Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
six months
after leaving home,
i returned for the holidays.
it wasn’t the warmth
that stayed with me
but the shortage of praise.

i didn’t expect it —
i didn’t expect anything,
just a friendly check-in.

i was surprised to learn
that the people i worked with,
part of the reason i left,
were so smothered
by their own bitterness
they wished for me to fail —
to run back home
after a few weeks,
admit the dream
was too silly,
too frail.

they didn’t hate me,
just my courage —
that i dared
to refine my life
while theirs
stayed the same.

busy in a world
i could call mine,
i remained gone
and let their silence
become my applause.
this one is about schadenfreude, inspired by a tiktok this morning and my own experience.
Jasper Sep 19
I'm full of myself. Full of my dying
I am become death. The destroyer of worlds,
No. But I would be. This
Is the taste
Of hatred.
Hriday Shah Sep 19
The way you treated me,
After all you did to me,
Now suddenly your mood changed,
Is this game you played?

After you said no,
I was broken into pieces,
But now you want to change the flow,
Still — I’ll rather say no.

Let me tell you what you are:
A narcissist so bizarre,
A girl with bad hair,
A girl with no self-care.

You were too short for me anyways,
A dwarf with a bloated head,
One whose integrity is dead.
I’ll pass on this offer —
Because what is that you can differ?

Erase me from your life,
Stop dreaming of being my wife,
Cause my answer is still no —
Is all you need to know.

I wish you a great life ahead —
A Life with new beginning,
A life with some self-respect;
As you all have some right now,
Was straight up disrespect.

If only you had said yes before,
God knows what we could explore,
But you have now become my foe,
An annoying little crow.

You destroyed me from inside out,
I wept until my eyes dried out.
Your thoughts were moving in my head,
Now they are locked away in a shed.

I can’t forget all that,
We can’t just start from the back,
I will hate you for the rest of my life,
A fire that will burn bright.

I wish you could just vanish,
Those memories that have tarnished,
But you are still standing in front of me,
With the attitude of a wannabe.

My answer will always be no,
Forget I was your beau,
This is the best we both can do,
Nothing more to review.
You are just the thief of my life,
Which I have killed with a sharpen knife.

Awaken refreshed, hush the alarm, time for another caper,
cuddle with the kitty, good morning, my fuzzy lil slayer!

Feed the furballs, cereal for me, start the coffee maker,
may be a good day today, at least it looks good on paper.

Drain the main, check the mirror, what-up my playa
wait a sec, is it my self-hate, or am I a little greyer?

Inhale my morning nicotine with a sugary caffeine chaser,
hazelnut and doubt, mmm, that's my favorite flavor...

Brush and shave, step into the Hypothetical Argument Simulator,
hope follows soap down the drain—oh well—see ya later!

All dressed up, glance to verify the happiness imitator,
hold my chin up high, but only for the cologne sprayer.

Front door locked, start the car, on the lookout for hidden radar,
try to outrun the bitterness, traffic jam, wish this were single-player.

Make it to work in one piece, if just the outer layer,
brain boiling beneath, my good old trusty traitor.

Copyright © 09/11/2025 Jason R. Michie. All Rights Reserved.
Cassie love Aug 27
The only soul i trusted
With my secrets
Became the one
Who shattered them.
Can you truly call yourself my friend?
I don't think so .

You stabbed me -
And the deepest pain
Was never from the blade,
But from the  hand
That held the knife.

Your deception  built the walls
Of my bitterness.
I would rather drown in silence
Than speak my heart to you again.
Yes, you broke me-
But it's okay

Because everything circles back.
What goes around
Always returns.
And I’ve learned—
It’s far better to walk alone
Than to walk beside
A friend who speaks behind my back.
I understand that the pain of being betrayed by those we hold dear can be incredibly deep and distressing. It's heartbreaking to feel let down by the people we trust the most.
An obvious glare to the past
Has left me with too many spells to cast
Fueled by anger and deceit
How could I have let history repeat

Fool me once, I thought we knew
Fool me twice, we can't pretend we don't have a clue
It's ego and it's fear
What's not making you see clear?

Betrayal is a must
When two souls are not meant to last
And if I'm the receiver of your hardships
Don't tell me I can't have my sips

Of bitterness and frustration
I've reached my culmination.
And when I can no longer look you in the eye
You know our love was meant to die.
You clock in like it’s sport.
Bare minimum effort,
maximum proximity.
Enough to say you showed up -
not enough to matter.

I am the weather
you wade through
on the way to his sun.
Your shoes stay dry,
your conscience cleaner
than it deserves.

You breathe my warmth
like free air.
Touch softness
without ever asking
what it costs to be this open.

You sip from my life,
call it kind,
but only when it’s convenient.
When you’re not too busy
filing fantasies
under someone else’s name.

And still -
you linger.
You sit in the quiet I built,
wearing your smug smile
like a medal
you didn’t earn.

Trophies come with rules.
Show up.
Stay present.
Give a ****.

But you parade around
with your little ribbon of recognition,
plastic pride on a shelf
gathering dust.
Not for winning.
Just for being nearby
when something beautiful bloomed.

You didn’t plant a thing.
Didn’t water.
Didn’t tend.

But here you are,
touching the petals,
posing for the picture,
as if the garden
knows your name.
This isn’t about love lost. It’s about recognition never earned. It’s what happens when someone stands close enough to feel your warmth but never dares to offer their own. When they expect intimacy without investment, and mistake presence for participation. You don’t get a trophy for showing up when the work is already done.
i was still there,
choking on my bitterness,
twenty minutes
after our session ended.

i felt awful. anxious.
he had a client outside,
waiting —
maybe also collapsing
under their own weight
they couldn't carry.

“look at the clock,”
i said. “let’s wrap this up.”
guilt eating away at me.

so he stood up,
reached for it,
and reset the time.

like it meant nothing.
like he knew healing
cannot be rushed,
because the minutes
are ticking.
this one is about my therapist, who taught me that healing doesn’t come with a stopwatch.
July 28, 2025
Ali Hassan May 21
The tongue once lived in sweetest lands,
Where honey dripped like golden sands.
It danced through syrup, soft and wide,
With velvet dreams it could not hide.

Beneath the sky, a sugared sea,
Where flavors danced in harmony.
And every taste, and every sip,
Was joy that melted on the lip

Around it spoke of flavor rare,
Of something rich beyond compare.
“They call it truth,” the voices said,
“Then why’s it left so dark, unsaid?”

The tongue fell still, its sweetness thin,
An itch began to burn within.
“If there is more,” it thought, “I must
Let taste decide what I can trust.”

Curious now, the tongue grew bold,
To chase the myth the whispers told.
With trembling hope, it reached and tried
To sip what others left denied.

But what it found was not delight —
A taste that burned, a wound of bite.
The sugar fled, the silk was torn,
Its buds were seared, then split and torn

The sweetness slipped beyond its reach,
No golden drip to calm or breach.
What once was rich now felt so thin,
As bitterness crept deep within.

It searched again for something sweet,
But found no sugar it could meet.
Its buds, once soft with joy and light,
Now knew but ash and endless night.

The others watched but turned aside,
Their mouths still sweet, their comfort wide.
They offered nothing—not a sound—
Just stayed within their sugared ground.

It whispered low—no choice remained,
To taste the bitter that none had claimed.
Its sweetness gone, the wounds run deep,
Still must it sip—no rest, no sleep
Julia Celine May 7
Here's the limit
Stopping short such careless ease
It reaches in and grips and I
just hope that I don't leave
it all exposed, the brick & mortar
to the humidifying heat
I know to take it out on you is petty,
childish, and mean
And I am so mature, I'm quiet
as the words begin to freeze
The screaming, small injustices
that bitterness loves to keep
Tonight in bed, a mantra
Is the devil on repeat
Running laps inside my head
Until I can finally sleep
Then tomorrow I'll forgive you
My walls crumbling like leaves
A day of autumn in the summer
For another day of peace
Next page