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Archer Feb 14
Ice cream
sounded like a splendid idea, and
God, was it.
So, I caved,
so what?
I should be allowed to accept the things
my friend offers me.
Maybe my heart hurt from rejection,
but it was nothing shoveling
cold dairy into my gullet with
that same friend
can’t fix.

So, I ****** up,
I spoke up.
My shoulders tensed and my grip around my spoon would surely leave an imprint for a minute.
While it most certainly is a big deal-
a huge deal-
it’ll get better,
I swallowed.
Not mint chip,
but saliva that I hadn’t even realized accumulated.
It will get better. Right?
I looked to my friend for advice.
Sure, it tended to be
less than helpful,
but it was advice nonetheless.

Well, I,
He leaned against his forearms on the
countertop,
holding his own spoon in one hand and
bowl in the other.
Yeah.

That sounds confident,
I remarked, but I creased my eyebrows.
It would get better.
Right?

Yes. Yeah. It will get better.
He gave me a smile and leaned back up;
the stool legs whined as he shifted against the counter.

It was consolation,
kind of,
but it still was consolation.
I’d completely biffed on confessing my
undying love and had basically hit rock bottom.
And you know what they say:
“the next step above rock bottom is eating
ice cream
with your bros.”
I stared at the green clump of
ice cream
in my bowl.
Some chips were sludging out of it due to it melting.

I do envy you,
I tossed my words to him,
though my face was
still
aimed down and at the bowl.

Why’s that?

I chuckled and shook my head before
picking up a scoop of
ice cream.
You don’t have to deal with rejection as
pathetic as mine,
with that I bit the
ice cream
off my spoon, though avoided scraping my teeth against the metal.

I couldn’t help but notice how he avoided my observation the same way.

Yeah,
he chuckled after some time,
I don’t.

I raised an eyebrow.
Something felt off in my stomach, and it wasn’t the countless bowls of mint chocolate chip
ice cream
I had consumed.
What?
I plastered on a smile.
Got some secret love life I don’t know about?
A little crush on a girl?

He scoffed and punched my shoulder.
It didn’t hurt.
Nahh,
he rolled his eyes and ate a bite of his
ice cream.
He swallowed before continuing.
That’s not for me,
his voice lowered.
He must’ve noticed me staring because he shoved my bowl closer to me and looked away quicker than the speeds I drove at.
Focus on your
ice cream.
You’ve practically eaten the whole tub of
mint chip anyways.

I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head.
Uhuh.

Odd.
Bekah Halle Feb 14
Mid-sentence: this story can go either way,
Doom and gloom, or full of joy.
Hold your nerve, believe in happy endings,
There’s a bigger story; written from a far but lived out day-to-day.
Archer Feb 14
Boy was he oblivious.
Sure, I was dense,
but at least I could admit it.
I could also admit that
I was a little hurt
each time he
seemingly
chose to ignore my pokes and prods.
I get to listen to him go on and on about this one girl-
who I don’t even care that much about-
and he gets to go on and on about her.

Obviously, I’ve got to be there for him.
Everyone should be there for the ones they love. But ****,
does it hurt when the ones you love
jab
at the heart that throbs for them.

I refused to let the ride home be silent.

Did you want some ice cream or something to make you feel better?

A groan of a reply.

I didn’t bother to give him a glance.
I squeezed the steering wheel and kept my eyes glued to the road,
though I’d rather they be glued to him.

You should come over,
I spoke, though it was almost
drowned out by the whiny screech of my brakes.
I took the opportunity to look at him.
He did not meet my eyes.
Instead, his arms were over his chest and he stared at the window at some old car wash
on the right side of my Toyota.
I think you could benefit from a break 
thinking

about that girl.

I don’t know, man,
a sentence at last.
I have homework probably.

The car ****** forward as the light turned green, breaking my companion’s eye contact with
the gas station extension.
My eyes lingered on him for a moment before
I scratched the back of my neck.

C’mon, it’s Friday,
I urged.
You deserve a chance to take your mind off
that girl.

He threw his arms out.
She’s not just some girl!
She’s an absolute beauty who
barely knows I exist! Like I said,
angel fish,
he gestured to the air to the right of him,
Sea urchin,
the same hand now met his chest on the “sea”.

I,
I shook my head.
I think you give that
b#tch
too much credit, you know?
She called you slurs…
I brought the car to a cruising speed when I noticed we were alone on the road.
And, ‘cause, y’know. I think sea urchins are pretty f#cking awesome.
I snuck a glance at him.
He was staring at his lap;
his brows were knitted and his eyes looked as if they would fall out of the sockets.
…I think I’m a sea urchin as well.

He snorted and sat up straight to look at me. “Really?
He smiled,
dimples showing.
Good.
You can’t be a sea urchin too;
you’re too perfect to be one.
His head of brown hair shook and
one of his matching brows raised.

Perfect?
I grinned.
This guy?
I brought a hand off the steering wheel and ****** a thumb towards my chest.
I was a careful enough driver to
still be focused on the road.
At first glance you might think I’m some sort of reckless delinquent
who only cares about
getting girls and
getting drunk.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Well, maybe not perfect,
he smiled towards me, rolling his eyes.
I let my gaze meet his before snapping back to the street.
But definitely perfect enough..

So,
I mumbled and scratched the back of my neck,
Ice cream?
Come flower child,
Join the rest,
In the autumn fields abloom.

Come flower child,
Join the patch,
In the rolling hills of autumn.

Come flower child,
Lay to rest,
Just like all the others.
Who came to the autumn fields,
Lined with stones.
I'm working on my classical styles, trying to learn that depth they had.
Archer Feb 12
Two heavenly hands hold hues of their own
A hell in the night we live all alone
The greater and the lesser light will see
She here with her one and he with his three
He sleeps and wakes up to discover names
The unfortunate truths of life are blamed
When they choose to allow her to have this
Cathar reveals itself, tetractys
A maiden resides and is instead shown
Not pen, but pencil to see The Lupeon
Mencius, what is that they're doing?

Zhǐ! Another immortal walked from the sea;
Leaf & cordage finely chopped,
Throughly masticated & combined,
Left to the air to then reside
And collected after dried.
How most strange & curious!

You say the nobility call this parchment,
But for humor as irony
And because of the sound made
During the process of hammering,
The craftsmen call it paper?
And, like with tattoos,
They use pastes & fluids like dyes & resins
To stain drawings, shapes, and characters?

The lesser the weight of tablets,
Well-traveled with, easily read & clearly,
Markable with ease; readily inviting change
After change, reflecting our fragileness & resilience, offering record of our thoughts & accomplishments, a chance for the more prolific scribe and the library diverser & denser?

How wonderous a creation,
How gifted the craftsmen,
How genius the inventors.


Wow. That was so long ago
Before I was born.
But then compared to much else,
This fledgling has yet to have flown
From the small enclaves it nests as home.
Amir Murtaza Feb 10
The love story ends,
The tale is finished,
Their paths now diverge,
Separate ways taken.

Who cares for the other?
Who cherishes the bond?
A fleeting day spent together,
A smiling morning,
A humming evening,
Yet the night falls—
Darkness remains.

Bitterness lingers,
Resentment over trivial things,
Fragments of what once was.

Now, the search begins again—
Another hand to hold,
A new companion to find,
To fill the void,
To start another story.
L Feb 9
Once a month at least
sometimes more but never less
I go through his trash
And I find little pieces of paper, cuttings and hearts
pages with drafts of heartfelt love letters

It makes me wonder what goes through his mind when he's doing it,
does her trash also show all the hidden work
all the poetry just not good enough to show
how much she loves him?
Just wondering you know
No great story ever started with darkness?
Do you not know the greatest story ever told started with darkness?


Once upon a time,
Darkness plagued the land—
A great, powerful, grave darkness.
Darker than anything, man knows.
And how could he,
For man never lived in that darkness;
It was before time itself,
For there was no sun,
There was no moon,
And no stars, or plants.
There was only separation
Of the darkness and the Light.
And great was their separation,
As great chasms divide us from one another
So there was between the darkness and the Light,
But at this time darkness was known by a different name,
For it was not but the absence of light
But the absence of all that is good and holy.
It was called chaos,
For apart from the Light,
No good could be found.
And so it was,
And it was good.

Until the angels fell with thunderous rejection
Cast down from the Light,
For their hearts were filled with chaos
And hardened to fit their form.
So their hearts were set against the nature of the Light;
Their chaos was filled with murderous intent,
Hatred of their faithful kin,
And displeasure in the good nature of the Light.
And he who led them had great envy,
Desiring that the light would be his.
Plotting for glory and power
To be placed in his unfit fist,
For once he carried the Light true and pure,
But now his chaos made him unfit,
For it would disgrace the Light
And inflict wrath upon him.
For no chaos could touch the Light
Without severance of chaos,
And bound to body and mind was their chaos.
So the prince of chaos plotted for his own glory
Yet brought wrath upon him and his followers,
Mistaking what he once held to be his.

And it is this darkness that blinds us so.
Making us selfish,
Mistaking what we held, to be our own bit of light,
For only what is holy may hold light.
We, man, are nothing more than the spawn of the Light.
Who, like the accusor and his kin, chose chaos
So that we may do anything our heart desires.
And the Light, being gracious and true
Did not sever us from the light
But granted us audience through the Sacrifice
That we may reflect the Light
As we did on the day of our birth.
Version #3
showyoulove Feb 7
Come sit with me by the fire
Take in the glow and warmth
The lights are low and the night is young
Time for a chat, a look back
The mood is fine and all is divine
Sit back, relax, and ease your mind
Let's pause and now rewind the time
To replay the moments: highs and lows
Looking at some decisions you chose

Come sit with me for a little while
Come close and let me hold you child
The storm outside is full of fury and sound
But in here you are on safe solid ground

Come sit with me for a moment or two
In this space, it's just me and you
Let me tell you a story from many years ago
A tale of love and honor suffering and glory
But there is something else you must know
It is as yet unfinished even to this day
Still, it remains the Life, the Truth, the Way

It begins at the beginning the first husband and wife
Everything was perfect and they knew no strife
They walked freely with God in complete honesty
And all the world was blessed in perfect harmony
Possibly unfinished with room for more, but this was all I had written at the time
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