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Sierra Carleton Jun 2014
I was never enlightened on what to do
When someone shattered my heart,
But it happened anyway.
He took it and crumpled it
Before he went and tore it all apart.
I wasn't taught that you shouldn't look back...
So I learned to cry.
I thought the best was to be bitter
Not to just up and forget it all.
I didn't know that you should smile
And move on with your life.
Make your own joy, because I was all I really had.

All the movies they hadn't done it right.
They didn't show me that you should act
Like nothing was ever wrong.
They didn't tell me that people change and move on.
That's why I didn't know how to respond
When he left me on the street
My hands pressed to my head, my feet chasing after him.

I was never told a person wasn't worth
The pain,
The tears,
The fight,
Simply because no one ever talked about this.
School didn't have a class that eased the heartbreak,
Didn't have any extracurriculars for the ones
Who looked so woebegone over someone
Who never gave a **** about them in the first place.
They never offered up a panacea
For the scholars who thought their life was ending
Because they were lamenting over a pseudo, a sham.
They had classes for foreign languages
And math
And history too.
But not a single class about what to do
About a heart so damaged the loved drained out from the bottom
And created an abyss so deep
Not even Floyd Collins would dare venture in.

So for everyone who's never experienced
A sadness so blue,
I will tell you about what to do.
When you are told not to love someone anymore
Go ahead, continue on
Just don't let him know.
Don't show any emotion when you pass him on the street
Or when you hear his name from across the room.
You can cry, that's acceptable,
But if you ever notice he's watching you
You go on and smile and act like you're having a **** good time.
And maybe you will eventually convince yourself you are.
Maybe not in the next day,
Or month,
Or even year,
But eventually he'll fade from your mind
Like the words written across the mirror with your finger
After a burning hot shower.
And if all else fails,
Just know to never go back
Because, darling, I know you're stronger that that.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
Nine forty- three.
I look at the clock and that's all I see.
It wouldn't be so grim
If it didn't remind me.
But those three digits
Are the start of your phone number
And that lobs me back into a cycle
I never desired to enter again.

And the damaging memories don't resurface
Just the gleeful things manage to pull through.
And I find myself
Relearning to miss all that was you.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
It feels like
A rippling tide,
Crashing down
Above your head.
A pulling sensation
Over your heart
A little to strong
To be gentle.
A screaming wind
Piercing through your body
Stabbing at your ears.
A horrendous lunge
From a hungry lion
After failing to catch prey.
At the same time
It’s like…
A lullaby
Gracefully pulling you
Into a deep slumber.
An energizing drink
From a cup of gold
After a year without rain.
The feel of sultry lips
Pressed on your skin
Urgent, but slow
Creating a rush from within.
The cookies your mom made
When you were a kid
A delicacy you’re hoping
You would receive again.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
The thing about us, babe,
Is that I didn't love you from the first word
In fact, I despised you then.

But suddenly there you were.
And you hit me like a freight train.
And after that I turned into a little mess.

Every moment after
I thought about you,
Not me,
Not him,
Not society,
You.

Even though I cannot always say it's been you
I can tell you that you're the one who actually mattered.
Sierra Carleton Oct 2014
He has
            withered
                           me
                                 away.
I am no longer here.
I may exist
But my presence is not felt,
Not heard,
Not seen.

I am nothing once again.
Sierra Carleton Mar 2015
And even if we don't talk
You'll always be my favorite hello
And even if I don't realize it
You'll always be the person I miss the most.
Sierra Carleton Nov 2014
I'm damaged
                       Torn
                                Shattered
                  ­                               Broken.
I'm that bottle of tequila mostly empty
Dropped on the bathroom floor and forgotten long ago.

In pieces on the floor,
Or whole in the trash...
I'm not sure which one is better.
Either way, I'd be considered no good-
A pile of nothingness.

But I was once useful.
Someone used me to forget
Someone used me to find something
And someone else used me to have fun.
But I've given everything away
I'm used.

And that's why I was left
Shattered on the cold, desolate floor
Empty and drained...
I didn't deserve to be whole-
Even in the trash.
Sierra Carleton Jun 2014
Even as a child
I despised succumbing to the stereotype
That all girls like the color pink.

The first of my favorite colors was red
Bright red,
Like the first drop of blood dribbling from a small wound.

Then I remember fancying the color yellow,
But not a bright yellow
More of a laid-back, sandbox yellow.

Soon after I grew fond of the color blue.
Not a dark blue though,
Light blue, sky color.

The color of his eyes.
Sierra Carleton Dec 2016
I love you,
I really do,
but I'm torn in two
because of the pain
we put each other through.

You say you want me
always,
but when you disparage my feelings
and I go on the defensive
and things go from bad to worse
in a matter of seconds.

I'm trying so hard
and maybe you are too,
but is this really worth
all that we go through?
Sierra Carleton May 2016
I can see it still-
Wheels spinning
on the highway.
Only room for us two
that's the way
I always liked it.
Turn the car around,
faster than a bullet.
Your mind changed
faster than I wished it.
Months went by,
talking eased up then stopped.
I was slowly forgetting,
yet somehow
I was keeping it all.
In dreams
and sometimes nightmares,
I saw your face
and I longed for a chance
to feel an embrace.
More months passed,
then I saw you
among the trees and flowers.
I wanted to let you be,
until curiosity got the best of me
and my feet pointed your direction.
And I don't know
what I'll want in the future,
but right now I need an old friend,
I'm not trying to be a bother.
So any time you need me,
I'm not that far out of reach.
Just say you need me
and I'm already there.
Sierra Carleton Mar 2015
Dear boyfriend,
Remember that one time you asked me
if I had ever been in love?
And all I said was yes?
Well that was only half the truth.
I was in love...
I still am in love.

You see,
I believe that people fall in love
But they don't fall out quite as simply.
No matter how much someone hurts you
If you love them,
You always will.

And maybe that sound ridiculous to you
But if it does, tell me
Why do you care so much
About what your she thinks of us
When you told me
You don't give a **** anymore?
Sierra Carleton Apr 2016
I want to tell you a story
of the ones that hurt me before
And maybe that will help my uncover
Why I thought you were different from the others.

I'll start with the one
Who had the most perfect blue eyes
The kind that left you trembling
And always with a smile.

He left me waiting for too long,
Kept me dangling,
Then let me fall.
I fell too soon
And with a crash
I wrecked it all.

The one after that
Restored my faith
In how you should feel
When love comes your way.

He kept me close,
Gently kissed my eyes,
Never made me cry

But I had to let him go
And now he loves someone else
The way he loved me that month.

Not long after,
A hockey player with family problems
Somehow captured my attention
And took me out to have some fun.

Things were good for a while,
But we both messed up
And he stopped answering my calls.

More than a year later
A country boy from the middle of nowhere
Took my heart from the first second.

A week went by
And I think he realized
That I wasn't close to what he really wanted.
He got rid of me so fast
Broke every single promise.

Then there was you.

At first, you tried to pick me up
Convinced me that I was great
I don't know what changed,
Now all I want is a chance.

I saw something different in you
That I know you never saw.
And maybe that scares you
And that's why you ran away so fast and far.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
I remember the way he firmly gripped the steering wheel
So different from the way his hands caressed my sides.
I remember the way his voice sounded when he joked with his friends
And how it changed from the way he spoke my name.
I remember they way he glanced at others
A huge difference from the way he locked me in his gaze.
I remember the way he hugged his friends
Not nearly as passionate as the way he pulled me in.
I remember the way he would sit at the school
And the way he would sit on my bed... just different.
And so perfect.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2018
They say
It looks like I haven't slept in days.
The circles under my eyes
Are darker than the midnight sky.

I look around,
But I do not see.
A part of me
Is empty.
Sierra Carleton Jul 2017
It was only a year ago
When we sat down by the tennis courts
Watching the fireworks.

You put your hand over mine
And I lost track of time
Under the fireworks.

The way you looked at me
Like I was the only thing you could see
While we listened to the fireworks.

Now all this time has passed
What we made was made to last
Because every time you touch me
I can still feel the fireworks.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
I think it'd be kinda neat
To watch your heart
Fizzle and spark
And ignite as bright as can be.

Because maybe
Just maybe
It'd be interesting to watch you suffer
The same way you used to watch that happen to me.
Sierra Carleton Jun 2014
I wish he would have told me how to live without him,
Not just that it was a necessity to.
But why do I seem to think I still need him?
Why is is I can't breathe when I don't have him?
I think about him and my chest tightens around my heart and lungs
Like a boa constrictor extracting life from its prey.

He was an awe- inspiring dream for me
Drifting through my dark mind
His resplendence playing through and through.
Even after he was gone
His disposition still shone brighter than a burning star.

I sit and brood, desiring that he'll resurface later in life.
It's all I can really do.
I have no idea where he is now
He could be within proximity
But he also could be a significant distance away.
But still his voice of pure splendor
Resonates in my head
Getting louder
                        And louder
                                           And louder
With each verse thrown at me
With each verse I can still remember uttered from his lips.

I detest the fact he honestly believes
That I'm a better person without him.
How can I be better without him
If he's the one that inspires me to do my best?
When he's the person who comforts the beasts inside my head?
He may not be able to stop the storm
But he's the one to bring an umbrella.
Maybe he can't turn the tide
But he'll bring a life raft for the both of us.
So how could he have the audacity to say something like that
When he doesn't look at the two side of the same coin?

I sit and write poems
Stanza after stanza dedicated to him
Hoping he will one day stumble upon my works
And know- Because if he reads them he will know-
That it was truly all for him.
So I will continue to pour my soul into my oeuvre
And spill my blood on pages.
Pages that will hold the scars,
But most likely never be viewed by the eyes of my beloved,
My world,
My dream,
My heart,
My everything.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2017
I loved him the most


And I hurt him the most.
Sierra Carleton Jul 2015
I don't know much but what I do know
Is that I need to get out of this town.
Too many bad memories are causing me to drown.
And I never want to come back
But I don't know how well I can handle the goodbye's
But I need to escape
The fire in their eyes.
Sierra Carleton May 2015
I don't want to prolong the fight
If the end results aren't worth the extra mile.
And I don't want to stay with you
If you aren't spending your time with those most worthwhile.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
Whenever I try to tell him
How he makes me feel,
Why he shouldn't leave
I fall bereft of words.
I just can't say that he has planted himself in my heart
And is burgeoning from my limbs
Encasing me in a bush of red, red roses.
The thorns of his wild side ***** my paper skin
Like sharp words flying from his witty mouth.
I don't find myself capable of
Reminding him that he is a sole source
Of everlasting happiness
That begins deep in my toes
And weaves its way up to my mind
Intertwining and capturing my thoughts
Keeping me from tearing myself to atom-sized pieces.
And every time he's around I lose that train of thought
Because he makes me forget.
And I wouldn't mind not remembering things
If it means that he would be
In my heart,
On my mind,
By my side,
Held by my arms.
No
I wouldn't mind at all.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
I was naive
I admit it.

But when I was with him
A sweet aroma would surround
And encapsulate us.

As I sit here typing now
All I can taste is a bittersweet memory
Dancing on my tongue.

And I swallow it whole
As I do my pride
Whenever he's around.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
I'd just like you to know I do remember everything
From the first day until the last.
I remember that you were wearing a gray t shirt
Jeans, and a black jacket when we met.
The date was January 6, 2012.
We met at a basketball game at the high school.
You were there for wrestling
I was there for cheerleading.
I remember hearing you make snide comments
Just audible enough for the person intended to hear.
I remember being captivated by those blue eyes.
I remember the last words you said to me
Harsh and unforgivable
But of course, I had already accepted the apology
I knew would be coming my way.
Because, ****, I remember everything.
Thinking of him.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
I've had relationships with many others after you
And in each one it's you I see all the way through.
I sometimes see your eyes or your smile
And that's what makes it all worthwhile.

But the boy I met the other day
He makes your image fade to gray.
Because when I look into his blue eyes
They aren't like yours in disguise.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2015
I keep them all loosely wrapped around my finger
Until I need them
And that's when I tighten my grip
Like I'm strangling prey.
Sierra Carleton Mar 2015
And I'll try to get along
for the sake of my lover
but you're just so selfish.
You show no love for each other.

He's goes to quite a length
just to show you his endeavor
and you're just so fake
like a jacket of pleather.
Sierra Carleton Jul 2016
She whispered,
"I just miss
the little things.
The stuff that seems unimportant
until you realize
it's all that matters.
Like the way he'd pull you in
when he was half asleep
or the way he said
he loved the way you looked in that dress.
So, no, BIG things
aren't a BIG deal,
but the small things,
they can mean the entire world."
Sierra Carleton Mar 2015
As years have come and years have gone
I still dream about eyes as welcoming as my home.
But I've come to realize, reminiscing about those baby blues
That they were just as lonely as green eyes staring back at you.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
I've learn to abhor many things such as
The taste of salty, **** tears on my tongue,
The aroma of the dewy, crisp forest floor,
The vision of blue eyes intertwined with bliss dancing away,
The feel of a burning hot neck being pressed on by a gelid nose
The sound of a drowsy midnight voice whispering "I love you."
But it seems that what I've come to execrate
Are the same as what I was once learning to grow fond of.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
You are like a lingering sin to me
Evil at sight
But Heaven to the touch.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
I wish
I could hold you heart in both of my hands
And be allowed the opportunity
To toy with it all I want

And then maybe
You could feel what you are doing to me
And you could stop devastating
Every aspect of me.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
We were engulfed in flames
Or maybe we just dug ourselves into a hole
too deep for escape
Maybe we promised too much
too soon
But maybe it was never meant
for me and you.
Sierra Carleton Mar 2016
I've finally removed the dirt from my eyes
So the light of the truth blinds me.
How could I have been so naive
To think that we could live in peace?

You shook my walls
And I trembled in fear.
Your words pierced my skin of paper
Left holes large and small.
The intensity of your stare
Glued me to the wall.

But revenge is the sweetest
When it's drizzled and shame
And topped with the pieces of his brain.
You paid too much attention
To keeping me down.
Now I'm successful
And you're empty on the ground.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
The problem with people
Is that they don't realize
What they've lost
Until it's gone forever.
Sierra Carleton Dec 2016
"Forever," he says to me,
I just wish I knew what he means.
Does he mean forever as in until we die,
or until I annoyed him so much he's had enough?
Does he mean for all of eternity,
or does he use it to shut me up?
Everyone's definition of the word is just so different,
and I don't know his,
the one of most importance.
Sierra Carleton May 2015
And as I sit in misery and anger
I can remember why
I never wanted to feel that again.
Sierra Carleton Nov 2014
People tell me
That I was alive before you
So I can live without you.
But the truth is
I never was alive until I met you
Everything I felt
It wasn't real.

When you showed up
Everything just bursted with color
And roared to life
As did I
I was strong
And victorious
I was the queen.

And then you left
And everything went gray
And everything fell apart
And that's when I knew it was over.


I was never alive
Just there.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
The sky
Distant, dark
Holding the rarest diamonds
That contrast the void
Filling in the holes of a soul
Lonely and stark
Struggling for release.

The sky
Longing for some light
The twinkling gone
Like the darkness inside.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
I'm sorry
I'm sorry for being so **** selfish,
But you would be too
If you had someone who defined every single thing for you
Or someone that you see little bits of
In every person that crosses your path.
And it's even worse when you don't get a real goodbye
Because it gives you hope.
And hope is a strong concept.
Hell, it's the only thing stronger than fear.
It seems this hope is eating away
At the little common sense I have left,
Crushing every sane thought I have.
And I'm pretty ****** about
Letting this hope sit in my heart
Like a fire I should've stomped out
The moment I met you.
Sierra Carleton May 2016
I want something spontaneous
Not same-old-same-old,
Good as it gets.

I want to be surprised
With every sunrise
And always wonder
What's going to happen next.

For when nothing changes,
My fickle mind will intervene
And routines will bore my heart
'Til everything's at a loss.
Sierra Carleton May 2014
I crave the dazzling colors
Twisting together in the early morning
Red
Orange      
Yellow                    
All churned into one image
Pulsing in my dark eyes
Elegantly finding the way
To the gloomiest pit of me.
They make a trail to my heart
Brightening the display
Pumping happiness to every joint,
Every bone structure,
Every muscle mass present.

Was this why I was told to enjoy the sunrise
Every morning as  petite child?
Did they know I would be this now?
Surely,
They must have.
I just wish they'd stopped me before this
Before I became my own enemy.
Sierra Carleton Nov 2014
Four days ago,
I was told that you were as good as gone
And I believed in that philosophy
For the life of me.

So I concocted a plan
So nefarious, so devastating
You would never recover.

Today, I received a message
At 10:17 p.m.
Asking me to come back.

I wasn't astonished
Because I knew my scheme would prevail.

Because a guy like you
Cannot stand being ignored
By someone they were trying to disregard.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
All I remember from those days
Is the taste of salty pink lips,
The feeling of warm, tan skin,
The smell of his sharp aftershave,
The sound of his passionate, smooth voice,
The sight of deep blue eyes.
Now all that’s left is
The bitter taste from my last meal,
The tight feeling of my clothes on my skin,
The pungent smell of my vanilla perfume,
The piercing sound of my alarm clock every morning,
The sight of the blue sky,
The color of the eyes
Of the boy I once knew all too well.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
Her eyes were sullen, hollow, desolate.
Her skin worn thin.
Her bones, they trembled
With every step she took.
Her stomach was empty
Her hands frail as sin.
Still she tried
even though
she'd never be better again.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
It was like an orb
Growing in the pit or your stomach
Pushing away all the vital organs
Making it hard to live.

The parasitic bulb
Infuriating your body
Annihilating the temple you are.

And although it may seem foreign
This is keeping you alive.
The process is consuming you slowly
But gives you a reason not to relinquish.

This abomination inside of you
Is slowly waning
Eliminating your life supply
Coming up short
Taking away all you've ever known
Dragging you towards the land of the soulless.

What is this orb, you ask?
Well, simply put, it's love.
Sierra Carleton Nov 2015
I thought these feelings were gone
but they're still buried deep inside
and you're like a grave digger
Your shovel stabbing at me
sharper than a knife.
You ripped me wide open
you tore me to shreds
and if you asked me to take you back,
my answer would probably be yes.
Sierra Carleton Nov 2015
I know it’s not healthy
The way I act even now
But you’re not much better
Breathing that smoke in and out.
We both got bad habits
Saying we miss each other
But not doing a **** thing about it.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
Hell, I loved the sly smile
That emerged from his eyes
Then slowly spread across his face
Til it was perfectly wide.
I loved how it showed in his grin
When he would laugh at my awkwardness
Like we were both children again.
I admired the seriousness
That would spawn from within him
When I begged him to stay with me.
I cherished the moments
When he would accept my heartfelt invitation
And just hold me quietly to his firm chest.

Thoughts like that
Are the kind that will remain
Encapsulated in my mind forever.
Sierra Carleton Mar 2015
And I don't think I've ever been more encouraged
to be myself,
to be a friend,
to be better than anyone thought.
You've told me so many times
that I don't need a person to make me feel special
because it's not worth the try
if I'm not joyous myself.

Now, my feet are planted firmly on the ground,
even though I allow my head to emerge in the clouds.
At one point my hope was quickly fleeting
But you brought it back, and fortunately
left me with nothing but delightful feelings.
Sierra Carleton Apr 2014
Once the cheap liquor
Creeps into my veins
I'll pick up the phone,
Dial you number,
And scream out your name.
I know nothing has changed,
But I'll try anyways
In hopes that you'll realize
You won't find someone who loves you more
For the rest of your days.
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