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#absentee
Birth. (Admission). Experimentation. (Acquisition). Repetition. (Attrition). Exploration. (Addition). Repetition. (Attrition). Repetition. (Affliction). Repetition. (Attrition). Repetition. (Addiction). Repetition. (Attrition). Death. (Absence).
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Mar 1
Mar 1, 2026 at 12:38 PM UTC
Absentee Living
For the words spilt, so sharp, You forked your tongue Breath heavy with liquor, And self-inflicted misery Tremulous limbs, Stilted walk Running, stumbling, falling, Splitting skin on solid concrete What haunted your sober thoughts? Two wives, six children and a lifetime And no one ever knew you Not your siblings Not even your mother, who searched for you decades after being told you were dead, who cared for you until her last conscious thought Living without living Contemplating the world through hazy eyes What is there to feel, but pity? For the man who never learned from his mistakes, Turning to the bottle to forget his woes To forget his loneliness Never realizing that the bottle caused him more woes And left him alone
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Aug 8, 2019
Aug 8, 2019 at 12:21 AM UTC
Ode to the drunk father
Dear dad, I'm 18 years old, and you've been out of my life for 17 years and 42 weeks of it. You missed out on your little girl learning, and growing, and turning into a woman. Someone else taught me how to ride a bike, but I don't think that you mind missing something so important. I don't think you mind missing recitals, and concerts and shows. I don't think you'd even recognize me if you saw me on the street. You don't deserve the title dad, so for as long as I can remember, I've called you ***** donor. Because that's all you ever given me (except for daddy issues and hereditary mental illness). You don't deserve the title dad because you never taught me how I was supposed to be treated; so I settled for too little, and longed to be loved. But now, I don't even call you ***** donor, I neglect to recognize your existance in my life, because let's face it, you were never even a possibility. I feel bad after all these years, because you missed out on the joy of having a daughter, and being a father.
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Dec 9, 2017
Dec 9, 2017 at 3:20 AM UTC
Dear dad (if i should even call you that)
Today was my greatest accomplishment, An achievement round which I rally And yet you're another absentee. I drank from the pool of triumphs sweet, Bitter as you would not share with me For instead you're another absentee Do not mistake their value is rare to me But it seems an incomplete victory Without you, Absentee
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Nov 10, 2016
Nov 10, 2016 at 7:08 AM UTC
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Just if you so listen, I would do anything As soon as I stop crying, I'll crouch down on my knees So caught up in the pleasure, you couldn't hear me plea But that's okay, I had my time, this part is not about me I'll come over after midnight only seeking out a shoulder But you force me to repay you, unapologetically I wipe my tears and strip my clothes, leaving all for him to see Sometimes he locks me to the bed and threatens to throw the key And all I am is a lost cause, caught up in the debris Every night, it never stops - monotonously And some night I may just not show up Because I gave up on talking and letting him ***** me Someday I will disappear, I'll be his absentee
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Feb 11, 2016
Feb 11, 2016 at 6:01 PM UTC
if only one could listen
Wake up to a pulsing morning. Sooner than you know, circles back to ******* Monday. Empty batteries. Empty call log. Empty stomach, and ash-mouthed, empty-hearted anger leaves its streaks on the walls of the insides of the skull-- it's a kitchen, that mind you got: it's covered and crusted--well used I suppose-- but smells funny, needs dusted and swept and mopped and wiped down and shined up. Dress down the absentees in your life--I'm sure you know how-- 'til it circles back 'round-- to breakfast, to Monday, to you. In your bed. Fight the throb in your head and push back on the sheets that still rush up to claim you-- slack jawed with maimed thoughts--though it's late in the day.
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Dec 13, 2014
Dec 13, 2014 at 6:51 PM UTC
Absentee
Absent body, absent form. Absent absolutely, As if you were ne'er born. Absent voice, absent deeds. Absent frames, Of histories ne'er seen. Absent opinion, absent feeling. Absent choice, There's nothing left to be. Absent, me.
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Jun 18, 2014
Jun 18, 2014 at 3:18 PM UTC
Absentee