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Come back
to the moment.
Which one?

Yesterday,
the day before—
the sun was always brighter,
remember?

Come back
to the moment.
When?

Years ago,
I don’t even know.
The grass is greener
in memory than in the soil.

Come back
to the moment
when my mind saw a world
pristine and unraveled,
ready to be walked.

Please, come back,
little boy I once was.
Come back to the summer scent
on your skin,
and the raspberry taste
on your lips.

Yes—then.

Come back,
but don’t stay.


[Another recurrence of The Unwritten—spilled as art.
Raw expressions from an overwhelmed mind, and a trickster heart.]
Memories... they shape us. A bliss and a curse. Me? I still can't tell.
I still whisper
"Goodnight"
I still whisper
"Happy Birthday"
I still whisper
"I love you"
I still whisper
"I miss you"
Because a whisper
Is all I have left of us
there was a lot I liked yes there was a lot I liked

the familiar and popular attributes

Z said we were mirror imaged, like twins

we could have been related back in the old country

but then there was her term for the locals which was quite frankly unacceptable

the long story about how she'd meant to end up in america but got stuck in this hole for 20 years

the time she spent in soho hanging out with [pop star #1]

the time she told the nobel prize winner he was a fake

the time we went to see a film in leicester square and she saw a couple she knew but didn't introduce or even acknowledge my presence, as I stood right beside her

I mean, come on!

we did it yes we did it but kissing was not encouraged

I didn't ask but she read me some of her poetry and I quite liked it - "it's biological!"

she played a lot of Massive Attack and explained how every song had the most meaning

she brought out 'the puff' and laughed 'you no good at this!'

while she was cooking I set fire to her curtain
she didn't notice and this isn't relevant

'I hoped tomorrow we go for 5 mile run
but now we drink two bottles wine and puff so maybe not
since you choose to stay'

when was 5 mile run on the agenda
and was I not invited to stay?

I was out of my depth and I liked it/ didn't like it
Every night I sleep, remnants of her seeps.
Her voice a ghost I used to know drifting soft like falling snow.

I try to get close, but her doors are already closed.
When she nears, I turn aside, tongue-tied, caught in the rising tide.

I don't know what to say or do if ever dreams came true.
Would silence win, or would I speak?
Probably still trembling, afraid and weak...

Now I walk the streams of night, avoiding all my dreams.
But in my heart, a quiet plea
If it really isn't me, I'll stand aside and set her free.
a clay coloured mug
with the dregs
of now-cold coffee
swirling with bits
accumulated dust
and a fallen fly
left on the side
it needs to be washed
but will be ignored
time and again
each time i pass by
because of how
it is stained;
not by the rings
lining it's inner surface
from top to bottom
with striations of brown
but because of
the lipstick smudge
on its outer edge
a sign of her presence
of all the memories
that a smear of red
can conjure
and a reminder
that she will
be home soon
The saga continues

Day by Day
More or less in a desultory ride
Through the motions they find their stride
Until then, going along with the tide
Disappointing performance quality pride
Overall Purpose muddled in every way
It’s not what they do it’s what they say

Burning Tesla cars in the street
Throwing bricks at police
Protest officers walking their beat
Riot gear from head to feet

Without a soul
A Rioter’s goal
To take control
Unrelenting exacts a toll

City by the Bay LA
Peaceful protest Snatched away
Leadership lacking
Violent Rioters packing

Activist extremist in disguise
Hiding in plain sight realized
Extremist sleeper cells In the crowd
Violence encouraged allowed

Vandalizing stealing thievery looting
Speakers chanting recruiting
Their one true purpose deluding

A time will come when the messages is clear
Serpent slave time is near
Empowered they shove us to our knees
Evil thoughts do as they please


Rile up agitators
Governor Newsom says
The quiet part out loud
“ I don’t care”

Defiant, proud, inciting the crowd
Chanting rhetoric bullhorn loud
First he let the Palisades burn
Now it’s illegal immigrants turn

His practice lines are well rehearsed
Turned his back on the dead first
He told Police
Don’t intrude it will only get worse

The press President Trump media blamed
A Lying Beast cannot be tamed
Word by word verse by verse
The essence of an evil curse

Mayor Bass habitual, swearing
Lack of compassion nor caring
Hatred for the Presidency preparing
Destroy capitalism remnant rants daring

Trump wants
to stop those who
Escalate
Capitulate
Violate


The State is
Up for grab
Everything can be had
Break it Loot it take it all
California will eventually fall

The rich middle class moving away
Many ask, why do I stay?
God gave me  His call
It’s not time for California to fall,
The inertia of it all

Illegals fly the flag
of the country they fled,
Never wanting to return

While Burning the flag of
The country
they never want to leave
Rhetoric babble practice to deceive

This is not about blending in
This is an insurrection
What They want is to destroy America
Rebuild from the ground up

The destruction they have planned
For our country, our land
But we’re too ignorant to see
We are on our knees
Trying to appease and please
Because we put ourselves there

I grew up in California
On a small country farm
Local flavor friendly charm.
Gone; Community’s cities ghost town
One last look around
Massive areas
Burnt to the ground

Call a place paradise
Kiss it goodbye
A lump in my throat, a tear in my eye
One day I’ll say a final goodbye

Evil doers like locus destroy another city
It’s a pity it’s a shame unrecognizable blame
Drug lords human traffickers cartel gangs
Welcome to Los Angeles turf war claims

Inspired song

American pie 1971
By Don McLean

(the Father Son and the Holy Ghost took the last train for the coast the day the music died)
BLT Webster’s word of the day challenge
July 3, 2024 desultory
Desultory is a formal word used to describe something that lack a plan or purpose or that occurs without regularity. It can also describe something unconnected to the main subject or something that is disappointing in progress performance or quality.
You crafted a shrine for me,

adorned me with wings,

elevated and sacred, untouched by your secrets.

Your last chance at redemption,

a sanctuary where you hid from yourself.

Your perfect lie—

an illusion of salvation.

Once shattered, your adoration

twisted into disdain.

The hand that shaped my wings,

became the force that broke them.

And now, you watch me fall

from the heights you once placed me upon.


Yet I release you, I forgive you,

Love, a quiet thread that ties us still,

A spark woven into the fabric of time,

Never truly gone, but transformed,

gently fading

into the glow of what we were.

I return sometimes to those moments,

not with longing, but with reverence—

like that stolen kiss—

unexpected, breathless,

the words "I love you" spilling from me,

uncontainable, truthful,

your arms, holding me,

an electric hum between us.



This is how I'll hold us—

in the warmth of what we were,

not in the sorrow that followed.

When you remember me,

let it be the quiet depth of my love that remains,

the warmth of my hand resting softly on your

cheek,

the steady, unwavering gaze that held you,

unchanged by time.

Let that be what stays with you—

not the deafening silence that followed,

not the weight of what we lost,

but the light that we held, even just for a moment,

so close to perfect but fragile.

Not perfect enough.
Oh how we love the ones who can teach us both heaven and hell…
What’s wrong with me? I’ve been asking myself this all week.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I weigh questions coldly and logically. Then it hit to me.. it’s summer, silly, and I'm in classes!

A typical summer would find me tanned, sunburned, greased and unkempt, like a happy, sandy, beach hobo, my hair would be either braided or left fly-about to tangle into cotton candy wads.

My bf Peter’s learned to like fine restaurants (You’re welcome). I’d have never left the beach on my own.
“They can bring us anything,” I’d argue, looking up pitiably from my shaded, Tropitone lounge chair.

Around sundown, Peter would have to catch me, slippery oiled and brown, to comb me out and scrub me before dinner.
“Get dressed!” he’d encourage, picking out a dress suitable for dining or casino wear - “I made us a reservation.”

I’d come out of the hotel en-suite in one of their fluffy, Versace, terry towels but invariably, before I was even dry,  Peter would shake his head, growl and say, “Com-mere,” holding his arms out a little, palms up
(he’s never been very verbose), and smirking a little, I would, because his expression reminded me of Christmas.
“What about our reservation?” I’d chuckle.

This was, of course, a volunteer situation, where it was up to us all to do our best.
.
.
Songs for thus:
Girls On the Beach by Carter Cathcart
Wouldn't It Be Nice by Papa Doo Run Run
Please Let Me Wonder by Carter Cathcart
BLT Merriam Webster word of the day challenge 07/01/25:
Verbose = using too many words to convey a point.
Farwa Jun 30
Closed my eyes just once
You saddened and shifted away
We had each other at arm's length,
Pretended we were soulmates
“Conjoined twins,” they called us
Salty and sweet,
I twitched with glee

A fog of slithering blues
Crosses my mind in two
I didn't cry until goodbyes
The pressure, the late nights
Do you remember the hurt and heartbreaks?
How we thought we could get over our heartaches?
The lies we told each other of "I love you"
I hope you knew it would end like “I feel you”

Tears never in my eyes
Yours were filled with them
I don't know why
Shudders of each mild
I let you take the shine
The praises and the crimes
Felt like I admired you more,
But I feel sick just thinking about it now

My enchantments you stole
But I’m guilty too
I wasn’t my full whole
The magic I had wasn’t discovered before

I loved you before, like an enchantment we soothed
You loved me because I made you swear,
Let you chant my spells to may and might
The words we wrote in the red notebook,
A diary we promised not to show
Captured ink we had in it somehow

Used it to survive
Lies upon lies
Cried until midnight
Uncomfortable truths we might’ve hide

Loneliness is a bad state of mind
Forced friendship, a suffocating cage of many forced lies
Trying to survive, but no escape or olive branches to take

The winters came,
Took the heat, left only gloves
Shared them like kindle to flame
Until the last day

The buses felt too bare
The classes too full to compare
Hence, the last day came by again
But this time it left a sting of sentiment and graves

Autographs of many of my peers
Still left in the brown notebook with a cat sticker
Like a crystal ball of predictions and wishes
Compliments and confessions from many misses

Small beads of light pour out the cracks
Hadn’t noticed until you left
It's like the child in me all over again
Scared but so happy it hurts to think it left
Like the final days of spring and autumn all the less
Lovely with warmth
Summer rains with popcorn

These cursed and beautiful memories of May
New classes and a new smell of paper and play
Excellence of spellbinding we made on those wooden chairs
The charts of never-ending competitions and magical festive air

A spell was cast on us
On those silver spring days
inspired by "Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me".
Farwa Jun 30
Spells and citruses
Fourth or sixth?
Decades or years?
Lasting scent of teenage years
I can't remember the last time I felt like a deer

Smiles so fake, but pure as the sunny day
Push and pulls from that street we crossed
How each of us had each other's backs
Remember the spell of a frozen time
Made us close like sea to tide
Worlds apart, dangerous in each other's lives
A few sacrifices I faced,
The misery we both faced
Grew us close,
But drew us apart

A suffocating thought, a heaving guilt in its wake
Denials of trust between us
Spells of fear and daydreams between us
Poems we wrote with such grace,
Forgotten in the ink, with such disgrace

Recalls of each memory
A pain in the chest, cardiac arrest
The envious gazes of passersby,
Summer rays blinding us from their slithering sorrows
A blissful movement we made,
A frozen picture in our brains
Silence after all the noise
Reminds me of us
The smiles and tears,
The upset on our faces,
The notes and letters slide away
A bittersweet smile on our face

Honour students we were
Oh, such dreams we lived
Stressed about a test one day,
Laughed about not studying the next
Magical were those days
The late day or the first day?
We met on Thursday
We split on Thursday
Signatures still linger on the school shirt
Markers scattered on the tiled floor, stepped on by many high schoolers
Joy and sadness in our eyes,
Silent goodbyes from afar with just a glance

We never actually said farewell
We were too good to be true
A secret we hid till the last day of truth
Now look where we are
An uncanny whisper of the past
The memories burn a hole in my scalp
The whimsical whistle of the period’s class
Shut the doors far too many times
You said you hated romance,
But touched me with a fever I caught

Slid the notebook to me with a smile,
Gave me snacks while sitting on the last bench
Loved the thunder outside the windowsill
“The favorite days of our prison,” we say until

Kind words from many,
Betrayal by so many
Left a few teardrops in the sky
They never fell with the rain or the midnight sky
inspired by "Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me".
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