"riptide" poems
When she held me, I felt like an earthquake,
shrapnel cutting quick to the bone.
I’m disaster, an unknown
kind of danger is the most dangerous
When he held me, I felt like a riptide,
all control ran out the door.
With the *** and cappuccinos
I felt out of place in my new home
When she held me, I felt disgusting,
every move my own betrayal.
Yes, she hurt like a gunshot
but I did this to myself
When he held me, I felt strange,
like I should give my whole self.
He never asked, I’m thankful.
I don’t want to ruin everything else
When she held me, I felt like a secret,
like I was something small and wild.
In a room of screaming children,
we were something invincible
He never held me, but that’s alright.
Someone tell him I understand.
Take it slow, like we’re new friends.
I’m alive for once
No one touch me, I don’t want it.
Stop breathing down my neck.
My throat fills with *****
But the hands never rest
No one touch me, leave me alone.
Stop pressing on my back.
There are thumbprints on my wrist bones
and handprints on my thighs
Don’t touch me when you aren’t here.
So many years have passed.
Is it trauma? I don’t care.
The filthy feeling always lasts
Don’t touch me when you aren’t here.
Nobody ever has to know.
When you’re sitting by your lonesome
Nobody cares, you’re on your own
Nobody cares, you’re on your own
May 23, 2016
May 23, 2016 at 12:10 PM UTC
You made your choice, our song is sung -
I wont speak of your sins -
or the pull of your riptide tongue -
not of losses and wins -
I found religion in your eyes -
Prayed silently for love -
Drank eagerly your liquored guise -
been drunk for long enough.
Mar 21, 2014
Mar 21, 2014 at 11:33 AM UTC
Sunlight on my grinning face
Follows me from place to place
But it won’t do
Don’t know how long I can wait
Wandering this empty space
Searching for you
Up and down the barren coast
Listen as the riptide rolls
With so much to say
Probably what hurts the most
Is knowing when you’re so **** close
And still so far away
Once per while I catch a glimpse
Of unintended fleeting hints
To call out your name
Won’t make much a difference
Words don’t carry far upwind
It’s always the same
In the breeze
I see it’s just the wind
It’s a tease
To be at the shoreline again
Shepherd, call the sheep back home
Be thankful that you’re not alone
Round em up one more time
My, how much the herd has grown
With wool to warm your gentle soul
Leave no soul behind
Apr 25, 2016
Apr 25, 2016 at 8:32 PM UTC
The veil, the veil, it coats me in labor and delay!
I tarry not by will but by mass, form, and time.
Face turned to heaven, toes to its floor I will let the sea overtake me,
As though its current could slake this hiraeth,
This riptide of yearning that pulls at my soul.
Truly, to stand before the sea is to be audience to the world.
Jul 28, 2014
Jul 28, 2014 at 4:45 PM UTC
Loving and talking to you is like loving and talking to a blackhole—
useless!
Every breath is a hot mess of wasted gasses.
Every wail is a vain attempt to be heard.
You devour everything
and let go of nothing.
I’ve tried leaving it alone.
I’ve tried letting you go.
But this grudge of mine draws me in,
a will to exhume those white skeletons
in your black closet of a heart.
Pointless;
but I’m caught in your arms
that pull me in to the point of singularity.
I know you’ll rip and tear me to shreds
and then tear those shreds to dust
and dust to particles.
My ghost won’t even be able to escape.
. . . Stay away. . .
. . . Stay away. . .
Maybe someday I’ll watch the massive riptide turn
and become a warm star I wish longingly to orbit.
Mar 30, 2013
Mar 30, 2013 at 6:46 PM UTC
He loved like a raindrop
but I loved like a cyclone
-
And his eyes were the ocean
and mine were tsunamis
-
but his heart was a riptide
and I couldn't escape it
.
Aug 10, 2018
Aug 10, 2018 at 6:51 AM UTC
Temptation is sweet, subtle,
Like the steady rhythm of beach waves --
Not there unless you're listening and
Watching for the sly and slick riptide.
The wait is agonizing, maddening,
Like walking along shell shattered sand --
Not willing to stop and reason
Knowing the anxiety is pulling people under.
The fall is sudden, quick,
Like the rush of a tidal wave --
Relentless in its destruction and
Scattering the power lusted as the serpent rises.
Feb 11, 2015
Feb 11, 2015 at 10:23 AM UTC
You're lookin' at the river
Feelin' down and weak
When you're
Wadin' in the water
and it's rushing 'round your feet
When you want to
Reach the other side
And feel you can't retreat
The same insane song
In your head
And it is on "repeat"...
*Just remember there are Bridges
They are made of words
Remember there are Bridges
Things you haven't heard
Remember there are Bridges
Made with human hands
Remember there are Bridges
Then you'll understand*
The waters in that riverbed
They are cold and deep
They have a riptide current
So look before you leap!
You can't stand against them
They will take you down
You may just go under
Brother, sister, *you will drown!
(chorus)*
Reaching out ain't easy
But it don't get much worse
Than feeling down and vulnerable
Living with a curse
It's like picking up the planet
To lift that lifeline phone
But there *people who
Will care for you...
You are not alone!
Just remember there are bridges
They are made of Words,
Remember there are bridges
Things you haven't heard,
Remember there are bridges
Made with God's own hand
Remember there are bridges
Then you'll understand.*
BRIDGE:
Remember there are Bridges
When you are at a loss
They weren't made to jump from
They were made to CROSS.
SoulSurvivor
(C) 2/12/2016
Feb 12, 2016
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:01 PM UTC
احب نفسك اولا
(love yourself first)
From the moment I met you,
I was intrigued.
Your eyes were like
A vast blue ocean
That would pull me in
Sometimes welcoming,
Letting me stay afloat
Just long enough to enjoy myself
Other times willing me to drown
And drown, I did
You pulled me completely under
Without stopping to let me breathe
I almost died
Except I didn't die
Just as I gasped one last breath,
You helped me back to shore
Made sure I breathed again
That was when you told me you loved me
And right in that moment I wanted to kiss you
I craved you the way trees crave carbon dioxide
And you said there were times
When you wanted to kiss me
And just for a moment
I let myself imagine
I thought of your strong arms around my body,
Keeping me safe, while wanting every piece of me
Kissing the scars that align my skin
Like a map of my regrets
Wiping any tears I cried away
And that was when
You pulled me back under
you shattered every piece of my already broken heart
"I can't love you, because I'll end up hurt"
Were your exact words
And if I remember correctly,
Those were my words to you
The first time we exchanged
"I love you's"
And as I remembered this,
A riptide occurred
*Riptide (n): a strong current caused by tidal flow in confined
areas and presenting a hazard to swimmers and boaters*
you were a hazard to my state of mind
You ruined what was left of my sanity
But it was when you decided to block me out
That I was finally able to realize this fact:
I was so busy trying to stay afloat, alive
In your fatal whirlpool of an ocean
In the ocean of your blue eyes
That I fell too hard for you
Before thinking to fall
For myself
Jul 31, 2014
Jul 31, 2014 at 2:44 AM UTC
When he speaks,
sometimes I hold my breath
like I hold his hands.
Drowning above water,
caught in the riptide of
Lust and Language,
seems like such a foreign concept.
At least it was before I met him.
I can feel my heart
as it palpitates
and the arteries
that throb just
below my skull...
They silently beg me to
let go of what his words
do - the pressure they place
on my lungs.
Winded like prey
who has just flown
from the ravenous predator.
I feel torn apart
more often than saved.
And right now, I ******* hate metaphors.
Who knew it was possible
to anticipate
that the way you may die
would actually be
the only way you ever lived?
Always caught up in
someone else's words.
Dec 5, 2015
Dec 5, 2015 at 7:13 AM UTC
It’s been so long that we have been together
Though many years have passed I’m yours forever
I can’t stop thinking 'bout the fun we’ve had
Our life together is still super rad
It’s just a hurricane of love
~Coming our way~
Still a hurricane of love
~Double red flag warning~
Just a hurricane of love
~Blowing us away~
Still a hurricane of love
~Flooding our emotions~
This is the calm before the storm above
And we are trapped in an eyewall of love
Gusts of desire drive us to our fate
It’s way too late now to evacuate
It’s just a hurricane of love
~Coming our way~
Still a hurricane of love
~Double red flag warning~
Just a hurricane of love
~Blowing us away~
Still a hurricane of love
~Flooding our emotions~
These Cat 5 feelings we just cannot stop
Emotions whirling like a spinning top
Your riptide pulls me in so ever deep
Storm surge of love so strong it makes me weep
It’s just a hurricane of love
~Coming our way~
Still a hurricane of love
~Double red flag warning~
Just a hurricane of love
~Blowing us away~
Still a hurricane of love
~Flooding our emotions~
It’s just a hurricane of love
~Coming our way~
We keep each other wanting more
~Double red flag warning~
Still a hurricane of love
~Blowing us away~
We’re not in Kansas anymore
~Flooding our emotions~
It’s just a hurricane of love
~Storm surge of desire~
Still a hurricane of love
~Rising higher and higher~
Still a hurricane of love…
Oct 25, 2019
Oct 25, 2019 at 3:14 PM UTC
They say we all die twice. The day we expire. And the day the last person who really knew us, says our name for the last time. Though I am but a single servant of fate in the most insignificant of ways, I strive to love what I can in this world of so few decent moments. I try to be true in the midst of our cosmic riptide that brought me to the edge of my own free breath. My time is but a instant. Here or there in this world of never ending time, I no longer believe in a linear existence. I am born and dead and young and old all within my own single space. Life is hard to comprehend when the squeeze of a trigger ends a life and even the truest form of love doesn't survive a fortnight. With this epiphany, I strive to only be a shadow because without acknowledgement of self, I neither live nor die. I am but spectral observer, budding anew at end of all things.
Dec 3, 2014
Dec 3, 2014 at 2:02 AM UTC
I call you beautiful in the
moments before you see God.
You pull me into you like a riptide, enveloping me as the ocean does
to ligan.
I gasp for air,
I drown in you.
Nov 28, 2014
Nov 28, 2014 at 1:05 AM UTC
at your own peril!
*dare to vex
provoke, antagonize, exasperate
that is what my words will do
they won't irritate or annoy,
bug or merely peeve,
a simple bother
insufficient
vex
your core,
demand
that you more
than mere question yourself
but riptide extracts the
elemental,
battery acid on the essence bared
learn the power of crafting words
for maximum effect
torment, infuriate,
expose yourself,
what has lain beneath the skin,
you will let me in,
to let you out
why play with poetry,
the most dangerous weapon
unless you nakedly intend to*
!dare to vex!
Aug 25, 2015
Aug 25, 2015 at 8:00 PM UTC
.
*The sensual caress
twilight mist impearled flesh
alighting a feral desire
within blossoming spring petals
The newness of uncovered skin
a sweetness on unsated lips ,
the taste of passion and salty *******
with hastened breath
sighs do brush with warm ****** breeze
across my naked chest
wild feathers sweeten
tender touch
... emanating
sensual awakenings
Arousing buried desires
unable to hold back
constant cravings
the inevitable currents
pummeling shameless floodgates
with arising untamed springtides swell
Fleshly enslaved yen --
energy sprouts tingling sensations
nascent buds blossoming deeply
flourishing exploding flames
bursting flush
... deliciously white hot
In an unstoppable carnal moment
passion betides
like the surging sea ;
Rising and falling crescendos
unleashed waves crashing ,
drowning in the rhythmic undertow
interlaced bodies heaving adrift in the moment
like entangled seaweeds
in a riptide
as the rolling thunder storm
dances across invigorated tides
with a surging cadence of cresting waves bloom
caught in the Rhythm and the Sea*
✩ ✩ ☼ ✩ ✩
Apr 30, 2016
Apr 30, 2016 at 8:23 PM UTC
I was just thinking about lyfe and my mind decided to run away and come up with some weird questions. Here they are!
If you were a squid, what would your favorite kind of muffin be?
If you were a riptide sqiud what would your----OSTRICH ATTACK!!!!
OH NO! Sorry. Just got attacked by an un-adhesified ostrich. I will continue now.
If you were a riptide squid, would you have a white car?
If you were a cat what would be your favourite type of human?
If you were a Cat food truck driver, on a scale of 1-10, how tasty would you consider yourself to be?
What would your reaction be if you were at your favorite restaurant and suddenly a dolphin wearing a fake mustache as a disguise, and eating a fajita appeared on your head and began to tap dance while singing twinkle twinkle little star in a high opera voice?
Dec 4, 2014
Dec 4, 2014 at 5:49 PM UTC
rushing riptide steely cyan white tips
on iron monsoon walls cutting through ships
as elegant as any,
but I
now
start
to
see
that
this tidal
wave sadly is
crashing towards me
Jul 21, 2013
Jul 21, 2013 at 4:39 PM UTC
when he left
all the oxygen in your lungs
was replaced by the sea
no one ever told you
humans can breathe
underwater.
but now he whispers
that your voice is louder
than the riptide in his eyes
and promises that
someday
he'll let you tell him the
story
of the boy
who went to war
and lost atlantis.
understand that
water
takes on the shape of its
vessel
and he is
sixty-five percent
fluid
hold him.
bury yourselves
together
as one drop
in one ocean
one hundred
more times.
he is
seven percent blood rushing
half a percent beating heart
and it doesn't sound like much
but it's
enough.
you're shore
if only for
tonight.
Nov 19, 2018
Nov 19, 2018 at 1:20 PM UTC
you are beautiful
i have thought this truth before
many times
while watching you stand in the door
my lovely elvis presley in disguise
memphis has put a sparkle in your eyes
let me have no other! so you can feel my love, unweathered,
it would all be much better if you just--forget her,
the only thing that makes miles distance is fear
so do a little something for your soul, and come on over here
i have sung this song before,
hummed the very same tune
to younger ears a couple years ago
look at me: a mockingbird marionette, fumbling
a millennial juliet reincarnate, crumbling
beneath familial fears and plain lack of years
it's not what it seems!
do not drink the poison!
i will see you on the other side!
i mean, it's just a ride, but
my ears have started to ring from
the sound of going mental
the sting of crashed potential
the forget-you-forget-me riptide
i still see your face, i step inside
i must move on and live my life
but how lovely would it be, to be together?
to cross time, and space
for the intergalactic sparkle of your face
for the pure pleasure of watching
each other make each other
happy
we used to write poems for each other
i have pictured myself there
in the pink atmosphere
floating with you, fellow air sign
for quite some time
i have prepared my body and my mind
for the pull of your gravity
washing over me, my skin, my spine
to let you have me
my atoms would surrender
on every eve
but elvis presley was a thief
and tennessee has nothing for me
i now
admit
defeat
this poem:
obsolete
Sep 30, 2016
Sep 30, 2016 at 7:33 PM UTC
The words pierced through the too bright cellphone screen
directly into the place she had always known that was true
too much
He was not the first to tell her
He was not the first she had believed
“Less is more”
She had tried so many times to channel
But her love was:
a riptide
a volcano
a force of nature
It exploded in every direction
like riders in the desert in search of towns
with food
with water
with shelter
Her love was:
too hungry
too thirsty
too weather worn
for its once agreeable host
Her host who had once said,
“Let me drink you dry”
He found that there was no bottom
Only more of the same:
Insatiable. Hungry. Love.
And once he had drank his fill
He declared:
“maybe I needed less.”
Nov 17, 2018
Nov 17, 2018 at 8:22 PM UTC
She is salty lipped ocean throat
Warm morning fog
Mixing with her overcast
I want to place my head on her treasure chest
Listen to her wet ruby cascade and thump
A metronome for people who dance lightly
She is a mildly ******** mermaid
Born with the deformity of legs
We were all born a little bit broken
I tell her
I know you’re a body of water I want to drown in
When home feels like it’s so much bigger than these four walls
But not much stronger than the skin I’m in
So here’s to jumping off cliffs
With the hope to land a little painfully
So evolution might give me the wings I was meant to be born with
She walks like a riptide
Often risks drowning in the off chance
Nature might be kind enough to understand
What it really means to have sea legs
This is for the soft shelled crab
Who was tired of the heaviness of home
For the mockingbirds who never studied music
So they copy sound
Sometimes really annoying sound
But they hear the beauty regardless
For the Dumbo Octopus
Who clearly watched too much classic Disney
The beluga whale who can crane its neck
When its sonar song of home is not enough
To know their kids are coming back to them
For the penguins
Who are fine being flightless
Because they’d much rather swim
They didn’t think it was stupid
When they wished they could be different
And she is the ocean
Hips sway like a high tide approaching
Hiding sirens’ secrets
Skeletons in her closet
Lovers who have lost
And drown in her pitch black
She wears the water like a second skin
Smiles like the wind is pressing back her cheeks
She chokes on sea water
Drowns a little
With the hope that this place might feel more like home
Sometimes home is the hardest place to get to
But there’s nothing wrong with going home
May 11, 2012
May 11, 2012 at 3:19 PM UTC
when you only
see the world
through the prism
of an Instagram filter,
the spectrum's
overshadowed
by black and white
vignettes.
brick-by-brick
you build that wall
around yourself,
closed off to the plight
of every one else.
who needs borders
when you refuse to see
beyond the periphery
of your iPhone's screen?
refugees? border patrol?
endless war?
merely fragmentary
snapshots
in off-kilter
snapchats
casting grim light
on contemporary
outcasts, rebels
built to outlast
the vitriol leveled
at modern-day martyrs
by tyrants and overlords.
'cause when you neglect
to read the passages
of history, you scapegoat
the brave, can't see
the forest for the trees,
reduce the complex
to Manichean binaries
of Good vs. Evil,
Left vs. Right,
an infinite etcetera
of demagoguery.
noses glued
to illuminated screens,
ignoring the visionaries
for illusionary fantasies:
one-click—purchased
happiness, bread
and circus.
advertising
has us chasing
a feeling fleeting
as a riptide when we
ought to be rallying
on the front lines,
punching Nazis.
a black bloc
tossing bricks into
storefront windows.
Apr 1, 2017
Apr 1, 2017 at 12:46 AM UTC
****** against the cliff
caught in a vortex
whirlpool of relentless force
pulling me down, down, down
Sound...deafening
Obliterating all sense of direction
I succomb to the waves
****** out, pulled in.
Riptide determined to
pull me under
spared by the mercy
of an upper current that
carries me weightless out and
over the break
Impelled by Grace
greater than the Power at hand
My body finds the sand.
I lie upon the beach,
all fight left behind.
The Ocean claims my strength
No question who has won**
Copyright © 2015 Christi Michaels.
All Rights Reserved.
Jun 17, 2015
Jun 17, 2015 at 12:26 AM UTC