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riley minteer Sep 2020
shoehorn, white poppies
pockets all full of teeth
within one white whisper i swallow the key
too many pieces of pearlescent cutlery,
millions of tormented gnashing the air...

what is the culture's accepted state of satire?
what is the current world's state of affairs?
i think to myself, pondering like a child
for if i just knew i could laugh at my fears...

now i sit,
yes, i sit- in my cold echo chamber
sonic reflections, electronic lies
all my past memories calcified slowly
my skeletons lie in the back of my mind...
-riley minteer
“shoehorn”
(from “candlelight, rust & shells”)
Thursday, September 3, 2020
riley minteer Aug 2020
i,
a liar,
coat my body in ashes–
just to prove that i’m not what you thought
i, a child of space and time,
lie to you coldly while smiling bright.
-riley minteer
“i, a liar”
(from “mind soul heart”)
Friday, August 14, 2020
riley minteer Aug 2020
nimble hands knit quickly through satin and sun–bleached linens
poking and pulling on hundreds of fine strings
find comfort and closure in tight fitting mittens
who’s corners and ridges so carefully sewn

children braiding red grass in the garden
an old woman resting her body at dawn
i owe these my life– these small, simple moments
that bring warmth to my skin when nothing else does.
-riley minteer
“through satin”
(from “mind soul heart”)
Friday, August 14, 2020
riley minteer Feb 2020
in the midst of an easy, northern-bound rain
from one shore,
a gust,
another’s clear day

in the midst of the courtyard,
a brick-laid patio
igniting an hearth,
who’s embers dampened long ago

igniting the fire which therein warms my heart;
a simple red peony that rose from the yard
it rose and was nurtured by delicate words,
then brushed during night,
by the sensual rough of a scourge
oh the power of words...

but alas, the easy rain soon starts to harden
as nothing is safe from the truth’s vacant burden
and my courtyard, once blooming, peonies, red
is wilted, long-shot, and over-spent.
-riley minteer
“courtyard hearth”
(from “mind soul heart”)
Sunday, February 23, 2020
riley minteer Jan 2020
i drew a line in crush'd corals
to separate the right from wrong
disregarding past-life morals,
none are right and nothing's wrong

forget-me-not, daisy, chain
laced around your throat
a kind of leaf'd, vile, locket
that doubles as a noose

please do not forget me,
i've cut up both my knees
i'll take upon your burdens,
you burden me with ease.
-riley minteer
“boundaries”
(from “mind soul heart”)
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
riley minteer Jan 2020
we picnic during solstice,
neon-chartreuse vertigo
vision morphs and bends,
we're weightless, astral high
in constant ego death,
eyes so lunar dilated
bits of stars surround us
on the f*cking moon

seven violent truffles
i’ve been high for so long
i rise, thirteen a.m.
in a drab and dreary coma
when i take another sip,
like a wilting lilac-
then spring begins so soon

everything inanimate
speaking in slow tongues
living and observing
from their place of immobility

slow kisses to your skin,
it melts on my lips quickly
like cathedral waxes
in the carmine breeze

everything is alive,
sobriety is so silent
we get high on the roof,
an ashen rocked collision
seven violet tablets
violent constellation
vibrant vein pulsation,
euphoric crystal lines
a new cosmic collusion,
peripheral discernment
we ascend to highest heavens,
just to plummet to the sea.
-riley minteer
“everything is alive”
(from “mind soul heart”)
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
riley minteer Dec 2019
when i've reached a proper altitude,
all will be as it should
and when i've reached that final peak
i will then be understood

silence hangs upon the valley
like a cloak of grey despair
nothing comes, nothing goes
never is there fruit to bear

so i leave my place of living,
i run across the county line
somehow i'll make it to the mountain,
no guarantee i'll come back alive

if i do then nothing changes
if i don't no one will cry
and when i've reached that final peak
i’ll finally be seen as I.
-riley minteer
“the final peak”
(from “seeds of change”)
Thursday, November 28, 2019
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