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I can no longer pretend
Regardless
I'm flexible on when
Just let it be painless

©2025
R Spade Mar 22
Kneel beyond my throne, unaware it was born of lies.
Eyes linger on my every move, whispers shouting.
Am I meant to replicate perfection, or just die trying?
Cold smiles approach, thinking they have uncovered my tell-tale heart.

I am a seasoned ghost.

Being raised to suffer, I have learned to hide.
To mold myself to fit the standards of society.
To grit my teeth and stand still as my form shifts once again.
Knowing the brief seconds of waking are a soft euphoria I will soon miss.

I wake to a dawn meant only for the dying.

I wake to reset my own jaw,
bending my bones backwards
with the occasional crack,
a ritual ensuring I resemble something human.

People believe I am powerful, successful, happy,
(but i am as fragile as frost on a window touched by morning).
My costume is convincing, but I am chronically ill.
Invisibly so, and so the pretending continues.
Ken Pepiton Mar 6
----------------------
As living pillow lava
illuminating
marginal
empty
space on

Silk paper,
in rolls one screen wide,
indefinitely longer than possible
imagine images graven and
impressed
into living ingots,
rolled steel messaging service
-- whose image and superscription

Duty to caste and creed, exist,
trust true rest once, just wait,

wonder if what ever ift began rifts
in concentrated will, chaos spun,
to its gravitational balance point,

seventh grade science reseen using
Casini visions made plain as day,

there's the whole truth we,
there's where Earthian

mind hats are woven from reeds
and banded with old aluminum cans

to perceive crop circles apophenetically

like it don't mean nothin'

upon the tablets as such were
when rocks were used
to witness, what our father's agreed,

to maintain holy order,
by all means

the stela whereby we esteem Israel
and shoe respect for adaptability
is ra' el o heem da'ath
ramify as above so below,
fundamental first mind form

adverse, ra' el and cursyerdialect ics
integrated circuit sets still feel disconnected

can people enjoy paying this much attention?

Alienating Israeli wrestling fans
rallying energetically sympatico

behind DOGE city indexed chaos
making peace using law and order

without Marshall Dillon
without any guns,
without eggs… is ra' aggression legal,

has the law no sword, is the public mind,
the military mind, or the career mind,
or the discombobulated phucit list

let's cruise and act as if we are all so rich,
that many good jobs in the service supply

industry of leisure, on credit, ceartainly,

who cares has not cast all chares on Christ,
the character, from Sunday school

felt board good news, made from first news,

my momma told me, where Christmas came from,

because I knew already between holidays
in 1954 what Arbor Day was for,
and Thanksgiving was because of, 11/11

my Uncle Malcom's army won the war
to end all wars, just

a while before my daddy's friends won the one
that ended many hopes for peace,

as Daddy Warbucks was a role model hero,
as solid as Clark Kent and Snuffy Smith,

time's a wastin' wrestle or tap, Daysman call

as three phonemes long universal is ra' towbd
being now default present and aware

peace
in mind guarded lightly
with a will

not my own, but better
at proving worths
of mumblings most pythia slur or stutter…
prophets ambiguosity
a knack honed,
to glistering
tip on TOE
always
the guild
of interpreters are sorted out,
by age five, first accurate shape
on a plain,

I drew a boot, the sorters saw,
I did not trace it,
I drew it, so then,

at that memory, work was proven,
a mind hat wearer, same radiation,

that killed two sisters and drove mom mad,

made me and my demented sister telepaths,
imagine that.

flat as a skipping stone,
rerippling the vision

you, there,
tell us where we've got to…

we been demented… do. Oh, dear

those hosts attending our absolutions,
none think themselves involved, voluntary

sacrifice attention
to the news fed them, yes,
chosing
to pay attention
to what a few million, must believe

slightly like mindedly smiling,
thinking Jesus winked, and Uncle Mike laughed,

folks who were born citizens, exceptionally lucky,

to be so born,
in the land
of the armed and the free

whose hearts and minds believe, in weform,

as commonly we all think the we
with me in it,
init
runs my inclusion, this weform
with us as plural I.
W
El yes we see him, who is spirit,
gott to be good looking cause he so hard to see

right now,
time and times and half a time

and then, when your side faced mine, eye to eye,

first one slightly smiles and kindly winks, oaths

expression, secret nods to a standard, allied

pledged,
in innocent order
in rank and file drill,

as the flag is raised, each child stands,

and the solemnity
of the picture show rises,

all stand
at attention,
paying all wonder as we
all say
at once,
aloud,

I, we all, I
pledge, which is same as an oath or a vow,

how would you know that,
at age six, well, think it,

I tell it like I lived
to be old,
before I learned how verbs work,

confirming affirmations leads
to solid state, unforgetable instants
too costly
to condemn
to the heaps, so

we made up new pages
to find things, so
set right dexterously
indexing so

simple a five year old child can wonder if it
could be pretend make believe, what ifery,
just
so not heresy or hypocrisy, but true bare
not full of nasty wanna fight or bet words,

no, here we go
to re al ize able levels, cognate

worldwidewebian cut and paste or ask an AI,
what does this say
in Hausa, hey,
how about in Spanish, no se
same thing it says in English, war and greed,

are both diseases, and experience proves
war has never been used
to make things better,

at runny nose cold reality
in a roaring March,
2025,
and we are all still…

breathing and feeling Earthian,
on the living planet gravity bound

to the expanding universe… bubbling by
while growing knowing uses thought
how, I just became old one day,
and have continued being so, ever sense.

Timing,
from the audience
at stage edge,

a bardic bubble stage, Earth, seen from Saturn,

all the wars that ever were, have been excused,

all the wars that are now in use, have no excuse.

We can agree,
we need not compete,
we occupy the only living planet

Peace at the personal no shame
true mind we make up as this we
realized by all involved, experienced,
seeded
wisdom
without patience, really experienced,

well,
as one past that point,
some long while,
passed through in a minute
half a century plus half a decade,
and about five hours from today, once.\

Mark a trader's traditional promise,
for your attention
at second thought

if the sign says buyer beware,
if we seem
to be seen as buying

or vieing
for other's attention, feeling
fi, delphic attention strange nous
seen, thinking all the world's a stage,

your line.
Accepting the whole earth as stage lit and un, none perceive an audience,

we each have lines... some we cross, some we stand behind... some we make.
Ruheen Feb 20
It started again.
The feelings. The bleeding.
The indents in my skin.
The waiting. The staring.
At the clock to move an inch.
The wanting to hide under my desk. In a corner.
Under the sink.
In the dark. In the closet.
A place where I could think.
About anything but how
I'm still pretending.
It feels like a performance everyone bought tickets for.
Expecting greatness.
An unlimited audience.
A constant improvisation. No rehearsal.
Some rehearsal. But unnecessary.
Because I change direction based on reactions.
To make sure the audience stick around.
Come for another viewing.
I need them to like me.
To come back.
Otherwise the show ends.
And I can't have that.
Because I'm an attention-seeking, narcissistic *****.
Or the main character. Or both.
No matter how much I hate it, the show must go on.
When the sun waves farewell I'll keep my rendezvous
With Love, in a sanctum well-hidden from view;
To the Tower of Happiness together we'll climb,
It won't be long now . . . just a matter of time

After turning and tossing in anxious despair,
Sleep overtakes, and untamed joy fills the air;
For Love is the key that unlocks Heaven's door,
And O, what marvels will be ours to explore!

These breathtaking thoughts stir the depths of my soul,
And so to Love's edicts I relinquish control;
The real world dissolves when Love's born of a dream --
Lovers dictate the rules and fashion the scheme

While Love owns the night, not a word need be spoken.
But with dawn's first light the enchantment is broken;
As I watch the darkness quickly slipping away,
I implore the moon to persuade Night to stay

But their task has ended . . . there are rules to obey,
And I tremble to witness the first light of day;
Alone once again, roused from my fantasy
I pray: Take the night then, but let the dream be!

But I know that tonight when the stars fill the sky,
We'll meet in that Make-Believe land, Love and I,
For dreamers know the hour when to secretly stray
To their own magic realm, and love the night away!
Candyland

Candyland

Drown in sweets

As the sugar sticks to your teeth

Candyland

Candyland

A Childs dream

That ended all too soon

Candyland

Candyland

It makes your body rot

But that’s okay

Candyland

Candyland

Because your worries melt

Like candy on your tongue
One of my favorites for this writing challenge
I got another letter

From you again

But I find that

I can’t bring myself

To read it



How do I respond

What if I’m not good enough for you

So I shove it in the drawer

Where all the others rest

And pretend that nothing happened
Part of a writing challenge
Zelda Jan 12
Heavy
life is a heavy (wasted thing)
this year, no different—(i am
sludge,
the rotting bed

if only—)
can i just—pretend
i don’t exist?
Jan 12, 2025
We can be strangers if you like
We can talk about the weather
Our silly plans for the weekend
Or how life has been kind to us
Trust me, I'm a terrific actor
You'll hardly be able to tell

We can be strangers if you like
Or at least we can pretend that
It doesn't shred us to pieces...
Have you ever come across friends and lovers that meant the world to you... and then had to act like they were mere acquaintances?
Never mind... hello there, stranger!
Jeremy Betts Dec 2024
Of course I went and messed up again
That's how everything for me comes to an end
What did I think was truly going to happen?
Especially when
My shoulder demon is my only friend
I can not even comprehend how it all began
Was I destined to be a heathen?
If we have to go back to the beginin'
Just leave it there and not mess with poison
I've been here before again and again
It's a trend that might hypothetically completely break me
Regardless of how well I can bend
They can't break the broken

©2024
Question or statement?
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