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Shaun Copple Oct 4
Detached from the old
once more, into the fold.
Embrace the Self—Human
Being—Where “I” is a Man.
Sporadic emotions burst
forth, with sensation and thirst.
In the cold light of day,
realise—This is all just play!
Themes from Vipassana
Moe Sep 27
I only smile when I lie
not because I want to deceive
but because the truth feels like gravel in my mouth
sharp, dry, impossible to swallow
I smile because it’s easier than explaining
why I haven’t slept in three days
or why I flinch when someone says
“you seem better.”
I smile when I say “I’m okay,”
even though my chest feels like it’s caving in
like someone forgot to build the beams right
like the air is too thick to breathe
but too thin to scream through
I smile when I say “I’m happy for you,”
even though something inside me
is clawing at the walls
begging to be seen
begging to be heard
begging to be anything but polite
I smile when I say “I forgive you,”
even though I still wake up
with your name stuck in my throat
like a splinter I can’t cough out
I smile when I say “I love you,”
even though I don’t know
what love is anymore
even though I think it might be
just another word people use
to make silence feel less empty
I smile because it’s what people expect
because it’s what I’ve trained my face to do
when my heart is folding in on itself
when my thoughts are too loud
to say out loud
I smile because the truth
is too raw
too ugly
too much
And I don’t know how to be
too much
without scaring everyone away
Cheyenne Sep 26
People are laughing all around me,
But not at me.
So why am I struggling to breathe?

Why do my thoughts swirl in a storm
And disappear before I can understand them?
Why do they buzz and scream their static,
If I'm the only one that hears it?

Blackened water laps at my feet,
And I have nowhere else to go.
No one here cares,
No one hears my silent cries.

But if I scream the static gets louder.
Rises so shrill that my brain will shatter
And I will collapse.

The water is rising,
And prying eyes are furrowing their brows.
The looks are shouting,

"What the hell is wrong with you?"
. . .
I don't know.

I take deep breaths.
I count to ten.
But all I can think about is the water.

I'm shivering now.
Freezing water seeping through my skin,
Onto my bones.

Can anyone see me shake?
Do you see the pools of tears,
In the vast ocean of my eyes?

My lungs are compressed,
And I'm suffocating.
Stop looking at me that way!

Stop silently judging me,
Your down turned mouths shout,

"Why are you always like this?"
. . .
I don't know.

The water is at my chin,
But I can't take my final breath,
Can't move my frozen limbs

I am drowning.
Deeper.
D
     E
          E
                P
                     E
                         R
Drowned.
Cold.
Dark.
All is still.

. . .

Help me.

I can't swim.
Maria Sep 25
I want to keep quiet today.
Keep quiet with me, please.
I’m tired of screaming in pain.
Today I choose peace.

I want to breathe today
In tandem with you.
I’m tired of screaming in pain.
Breathe with me, I beg you.

I want to greet the dawn
Today only with you.
I’m tired of screaming in pain.
There’s no more point in rue.

I don’t want to wait for gifts
Today from my fate, you see.
I won’t scream in pain.
You are here with me.

You are my amulet today.
You are my peace.
Hide my pain far away.
Say a prayer with me, please.
Thank you for reading this poem! It's my pain...
Esme Calder Sep 10
Will you let yourself rest now?
Holding your hands over your face perhaps you can drown the rest out
Some memories will fade, but others will persist
Sometimes, every single thought is screeching loud
But others... You'll simply miss
MuseumofMax Aug 29
Breathe and sing


Words flow out of cherry black lips

like music notes leaping off a conductor’s page


Fingers straddle black and white keys

painting meadows of memory

A raspy voice whispers familiar lyrics to an unfamiliar tune


Smoky rooms smell of sweat and tobacco

Slinky dresses hide shadows of her past

a soulful song echos off of flowered wallpaper, curling at the edges


Her tune, so beautiful, only the few

gathered in the smoky sweat-thick twilight,

hear the secrets woven into its melody


Only a few in her audience

held in a musical trance -

Engulfed in her song; are surrounded by the secrets, the oceans of her past


They stand and sweat as they breathe her breaths

As they brave her battles -

As they hear her solemn moon-lit song


As they stand and sweat all night long
Ken Pepiton Aug 7
SEALs 1962

Laos was a hot spot
Army,
Marine Corps, and
Navy  Amphibious Scout and Raider
school was established
in 1942 at Fort Pierce, Florida.[12]

Such esprit de we, the fewer still,
we, the braver still, we the never free…

Here, none hearing me, none believing
we survived,

this is 2025, we are past all statutes

limiting idle word accountibility, today
as if all before is over, and this is after,

ever before remains to prove, here now,
on any given day,

all hell breaks loose, you listen, not long,

reply, it's okay, that happens generally,

we don't know it all, but generally,
this is life, the good sometimes win,

sometimes lose, last time, everybody dies.
In those days, between the atom bombs, we asked, what hath God wrought, in deed, we do remember who shod our horses, it was old Pop... what was his name?
xia Jul 24
I've lost your voice.
The world has gone silent.
All I hear are endless
echos bouncing from the walls of my mind.
I only wish to hear it
One last time.
a beautiful song.
© xia 2025
Rosie Mg Jul 24
A new room,
cold, empty space.
First glance,
uninviting.
I stood rooted.
For a while,
but without thought,
I stepped.

A bright glow through my eyelid
stunned me at the gate,
of my new beginning.
Struck by someone.
She, who never saw me,
who flattered me with her tone.
A woman with the prettiest auburn hair.
Her eyes, a rainforest,
one brown, another a startling green.

I would give her everything.
Happiness, a better life,
a perfect life,
but its beyond my reach to gift.

Her;

a poem, awestruck,
an abstract painting, worth the stars,
a love story, rose and bold.

She;

a flower, blessed with immortality.

She'd be my reason for life.
She's a spell everyone wants,
a warm feeling everyone needs.

All I want is her,
she's too distant to attain.

All I need now
is a world to grow
around my heart
until I grasp my freedom,
like fresh air
on a walk.
Written in 2022.
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