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mads May 20
I think he said I love you—
or maybe just keep swimming,
those steady words,
like ripples in the dark water
when storms came roaring close.

But sometimes I wish
I could remember exactly,
because silence filled the spaces after—
no words left, no breath left,
just the ache of what wasn’t said.

I wish it had been I’m sorry,
or it’s okay,
something that would’ve let me hold him
without the sting of goodbye
carved into every quiet moment.

He didn’t choose to leave—
not really—
but I wonder if a sudden end
would’ve been easier to carry,
than the slow, cruel drift away,
bedridden and distant,
lost inside a fading light.

I said I love you to Daddy,
soft as a prayer,
but now I can’t say it again
and have him hear—
that final echo stays trapped,
a song that never finds its rest.

So I carry those words—
half spoken, half imagined—
a fragile thread in the silence,
tied to the heart he left behind.
mads May 20
I. Diagnosis (Age 6)

They said it like a fact.

Like Tuesday.

Like weather.

Your dad has cancer.
The word didn’t echo then—

not yet.

I drew flowers on napkins
 in the waiting room,

smiling at the nurse with the tired eyes.

Hope was a coloring book—

not a question.
I watched grown-ups fold in half

when they thought I wasn’t looking.

He got better,
then worse,

then “stable,”

which meant
 we stopped talking about the end

but never really forgot it.

II. Hallway (Age 10)

It wasn’t loud,

but something inside me screamed
 when I saw the hallway.
White light.

Buzzing lights.

No music,

just the squeak
 of my sparkly pink shoes

on waxed floors that had seen
 too much
 of what was about to happen to me.
I didn’t cry.

I knew.

The scent of death doesn’t hide,

it seeps—

through fabric,

through prayers,

through the last place he laid his head.
He walked in and never walked out.
Hope,
that traitor,

never said goodbye.
Just packed up and left

like a parent late on rent.
I thought we’d take him home
 with warm blankets and soup.

But we took him home in an urn.
I was ten.

He was gone.

And a part of me
 was buried with him

without a name.

III. Echo (Now)

I still have the shoes.

Tucked in a box like a secret.

The glitter’s faded,

but they still know how to squeak
 when the memory creaks open.
I don’t talk about it much.

The numb is quieter now—

more like static
 than silence.
Sometimes I smell his cologne
 in a stranger’s coat
and forget where I am.
Grief lives in the corners—

folds my shirts wrong,

burns my toast,

waits for me
 at the bottom of old picture frames.
I don’t cry easily.

I don’t break loudly.

But I remember.
And that’s the kind of hollow
 they don’t warn you about—

the kind that doesn't echo

because there’s no one left 
to call back.
I saw a prompt to make a portrait of yourself somewhere and thought someone should get to read it :)
AE May 20
Right at the seam of the blue lake
childhood runs through the sand
I, cautiously keep my feet on the rocks
leaving behind new footprints
laughing about what still makes us kids
leaning against the fallen tree trunks
that never abandon us to find our balance

I reach out, with both hands
and between *******
are worlds, and worlds, and worlds
Sasha May 18
Twisting, turning.
Frazzled twirling.
Snowflakes glistening.
Snowmen sitting.
Snowballs rolled, ready for fire.
Hot cocoa cups filled ready for hire.

Kids who've been touched by the snowflakes,
Twisting, turning.
And frazzled twirling.
Maria May 9
for times gone by

When I was small,
I used to sit on the sofa,
And look out to the garden.
It seemed the whole world.

Impossible to get bored, it was,
So full of life and colour.
Each day, each season,
Something new.

When the daffodils weren’t dancing,
The apples were ripe.
And if not the apples,
Then the holly and snowberries.

One day, the garden,
It greeted a sweet visitor.
A blackbird. I saw it and
Watched it with marvel.

I gave him a name, though I won’t say.
It was my secret you see?
He kept visiting,
This blackbird.

Once, I drew him with my pencils,
Trying to capture,
His beautiful feathers,
The way the light played the scene.

Time moved on quickly
And life only got busier.
Hardly had time to sit and
Look at the garden.

For some time, I’d look for him each day,
Slowly dwindled to a few.
There must have been,
A last look.

Time alone passed, and I visited
My parents at home.
One day, I thought of him,
And looked out. But he was not there.

The blackbird does not come anymore.
Hello Daisies May 17
Life has always been lonely for me
Life has always seemed impossible
to breathe
I recall many nights
crying my own body weight
praying to be taken away
Never wanting to be in this place
I've seen torment
I've been torment
I've seen screams
and dying souls
I can never seem to let go
Let go of fear
let go of pain
let go of it all

Though I've tried
many nights off to die
fly straight into the moon
because it's all I knew
The only friend I had
my spirit tortured and twisted
nobody ever around to listen
desiccating into the ground
Never dare to make a sound

Life now can feel similar
The days pass me by
I lay down and I cry
My soul becomes intertwined
with the cruel torment of my mind
How can I leave it all behind?
new fears new screams
I feel my spirit failing
but
I'm not alone
No not anymore

I had the moon before
and this time
I have you
I can't forget
all that you do
it's surreal to believe
but it's amazing to conceive
I have you
and you have me

The world is just as cruel as before
but this time I'm not alone behind closed doors
I have your warmth
I have your love
everyday
in every way
we are
alive and okay
Which is more than I ever used to say

The way you hold me
The way I feel
ethereal
simply under a tree
or my head on your shoulder
It's in the eye of the beholder
and I can't wait to see your beauty
everyday as I get older

When I cry myself to sleep
When I get sick and only weep
I used to be crawling within me
and only me
but now there's you
I don't have to come undo
I don't have to talk to the walls

With you I can have it all
all of everything that matters
red and pink color splatters
when the demons come to crawl
I know you'll be there dancing with me
at every ball
at every wedding hall

A dream so surreal
yet here it is
it's real
You and I
Me and you
Life was always gloom
but you bring the sun and the moon
to my bed
and lay me softly to rest
next to you
in your warmth
I'll never come undo
idk
Simon Bridges May 17
I've drawn a big square
Then another
In each corner
Inside the big one
                   I have a house

  Just the same as the one
    I drew when I was five
       With a little stick dog
                                  A tree
         And a winding path

       All out of perspective 

Little's changed
                 I still can't draw
A dog now barks
The tree is deciduous
                 And the path’s still winding
Parisha May 16
Every now and then I wonder,
Is this world ever connected?
With all those parallels, it makes me amazed—
Are those meant to be forgiven in this way?

I pity the young, staring at themselves on pieces,
How must they have spent their days?
Those birthdays, those meetups, those laughs—
Are those meant to be forgiven in this way?

Do we grow to live or live to grow?
How the world has changed from words
By foreplay, from growing to gaining...
Maybe all these mean some volume, some intensity.
But I, here, writing all these words—will they ever reach with printing grace?
Maybe, I guess, these things are meant to be forgiven in this way.

—Parisha
CallMeVenus May 13
they say
"i don’t get it."
as if the words I write are puzzles
and not seances
with the bones of my childhood.

they want metaphors that purr,
not ones that bleed.
Many don't like
teeth in the fruit.

my poems are not
for mouths that chew politely.
they are for those
who’ve sat inside silence
and still carry
the shape of the scream.

Writing is the equvalent of
plucking out the wires
stitched into my throat
and spelling out
a map
for anyone who’s ever felt
too much
to speak.

so no,
you don’t have to get it.

this was never for the ones
who only read
with their eyes.
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