#wear
unassuming with
many masks to wear
too many people to
be
break away from
the sense of duty
you've come to know.
"What lies underneath?"
Nov 8, 2025
Nov 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM UTC
I woke up
in the middle of the sentence
the one I never finished
about the cracked ceramic mug in the sink
and the way your voice echoed in the hallway
like a ghost rehearsing its apology
but forgetting the words.
I walked past the laundromat
the one with the flickering sign
that once spelled “LOVE”
when the “C” burned out.
I thought maybe that was a metaphor
but metaphors dress pain in velvet
and call it poetry.
I saw a man screaming at a pigeon
and thought, yes,
that’s me,
that’s all of us
screaming at something
that doesn’t blink
doesn’t write back.
I tried to write a letter
but the pen bled
and the paper curled
ashamed of what I remembered,
what I forgot,
what I invented
to survive.
I miss silence
before it became diagnosis,
before it hummed in my bones
like a refrigerator
in a house
no one lives in.
I kissed someone last week
and it felt like licking an envelope
sealing something
I didn’t want to send
but did
because I’m tired
of holding things
that don’t want to be held.
I keep dreaming of a train
that never stops.
Everyone I’ve loved is on it
but they don’t see me.
They’re laughing,
reading,
drinking coffee.
I’m standing
on the platform
with a ticket
that has no date.
I woke up again
in the middle of the sentence
and this time
I let it hang
like a coat on a hook
waiting
for someone
to come back
and wear it.
Oct 15, 2025
Oct 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM UTC
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Jenny Joseph
from Warning:When I am an Old Woman I shall wear purple (Profile 2021)
Nov 8, 2023
Nov 8, 2023 at 7:43 PM UTC
My scars scare many
But pain is a gold medal
I wear wounds with pride
Dec 8, 2020
Dec 8, 2020 at 8:02 AM UTC
I wear scars on my body like first place medals in the pain olympics
Nov 13, 2020
Nov 13, 2020 at 6:24 AM UTC
How can I show you I care about more than just your looks or the clothes that you wear?
How can I make you understand all I need to be happy is to hold your hand?
I know guys hurt you in the past and it doesn't mean much when we say we're different; that we're going to last.
So I won't say any of that. I'll just keep on loving you until you love me too.
Even if that never happens, there's one thing I need to make sure is clear. Every day I spend with you makes me smile ear to ear
Apr 6, 2019
Apr 6, 2019 at 8:37 AM UTC
Stronger than superman,
Smarter than iron man,
Braver than batman,
He who holds the key to my heart.
You catch me when I fall,
You hold my hand and lead me out of the darkness,
An old,bitter and lonely soul,
You transformed to a new,sweet and happy soul,
This I say from the bottom of my heart ,
A model I look up to you as.
My sunlight in daytime,
My moonlight in night time,
I never want to loose you ,
Not in this would or the next.
Can you feel where the wind blows,
Can you feel it flowing through,
No day goes by and a thought of you does my mind not go through,
Can't live without my hero.
Whenever I need someone to talk too,
You're there,
Whenever I need someone to hold on too,
You're there,
You're someone i never wish to loose,
You're someone who owns a special place in my heart,
Forever I cherish you deep in my soul,
MY HERO....
Feb 27, 2020
Feb 27, 2020 at 4:51 PM UTC
We ghetto rich,
I'm a Primark star..
I got every piece of original
Pri… and I've neve bee
marked down in price,
I'm beautiful....
No need for rich chick flicks..
I own what I got, make the most
of what I'm given.
Beauty isn't what you got,
its what you do with it,
Never looking down always forward.
Because I make the most of what I have,
you work hard, we make do..
I'm Pre-fabulous...
And its not what you wear,
but how you wear it.
Feb 15, 2020
Feb 15, 2020 at 12:28 PM UTC
how many bots could a robot boot if a robot could boot bots?
Dec 8, 2019
Dec 8, 2019 at 3:33 AM UTC
Ah - the weekend!
Time to open my emotional closet,
Have a good rummage around,
And find something we both can wear.
Feb 23, 2019
Feb 23, 2019 at 5:44 PM UTC
There are oceans in my body,
In your eyes,
And between us.
I have walked on water before and drowned.
My holy arms and legs said names and wrapped men as presents that they didn't deserve to be.
I am prone to wishful thinking
And my rapidly closing eyes
Are already building sandcastles.
Tear them down.
Tear them down.
Like you wore and tore me down.
Set me on fire and end me.
Nothing and too much are two extremes I have lived in.
Now bridge them and let me die.
May 1, 2019
May 1, 2019 at 9:40 AM UTC
What poem will you wear, when first we meet?
How will I recognition-you,
when you transverse my land?
Unknown our faces, our voices,
Only silent words electronic exchanged
Will lantern, it be: one, if by land, two, if by sea?
Will your ID badge, passport stamped and state,
Your chest bear a witness-sign?
The Arrivals Board flashes:
une poétesse est arrivé
eine Dichterin ist angekomme
a poetess has arrived
una poetisa ha llegado
Will there be a haiku in your hair,
A limerick exposed by raucous grin,
Or just ten words
allotted for your entire visit?
**Desperate to locate
Urgent to sensate
Matters I take
Into two cupped hands,
On the shoeshine stand
Climb and recite-shout**
Know me by my words,
Know me by the lilt lyrical
Of my American accented,
Canadian Tongue of my mother
Know me by my words,
Carved by time on my forehead,
Poetry is the blood of this fool's soul,
Hear me, find me, look upon me slamming
Poems are the thorns in my palms,
See me crucified, bleeding stanzas
Upon my shoeshine stand cross
Recitation resuscitation welcoming:
Benedicting Gloria, Gloria, Gloria
But if this should fail your attention to secure,
Or the TSA unappreciate my second coming,
Look for the crowd gathered round,
A man of moderate height, in a tall hat,
Beard scraggly, looking sorrowful
Reciting the Gettysburg Address
Either way,
Should be easy peasy to find me,
Grab your bag, off to short-term parking
This is how an Americana poet meets n' greets
Arriving poetess from a foreign land
Is there any other way?
------------------------------
Postscipt
**Alas, five years on and I know in my heart
that you are not coming...**
Aug 31, 2013
Aug 31, 2013 at 3:17 AM UTC
And the irony is,
Those who ask themselves every day
Which mask to wear,
Are the ones who want me to be real.
Jan 29, 2019
Jan 29, 2019 at 12:53 PM UTC
You stretched your arm forward
and held out your hand
I tore out my heart
gave it over and waited
for you to tear it apart
._ ._ ._
But you took it
and placed it on your sleeve
although I hoped that maybe
you could hide it in a safe
and take care of it for me
._ ._ ._
And so there it stays
my exposed, beating heart
you wear it on your sleeve
vulnerable ._ ._ ._
and you take it with you whenever you leave.
Dec 21, 2018
Dec 21, 2018 at 3:33 PM UTC
My mom got me a pair
of blue jeans
I never used to wear
Buttoning and zipping
was a pain
Then we got a dress code
And jeans
Only,
I could wear
But not blue
Too casual
And so they sat forgotten
...
Until a few years later
In a rush
I grabbed something
to wear
and it was
...
...
...
My blue jeans
Oct 12, 2018
Oct 12, 2018 at 2:18 PM UTC
A nice day she'd go with who so ****
but in the zoo but only there in mild weather
kept this best together
and this basic trunk and sweater
with gallops here soon or to the moon
still triumphant in alligator shoes
Aug 24, 2018
Aug 24, 2018 at 8:06 AM UTC
You look lovely when you wear purple
Even prettier when you wear blue
But the most beautiful color I have seen you wear so far
Is the shade of red you turn when I'm kissing you
Aug 8, 2018
Aug 8, 2018 at 9:18 AM UTC
to ware
the flag
on wrist
of chalice
as law
made changes
there that
superfluously kind
wouldn't barry
their origins
to fire
that burned
wings in
gossamer only
to aspire
their new
heights in
pink carnations
Jul 13, 2018
Jul 13, 2018 at 8:15 AM UTC