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To hell with normalcy.
I'd rather be someone revolting.

It hurts?
That’s a fallacy.
You're a coward —
and that’s fear prompting.

Indeed, there are hierarchies.
And rebelling is... concerning.
Misusing the power to control the industry —
Rebounding on the surface;
it's redundant. It's taunting.

Amuse me!
What — you think this is fancy?
What's wrong with wanting something?
Just because some are powerless... it's raunchy?
Distrust directs the regime —
look, the balance is burning.

Excited to show them dreams —
flaunty.

Look at that smile.
Look at the face.
Full of surprise,
sharp with the gaze.

Oh! You're blushing.
Excuse me — my breaching tendency.
You're beautiful.
And shy.
That's... compelling.

I wish you'd stay that way.
But —
the farther we go,
the greater the dismay.

Subdue this malice.
Subtly play.
If you want the prize...
you gotta pave the way.

I hate it when you're bamboozled,
procrastinating as you sway.
Can't you just stop being a wuss?
Even forecasters have their days.

But in this dance of defiance...
let courage lead the way.

Shatter the chains of conformity.
Let authenticity — stay.

For in each rebellious heartbeat,
a revolution brews with a glaze.

Even a meek-looking fuzz
can become
a blasting,
blazing
wave.
                                                             -Asher Graves
Was scrummaging through some old notes and found a poem I wrote two years ago. Thought I’d share it here—funny how words from the past can still echo in the present.
Ivan May 7
one fair Sunday, air will flow beneath me
I'll fly above palm trees and the blue sea
so when sunrise dethrones the fireflies
I'll be the eagle surfing sapphire skies

but send an angel to teach me blasphemy
as I'm mortal without the chemistry
to soar up and touch heaven’s canopy
God decrees 'humans aren't feathery'

so, rise defiant and grow my wings through
to glide as a jet, one man crew and say ‘I flew’
but when God gets a clue to what we do
he will fire you and strike me through

but not before that fair wind lifts my wings
to see beyond the things fit just for kings
Andy Mann Apr 4
The voices dwell deep in my mind
You are nobody
You are useless
You know nothing.
Beaten down,
Brought to my knees,
Gasping for air,
I cannot breathe.
I believe.
But this belief sows my destruction
I weep for the dead
Great but now fed
To the worms in the dust
The dust I will join
Sooner than I think.
What good am I among these?

I have wasted the reservoir of time
In sin, in doubt, in fear
Fear of what I left undone.
Where do I go from here?
The voices came calling again.

But I cannot continue like this.
I give up or shut up.
Shut up and act.
Act and believe.

Even if that belief is beyond reason
Beyond my mind to comprehend
The words of a lunatic.

I am greatness personified
if I believe
I am the master of my own universe
if I believe.

I am the king of dust, not its minion
And I will return to my kingdom
When I am done
But not today.
This poem was written during a moment of deep internal struggle. It’s about the voice in the mind that tells us we are nothing—and the quiet resistance that rises in spite of it.
It's inspired by Walt Whitman's “O Me! O Life!”.
Lalit Kumar Mar 1
"In the end of days, elderly women will see visions,
young men will prophecy."
— You foresaw the storm, the whispers in the wind,
writing warnings in fire, in ink, in truth.

"Man should not fear death,
Fear ability to live."
— And so, you lived, not as a shadow passing through,
but as a flame, burning bright in defiance.

"They ask for truth, yet love the lie,
So I ask you—why?"
— You dared to expose the quiet part,
to say aloud what the world tried to hush,
to hold a mirror to the blind.

"Man flaunts eye candy,
lavish garnish, trophy wife."
— Yet you saw beyond the glitter,
beyond the painted masks of power,
choosing substance over shine.

"All that glitters is not gold."
— You walked away from illusion,
from being someone’s prize,
choosing freedom over chains,
knowing your worth beyond the price of a ring.

"Separate church, state,
People’s civil liberties—
Love, love, freed from tyranny."
— Your words rise against silence,
a voice against the tide,
a poet with conviction,
unwilling to let history be rewritten in dust.

And so, I thank you,
for your fire, your truth,
your defiance, your ink.
Your words are not just written—
they are etched into time,
screamed into existence,
refused to be erased.

The road to the middle is paved with good intentions—
but you never walked to the middle,
you walked beyond.
Maryann I Feb 20
They tell him he is not a flower,
not soft, not meant to sway.
A man must stand like oak and iron,
unbending in the storm’s display.

But even mountains crack with time,
and rivers carve through stone.
Still, he tucks his petals inward,
pretending he is made of bone.

He’s taught that thorns are armor,
that roots must never show,
that to bloom is to be broken,
that to weep is to let go.

But flowers starved of rain will wither,
left to shrivel in the heat.
And men, too, will turn to silence,
fearing softness makes them weak.

So let them bloom, let them bend,
let them speak their pain in sight.
For a flower wilts not from the wind,
but from the absence of its light.
This poem explores the delicate nature of emotions and challenges the societal expectation that men must be unyielding and stoic. The flower metaphor represents both the vulnerability and strength inherent in all people, suggesting that emotions, like flowers, need space to grow and thrive. Toxic masculinity, however, teaches men to hide their feelings, to suppress their emotional needs, and to adopt a rigid, unbending exterior.
War ravages the sacred lands,
Those that lie where you do not see.
Conquering all, restless is the enemy;
Only Castle Hope still stands.

Brave soldiers, friends, family;
Fearless, they march into battle.
One-by-one they're slain, no chance for victory.
They now rest eternally.

Only the general's left,
He's barely breathing anymore.
A cold blade takes aim, ready to pierce the heart
Faintly beating in his chest.

It's he for whom the bell tolls.
The hour of death is drawing near.
The sword begins its descent, this is the end;
Time to go, the curtain calls.

But the blade can't find its way:
For another one blocks the path.
The general can not let go of the past,
And his Hope will never sway.

He draws strength from what once was,
Burning memories guide his blade,
Restless, he marches toward endless glory,
And it's all for a good cause.

His strength comes from what could be,
A future that's worth fighting for.
The last bastion between joy and agony,
That's what he'll forever be.
Vianne Lior Feb 16
I make them smile,
not for ease,
nor for the brief bloom of laughter—
but because the world is a weight,
and lightness must be carved
by hands willing to bear the chisel.

I have seen sorrow move like a tide,
dragging its wreckage ashore,
leaving eyes hollow, shoulders bent,
hearts shaped like doors
that open to emptiness.

I have watched the weary—
not dying, but unlit,
not grieving, but undone—
souls curled inward like autumn leaves
that never learned the grace of falling.

So I place joy like a candle
in the cavern of the ribcage,
let it flicker against damp walls of doubt,
let it whisper—however briefly—
that there is still warmth, still wonder,
still a reason to lift the chin
toward the sky and call it home.

A smile is not salvation,
but it is rebellion—
against the hush of despair,
against time’s indifference,
against the notion
that we are meant to suffer in silence.

Let them call me foolish—
say laughter is fleeting,
that joy is a trick of the light.
I will still shape it, scatter it,
send it forth like a dandelion seed
that does not care
where the wind takes it—
only that it was given,
only that it was free.
Azarel Feb 16
Cowards cloaked in the safety of shadows,
Hiding behind fictitious names,
Preying upon fragile hearts,
Words laced with venom,
Their hands stained with tears.

What kind of monster knows the wound
Yet rips it open?
What kind of soul sees a fractured heart
And snaps it further still?

I dream of justice
Not swift or merciful,
For that would be too kind a punishment.
I dream of a slow justice, slow as molasses,
Seeping into the safety of shadows they know,
To bring an inferno, unyielding, relentless
To mirror the agony they sowed.

I will tear down the heavens,
I will shatter the earth
To find them, to use them,
To be used as kindling,
To remake the world in flames.

For the world has been far too cruel.
Every ember would sing of her freedom,
Every ash a testament to their sins,
Every cloud of smoke a warning to them all.

Your suffering will not be quick
Oh no, death is far too kind.
You will feel the weight of despair,
The suffocation of regret,
The searing of your sins
Carved into every breath.

And when I hear them plea and beg,
Cry for the Lord to save them,
I’ll ask if they think their penance was enough,
If they regret what they’ve done.


And when they say yes,
And ask for the sweet release of death,
I’ll rejoice as I am the last thing they’ll see
The gleaming smile looking back,
As their light leaves their eyes.
Mica Wood Feb 8
Fat clouds scream, “*******!”
But no one notices me,
As the bus drives by.
I saw the bus of the Christian school I attended drive by, and I blew a cloud of vapor in its direction in defiance... No one noticed.
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