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declan morrow Jul 2019
"it's either my thyroid
or an iron deficiency"
i would say.

but it was always you:
etching away at
my waist
my thighs
my cheeks
straight
to the bare bone.

how did you expect me
to busy myself
while i slowly withered away,
waiting for the day
when you'd realize how
you
were the one
who was drowning me?

but it's just that
every ******* time our eyes met,
or we grazed each other
under the platonic guise,

i collapsed.

i exhaled,
retaining my semblance of calmness
while i dutifully
parted ways with
another fragment of my pure innocence;

i knew it was you.
it always was you.
Lily Feb 2019
Walking on eggshells
You never knew what that quite meant
Until she came along
Aphrodite on earth
Tugging at your fingertips
Loving all your curves
Whispers in the night

She took your hand
And dragged you along
Through her personal fairy tale land

Her land
Her confidence
Her freedom so loud
You could see an eagle next to her

Why couldn’t you be like that?
Maybe she would’ve stayed if you had
But you had the voice of a mouse
The freedom of zoo animals
The land of the not-so-free

Perhaps she got sick of the endless hiding
You called them adventures,
hoping she would buy into the idea
Of sliding, sliding, sliding
Deeper into the closet
she had so proudly dug herself out of

It wasn’t meant to be
The girl of the trapped
And the girl of the free
Yet they so strongly held on
To giggles and cuddles
The love of your lifetime
But soon she was gone
declan morrow Jan 2019
it's been a day
since we last let our love seep through,
since you held me close
in that moment, now long gone.

then you shoved me away
once you'd had enough
of my then-green heart;
it's been a day.

your punches and kicks
have turned my heart black;
i will no longer feel.
i won't let myself.

"that didn't count,"
your worried soul insisted
never venturing beyond
your delicate bubble.

go after her then.
Leave me here,
a sinful
nothing.

go after her then.
go be
your father's
son.

love
is simply too elusive.
so you may as well
get comfortable.
Maeve Dec 2018
My eyes linger
Just a little
Too long.
Quickly,
I avert my gaze,
As if my irises
Have been burned
By the sight,
By my shame.

Her lips are fresh
And pink.
I speak to them,
And I’m sure
She notices.

I wait for her
In the mornings
And eagerly
Anticipate her
Arrival to class,
Not-so-subtly
Saving a seat.

My heart flutters
At her casual
Touch.
My body leans in
And yearns
For more.

She is beautiful,
But she doesn’t know it.
I know I can’t have her,
But I crave her
Just the same.

It pains me
To keep my hands at my side,
To not cup her cheek,
To leave our fingers untangled,
To keep my sweet nothings
To myself.
E Dec 2018
I hold back and I hide.
I don’t share with the world what I am feeling inside.
I let myself think it,
I let myself believe it.
But if it never leaves my head,
Will it ever be real?

Why am I so afraid?
Speaking my truth is all that will give me peace.
I shrink back from it,
I’m curled up in a ball in the corner of my mind.
Waiting to be consumed,
The darkness surrounds me.

Sometimes I think I see the light,
Flickers here and there remind me I’m not alone.
I’ve almost followed them out,
Out of the darkness,
Out of the pain,
Out of the shadows of doubt and torment.

But as quickly as I stand up,
I am pulled right back.
I return to my corner,
It’s comfortable there.
The shadows are my friends,
The darkness shields me from pain.

But it’s the moments when her arms are around me,
It’s these moments when I run the hardest to get out.
Her eyes tell me I can do it,
Her touch tells me she’ll catch me.
But when I blink,
The shadows rush back in.

The darkness tells me to look away.
Look away, don’t let her pull you out!
This corner is where you are comfortable,
This corner protects you, remember?
I shrink back from her touch,
I look at anything but her.

Trapped or kept safe?
It’s an endless cycle and I can’t escape.
I curl back up into myself,
Shadows fall back across my shoulders.
I’m crying on the inside,
I’m smiling on the outside.

Oh to be free from the depths of my mind!
I think about leaving my corner,
Emerging from the darkness,
Brushing off the shadows.
Exclaiming to the world who I am!
And running straight to her.
he'll wait for you
to get home, at a party
where your soul is
practically naked

then you'll come home
to a beast, lying
dormant until
he laid his eyes on you

he will kiss you
like there's no
tomorrow

you'll beg for him
to give it all
like a savage beast
unchained

he'll *******
with such ferocity
and you'll ******* fall
in love

with the idea that
he is
your little secret

-

he'll hear what you say
while you're walking
in the reality
outside cages

you'll want to
with great desire
to hold his hand
but you must not

he'll snap
at the slightest moment
you touch his hand

you'll wonder if
you're with the same
beast, the one you've
been in bed with

after all,
you'll give up trying
while he's out
of his cage

cause he
is your little secret

-

you'll wait for him
to let go of his
chains that he put
when he's out


you'll try to kiss him
in the open, and he'll
resist, resist until
you get tired

and you'll blame yourself
for his lack of
courage

one day you'll ask him
why must he
be
your
little secret?

but you can't blame him

cause you've learned
to love
someone
who
doesn't embrace
who you are
what you are

but then again,
it's not his fault
it's
actually
yours.
ethan Aug 2018
when i was a freshman one of my friends told me that there was a girl who was talking about me
asking why i was pretending to be straight and that everyone could tell that i was gay
my friends and i laughed it off like children and i quipped “i’m not pretending anything, just ask anyone and they’ll know”

now, i think of the rainbow socks, the only thing i own with a rainbow on it, being shoved down to the bottom of my sock drawer as if it would pop out at any minute and proclaim it’s existence if it were any higher. now, i think of the rainbow highlight that i applies in the bathroom at midnight, pausing every now and again to make sure i was alone. Now, i think of the pride nail art that i scrubbed off my nails minutes after i painted it on. now, i think of the last word in a poem that i wrote and turned in, scared i was being too obvious with the word they.

now, i think of the horrible creature sitting in my chest that simultaneously begs to never tell my secrets and to also scream them from the roof tops. i think of the sludge that lives in me and climbs up my throat, whispering safety into my ear while also ripping apart everything it touches. i think of the pain i feel whenever i say that i’m gay, because it makes things easier if the works sees me as a girl who loves other girls.

before thinking of this poem i had sat back and wondered how many bottles it would take of the various prescription medicines that my parents kept in the kitchen cabinet to **** me. when i remembered the name they would put on the tombstone i stopped and walked away. i remember the time where i couldn’t walk away and i had reached in and grabbed a full bottle of ibuprofen and i took a single one, hoping that my screaming head could be sated by the feeling of a single pill crawling down my throat.

i had a dream last night about someone called addison.
they looked me in the eyes and before i even knew what they looked like their physical form flickered until they were a bright shining star in a vaguely human form.

they sat next to me as we floated in a void on a picnic blanket and they put their arm around my shoulder which felt like a hug from someone i used to know but had forgotten
i stared at their glasses that looked too much like mine as they flickered in and out of existence and they told me i was not where i was supposed to be.

i didnt ask them where but they heard it anyways as if breaking into my thoughts. they answered that they could not tell me and when i thought why they said they didn’t want to spoil the fun of a brighter future for them and me.

i woke up with the taste of lavender on my tongue and the desire to change my name.
i’m not sure who i want to be
"You better not be a lesbian"
Says the guy I love.

"It's just a phase"
Says a friend.

"Get over it"
Says my father.

"You're a Catholic"
Says my mother.

So now I try to hide,
All my feelings inside.

Messed up,
Bottled up.

I don't want to hide anymore,
I want to be myself.

I am proud,
I'll say it out loud.

I am a bisexual,
And no one can change that.
I am proud. It pains me knowing the fact that I can't really be true to myself in order to please those people who surround me.
Jungdok Jun 2018
I hid.
I ran.
I hid.
I ran.
And hid.
And ran
And hid
And ran.

It was a cycle
That doesn't want to be halted
Only courage will stop it
Where could I find one?
I am a coward, I am afraid.
I don't want to be shamed!
I don't want to be embarassed!

But I grew tired of hiding
And running
And hiding
And running

The cycle stopped
I finally found the courage.

Inside the closet where I hid,
I felt fake
I felt suffocated.
I felt alone.
So I mustered my courage, and stepped outside.

Outside the closet is where I belong.
Those people surrounding it became my home.
#Happypridemonth
It's true that some
They did mention em
On their online pages

But hey stranger
It has nothing
To do with you

It doesn't hurt you
It's not making you bleed

Hey stranger
Do you know
Does she or he
Really mean it or not

Come on stranger
Tell us about it
Do you really got the superpowers
To read our minds

Hey hold up stranger
We don't really care
Assume us like you always do
Act like you knew everything

Hey stranger
We don't really have to
Tell you everything

Remember
It doesn't make you bleed
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