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vik Aug 15
if the theatre breathes like a rancid lung
   it must exhale into the rafters;
ledger-scent and sour of iron...y,
  and hours congealed into one bleak bruise.

then it must be that only (i) inherit a vessel
as one inherits a house wrecked by fire:
   walls still too warm with other lives,
wallpaper peeled into letters that spell me.
   never (my) name.

heart-beat / heart • skip
(these syllables only ever tally debts.)

    (my) palms are tax-collectors with gloves far too soft to grasp mercy.
    (my) ribs are two little vaults where accusations slumber.
    and there are ceaseless receipts folded inside the sole of (my) shoe.

evenings most beautiful
  with rain pouring down their face,
have stopped pooling and now,

   they sediment, layer upon layer...
in the strata of one’s rues,
  as ossified bulwarks for crimes (i) never learned.

a braided tongue of smoke
   knots through (my) chest,
insisting on words (i) never even conceived,
       sighing a confession to a jury of
absent eyes.

  they led me to the scaffold
palisaded oak, blade polished to a sunless gleam,
and the (crowd), silent as those ledge
pages,
      watched
as i was sentenced for the mere act of knowing.

and even as the head fell,
       i felt the phonetics of my existence
spill like tarnished coins across the wet cobblestones,
  and the (spectators), formless and meticulous,
  gathered them as though i were (theirs).
returns
Jeremy Betts May 2024
Make sure to be sure whatever you're into is worth your investment
Feel free to absolutely and completely question any involvement
And you might as well entertain all thoughts on forfeit
I expect you to do so at any moment anyway so go for it
I'm so use to it, being the easy one to forget,
That I notice it before you mention it and am already over it
It's not genuine grit,
It's just avoiding a downfall that hasn't bested me yet
Even though it's a who's who when it comes to who's counterfeit
And I'm sure you're surely as surprised as I am I bet
When the breakdown is broken down and we're all faced with what we're gonna get

©2024
Jeremy Betts Jan 2024
From day one, from the moment I was given one, my compass has had a faulty magnet
Why was that written into my script?
And why didn't I get a say in any of it?
Shouldn't I have been given a manuscript?
Explaining, for one thing, why I have to combat life and everything that comes with it?
How would you go about it?
Can't I just shrug it off, maybe let some shiit slip?
My path doesn't always need to be backlit
Certainly not by the ember of my burnout that fell from orbit
The punishment never fit the crime but I still submit that most of the claims are, in themselves, counterfeit
But I didn't quit in a panic
Not every life is a good investment
So I made the corporate decision to forfeit
Call it an early retirement
The more fitting term is a forced exit

©2024
Jeremy Betts Dec 2023
Me against myself against I, a perpetual tie, not alright
Never try this darkness, it's destined to conquer light
It's the fault of the people close to me that my everything's bottled up air tight
Try as I might
Still pushed aside, out of sight

Me against myself against I, but who is right?
Do what I gotta do and what I gotta do is wake from this nightmare of a plight
No time to address it, either die in the ring or forfeit the fight
Despise the spotlight
Despite what you might think, I embrace the night

©2023
Parzival May 2020
One foot after the other, in perfect alignment
Carrying their spears of regrets with mirror shields to remind me of what I am
A full compliment of soldiers ready to invade my mind
More and more, their numbers never cease to increase
I try my best to stand my ground, equipped with my sword of dreams riding my noble steed of hope
Again I am faced with sad odds, I lose, again
I end up forfeiting a region of my country, again
I end up retreating to my castle of solitude
As I watch the invaders colonize the plains of my mind
Shades of sadness cloud the once clear and sunny skies
Color rich fields fade to black
Another battle, lost
They draw closer, so I ask myself, How much longer
How much longer till my walls of faith give in?
I started counting the days since my noble steed ran away
I've been doubting my chances since my trusty sword broke
The marching draws closer, I'll go out to face them, again.
Alexis D Cruz Mar 2020
I trudge along for what seems like an eternity.
With each step, I fall further into the pits of despair.
Pretty soon, I fear, anxiety will consume me and shatter whatever flicker of ambition is left.
Maybe I should just give up now and lay here in these woods until the vultures decide to make a meal of my remains.
An excerpt from a book I'm working on that sounded pretty poetic to me.
Em MacKenzie Nov 2018
I’ve been wearing a mask and telling lies
to anyone who will listen in this town,
and sunglasses can hide your tired eyes
but they can not hide your frown.
I’ve been saying all the right words
every day and on repeat,
the song blends in with the birds
and the traffic on the street.

I’ve been lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
Every book I’ve read
just says the same things that you said.
I’ve been lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.

I’ve been walking with a limp and a crutch
even though my legs are working just fine.
And I’m always thinking but never say too much,
but I will never turn down a line.
I’ve been speaking all the wrong thoughts in my head,
but no matter what I do they seem to never go away.
I’ve tried replacing them with the righteous ones instead,
but it’s tantamount cause the instinctive ones just stay.

I’m lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
The sunlight I dread,
I much prefer the nighttime instead.
I’m lying in bed,
starving though I’ve just been fed.
I’m lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.

I didn’t get to choose the colours for my painting, but I swore that I tried my very best.
And what do you do when you hate your creation?
Do you hang it up with the rest?
I packed for a trip with no return
but skipped bringing anything essential,
I had to walk a path just so I could learn
that every action is consequential.
And I’ll tell you now that even the right type of misery can be happiness
it all depends on what you yourself choose to feel.
Nothing is perfect so it’s best to embrace the mess,
it can be imaginary but we both know it’s real.

I’m lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
Every single layer I shed
is consumed by ink and lead.
I’m lying in bed,
hoping for a second chance with each med.
I’m lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.
Lyvana Nyx Aug 2017
Not meant to be
Means nothing to me
I am unpersonified,
A bounty on every breath
I ceased to exist
At 5 months conceived
I was born a miscarriage,
A mistake, a not meant to be
Fate has no ties,
No threads to weave
Im a mess up in the
Fundamental tapestry
Even god seeks my death
To take back what's not mine
Defiant, deviant, I don't abide
My life is not forfeit
Unbound, unbalanced, unknown
I fight for the right to LIVE.
saniyya Mar 2016
It's funny, you would always say that you're the best 2k player out there,
but I doubt it because you forfeit before we even got started.
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