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i laughed at all those jokes you made about falling
yet here i am feeling tears fall because i realise
i tripped at every sweet sentence you said
& now i can’t tie my shoe laces to stop myself.

my shoes were dancing with yours
to a song i associate with you now
& although i know someone kicked you before
& that you’re not ready to throw out those old sneakers,

my laces are getting ******* with yours.
you’re kneeling down to undo them,
& i want to do it, too, to protect myself,
but my heart laces are making me fall.

& then they wonder why kids take off their shoes.
oh, the irony; they don’t get hurt.
Hello ghosts of my old conversations,
I hope you’re doing well, I hope you’re doing swell.
I’ve held off analyzing and questionable relations,
I know it’s hard to tell, I let it drop after it fell.

So pardon me for the pity party,
but life’s put me in my place,
it provided me with it’s greatest gift
and saw me put it all to waste.

While I’ve been battling consciousness,
you can only see a glow in the darkest nights.
So I walk along to escape what I wish to repress,
and continue on with a saga of streetlights.

Hello hauntings of my old meaningless mistakes,
I see you’re standing tall, I see you’ve found your call.
I’m lacking heart and still it yearns and breaks,
I should no longer stall, I’ll think I’ll construct a wall.

And oh how those ellipses, how they cut when they clip me,
I’m feeling blue, falling into you and play it off like I’m tripping.

While I’m picking prisons instead of flowers,
I close my eyes cause I could never set my sights.
I waste the minutes but it feels like hours,
and I’ll continue on with a saga of streetlights.

Life is like an empty box,
no, not a box of chocolates.
Lately I’ve been creating static with my socks,
and sticking silverware into the sockets.
And I went to lock the door
but I couldn’t turn the **** just right,
I froze up just like before
and I clenched my fists too tight.

So while I’m battling different versions of me,
I won’t hope to win, I’m too experienced with fights.
With a broken leg and a notoriously bad knee,
I’ll continue on with this saga of streetlights.
 Apr 2019 Andrew Rueter
Herb
Have you ever had a dream?
Of how your life will be
Where your path will lead
And all that you will see

You'll have the perfect job
And have the perfect spouse
You'll raise your perfect kids
In your "Homes and Gardens" house

But it's rare that dreams work out
Just as you had them planned
You'll find they have to change
For life is shifting sand

You have to adjust your dream
To make it fit the facts
Of all those unexpected
Twists, turns, and setbacks

Then further down the road
Your dream looks like a fake
But, if one is to dream
They eventually must wake
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Don't feel your dream is lost
And you life, you can't redeem
I think that you are lucky...

Because I've never had a dream
This poem is dedicated to Me, Myself, and Herb...  ...Okay, I plagiarized again...  I stole a line from Mr. Shakespeare and changed one word...  or, allow me to say...  "Perchanged" one word.
 Apr 2019 Andrew Rueter
Herb
Vampires are a cranky lot
Refuse to die when they are shot
Will drink blood... when it's hot
You reflect...  they do not

They give you reasons to despise
They are evil in your eyes
They will only tell you lies
They enjoy when someone dies

Oh, so human, but not quite
To the world they are a blight
You are frightened by their might
They are darkness...  you are light

But they are people just like you
Tho, with different points of view
Still, they have their rights too
Their own agendas to pursue

So you best be circumspect
Give a Vampire due respect
And in your case he may elect
To praise your soul and intellect

Treat a Vampire with some class
And good will you shall amass
Or things may turn around, alas
To come and bite you in the a...  neck
I took my nails and buried them deep in my skin,
created paths and trails just to let me back in.
I haven’t known healing, maybe one day I’ll begin,
instead I’ll drown in feeling even though the water left is thin.

So take your worn out excuses
and your words that hold no weight.
I’ll be striking matches and lighting fuses,
‘cause a fire sign only knows one fate;
a blaze burning great.

Don’t mind the crying, and pay no mind to the ties,
I know when you’re lying before you even realize they’re lies.
Now a picture has been painted of a world with only one pair of footprints,
a reference that’s been tainted and shaded by the darkest tints.

So change your act just like your handles,
and there’s no morality to debate.
I’ll be striking matches and lighting candles,
‘cause a fire sign only knows one fate;
but I’ll still have to wait.

This dent in my shell;
another scar from a war
or maybe from Hell,
who can tell, anymore.
This dent in my shell;
another scar from a war
it didn’t bleed or swell,
but you know, that it’s sore.
This dent in my shell;
another scar from a war
this one is my death knell,
it shattered me down to the core.

I’ve had my heart broken so many times,
that I’m depleted of metaphors and running out of rhymes.

I took my nails and buried them deep in my skin,
created paths and trails just to let me back in.
I’m growing too old each day to never gain a win,
but you know they say nothing gold can stay, maybe next time I’ll stick with tin.

‘cause a fire sign only knows one fate;
it’s our defined trait and state.
‘cause a fire sign only knows one fate;
cremate and annihilate.
 Apr 2019 Andrew Rueter
Herb
my tears taste like yours
we try not to go mad
we laugh and smile
over good times we've had
your bone breaks
while my bone mends
sometimes we unravel
then tie up the ends
we breathe the same air
trod the same earth
trying so hard
to maintain our self-worth
the sun bakes our skin
ice makes us cold
we study the mountain
to find a foothold

how are you different?
how am i the same?
we may play different rules
but it's the same game
It was a "rite of passage"
to climb those stairs
in the dark clock tower.
She went there on a dare.

A" photo opportunity"
that many attempted
once their last test was  taken
and their senior year  ended.

A beautiful girl,
a tragic misstep,
a fall from a height,
a bright future wrecked.

She was not suicidal,
she deserves  thoughts and prayers.
She took one wrong step
and the step wasn't there.

She fell into darkness
her Soul unprepared
Doctors labored to save her
but she couldn't be spared.
Sydney Monfries, a 22 year old Fordham University student, fell to her death in the Keating clock Tower on the Rosehill campus.  she suffered inter-cranial bleeding and doctors at St. Barnabas hospital labored in vain trying to save her life.
 Apr 2019 Andrew Rueter
Herb
Rain streams down my roof
Dripping from the eaves
Outside is raw and wet
I have no wish to leave
My house is comfortable
My blanket, dry and snug
The fire is bright and warm
Like a loved one's hug

Why would I venture out?
Into the dim unknown
The mud would **** me under
In fields where pain is sown
Dark clouds clog the sky
Wind chills me to the bone
Trees bend down and weep
Outside my pleasant home

I wandered on such a day
With errands to perform
Tasks to be completed
I was swallowed by the storm

My overcoat was soaked
My hands were numbed with cold
I went home sick and ailing
Feeling broken, weak, and old

Can I dare face that again?
The harsh possibility
Of a world so bleak and cruel
Such indifferent hostility
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

But, looking out my window
On the horizon, far away
An arch has spanned the heavens
In varying tones of gray

A Monochromatic Rainbow
No yellow, no red, no green
It has no normal colors
So how can it be seen?
There has to be a light source
To etch it's steely line
So, I know, above the clouds
The Sun does truly shine
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