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  Jun 2014 Taru Marcellus
Tom Leveille
while september cicadas
were singing my neighbors to sleep
i was up walking holes in my shoes
over love once lost
so many poems ago
that the only thing i remember
about the house at 38th & bluestone
is that it reeked of alcohol and is
as i'm sure of it
still saturated in perfume
and abandoned laughter
but that's not the point
give me a minute
what i'm trying to say
is i always thought god
enjoyed watching things leave me
it makes me wonder
what was on his mind
that night in september
when i stooped to cough
or tie my shoelaces
i no longer remember why
but i recall their trajectory
the way gravity cradled my hands
and brought them crashing back to earth like a 747
they landed inches away
from a scrap of crumpled loose leaf
folded in half like the smiles
of my relatives on a holiday truce
you see, lately i've been looking for scars in the newspaper
i find myself checking the obituary
for my former selves since the day i found your suicide letter
maybe that's why i can never explain my obsession with history
maybe archeology is just a funeral
in reverse
maybe hell is just rewinding home movies
or watching confetti
turn back into photographs
i never told anyone
the reason the doors to the gun cabinet in my family's house are locked not because they are afraid
i will take my life
but because sometimes
i sing them birthday songs
on the day you died
it makes me think
of how rooms only echo
when they are empty

*you know
i never echoed until you died
We all have the right to write.
We aren't obliged to write right.

You have the right to flaunt your ugly, hatefilled heart,
You have the right to sneer, and leer.

Hide behind those concepts and techniques.
If it makes a few people laugh, who cares about the ones that cry?
They don't get it, they don't get you,
You're too clever for them.

You have the right, you have the right,
I agree, we are all free,
Some will laugh, some will cry,
Some stay silent, sitting by.

I'll admit that you have wit,
You're still a total, utter ***.
Taru Marcellus Jun 2014
moist moist  moist  moist MoiSt mOisT moIsT MOIST
now stop reading it, say it
                                                           moist
it's a weird word
------------------------------------------------------------­-----------------------------------

a storm is coming
  and I can smell it, feel it
     MOIST
on my skin- slick
it wisps into my mouth
  dirt patches aren't meant to be stoic

the storm approaches from the north, northwest
I am headed that way- north, northwest- approaching it
we have not yet converged but I can feel it
    moist
it tastes of dry dirt
not local
       nomadic

the clouds are foreshadowing --- foreboding
  parting only to show more grey
we have yet to converge but I can feel it
the grey
           the parting
                          the moistness
I am not yet there but I can feel it
  wisping through me
     I am not meant to be stoic
       nomadic

the first d
                r
              o
                 p

                     refreshing
I can feel it. really feel it.
moist on my skin. weird.
the clouds are parting
lightening [effect]       thunder [effect]       convergence [effect]
I am the storm; its core
  moist
            grey
                    parting
       ­                          wisping
can you feel me
                            approaching...
Taru Marcellus May 2014
Do not fret for the future

you'll never get any further into it

          than right now

                                             or now

                              or now
Wisdom from a local at the neighborhood craft beer store... I take no ownership, these are words I heard.
Taru Marcellus May 2014
how far does your empathy stretch
does it do calisthenics every morning
before humoring the sun
can it bend the distance of light
or traverse the waves that crash into your ear

how far does your empathy stretch
has it learned to overcome muscle memory
does it still read newspapers daily
or is it colorblind to the flavors of this world

Isla Vista Killing Spree Claims 7 Lives, Including Suspect

4 People Killed in Taiwan Subway Stabbing Spree

32 Children Dead in Columbia Bus Fire Inferno

Nigeria's Boko Haram kills 28 in three village attacks

Afghanistan landslide: One of the country's biggest natural disasters kills up to 2,700

3 dead in shooting at Belgian Jewish museum


did you flinch? did you feel anything?
anything besides the mechanical itch of a
number
maybe you should stand up
maybe you should shake it out
how far does your empathy stretch now?
does it bend towards justice?
*news headings all spanning the past month
Taru Marcellus May 2014
we are static on these channels
rushing to be heard
whipping through empty space like a fast current
         where are we flowing?
just trying to stay current
         what are we showing?
currently nothing
                         we are static
can you hear our unintelligible pleas
      please...
   listen
can you hear us
      rushing
we just want to be something
rushing
   can you hear us

listen
         listen
    listen to the static
we are more than just noise
hear us
                           please
we are changing
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