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Jared Eli Aug 2013
A night like that was sorely needed
Confessed my soul and aspects of
My shattered personality

And yet, though I am fractured, broken
Damaged goods as some might say
She accepts me as I am

She doesn't bear the title of best friend
But she's closer than the rest and for
Many complicated reasons

The more I open up and show just how
Unlovable I truly am
The more she holds my hand
Jared Eli Jun 2013
She walked with a skip in her step
Like a stone on the water of a lake
Her graceful gliding interrupted
Only by a joyful spring in the air
Jared Eli Dec 2012
You scored my heart with your fire and flames
They lapped at the muscle inscribing their names:
Beauty and Intellect, so **** and smart
Warping my mind like contemporary art
You know all the words that make me clench fists
You tease and you promise and handcuff my wrists
I smile when I see you and frown when you leave
And you leave me wanting so much to believe
That I'm not just a fling, just another guy
A portable shoulder for tears when you cry
I've been there before, and it's happening still
If you want me to do that, then I certainly will
But when you whisper so sweetly those things in the night
Sighing my name, saying, "This is so right"
I can't help but think that it means so much more
Than a shoulder to help your eyes even the score
Jared Eli Oct 2019
As a Scorpio who's well-intentioned
I will try to avoid your mentions
But I still will dream of you—
Little Virgo, sky/sea blue

Why sky and sea?
Well let me see. . .
What better way to describe thee?

As clouds aloft, thou art, thou art
So pure and soft, thou art, thou art
And when thou thinks of me unwell,
Thou art a maelstrom's swirling hell.

So sky and sea
Yes, those are thee
Yet wouldst not water describe me?

Unpredictably consistent
Sometime calming; oft persistent
And as water wears at coast
Seems I'm the one who wears you most

Sky and sea, sky and sea
Could it be they're meant to be. . .

An homage to our similar'ty?
Twins of cloth yet each a rar'ty?
Evidence that we are one?
No separation when out the sun?
Could it be the sky and sea
Are mostly you and mostly me?
Perhaps in our co-mingled blueness
We have found a vein of trueness
And as the sky turns orange and pink
And sea as dark as pitch
We turn ourselves from sea to sky
And follow that sunny niche
Jared Eli Oct 2013
So your name's Amanda
And I said I'd remember it by how much
You aren't like Amanda Bynes
And you know my friend the dancer
You were there when I asked if she had
Cut that guy's head off with a snap of a leg leftover from
A misstepped plie
I told you my name
Age
Blood type
Mother's maiden name
And address
Just to make conversation
(and also because I knew you wouldn't remember any of it)
And you said that it was creepy that I decided
To sit near you
When everyone else I knew
Had left me
(I left enough room for Jesus between our backpacks
Sitting side by side)
I can't blame you for being rude
I just wish I was better at making
Good first impressions
Than I was at small talk
Jared Eli Nov 2013
Can't bear the sight of smiles
When I'm like this
Jared Eli Dec 2013
You take things you don't understand
And smash the
Majesty
Awe
Beauty
Originality
Out of it
And crush it down
Into a little box
That fits into
Your description
Of acceptable
You
Are the death of art
Jared Eli Apr 2018
I recently finished a "collection" of "short stories"
It's really garbage and if you'd like to waste money, you'll find the info below











. . . But it is very bad so don't do it.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/jared-cohen/things-you-never-said/paperback/product-23583891.html
Jared Eli Aug 2013
I can belt out rhymes
Haphazard and quick
I can make up ditties
That tragically will stick
I can write a speech
That would move a nation
But I don't know what to say:
Evolution or creation?
Jared Eli Aug 2013
Something's shifted
Something's wrong
Repeated mantra, like a song
What has changed
What is altered
My disbelief has never faltered
Distrust in me, can count on that
Is this time too late?

Something's shifted
Some things begin
Deep inside me, deep within
Jared Eli Aug 2013
Sometimes I wish
that I was made
of dust
and lice
and other bits
of things that no one wants
so they could brush me off
and have a real reason
for wanting me gone
Jared Eli Dec 2013
I can speak the words of another
With the conviction
Of a thousand horsemen
Riding into battle
But my own words I say soft
And they are lost in the thunderous
Hoofbeats
Jared Eli Sep 2013
It hurts
Because I feel like I'm draining
The life
Out of you
Depleting what matters
Because I sure as hell don't
Stop loving me
All of you, please
It will only hurt us both
Because I'm not worth it
Jared Eli Sep 2013
Stop trying to analyze and dig deep down inside
Sometimes what I'm saying isn't what I'm trying to hide
Sometimes I just say the things I feel
Or nonsensical junk about the unreal

Sure the "chocolate syrup" has a meaning
But that doesn't make everything mean something
My allusions are oft false
To delve deep into a shallow pool
Is to plan for failure
There will be pain for us both if you keep it up
I once said that "depression is an empty bottle of chocolate syrup" (there's a story behind that, message if you really would like to know) and so when chocolate syrup appears in my writing it is usually an allusion to depression, just as Mr. Steele is a razor blade and Mr. Wall is myself (my subconscious, rather) and the Woman in Red, though a Matrix reference, is a guardian angel of sorts.
Jared Eli Jan 2019
And I feel less of me's still part of me and more of me's just gone
There's some of me left bottled and the streetlight's shadow turns sundial until
It's time to go time to go time to get up and leave it behind
Bottles left at bus stations, maybe you've seen 'em
But I sure don't know what happens when some one comes 'round to clean 'em
Well see the bottled bits of me still me
I left behind in Fullington and there's
miles of road between us and the grass
looks awful green over there and there
but I'm walking the asphalt, cracked and
holy like my path of redemption to lose
myself not find myself
I'm not playing hide and seek, no I'm
playing hide and Hyde, got a bottle for the cure-all
That I've shoved myself inside
And I'll drop it in my pocket, so take a gander there
Tell me what you see in me, in the bottle's curly hair
I used to think I was the coat but now I see I'm rodent
This rat's just sniffed the catnip, now he's belly-up and bloated
That's not my path, that's not for me, so tie my little feet
Heave-**, heave-**
And off I go
Wrapped in that corduroy
Heave-**, heave-**
And off I go
Nothing but a stupid boy
Jared Eli Sep 2013
I wrote a poem
Seconds before my head exploded
In a flashing of
Cacophonous pain
Inharmonious
Agony
Was it dehydration?
Hunger?
Stress?
All I knew was that it hurt.
And the ibuprofen was safely at home
Out of reach
I've always hated geography
Jared Eli Oct 2019
Sundrops and melted hearts
fill the streets in their empty parts
where the asphalt starts to tear and break
the melty bits fix the mistake
And flowerbeams and rainbow-daggers
launch attacks until sadness staggers
clutching at a mortal head-laceration
the tears have now left the station

So it is that on a sunny day
A funny day, a Mon-i-day
The good bits make better
The cheeks that were wetter
When good thoughts had all gone away
Jared Eli Sep 2013
I know that they're for me
These cookies and iced tea
You set them on a plate
Gotta say, you're looking great
But I came here just for food
And I hope that isn't rude
All these candles by the door
Can I ask you what they're for?
Oh my goodness dear, please no!
Now I've really got to go
Let me out. Unlock this room!
I don't want to be the groom!
Jared Eli Nov 2013
I drew a sketch of
A hangman's noose
On the back of a book
By James Gleick
Then I thought,
Who am I kidding?
And finished the sketch
As Phi
Jared Eli Nov 2018
I know what it is to be tasteless
I've seen past the fountain of youth and
I've drunk of those ripened peaches
I've lain me down in heather

Stay by my side through this
sobering experience;
I know what it is
And I know
I am it
Jared Eli Oct 2013
Tears like these
Need patches
Not flimsy
Stitching
Jared Eli Nov 2013
Santa was a hit man and he had no alibi
His big red suit was drenched in blood, more vibrant than a dye
See, Mrs. Clause was KGB, and the North Pole was her base
And Santa was the corporate shell that really owned the place
The "elves" were political prisoners (and yes, some were rather short)
And the present-giving Christmas was the day Clause would report
But when the Union went away, there was no need for Clauses
And they ripped up the whole contract (not covered in Incidental Causes)
Mrs. Clause got into drinking, and it got worse everyday
'Till it happened: she was so drunk, she keeled over in the hay
They found her the next morning with a reindeer on her head
Santa knew before the med report that Mrs. Clause was dead
So he went back to the basics, and he hooked into Network 1
The most top secret channel where certain agents have their fun
He was lost without his partner (their marriage was arranged)
She had handled the business,his financial sense was left estranged
He knew without her, he'd go under; have to sell the Pole to the West
He needed to make the payments by doing just what he knew best
Santa filled the role of assassin, killing silently with grace
He laid a finger beside his nose before he shoved the gun up in your face
Making the hits look unconnected, well he varied up his style
In fact he was thinking of being a "serial killer" and followed that up for a little while
But his stealing milk and cookies didn't clue anybody in
Maybe it just wasn't plausible to blame the fat man and his grin
Whatever the case, he's a random killer who strikes with impunity
With a swish of his coat, he jumps roof to roof, flaunting his immunity
Jared Eli Dec 2018
“Everything is fine” and that’s not great
See, fine is what you leave on a car in a wrong spot
Punishment for where you shouldn’t be
Fine is the end after the signs
:S: Everything is fine
But it’s not great
And you see, I’d like to think I strive for greatness
I feel wrapped in a repeat
On a treadmill to nowhere
As the screens beside, around me
Change; teasing little lights that dance
Like a marionette, so too I dance
Or so it feels
Strings which tug and hold
S.S.D.D.; D.S. all fine.
Jared Eli Dec 2014
I yelled "I love you" off a cliff
My voice echoed and contorted
Until I could no longer recognize it as my own
The meaning was lost
All that remained was a vague ringing
And I think that's what you hear
When I tell you that I love you
I think everyone before me
Everyone you let in close
Said the words
And now that I'm saying them
The meaning is contorted
Because everyone before me
Carved a cliff out of your heart
And I am yelling off of it
But the echoes twist
The echoes change
And the ringing remains
I'm sitting here speaking to you
And I know the words go right through
As if these words of mine
Are only ghosts
My ghost words and I
We love you
And if it takes a thousand nights of haunting
We will reach you from beyond the grave of love
Because, darling, I don't need you to love me
I don't even need you to care
I need you to know that I'm not lying
I need you to know that I love you
Yes, I am being selfish
Because my days of being selfless ended
When I found myself in you
So here I am, shouting off the cliff
Waiting for the echoes to reflect my message
Jared Eli Apr 2013
I'm sorry, my sweet
But the dolphins don't swim anymore
They just float on the surface
Of the cruel, tempting ocean
And wait for the waves to move them

Oh, no! They aren't dead!
Don't be absurd
They're just lethargic
Atrophied
And gathering ocean dust
Since Ahab drowned
I know dolphins aren't whales, but I think I will tell this to small children I see at the beach...
Jared Eli Jun 2018
The first time I saw you cry was about him
And it was in your month so it wasn't fair
It was about how he had pressed pause
Played with words and women
Like he was running through so many flowers
Just running through flowers; he'd be back soon.

The first time I saw you cry I held you in my arms
I was wearing a shirt of acting
Acting the part of a father
And fathering a mind full of doubts and fears
I told you to hit stop on the paused player.

The first time I held you in my arms, I didn't know what to do
Patting or stroking or still
I still don't know what to do with them
But I tried to say the things I didn't know how
How you needed so much better
Better find yourself a true love.

The first time I made you cry, I said 'I love you'
The first time you cried because of something I said
Good goodbye tears, happy and sad
Like the world was ending, and ours was, a little
You left with him
We lost each other
You lost yourself
I found me

The last time I made you cry, you said "I'm sorry"
But it was because I made you think about him
And it was in your house so it wasn't fair
I made you think of infidelity and the fear
Of losing Someone you love to Someone you love
I was the second Someone making you think of that first someone
Of not-too-many years ago

The last time I made you cry, you comforted me
I threw up in your toilet and you said "I'm sorry"
I gave you nothing but unprocessed ****
Rejected goodness and nourishment
I gave you memories of bad people
And bad thoughts of good people
I gave you strife
And you said "I'm sorry"
My heart aches for all the wrong I do and every one of your selfless actions wring it like a cloth and I don't know how I could love you any more than I do, my truest friend, my guardian angel.
Jared Eli Oct 2013
She's wearing these long, bright red rainboots
On the sunniest of days
As if she's afraid that if she doesn't
She'll fade away and disappear forever
"You won't!" I want to shout to her
"You'll never fade away
Because you are the most beautiful thing
That has ever been permitted to stay in this world
To pass before my eyes
To smile... perhaps in my general direction..."
But she doesn't hear me
She is lost in her own analysis
Of the shifting clouds
The little whisps of whimsical water vapors
I see her spin slightly
Gazing up at their shapeless shapes
Her lips mouthing words that I cannot hear
For I am a coward and do not approach
O, What I would give to speak with her
For even the most slight of seconds
About even the most trivial thing in the universe
But alas, it was not meant to be
I walk slowly down the street
Past the cacophonous roaring of
The motor cars
As unflattering as they are to the ear
So she is beautiful
I arrive at the corner
The smell of tar and gasoline rise
From the steaming asphalt
I turn
And she is there
She is there and she is sitting
She is sitting on her bike right there
She is on her bike and I see her as I turn
"Hello" she says
She smiles as she says hello
I search for the words
To tell her how
She has owned my heart
Since the moment I laid eyes on her
"Ayeii" I say as the light changes
She giggles and rides away
"Hello I love you"
But it's too late
She can't hear me
I walk across the intersection
And continue my long walk back home
Filled with the hope that maybe it will happen again
Maybe I'll see her again
Maybe...
Jared Eli Dec 2013
Stuck in the waiting room
Forever and always
For now
Jared Eli May 2013
I used to think that maybe you were all I'd ever need
I thought of you as only mine; a product of my greed
But you aren't mine, and never were, and that is just a fact
This phantom-fake relationship, was it just an act?

So tell me truly, gorgeous one, when did love leave you?
Tell me when that winged ***** stopped by to bid adieu
His arrow's deep inside my chest, but you don't have a scratch
I've got a seeping puncture wound, without a stable patch
Jared Eli Sep 2013
"I must admit," said the man in Red
As he bit into a burning
Apple
He had just picked off the
Tree of humanity
"The taste of
Insanity
Is not an acquired taste.
It's accepted almost immediately"
He held the burning core up to his
Soulless
Eyes
And smiled a smile that was so
Hideous
That words
Cannot describe it.
"Though it is not accepted
As readily as a mother's breast,
Some would cling
Longer and
Tighter
To the
Buoyant anchor of insanity
Than the nurturing flesh
Of the mother."
Jared Eli Dec 2013
I think I shall very much have to fight the desire
To kiss you any time
You say something remotely interesting.
Which will probably happen
More oft than not
Jared Eli Nov 2012
It was the hardest thing she did
She worked on it for weeks
She put her heart and soul in
The Painting

She made the image mild
With a underlying meaning
It was a captured falling star
The Painting

There were lovely blues and grays
Greens and orange hued with pink
The spectrum was to view in
The Painting

She put the final stroke and signed
The work was done; she took it up
She went to show her parents
The Painting

The smiled and patted her head
She frowned and showed and yet
They could not see their little girl in
The Painting

A tear broke loose and hurtled down
She turned away and ran like mad
The alcohol would help to burn
The Painting
Jared Eli Sep 2013
The purple dancer runs along
With ashen streamer flowing
It tails the dancer as the song
Climaxes, ever knowing

The moves are clear, concise, complete
And audience views the tale
The streamer obeys eager feet
The dancer does not fail

The purple dancer's feet attack
And lovingly embrace
The floor of fibrous white in stack
The medium of this place

And when at last the dance is done
The ashen streamer taken
Illumination: Mind has won
And through this, world has shaken
Jared Eli Dec 2013
The sky looked down on me
It was ashamed
I was blinded by
My emotions
And could not look past
The smog
To see
Every
Single
Star
"I tried!"
I yell at the sky
The sky does not care
Failure is unacceptable
And the sky wraps around me
Surrounds me
And grounds me to a single point
The vertex of infinity
Where it feels strange to be
Alive
I step out of my body
And into nothing
And the nothing steps back into me
Like a great cascade of cold and blackness
I am replaced with emptiness
And my body flees
I am left
Standing alone in the field of memory
I see everything that can be
That will be
That has been
That is
That mustn't be
I am shown the truth
The truth that inscribed unto every grain of sand
Is all of time and space
That the faces of all the people of your past
Can be found
Within the skin of an acorn
That all the things you will accomplish
Are written as a list
On the tip of a needle
I am shown that everything
Runs on a universal code
That everything
Can be
And will be
Written over
By whomever holds the marker
I walk through the field mildly
Paying strict attention at first
Noting the worst
And the best
Of memories
But then I freeze
And fall to my knees
Because I see
I see what I have searched for for so long
The memory of me
It is marked with charcoal
Edges smudged
On the corner of a
Small
Gray
Rock
And I know
That it is because I have not
Seized the day
I have not stopped and smelled the flowers
Nor brushed past them on a mission
I have simply been
And been content with simply being
And my memory in the grand scheme
Would fade as easily as a page
Let burn
I grabbed a chisel that was strength
And a hammer that was conviction
And I carved my memory unto
The largest boulder there was
And when I threw down the bottle
With its rag halfway reaching for the flame
And halfway hiding in the kerosene
And it smashed on the field
Everything burned
Everything was erased
Except for my memory
Carved on the largest boulder
And the sky smiled
For it knew that I had now realized
The true nature of its
Disappointment
Come, child
I must take you home
There is much to do
"You're ****** right there is"
Jared Eli Aug 2013
I was born on a leap year
Right before the Millenium
A family of five in Mexico were stabbed
Six days before I arrived
And in the same month
(But half the days)
That Rusty won the first NASCAR race
In Japan

Call me a Scorpio, I don't mind
I was born in the year of the rat
And the zodiac says that fire's my element
But I always liked my time spent in water

Pearl is to the ancients
What Topaz is today
Though neither value much
To the people on the Boeing 747
Or the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane
That killed 349 people
With the force of their collision

When you look up the day
That I came to be known
As another member of the living
They'll tell you all about the fatal, terrible crash
That I was too young to remember or even witness

Being born in the '90's earns me
No extra respect
No reverent awe
No special treatment
I was born too late for the long-haired peace
Disco and drugs
A John Hughes-like high school
And only my parents got away with
Sweat pants and leg warmers
Or turtleneck sweaters

I am just another 96 baby
But they don't make them like us
Anymore
Jared Eli Mar 2013
The woman in red touched my elbow and said,
"What do you want from this life?"
I looked in her eyes and said with surprise,
"I haven't the slightest idea."
She smiled with a wink and it got me to think
That maybe she knew all along
I smiled at her too because that's what you do
When a woman in red takes your hand
Jared Eli Nov 2013
Avoid the stares
They all know you should be dead
Jared Eli Sep 2013
They say I'm lazy and unmotivated
That I don't apply myself fully
What they fail to say is that
I'm trying to cope
With the drowning feeling of
Depression
With the thought
That I'm a worthless ****
With the idea that I'm wasting my life
And that I may just be potential
Nothing more
They forget to say these things
But I don't hold it against them
Jared Eli Dec 2013
She renders me an idiot, a *******;
Okay,
I'll admit it!
Without her, I still act that way
But in my defense
She makes me twice as dense
Like a brick being compacted
My stupidity's enacted
Like she flips some switch that turns off my brain
And there are words in my mouth
Or are they in my head?
Or, wait what am I saying?
She makes me forget
And we haven't gone out yet
It'll happen tonight
And if it goes alright
Then maybe I won't act stupid
Maybe fat, baby cupid
Will ease up a bit so I can think 'stead of awkwardly
Talking of nothing to justify
Staring in her eyes
Her gorgeous, gorgeous eyes
You're adorable.
Potato
Jared Eli Aug 2013
"Everything wants to be free," said the girl
"Yes, everything wants to be free.
A dog to its owner would say,
Should it talk:
'Please take this leash off of me'"

"Everything wants to be free," said the girl
As she looked from my face to the sky
"Even yourself, though you don't know it yet
Every man, woman, child, and I"

"Everything wants to be free," spoke I, soft
And she stared with her deep, endless eyes
"And yes, you were right, I did not know it then
But to me, this comes as no surprise"

"Everything wants to be free," said the winds
And swirling around us, they came
And whispered the thoughts that we hid in our minds
While calling us gently by name

"Everything wants to be free," said the world
In unison, voicing as one
A merging that started from this very girl
A unity that she'd begun
Not sure if I wrote this one about you, but I know that I thought of you as I wrote it
Jared Eli Apr 2013
Thoughts are thoughts and shall remain
Until the mind cannot contain
And then the thoughts will be words
Free and flying just as birds

Think in terms of poetry
Not in terms of you nor me
Want to be a lyric ****?
Think in terms of all that is
Jared Eli Jan 2019
There are faces in my memory that haunt me when I dream
But my mind won't dream that often so the faces stay asleep
And while I'm just snoozing daily all these faces reappear
And carve trees in my subconscious 'til the branches all fall down
I've got house enough for Eeyore, I've got switches set for beatings
Half-assed greetings in first meetings 'cause being social has me retreating to the comfort of not-knowing-people and the comfort of I'm-stuck and there's ease in being doubtful being warped and bent inside
I ain't easy, so they say, and I'm inclined to agree
I ain't easy, we all know, and it ain't easy thinking me
Jared Eli Jan 2017
Count the omens, count your toes
Remember that which no one knows
For only those in darkness see
And that which blinds will set you free
Jared Eli Dec 2012
Tissues for your issues
Wipe your tears away
Though today is dark and dreary
It's tomorrow's yesterday
Jared Eli Aug 2013
She sat there and drank
As the Titanic sank
And the people were running about

"There's no need to worry,"
She said without hurry,
"I expect to be wined 'til they're out!"

The waiter dropped tray
As he scampered away
And the champagne now flowed on the floor

The woman looked down
With a sizeable frown
And gargled and belched, "I want more!"
Jared Eli Dec 2018
You’ve been moved two tiers, eh?
Underfoot you feel a table
And you are, for them
You had been a diminutive seat, but
Have been hereby promoted to ottoman.
A fire hazard you may present at present
But a greater gift to weary walkers than an
Ottoman, there is yet to be.
Count your cushions, and your lucky stars
Will find you warmed by heated sitters
‘Til around comes a professor
A second scolding to deliver
And an ottoman to demote
To lowly seat.
Jared Eli Dec 2013
Every kiss
bite
Touch
Whisper
nibble
Glance
Eyebrow raising
Hug
Sends me into orbit
Gets me so high on happiness
It inflates my heart
And I fly into the clear blue sky
That is ecstasy
And I'm addicted
To the way you make me feel
Jared Eli Dec 2018
Depression and I, we wear the same faces
We're in the same places; I see him in the mirror
Maybe depression isn't real—maybe that's the twist
Maybe depression is my twin I ate in the womb
Maybe depression is my shadow, my impending tomb
Maybe depression is a word I made up years ago
An excuse for my brain bending backwards to find
The right words to explain what it's doing
I don't know what it's doing
It seems to
Maybe I'm not real—maybe that's the twist
Jared Eli Mar 2019
**** the rest of the world
I like when it’s just us together
Cos
They don’t know what we know
How we feel like
Two photographs that perfectly
Overlay to make a treasure map
We’re the map
We’re the treasure
And **** the rest of the world
Cos
I like when it’s just us together
And there’s no one
No one around
And we’re
The only important characters
In this
Narrative experience
And I feel you there in the dark
I feel you next to me
But sometimes the light cast shadows
And I think there’s shapes on my walls
They come to get me
Little puppets and string-dancers
Man, **** the rest of the world
Cos
You’re the world I wanna be in
And you’re the world I wanna die in
You’re the wonders
Ancient wonders ain’t old news
Modern wonders ain’t too new
And it’s just us two
Me and you
**** the rest of the world
Jared Eli Dec 2014
Silence and I have this unspoken agreement
If I don’t let anything break it, it’ll be around me
But I rarely keep up my end
How can I protect silence when I can’t protect myself?
Silence is an abstract, and I am tangible
Fragile, breaking daily
And I don’t mean to complain
Because Dear god, some of the breaks are beautiful reminders of life
And some are just beautiful or reminders of life
But I break daily
Some breaks are larger than others
But still it remains to be seen: How can I protect the abstract
When I can’t protect the tangible?
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