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Dec 2021 · 248
Serpentarium
Kyle White Dec 2021
You are not a martyr
You're not a knight in shining armour
You're a serpent, eating it's tail
But who's the snake charmer?
Nov 2021 · 327
Grief
Kyle White Nov 2021
Get some sleep, my love
Do not stay awake
To prevent the pain of the morning
You'll arrive there anyway, and
You'll fare better
Well-rested
Feb 2021 · 137
Exhibit A
Kyle White Feb 2021
She is an art exhibit, and
I'm just trying to
Proceed past
The velvet rope

To examine her
Mind, body, and beauty
Up close
Jan 2021 · 88
Words/Worms
Kyle White Jan 2021
I will leave your
Plums in the icebox
However, cold and sweet they may be

I will not borrow a cigarette
Or inhale
What you've released

I will leave that typewriter
Alone, and
All of it's working keys

I will not collect afterthoughts
That you ball up
And discard nightly

I will no longer consume your words
Like cyanide, and
Sun-warmed tea

I will let the worms consume you
So you may
Sleep in peace
Jan 2021 · 119
Hunger
Kyle White Jan 2021
It's a dark world that we live in
Where starving mother's die in donation bins
It's a cosmic lottery, and we're just a number
Some people are born to feel nothing, but hunger
Peter Brabeck said it's not a human right to accessible water
This is not the world I dreamt of for my daughter
Jan 2021 · 115
Love
Kyle White Jan 2021
A rose in a wine bottle, or
A thorn in your side
A collision of hearts, or
A meeting of minds
Rivers connect, and
Stars align
Chaotic harmony
Without reason or rhyme
A chemical reaction
Burning with passion, or
A moment frozen in time
Dec 2020 · 70
Envy of Saturn
Kyle White Dec 2020
Pulse irregular
Like my sleeping pattern
Rings 'round my eyes
That would spark the
Envy of Saturn

There you go
Writing about space again
Instead of examining
The shape that you're in

It's easier to project,
Or talk in third
Than it is to implement
The advice that you've heard
Oct 2020 · 68
Turn Off the Light
Kyle White Oct 2020
Your body language
A distant stranger
Your voice
A faint whisper

Every night
It's a wine tasting tour
From the couch
To the kitchen floor

A world away, I write
You kiss me, and
Remind me to
Turn off the light
Sep 2020 · 46
Ready
Kyle White Sep 2020
I doubt death
Will tremble to take me, but
It should stop to consider
That I know how
To throw
A sucker punch
Aug 2020 · 43
Always There
Kyle White Aug 2020
I used to fantasize about suicide
Thought I'd save it for a rainy day
Now I wear a bracelet that says
Don't hesitate to resuscitate
I have a daughter I need to raise
Aug 2020 · 80
A Writer's Ruse
Kyle White Aug 2020
I've gently kissed,
Earlobes
I've placed my fist
Through drywall

I ate one meal
A day
I drank enough for
Two

You'll never catch me
Lying
Though, I seldom
Tell the truth
Jul 2020 · 72
Restless
Kyle White Jul 2020
My
Restless
Brain
Wants to go
In so many
Directions,
Mostly
S
O
U
T
H
Jun 2020 · 67
Overthinking
Kyle White Jun 2020
Overthinking
Is burning bread
When you're standing
Directly in front of
The toaster
Jun 2020 · 67
Responsibility
Kyle White Jun 2020
Imagine
Awaking every day
Without an alarm clock
Or a crying baby,
Oh, how I envy
The thought of it
Jun 2020 · 72
Alternative Endings
Kyle White Jun 2020
I heard you were scheming a way
To reverse engineer your existence
That's a convoluted synonym for suicide,
Do you still dream in monochrome?
I think a little colour
Might liven the place up
Maybe paint an accent wall
Or purchase a houseplant
Something to ignore
When the episodes become seasonal
I've been hanging on for so long
I have callous on my callous
However, my grip remains tight
I hope you don't loosen yours
Jun 2020 · 61
The Same Tree
Kyle White Jun 2020
We are different branches on the same Tree
Although, our roots remain unseen
We share the same foliage
Endure the same breeze

Sometimes the sunlight hits me Brilliantly
While you are shrouded in shade
I do not celebrate these fleeting Moments
Because I know, it's just my time of the day

Tomorrow you'll shine
And I'll be in the shadows
In these moments in time, I will not Grieve
Because my love, my kin, my kind,
We are different branches on the same Tree
Jun 2020 · 116
Addict
Kyle White Jun 2020
They call it drug abuse
But who's abusing who
Are you abusing drugs
Or are they abusing you?
May 2020 · 62
Endurance
Kyle White May 2020
My pain is
Portable
However, cumbersome
I wear it
Like a weighted vest
I've been running
From myself for so long
That I've built up
The stamina to
Continue
May 2020 · 291
For Floyd
Kyle White May 2020
Knee to the neck
Face in the asphalt
Only in America
"Well, it must be the Black's fault!"

"Listen to the police,
...and what they're insisting!"
Floyd said he couldn't breathe
And he wasn't resisting

"Don't commit crime
...and this won't happen!"
You racist motherf@$!er,
Have you no compassion?

Did you view the same
Recording as me,
And where did you develop
Your lack of empathy?

'Relieved of duty' isn't enough
It's the bare minimum
Do right by our brothers and sisters
And charge this f@$!ing criminal

Lock up Derek Chauvin
And the others involved
Until Justice is served
This won't be resolved
May 2020 · 72
Impermanence
Kyle White May 2020
In the basement of heaven, and
We're banging our broomstick on the ceiling
Trying to accept our impermanence
Like a bad headache, It's a finite feeling
If you had access to the dial
That lifts the fog, or
The telephone line
That reaches God
Would you call
Our anonymous saviour, or
Text later?
May 2020 · 60
Man o' War
Kyle White May 2020
I awake
Bruised and sore
Like the remains
Of a ship
Subsequently bashed
Against
An unlit shore
May 2020 · 65
Dandelion Jelly
Kyle White May 2020
You were born
For more than gradual death,
If I could
Take your credit card, and
Remove your shoe laces
I would
Instead I stare into
Your jaundiced eyes
Like a jar of dandelion jelly
The liver is failing
The vocabulary, is...
Not as easily accessible
Reaching further into
A bucket of chum
On this vessel of pain
For something familiar
I hope you find
Your reason to
Quit it all
And
Continue living
May 2020 · 62
On a Slide
Kyle White May 2020
Poetry,
I thought it would contain
Splinters of truth, or
At the very least
A mound of sawdust
To sift through,
Instead
You're getting a 2x4
Straight to the
Softest part of the skull

I'll locate the entry point
And
Penetrate the frontal lobe
Where memory and foresight
Simply
Coexist

Sharing these incantations
These fevered reveries
Is like disclosing your blood type
With a scourge of mosquito

Under examination
I twist and reshape
Like amoeba
On a slide
Under an
Evaluative eye

I do not wish to be seen
Yet
I crave for validation
May 2020 · 60
Tin Foil Towers
Kyle White May 2020
I will not submit to the tin foiled intellects
That I collide with on the internet
The *** and the kettle
Are as black as they are bleak
They are everything they claim not to be
May 2020 · 59
Breakthrough
Kyle White May 2020
Don't you hate it
When you're talking to your psychiatrist
And you think
You've made a breakthrough
Only to realize
That you don't have a
Psychiatrist
May 2020 · 52
Not to Go
Kyle White May 2020
Sitting on an inexpensive chair
Slouching, as I write
Listlessly, drifting
Through another anxious night

Detailing my discomfort
To catalogue my pain
There's a map here, somewhere,
Waterlogged from the rain

It'll tell you where not to go
And what to avoid
Sometimes I reference it
If I have the choice
May 2020 · 80
Strangers in the Dark
Kyle White May 2020
Subjecting strangers
To the dark contents of my mind
Adjusting the narrative routinely
Until I no longer recognize the lines
May 2020 · 54
It's That Simple
Kyle White May 2020
You don't need
A Smith Corona
Or a MacBook Air
Use a napkin,
A stationary pad
From the Holiday Inn
F*ck,
Write on your forearm
If you must
All you need
Is
Passion
May 2020 · 55
My Mother & I
Kyle White May 2020
I'd assemble
small structures
Out of the kindling on the floor, and
I'd watch in horror
Through the empty space between my Fingers
As she'd raise the small hatchet, and proceed to
Lower it with haste
Splitting the wood
Into halves, then quarters
Just missing her extremities
Before tossing balled up newsprint
Into the opening, and
With the strike of a red bird
Politics and comic strips
Caught flame
The warmth, and comfort
Of the fire takes over

It still burns
In my memory
May 2020 · 59
Milk & Honey
Kyle White May 2020
I run my unsteady fingers along your landscape, and
Assign my pulse to the cadence of your heartrate

In your clutches, I am willingly caught
Like an insect trapped in a honeypot
Apr 2020 · 63
Strike Anywhere
Kyle White Apr 2020
We shared disdain
We shared desire
We were a Redbird
In a forest fire
Apr 2020 · 53
Lost
Kyle White Apr 2020
Now that the algorithm
Has provided me with
Your undivided attention,
Get lost
Apr 2020 · 47
Untitled
Kyle White Apr 2020
Some die by their own hand
Through means of rope, pills, or
gunpowder

With a pen and a drink
I choose to live through mine
Apr 2020 · 56
Quarantine Blues
Kyle White Apr 2020
The static on the television
Like a snowdrift across the screen
Oh, what I would do
For a screwdriver
On the beach
Apr 2020 · 50
Create
Kyle White Apr 2020
In a digital picture booth
Seeking the Fountain of Youth
Through *** lifts & artificial *****
Or some Universal Truth

Surprise, surprise
It's just a carefully woven
Web of Lies
No one gets out alive

You can't avoid atrophy, or defy age,
Acquire knowledge and create
Everything else decays
Apr 2020 · 46
Love Letter
Kyle White Apr 2020
This is *******
This is poetry, baby
It's not all about gentle kisses, and
Sweet description
Sometimes it's about getting
f*cked
Apr 2020 · 58
Bruised
Kyle White Apr 2020
Bruised, and mishandled
Like the last fruit in the produce bin
I don't know if I can
Kiss away your pain, but
I'm up for the challenge
Apr 2020 · 62
Lush
Kyle White Apr 2020
I take my coffee
Black, and
Frequently refilled
Or
Cold tea, sun-warmed
By the windowsill
That is...
Until

It's a widely-acceptable hour
For whiskey
Apr 2020 · 61
Vices
Kyle White Apr 2020
Vices
Break the ice, is
What she said
So a stiff drink, I poured
'I'll try anything that you've tried before'
Apr 2020 · 63
Agoraphobia
Kyle White Apr 2020
I didn't show my face
I simply disappeared
A party trick
One for the years
Apr 2020 · 61
Body of Work
Kyle White Apr 2020
I am
A slave to likes and reaction
To the effect of
Altering my work
In a deplorable display, of
Pandering
Should I reduce my word count?
Should I trim my magnum opus?
Lean poems are easier to digest
Should I exercise restraint, and
Cut lbs off my body of work?
Apr 2020 · 68
Love Drunk
Kyle White Apr 2020
If I had the stemware, and
The ability to assemble the words
I'd raise a glass, and
Toast the unwavering stupidity of
Love
Apr 2020 · 70
Walls
Kyle White Apr 2020
I used to spend
A considerable amount of time
Editing, revisiting, and revising
Now I just throw it against the wall
To see if it sticks
Like a noodle
Apr 2020 · 59
Procrastination
Kyle White Apr 2020
The ceiling fan
Perpetually revolves
With dust on it's blades
I meant to take care of that
Several days ago
****.
Apr 2020 · 53
Changes
Kyle White Apr 2020
There used to be an arcade here
'til it caught fire
Some said arson
Some said faulty wires

But nobody knows for sure
And we may never learn
We just know the machines
Lit up when they burned
Apr 2020 · 59
Survival
Kyle White Apr 2020
My survival manual
Has accumulated dust
It's worn, and
Badly used
Like combat boots
Or a poorly-folded
Roadmap

My psyche,
Heavy, and encumbered
I need to unpack a few things
And wondered,
If I could grab a beer,
Maybe occupy an ear?
Apr 2020 · 56
A Reflection
Kyle White Apr 2020
Your reflection
Sits on the surface of the water
Glimmering, and still
Like an unlit oil lamp, or
The fraction of the moon
That feels sociable

Though, I know
You share more in common
With it's depth
Dark, cold, and
Full
of
Wonder
I have a strange impulse
To dive in
Dome first

Though, I fear
I would fail
To navigate your depths
Burden you
With shallow grievances
Or worse
Drain
You
Apr 2020 · 74
Oversight
Kyle White Apr 2020
I often wonder
If my best lines
Ended up in the wastebasket
Or perhaps, forgotten
Because I was on city transit
Or
the toilet,
A nautical mile away
From the nearest
Functional
Pen
Jan 2017 · 710
Vanishing Act
Kyle White Jan 2017
I am a novice
of ink & love
(an expert at illusion)
Sweep you off of your feet
&
under-the-rug,
leaving behind no contusion
Jan 2017 · 384
Blue Lights
Kyle White Jan 2017
Ice and salt crunch 'neath my boots as I walk along an unmaintained sidewalk. In the distance, blue lights flash and snow removal vehicles make an otherwise quiet night, loud. I'm doing a little removal of my own. Surplus thoughts, excess; though, they go without sound into oblivions ever-expanding jaws, voiding me of resentment and regret. Leaving acres of empty field to fill

I circle the block, double back. I take in the cool night air and filter it through tired lungs, one deep calculated breath at a time. Tightening my grip, fingernails to palm. I let go, release. Upon inspection, there is no blood. There is no guilt in the belly of my mind. The darkness is inviting. The snow not nearly as blinding without the Suns reflection. The Moon, though modest in nature, and in comparison to that of it's sister, paints itself on the water top. Globes of light illuminate the path along the canal. The blue lights still flashing remotely in the distance. I can see clearer now.
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