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Kalliope Aug 4
Two souls dancing around one another,
Two lights sparked amidst the void.
A lonely night of conversation
Always leads to something more.

Two souls laughing into the morning,
Eyes heavy from stories told.
Sleepy voices, intimately quiet,
Moving closer to escape the cold.

Two souls being pulled together,
By gravity, it would seem-
A heavenly feeling yearned from the ether,
But forever is not guaranteed.

Two souls in a window,
My mental image now unclear.
Never would she have thought
She'd leave his soul right there.

Two souls in a helix,
Unaware of their demise.
I envy their old delusion
I can no longer conjure with a knowing mind.
The Beginning feels more painful at The End.
i went back at twenty-three,
to the school that survived me.
the rebel, the headache,
the girl who wouldn’t listen —
and thought of this building
as being trapped in a cage.

it felt like coming home.
my teacher grinning wide,
filling me with warmth,
hugging me from the side
during the memorial,
as if the teenagers on stage
weren’t reciting poems
about the war.

he kept leaning in,
whispering jokes
of old times.
shushing didn’t work –
i was secretly glowing
in their unexpected pride.

they called me the proof.
an example, that
the troubled can bloom.
but all i could think
was how they loved me
through my worst,
and still do.
this one is about going home to the place i once thought was a cage — and finding the doors were always open.
August 3, 2025
ash Aug 3
she's got fluttering keys in her ribs,
ones that'll open the locks to whichever treasure you wish to seek.
but to get the permission
or be acknowledged,
you might have to give up the key
of all your knowledge.

i've got a thorned flower stuck in my throat.
it blooms usually, and i see beez buzzing around,
trying to get close—
they'd like to.
except butterflies are the only ones allowed,
for they wait, and i deliver
the petals and the cores
they'd like oh so much
on a silver platter.

august is bittersweet,
and then there's nights like these.
i've the right, perhaps, to smell like cinnamon
and honeysuckle—
candied apples dried in the sunsets.
burn the candle that says autumn.
the color? i call for brown.
i hope the leaves shed,
and all the images imagining myself as ruthless— drown.

i'd love the crunch,
love the music—
’cause it's scarf season.
and if it gets cold just right,
i'll pull out that one sweater,
the one i like.
peachy-fuzz almost, like a carrot cake—
enough to hide, enough to comfort,
a warm hug in all its wake.
and perhaps a combination of wildflowers and wine
would go well that one evening
that i ought to spend with love's seasoning.

and we might be dead by tomorrow,
having missed out on all that we planned—
all the things we couldn't do,
feelings we couldn't share,
or the pictures they banned.

but i'll walk with you by the sunset.
these are the good old days,
the golden age,
the future will talk about a couple years further.
like we do—talkin' of time as nostalgia runs through.
perhaps the present is the past.
every second lost is a new one cast
upon the light of our souls,
like the sunshine in the morning—
watching the sun, feeling it bleed through the sky
and fall upon you, sole.

i do not look out the window anymore.
face down in the moment,
wondering, reliving, rethinking, desiring—
the way it shapes you.
a newer tomorrow, for better or worse perhaps.
you ought to respect and accept,
merely ’cause we signed the time's pact
when we first joined in—

the circle of humans,
being termed to be alive.
we listened and followed,
all the rules, abided by all the runes.

it might have brought us to the ruin—
the time's doing.
so i flee into the night to feel
and return back before the first white light,
pretending i wasn't reading
or speaking out loud about all that has vanished.
i sang and committed felonies,
but during the day, i'll wish for the autumn.
look at you, with eyes and words bespoken,
and share the thoughts and this one playlist
that i made to live through the summer.

midnight's a dream many wish to live.
i just hope we were somewhere better to believe and give—
hands full, hearts empty, souls bespactled,
but eyes like sweet ’n sour candy.

there's a before and there's an after.
there's a cord around my throat as i picture
and tell this to you—
the secrets of the world and of our beings.
we weren't meant to live and see.

let's step out,
even as the cord tightens, and even as i grow silent,
i'll sign you, and we'll run through the greens.
let the rain drench us all—
we'll glitter through the later summer sheen.

we were innocents.
capitalized, thrown off the tracks,
told the biddings we ought to serve.
it was never fair, never intact.
and yet—
we played and searched dignities,
wrapped them up, like secrets—
all our possible endings and deficiencies.

the candle's been burning long enough.
it's round the corner, the time has begun—
a play of words, of everything that we've got.
let's throw all the weapons
and light the fire to mop
our solemn and easy-going.
we'll sit, stare, wonder, and wander—
and maybe, finally, for once, achieve what's worth something
to a yearner.
kinda like one you'd read in the beginning of a cult to persuade the surrealists

make way for a midnight in paris
lisagrace Aug 2
Twelve to fourteen
       A good girl she must be,                 🦋
               but with the exception
                     of fake notes
                          to skip P.E
                              Her nose buried in books,
                                sitting in the nook
                                of her mind,
🦋                       still dazzled by magic,
                         adventure
                     and love
                A soirée
           with the feykind.....🦋
The next part of my Retrospective poem series...
🦋🧚‍♀️
Nestled
beneath the calm of your hold

Morning’s light
Folding around us

The scent of you
Carried in the stillness

You look at me
Eyes soft, gazing

My skin remembers
where your hands have been

Silent vows
pressed
Onto my body

Colours,
Staining skin

Blues, purples and yellows

It feels so good
Everything does
It’s almost frightening

The warmth lingers
But time does not hesitate

Hold me a moment more

Let my eyes speak
The adoration
My heart keeps for you

The day pulls me away
I let it,
Unwilling
-Wednesday, july 23
Odalys Aug 2
I miss you more than I can say,
The urge to text won’t go away.
My fingers hover, heart beats fast,
But then I think about our past.

The red flags waving, clear and loud,
The way you dimmed what once was proud.
The nights I cried, the stupid fights,
The way you stole my peaceful nights.

I tell myself, just one “hello,”
But what’s the point? I truly know.
I’d never step back through that door,
I’m not that girl, not anymore.

So though my heart still aches for you,
My mind recalls what pain can do.
And in that truth, I see the proof—
It’s not worth losing all my youth.

We had our chance, I let it fall,
I won’t be broken when I’ve healed it all.
So missing you is just a phase—
I’m stronger now, in brighter days.
Created when PMSing in a very emotional state
SF Aug 1
Hola, soy yo de nuevo
¿Me acuerdas?
De pronto no,
Y sinceramente no importa.

Hola, soy yo de nuevo,
Vine a buscarte a tu colegio
¿Me recuerdas?
Olvídalo, soy un desconocido.

Hola, soy yo de nuevo
Te sigo pensando a pesar de todo,
¿Me recuerdas?
Uh... Me miras feo,.disculpa me equivoqué.

Hola, soy yo de nuevo,
Vaya, al parecer no me reconoces,
Bueno, gracias por tu tiempo,
Aunque no lo sepas un desconocido te extraña...

Hola, soy yo de nuevo,
Perdón tanta insistencia,
Sigo sin dejar de pensarte,
Ojalá te vuelva a ver.

Hola soy yo de nuevo,
Ojalá dejar de escribir esto,
Y simplemente te vuelvas a aparecer,
Si, estos son gritos de ayuda.
Over sticks, and stones...
no broken bones ...
only thick bands ringing
neck, and throat.

I floated onward, anyway:
my fainted,
fading body, splayed;
swathed, and rolled,
in a jacket shroud,

as gently, as...a paper wave.
Yet, onward, pulled,
on grasses, loud,

As softly, as
...a blackened cloud.
Bit of nostalgia, here. Contemplating the time I was jumped from behind and nearly choked to death, with my own hooded coat.

He dragged me, unconscious, the entire length of the schoolyard playground, and left me unconscious, at the foot of the slide.

...I imagine my thick, winter jacket made quite the ruckus.

When asked about it, later, he said I have a "big ******* mouth", and he was determined to "shut it for me".

To this day, I have no idea, what set him off.

...I never did learn, how to do that, so, naturally, it was the first of many such experiences. Lol

...I have clawed, and fought, until ******, for my right, to my own voice, my entire life.
(ACT ONE: DRAFT)

STAGE DIRECTIONS
Basement.
Dim bulb swaying.

Center stage:
A battered leather wooden chest,
straps and buckles cinched
like a ship at storm.

Upstairs: (Built out upper stage)
A woman, white hair in soft pins,
her chair angled toward a radio
hissing static and old jazz.

She eats quietly.
Spoon tracing circles in her bowl.

CHARACTER NOTES

THE WOMAN – seventy-eight
hands like river stones,
her face a map of soft summers
and lonely winters.

THE CHEST –

Unseen:
heavy with letters, photographs,
perfumed silk,
a man’s pressed shirts,
and the ache of two bodies
that once loved
without mercy.

Seen:
Its sides swell -
the subtle shape of a man’s hands
behind it's leather,
pressing out,
clasping the straps.
Fingers circle
the locked buckles.

THE PAST LOVER – Voice only.
He exists as vibration
inside surrounding wood,
breathing
in response to the Woman.

SCENE PROGRESSION

Lights fade up.
The chest breathes.

Pause.

Buckles flex.
A groan,
like an old stair.

She glances down
through the floorboards.
She does not rise.

(radio goes silent)

Eyes closed,
she whispers:
Hush now.
I remember.
I remember you.

And then
nothing.

Her silence
is part of the score.

ACTION CUE

The chest swells.
Wood stretching.

A strap snaps.

A letter flutters
up the stairs,
as if seeking oxygen
and lands
at her feet.

She rises.
Snatches letter;
fetches rope, duct tape,
an old belt.

Descends the stairs.

Ties the memory down again.

Her hands shake,
but she is precise,
as if dressing a wound.

She ascends.
Sits back in her chair.
Spoon in hand,
mid‑air.

Radio on:
a soft trumpet solo,
weary with promise.

The chest downstairs
begins to thump
and inhale.

A low whisper
seeps through the floorboards:
her name.

Her hands tremble.
She does not answer.

The chest exhales once,
long, hollow,
full throated,

and the house answers.

FADE TO BLACK

Only the sound
of her spoon
falling
to the basement floor.
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