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855 · Mar 2015
I'm Sorry That I Love You
Matthew Harlovic Mar 2015
I've said, "I'm sorry."
More than I've said, "I love you."
I'm sorry for that.

© Matthew Harlovic
847 · Oct 2016
(man)age
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2016
i was taught to be a man
and manage my emotions,
but i wonder if i can just
get through the motions.

© Matthew Harlovic
833 · Oct 2016
di(stress)
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2016
she's not a damsel,
she doesn't need help.
she lets her hair down
for herself.

© Matthew Harlovic
as you should.
Matthew Harlovic Jun 2017
to the one who knows or examines his existence
explain the relativity of time and distance
from the instance of creation;
the expansion of self
to the bold bearing of a life lived well.
now picture the presence of a proclaimed faith
through the face of a Galilean reference frame
but refrain from the mention of preconceived notions
which pertain to gnomon-wise motion.

© Matthew Harlovic
819 · Jan 2016
A Simple Truth
Matthew Harlovic Jan 2016
I urge you to object your permanence
for nothing in this world is permanent.

© Matthew Harlovic
Object Permanence.
809 · Jul 2016
overgrown
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2016
i knew a hedge between
kept a friendship green
but as our garden grew
our edges weaned
to common ground,
boundaries were forgotten
as our passion broadened
so here i wait for autumn
to come around.

© Matthew Harlovic
// metaphors // metaphors //
805 · Apr 2016
Self-explanatory
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2016
A poem with five
moras above and below
and seven above.

© Matthew Harlovic
Inspired by Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary.
788 · Jun 2016
Lines of Saturn
Matthew Harlovic Jun 2016
I’ve lived, I’ve learned,
I’ve shifted through patterns.
I took a bad turn and acted like nothing mattered
but I found myself in the mix of the matter
and found I’m not limited by my lines of Saturn.

© Matthew Harlovic
783 · Apr 2016
Funambulism
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2016
You were always on the tip of your toes,
balancing on thin air,
positioning your center
of mass directly over the
base of your support circle,
edging your way from point
A to point B as you objectified
the manner of manipulation,
and yet I still managed to fall for you.
And you, *you were always on the tip of my tongue
,
but when you asked if
I would be there for you
if and when you fall,
I lost my footing.
For the reason that
you meant it in a way that
would associate me as a form of webbing,
a safety net per se and I watched you
walk on thin air for years, but I will not
wait for you to fall because I’m here for you
as a friend, not a cobweb.

© Matthew Harlovic
783 · Nov 2014
(Less)ons
Matthew Harlovic Nov 2014
Rick* - Are things getting better or worse between you two?
Matt - Well…things aren’t getting worse so that’s much better.
Rick - What’s so much better about it?
Matt - Everything…everyone...
Rick - In *every
way?
Matt - More or less.
Rick - Less is more, even more so.
Matt - On what terms?
Rick - Everything.
Matt - Everything seems to be getting worse.
Rick - Are you two together for the better or for the worse?
Matt - We’re together to get better, not worse.
Rick - But, who’s getting better?
Matt - We both are. But we’re still love sick.
Rick - Or are you still sick of love?
Matt - No, I really do love her.
Rick - As sick as it sounds, I’m proud of you.
                 Rick walks out of the room

© Matthew Harlovic
This is old conversation that I thought was rather poetic, more so, philosophical. Back and forth we conversed about love.
782 · Mar 2016
November’s Nympho
Matthew Harlovic Mar 2016
She loves him,
or at least, a part of him.
She does what she does,
she loves on a whim.

© Matthew Harlovic
780 · Feb 2016
Janis
Matthew Harlovic Feb 2016
To my bloomed beauty,
oh my flower in the sun,
you were my Janis.

© Matthew Harlovic
779 · May 2015
Celina Cirrus
Matthew Harlovic May 2015
You spread lies around town like a dandelion.
Don’t try to hide it, it’s written in your iris
There’s no need to cry about the crisis now
because it’s all crystal clear like a cirrus cloud.

© Matthew Harlovic
776 · Feb 2015
Recording Booth - 10w
Matthew Harlovic Feb 2015
A recording booth is nothing more than another padded room.

© Matthew Harlovic
772 · May 2016
Tried & True
Matthew Harlovic May 2016
I tried, it's true and what we once had was tried-and-true
and I'd be lying if I said you haven't tried it too.

© Matthew Harlovic
767 · Jul 2016
seasons
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2016
i wilted in the winter,
withered in the spring.
the summer was a
****** but i wonder
what the fall will bring.

© Matthew Harlovic
Just staying positive.
767 · Mar 2016
Paradox - 10w
Matthew Harlovic Mar 2016
She was a walking paradox
in a pair of Doc’s.

© Matthew Harlovic
764 · Feb 2015
The Front Seat
Matthew Harlovic Feb 2015
The front seat is full
of coffin nails, Bic lighters,
and mutilation.

©  Matthew Harlovic
760 · Aug 2016
reduction
Matthew Harlovic Aug 2016
you put me in awe
when you justified
your actions with
word is law,
but i broke my jaw
to understand how
our passion spoke
in the raw.

© Matthew Harlovic
i'm reduced to silence...
759 · Apr 2016
Wanderlust
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2016
I’m not a smooth talker,
I can’t sweep you off your feet
but I’ll walk with you longer
than your shadow does down the street.

© Matthew Harlovic
757 · Aug 2015
Dreadhead
Matthew Harlovic Aug 2015
If the world revolved around you,
injustice, insufficiency, and insolence
would get stuck in your dreads.

© Matthew Harlovic
Short but sour.
755 · Apr 2016
After You
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2016
Before you help me,
you better help yourself first
because they tell me it’s unhealthy
for you to be my nurse.

© Matthew Harlovic
755 · Jul 2019
beach bones
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2019
Aphrodite.
Ocean girl.
Bleach my bones.
Make 'em look like pearls.

© Matthew Harlovic
747 · Feb 2016
Flatlands - 5w
Matthew Harlovic Feb 2016
I flatlined in the flatlands.

© Matthew Harlovic
See Edwin Abbott's novel Flatlands for reference.
746 · Mar 2016
Adam's Tongue
Matthew Harlovic Mar 2016
Let’s take a long walk in a short run
on Adam’s tongue, on Adam’s tongue
where I tasted the barrel of your gun
when we were young, when we were young.

© Matthew Harlovic
745 · May 2016
Words Are Words
Matthew Harlovic May 2016
I just wish I could make you understand
but words are words so I guess I can’t.

© Matthew Harlovic
If only I could.
744 · Sep 2019
eco-tage
Matthew Harlovic Sep 2019
You profess to value all life
so you don't strike to ****
You hype the truth, and
gorge on the fear you instill

© Matthew Harlovic
732 · Oct 2017
monarch
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2017
i wish i learned how to let go from the get go
because i wouldn't have changed faces like a gecko.
her body was a temple i painted art deco,
i fell for her tempo it resonates like an echo.
i tremble at her tone yet her treble let alone
could break any heart made of stone.
she's known to play her part,
she's shown she can master it.
she hits every note,
she's dead accurate.
she's a natural when it comes to the art.
she's outsmart anyone even the likes of Descartes
and depart in the dark just to get a head start.
she's a work of art with beautiful quarks
that set apart the sharp remarks
with the monarch sparks
we shared that night we were in my parked car.
i swear you might be the most astounding star
i have ever found on my radar
but you are by far the very avatar
of a die-hard wild card.
are you barred in?
has the flower child outgrown her garden?
or were you just starving for a greater havest
when you carved out my carcass?
perhaps you're a Marxist
and my work wasn't up to par with your target market.
i thought a monarch was regarded as a god incarnate
yet your true colors were scarlet.
you weaved a web of lies like Charlotte.
have you achieved your dreams yet my darling starlet?
are you set on starring in a different light?
apart from all the starry nights, and sorry fights?
you're such a sorry sight when you hardly ever blink
at anything i say yet everything i think.

© Matthew Harlovic
731 · Sep 2016
cogito ergo sum
Matthew Harlovic Sep 2016
i think* you want
the best for me,
therefore I am
and will always
try my best for you.

© Matthew Harlovic
731 · Sep 2016
butler's blues
Matthew Harlovic Sep 2016
i know i'm not worthless,
i know what my worth is
but i'm willing to admit
i lost a sense of purpose
when i heard how you no
longer wanted my service
so until you change your mind
and call upon another person,
i will not surface.

© Matthew Harlovic
728 · Jan 2017
sue real
Matthew Harlovic Jan 2017
you are surreal
from what i see, i feel.

kneel before me, i'll reveal
the brush i paint the faint of heart with.

i give color to the artless,
i give color to the darkness

but you my darling,
you are my artist.

© Matthew Harlovic
a light in the darkness.
726 · May 2016
May 15th
Matthew Harlovic May 2016
We used to celebrate the fifteenth of May
as the day we first started dating. Though
you thought the fifteenth was the correct date,
we did not start our relationship in May.
We started in June, a few weeks
after my graduation. The fifteenth
of May was the day we first started dating,
but we only dated for a week, and then
you dropped the let’s stay friends bit.  
A month later, we tried again,
and that try lasted for two years.
Perhaps the superstition of our first fifteenth
brought us to where we are, perhaps not.
But the fifteenth of May is in a few weeks,
so where are you, my friend?

© Matthew Harlovic
Some things just won't last.
719 · May 2016
Bad Taste - 10w
Matthew Harlovic May 2016
You sugar-coated the truth,
only to get a sweet tooth.

© Matthew Harlovic
719 · Aug 2016
horror vacui
Matthew Harlovic Aug 2016
i wonder if you
are teaching me
a thing or two
about values or
how human nature
abhors a vacuum.

© Matthew Harlovic
713 · May 2016
Fear, Love
Matthew Harlovic May 2016
You said you were scared to lose me.
Perhaps the reason is because all of your
close friends have left except for me.
When I asked you why you were scared,
you said you are scared to lose me because
you love me. I love you too, but know this
love is not fear, and fear is not love.  

© Matthew Harlovic
701 · Jul 2017
july's junkie
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2017
she stabbed a cig in her lips just to sip the smoke
as i tripped off the second hand secrecy she spoke
i was choked up. i couldn’t cough out a comeback
for comfort as she drew a new one from the pack.

those ivory black irises lacked pigment.
they looked as bleak as the stars in the distance
or was it just a figment of my inhibitions?
or some innocent incident that kicked in my skepticism?

in an instant my instincts clicked in again,
it was getting late so we made our way down the bend
and in the end, my intent was never met
but she did teach me something that I’ll never forget.

she said "a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it.
i know it may be tragic but somehow we gotta have it.
a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it
and someday we’ll drag it down to our caskets".

she tried to play a queen in a king’s reign
but you can’t share the wealth if you’re the one who pays.
we’re drawn by the waste, we’re taunted by the taste
but maybe someday you’ll get your life straight

and so we laid waste beneath the marble moon
as the tar tore off her taste buds as the ashes bloomed.
as her charcoal perfume loomed in the moonlight
as my hands laid on her waist, waiting for a goodnight kiss.

but with a bit of luck, i could’ve caught
a little more than smoke in my tear ducts.
aw shucks, i should’ve known a lot better.
she may have had a halo but her wings were severed

and never will i ever make the same mistake twice.
if you break my heart once, i’ll be gone by daylight.
i promise that you’ll wake up all alone tomorrow
and i know for sure you’ll light another Marlboro.

smothered by my sorrows, i know how it’s tragic
but a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it.
a habit is a habit, somehow we gotta have it
and someday we’ll drag it down to our caskets.

© Matthew Harlovic
I'm not your every-day, run of the mill rapper. I'm a story teller.
In essence, I think rap is rhythm AND poetry.
If you want to hear my poem to music, copy and paste this link:
https://soundcloud.com/outtatune-1/julys-******
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2018
I sink inside my head
and think about the things I said.
But I often find myself in bed,
catching a wink.
If the world really lies on a thin thread,
am I a fragile link?
If I blink,
will everything I love
and hold dear disappear?
Why do we use such an expression to perpetuate the fear of loss?
Here I thought I beveled and embossed
the impression but it’s just another load
of dross.

© Matthew Harlovic
690 · Dec 2018
to them
Matthew Harlovic Dec 2018
to them or they
here's a brief overview
find me on a bad day
i'll hurt both of you

© Matthew Harlovic
I only tagged love because I'm full of it ****
684 · Oct 2016
bottom's up
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2016
you can call it self-help
but all's relative in kelp
when you tell it like it is
and whelp give up
what you lived for
sedatives that have yet
to set in so you betta’
help yourself or let
someone else into
that little capsized world
of yours before you hurl
or wash up on shore
so take the boardwalk home
when you wake up in the
morning toward the nearest
port that is still storming.

© Matthew Harlovic
679 · Apr 2017
somezero
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2017
i know i’m a werido but half my heroes
have pierced earlobes so i don’t fear those
who rose from someone to some zero.

© Matthew Harlovic
676 · Jul 2016
What Ticks?
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2016
You’ve stuck with me
through thick and thin
just like a tick,
you’re under my skin.

© Matthew Harlovic
This could be applied to a few things.
675 · Aug 2016
under
Matthew Harlovic Aug 2016
i theorized the continuity
of my contemplation
as you picked your guitar
questioning all of creation.
you told me, "i hold no
obligation to anyone else.
if i break a promise, then
i will break it to myself."

© Matthew Harlovic
[in theory]
674 · Apr 2018
raincoat
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2018
It’s raining on the South side and I’m outside
watching the flowers with a mouth wide open.
I was soaking up the rays just a few days ago
Now I’m asking myself where’d the sun go?

You stood on the corner in a yellow raincoat.
Weathering the storm and chasing rainbows.
Reclaim those colors, they suit you well.
Be true to yourself like Lulu Belle.

© Matthew Harlovic
674 · Nov 2014
Angels - 10w
Matthew Harlovic Nov 2014
Let us pretend that our saviors lie in cloud cover.

© Matthew Harlovic
672 · Apr 2018
Dear Sophie
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2018
I hope the flowers arrived on time.
I was never much of a “punctual type.”
Though I function, alright especially on the mic
when the speakers bumping something awfully tight.
Got me jumping in my sneakers reaching greater heights
to locate the light bright enough to melt glacial ice.
But twice I’ve been in the inferno wishing to return home
like clicking my heels will take me outta this turmoil.
I learned the most loyal friends are embroiled to the very end—
despite how the road bends. But it takes work on both ends
to make amends when things are blown out of proportion.
I should’ve known endorphins would’ve played my *****
with the sweetest melodies that I should’ve recorded,
but I didn’t have the courage.

© Matthew Harlovic
668 · Apr 2017
stir
Matthew Harlovic Apr 2017
eyes fume,
tongues stir.
we're young
and unsure
but among
dark skies
sparks fly
with her.

© Matthew Harlovic
665 · Sep 2016
counter-culture
Matthew Harlovic Sep 2016
will the birds sing or sit in a string discussing theories on a wire?
too tired for repercussions from prior trials by fire,
so they pile the pyre and sing for the choir
while the liars catch wildfire to a dire count of 4-5-1
by a child with a drumstick instead of a thumb in his mouth.
you can hear the percussion through his stomach for crying out loud.
are the parents proud of this juvenile behavior,
have they vowed to reconcile with its nature?
are they beguiled by how it reviles exile
but every now and then goes the extra mile?

© Matthew Harlovic
// burn // baby // burn //
657 · Oct 2016
cravings
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2016
you reminded me
we have to eat a peck
of dirt before we die
but why on earth save
the pie in the sky?

© Matthew Harlovic
654 · Jul 2016
post mortem auctoris
Matthew Harlovic Jul 2016
after the author’s death
bury his work with his last breath*

© Matthew Harlovic
653 · Oct 2016
it varies
Matthew Harlovic Oct 2016
i have not heard your variation
in quite a while nor have i seen
a laugh in your smile.

© Matthew Harlovic
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