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Succeed
You need to succeed
Buckling under pressure
On your knees

Fail
Don't you dare fail
Don't tell me that you tried your best
You are only good enough if you pass this test
great expectations
John McCafferty Dec 2020
Orbital cycles continue in silence
Clues encoded below our surface
Assurances often issued in service

Expectations setting precedent
Placed in systems held with relevance
Are we persuasive to suggested events
Recognisable feelings sense ahead

Onion layers all revealing
Who are the fools inside of you
Step back into receptive thought
To make knowledgeable judgement calls
(@PoeticTetra - instagram/twitter)
Philip Lawrence Dec 2020
they whisper to one another as they lie on the cricket-green

shoots of spring, where delectable images are conjured and

crafted into place, and together they dream of the pale,

white heat of summer, and blue curls of ocean water rushing

sun-bleached grains, and the sudden flash of autumn, always

a surprise, the most radiant leaves to be collected and pressed

between forgettable pages until sheafs of white lay atop

the country cottages, their bejeweled eaves sparkling for holiday

as the snow-laden pines lining the rural lanes frown under the

weight, a seasonal banquet expected, promised…hoped for
stillhuman Dec 2020
An empty crown
Stands on my head

And a young girl
With big dreams
And cocky smile
Looks up at me

yet my crown is cracking
hollow as my mind
as i whisper

"Im sorry I couldn't make it"
The use, or lack thereof, of capital letters is an artistic choice. After all poetry is as sensible and malleable as clay.
stillhuman Dec 2020
burning is
that world
that we were once
dreaming of
John McCafferty Dec 2020
Creative minds shine through silent shadows
Freer thoughts run along the edges
Of boundary lines untied
Distracted less distressed
Confinement now a guest
In a safer space to play
Separate states arrange personal traits
To trust the chance of expectations
Enforce the plight of set objectives
Opportunities arise to compliment
Though every aim cannot be met
We suit our direction and intent
(@PoeticTetra - instagram/twitter)
Sarah Flynn Dec 2020
you taught her
to shut up

to keep quiet

to know her place

to nod and agree

and to never, ever
disobey you.



when the police
came knocking
on your door

and they asked her
where you had been,

you expected her
to state your alibi.



you expected her
to speak up for you,

but you had taught her
to never speak at all.



that was your
fatal mistake.
How do you expect me to
hold on to you
when I keep running from myself,
every chance I get?
Max Nov 2020
I’m sorry that I’m not enough, for you
But I promise I’m trying to
I know my best isn’t enough
But doing all of this is tough

You speak so calmly but I can feel the screams
My tears come flowing out in streams
You think I don’t try but it’s all I ever do
You think I’m rude but I’m trying to be nice to you
I don’t know what you want from me
I’m giving everything I have

Sometimes I feel like no matter what
I’ll just never be enough
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