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Katie Lorenzo Jun 2013
Please read this carefully, because I wrote it for you
Know that things are not always as they seem
I am not trying to trick or confuse
Simply trying to understand.
Need I explain more?
To be honest, I don't know if I can, but I'll try!
Be advised, things are not always as they seem
Okay, here's your hint:

one one
two one
three one
four one
five one
six one
seven one
eight one
line-word
Katie Lorenzo May 2014
In Mythology we learned of the passion of the pelican
How a mother would open herself and let her children drink her blood
When no other food was available.

I looked at you and I couldn't help but wonder…

*Who are you trying to feed?
Katie Lorenzo Jul 2013
I think that before you fight for the rights of animals
the rights of humans must be secured.
So before spitting in my face for not crying about humans slaughtering animals
Maybe you could turn your attention to the humans slaughtering humans.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
We're only bones
A skeleton, a shell
engineered
to walk
run
sit
stand
And our hearts
they're only cardiac tissue
and
chambers with
valves to pump blood
through our arteries and veins
which are only pipes to carry nutrients
everywhere else.
Our eyes are only apertures
with which we can distinguish over
ten million colors
We are scientifically perfect machines
Built to last, built to survive
to reproduce
to die.
So how do we explain everything else?
The purpose of someone's eyes is not to make you fall in love with their beholder.
The purpose of the heart is not to create a lullaby for your lover to fall asleep to.
The purpose of our bodies is not to be a haven for another person's soul.
And
yet
they
are.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
Note to self: When I wrote this, I was happy.
Katie Lorenzo Jun 2014
Tell me what you want, baby—we're running out of time.

The walls are falling back and I have neither the strength nor will to hold this room together

I'm sorry it wasn't enough, I still breathe for you

But the oxygen is escaping and leaving my lungs useless and our love breathless and if you don't make up your ******* mind my chest will explode and my last words to you will escape.

And I'm not ready to hear them
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
When my mother used to smoke cigarettes
we'd hide her carton of slim white smokes
and tape pictures of cancerous lungs all over the house
with dark frowning faces scribbled onto them
and my father, sister and I would laugh for hours until she found them and laughed with us
A decade after she quit
and we still laugh our ***** off at the memory
of those angry, angry lungs
and it just goes to show that sometimes
the things that seem horrible at the time
make for the best memories
not a poem, just a thought.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
I hold my happiness every morning in the palm of my hand
I swallow it one by one
Washed down with tap water
Feeling it make its way into my system
Taking chemicals through my bloodstream
Helping me to see things a little better.
My happiness comes in the form of five little pills every morning.
Colorful, white, dark
Capsules, tablets
I hold my happiness every morning in the palm of my hand
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I wonder who wrote their initials here
What were they thinking of as they absentmindedly dotted the i
and curled the final sweep of the e upwards
Was this the same person
who created the little garden of daisies on the desk in my English room?
Or maybe the curious mind who asked me who I was on the sandy surface of my physics desk
I find comfort in the wandering minds of others
Their notes are addressed to no one
but I like to think they're for me.
Katie Lorenzo Jan 2013
If I could, I'd write you a dictionary.
I'd fill it with all of the things I feel but cannot name.
The feeling of kissing you. The way my heart pumps in blood and pumps out hummingbirds.
What word can describe missing you? The ache, the longing for you when you're away?
How could I define the feeling I get when you hold my hand? When we are no longer just beings, existing separately in space.
That moment when we become linked, through a simple gesture;
I can feel thousands of universes unfolding inside of me, millions of little worlds revolving around you, because the one we're in now is not enough.
It doesn't have enough words
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I'm not sad enough to be a writer
and I'm not happy enough
to not write
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
I am more afraid of aging than I am of death
The process of dying does not begin when you develop a heart problem
or when you lose your ability to walk
The process of aging and the process of dying are the same
Once you hit thirty five your body begins to destroy itself
First your pigment stops working
resulting in grey hair and pale skin
Then the muscles in your face begin to weaken
and your skin fills with folds.
The next thing you know your skin is paper
and your bones are glass
and you must be careful about everything
and that is not living at all.
Aging and dying are one in the same
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
The crowd was
high
singing
screaming

we were
drunk
dancing
sweaty

The lights were
bright
flashing
confusing

The night was
young
warm
neverending

And I was happy.
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
When I was fourteen I learned to write
I learned to pour out my sorrow onto the pages
of an old notebook

When I was fourteen I learned to write for myself
Without stupid prompts
asking me what I was proud of

When I was fourteen I learned to write the truth
Never again did a meaningless sentence spill out of my pen
saying things that were opposite of what I felt

When I was fourteen I learned to write for everyone else
I said to those silent pages what I could not say to their faces
for fear of losing everything

When I was fourteen, I learned to write
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I looked to you* (longingly)
(waiting) for a sign
that you knew what we were (for)
and that you knew (something) about being half of a whole
and (that) you understood that I meant it when I said that I (would) love you always.
More than anything I wanted to (bring) doubt; I didn't want to believe we were not the same people
I wanted (you) to be okay.
But when you looked (back) at me
I couldn't help but (to) notice
You did not see (me) anymore.

*k.l.
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
When she was born she had no blood
fresh seawater flowed through her veins
and her eyes were as ever changing as the oceans
And so they named her Galene
after the Greek goddess of calm seas.

She lived up to her name
Calmly wandering through life
looking at and through everyone
with her whirlpool eyes
Seemingly curious
But she never stopped to probe
because she already knew everything.

We knew she did not belong here
with her sandy hair tumbling down her back
and her soft voice
and her bare feet

And so no one was surprised
on a trip to the beach
when she walked straight into the waves
disappearing beneath the surface
and did not drift back up
Katie Lorenzo Jan 2013
Her head was heavy
with thoughts and with doubts
Soon it became too heavy to lift
and she saw nothing but the ground
She forgot skyscrapers
and power lines
and her beloved stars
When he came along
she told him her weights
He took them away with a kiss
and she could finally lift her head once more
and she saw the stars
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
When I hear him say my name
it's like he is speaking to another
It rolls off his tongue unnaturally
and rings in my ears like a strange, foreign language
Not bad, just unexpected
It does not upset me
to be called baby or sweetie
but I do wish he'd say my name more
because it is the only way I can remember who I am
Katie Lorenzo Jul 2013
He kissed my collarbone
and left seeds in the marrow
that in turn bloomed into myosotis of the bluest blue
When he was away
it was only their vines that
held my bones together
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
Try not to worry.
The swirling debris you see
is surrounding calm
*k.l.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
Sometimes the conversations held with ourselves in front of mirrors
are the only ones with meaning.

For when it is only you and your reflection,
the only words worth saying are spoken.
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
My
first
love was
too much for
me to hold in my
hands so I used my empty heart
Exploring new poem styles. This one is called Fibonacci.
Katie Lorenzo Jul 2013
Isn't it ironic how
she painted her eyes dark
and cut her wrists
and kissed too many boys
and smoked things she shouldn't
and played photographer
just to be different
then she just ended up like everybody else?
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I saw the eyes before the claws
the lips before the teeth
I couldn't understand how such a beautiful creature
could be so rotten underneath.
Did you really think you could hide forever?
Distract me from those hands?
I saw them inching towards me
like a crab across the sands.
I must confess I let you
capture my body and mind
You were a foreign sort of soul
a creature of a different kind
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I do not believe in god
but I still pray for you every now and again
just in case
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
What?
Sorry.
I missed that.
I was thinking
about the lake and
the way it looks at night
and the way I smell of it
after an afternoon shore-side
and the way you kissed me in the waves
with your salty lips and warm, sandy skin.

*k.l.
Katie Lorenzo Aug 2013
The windows were down
My feet were on the dashboard
You asked me if Everything was okay
I lied
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
Contrary to popular belief,
love is not difficult.

Staying in love is.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
The sky and the ocean were once lovers
Before the skies were darkened with grey chemicals
and before the seas were tainted with the haze of waste
They touched only at the horizon
but it was enough because the sky could always gaze down upon the waves
and the ocean's waves could always reflect the stars
and silver springs
that spread
like blood vessels
on the earth's surface
were always clear in sunlight
When man came
The ocean was gutted of its fish
The skies were corrupted by a constant haze of black smoke
it became so thick that the sun lost sight of the seas
and from then on the sky sent winds barreling across the ocean's surface, to try and clear the pollution
The winds tipped ships and took lives
and now these three things
man sky and sea
are forever caught in a vicious cycle
all killing one another
when all they need to do
is be aware of one another's presence
Katie Lorenzo Jan 2013
The moon was supposed to be beautiful on March 19th, but it was hidden behind the clouds.
Still, I hoped you saw it, and I hoped you hoped I saw it too.
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
Meet me here at midnight, is that too much to ask?
Meet me here at midnight is that too much to ask?
And you and I will explore the darkest corners of the universe
And you and I will explore the darkest corners of the universe

The universe is darkest at midnight.
Meet me here.
I will explore the corners of you
and you will ask too much.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
She's lively, and lovely and gorgeous
But she has the saddest eyes I have ever seen.
A constant dazed look of anxiety
glistening with tears
gathered at the waterline,
that's covered in a dark substance
which
she thinks will somehow transform her eyes,
so close to falling over the edge
and rolling down her cheeks,
which she thinks are too chubby,
getting diverted into the indent beneath her nose,
which she thinks is too big,
to roll over her lips,
which she thinks are too thin
and only serve to hold back
feelings,
that she thinks are too stupid to share
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I read somewhere that we may see different colors
but call them  by the same name.
I hope that this isn't true
because to think that we do not gaze at the same dark sky
or dream of the same clear oceans
or tremble with awe at the same ancient masterpieces
is a scary thing
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2014
It's strange to see her
here
on a beautiful night like tonight
in an ugly place like this.
She says it's her favorite place in the whole city
I'd ask her why,
but I already know
how much she loves the glow of the bars across the street
The laughter of drunken twenty something's drifting across Belmont
The way the neon signs hum and warm her face
Illuminating her in a pink glow
and the breath of the city
Steady
as her hand holding her lighter
Too tightly
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
They all looked up
at the same dark sky.
A thousand pale faces
tilted upward.
Every empty mind and blind eye observing
the wide, black, hovering vastness
of nothing
And until their dying day, that same nothing
would haunt them
because they will know absolutely nothing
about the darkness that encompasses our planet
and allows our stars to shine.
Katie Lorenzo Jul 2013
Sweetheart, what happened to you?
You're far too young to be so old.
Wipe that glitter off your face
and put down that cup
There's plenty of time for you to grow up
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
My father always told me
"There are only good things in this house, my darling. There is nothing to be afraid of."
And every night I still slept with lights
the one on the table
in the closet
on the desk
and the hallway light too
Because I always felt another presence
lurking in the dark corners
turning my house into a haunted space
And it was not until I was older
that I realized the creatures that haunted my youth
were only inside of me.
And once they left my body
The house my father always spoke of
materialized before me
And it was big
and clear
and bright
*and safe.
Katie Lorenzo Oct 2013
When the leaves fell, they fell like bombs.
Crashing to the ground noiselessly
But he could feel the impact of each delicate leaf hitting the soft autumn ground
And when he looked up at the trees, stretching their bare branches towards the sky,
He saw young Vietnamese children, reaching out to their mothers
Who lay lifeless
Slumped against the walls of empty buildings
Once called home.
And when he closed his eyes to sleep at night
He was haunted by comrades
Who had fallen beside him
And left behind widows and children and lives
all in the name of democracy.

They say the wounds of war can never really heal.
I know yours didn't.
We won the war
But you lost yours
Were you contemplating surrender when you held that familiar friend in your hands?
A gun had once defended your life, but now it prepared to take it
Did you think about wives and children and sorrow?
Or were you simply thinking of the dead, autumn leaves falling from the branches?
You, too, died in autumn,
But you fell in spring.
For Lewis B. Puller, Jr. who died of war-related injuries to his soul that never really healed.
May 15th, 1994 RIP.
Assignment for creative writing.
Katie Lorenzo Jan 2014
It felt like spinning.
Like when you hold onto someone's hands and spin as fast as you can
It's a mutual trust, for if one person let's go, the other will fall.
It was scary, and thrilling, and constantly spinning.
That's what our love felt like.
Like a machine of perpetual motion,
spinning faster and faster
holding on tighter and tighter
Slipping
more and more.

It left me dizzy and sick
like the Tilt-a-Whirl carnival ride you kissed me on
with your mouth sweet from cotton candy
and your palms sweaty from the July heat;
But this time I did not have your arm there to steady me
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
All of the broken hearted will shout and scream
that love is nothing but a silly dream
an illusion
a falsehood
a trick of the mind
that our bodies play to replenish mankind
I will tell you now
that this may be true
but if so
there are worse things
mother nature
could
do.

*k.l.
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2014
I went to Paris
and visited  the bookstore you always told me about.
I left my secret on the wall of notes

I miss you
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
Nine cells
Nine columns
by nine rows
Eighty one spaces
Numbered one through nine
I do love logic puzzles.

Too bad I hate odd numbers
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
Thank you sir, for everything you have taught me in your honors algebra two class.
I do understand that it is important to learn these things
and memorize where each variable goes
and what to square
and what the equation of an ellipse is
and I am not being sarcastic
But I was hoping maybe you could also teach me the equation to mending things that have been broken?
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
I think that maybe
the happiest moment of my life has not occurred yet
because I would not be content with dying
today
Katie Lorenzo May 2013
The stars are dying tonight
I can see them fading away
They do not have the same light
The stars are dying tonight
I know they can't keep up this fight.
I root for them every night and day
The stars are dying tonight
I can see them fading away
Katie Lorenzo Apr 2013
On average a person has 3,000 thoughts a day.
I sometimes wonder how many of yours are about me
Katie Lorenzo Aug 2013
You told me you were broken
When really you just wanted us to run to you
Armed with hot glue guns
Our eyes glued on you
Trying to find the cracks in your foundation
Staring at your selfish smile
Katie Lorenzo Nov 2014
I will not see your eyes in the lights of Paris
I won't remember your laugh when I'm wandering Dublin
The streets of Amsterdam won't conjure up memories of our Chicago
Summer in Sicily isn't going to remind me of us at the beach,
happy, warm, in love.

But baby don't you think for a minute that I'm going to forget you

You were my first adventure.
Katie Lorenzo Jan 2013
How unfortunate that we must wait lifetimes for the right one to come along.
Katie Lorenzo Oct 2013
Mama's hands were smooth and cool
When she pushed my hair back and told me not to worry
Because sometimes mommies and daddies fight, but that's okay.
My childhood stretched before me
A long dirt road where daddy's absence hung in the air like
The sour smell of whiskey
On his breath
When he tucked me in at night
He always had the same shade of lipstick smeared on his neck
I found it later in a Walgreens downtown
Revlon number seven, Not Your Mother's Mauve
How ironic, I thought.
Because Mama never did wear lipstick

I remember nights where she sat in the living room
Painted blue, she kept her anguish in a secret place
Where I am not, and daddy always will be
She kept him there
Suspended in a light
Not of scrutiny but of love
And I hated him for it
Because my mother's loss would tear her apart
And I was left behind a closed bedroom door
The grieve for my happy family.
Another creative writing assignment. Using a few 2-word phrases from other poems that we liked.
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