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326 · Aug 2019
Searching for god
River Aug 2019
As a child, I took an art class at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
We’d go to different exhibits and the instructor would explain the context of pieces of artwork
Once us kids stood together,
Looking up at a large canvas polluted with ambiguously painted circles
And the art instructor told us that there was some deeper meaning to it,
Though to our uninitiated young minds,
We couldn’t see this

We went to an exhibit one day full of gods made of stone and wood
Idols, the evangelicals would say
There was a god with a protruding belly and a folded face like a shar-pei
And the instructor pointed to it and uttered its name
I was floored.

My mind raced—
Surely, there couldn’t be other gods besides the one I grew up with,
And yet here I was, surrounded by hundreds of them with names and identifying traits and even faces

When I arrived home I demanded an explanation from my mother,
Who being only a nominal Christian at the time
And not well versed in scripture
Couldn’t give me a satisfactory explanation for what I had seen that day,
She couldn’t provide an explanation that could seal the crack in my perception of reality that had been made

When I badgered her demanding to know God’s name,
Since now I knew God isn’t a name but a title,
And that there were at least hundreds of gods throughout history with names
The only answer she could muster was “lord”
So I continued on in my perplexed state,
Though I stopped inquiring about it

Until my mother became involved with a cult,
Who spoon fed us answers that insure certainty and seal up all the cracks in our perception of reality
With a glue that we aren’t allowed to question
But had to apply liberally to our minds everyday

They provided me a name for this God I thought I had known all my life: Jehovah, they called him
And with God’s new name they provided a personality too:
Jehovah is a god who’s sick of everyone’s **** and is going to destroy everyone in a horrific fashion in Armageddon,
except the true Jehovah’s witnesses plus a few good hearted unbelievers who never had the chance to join the “one true religion”

Nice.

So all my questions were answered...
Until they weren’t
Certainty is a drug like any drug,
It only gives temporary relief
And it wears off and you run out of your supply,
Your body convulses violently
And you can’t stop the screaming in your mind
This certainty was a antidote that could control all of your existential anxieties
But in being exposed to reality,
My false beliefs founded in superstition
Withered in reality’s limelight

Reality bites
Because with reality comes an undeniable truth
A truth that doesn’t have to be rationalized
But is inherent and honest
In an unforgiving way
But honest nonetheless,
And I think I want honesty in my life now,
Yeah
But not the “truth” that religion purports to own,
Giving me the “truth” as long as I adopt its rituals, rules and customs
But the truth that belongs to both ugly and beautiful things,
And how in life there are endless, painful contradictions
And how it can be over anytime for any of us
And how no one really knows for certain when we leave our bodies of flesh if there is a continuation of our consciousness
But I want it anyway,
I want the painful, ****** truth,
And not the lies of certainty.
325 · Feb 2018
Time
River Feb 2018
I watch the hands of the clock slowly tick
As the light in the sky slowly dims
In the night the air turns brisk
Anxieties arise within and make me sick.

I get to thinking about time
How in a way it keeps me confined
I think, what a concept
And I hate restraints, to be honest.

See the mind is a funny place
Especially when it starts to race
In loops it plays my worst fears
It brings me to screaming and tears.

For with time the inevitable takes place
You leave this world without a trace
But I believe we go somewhere
All the way up there.

It's so easy to be consumed by anxiety
When it's all about me
But when I focus on community
I start to feel a sense of inner unity.

So let time pass
And let the lessons life teaches me last
In every moment I will live fully in the now
And I'll make it through this life wholehearted, somehow.
325 · Jul 2017
LISTEN
River Jul 2017
LISTEN,
Open up your ears!
Your heart is SCREAMING,
But you've been deaf for years
You did everything to make yourself forget
the little voice you cast away,
Deep within
the shadows of your heart
But she's screaming ****** ******!
She is REFUSING to continue on
Living this lie
For when the truth stealthily creeps up on her again,
She can't help but cry
For the lies are treacherous demons that keep her from sleep
But the truth is light like a halo, wrapping around her head,
Giving her wings, lifting her off her feet

Listen,
For you know who you are,
Under the trauma
There still lives a girl with a loving heart
Who loves herself and loves the world
Who makes crowns of wildflowers
And creates stories of whimsical fantasy
Can you still taste the long forgotten majesty
Of a life lived from your heart?

Clothed in sheer scarves of glitter,
No need for vices to clog the passageways of her mind
She opens to the brilliant possibilities
The uncertain future offers her
Embraces the ever changing winds
And clings to no avail,
To the ever shifting river waters
She looks out upon a cliff
At the world below her,
Her glasses are not rose tinted,
But tinted with infinite hues,
Like the rainbow
She
Perceives that
This world is not
Good or bad
Beautiful or ugly
But so many things,
On one little planet
So many different, infinite possibilities,
Being played out
Upon the surface
Of this blue and green
Oasis.

*so go with the flow,
and follow
the call
of that little voice
deep within your heart
324 · Jun 2018
Spin
River Jun 2018
I don't like clocks
I cover them with a cloak
I hide away under white covers
Light tries to break through my shades
But I am away, I am away
I am a stowaway
On life's ride
I'm just here for free
I refuse any limitations that would bind me
Time passes like molasses
I'm on a spinning rock
And my mind is spinning too.
323 · May 2018
Eyes Above
River May 2018
Sometimes it's nice to fall
Down slides shooting
Our tired bodies out into space

Do you ever feel the blood drenched words
Of your truth
On your lips?
People furrow their brow
In confused disapproval
As your truth hurtles up your throat
And hits their ears
Like clashing cymbals

You sat there,
On that bench
Listening to my pain voiced
And all you could do
Was look at me
Like a deer in headlights

Do you ever hate it
When people say "Aw"
When you share something deep and
personal with them?
Yeah.

This world is ******,
That's for sure
This is why I keep my eyes on the heavens above.
323 · Feb 2016
Enigma
River Feb 2016
I want to know
I've laid my inquiries out in the snow

I wrapped myself up in a quilt
Before my soul done wilt

Everything about it is perfect,
except

The facts don't conform to my fantasy
I can't control this reality

You can't read my mind,
I don't mind. And for explaining: I don't have the time

Everything is perfect
Even if I tried to change it, it wouldn't work.
This poem is about the longing I experience at times to know everything. I don't enjoy the uncertainty of not knowing! So, this poem is about surrendering my need to know the outcome. Also, the last stanza is about believing that no matter how things play out, it is perfect, and attempting to interfere with how life unfolds is futile. Go with the flow, don't overthink the process. These are things I must constantly remind myself!
323 · Oct 2016
Just look at me
River Oct 2016
Just look at me
If their's hope for me,
then their's hope for you
Because if you could have
ever seen
what I've been through
You'd know I shouldn't be here today
And yet,
here I am, Alive
and so grateful for this day.
322 · Jun 2017
Do you ever?
River Jun 2017
Do you ever hide away at home
Because daily living has a heavy toll
You see potential pain in every moment,
Every face,
In every pause and every lag
You are overcome by lurking sadness
It screams that you will never be
Who you dream to be
You pass the bridge and look down
You push aside the thoughts of pain,
For jumping off is what you refrain from
You have a plastered smile to keep you sane
But really, all it does is make you seem inane

I look into a twisted mirror,
I see the face of a contorted figure
I ask: "Who are you?"
But no answer is delivered
I'm just a mind plagued with the residue of trauma
Debilitating memories that make me shake and want to huddle in a ball
Tear the whole world apart with my ****** claws
Scream and create nonsensical havoc
Because I can't seem to compensate
For all the confusion that swims below in my subconscious
I need someone to hold me,
But I convince myself,
No one could love me and my demons
I have a reasoning mind but my heart is disconnected
If you knew my story you'd understand why my internal world is so hectic
And yet my lips are sealed
For I try to conceal
And perfect and attain
The life of my ideals
But on days like today
I feel so far away from joy
I sit, deformed, shaking on the floor
Not understanding anymore
Not understanding anymore.

My heart had become unplugged
For once I loved and loved and loved
But my love was taken for granted
Smashed on the floor and broken, ravaged
I sit here, dumb-founded and crying
Looking through the reel of memories in my mind
Trying to figure out at what point it all went wrong
But my life has been a series of painful experiences
Escapism was my way to quell the incessant shame
But an unplugged heart knows not how to receive
The relief and release of unconditional love
It's there for my taking
Delivered by Jesus
If I would just stretch out my hand and accept it,
I could live in His love, undaunted
I'm a child of God,
And I know this
It's time to plug my heart back in
And own it.
I like to write happy endings of hope when I don't feel too good. It lifts my mood :)
321 · Dec 2019
Winter Starry Sky
River Dec 2019
Take me to a sky
In the night
And I’ll lay on the cold ground
And cry
As I let myself be absorbed into the stars
I’ll let the pain of believing I’m not good enough
Dissolve into the winter air
Releasing every burden, every care
319 · Nov 2015
What is the truth?
River Nov 2015
But who am I
A teardrop traveling from my eye
As I witness the pain
and the truth in the lie

I want to sit all day and wrap myself within beautiful lies
And watch the sunrise
The truth makes me feel bare and scared
I couldn't manage it; I bar my ears from hearing truth
When it touches my ears, I just feel so confused

I've searched up and down and all around for this thing people call The Truth
Magnifier in hand like a sleuth
But it still eludes me, like it does everyone else
The world is moving and living
But I don't think I want to be apart of it...
Because the more I hear about what truth means to others
The more confused I become
I just want to meet someone with answers
This search deprives my life of fun!

With all this uprooting tradition and reasoning and overturning superstition and dogma,
The meaning that has imbued my life has waned
I'm a lost traveler searching for truth and a clear cut purpose.
319 · Nov 2017
Packaged
River Nov 2017
Swift
The world is chaos
Then order,
Chaos,
Order--
Oscillating

Rigid,
Dry eyes
Hunger rumbling silently
In your bones

You hunger
for him

Blue eyes sky
As tender as peach skin
Smiles galore
Your heart sings:
Let him in!

She is a volcano
Broiling
Mixed in her emotions,
Unstable

I am a butterfly
Finally free from my caterpillar form
I am free,
You can't catch me
As I revel delightfully in my liberty

Forms,
Packaged
In bodies
Captive
Seeking things that weren't sought,
At the edge of the precipise
Glimpsing at all their is

Conformity,
Abide by all the rules
Cling, ******, grasp
At air
You can't keep it here
You pummel love to make it suit you,
But you can't recruit lovers
Lovers are capricious,
Like a bird
Be still and silent
And it will come to you
But if you flail your arms
In frenzy
Trying to catch
It's beauty
It will fly far away from you,
And your desperate ways

Just let it all go,
And be content for today.
318 · Jul 2017
Come a little closer
River Jul 2017
Come a little closer,
Stand a little taller
Speak a little louder
And come dance with me
Over this lustrous July breeze
You're the soul I wish to squeeze
For every single detail about you
Brings me great ease

This attraction fails to cease
In no way could it ever decrease
I just have to believe
It's for a higher purpose and
A better cause
One I can't quite comprehend currently
I'm just left here daydreaming of you holding me

Is there any way for you to see
That there has to be
A way for things to go along more quickly
What is the specific recipe
For turning dreams into reality?
To have your lips touching mine,
Shooting me out into pure ecstasy

So come a little closer,
Dare to dance with me,
We could do the tango,
Or the fox trot
Maybe some contemporary,
Lets get to the point,
About how we feel
To make these dreams real.
River Sep 2017
I finally saw you again yesterday,
I walked in,
And there you were
I was surprised to see you,
But I hid it
I acted like
It hadn't been months since I last saw you

We've known eachother for a year now,
You were different yesterday
I was different
We've changed,
We grew
Into something beautiful,
Into something new
And I must confess,
It was so nice to see you
I wish I could openly profess
Just how much I love being near you.
316 · Mar 2017
Tears
River Mar 2017
These tears are like spears to my heart
My mind is so numb
Stripped of all it's moisture
I guess I haven't desensitized myself enough
I tried to never feel again
I almost succeeded
And yet a tactless mouth uttered not well thought out words
And now they're all tucked in their bed
Dreaming of their unmet fantasies
While I'm here
Trying desperately to console myself without numbing
All the while crying these burning tears
Where's the empathy? I ask
But I guess they've never felt this amount of pain
I had held it down for so long
But it reemerged,
And in my eyes comes the unceasing rain.
315 · Nov 2015
Dying to be me
River Nov 2015
Dying to be me
Within this society of conformity

Just want to be free from the shackles
Freed from the cage
Aching for freedom is what I express on this page

Blood drips from my lips
My psyche has suffered a massive tear
Reality is seeping in like unnatural poison
It's keeping me from sleep
because I toss and turn in despair

Trying to make sense of this material world
But it's so unstable
I think I see it with my eyes
But a force like wind
Blows it all away
Like particles losing their tenacity and evaporating
Into space
Maybe that's all we can get out of this life--
An endless, unfulfilling chase

I try to convince myself to stay sane
To be happy and march along with the masses
To be the same
But what is in a name
When the world is in mayhem
And you're expected to just pretend

In empty space
You can erase
Limits are unknown
It's like being in a fish bowl of snow
You become numb because it's cold
And eventually you can't tell the difference between
your body and your soul.

I'm just dying to be me
I'm just dying for humanity's integrity .
315 · Aug 2017
Summer Rain
River Aug 2017
It is 4 a.m. in the morning,
At peculiar little moments,
For no exact reason,
Sometimes I absorb a moment best that I can
And ask myself,
Will I ever remember this?
I usually never do,
The only memory I have of those moments
Is asking myself if I will remember
Maybe this is why I write,
So even if daily life makes me forget,
Capturing in detail the moments most significant to me
Will make them immune to the natural decay of memory

So, now,
I wonder
If the pitter patter of this night's summer rain
Will stay as a happy memory in my brain,
Or by tomorrow, wash away
There is no way to know
I just have to feel this moment,
And let everything go...
Let everything flow~

It's August now
I think of how
Everything goes too quickly,
Swiftly,
Like soft sand running through my fingers,
Sand dollars, Maine
First thinking of sand,
But now I'm a child again,
Visiting Maine
With my parents
The sea smells fresh,
Lobster,
Maine is known for it's lobster
You dip lobster in butter,
Because that's how it's eaten, Violet
I bought a souvenir for my Mother
Took a boat to see the whales
But they decided not to show up
I remember seeing a cute boy on the boat,
I imagined what it would be like if he was my boyfriend,
I was probably eight
Everything in childhood
Could never have prepared me for
Being a teenager
And becoming an adult
Childhood was so, so
Innocent
I knew of pain,
But I hadn't yet been wrecked by pain,
I was merely an observer at that point,
But things change when you take pain personally,
But pain is not personal
So, ultimately, it's our choice to either remain in the ruins of the wreckage, wallowing over our losses,
Or pick ourselves up, glean the lessons and rebuild our life,
Integrating both the pain and joy of our life within the new building blocks

So, as this summer rain falls
As it has before,
For over twenty years,
As long as I've lived
I let this time pass with ease
I ask myself if I will remember,
And I probably won't
But what's most important is that I love to my fullest capacity
Within every single forgettable moment.
314 · Sep 2016
Rush
River Sep 2016
Falling down a kaleidoscopic chasm
One you or I could never fathom
I like to keep my eyes closed
because that's when I see the rose
of this tribulation
melting in the womb
of this maternal nation
It's a relation too thin,
like ice
I fall through
I keep falling through
And when I look to you
I see me
The many reflections of humanity.
I have to purge
this darkness
it attaches to my heart
like a forced dance with the devil
I'm always reaching for the stars
But being thrown down to the deepest,
darkest, dankest level
Where I feel nothing,
absolutely nothing.

What is the matter
with this sunflower child
staring deep into my eyes
She means everything and knows nothing,
I know nothing and feel everything
Purge me, purge me
From this feeling
of nothingness and everything
Breaking a part
Seeing for the first time
The blankness of reality
Stark and cold and filled with infinite light.

Went so far down the rabbit hole
That you'd never understand
I behold thee in my imagination
Eyes are portals to the soul that
cause so much elation
and frustration
For thinking I could ever discern real truth,
because truth is simply skewed
It's diluted
My lips wish to speak it,
But my mind is convoluted
And it doesn't know which words to speak
If they'd be understood
by the meek.

Stuck and infinitely running
in this circle,
going round and round
recycled
living, so alive
and stagnant
bursting and bubbling
so, so angry
and yet all I do is smile
and hold back my mind
I wring my wrists
and form fists
I knot my hands behind my back
And lock myself in
Against self-expression,
I decay
Yet another day,
wasted away
on this sovereign conformity
The nest is safe
But I'm ready to fly
and if I don't
I'll continue in this misery--
un-ending, numbing
You'll have to forgive me
Because no longer can I live this way...
314 · Nov 2015
Running
River Nov 2015
This earth is an endless racing track
Have to keep moving forward
Never look back

I can feel it coming on, an attack
Where's the control
In an life full of lack

Running away from this anxiety
Why am I lying to myself
I want no part in this society

I can't sit still
Something's going on and it's wrong
Won't let society take my free will

Capricious
Gotta put on my running shoes
Gotta get out of here.
313 · Feb 2016
Let me cry
River Feb 2016
Let me be weak
Let me be small
Let me hide
And crawl into a ball
Let me cry
Until the tears are all gone
Let me feel pain
Without trying to make it go away
I don't want to stop my tears,
I don't want to smile right this moment
I just want to feel this pain
That I cannot explain
And let it pass
So I can be free of it
At last.
312 · Oct 2016
God, Please
River Oct 2016
God please forgive me for my curious ways
From this disposition I can't be saved
I can't refrain
from the difference in my soul
I'm disconnected from the whole
Can't You see?
I try so much to fit in and conform
I cry out to you about this but You never seem to hear my pleas
I thought I'd make you happy if I was the same
If I dressed in starched linen and changed my name
I thought only then would I be able to see
You, God, clearly
Because that's my truest and sole desire
To know God for myself, to see God's eyes
Wide and on fire

But could it be
That I'll never see
You when I'm blinded by religion and
fear
I'll never feel you, hear you or
touch you
When conformity is creeping up my skin
How could I see?
Maybe without words,
or reason
or logic
Maybe by forgetting it all
I'll remember
Who God is.
Maybe, who knows?
312 · Mar 2018
Emblazoned Heart
River Mar 2018
Looking through a chain link fence
I press my cheek to the cold metal
and look out to the skyline in the distance

I breathe in deeply

I shut my eyes,
I shut my eyes like all the times before
With a peaceful smile on my face
As I drift back to the recesses of my mind
Where my imagination creates vivid images
That are realer than reality

I travel down to the center of my vermilion heart
And on it I perceive the secret
That is gradually healing me
Emblazoned on my heart are the words
That are replacing the sweet misery that has become me
It says: God is love
And this profound truth is restoring me

Slowly, God is pulling up the twisted roots of my grief
And planting seeds of everlasting love and peace
Many times still my mind is inhospitable,
I try to run from my mind
But it's always catching up to me
Threatening to devour me
But God is like clear blue skies
After a thousand days of rain
Slowly but surely
God is clearing my pain.
312 · Sep 2017
Spotless
River Sep 2017
Cry for all the times you didn't die,
Back in the days when you really wanted to,
Cry for the times you took handfuls of pills,
Because the pain in your heart was too real
Cry for the little girl inside,
Who glorified death,
As she cut her very own flesh
Cry for who you are now,
A smiling veil,
A tormented soul behind the mask,
People see your darkness,
There is no way to disregard it
Your only hope is to wash your heart clean,
Of this deep disease
Running through your veins.
312 · Mar 2015
Once More
River Mar 2015
I’m in love, I’m in love
He’s touched my heart,
I heard God agreeing from above
He is fond of our love
Our young, hopeful love
I saw a pure white dove hovering above my beloved
And I just wanted to shout
But I dare not, so I don’t freak the whole world out
I wanted to shout:
“I love you!”
Oh, am I merely a fool?
Pursuing dreams that can no longer be mine?
Or does love not know time?

How would he react, if I told him the truth?
The truth is screaming inside of me!
It wants to get loose!
But I keep it ******* with a noose
I am so scared to lose
I am scared to tell him and lose him forever
Lose seeing that beautiful face
That toned body
Lose listening to the words that generate from his clever mind.
Oh, why can’t he be mine?

I solemnly pray, that he doesn’t view me as a piece in his game
To be easily thrown away
I hope and pray, that he longs to be with me
Forever and a day.

This day is beautiful
The weather is mild
I feel so gleeful I want to expose my inner child
But she runs and hides when he is being beheld in my eyes
I just want to take his hand,
and run to the hills
I want to take his face and kiss him
And all of the minutes we spend apart,
Oh, do I miss him.

I’ve loved many times,
but what’s once more?
311 · Sep 2018
Fading Blue
River Sep 2018
The sky is a deep dark blue
Fading
The city twinkles in the distance
The water plays with the shore

I am so grateful

I arrive home
I take my dog out for a walk
I stop by my friends house
Where the bible study is held
A few friends remain
We laugh,
We love

I walk home
Beaming
Love pouring through me
Like an endless waterfall
I am full
I am loved
I am so happy.
:) so many warm feelings. So many good things today
310 · Jan 2018
Sun
River Jan 2018
Sun
Orangey
Orangey
Orangey
Swimming in the flames
Untamed
Laughing wildly
Take my mind
Take my mind
I have no more time
For a mind
I'm laughing wildly
Being consumed
By flames of ecstacy
Reason bleeding on the barren earth
Aimlessly
Smiles galore laughing
Mouths gaping
Smiles faking
Ripping through this illusion
Transportation to the pure amusement
Laughing like a child lost in delusion
No more confusion
No more confusion
Riding on the carousel
Riding
Riding
Riding
High in to the setting
Orange
Sun.
309 · Oct 2018
I'm Not Your Healer
River Oct 2018
I've got a big heart
that needs to lavish love on aching souls--
Souls malnourished from a lack love
But my love runs out
and I run dry
Yet these hungry souls
keep stealing from me
like cannibals feeding on the weak
And now I know why

I can't just give them what they need
People need to learn how to love themselves
without the desperate pleas for attention
when what really needs to be addressed
is a deep desire to be truly seen

Maybe I think to much
Or believe everyone wants to heal
I just don't get why it's so hard for some people too love,
Why it's so hard for some people to feel

My healer tendencies have got me dying
I'm trying to feed the world while I'm starving
First,
I've got to feed myself.
308 · Mar 2017
Fickle
River Mar 2017
My heart is a swing
Swinging to conclusions
My mind is a pendulum
Going back and forth, me never making up my mind

Vacillation is a part of my anatomy
It's the chaos that thrills me

And yet I feel so safe
In the womb of certainty.
305 · Jan 2018
Anger
River Jan 2018
Anger, my sweet friend
You guide me to burn everything
That isn't authentic in me
Sweet flames of surrender engulf me
As hot tears spill from my eyes
This is my beautiful demise
As the lies burn away
And all that remains
Is Truth in it's purity,
Truth in it's peace
Truth in it's joy
Thank you,
Anger
For Killing everything
That was killing me.
301 · Jul 2018
Maybe
River Jul 2018
What if I were to be a conch shell?
Emptied of my pain, of my trivial afflictions
What if all my memories were stripped from my mind,
Would my mind become bleak like the frigid landscape of Antarctica
Or would it finally be empty enough to become saturated by unfiltered light?

What if I have used my mind as a crutch for all these years,
Because loving was just too fierce,
Too all encompassing
Love could lift me to my highest highs,
And promptly pulverize me in a matter of seconds.
Because of my unhealed pain surrounding love
I unintentionally sequestered myself in the small realm of my mind
Becoming dizzy and detached from my heart and body
As my mind stewed in a mess of overthinking,
In this process trying to derive the perfect formula
To avoid future pain at all costs

But I just wonder, if maybe
All this pent up inner torment doesn't truly belong to me,
Like, it shouldn't form my identity
I guess it's really hard to say,
Because these traumas make up so much of who I am today
But maybe I shouldn't allow them to have so much authority over my life
Because truly, these traumas are the source of my continuing strife
I just think, that maybe
If I willingly surrendered my psychological debris to God
That He would take it and dissolve it,
So He could fill me, unhindered, with His unconditional love.
Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
― C.S. Lewis
300 · Feb 2016
Can I really know?
River Feb 2016
Can I really know
Where to direct my steps,
In which direction to go?

I must interact within the orb of sentience
to attain the answers to the questions I do not know
Can't find the answers in the dictionary or
Internet
I got to open up my door
And let life in
I got to invite life to tango with me,
So I can spin, spin, spin
There is no guarantee that I will be successful and win
All I can do is try, tango, spin
Fall, sometimes feel small,
And get back on my feet again.
297 · Mar 2017
Journey of Mine
River Mar 2017
Stuck in blue
Sea glass glasses skewing my vision
Here, on this road is a division
A decision,
I'm not ready to make
I'm sitting on the tip of the cliff,
Not ready to jump

Mad at humanity
Lost all hope for sanity
How many people have failed me
And you say "try again"?
Oh heart, you optimistic fool,
You can't have everything you want...

On this journey
I once believed in magic
But I lost my book of spells
And now I'm here, all alone
And I must vouch for myself
On this journey.. on this cold, treacherous road

I've lost all my passion,
My ability to imagine
I've given up but I'm still scared of they're judgement
I don't want to live their lives of mediocrity
Why do it if you dont love it?
297 · Jun 2017
Pure
River Jun 2017
Pure emotions streaming down my cheeks
Like ruby blood streaming
I'm a volcano erupting
Consumed by rage
And my happiness is disintegrating
For I cannot seem to tame
These uncontainable flames

At night the moon's light washes over me
I get down on my knees and beg
To not be like the ones who scarred me
But with every passing day
I see them in me
In all the thoughtless things I do
I was mistreated and overlooked for so long
That finally it feels so free to just be concerned about me

This story I repeat is destroying me
Sabotaging any hope I have for grace
For as long as I live in the shadows of my tragedies
I will continue to be a helpless victim
To these stories of my past

Every night is a variation of the same dream,
Every day passes by too swiftly
As I lag along, barely living, half asleep
Too tired to live out my latent ambitions,
Confined to my bed living the artist's nightmare of unrealized fantasies
A flower hidden, closed amd clamped within itself
Dying to open, reaching to be free
To break free from the daze that is embedded within me
Where is my childlike joy,
Free of all distress?
How do I let go,
To allow in God's best?
296 · Jun 2017
Herd
River Jun 2017
People,
Scared to stray from the flock
Scared to be Individual
It's better to blend in
Stand in the shadows
Follow the unwritten social rules
Don't speak up
Just look down
Hide your dreams in shaky palms
Ostracize the ones who like a stray puzzle piece don't fit in,
Who can't be defined
Put your blinders on
And follow the narrow minded path
Never question your copied views
Or consider what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes
Me, a lone wolf
Standing on the mountaintop
Marvels at the herd below
They gallop in their ignorance,
High on it's bliss
Until I jump down from the mountaintop
And awake them from their foolishness.
294 · Dec 2016
That time I dreamt of snow.
River Dec 2016
This home,
One hundred years old
I feel the spirits of my ancestors
Wrapping their wooly spirit arms
Snugly around me
When I'm cold and alone
They comfort me

In my dream last night
I was downstairs
The t.v. was on,
The computer was on
One grandparent was stationed at
The computer, the other at the t.v.
And there was snow covering everything
A thick layer of it
And it kept coming
I didn't question it
It was normal
In my dream
It was weird
I felt weird
Something I can't really describe,
Possibly indifferent, intolerant, irritated
But all of those emotions were latent
Everything was covered in snow
Inside.
River Sep 2016
Tell me the truth, I beseech you
Don't lie or falsify
or tell me sweet fantasies that
will quell my haunted mind
Tell me the truth, nothing but the truth
Or I will continue on
as a mad woman
deluded, entranced and blinded
Show me the way of truth, and I will abide,
not chide or hide
For I know the truth will give me wings to fly
to transcend the chaos of society and
my own mind

My hands search for a truth like gold,
pure and untainted
But I grasp at straws
Sometimes these straws give me false leads
that cause me joy
But when I finally reach the core of truth
for that system of belief
I see, that the whole time
I was being fed lies,
I was fervently pursuing a deception
And then I lose my sense of self again
I lose it because that belief system
is what I anchored my whole being in

Is the truth,
the absolute truth
Staring me in the eyes?
Am I being purposely ignorant of it
Because acknowledging the truth would mean that I would have to take
up my own cross
and follow Jesus?
How many people call themselves Christians,
but aren't willing to die in the name of Jesus?
Am I willing to die to my Self
and follow in the purpose God has assigned to me?
293 · May 2017
Remembering Seashores
River May 2017

Do you remember all those times on seashores?
Down at the bay we smoked ciggarettes and spliffs and drank beer under piers,
at sixteen
We didn't know reality
We resisted formality
But most I know from teenage-hood
Have cast their dreams down the toilet
For the empty promises of society

They shrugged their shoulders and saw no other way to go
And even though I can't see the way to my dreams currently
I have a sort of blind faith that sustains me
Keeps me clinging to my dreams fervently
Because that's all I have left of happiness
The belief that things will get better
Keeps me holding on

Do you ever finish your coffee in a coffee mug
And see your reflection at the bottom of the cup looking back at you?
Do you smile at your reflection?
I do
Maybe people think I shouldn't be happy with myself because I haven't followed the mainstream
But is it okay if I make a way for myself?

I've broken off the main stream
To become a little creek of my own
Maneuvering the many obstacles of treading out a new path
Maybe once I've made it,
You won't be as scared to go your own way as well
Maybe once again
You'll be as happy as the times
We were on beaches, or fields of grass, or on rooftops
Laughing, enjoying this crazy exuberant life
With everything you've got.
291 · Jul 2017
Fickle Smile
River Jul 2017
I'm fickle, they say
Swinging like a pendulum
from elation to dismay
But I rode towards the sunset today,
While you all were screaming in the background,
Basking in the chaos of ignorance

Some smiles are plaster,
And some are real
They say to look at the eyes
Then you'll know how a person really feels
But I'm a soul inspector,
You see,
A student of the streets
It's not the outside that matters
But the interior, the base that makes something complete
For a pretty house can be built upon unstable ground,
But is it truly sound?
This is why we must look past the smile
Through the eyes,
Into the soul
--that's when we'll see,
and that's when we'll know
the things that are unseen,
and the things that are unknown.
291 · Jan 2017
Kiss!
River Jan 2017
Mesmerized by those glittering eyes
Your countenance so theatrical
Your engaging eye contact
The way you wouldn't let your eyes stray from mine
As you spun your stories
The way you smiled to yourself
Whenever I spoke
Even though we were in a group
Whenever you spoke you looked only at me
You recommended bands and offered to share recipes
You are just delightful
You are funny, gloomy and insightful
If I could kiss you, I would
Because sometimes words get stuck in my throat
So it would be easier for me to just
Rest my voice and tell you how I feel with a kiss instead!
291 · Feb 2016
Perfect Stranger
River Feb 2016
You're the perfect stranger
I just couldn't have arranged this

I was roaming aimlessly in a field layered in snow
Trying to walk across a log above a creek
But I couldn't get to the other side
So I went back

I saw you in the distance
I walked up to the bench that I put my grocery bags down on
Your puppy came right up to me
Once we started talking we couldn't stop

Like two puzzle pieces
We fit perfectly
Everything was smooth and fluid
There was not one moment of strain or awkwardness
Some may call what we experienced chemistry
But I much rather call it serendipity.
291 · Apr 2017
Untitled
River Apr 2017
Oh sweet saccharine child
I feel your love from miles and miles
How could words ever express
Your bold golden orange decadence?

How long had my soul cried out in agony
Wasting away in it's misery
Until a soft feather like hand of an angel
Wiped my tears away
And gave me hope of a better day

Oh, twisted world in which I live
My perception is dark and hurting
You've stolen my rainbows and my butterflies,
Bumblebees and hummingbirds
But I've got faith enough for the rest of us...
I live on.
Idk
289 · Jun 2017
I'm so in love
River Jun 2017
I'm so in love, I can't deny it
I tried to hide it
But I simply couldn't fight it
bubbling forth to the surface
My heart is beating rapidly,
My feelings are inexplicable
I just want to wrap my arms around you
And kiss you
Oh, please don't call me despicable

And I know you want it too,
From all the little things you do
But why, WHY?
Do we force ourselves to conceal?
We're so afraid of getting hurt,
But getting hurt is just a part of being real
My stubborness can't hold me back anymore
Because everytime I look into your eyes
I become elated inside
And I can't stand not seeing you for days,
I just want to be near you,
I just want to know you,
Hold you in stormy weather
And kiss you in spring
I want to be your fortress,
I want to heal your broken wings.
285 · Sep 2015
Talking
River Sep 2015
Happiness
Shattered
Glass
Take a deep breathe
Smile
Let it pass.

Wake
Up
Pull jeans on
Put music on
I won't break your heart
Serenade
Agree
Pray.

Lyrics as cryptic as me
Get to know my rhythm
It captures my essence
It elucidates my presence
I never hesitate
I'm an ongoing sentence
I'm scared there's going to be a
"Too late"

Promises
Running down my cheeks
Our prospects are bleak
Because my resistance is weak
I just want to speak,
******.

So much has changed
Yet so much remains
Comfort is my drug
Don't take it away from me
I need your touch
This life feels like too much
Without love.

You close the door
And hide
From my mind's eye
And all I am left to do is wonder
Sharing my thoughts with you is my only blunder.
284 · Dec 2017
Dull
River Dec 2017
Dull and lifeless human
Looking to fill your void
But you look in all the wrong places
And find only discord
Because discord is what's in your heart
And chaos is what you reap

You never really smile,
Do you?
You only smile in the presence of a male
Inciting their testosterone
By tapping into your feminine wiles
But their reactions are ephermeral
They laugh and flirt
But still leave you on your own
For you don't allow the chance for true love to grow
You're trying to hammer love on it's head
With any man around

Dear Woman,
Stuck in your perpetual cycle
Of unfulfilling relationships
That barely last more than one day
I beg you to reconsider
All these choices that bring you dismay
For your mistakes make you dull and faint
And who can truly be attracted to passion that has faded away?
Instead, I implore you
To release yourself from your shackles of doom
To pursue your best self
Above anything else.
I dedicate this poem to all the women and men who find themselves in unfulfilling relationships. Take this message to heart: You can do better! But you have to love yourself first.
284 · Apr 2018
Reverse
River Apr 2018
what if there were a way to reverse
rewind
go back to a more
innocent time
would you?

i see people spinning
in spirals
dancing
to the step of
familiar patterns

i just wanna let it all go
i want to,
so badly

i'll take everything to the river,
surging forth
and
drown all my troubles

i see
the little dancers
surrounding me
spiraling around me
sticking to their choreographed lives

i reverse
close my eyes
dance to my beating  heart
rewind
to an ancient time
where my memories
are my only guide

i whispered to my feet:
take me home
283 · Mar 2017
Criticisms
River Mar 2017
You live your vapid lives
Following trends to the grave
If emptiness is vastness then who can save you?
You'll never change your mind
Turn away from nonsensical gibberish
Whatever is in fashion is what you follow
You get drunk on weekends to swallow the pain of the weekdays,
And in that moment before ***** induced slumbering
You wonder what's the point of life
And as quickly as it comes,
It goes
Like a wind touching your cheek
Intervening the warmth of ignorance.
283 · Oct 2017
Native
River Oct 2017
Intrisically, we are all connected to God,
We don't doubt this when we are young,
But doubt seeps in slowly,
For years,
Draining us of our faith
The world is desolate,
And in our sadness we also become depraved
Looking for answers in the swamp,
Seeking fresh water in it's toxic sludge,
Sinking to our grave
But only through Divine intervention,
Were you pulled from quicksand
An invisible hand,
Lifted you up
You felt the presence of inmeasurable love,
Consoling you,
For once,
Finally,
After all those years of despair,
You have relief
You breath the fresh air you once would desperately seek,
You drink pure water
And when you open your mouth to speak
You hear the voice of truth bellowing through
It's a curious thing,
To turn your back on God,
But be saved by grace,
You are not a mistake,
No matter who points and laughs and sneers
There is a reason you are here,
Welcome the warm embrace of the Divine,
And trust me,
You'll be fine.
282 · Mar 2018
Let go
River Mar 2018
Hold on, clutched in sweaty palms.

No, let go, let it all wash away.

On the shores of yesterday.

The memories are like knives.

They'll **** you if you don't let go.

It's okay.

Cast them out into the sea.

Let the wave swallow them whole.

Forget the people who left you.

Who hurt you.

Who forgot you.

You can't forget about them.

They haunt you in your dreams.

You try to make a heart connection.

But they are distant.

This is why you must let go.

Surrender.

And you'll be free.

You don't need to carry the weight of your pain.

If you give it up you'll be light.

You'll be free.

Doesn't that sound appealing?

I know it's difficult to do.

But just get used to life being transient.

And go with the flow.

Because in the unknown.

You could find your greatest bliss.

Sure, there's tons of uncertainty.

But uncertainty isn't bad.

Anything could happen.

You could even become happy again.
280 · Sep 2017
Believe
River Sep 2017
I believe
With this heart that's beating within me,
With every fiber of my being,
Even though as of now I may not be seeing,
The results I'm needing
I'm believing
I will get to the point,
Where I need to be
To turn this agony into
Tranquility.
278 · Jul 2017
Fireflies
River Jul 2017
rain, clouding my glasses,
little droplets skewing street lights
cars travelling by
on this street, in the night
i stop by the open field
with the locked fence
my dog pulls at his leash,
straining to go forward
but i resist,
to savor this moment

the backdrop was navy blue,
with grey hues
fireflies lit up the open field
like little stars glowing
i let the rain soak me,
clean my festering wounds
and water my parched body
i took in a deep breathe of this night,
closed my eyes
to soak in every sensation
so maybe i wouldn't forget,
and could call upon this moment
while my soul suffers it's bouts of desolation

if only,
i was always
this present
i guess then,
i wouldn't be so distant
276 · Feb 2018
Human
River Feb 2018
I'm only human,
With scars and marks and bruises
Let's sit at this table and share our pains and amusements
Let's learn from each other
And pray that the internal screaming in our minds
Dims to a faint whisper,
May we blast Love and Hope and Peace
Through our hearts,
May our hearts grow three sizes bigger
Like the Grinch's heart
And may we find in each other
A quiet solace
Ready to hold each other in maternal arms
YOU ARE LOVED
This I must confess
To myself and to every other suffering soul
You are so dearly loved
I see your suffering
And I'm willing to meet you
At the place of your utter defeat
And in that place
I shall lift you up
And put a crown upon your head
And bless you in a way
That will make you forget
All the tragedies before now
So, relax, my Dear
You've made it this far
But no matter where you are,
You are always so close to My Heart.
A stream of conciousness that starts out with some sort of relationship in which each person helps the other carry the weight of their pain. And then it turns into this sort of love letter from God, about how He ultimately lifts us out from our pit of despair and blesses us in a way that helps us forget our former agony (cue the story of Job).
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