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I carry a hum that was never even mine—
It's nested behind my own teeth just pacin’.
It twitches within the folds of my thoughts.
And slips into rooms that I have no place in.

The face in the faucet, it watches back,
Not accusing, not kind. But still in my sight.
Waiting to see if I'll either blink first,
Or just admit I’ve been sleeping upright.

There’s a dark ritual in my own pretending.
Though the stillness isn’t staged at all.
I’m not rehearsing the way that I'll answer.
These questions, I just hope that they never call.

The lightbulb that hums, sick of carelessness—
And sick of flickering knowing I never mind..
Even my own shadow has memorized,
The way I don’t breathe, act, or move right.

I fold my hands up in the wrong directions.
I acknowledge nonexistent people with words.
There’s comfort inside this cold dissonance,
Like that perfect chord that's too broken to be heard.

Time doesn’t pass me; it floats or reruns.
Moments just drip right back to no form.
I stir up the air just to prove I exist,
Forget why I did it, then stir up some more.

The consequences? I can't say they crush me.
It’s different than that—it’s odd, and so patient.
It’s like taking the breath that never finishes,
But insists trying again, now knowing it's forsaken.

People like to ask me how I look so tired.
I wish I could answer with a diagram,
Of how feeling nothing can cost everything.
Or how much it weighs to not know who I am.

I don’t want forgiveness, and I don't need saving.
I Don't even truly value status or wealth.
But I’d value not having to constantly carry,
This overgrown stagnant absence of myself.
my soul 3d
I can show you so many scenes,
from my entire life.
However I arrange them,
however I tell them,
the movie will be different.
The rich can be poor,
and love can be heartbreak.
Happiness can be boredom,
nostalgia can be sad.
The poor can be loved,
and heartbreak can be rich,
Happiness can be nostalgia,
and sadness can be boredom.
But behind all this,
there is you and your ivory smile.
Karan May 19
To look upon oneself
And find a citadel of half-wrought
Miseries and wounded passions
Where the birds all wore masks
Of hide and gleaming fixtures

Birds that enter upon a pile
Of stiff and tangled limbs
With heads, mouth open
Groaning cries of
Pain, as their teeth are torn
Collected to create nests
In which those enamel buds
Burst into seamless streams
Of bloodied skin

Curving together, crossing to form
A twisted leather medusa
That blooms rusted buckles
Which glisten in the sky above that citadel
In the place of stars for those citizens
To pray between a leviathan chorus of agony.
Gustavo G Apr 30
I am weird  
Born weird  
And in the desperate urge not to be  
I tried to take another form —  
A shape made from a mold that wasn’t mine.

And the pain of not fitting into what was expected off me…  
Turned into despair.

Claustrophobic, crushed  
Inside a mold that was never made for my shape.

And the pain?  
The pain of the molds  
Was greater than the despair itself.

Still, I go on
Still…  
Weird.
Joss Lennox Apr 24
The weighted blanket,
I wasn't meant to carry,
layer after layer,
of burned threads,
leaving stains where they are,
for it wasn't made for my bed.
I wrote this poem about burdens, traumas, life events, that occur in each of our lives that weren't ours, but somehow or for some reason, fell on us to be responsible for or to take on its identity.
Joss Lennox Apr 18
the mirrorless child sits alone
wondering which truth is their own
for they were not taught of twists and plots
or shown visions of their own worth
comfort zones aren't made of heroes
who you become is not your reflection
which holds the truth
but the devil has his own house of mirrors
and I wouldn't dare to enter
I wrote this poem about my own self discovery, growing up, struggling with identity, self worth and the confusion of this all mixed with life when left to navigate it on my own, without direction. I feel like many of us can relate to these same circumstances. I'd love to read your perspectives!
Anais Vionet Mar 30
everything’s complicated
everything’s a struggle
have you noticed?
it’s a psychological horror
is this feeling the ‘adult disillusionment’ I keep hearing about?

I mean, things work, if you sit on them like an egg—
if your mother things along and helicopter a result.
I mean, what do people do who don't have
my resources and sunny disposition?

I get America’s increasing paranoia but I think that it's *** backwards. Even if someone's were out to ‘get’ you, no one actually cares about doing their job anymore. There's just so little competence around, that the dysfunction feels intentional. And because you need something and you’re helpless, you can't help but feel targeted.

But I think I figured it out, so let me elucidate—they aren't giving YOU bad service, it isn't personal—everyone is getting bad service, two pieces of chicken in the box when you ordered three, five day delivery when you’re clearly paying for two, failure’s become routine—endemic.

My go-to phrase has become, “What’ll it cost?” (the answer, usually: twice as much) “Make it so,” I say, swiping something with my Apple Watch, and suddenly, everything works!
.
.
A song for this:
decide to be happy by MisterWives
BLT Merriam Webster word of the day challenge 03/29/25:
Elucidate = to make something clear and easy to understand

My ex-navy stepfather always says, “Make it so,” it’s an old navy phrase that means, ‘proceed’
Uzziah Ruffin Mar 29
Nothing lingers in this space,
Walls infused with hollow white.
A place where dreams leave no trace,
Where stories fade before they ignite.

No scents to stir a drifting mind,
No whispers calling from the deep.
Nothing tempts the gaze to find
A path beyond the current’s sweep.

This room is still, no breath, no sound
A cough dissolves in heavy air.
No melody to wrap around,
My tongue lies mute in vacant prayer.

Yet in this white, one color clings,
A silent mark that dares remain.
Until doubt whispers, softly sings,
A gentle urge to shed, to change.

Remove the skin, you’ll be like us,
Unburdened, stripped of name and past.
A world so cruel, so stained with dust,
Welcomes those who fade at last.

Strip the color from your bones,
Join us in this hollow home.
There is a room that makes people go insane in real life known as a white room. There's places have shown that the removal of color drives patients insane. They would have people placed inside the room for days with only meals only being white. This is what this poem is about.
The angel
Draws the Glock
With a swift flick of motion
Pulls the trigger
A bullet rips through your core~
As it strikes
The truth unveils
The show begins.
You kick & slam
But the enigmatic door remains~
You gave it your all
Concluding the telecast
Your white sore in a red hole
Rot, maggots & gore.
A true crucifixion of your soul.

~Burning in vengeance~

Now you face the mind~
A chasm carved by arrogance.
& now,
I become the angel
Trigger poised in suspense.
Ankush Mar 25
He holds a blade in his hands
( A sharp and thinner )
Will he cut his own finger
Or will he cut another

He is been told -Past & Now
He is been scolded - Past & Now
( First for use, Now for the Plough)

"Oh , he went to hurt another?"

(The blood is crusted on his nails
And blade !)
Now will he wash off the blade
to tell If
He cut his own finger
Or did he cut another

He swings the blade
And dried off
And then,

He said " she was the target"

And
She had a blade
She said calmly
" My blade is blunt & so I
evade"

(The boy remembered what they told
They said everyone lie and they pretend
But he thought she was different
And didn't defend

He said "hold my hands"
She looked smiling,
And had her hands lend
She swirled her fingers
And blades with them,

She stabbed her blade
In his fingers
As she said "The end"

He got up and walked away
And In the forest,
He soaked his own blood
On the blades and then
walked away)

They asked him
Did he cut his own finger
Or did he cut another

He replied
" She was strong and had a big
Shiny blade "
" She lied that it was blunt
And she may evade"
" Though I knew she was lying
And so I fought her with my own
Blade"
" She stabbed me twice but
I prevailed"

They remarked him ,
For that he cut a finger another
And gifted him a new blade,

He spent his days in regret
Scratching the blade
And with his nails
( Becoming ****** and erased)

He was proud for the new blade
He thought it will make him
Anew and remade

But

whenever he saw it
It made him recall
"The smile of the girl
And The lies in her swirl".
In a world where trust is a fragile illusion, a man stands at the crossroads of pride and regret, wielding a blade that carries both power and consequence. He has been taught that strength lies in the ability to strike, yet he hesitates—unsure whether to wound himself or another.

When he meets a woman who claims her blade is blunt, he chooses to believe her, despite warnings that people lie and pretend. But deception, like a hidden dagger, is most dangerous when least expected. As she turns on him, he realizes too late that some wounds are not inflicted by steel, but by trust misplaced. Wounded yet victorious, he is gifted a new blade—a reward for survival, yet a curse that binds him to the memory of his betrayal.

No matter how sharp or new the blade, the past cannot be erased. Every glance at it brings back the smile of the girl and the lies in her swirl—a lesson carved deeper than any wound.
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