"overreact" poems
**You're a sight for sore eyes
Been blinded by the light
Too many times**
Waves upon waves
Of color changing iconic notions
Fueled up emotions and sad faces
Shadows and shapes shining bright
At the height of the modern age
**A different way to accentuate the names we put inside our minds
Digital rhymes change the journey we travel**
When it unravels, we share, post and tag
A lag and we're lost in the dim lights of what we do next
Shifting through pages of endless faces, words and updates
**Times alienate the importance of touch
Yet the ignorance has a much higher impact
Than the influence of how to overreact**
Observe this society....
Is this how our lives were meant to be,
Staring at phones and computer screens?
**** this technology**, for taking you away from me
Taking moms from children and dads from jobs
Making every other relationship lose trust and feel wrong
**** this technology for what it does to me**
What it does to you, to society.
**** this technology, but don't you dare try to take my phone from me.**
Aug 23, 2014
Aug 23, 2014 at 4:10 AM UTC
I stare at the crowd
rapid breath intakes
sweaty palms
I can't do this
I look back at her
telling her I can't do it
don't overreact
she says
my heartbeat is deafening
faster
faster
as if it wants to escape
I can do this
I think
but i know I can't
I'll fail
fail
f a i l
I feel nauseous
why am i so stupid
all I have to do is go there
just walk
**** it
why am i afraid?
I can do this,
I convince myself again
but my heart and sweaty palms
told me otherwise
I look back to her again
with my pleading eyes
on the verge of crying
*it's so simple
how can you fail,
everyone else can do it*
she says
simple for her,
but I am not her
nor everyone else
why are you forcing me?
i bite my lip,
so hard that it's bleeding
I stammer
but- I - can't-do- it
why can't you understand?
Apr 6, 2014
Apr 6, 2014 at 9:16 PM UTC
"The global bull market has continued its seemingly relentless advance, unchanged by geopolitical concerns…….."
• The Israeli-Hamas conflict now blazing in Gaza, Palestine, two military forces locked in a deadly struggle to the end, killing and maiming thousands of ordinary citizens.
• Malaysia Airlines flight 17 blasted out of a clear blue Ukraine sky by the Bus surface to air missile
unleashed by the Pro-Russian Separatists killing 298 unsuspecting, innocent, international travellers.
Culpability denied by all.
• Anwar Al Awlaki, the American born Cleric, directing clandestine terror attacks and assassination by Al Qaeda beyond the Middle east into Asia and Europe.
• Deposed President, Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, responsible for terrorist activities including multiple car bombings throughout Egypt.
• President Bashar Assad of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Syria’s Shiite religion, waging religious genocide against his own nations people
and now in open conflict with the Muslim uprising Sunni forces of the new Isis Caliphate.
• The beheadings, slaughter and terror unleashed by the Sunni, Isis Caliphate uprising rampaging through Iraq.
• Russia’s sudden invasion and forceful annexation of the Crimea.
• Russia’s brutal pressure on the sovereignty of the Ukraine through its clandestine weaponry supply and sponsorship of the Pro-Russian Separatist Forces occupying the nations East.
The Middle East is now…an Apocalypse.
This epoch of cruel waste
Where man kills man
For God and gold,
For power’s lust.
Where the Sword of Calamity
Wields destruction and death
On those who can least afford it
By they who should never impose it.
**In the face of all this …..an unbelievable prioritization with this headline quote from today’s NZ Herald….
“There are financial risks to be endlessly jumping at shadows…to overreact to market noise!"**
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
M.
Auckland,
NEW ZEALAND
31 July 2014
Jul 30, 2014
Jul 30, 2014 at 4:59 PM UTC
"PuppyCat"
By Arcassin Burnham
Magic letters,
To the soul,
Once it sparkles,
Then behold,
I need noones everlasting help,
But yours,
Are you a cat?,
Maybe a dog?,
Letting all your memories become victims,
Of smog,
Then turn into a blank Requiem,
It goes to show I'm so appalled,
I guess you'd never thought I'd with chocolate covered strawberry blogs,
Can't look for proper income,
Than you better get a job,
Can't ever get one,
So you worship bones and skulls,
May I say more about you overreact,
Better keep the faith and love in puppycat.
"Chandelier"
By Arcassin Burnham
We won't be the only two hanging here,
Blinded by the light,
We should make it last while we still have our dignity,
I hope you're not too into me,
Cause in a distant memory,
I see clarity,
Couple drinks in my system,
And the remedies,
I just hope you're not too into me,
Another line sniffed,
So we're in another place,
Let this not be a penalty,
I hope you're not into me,
Still hangin.
Mar 3, 2015
Mar 3, 2015 at 2:01 AM UTC
and i’m probably wrong,
but- good.
everyone else gets to be wrong, and be proud of it,
and be supported in their fallacies
shallow girls with their fickle girlfreinds
so eager to agree that “guys ****
hey, newsflash,
if you want to earn the right to be so fragile,
stop treating other people like they’re made of stone,
and these girlfriends who are there for you now,
was it only last week that they were all *******
and didn’t you hate them for all the things they said about you to each other behind your back
(all the same things you say about them behind theirs)
all the girls you would call fat and ugly then turn to me hours later for consolation about insecurities or insult to your own appearance,
all the friends you forced me to get to know,
then forced me to hate,
the warnings you ignored,
only to overreact at the end as if you didn’t know,
and still somehow blame it or take it out on me.
this is for the beanie baby turtle you made me throw out of the window because it was a christmas present to me from your now ex-best friend.
this is for the girl i’ve known since i was a toddler that came to my dad’s fiftieth birthday party with my aunt who used to babysit us both.
she came along because she thought it would be fun to see all the people that she hadn’t for the greater part of ten years.
she came to see me.
she was very beautiful.
i forced myself to ignore her because i knew how you would have reacted.
i will never forgive myself for that.
i’ll probably never see her again.
this is for the class i failed
staying up the night before because “i HAD to call you”
the night before the big test because you were so upset over something that was literally nothing at all
and i told you it was stupid to act like it was a real problem
but i still talked to you well into the early morning as i stumbled around the dark streets
in the cold
because i needed privacy to talk to you and my roommate was in the room.
and so was my calculus book i was trying to read through.
but no- you’re not selfish,
that’s me.
the truth is you need me more than i need you
and the truth is when i first met you, you put on an innocent girl act
but you were just a ****
you and all your friends, the easy, broken girls who didnt get enough love,
from semi-broken homes, who didn’t know what normal or okay were,
and i gave you everything i could.
and you took it all
and then you took it for granted
and then you took me so far in that i never could get back out
i’m tired of being your soft spoken boy
don’t tell me i’m inconsiderate.
don’t tell me i’m not understanding.
don’t tell me you love me when we make up.
you wouldn't know the first thing about it.
Jun 19, 2012
Jun 19, 2012 at 1:32 PM UTC
We were so ecstatic waiting for the wind
to wind its way through the trees--
there was an electricity in the air,
a charged warning.
We sat on the porch guarded by
oversized hoodies
and a wooden awning--
smoked bowls and snickered
at the squirrels dashing
lightning speed from unsteady
branches into hidden havens.
For hours we waited and watched
lawn chairs, trashcans, and
fields of leaves swirl up into the sky,
finally earning a retreat
into chaos. The newly
boarded windows withstood
the huffing and puffing of
nature’s big bad wolf-
he was not so ravenous this time.
Not like Katrina or Andrew.
Not enough to warrant
a week of cancelled classes
and hours of uninterrupted
news coverage- how quickly we
overreact to even the slightest
threat of rain or snow.
This was nothing more
than a PG rated epic but parents
sheltered their children,
covered their eyes and ears,
rocked them to sleep as even
picnic tables stood their ground.
Jul 13, 2010
Jul 13, 2010 at 9:37 AM UTC
words preached of two parallel worlds
one created of an original half
deities from above create one universal, with separate bodies
human nature craves desire and to be cherished
infants cry out for the care of a mother
children tease and chase the other gender without purpose
from our creation, we long someone to be paired with
without reason, we are left to discover encouragement
and reason for our actions
first kiss
butterflies flutter
cheeks flush
pre-adulthood beings overreact to one longing stare
hoping and gossiping of its purpose
human nature desires to be loved
stupidity results in misguided and unknown meaning of love
left alone to interpret vastness of this word "love"
definition is set in stone
for its your other half
another heart that beats to find the matching rhythmic pattern
two bodies, one soul
and you my dear, are extraordinary
smiles spread uncontrollably
dimples appear, and cheeks flush once more
kisses and hugs erupt in chaotic nerves quivering
this, my darling, is our definition
defining our need to express and discover
our shared soul
Oct 30, 2014
Oct 30, 2014 at 2:40 PM UTC
Want me to tell you a secret?
I could tell you the secret but then I might have to **** you
The truth hurts so my hands gripping your throat kind of matches up
No?, well **** it
All lies don’t sink because the truth floats
**** do you need from me?
You ask for the truth
But I don’t believe you can handle the truth
You’ll get crushed under the pleasure like fat chicks ******* midgets
The lies keeps a smile on your face wouldn’t you agree?
I the truth is the lie’s shadow
I’d rather lay with you
Yes, I’d rather lay here and continue to lie here
Than give you my honesty cause honestly your just going to overreact
Which in turn you’re really just going to react the way your suppose to
See in a perfect world lies wouldn’t be told
And the truth would be accepted without drastic measures
I’d tell you the truth but you always told me to tell you what you want to hear
The truth is far from what you want to hear so I’m a keep it far from your ear lobes
Feb 28, 2011
Feb 28, 2011 at 7:30 PM UTC
The walls tremble before the doors do,
before his voice splits the air like a storm,
before Mom folds herself into silence,
before my brother pulls me into the closet,
his hand firm over my mouth,
as if my breath could betray us.
Mom whispers, “It’s okay, go to bed.”
But I count the slams, the crashes, the cries—
and wonder if children like me
ever learn how to sleep.
I stay because I love them,
because they need shelter, food, warmth—
because he wasn’t always this way.
Because I don’t know how to leave
with nothing but two small hands gripping mine.
It’s not always bad. Not always.
And they need their father.
Don’t they?
She won’t leave. She can’t.
There’s nowhere to go, no money, no lifeline—
not with two kids and a court that won’t see past him.
A good man. A working man. A provider.
So I let her cry in the dark, let her call it what it is—hell—
but tomorrow she’ll still pack lunches and fold clothes.
She’ll still tuck us in at night. She’ll stay.
Because that’s what mothers do.
You don’t leave over a bad temper, do you?
Men get angry. Women overreact.
He’s stressed; she should be more patient.
He works hard; isn’t that enough?
At least he’s here. At least we have a roof.
At least the kids have a father.
At least.
For the kids, she stayed.
For the kids, I watched and learned:
that love is sacrifice even when it shatters you;
that family is loyalty even when it bleeds;
that silence is safety even when it suffocates you.
For the kids, I found someone just like him.
For the kids, my brother left fingerprints on his wife’s arm.
For the kids, we swore we’d never be like them—
but we were already broken in their image.
For the kids, we stayed in pieces too long.
For the kids, we told ourselves lies we didn’t believe:
“It’s different this time.”
“It’s not so bad.”
“We’re doing it for them.”
Love does not slam doors off their hinges.
Love does not leave bruises hidden beneath sleeves.
Love does not shrink you until your children can barely find you anymore.
Love does not teach daughters to endure pain as proof of devotion—
or sons to wield anger as power over others.
Love is open arms and steady hands;
it is words that heal instead of wound.
Love is a home where no one has to run or hide or whisper “It’s okay” through tears.
Love is leaving when staying means breaking—
it is showing your children that love should never be feared.
Love is a mother who stands tall enough for her children to see her strength.
Love is a father who earns respect without demanding fear.
Love is a child who never has to wonder:
“Is this normal?”
Feb 14, 2025
Feb 14, 2025 at 4:15 PM UTC
I've been told
I feel too much
I overreact
As I'm easily judged
I overthink
Fervently speak
You dismiss my beliefs
And enforce critique
I've accepted your view
It's not mine to change
But open your mind
As our perspectives exchange
It's a gift and a curse
This heart of mine
For those I love or barely know
I'd drop everything, in the blink of an eye
It's true,
I feel ten times more than you
Your words hold the power
To rip me in two
But also know
I laugh louder than most
Joy floods my veins
Insanely compassionate--diagnosed
Worn heart on my sleeve
Isn't that what they say?
My emotions revealed
Requires more strength than you display
I choose to see good
In most everyone I meet
The world is cold enough
I empathize, I know how it mistreats
The spirit of a child
My soul in search of wonder
At the sight of the ocean
Or the clapping of thunder
I believe this is beauty
A mystery most won't comprehend
I'd face the demons before you
If it meant your nightmares end
I'll never stop feeling so deeply
Believe me when I say I've tried
Every fiber of me is stitched in love
An easy target, but you're welcome inside
© JL Smith
May 17, 2018
May 17, 2018 at 2:54 PM UTC
Regretting the juice I spilled on your lawn
and lingering on the things I said that sounded like my mother,
I drank myself to whispers so I could stop myself from yelling.
There are books about people like me,
people like me whose whispers hurt their children,
but that's the only good reason to be forty and bitter and alone.
So alone that I forget to check the expiration date on yogurt,
so bitter that I like 100% cocoa chocolate.
I can hear you forgiving me, as if everything I do is okay
at least, maybe until I stop chewing something that isn’t there.
You make me feel like I overreact, when you're the one who loved me;
when you're the one who left.
And when you went the door was left ajar
because it doesn't matter who sees into my house,
but it matters that I could see into your heart ******* hypocrite).
Three years makes you feel like you've had your laugh lines forever
but you didn't make me smile
and you couldn't see any difference in my eyes
when I'm obviously seeing you in such a different way.
Facing you earlier in the backyard was like looking at myself
(when I was twelve)
and it made me happy to be eating 100% cocoa
and paying for my rent in cash from my back pocket.
I’d forgotten what it was to be afraid of speaking,
to be afraid of being alone.
Aug 13, 2010
Aug 13, 2010 at 8:32 AM UTC
I am dramatic.
I like to overreact.
I like to laugh loudly
I enjoy sobbing
I make big deals out of things
I make grand statements
If you don't like it...?
Go away.
Jul 15, 2010
Jul 15, 2010 at 4:21 PM UTC
The world is flipped
With odd angles
And strange curves
It has a bit too much
Or maybe it's not enough
Words invert
Shapes mutilate
Atoms overreact
Emotions are switched
Truths are lies
Happiness is an emotional overload
Stress builds up
When's the combustion point?
When does it all become
Too much
Or maybe not enough
When do the tears flow up
When do our smiles shatter
Like glass
When does time end
In a distorted reality
When does time flow
Backwards
Or is it sideways
Odd thoughts become more
Abundant
Your view tilted
40° to the left
Body shifted 32°
To the right
When does end
Where is the clarity
Like putting on glasses
For the first time
Everything snaps into
Focus
Is that my reality?
Apr 20, 2015
Apr 20, 2015 at 10:00 AM UTC
ive been going back to a better time
collecting comics because it was a hobby when i was a child
i got a hacky sack it reminds me off my college days
******** wrestling fan rocking my tees
ready to go back to jui jitsu get my black belt
play a guitar making music release my soul through the sound
write to get it all out since i dont always have some to talk with
i dont quick making the comeback
learned to stay come not overreact
live strong be strong
be tough when things go wrong
Jun 25, 2013
Jun 25, 2013 at 2:19 AM UTC
Wine glass full of water now
last weeks was full of pills
sat and looked for hours at it
no place for happy thrills
poured wine in until it met
the high point of the pile
it melted into mess and gunge
that tasted ******* vile
didn't really do that much
hardly any power
didn't want to die or hurt
just sleep to numb an hour
all that **** is history
prescription ripped up in the bin
got a happy life for me
won't hurt my friends with that old sin
painful flashbacks rapist's ghosts
I overreact and always frown
got to protect my friends the most
to remember the ones that I let down
Feb 16, 2011
Feb 16, 2011 at 12:09 PM UTC
Menial life
Going nowhere
Stays in on Sundays
Don't act your age
Forget what you are
Fall into that trap
Loose a friend
Recover
Love a man
He can't stand you
Overreact
Fall into a trap
Can't start over
Goes too fast
Lose it all
Everyone
Matter to no one
No one
Over the edge
Falling over an edge
Alone
So alone
But Don't apologise
Feb 1, 2015
Feb 1, 2015 at 7:11 AM UTC
You'll pay for everything I need
and for that I am grateful
but you don't even know me
you never go to my band performances
but band is my life.
you never care who my friends are
but they're my reason for being
everyone on the internet says im funny
I can draw
I can write
I'm an artist
I'm a poet
You've never seen my sketchbook
or read the poems I write when you make me cry
Do you care to ask about the boy I'm in love with?
thats right
you don't know about him
though you should
he gives me the love and attention you never did
you'll never ask me whats wrong when I'm down
because you don't care.
I ask you to stop texting when you drive
because I care about you
and you tell me to shut up
You spend every weekend at your lovers house
because I guess I'm not enough for you
I try to tell you these things
And I'm terrible at showing how I feel
So when I muster up the strength
to cry out
you laugh
because i'm just a stupid teenager
and I overreact
because my feelings dont count.
Nov 16, 2013
Nov 16, 2013 at 4:31 PM UTC
What the hell is wrong with me?
I don't want to care,
I don't wanna feel like this anymore
I can't ask for your help
because i would have
to explain myself,
and that would make it
ten times worse
I should just stop speaking to you,
but you did nothing to hurt me;
I'm stupid and i overreact
because I'm insecure
and, on my mind,
there's no place for me
in your heart
But what if,
maybe,
I'm not wrong at all?
Jun 12, 2017
Jun 12, 2017 at 4:11 PM UTC
Each day when I rise and I walk out my door,
The world that I see isn’t mine anymore.
The rules are all bent so I can’t see their shape,
And on every street corner I pass police tape.
When you sign onto Twitter, catch up on the news,
But it might not be true, so watch out for the clues.
They say, “Hey, you’re transgender? We can’t let you fight.”
“Oh, you’re black? Or you’re Asian? We’re best ‘cause we’re white.”
If they’re caught in their lies, they don’t overreact,
Mumble “something-or-other alternative fact.
If you glance out your window one night and you find
A torch wielding mob, well, just never you mind.
Join the big three ring circus! Its painted faced clowns,
And its ringleader with his red white and blue crown!
So turn on your TV, watch the latest debate,
And what you will see is the next Watergate.
Or just do what I do, use your eyes and your heart,
Then you, too, can watch as fear tears us apart.
Or maybe it won’t, if enough of us see,
When we all work together, we still might break free.
Jan 8, 2018
Jan 8, 2018 at 11:49 AM UTC
What did you expect from me
when I'm crying,
and you know every reason why?
What did you expect from me
when you claim to understand me?
It is clear through your tone
that that's what you think,
but I sure as hell can tell you:
you don't know.
What did you expect from me
when you walked into my room
like you owned it?
What did you expect from me
when you say I overreact,
then insult me in any way possible?
What did you expect from me?
What do you expect from me?
I can tell you what to expect.
But maybe that might be an "overreaction."
I don't answer to you.
Good bye,
and good riddance.
Nov 5, 2014
Nov 5, 2014 at 10:39 AM UTC
I'm fiery, impulsive.
I talk too much,
I think too much
and sometimes not at all.
I complain a lot,
and I cry and laugh,
I blab a lot,
overreact.
Hyperbolise,
and overanalyse
and take things wrong
and get offended,
I don't trust,
I hate, I love
with fiery passion,
I've hot blood.
The sea's not always calm,
please captain, take me,
I might be too much,
but try not to let me go.
Jun 27, 2014
Jun 27, 2014 at 10:29 AM UTC
Americans we are oversenstive sometimes.
We sometimes overreact to news.
We sometimes overreact to statements.
We sometimes overreact to others beliefs.
We sometimes overreact in crisis.
We sometimes overreact to family problems.
We sometimes overreact to animals problems.
We sometimes need to realize that life is unscripted and we
need to react camly.
Sep 15, 2010
Sep 15, 2010 at 6:24 PM UTC
if i say i love you
will you love me back
if i say i need you
will you need me back
if i say i want you
will you want me back
you say you love me
you say you need me
you say you want me
and sometimes say
you don't want to hurt me
you always seem to confuse me
with your words
you never elaborate your thoughts
your meaning,
your truthfulness,
this always have me thinking
is something wrong
am i replaceable
are you true
am i fool
has our love faded
or
is our love strong
or
do i just overreact
Feb 12, 2015
Feb 12, 2015 at 11:22 AM UTC
You're only as free
As you allow yourself to be
And I kept holding myself back
I kept building a cage
In every life stage
Imitating what I knew were facts
Because where I belonged
Was in between four walls
To make up for what I lacked
I couldn't handle the outside
My own potential was denied
It was best for me not to overreact
Head held high with a stern gaze
Always keeping a royal face
Every movement was a graceful act
Poised and perfect I shall be
For one day I will be free
Maintain composure before I attack
Apr 4, 2020
Apr 4, 2020 at 2:30 AM UTC