth the picture still.
Let me write my wrongs until I’m right within but where should I begin?
Walking through a graveyard littered with my ideas and thoughts.
Littered with my endeavours of trying to be someone worthy of your love.
You don’t believe in me so who am I to tell the world about our story?
Just another spoken-word poet from Pretoria trying to attain his glory.
These words are written with great effort but you never pay attention anyway.
You know that I’ve got hyperhidrosis but I try not to sweat the small stuff.
I never really knew how to handle this beautiful thing called love.
So I always thought that someone would be able to show me how.
“You’re not easy to love” are words I’ve heard too many times before.
My hyperhidrosis is evident but how long will people keep on looking?
I know that my smile is flawed and crooked but it’s worth the picture still.

16 | 31 Poems for August 2016

How can we proceed with ease when we can hardly trust each other?
I have scars that run deep like still waters do – only the ocean can fathom what I’m going through.
I hope the bridges we burn illuminate our paths because the darkness tends to distort our vision.
But you can hardly notice the difference because you always have your eyes closed.
If the truth hurts when I write it, imagine how you’ll feel when you hear it.
I have pain that runs deeper than still waters do – only the ocean can fathom what I’m going through.
You always remained well-composed like a Mozart classic but if the world is your canvas then who’s your muse?
I used to dream about the Grim Reaper driving a Phantom in a graveyard littered with my endeavours of trying to be someone worthy of your love.
My friend Charles once told me that things would change but not always for the better.
But as long as you’re a King then you’ll eventually find yourself someone as phenomenal as Coretta.
No amount of morphine can ease the pain; it may seem insane but I still take pride in the scars I gain.
I have pain that runs deeper than still waters do – only the ocean can fathom what I’m going through.
I hope the bridges you burn illuminate your path because the darkness will distort your vision.
But you will hardly notice the difference because you always have your eyes closed and never really pay attention.

15 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Days gradually getting longer while circles keep growing smaller.
I’m alone in this crowded city but I know that it’s only temporary.
Time is wasted, I guess the clock had too much to drink last night.
Began treating society like varsity, I started not to care if I was accepted.
Dreams I once promised myself to pursue are now forgotten and neglected.
Even if things don’t always go my way, I just hope that everything will be okay.
Sometimes I feel closer to my dreams but then I wake up and realise that it was all in my sleep.
According to my frame of reference, dreams delayed may always feel like dreams denied.
Now I have to put on hold stories about success that urgently need to be told.
Too many times the world has made me feel like an abandoned church, but in your eyes I’ll always be a cathedral.

My confidence levels are getting lower and lower; I can feel it in my sleep.
I’m slowly progressing but progressing nonetheless but I still feel like I’m disappointing myself.
I’m doing my utmost best, the worst thing you could do is compare me to someone else.
I’m still holding on no matter how bad it gets; it hurts but I try my best not to let my frustrations show.
I can’t carry on like this though, eventually I’ll have to let everything go.
Eventually I’ll have to let go and forget everything I ever wanted to be.
Days gradually getting longer while impatient frustrations get the best of me.

14 | 31 Poems for August 2016

In my mind, I can still hear you singing Born Sinner out loud.
I’m patiently pursuing purpose; I hope I’m making you proud.
I’m glad that I got the chance to know someone like you.
I’ve acquired the skill to transform simple words into beautiful poetry but there’s a few people that still doubt.
But those that doubt me and my words will soon believe.
Death is a bit like love, sometimes we don’t see it coming.
We never do, no matter how many melancholic memories we endure or how much pain we go through.
You never let anyone negatively alter you, you chose to stay true.
It may be too late but for that I salute you.
In my darkest days you always pulled me through.
It may be too late but for that I humbly thank you.
Now that you’re gone, my eyes have been barbed by pain and sorrow.
All the time I have is borrowed so I can’t be too worried about tomorrow.
You always danced to life’s rhythm, you were one to never press pause.
In my darkest hours I take the time to let your memory shine.
At least I got the chance to love and know someone like you.
You’ve slipped away and nothing can fill this pain.
I didn’t get the chance to say all I had to say.
I wasted too many hours and now it’s too late.
You’re gone now, living in a better place.
You’re gone now and I can no longer find you.
So in my darkest hours I’ll always take the time to let your memory shine.
I hope to feel the warmth of your presence in all the broken parts of me.
In my mind, I can still hear you singing songs by Emeli Sandé out loud.
I’m patiently pursuing purpose; I hope I’m making you proud.
The world may have taken you away but at least I had the chance to love you.

13 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Listen to the love and freedom embedded in every figure of speech.
I pray that these words bless all the beautiful souls that they reach.
It’s weird how we find comfort in the pain we allow ourselves to feel.
According to the stats, some people live outside their means like outliers.
Pass the herbs so I can pass these words then maybe we can pass the word.
Sometimes my thoughts tend to overflow to the rim so it’s only necessary that you jump in and swim.
Feel the rhythm in my ghetto cries and urban blues.
As I write and recite poems reminiscent of those by Maya Angelou, Jasmine Mans and Langston Hughes.
God hears our prayers so I know that we are all going to be alright.
Luyanda told me that I can conquer the world as long as I have Jesus so who am I not to follow greatness?
You need to know the value of life before it gets taken away from you.
Will you be a victim of the past or pay homage to your mother’s womb?
I need peace of mind before there comes a time when my mind ends up in pieces.
Nobody ever listens but you appreciate my ghetto cries and urban blues.
So allow me to write and recite poems reminiscent of those by Maya Angelou, Rudy Francisco and Langston Hughes.

12 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I never knew that hearts could get played like grand pianos do.
The notes are exquisite but the pain and heartbreak are obviously not.
Maybe it is true; maybe my love is as bad as my handwriting is.
Maybe that explains why past lovers never had the patience to stay.
Maybe I’m slowly going a bit crazy and need you to gather some positive words to say.
Because honestly speaking, that’s something I could really use right now.
You’re a flower blooming in a world full of concrete walls; it’s wonderful watching you grow.
But somehow we still have bad blood between us like sickle-cell anaemia.
Loving you was like smoking a pack of cigarettes – you took my breath away but you were slowly killing me inside.
I never knew that hearts could get played like harps and violins do.
The symphony is exquisite but the pain and heartbreak are obviously not.
Maybe it is true; maybe my love is as bad as my handwriting is.
Maybe that explains why past lovers never had the patience to stay.
Maybe I’m slowly going a bit crazy and need you to gather some positive words to say.
Because that’s something I could really use right now instead of having you spewing words of hate.

11 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I keep hearing the echoes of piano keys and guitar strings.
I’m intrigued by the joy Luyanda brings every time she sings.
It’s amazing how every single note becomes an unforgettable poem.
Sometimes silence echoes through the urban streets of ghettos.
The world’s love and light tries to illuminate in all our broken halos.
My creativity was trapped in broken dreams until I heard her sing.
People give her their absolute attention as she strokes each string.
The sun came out just to impersonate the warmth of her aura.
Even if things don’t always go our way, I know that we will all be okay.
I hear echoes of a million heartbeats between abandoned buildings and crowded streets.
A million heartbeats keep echoing between Hammanskraal and Atteridgeville.
I hear millions of echoes within the silence of busy ghetto and urban streets.
I hear echoes of piano keys and guitar strings every time Luyanda speaks.

10 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Love me like you promised me you would.
Love me like I still know you can and I still know you can.
For the first time in a long time, I feel a whole lot of love here.
So love, please don’t walk away or decide to disappear from me.
I’m banking on you to not withdraw from the love we have both invested in.
Because the truth is my heart says that you’re the one, my heart is really growing fond of you.
Love, I used to think that I was bad at this beautiful thing people call love.
But I realised that the problem wasn’t the intensity of my affection but rather the quality of people I chose.
Like a rose, from the concrete I rose and I want you to witness my bloom.
You’ve made me question if all the women I have been with before were really worthy of my love, time and effort.
Love me unconditionally, across beautiful South African cities, over the world’s skyscrapers and beyond the depths of time.
I admire how you have loved me this intensely despite how devastating your previous heartbreak was.
Don’t walk away from me because no amount of ***** or morphine will ease the pain.
Let’s escape from reality with our lips locked to a place far away from the stares of prying strangers.
Please don’t walk away or decide to disappear from me not after you promised that you would love me.
Love me wholeheartedly, across beautiful South African cities, over the world’s skyscrapers and beyond the depths of time.
Love me like I still know you can, love me like you promised me you would.

9 | 31 Poems for August 2016

She unapologetically loves each and every crevice of her canvas.
Each part regally resonates to the woman who birthed her.
Each part elegantly exudes the exuberance of its own beauty.
The curves on her body are more than just her dress or jean size.
More than the heads of men which turn as she walks down the street.
Her curves are her heritage – a beautiful sign of where home is.
Through pain she found love and through love she found herself.
We meet in the pages of our story where the ink intimately holds us together.
These words I write become intertwined in the veins of our loving hearts.
In the rain of her presence, my words will always form a rainbow.
I can never get enough of her love; I’m always left yearning for more.
In a world ravaged by cold wars, we both know what we’re fighting for.
She has never spent a day letting the world turn her starry sky into a ceiling.
She wears her crown proudly and embraces the queen that she is.
The curves on her body are more than just her dress or jean size.
More than the whistles which dissipate the silence as she enters the room.
Her curves are her heritage – a beautiful sign of where home is.
The world is my canvas and I hope this African queen will always be my muse.

8 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I miss you right after my first cup of coffee in the morning or before my last glass of wine in the evening.
I miss you right before my 8 a.m. class on Monday or at 2 a.m. on a Sunday when I can’t seem to fall asleep.
When I can’t seem to fall asleep I inevitably fall on my knees and pray for a better day, pray that you stay.
I’m Lonnie Lynn with the poetry and maybe that explains why we have a lot in common.
We have a lot in common, Alicia Keys expressed similar sentiments and I am just being honest with you.
Look me in my starry eyes and tell me that everything will be okay.
I cannot give you the world but I pray that you stay for more than just another day.
When nothing else in the world makes sense, somehow you always do.
These are more than just compliments, more than just a guy trying to flex his confidence.

7 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I wish heaven had visiting hours so everything you envisioned would be ours.
You promised me that I would never lose you to the wind no matter how hard it would blow.
But you’re gone now, you’re gone and the detrimental effect of your absence has started to show.
I still pray for better days to come my way but I can’t be too worried about what happens tomorrow.
I’m living on borrowed time; my days are numbered like a calendar and lately I’ve been feeling like the king of sorrow.
You showed me how to live life to the fullest but never taught me how to live without you.
Now my blue skies have faded to grey and my Mondays have gone blue.
You’ve drifted away like autumn leaves on a windy street, I guess heaven couldn’t wait for you.
But I am glad that you’re in a better place, the thought of you always puts a smile on my face.
I wish heaven had visiting hours so every beautiful thing you envisioned would be ours.

6 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Here I stand, gradually disintegrating just so I can remain whole.
It’s interestingly sad to see how many people that are alive feel dead to me.
Your kind words are smooth like a fresh cup of latté but I need something stronger to battle this heartache.
Got nothing to read except the words I effortlessly wrote last night and a few James Patterson novels.
Time is wasted so I patiently wait for the clock to get sober eventually.
The sincerity of my words is embedded in the movement of my metaphors, similes, adjectives and verbs.
I love waking up whole to the bonfire of a warm and loving soul.
But you will eventually grow tired of me, somehow they all do.
Everything is slowly falling apart, I just wish I had full control.
All I can do is sit and helplessly watch while the debris flies over me.
Here I stand, gradually disintegrating just so I can remain whole.
I love waking up whole to the bonfire of a warm and loving soul.
But I hope that you never grow tired of me unlike how everyone did.

5 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I’m catching feelings, hope you don’t leave and go catch airplanes.
When the universe aligned, our paths and hearts were destined to collide.
You still give my comfort zone endless earthquakes; I wonder how much that is on the Richter scale.
Let me love you unconditionally regardless of how ugly your truths are.
In a sky full of constellations, you know that you’ll always be my favourite star.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s winter or summer, when you are the breeze I can never forget to breathe.
I’ve been digging the soles of my shoes into the ground just to keep myself steady and balanced.
I stood in the rain patiently awaiting your arrival but then, I eventually realised that you were the rain.
Looking forward to the day where your body and mine finally merge into one.
The day when we finally find home and we never ever feel alone because love is all around.
The day when we are able to look back at all the greatness we have both become.
Look me in my starry eyes and tell me that everything will be okay.
I can’t give you the world but I pray that you stay for more than just another day.
I’m Lonnie Lynn with the poetry, Marsha and Natalie with the Floetry.
So all you got to do is say yes if the question is, “Will you be mine from this day onwards?”
I don’t have much but I have you and with God on my side, how can I lose?
When the universe aligned, our paths and hearts were destined to collide.
I’m catching feelings, hope you don’t leave and go catch airplanes because my heart is really growing fond of you.

4 | 31 Poems for August 2016

I yearn for the type of love that heals countless years of pain.
I crave for your presence in ways that I cannot eloquently explain.
Run away with me, take your hand and hold it closer to mine.
I pray that you never leave me behind because good love is hard to find.
My words have left me, they live on the edges of your lips now.
I’m content with the idea of having my poetry inhabit your daily speech.
Let’s take the time to create a reality worth dreaming about.
With you, I found the type of love that leaves no room for doubt.
After all we’ve shared I realise that I never want to leave your side.
With you, my heart no longer feels the need to hide.
You have the kind of eyes that people could often get lost in.
You have the kind of eyes that people often get lost in.
I yearn for the type of love that heals countless years of pain.
I crave for your presence in ways that I cannot eloquently explain.

3 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Feeling like an abandoned church but in your eyes I’ll always be a cathedral.
These blue skies fade to grey while I pray to ease the burden of a bad day.
My strength and happiness are gone; I can feel myself gradually fading away.
Not even Mandela money could buy me freedom in a dollar-based economy.
In a world saturated with poverty, politicians are still protecting their pockets.
They are constantly making you think that the power is in your hands but this is not a Cell C ad.
So be careful of who you give your power to because you may never see this freedom they highly speak of.
Everyone is claiming that they represent the youth but you can go back and listen to Ghetto Gospel and hear the truth.
Even with the humour of an established comedian, they wouldn’t be Trevor Noah funny.
Laughing all the way to the bank, we also aim to receive Trevor Noah money.
Give me all the best and worst parts of you and a room with a wonderful view.
Give me a blank page and a beautiful muse and you’ll marvel at what I can do.
The world is my canvas; Picasso would’ve loved to see all the resplendent pictures that I’ve painted.
I wrote plenty peaceful poems picturing politicians perpetuating poverty.
No uncertainty, this is a cold war and we all know what we’re fighting for.
In a world saturated with poverty, politicians are still protecting their pockets.
Blue skies fade to grey while I pray to ease the burden of a bad day.
Hopefully everything will be okay even if things don’t go our way.

2 | 31 Poems for August 2016

A poem written by my heart so every single word you hear is a pulse.
I’m a literary writer living inside the mind of a spoken-word poet.
I still write beautiful words; you can ask Luyanda – even she knows it.
Things change, circles grow smaller, conversations get shorter and eventually hearts grow distant.
But I’m glad that Luyanda, Faith and I still manage to talk every now and then.
It’s sad to see that you’re not around, it’s like you just disappeared into thin air.
Still hoping that you’d call or text but you’ve probably lost my numbers by now.
If you’re willing to talk to me, I promise to listen like I always do.
You can count on me like an abacus, sounds cliché but you know it’s true.
Even if things don’t always go my way, I just hope that everything will be okay.
I’m learning to embrace a metamorphosis I was previously oblivious to.
It’s still no mystery why my aura will always long for the company of yours.
I’m a literary writer living inside the mind of a spoken-word poet.
I still write beautiful words; you can ask William – even he knows it.
Time is wasted so I patiently wait for the clock to get sober eventually.
Things change but I’m glad that William, Terrence and I still manage to talk every now and then.
It’s sad to see that you’re not around, it’s like you just disappeared into thin air.
Still hoping that you’d call or text but you’ve probably lost all touch with most people by now.

1 | 31 Poems for August 2016

Before I put my words and wishes in a poem, I put them in a prayer first.
Luyanda once told me that I don’t always have to rhyme every time I write these words down.
She also regularly told me that I need to smile twice as much as I frown.
I have been a loner, way before my peers began smoking marijuana.
Sitting in the local park or standing on some dodgy neighbourhood corner.
But I can’t judge them, sometimes I want to get lost in those same clouds too.
They all get so high to the point where they cannot even see the ground.
I’m from the city where jacaranda trees light up the streets with their purple blooms, but I’ve told you before.
Spoken words filled with so much truth, I had to reiterate the quotes I wrote back in my youth.
You need to know the value of life before it gets taken away from you.
Will you be a victim of the past or pay homage to your mother’s womb?
View the kaleidoscope of life through the perspective of a spoken-word poet.
Freedom and love are like finding forever and I hope that everyone in my life knows it.
Let’s all meet in the pages of a story where the ink always holds us together.
Every poem of mine is written from the heart so every single word you hear is guaranteed to be a pulse.
I have been a loner, way before my peers began smoking marijuana.
Before I put my words and wishes in a poem, I put them in a prayer first.
Luyanda once told me that I don’t always have to rhyme every time I write these words down.
She also regularly told me that I need to smile twice as much as I frown.
I’m Lonnie Lynn with the poetry and maybe that explains why we have a lot in common.

The world in your eyes has given me infinite hope.

The truth is: I don't wanna love again without you.

Hammanskraal is too small for the both of us, I guess someone has to leave.
I guess that someone will just have to be me because I need space to breathe.
I never thought that I’d still be writing about friendships that have fallen apart.
Too many times I’ve been told that my biggest flaw is my loving heart.
I have humbly grown from every poem and verse I wrote back when you and I never spoke.
It was foolish of me to be losing limbs for people who wouldn’t go to war for me.
Everything and everyone in your life changed but surprisingly I didn’t, I guess you were wrong about me.
Our generation is ****** up and I am not too proud to admit it.
Whatever the question, know that love is the answer and I really hope that someone gets it.
The world and media has sold you dreams and you’ve got receipts to prove it.
I wish I could adjust a few people’s frame of reference because they have a distorted perception about me.
Whatever the question, know that love is the answer and I know that God understands it.
Our hometown is too small for the both of us, I guess someone has to leave.
I need more simplicity than sympathy, good wine and good friends while the month of August approaches.
It’s June now so while you find comfort in your complacency just know that I’ll be leaving soon.

I want to hold her in my arms until she forgets what loneliness feels like.
I want to hold her like the lonely autumn trees hold the fragility of clinging leaves.
The traces of her lips on my skin reach deep inside my soul and transform a broken house into a home.
The weather hasn’t been the same ever since the sun decided to impersonate the warmth of her aura.
It doesn't matter which book I'm reading; her body is the scripture that my hands believe in.

The world has made you feel like an abandoned church but in my eyes you’ll always be a cathedral.
Don’t leave me sitting here alone because no amount of ***** or morphine will ease the pain.
I stood in the rain patiently awaiting your arrival but then I eventually realised that you were the rain.
Your darkness balances out my light, and that’s one of the things that I love about you.
The ocean in your eyes reminds me of the colour of the sky and how I want to dive into the depths of you.
Let me romance you all over again so that you can feel the moment you first fell in love with me.
I want to write poems for you again so that you remember the feeling of losing your breath at the emotions they brought.
I know you miss the smile you once held while falling asleep and the sense of hope and love I brought to your world of loneliness.

You cannot seem to remember how you got to loving me, it all seems to be a distant memory.
What you feel is real but there once came a point in your life where detachment became the only way to cope.
Now I’m standing in front of you with the purpose of providing love and hope.
I know you miss the smile you once held while falling asleep to beautiful poems and peaceful dreams.
Don’t leave me behind because love like yours is hard to find and my words can attest to this.
I once said that you seem to ruin anything good going for you but that’s a lie.
Chances have already been given so let’s both start over because my heart says that you’re the one.