Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
River May 2016
“I talked to a calzone for fifteen minutes last night before I realized it was just an introverted pizza. I wish all my acquaintances were so tasty.
” ~ Jarod Kintz
River Nov 2016
I saw a glimpse of you
A glimpse of me
Glimpsing at reality

And it was profound, you see
It was rounder than this sound
and it was prevalent and all around

The truth could not be extracted, compartmentalized
or sequestered
It could not be conquered or skewed
It just was, and that was the happy and sad news

I saw us in a dream
Looking surreal and serene
Looking into eyes inhibited
Secrets locked behind doors,
When would they be opened?

Time is awaiting it's appointment,
Soon.
Soon a glimpse will become a stare
And before you know it
What you once saw will not be there
And maybe you won't even care.
River Sep 2017
I want to scream my love for you on rooftops,
For your face is haunting me
Stalking me in dreams,
Visions of you fill up my idle time
All I can think of,
Are all the things we have not yet done
Like kissing and lovingly caressing,
Being lifted up into boundlessly affectionate arms,
You make me sick,
In every good way
All I want to do is tell you,
But all I can manage is a whisper,
I'm stifled in your presence,
It's my literal hell,
To love someone so much,
But refuse to express it
But this is a chance that
If I missed it
No one would ever replace you,
And my heart, well, no one would be able to fix it.
River Sep 2018
I'm laughing
Twirling through the fog
of this dispassionate love
I can no longer play the game
I set myself free
to run as far as I need

Ah, my mind has been clinging
To what?
Fictions of love
But love isn't the way we were taught
Love is self realization,
burning your former self
whispering sweet goodbyes
to the innocence of your childhood

Adulthood is the grave of childhood dreams
Yet I've reawakened something in me
This is why I dance upon the breeze
Embracing the colors of the wind
Imbuing everything with meaning.

Sometimes depression overcomes me and I wonder if anything has meaning
But then I remember
Life is abundantly beautiful
and it means everything.
River Mar 2020
It’s funny
I locked away my heart for years
Only to fall again
Let someone too close
But maybe it all happened too quickly
I showed him everything about me
My deepest flaws and my highest joys
And he used it all against me

It’s funny
This is exactly what I feared
This is why I locked away my heart for years
I feared if I ever let anyone too close
They’d not only hurt me
But use the things I entrusted them with against me

It’s funny
Now all I can do is imbibe alcoholic beverages
To dull the pain of a love that proved untrue
I thought maybe he could love me
But now I know that all along,
I’ve just been a senseless fool.
River Jul 2020
I had this sick feeling in my stomach
This pit in my chest
It was telling me to go
I felt an overwhelming sense of unrest

It felt like my life was beginning
It felt like my life was ending
It feels like I’m dying
In the slippery waters of the womb,
Being born anew

It feels like a blossom cracking open
The hot sun on my bare chest
I can’t quite understand
But it feels like my bleeding heart is visible under my *******

My heart was restless,
My mind, amuck
I couldn’t understand the push and pull within me
I was out of luck

I didn’t have words,
Just a smile of plaster
It’s easy to say goodbye
It’s hard to say hello— won’t you come into my heart?
River Sep 2018
It's not too late
To love

I know what dying to self is
It's a metamorphosis
But it's not pretty

It's a dissolution of everything you were
And all you planned to become
Burning in wild flames all your disguises
To get to the heart of who you truly are
And what you need to be

Because this world needs people
Who can welcome change
People who can allow God
To strip them bare
Until you have nothing left to cling to
When you're destitute
That's when you'll be free
From all this vain striving in our society

I once was strong but now I'm weak
I'm tattered, torn a part, barely able to speak
But I feel so real now
Before my mind was a machine
Trying to calculate how I would acquire everything I want and need
But now I have peace
Because I trust,
That whatever may be
I have the strongest ally beside me
Though I don't agree with religious ideas of God
I believe God's unadulterated love
Is always guiding me
Whispering ever so softly,
"Listen to me."
I want others to have this love for themselves
To know they are perfectly loved,
And love has a way of healing things radically
Some would even say miraculously.
River Jan 2019
It's not you against me, can't you see?
It's not blacks against whites,
Men against women,
Refugees against citizens
Religious against non-religious
Conservatives against liberals
Democrats against Republicans....
We're at war with our humanity

Oftentimes I catch myself thinking:
"I hate humans"
I can understand why I feel this way sometimes
Humans can be so cruel
I've been bullied, rejected, abandoned,
slandered, ignored,
left alone to fend for myself
I understand the deep reverberating pain
of our sick society,
I know from experience

I know what it feels like to be "othered,"
to be misunderstood
To be dealing with so much pain and
darkness
and have people shame you
for what you're going through

I've seen and known evil
I've seen it destroy those I love
I've witnessed it eat away slowly
at my own soul
during the times
I was blinded by darkness,
By my own sin
By my own insignificant suffering

And yet, I've been the perpetrator too
Shame overwhelms me
As I recount
When I was tyrannical,
unforgiving,
judgemental,
cruel,
self-righteous,
a gossiper,
a slanderer,
un-loving....
I can be a very idealistic person,
And talk all about
How we all have to love each other more
And REALLY follow Jesus,
like abandon our comfortable lifestyles
for the sake of the gospel,
And yet what am I doing?
When I spew these ideologies,
I'm thinking of how I would benefit if everyone
loved me more,
was there for me more....
I'm telling everyone to become the people
I think I need them to be for me
But what if what I'm telling everyone else to be for me
Is exactly what I have to be for myself?
River Dec 2018
Sometimes, do you feel like you spiral?
Like your sadness is a whirlpool ******* you in?
I know,
Because I feel that,
Often

But then I remind myself
That I have more control than I think
I have so very much to be grateful for,
And it's on these things I must dwell

Some days, when my mood is low
I just have to be gentle with myself
and go with the flow
It's difficult
Because I'm used to pushing myself
to feel happy all the time
But maybe I'm getting tired of the act,
Maybe I'm making peace
With not being okay.
River Sep 2017
Bonfire,
Roasting, toasting
Marshmallows
The smell of a cackling fire
People, too many people
That's I've been trying to hide from,
It reminds me that I'm real,
It reminds me that I'm a human with needs,
It reminds me of how those needs go unattended
I laugh and smile more than anyone,
Yet I am secretly, The saddest

I thought possibly,
Romantic love could cure this soul disease,
But I've come to realize
No one can quite fill the void of
The family that abandoned me,
Like a helpless raft adrift at sea,
I'm about to drown,
And no one can even see me

Society, I can't even describe how much I hate it,
Forcing us to conform and conceal love,
Writing and art are my only escapes,
From this prison of silence,
And of being unknown,
I cry in the quiet of the night,
Because after the day of calculated smiles and perfectly formulated sentences,
I know,
I walk this earth alone.
River Aug 2019
When you're a child,
Life is in technicolor
But as you grow older
A film of grey gradually wears the color away
Dampening your senses
Until your synapses weaken, burdened by drudgery

You become all mind
Deciphering all of the time
Caged by contemplation,
Causing a slow soul erasure

I want to feel what it's like to be a child again
To be fully present and aware of every felt sensation
But my body is tired,
And with fatigue the mind becomes a narrowed point
Of seeking to meet the most basic of needs:
Work, Sleep, Eat
On an endless rotation,
Leaving no time for child-like play.
River Jul 2018
I've been spending my time slowly breaking down,
Not even intentionally
Just subconsciously
My days have been dark, clouded and slow
I pray for something else,
But do I really want it?

Yes. Today I declare I want to live.
Did you hear me?
I said:
Today I choose life

Now my life is full of color again,
Color and laughter and gaiety
I am surrounded by loving people
Whose love shoots out through there hearts like beams of light

I am so ridiculously happy,
Spilling with joy
I smile wide as tears stream down my face,
Hands over my heart,
Dancing in the summer rain.
River Apr 2018
I have hope
Like rainbows painted over my eyes
My mind is a thunderstorm,
And my heart is a meandering river
I have hope
Tucked deep down in my ruby heart
It beats for the day
I will be set free
Circumstances have me heavy and slow
I am tired and worn
With barely any money,
And so little joy
But I cling to my dreams
And work on making them come to fruition everyday
Some call me a fool
But that's okay
I think they're a fool
For being stuck in old ways
I look up into the moon,
I laugh in the sun
I will never forgot
Everything I love
I will fight until I'm free
I'll love with blood on my hands,
I'll embrace this mess of life
I'll kiss life's forehead
And accept her for who she is
I'll walk in the rain
And find the peak of my pain
And on a cliff
I'll release it
I'll be free
With the words on my back
And the art on my tongue
I will not conform
I will not become self absorbed
I will just love
Even when I don't want to
I will love everybody
And I will love me.
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?
River Dec 2016
Feelings flooding in like
Iridescent waves
Sparkling in the fiery sunset
I call out to an abundantly vibrant,
pulsating life: I love you!
Because, I truly do.

I saw these glittering eyes,
Ones that mesmerized
I said hi
Then their were myriad goodbyes
But infinite hellos
With you, I can never really tell
Where the time goes

Your chin is like honey
Escaping the beehive
Dripping down the grooved bark of an oak
Your eyes are two dazzling blue jays
Penetrating my inquisitive eyes
You look deep into my eyes
I ask you questions just to sustain eye contact
You answer, but your eyes tell me stories that your mouth fails to speak

I'm staring at a clock,
And how it ticks away,
It's sort of quizzical,
Wouldn't you say?
See, all we have is today, tomorrow and yesterday
And I wonder what all these days will amount to,
And I wonder will I end up with you?

I have to separate my ego from my soul
Because my ego makes decisions selfishly
But my soul knows what's best for me
And I rather follow in
What brings me joy
I want to be in love
I want to love
I want more
Of this beautiful,
alive, pulsating life
I want you, I want me
I want everything to be merry
I look inside my mind's eye
And I revel in paradise

I enjoy you,
I truly do
Desire is a flame
I must be careful not to burn you
I must retract my claws
Restrain my ego
From trying to take what's not rightfully mine
I'll sit in silence
And wait patiently on peace
And I'll let God direct me
To the path of love and joy.
River Feb 2016
You're just a beautiful dream
to me
Purple butterflies
were dancing in the sky
Through the sun set
and the moon rise
We looked into each other's eyes
And kissed
"Finally" my mind voiced
In a state of overwhelming bliss
Finally, finally
Finally
I thought I have to tell my sister
Then my phone started to ring
I woke up
Dreams like that
make reality sting.
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.
River Nov 2015
Just my cup of tea

My hair dancing with the breeze

My heart exploding with love and kindness


A clear blue sky

Beheld in my eyes

Tears of joy stream down my cheeks

Years of misery washed away on a desolate beach

The bad memories have sunk to the bottom of the ocean

Lifeless and without motion


The children and the trees

The melody in the breeze

How everything is so serene

And my mind feels ever so clean

I can lean into darkness while showering myself with light

Everything is alright, the beauty is so ubiquitous I'm blind

Love has no sense of time.
River Oct 2018
Can you feel these words that I keep as secrets
Trying to break forth,
Trying to erupt?
But I suppress,
suppress, suppress
In your eyes I want to undress,
Completely unveiled
Every detail revealed
Of flesh and bone,
Of hearts and home
But no, keep your distance

Only songs can truly understand me at this moment,
Because love isn't supposed to be such a waste a time
All this longing and anticipation,
What am I supposed to do with it?
Offer it up to you,
As a worthless gift?

I just wanted a friend in you
You travel through this world
In an orb of emotional protection,
And me,
I just sit at home
Making things pretty
Decorating my nest

I don't want to keep my distance from you
But you smell of danger
And I just like the rain
I want to run in it,
dance in it
Forget all my pain

Do you understand the burden
I carried in my past life?
This is my new life
And I want to be safe to protect
this tender heart within me
That's already been through so much

Look out into the expansive sky,
Do you see?
You'll see my smile
With warmth
Shining down on you
I don't want to be kept from you,
But I can't help it
If you don't have your **** together

For now I'll keep my distance,
But with things like this, you know what they say:
"Only time will tell."
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!
River Mar 2015
Know your genes
Know what they mean
Know what they say
Know what they whisper
Know what they pray
Know what they want
Know what they hunt
Know why they hurt
Know why you're messed up.

Scientists say I have no control
I just got here billions of years after a big bang,
no,
not the big bang my parent's performed during coitus
But a magnificent explosion of stars
And their is not one reason I am here
And all the conflicting reasons for life that we have were created for the purpose of comfort.
Right.
And I am made up of layers and layers of organic substances
The very act of living is a miracle to me (All scientists are free to shake their head in fervent disgust over my statement)
Science wants to tell me that I am ****** because of my genes
Did the government pay you to spread misinformation?
Instead of focusing on how ****** the individual is,
Can we take a moment to discuss how ****** every aspect of our world is?
You can't explain away logically.
You can try.
But until you accept the truth your logical excuses will only and always generate more questions.
River Aug 2017
I awake everyday,
Wishing this day won't turn out the same,
As every day before today,
Cold and grey
Empty and full of dismay
I coddle myself,
Telling myself everything will be okay,
But I feed into my pain,
I do the same things everyday
That make me go insane
And then I wonder why,
I'm miserable,
As I wipe tears from my eyes
I think of all the ways I will change oneday,
And I harp on some ****** up memories,
Some may call depression a disease,
But I call it a failure to maintain internal peace,

Sometimes I remember being a child,
When I was happy
How do I beat the odds,
Of this thing that threatens to consume me?
River May 2018
You were the first person
in five years
that made me feel less alone

It felt like
You were the first person
After a long time
Who looked into my eyes
And really understood

But maybe I just have too much
That's repressed,
Boiling beneath the surface
Unresolved trauma--  And I'm at it's behest

Maybe my concealment
Pushed you away
To turn around
and go in a new direction
You're stepping forward
Closer
To a feigned future

But little did you know,
Or ever will know
As you move in the opposite direction of me
I had and still have
A spring of love for you,
Though dwindling
It still flows

Even now,
Though the prospect
of us being more
Than just friends
Doesn't seem to be there
I know you still care
Under every moment our eyes meet
I see the love in your eyes
And it brings me so much peace
I only wish the best for you,
In whatever direction you choose.
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.
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.
River Feb 2019
When I'm in my pain
I feel as if I could bear
a thousand scars
and still survive.

As one realization after another
rose up in me and wrecked my mind,
while remembering their loveless behavior
I suddenly understood that
Letting go
starts with the truth.
https://youtu.be/74aOxH4R5Ow
River Dec 2019
Peace permeates through my body
The ocean swells in my chest
And waves explode onto the shore of my soul
I dove into the great expanse
Into the deepest depths
And found a truth more real than matter

There’s so much walking
But never getting anywhere, it seems
There’s so much time passing
And my skin is showing it’s age
I’ve only got this one body
I’ve only got this one life

It's pretty radical being human
The breath of life swirling through my nostrils
Maybe I’ll burn all my doubts
And all my insecurities
I’ll love myself
And live the life I want to live, fully
River Dec 2018
I want to paint pictures with my lips
Run to the surface
Break through to the precipice
Of belief,
On an orb
Rotating

And my head is rotating too
It's like my mind is a carousel
Spinning round and round
My universe
Is turning inside out
All I can hear is screams,
Is there anyone out there
Who can feel me?

Grappling with unreality
It's funny to laugh about
Things I did as a teen
But really,
What does it mean?
To move in motions
That don't exist anymore
Why am I exploring a past,
That was only once mine,
And what the hell is time?

What's ancient is in the dirt,
And really,
There's no such thing as poetry
Or therapy
Or reason
Just endless dances with the seasons
Just trying to make sense
Of the endless hurting
Just cracking through your hardened skin
To breathe again

Oh, if I could paint pictures to make them understand--
Make an installation of my mind
Then maybe I'd be understood
Maybe I'd know myself too
But for now
Life is chaos inside me.
River Oct 2015
Just remember,
You can help someone, but you can't be anyone's life-preserver
Or else,
You'll drown with them too.
River Oct 2016
Some friends are like life preservers,
They keep you afloat
River Apr 2016
Like you so much it hurts
My body's aching
My heart is yearning
The song that reminds me of you is on repeat
Could you make my heart replete?

Sometimes I say Never mind
Sometimes I just want to shake you out of my mind
I think I don't have the time
I don't have the tolerance
To love again
Past mirrors and compliments into becoming each other's confidants

See it's really all slipping away
Last time I saw you
It was just a micro second
You skidded away on your long board
Came into my vision as quickly as you left
And I'm stuck in this stagnation
Breathing out life into this oblique resignation
I twist and turn, when will I learn
To not give my heart away again

Just have to stand on two feet
Because I have them and got to
Move forward and do, I think
But I can't get up from those days
It's all a haze
A dream that produces screams

Not ready
Not ready
Not ready to live
She said
On her last day.
River Nov 2017
I see it
In the eyes of the passerby
They are scared
Unaware of the wounds
That control them
I see my shared humanity in their eyes,
Their hunanity like an infant crouched in a ball,
Terrified, shaking,
Hiding in a corner
We seek relief
From this massive worldwide grief
Digging for but not finding empathy
Hiding away all our misery
Because we believe
Our sadness is too big
We wouldn't want it to encroach on other people's happiness
But if we just took a moment to peek beyond the veil
We'd discover a common thread of travail
That strings us all together
So instead of hiding or minimizing our stories
Let's roar our stories out loud,
Unleashing the tamed and timid circus lion of our hearts
So it can progress back to it's original fiery state
Of passion, courage and integrity.
River Jun 2017
Listen,
I know times are hard,
Listen,
I've been there before
Crying on the floor
Bare and scared
Talking to the walls,
Wishing someone was near

Listen,
I'm right here
And I'm real
Reach out your hand to touch me
So you can feel

Because I know you're heart is beating
But your blood is stale
Gasping for sweet air,
Gasping for love
You fought until your knuckles bled
For a love that could quell the demons in your head
But that love never came
And it never will come

Because that love is a mere fantasy
Fed to us by our t.v.
Movies like Casablanca and Gone With the Wind
Momentarily appease
Our hungry hearts pleas
But it's not reality,
These promises of perfect love
Wrapped in packages of perfection
Because loving is agony,
It's deception with a kiss on the cheek

But listen,
It's real,
And I'm not perfect
But at least I'm here
I don't look like Audrey Hepburn,
And our love is not worthy of storybook fantasies
But I'll stay by your side
Until the very day you depart to the sky
I'll never have you doubt the tenacity
Of my imperfect love

So listen,
This is what I can offer,
With open arms
Come find comfort with me
Admist this harsh world.
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
River Aug 2016
A dream told me to write a poem titled
Little Blue Hill,
Here it goes

First, I dreamed of Shrek
Weird, I know
I had an epiphany in my dream
It was this profound realization
This wow! moment I experienced
Right slam center within the dream
It was this:
Fiona fell in love with Shrek
because she could be her true self
in his presence
She could be the ogre she truly was with him
She could be completely vulnerable and herself with him,
No walls, no facades, no masks
Just herself
Right then my sleep was interrupted,
which I was happy about so I could remember this dream
And falling back asleep,
my brain exclaimed
That's what real love is!
I never realized that that is the deeper meaning of
Shrek all along, I never saw it there
But it was there, implicitly

In my second dream
I was at church
And I healed someone's injury
With my hands
The people of the church
applauded me and looked onto me with awe
I felt proud
But also ashamed of my pride
I wanted to stand up and say: "I don't deserve the praise. It is God alone who heals"
But I sat in a pew, with a smug grin on my face
And an elation in my heart.

In my third dream
I was talking to a guitarist at church
And I mentioned a little blue hill,
for some reason
Then, I was on that hill
and I exclaimed
"I'll write a poem about a little blue hill!"
So, I did
And here it is
Weird, I know
River Jan 2018
Little light
Streaming through my window
Into my dark room
How I truly treasure you

Little light
Guide me in this eternal night
I can no longer fight
I completely surrender this plight

I live in unease
So please,
God, I call out to You
Set me free from this darkness that consumes me
River Jun 2018
I wanted you to love me,
That's all I ever pined for through these years
But I still cry most times
When I think of the fact that you failed to love me
I'll never understand why you didn't love me
You claimed to,
But it didn't show in your actions.
You were selfish.
As was I.

But that's life, right?
It keeps cracking your heart open
Until you can't close it anymore
It gets to the point where there are no plausible explanations your mind can come up with anylonger
It gets to the point where
Only your heart can comprehend the world with all of it's suffering
Only your heart can try it's best to patch up the world
With the bits of love that flow through you from God

Keeping an open heart is baffling, really
It just doesn't make sense
It's hella painful
Exceptionally brutal
And exquisitely breathtaking, beautifully astounding
There are no words in any language
That can properly express
Genuine love

But let's keep it like that
Let love remain a mystery
In it's confounding splendor
Leave it to be one of those few things
That academics can't pin down precisely
Let love be what it is in it's truest form:
Magical
Like when you really see nature for the first time,
You know?
You see how really gorgeous it all is,
And how intelligent it is
And in that passing moment of awe
It's easy to entertain the idea of God
But you eventually have to walk back to your cubicle
Where your mind is like a safe container
That computes certainty
But love is magical,
Love is uncertain,
It's powerful

I guess what I'm trying to say is that love is transformative,
You know?
And it's humbling
I mean, I'm not talking about Romeo and Juliet,
I'm not referring to RomComs where a man and a woman fall in love within the span of three days,
C'mon,
Can we all admit that is BS?
Love is not magical like the way it is portrayed in fairytales
Love is magical because it is the very essence of life,
The driving force of life
It's what sustains us,
It's what connects us
It's what changes us
Into brave children of God
Formerly we were
Scarred, angry little children
Throwing darts at perceived enemies
But no one is the enemy here,
That's what love reveals
We're all just lost children
Hiding under the shielded guise of our egos
Until, well until
We throw up our hands in surrender
And say with all our heart,
"I can't do this without you God.
Help me."
River Aug 2018
Look at me
Don't turn away
Look into my eyes boy
And don't let yours stray
My eyes will tell you everything,
But I know that's not okay

I understand
That sometimes people make decisions
Without a clear plan
And so things get jumbled
And things become unclear
Like you're not sure where you're going
You don't know who to love
But it's all okay for now,
I guess
Life is just a wave
For us to ride

And yet I still yearn
For our eyes to meet
The way they once did
Last year
But you turned your face away
You disappeared
I'll never truly understand
Why you did

I know you want to look
But now you only glance
You can't reconcile your desires with your shoulds,
You can't abandon your social expectations
For a dream come true.
River Jul 2018
I look over my shoulder
To all that I have lost
I look into the mirror
And see all I have become
And I can’t quite say I’m satisfied
With who I’ve grown to be
I just remember all the useless striving
And now all the monotony
I’ve always been searching for something more
But what if this is it?
What if my life is just old wounds and festering sores
With no real hope and no real bliss?

I think I know what I want
But when I get it I push it away
Or I run
My mind is vague and tired
My heart seeks for relief
I’m stuck in patterns that will result in my demise
I just want to experience life again through a child’s eyes
But I know too much now
I’m cynical and guarded
My heart just wants to love but I’m hurting

I can’t feel anything too deeply anymore
I smile, but what for
It’s merely a mask to conceal the endless yearning within me
And all the regret lurking inside me
My pain echoes like a dull drumming
No one seems to understand me
So I just keep running
Maybe, one day
I’ll run right into
What I’ve been hoping for
I’ll run right into the bright warm light of the sun
And it will absorb my misery
It will illuminate my small life with expansive love.
Under every vain pursuit I’ve chased
Has been the intrinsic need to be unconditionally loved.
River Apr 2017
You reckless sunflower child
Whipping wildly in the wind
Your fagrance is the essence to my soul
Your song is sung and I find myself on the moon
You're a fiery abyss of passion,
Living fervently on the sun's edge
You're an iridescent wave, bathing me in unconditional love
A butterfly bursting out of cocoon
Leaving the nest of certainty
Fly! Fly high and far away
Heaven's angels have been awaiting your departure from the familiar
You are free now, to rediscover who you are meant to be
Wild sunflower, uproot yourself
And fly along the breeze
You will seed the earth beneath you
A whole world of growth will come from this defeat
Just let go, and grab your wings and lose your feet.
River Jul 2018
to tell you the truth,
I'm a nobody
searching in this world,
all this useless striving
Just trying to be a somebody
even though I've repeated the sinner's prayer many times
I'll never quite be saved from myself
and this is why I'll always stick close to God
Because God loves me like no one else

It's just funny, you see
because the earth is populated with billions of people
but I can't seem to find ones that genuinely love me
we really never learned how to love,
we love useless things instead
commodities that rot
but we don't know how to do what is most important,
and that is living from our heart

but this is why I lean on God,
God, my magnificent creator
and by this I know
I am infinitely loved
And I don't need
human love to confirm this to me.
River Dec 2016
Climing the ocean stairs
Flipping through neon pages of
"I don't care"
My copious apathy makes me scared
But really, I probably feel this way
Because my mentality is stuck in: "life's not fair" mode
I can't  seem to reset my brain
It likes to fight, sleep and dream away
My dreams are so vivid and so real
It feels better to live out my adventures
In my dreams

I'm Holden Caulfield
I'm a brat
I think everyone's a phony
But I know I'm just a hypocrite,
Because I'm a phony too in a way
I just see all these people
So locked into a system of capitalism,
Locked into vanity and materialism and self centered-ness
I think they're stupid and dumb
They complain about what goes on in the world
But they're a apart of the problem
I am too, but I least I don't have this whole song and dance to try to woo people
Seriously, at this point I'm just going to be my eccentric self
And not care about people's opinions
Because I know I'm not perfect,
But at the end of the day,
I'm not self absorbed, and I'm out there being kind and doing little deeds of kindness
I put kindness first,
But even with me, kindness doesn't always win

I told someone at work that I'm going to
Live off the grid because
I'm tired of society
And he said "but you won't have anyone to talk to"
And I said "I'll talk to the trees and animals"
Like some sort of Snow White
I wish I could tolerate people better,
But I have this strong inclination to
Slap the phoniness out of people,
And it's becoming more difficult to restrain
Day by day
Ignorance truly is bliss
Because being able to see so clearly
That each person is the source of their misery has got me going crazy!
Because even I can't snap my fingers
And be be released of all my negative patterns!
They're like chains, or
A maze I'm stuck in, that I have to keep repeating over and over again.
River May 2020
I had been feeling disconnected for some time
I didn’t feel whole and I didn’t know why
I was begging for the world’s acceptance
And feeling as if I was always falling short
I just never seemed to be good enough
And my striving for perfection felt like a bloodsport

I always hid away, so chock full of shame
I thought my very existence was a disgrace
And in my hiding I judged the world around me
Everything just felt so frightening
In judging and hiding I felt like I had control over a world that confounds me

I was a tightly closed bud, never letting anything in
Fear ruled and since I couldn’t be the best I hid away all my imperfections
So scared of being criticized and rejected
But I became a shell of a person
Smiling and stiff on the outside
But inside, deeply hurting

But this blossom is starting to bloom
I’m not so scared of being human anymore
Not so scared of being real and imperfect and me—
I choose me and I choose all of me
Because even if others reject me
And deem me unworthy
I know people's opinions are fleeting
They can’t touch my core, my true self
My wellspring of lovability, worthiness, and enoughness
Overflowing with joy and wonder
Liberated from the shackles of old programming that once confined me

I’m breaking free, and it feels so good
I’m open to all the goodness that is coming for me
I’m open and I’m opening
I’m healed and I’m healing
I’m ready
I’m worthy
Right here, right now
I’m growing into the full radiance of me.
River Feb 2018
You know,
Love isn't like
The romance sold to us
In the movies
True love must be deeper
Have a firm foundation and
Deep roots
That no troubles can touch
True love sees beauty
Where everyone else sees ugly
It sees the person hidden behind the many masks we don
It loves the little vulnerable infant living inside us
Love is just so beautiful to pass up,
So let's not get caught up
In the fairy tale
And open ourselves
To the beauty and ugliness of love..
Loyal love, sweet love, heroic love, quiet love, subtle love, shout-your-love-from-rooftops love, self sacrificing love, understanding love, wise love, patient love
And this
Dear ones
Is the love you deserve.
River Jan 2019
Love is what some may call a strange drug,
But this definition of love
Is not what I will be writing about
What if love is life itself,
Transient,
But like air filling our lungs,
Slowly, deliberately,
A spark of life caught within me

My mind isn't much good
When it comes to figuring life out,
I kept trying on different denominations
of Christianity
But that was like
Me being attracted to a certain type of man,
Though they all had their differences,
Their core was the same
I tried to force myself
To connect to the core,
But I just can't....
It's not for me,
Not for who I truly am

We think we know people, but we never really do
Yet we shouldn't feel lonely
Over this realization
Connection isn't hindered by a lack of merging
It's actually kind of fantastic,
To know
That what is considered to be you,
This person with this name,
this identity
With these memories and experiences
Can't be replicated,
That our essence
Is as brilliantly unique
As a snowflake or
Our fingerprints

I used to steal money for drugs
I was hungry for love
There was just too much I had gone through,
And not enough help available to me
I reached out my hands seeking help,
I did
But people,
People with their problems,
Their trivial lives,
Caught in the web
Of never enough
Always seeking more to
add to their plastic kingdom
People who write half-assed posts on Facebook
About changing the world
After they sustain some social tragedy,
But never really do
Help others,
ever

I realized this
When I was suffering,
Almost dying,
Some help,
I can't deny that
But most turn away
Eyes full of scorn
Shaming you for suffering in the first place

I don't know what to do about this world anymore,
Because I still find myself
Sobbing alone
Having emotions from my past,
Rise in me, suddenly
Like violent waves
Giving me no other option
But to ride them
And I think to myself,
As the remembered emotions
Settle down
And I can breathe again
"I lived through that,
And I'm still here."

Now,
though I've learned to touch beauty within myself,
Cultivate it like a garden,
Almost creating beauty out of thin air
I still yearn to touch beauty in the real world,
And I know there is plenty of beauty
Woven into the earth,
Like in the trees, and my bare feet on grass,
Butterflies and my crazy *** dog yanking my arm,
Always reminding me to keep moving forward
But I want to touch beauty in people again,
But people are so wounded
And I'm so wounded
And armored
and scared
To touch the core of love again
Because you touch it
And it enraptures you,
Until it doesn't
And you're left all alone again,
Sitting within the desolation of your mind
Silence drumming against all the doors of your mind
Like an unwelcome visitor.
There are too many lonely people.
I am one of them.

I can blame myself for my loneliness,
Say that I isolated myself,
That I had the propensity to
Because shame was a demon
that had possessed me almost entirely
But that's not completely true
I did put myself out there,
Knocking on doors like a vagrant,
Begging for just one person to let me in to
the interior of their heart
And hold my mangled heart too
But I found so many closed doors,
And when someone did open their door,
We would fall into the familiar dance
Of the family dynamics we were raised in
I always felt short-changed,
used, not seen or heard or loved
So I hid.
Isolation is living in an abandoned car
On the side of a road that no one every drives down
In the frigid winter

I want to write a happy ending to this poem,
But right now everything is bittersweet,
And so that's better than before
When isolation ruled my life
Yet my desire
for real, honest connection
Warms me
And is like a compass
Deep within me
Showing me in which direction I must go
To find again
The roaring fire of Love.
I long to be warmed by.
River Mar 2019
What is love?
Is it the outstretched hand of grace,
Helping those who are abandoned and in pain?
Is love the magnetic pull between lovers,
Enchanting both into a realm of splendor?
Or is it the inner calm,
That fills you while you witness God paint the sky
magnificent colors?
Is love the moments in which
The dam of your heart bursts open
Because life is so bittersweetly beautiful?
Surely,
I can't reckon which one is true,
But love must be true
Inherently
Maybe it's a mixture of mind and heart
That leads to the conclusion of love
For true love
Can neither be rash
Nor too cold
It must be balanced,
And directed by the Soul.
River May 2018
God's call
To implement love
In a loveless world
.
Be strong dear
For your enemies are menacing
But they hold no power over you
As long as you remain
Connected to
the Vine
.
Wash your hands clean,
Valiant one
Chosen one
Truth seeker and
Truth finder
You have come upon the spring of Life,
Let it cleanse you of your double-mindedness,
Of your sin
.
Step into the light,
Noble one
My brave dear
For all to be revealed
Your secrets of shame
Are deemed powerless
Your shackles have alchemized
Into sparkling dust
.
You are free
.
Now
Step forth on this journey.
River Feb 2016
Love is not a prison cell
It shouldn't feel hard, cold, or chaotic
It shouldn't feel like you are existing in hell
And neither partner should be despotic

True love is like a warm summer's day
Or a winter's snow-- Whichever you prefer
Hearts of lover's entwined should burst open like a child's heart at play
Feeling so full of love that all your misery blurs away

But some lovers come crashing down from the high of infatuation
No longer are they able to perceive their lover's beautiful aspects
No more are they able to see through the eyes of their imagination
They can only see a partner full of discrepancies and lack

How do you build a stable foundation under the fleeting sensations of infatuation and attraction?
A foundation can be established, but it takes hard work and effort
It takes more than speaking words, it takes action
It's not easy, but if you really want it, it's a worthwhile endeavor

If you ever find yourself confined by what you call love
But it feels like you're suffocating
Drowning in a bottomless pit of mud
Then it is in your best interest to be liberated

To set ourselves free can be terrifying
Sometimes, we seek comfort in the security of a cage
But our weakest moments are our most fortifying
You can never predict the ending of a story, You just have to turn the page.
River Nov 2015
Dear Friend,

When will I see you again?

I heard that life's unfair

That the one you share your heart with has become ensnared

I'm writing you to tell you, it's OK to be scared

And I really, really care

I'll always be there.

Sincerely,
Your Friend
Mad
River Aug 2017
Mad
Do you want to break away with me?
Break away from this systematic misery,
Enter the void of endless fantasy?

The air is thick,
I am heaving
Yet, still I am believing
for a day when I can breathe with ease,
For an escape
From perpetual heart-break,
And yet, what will I have to release?
Sacrifice my life,
For infinite joy
Surrender idle toys
for everything more

You, Disturbed Boy,
I like you,
I always have, I always will
There's a gravity pulling me to you,
You look up at me,
Towards the sun.
I smile.
Just watched Donnie Darko... Best. Movie. Ever.
Next page