#manly
Was Mama too strong
for Father, a danger
he wanted to ward off
with rules of decency
constrictions
of her freedom
to undertake something
out of his sight?
What she does must happen
in full light
in full view
of familiar eyes
Order and security
Taking care of the pence
Everything in father's words
Everything in his language
Everything on his schedule
until Mama suggests otherwise
Then his foregone conclusion
is: Mother's will is law!
May 1
May 1, 2026 at 2:12 AM UTC
There’s something about the way he doesn’t chase…
It’s not the swagger. Not the smirk.
Not the way his shirt clings when he works.
It’s how he doesn’t beg the light
he walks in shadow, and still feels right.
He doesn’t claim me. He just looks
and in that look, he rewrites books.
The kind with knights and velvet beds,
with whispered vows and tangled threads.
He moves like time forgot to rush.
His silence holds a speaking hush.
He doesn’t grab he lets me choose,
And yet I burn if I refuse.
His hands could bruise, but never try.
They trace my skin like lullaby.
He guards, not cages. Leads, not binds
And in his arms, the world unwinds.
He calls me wild. He keeps me free.
He doesn’t need to conquer me.
And still, I’d kneel, I’d bend, I’d melt,
For how his quiet power’s felt.
There’s chivalry in how he waits,
In how he touches no locked gates.
And when he moves, it’s not to own,
But to remind me, I’m not alone.
So here’s to him: the kind of man
Who doesn’t boast, but simply can.
Who wins no throne, but takes command
Just by the way he dares to stand.
Jul 4, 2025
Jul 4, 2025 at 5:20 AM UTC
Casper
That's the name they gave me
The intentions weren't friendly
They used it mockingly
Albeit creatively
Because my skin was alabaster pasty,
I was Jack Skelington skinny
And, apparently,
My blond hair and blue eyes weren't manly
So then,
I embraced it and turned it on them ceremoniously
No more Casper the Friendly,
Just Casper the Deadly
Turned to the ghost that gave nightmares to Freddy
Made the devil look heavenly
That persona went at any and every enemy
But now that I'm 40
I've let that part of me leave me
Though it was the only part of me that believed in me
The scratched up side of my flipped penny
...I miss is secretly...
©2024
Aug 5, 2024
Aug 5, 2024 at 7:21 PM UTC
I’m a sucka for long eyelashes,
wishful sighs punctuating long
skyward gazes, endlessly searching
for answers to questions as of yet,
unasked,
thus is my manly melancholy primary
tasked,
or rather,
my hurry up need fix for tender loving
by a man who writes me poems that are this fem’s,
as in feminine, as in all mine, even down
to the unwrit, declarative dedication that, is powerful
whispered, avec a-graze~touch
upon my cheek,
“I wrote this for you,”
oh gawd, I even love him despite
his horrible pink sneakers…
ugly to almost ning cute…
BC
May 4, 2024
May 4, 2024 at 10:31 AM UTC
I like women's day.
It is the only day,
When men finally respect women
For 24 hours straight.
Mar 6, 2021
Mar 6, 2021 at 11:21 PM UTC
I glimpse upon crimson ribbons.
Streaming gloriously, in horrid scenes.
Their beauty costs a price of pain.
A feeling bathed, in bitter sweet.
Wherefore does your hearth give?
Nurture from fiery ****
To kindle my faltering flame,
and bolster me to my feet.
Ode to you my crimson ribbons.
My memoir symphony,
throws fists on razor edge
and tunes the song my nerves dare not sing.
Set loose with heavy hand.
Furry far unseen.
Again I see the crimson ribbons!
Not owned... by me.
Nov 21, 2012
Nov 21, 2012 at 12:39 AM UTC
By Arcassin Burnham
Being A Man is harder than it looks..
I have no time to talk to any kids today,
Loving myself is difficult than it needs to be..
but I'm not so perfect anyway,
About a week ago I had so much on my mind..
but was happy I was alive,
Love could try to make me happy,
When I'm simply depressed,
Can you replace,
The turmoil and end the rest,
I just wanna run away,
Like a soldier I survived the obstacles,
On the battlefield,
With the cannibals,
Ready to eat away the pride,
Just stay out of my face,
Being A Man is harder than it looks..
I have no time to talk to any kids today,
Loving myself is difficult than it needs to be..
but I'm not so perfect anyway,
About a week ago I had so much on my mind..
but was happy I was alive,
Separation from boys to men are in ties..
but I'll never take away my life.
May 10, 2018
May 10, 2018 at 12:27 AM UTC
the Manly team racked up a big score by half time
they executed play with the brilliance of prime
Parramatta couldn't register one single point
their brand of league not of the try or goal anoint
when play resumed for the second half's concluding session
it was clear that the Manly Eagles would lead the procession
the Parramatta Eels were lacking game commitment
they needed possession of the ball's vital equipment
penalties and mistakes bought Parramatta dismay
of their play there'd be no hip hip hooray
the final tally showed Manly's field advantage
which was to the loser's woeful disadvantage
Mar 18, 2018
Mar 18, 2018 at 4:31 AM UTC
Manhood is a term that avoids definition
Because it paints strokes larger than the canvas.
Men are truly like snowflakes.
An ice cold exterior
But only because we melt easy
And we're not really allowed to do that.
The next time you tell someone to be a Man
Understand that you've just put a metal ceiling
On that half full glass we seem to pride ourselves on.
The next time you tell someone to be a Man
Understand that you've only brought gasoline
To this 21st century forest fire that we all started.
The next time you tell someone to be a Man
Understand that testosterone makes up less than 1% of my body.
The next time you tell someone to be a Man
Understand that it's definitely not the first time he's heard it.
The next time you tell someone to be a Man
Understand that you've killed one.
Oct 13, 2017
Oct 13, 2017 at 10:24 PM UTC
Men like me will always be alone
We're impossible to love
And what love we get
We will have to pay for
Dec 26, 2016
Dec 26, 2016 at 8:53 PM UTC
*you'd never make him for a cry baby
only because he cries when
no one is ever around
bright is his sound
dark, his pen
maybe*
♦♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦
♦♦♦
*maybe,
○○perhaps, maybe*○○
°
Oct 12, 2015
Oct 12, 2015 at 8:55 AM UTC
It is true indeed that you do not know me
As I do not know you
But when I first saw you
My mind's senses were altered
Odd, as you've done nothing wrong to my knowledge
But it's as if I foresee a rude awakening in your eyes
Your spiritual stench draws me near as you walk towards that girl
A beautiful girl she is indeed
Then why must you suddenly attack her?
The words fired from your mouth
Invisibly pierce through her chest
Your friends begin to laugh
You feel proud
Cause' your a man
You make fun of women without second thoughts
Because you don't care what other people think
That is what being a man is all about right?
Making innocent girls cry
As they flee to a dark spot where they bleed from the wrists
I bet you feel like a manly man, don't you?
You're a sick son of a ***** that's what you are
In fear your words may hurt another, I continue to follow you around
There, those two boys at there lockers, you close in on your prey
Although you restrain from using your words
I learned shortly after, because you wanted to use your actions
How are those boys mothers going to feel
When their little boy comes home with a black eye
Oh but wait!
A manly man doesn't care what others think!
They even disrespect their own mothers!
Why manly man?
Why must have you hurt those boys
Because they were homosexual?
I have news manly man
Love, knows no gender
I've had enough
I'm fed up with you manly man!
Your heart is as cold as the night!
And your only goal is to show others that too!
Not if I can stop it, manly man
You just wait and see
I'll make sure you never walk again
Or even better
I'll make sure you'll never use your body again
I'll make it a package deal and take out your voice too!
No more words, no more limbs, I'll leave you crippled and mangled
But I'm sure you'll be fine
I mean, after all, you are a manly man
Right?
But I'll let you live, you know why?
Because I'm a real man
And I stick up for others, and I respect my mother
I respect girls, boys, blacks, whites
But never someone like you
© Luca Abate
Feb 17, 2015
Feb 17, 2015 at 10:28 PM UTC
I am a man, this is so
I am tall, I am broad
I am seen as untouchable,
immune to hurt
This is not true
Under the muscle
Under the broad shoulders of this man
there sits a sensitive heart
It sits there unrecognized by many
Many that do not know,
that what they say hurts
"It will just glance off him" they think
But in truth, it strikes to the very core
They do not know of my tear stained pillow
They do not know of my heartbreak,
The isolation that welcomes me
They think they know me but they don't
They do not really know my manly but sensitive heart
Feb 12, 2015
Feb 12, 2015 at 11:40 PM UTC