Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
my love brought
me tranquility.
my love bought
me tranquility,
in a Manhattan bodega.

late at night in my city,
everything is for sale
where least expected
in mini marts, local delis,
greek coffee shops, spanish bodegas
pizza parlors, hardware stores,
all selling
salves for late night salvation

purveyors of
differential equations of
differing soulful sustenances,
certain imports that will probably never be
for sale in Walmart after midnight

all, readily available,
twenty four seven
in my miracle Manhattan heaven

My woman,
mapper of the byways
of my ****** landmarks
worn broad~ways,
his-toric foot trails of tears,
lines of laughters,
even a
purported dimple
I call a crevasse.

a sole survivor of
a mother's birthing skill marker,
duly recorded by her upon my visage,
in my miracle Manhattan

She knows, as do
some of youse guys,
that my poetry is
water born(e) and water soluble,
but Peconic Bay always
ain't right handy,
so bring on a
substitute teacher,
a hot bath,
helps me to enunciate
my verbal visitations

my love brought
me tranquility.
my  love bought
me tranquility
in a Manhattan bodega.

pour the aromatherapy,
my love brought me
for inspiration into and upon
my liquid writing table,
"Tranquility,"
a summer garden aroma

It soothes
my bad memories,
the herbs salve
accursed ancient wounds
that will never
ever fully heal
or be forgiven

my love brought
me tranquility.

my graces restored,
this poem offered in
grateful appreciation
with unlimited adoration,
something,
maybe even the
very one thing
**that can't be bought,
even,
in my miracle Manhattan
Oct. 16th, 2011
My hands are dry and cracked,
And my breath smells like ***** and cigarettes.
My throat hurts,
But I’m not sick,
Although that’s what I’m going to tell my professor tomorrow
When I don’t show up for class.
***** feminist theory.
I thought it was a worthy cause
Before it was violently shoved down my throat,
Just like my fingers tonight after dinner.
I’m getting really good at this.
Everyone is suspicious, though,
And I don’t know
If I really care.
So I’ll just keep smoking my Marlboro Blacks
And dashing to the bathroom after every meal
And wondering if I’ll ever look in the mirror
And not hate the girl I see
Staring back.
The pauper’s bread is his philosophy
The affluent’s philosophy is bread
Though the pauper hasn’t a bread too many
His dog is always well fed!*

The joy of sharing he knows best
His bread he cuts into two
The pauper the vermin the nagging pest
At heart is the most well-to-do!

He knows the joy of togetherness
To divide from his scrap of bread
The pauper a slur on the human race
Sees his dog doesn’t remain unfed!

He knows he can’t do without this help
He is too alone on this ride
The pauper knows better than to live with self
Loves his dog on his side!
 Jan 2014 Susan O'Reilly
Redshift
i keep trying to **** it up
but it keeps sorting its **** out
love isn't such a tricky *****
after all
When I look into my daughter's eyes
I imagine looking into the skies
When I look into my daughter's eyes
I see purity reflected in her rounded eyes
When I look into my daughter's eyes
Her tantrums, some sadness as she cries
When I look into my daughter's eyes
No matter what there will be no goodbyes
When I look into my daughter's eyes...
Her curiosity , her wonders that will last..
When I look into my daughter's eyes
Her magnificent stories stay in those eyes..
When I look into my daughter's eyes
Have I ever been deceived by her sweet lies?
Will there be some white lies
hidden In those pretty eyes..?
If I had to
I would paint him like this;
His hair thick streaks, shielding
Hidden face, arms placed protectively
about a shield of strings, his
fingers float out joy.
My Boy
Lies immersed in his own
Invisible sound,
Happiness hidden, and found,
Underground.
Silence Sings Out Loud.

I would paint him like this.

If I had to
I would paint her like this;
Her hair tangled in a golden kiss
against the mischief of her
face, all sorrow erased
by half moons of mirth
Hands of Nurture placed
deep in the Earth.
In stability she is
free, in life
she is re-born,
eternally stubborn.

I would paint her like this.

If I had to
I would paint them like this;
Colours clashing to complete
the cadbury brown of hair,
Blue and Red swirling and
stairing their way down
to Purple.
If I were to paint them, I'd
create a staple of
a third and final
canvas.

Both Him & Her,
Boy and Girl,
complete
_ _
This is their
similarity.
I want to run to you
I always run to you

A child with arms
outstretched, cradling a
butterfly worn with torn
wings, it
can't be real until she's shown it.
Can't be good til you've
confirmed it.
Can't have beauty til you've
admired it.
It can't, you give it life.
Without your breath
She lies bereft.

I have to run to you,
before I believe that it is true.

A child with a wounded knee,
hides the scar until
you've seen it,
once you've seen it,
then she'll ease it.
Can't have relief til your belief.
Can't look unafraid until
she's prayed to you.
She needs to limp to you.

I have to reach to you.

She needs you,
she does not wish to tease
your weary temper,
but she finds it hard
to always remember that
she's shown you it before.
A puppy jumping through the
door, happily places a cat's
treasure of a broken bird
upon the kitchen mat,
it's beauty trapped within the
meowing
mind.

I'm purring proudly up at you

Thanks for being so kind to her
menagerie, sorry for
getting confused by
internal imagery.
I forget how quite to empathise
that,
I think I need to change my tack.
But, this girl is sometimes trapped in
a loop.

Reminder: Learn when to turn on mute
Stares at him a blank page
Stares at him a blind rage
Stares at him a maddening pause
Stares at him an indeterminable cause

It seems so unfair
Before him is only laid bare
A taunting silence
Tearing into his patience
Dragging him down to bottom
Raising him up the cliff
Tossing him in the storm
Showing him no relief!

And it’s precisely then
Over the shattering pain
Emerges a newly born light...

He feels a palpable might.

He rejoices in its voice.

Past the night’s turbulence
Would be revealed at the dawn
The hidden shapes in the silence
The picture fully drawn!

A picture sans all flaws
For you drawn on the canvas
Making redundant a cause
For effects that far surpass!
Next page