#ghosts poems on Hello Poetry

hyun Oct 2023

when the sand fills,
and the hands of time
caresses you into submission,
freedom feels a little too
overrated a concept.

we are puppets
dangling at the side
of a building, waiting to
be taken off the clothesline
or by the wind—
both of which we know
we'd gladly take just
to end the discussion.

i am a firm believer
in whispers.
small talk isn't
too small for me.
i hold my words too close
to my chest i barely breathe
without them.

so now, as my eyes fail me,
i wish time will be so
kind enough to tell me
how all of this ends.
i do not want to suffer
more than i already do—
and i do not need
another lesson on how to
survive in this
god-forsaken life.
yet everyone feels
compelled to
give me one anyway.

#puppets #ghosts #whisper #time #smalltalk

FunSlower Oct 2023

Old Ghosts

Old ghosts are chasing me through the dark.
I thought eighteen years was enough.

I need to be free.

There is an old ghost
In the back of your mouth.
The death rattle of silver, screaming
Let me out!

There is a darkness
Deep in the ground.
An old town with a
Sad new secret now.

I know we’ll never have it all,
But it’s enough for me.
And I know we’ll never have it all worked out,
But we’ll figure it out as we go.

Sad
New
Secret

#ghosts #darkness #silver

Unpolished Ink Oct 2023

Tanera Mor

I see you
Laird of Tanera Mòr
shaded scotsman
misty on the dock
I hear your skirling pipes
threading salted air
silent sound which cuts
and tops each bouncing wave
music on the bridge
between the living and the grave

I saw it with my own eyes

#halloween #ghosts #explanations

Rosie Oct 2023

Ghosts of You

You linger like a ghost
between the lyrics I can't stop listening to,
Like that black dress I refuse to get rid of
covered in cobwebs and dust from the darkest part of my heart.

I'm so haunted by the mistakes I've made
these memories bury me in a graveyard of pain,
It'd be healthier, I know, if I'd just let this all go
but I'll just have to reap what I've sowed.

And though my hands shake and my forearms ache
the pain helps me understand the worth in it

It has to be worth it.

Or what's the point of surviving this ****?

They never truly leave you.

#mourning #death #ghosts #past #memories

AE Sep 2023

Old Couch

I sometimes sit on our old couch in the basement
And think about what we left in its recline
The leather is cold and distant
It is coated with the film of time
Stained with tears, laughter, and secrets Nestled in the crevices is all my growth
When I lay my head against it
1 can hear dialogue from the movies we watched
And faint conversations with ghosts

#past #time #memories #fading #ghosts

AE Sep 2023

Untethering

I've talked to all the ghosts in this room
They speak of memories and grievances
And we revel in how quickly this fog has turned into smoke
It bites at my lungs
And I sit and wait, my eyes on my hands
My ears on the clock
At some point, each passing second
Parallels my heartbeat
There is someone across from me
Saying it is time to let go
But what would be left of me
If this grief vanished, too
At some point, it became all I am

Until you
somehow stumbled into this room
untethering the past from all that I knew

#ghosts #memories #pain #grief #new #beginnings #untether #fog #smoke

Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2023

Soggy Sight

With soggy sight and leaden heart
Path is hard to navigate
Stumbling on snakes slithering underfoot
Faltering under hefty weight
I want to feel light again
For an hour or maybe two
Since you vanished from this earth
Found floating impossible to do
Nothing hits senses like before
Shackled by all I have lost
Athough summer has graced us with warmth
Surroundings are coated with a layer of frost
Everything touched crumbles to ashes
I am terrified to move at all
If I step and the ground gives way beneath me
Will be ****** to an eternal freefall
I'm too puny to pull myself up from the dirt
Only manage to splash in the mud
Skin stretching until wounds reopen
Apologies painted in blood
An ocean of shame pours out my eyes
Salty like the sea
Taste is sour in my mouth
Wish thoughts would just let me be
I strive to stifle sorrows to no avail
With any substance fingers can find
No matter how high my body gets
Unable to detach from my mind
The pain in soul won't let me grow numb
If going to work it would have by now
Try distracting myself from the terrible truth
Second of relief more than life will allow
I cannot help but dwell on past moments
Making my head stagger and spin
Turning mistakes over and over in hands
I am consumed by agony within
I am hunted by savage animal
Known by name of regret
Haunted by ghosts all sharing your name
Guaranteeing I won't ever forget

My mind is consumed with sorrow

#soggy #sight #life #lost #greif #haunted #ghosts #share #name

J C Jun 2023

Old Haunts

I expel smoke into the atmosphere
and think of all my ghosts this year.
I fumble the deck in search of fives
but still find the Jester half alive.
I stumble through old alleys
we used to go to, in search of songs.
But I do nothing right but fill valleys
with all of the right wrongs.
I absorb oaked *** into my veins
and felt hot tears in the rain.
All those moments — lost in time
the second you were no longer mine.

Do Ghosts of Spring Fever's Past Dream of Electric Sheep, a.k.a., I'm Not a Smoker

And, hey, Hello Poetry can actually publish poems now. Yay.

#regrets #amnesia #ghosts #old #haunts

Thomas P Owens Sr May 2023

They Noticed

the dead find me amusing
it's why they come around
they visit at their choosing
no time is out of bounds

they notice if you notice them
and there-in lay the key
they have no use for non-believers
or those who'd rather flee

once upon a gloomy night
I began a chat at 4am
this 100 year-old private school
that I protected
perhaps from them?

I rattled off the first few lines
of 'Roses are Red' down this long dark hall
and a spirit replied to his companion;
'He knows poetry' as if in awe!

The lone light flickered
and a chill rushed by
as I continued on my way

I had a good chuckle
and wished them well
we shall chat another day

true story

#ghosts #spirits #haunted #voices