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Amanda Kay Burke Feb 2020
One day
Bitter change
Slowing down circumstances
Under the sun the ground is quaking
I should not open the door
We're on the edge of the sea
Summer sensation
Secrets always surface where the light hits the sand
Set your sights without asking
Shooting stars beyond the landscape of your inner life
Day 26: flip through a magazine and cut out words or phrases that inspire you then use them to make a poem
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
It is true that fresh air is good for the body
It's not so good for air freshener companies
Stop only denying oxygen to overpolluted cities
Blinded by spectrums of little trees in each color
Get the **** out of your car and into reality
You can't live in your head instead of on Earth
And this is our body
Day 23: a seven line poem starting with "It's true that fresh air is good for the body" and ending with "this is our body"
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
Life is such a simple thing
At 18 years of age

When you have just bought your first car
A black 95' Ford Tempo

Reconstructed title
License plate boldly bearing the name "WRECK"

Keys pressed eagerly into an excited palm
As you head home to learn how to drive a manual


You never ever did get good at operating a stick shift, did you?
Day 22: a poem about your first car

My dad talked me into buying a car I couldn't even drive myself!
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
You own already
When you love me like a hero
All you need to rescue me
Have the power to make me less than zero

One last time I return to the crime scene
Nothing to take me away
Sadness gives tears to wash conscience clean
I will leave the darkness one day

They weren't brave enough to face danger
I am nothing that's worth saving
Nothing is worth losing for a stranger
Can't be stopped from caving

A sense of justice found in destruction
My surface is scratched and muddy
Pain teaching specific instructions
******* nothing to nobody
Day 21: Rearrange a previous poem written during the challenge. I chose "Leave The Darkness"
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
Waiting quietly in line at the age of nine
Wet hair clinging to nervous skin
Remembering previous summers
Past attempts I failed to swim

To pass you must bring yourself
To the water trampoline and back to the dock
Then tread water for thirty seconds
By then arms feel like rocks

My friends wished me luck
Before into the water I leapt
Pushed my muscles through the cold
As I surfaced from the murky depths

I reached the looming yellow island
Turned around, feet on the ladder, and kicked
I used that small bit of extra momentum
To keep paddling  though lungs constrict

When I find myself back at the wooden dock
Then final countdown starts
Each cell in my body is aching
This is the last and hardest part

Fighting with the freezing lake
The test is nearly done
Just as I am about to give up
5..4..3..2..1!
Day 20: write a narrative poem about a childhood memory

Mine is about passing the swim test at bible camp and being allowed in the deep part of the lake
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
I let it build up too long again.
The bin is overflowing with stinky garbage and now a simple chore has become a huge ordeal.
If I could regularly dispose of all the toxic negative thoughts accumulated in my brain it would be a relatively easy process.
But I procrastinate until all the insecurities, fears, and anger become too heavy to lift
So I drag the ******* bag behind me as it leaves a trail of stinky slime in it's wake.
I get rotten trash juice all over my hands as I dump all my emotions onto paper.
When it's all taken out and empty and I am exhausted
I put in a new liner and let the trash begin piling up again.
Day 19: Write a poem about writing using a household chore as a metaphor for writing
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
I raised my hopes amazed
From dust to package and ******
Blinded by charms into your arms
Forced to watch now without affecting the how
Twisting restlessly beneath sea
Doesn't matter if they scatter or drop and shatter
Heard them fall and not hurt at all
Crashing is nothing new in fact it's why I grew
Another crack won't cause a heart attack
If my hopes weigh too much that's okay
Let them go to be swept below
I will pick up the pieces and use glue to stick
Until every single hope I own is ready to once again fly
Day 18: a poem with no end rhyme scheme. Only internal.
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2019
I will leave the darkness one day
Nothing to take me away
I am nothing that's worth saving
Can't be stopped from caving

A sense of justice discovered in destruction
Pain teaching specific instructions
Sadness gives tears to wash my conscience clean
One last time I return to the crime scene

They were not brave enough to face danger
Nothing is worth losing for a stranger
******* nothing to nobody
Surface is scratched and muddy

When you love me like a hero
Have the power to make me more than zero
All you need to rescue me
You own already
Day 17: Write a poem that employs a rhyme scheme
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2019
For one yesterday I would trade every tomorrow
Anyone if I could have you
Been looking for a way to make this exchange
No one seems to have a clue

I provoke sorrow with memories
They can make old wounds bleed
Choking them or stretching them out
Senses shakily blurred indeed

Stomach twisting from nostalgia
I watch pictures from the past
I'm left with traces of regret
Do I hold or let go fast?

These demons desire my surrender
Pretend I'm winning the fight
Straining muscles just to stand
Invited to wave a flag white

Feel cathartic
Nearly on the brink
Emotions high when I sink back
Was used to the ache of remembering
Failed being an amnesiac
Day 16: Write a poem in response to day 15's poem
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2019
I see you everywhere but beside me,
the one place that I need you the most.
I don’t know if you’ve just felt like hiding,
but it feels like I’m being stalked by a ghost.
I think of my life consisting of just time biding,
with parasitic emptiness and I’m the host.
This hits me like waves I am meant to be riding,
and it follows me persistently from coast to coast.

The grass didn’t seem so green back then
I guess all that constant rain did pay off,
‘cause now this little future’s just a casual friend,
and my god looking back the past was soft.
It’s not like I always want to be drenched in sorrow,
I find I look much better in brown, blue or grey,
you know I’d trade in every tomorrow
for just one more yesterday.

I hear every voice but yours in my ears,
the deafening noise has made me forget that sound,
since I’ve heard that sweet melody it’s been too many years,
and every other pitch makes my static brain pound.
I’m always biting my lip but now I’m fighting tears,
I shake my head side to side and around.
I’m quickly losing stamina from battling my fears
and now looking forward to my hole in the ground.

The skies never seemed clear and blue back then,
it turns out that I was the creator of each cloud,
I’m hoarding past calendars so that I can pretend
that I’m back in time and making everyone else proud.
If you’ve got a hour or two that I can borrow,
I swear I’m good for it and whatever price; I’ll pay,
‘cause you know I’d trade in every tomorrow
for just one more yesterday.

I feel you all over, laced in everything,
if it wasn’t such a curse, it’d be a gift.
You’re the peace in winter and the hope in spring,
you’re the summer sun and autumn’s winds so swift.
I’m relieving every memory, looking for a place to cling,
I remember all of the details but the clarity is now adrift.
Side to side, back and forth, I constantly swing,
it pulls and drags me down but it can also give the highest lift.

The sun never seemed to shine right back then,
but maybe I was just too busy looking for artificial light.
I was never one for second looks but I should’ve searched again,
because everything I wanted was already in my sight.
So I plant a seed hoping it will eventually grow
and I sculpt all I wish for with clay,
‘cause you know I’d trade in every tomorrow
for just one more yesterday.
Day 15: post a poem written by somebody else that you love for whatever reason

This was the first one that I thought of when I read the prompt

Way behind btw I just kinda gave up on the 30 day timeline. Instead I'm finishing at my own pace
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