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"scabbed" poems
As I **** this cigarette my life go's up in smoke, in clouds of gray and white some day I'll die of stroke. If only I would quit this habit that I have, my lungs would never rot all cancerous and scabbed. And though I know this all, to my love I still return, for nicotine I crave for nicotine I yearn. Take this poem to heart, and let thy cigarette go, for dieing of lung cancer is the slowest death I know.
0
Dec 23, 2012
Dec 23, 2012 at 3:03 PM UTC
Drive By Cigarette.
This is me apologizing. This is me finally coming up for air and coughing up apologizes instead of swallowing them down with gulps of water. This is me looking at your face and seeing the bags under your eyes because you stayed up all night trying to call me and apologizing. Looking at your nails and seeing the skin around them ****** and scabbed and the beds unevenly bitten down to nothing and apologizing. Looking at your eyes and seeing the way you bought colored contacts to cover the fact you spent days unmoving from a mirror trying to love yourself and apologizing. This is me seeing the needle points on your lips from where you injected your own blood to attempt to regain that color I claimed to be in love with and apologizing. As I'm looking at your arms and seeing where you scrubbed your skin with chemicals trying to erase the essence of me and when you smile I can see that you chugged a bottle of bleach to try and whiten your teeth bright enough so that you could be accepted by God himself into the pearly gates all I can do is apologize. I'm sorry that you spent hours carving my name into his back with your fingernails and biting your own tongue so hard it bled when he told you he loved you. When his flesh connected with yours causing the world to stop for a second and listen to your shrieking I know it was me you were screaming for and I'm sorry. As I'm standing here staring at you and watching them put brush stroke after brush stroke of blush onto your lovely pale cheeks trying to restore the life you lost so many years ago I'm finally realizing it's too late to apologize yet all I can think about is how this isn't even close to the eulogy you deserved. I should be talking about the way you danced and how your voice made my own falter momentarily and how you were more alive when you were dying than I ever will be when I'm living rather than apologizing but all I can seem to rationalize is how I spent years dry swallowing your love and spitting up knives to use to carve my initials into your thigh so you would always remember me and how I never even had the common decency to count to three before destroying you and I'm sorry. I'm afraid to look up now that I've finished apologizing because I know your empty eyes filled with nothingness will be staring back so horribly confused because I doubt you ever continued listening after I used the world eulogy and I'm sure you're going to wonder why I'm talking as if I'm sitting at your funeral rather than on the end of your bed but I don't know how else to make you grasp the concept of what you're doing to yourself by loving me in a better way than this and I'm sorry. C.a.l
0
Feb 9, 2015
Feb 9, 2015 at 7:21 PM UTC
Eulogies
This is me apologizing. This is me finally coming up for air and coughing up apologizes instead of swallowing them down with gulps of water. This is me looking at your face and seeing the bags under your eyes because you stayed up all night trying to call me and apologizing. Looking at your nails and seeing the skin around them ****** and scabbed and the beds unevenly bitten down to nothing and apologizing. Looking at your eyes and seeing the way you bought colored contacts to cover the fact you spent days unmoving from a mirror trying to love yourself and apologizing. This is me seeing the needle points on your lips from where you injected your own blood to attempt to regain that color I claimed to be in love with and apologizing. As I'm looking at your arms and seeing where you scrubbed your skin with chemicals trying to erase the essence of me and when you smile I can see that you chugged a bottle of bleach to try and whiten your teeth bright enough so that you could be accepted by God himself into the pearly gates all I can do is apologize. I'm sorry that you spent hours carving my name into his back with your fingernails and biting your own tongue so hard it bled when he told you he loved you. When his flesh connected with yours causing the world to stop for a second and listen to your shrieking I know it was me you were screaming for and I'm sorry. As I'm standing here staring at you and watching them put brush stroke after brush stroke of blush onto your lovely pale cheeks trying to restore the life you lost so many years ago I'm finally realizing it's too late to apologize yet all I can think about is how this isn't even close to the eulogy you deserved. I should be talking about the way you danced and how your voice made my own falter momentarily and how you were more alive when you were dying than I ever will be when I'm living rather than apologizing but all I can seem to rationalize is how I spent years dry swallowing your love and spitting up knives to use to carve my initials into your thigh so you would always remember me and how I never even had the common decency to count to three before destroying you and I'm sorry. I'm afraid to look up now that I've finished apologizing because I know your empty eyes filled with nothingness will be staring back so horribly confused because I doubt you ever continued listening after I used the world eulogy and I'm sure you're going to wonder why I'm talking as if I'm sitting at your funeral rather than on the end of your bed but I don't know how else to make you grasp the concept of what you're doing to yourself by loving me in a better way than this and I'm sorry. C.a.l
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1
Don’t love me. Please, don’t love me. I know myself, we’re quite close actually, and let me tell you, you don’t want to fall for her, you don’t want that girl, I hate her. I hate her because I know her so well and I know how horrible the truth can smell. Don’t love me, because even I know to hate myself, the vanity that despite this loathing I might actually believe that someone could fall for me. Don’t love me. Don’t love me, because I met Heartbreak once and she left me gasping for air and I will never meet her again. I refuse, so if you love me, please be aware that when you do, some day I am going to leave you, battered and bruised, because twisted self-preservation has taught me all the tricks to keep myself afloat by drowning you. Don’t love me. Because as much as I will love you, I’m not friends with Commitment, and whenever I see him on the horizon I set off running in the opposing direction. I will treat you like there will be no oxygen unless I’m holding you, but when you’re the one reaching for my hand I’ll become the wind. Commitment is not my friend, I said, but no one listens. Don’t love me, because I am a tornado, a storm to chase until I’ve taken everything from you. Don’t love me. Someday, you will be married and happy, and I will whirl back into your life like the hurricane that has never been named after me, and you will believe that all your scars and your broken heart have healed enough that you can run with me. But I have razors between my fingers and wedged in my teeth, and your scabbed over heartstrings will be powerless against me. I am an expert at running, at hurting, at ‘maybe’s. Don’t love me. When you ask me for something more, I will tell you that I am not ready, because I never will be. Chances scare me, and trusting someone so much will always be risky. I will tell you that I am not in the right place for your Commitment, for your future Heartbreak, and you will tell me that you understand but you’ll stick with me, and fire will consume everything. Don’t love me. I can’t even go a few years with a friendship before burning it all for at least a few evenings, but we’ll always rebuild the rickety ashes of the bridges we’ve passed. Don’t love me. I’m only saying it for your safety.
0
Sep 27, 2015
Sep 27, 2015 at 11:22 PM UTC
don't love me. please
Don’t love me. Please, don’t love me. I know myself, we’re quite close actually, and let me tell you, you don’t want to fall for her, you don’t want that girl, I hate her. I hate her because I know her so well and I know how horrible the truth can smell. Don’t love me, because even I know to hate myself, the vanity that despite this loathing I might actually believe that someone could fall for me. Don’t love me. Don’t love me, because I met Heartbreak once and she left me gasping for air and I will never meet her again. I refuse, so if you love me, please be aware that when you do, some day I am going to leave you, battered and bruised, because twisted self-preservation has taught me all the tricks to keep myself afloat by drowning you. Don’t love me. Because as much as I will love you, I’m not friends with Commitment, and whenever I see him on the horizon I set off running in the opposing direction. I will treat you like there will be no oxygen unless I’m holding you, but when you’re the one reaching for my hand I’ll become the wind. Commitment is not my friend, I said, but no one listens. Don’t love me, because I am a tornado, a storm to chase until I’ve taken everything from you. Don’t love me. Someday, you will be married and happy, and I will whirl back into your life like the hurricane that has never been named after me, and you will believe that all your scars and your broken heart have healed enough that you can run with me. But I have razors between my fingers and wedged in my teeth, and your scabbed over heartstrings will be powerless against me. I am an expert at running, at hurting, at ‘maybe’s. Don’t love me. When you ask me for something more, I will tell you that I am not ready, because I never will be. Chances scare me, and trusting someone so much will always be risky. I will tell you that I am not in the right place for your Commitment, for your future Heartbreak, and you will tell me that you understand but you’ll stick with me, and fire will consume everything. Don’t love me. I can’t even go a few years with a friendship before burning it all for at least a few evenings, but we’ll always rebuild the rickety ashes of the bridges we’ve passed. Don’t love me. I’m only saying it for your safety.
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43
when the lace from my shirt fell away, you helped me tie it back together, even though i know you'd love to love me uncovered i knew, you cradled the scars the sunlight gave me, you kissed between my ribs where the swollen skin lay tender, you would have stitched them up if you knew how i remember the ultrasound my fingers took of your heart, i could see it beating red and angry in your chest, trying to unfasten the ties that held it inside my palms were hot, but they healed you my scabbed knuckles brushed over your eyes and you settled into me like a gasp, slowly but alive sweetheart, i would end the earth in one swift movement if i could watch the asteroids fall in your eyes
0
Apr 23, 2012
Apr 23, 2012 at 7:07 PM UTC
my sweetest downfall.
On Monday, November 14th She wore her favorite dress. Blue with grace. Lace that covered her shoulders. Lace that teased all the men that walked by. Falling to her knees. Barely brushing the scabs and scars that sat there. Hugging her hips like the night hugs the moon. On Monday, November 14th She smiled. Cherry lipgloss smeared quickly across her thin lips. White teeth peaking out. Her lips perfectly outlined. The corners tucked up beautifully. On Monday, November 14th, She stood. Pride in her perfect posture. Proud of her lean body. Her body perfectly aligned. Not a flaw. On Monday, November 14th Her arms were pale. A gold bracelet hugged her wrist. You could see each blue stream, happily working. Dusted with freckles. Soft and pure. On Tuesday, November 15th She did not wear her favorite dress. She wore a different one. Black with sorrow. No lace. Falling to her ankles. Encasing scabbed knees. Hugging her in all the wrong places. On Tuesday, November 15th She frowned. Blood red lipstick stained her thin lips. Her teeth hid inside her blooded lips. The corners fell, drooped. On Tuesday, November 15th, She sat. Too exhausted to stand. She let go of her posture. She was cautious of her appearance. Aware of her flaws. On Tuesday, November 15th, Her arms were whiter than before. Each vein slashed. Red. The gold bracelet still hung there. Her freckles throbbed with pain. No longer soft, or pure. On Tuesday, November 15th He died. Early in the morning. With him, he took her strength, her smile, her pride. He left her bare. On Wednesday, November 16th She missed him. She missed him a little too much. Her heart couldn't take it. Her eyes red and swollen. She was there, but gone. On Thursday, November 17th She joined him, quietly.
0
Nov 1, 2013
Nov 1, 2013 at 9:53 AM UTC
November
On Monday, November 14th She wore her favorite dress. Blue with grace. Lace that covered her shoulders. Lace that teased all the men that walked by. Falling to her knees. Barely brushing the scabs and scars that sat there. Hugging her hips like the night hugs the moon. On Monday, November 14th She smiled. Cherry lipgloss smeared quickly across her thin lips. White teeth peaking out. Her lips perfectly outlined. The corners tucked up beautifully. On Monday, November 14th, She stood. Pride in her perfect posture. Proud of her lean body. Her body perfectly aligned. Not a flaw. On Monday, November 14th Her arms were pale. A gold bracelet hugged her wrist. You could see each blue stream, happily working. Dusted with freckles. Soft and pure. On Tuesday, November 15th She did not wear her favorite dress. She wore a different one. Black with sorrow. No lace. Falling to her ankles. Encasing scabbed knees. Hugging her in all the wrong places. On Tuesday, November 15th She frowned. Blood red lipstick stained her thin lips. Her teeth hid inside her blooded lips. The corners fell, drooped. On Tuesday, November 15th, She sat. Too exhausted to stand. She let go of her posture. She was cautious of her appearance. Aware of her flaws. On Tuesday, November 15th, Her arms were whiter than before. Each vein slashed. Red. The gold bracelet still hung there. Her freckles throbbed with pain. No longer soft, or pure. On Tuesday, November 15th He died. Early in the morning. With him, he took her strength, her smile, her pride. He left her bare. On Wednesday, November 16th She missed him. She missed him a little too much. Her heart couldn't take it. Her eyes red and swollen. She was there, but gone. On Thursday, November 17th She joined him, quietly.
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65
Blind sighted was I as I traveled the darken roads, walking within the confines of my mind. Learning of the darker paths again, trying to explore the things left unsaid. Occasionally trailing off the path, patching the wounds that still bled. Such a fool to let your guard down, Such a fool to leave the paths unguarded. Such a fool to believe again Such a fool to suffer in torment. Only to learn of a new wound there, close to the one left by authority figures. Stepping closer to examine it and wondering if it could honestly be true. Poking at it to try and learn more, finding it a wound that travels deep. Such a fool to let your guard down, Such a fool to leave the paths unguarded. Such a fool to believe again Such a fool to suffer in torment. Morbid curiosity encouraging me further, extending hand to learn of the depth it holds. Finding it to be larger than my fist, what a deep wound this doth be. Such a fool to let your guard down, Such a fool to leave the paths unguarded. Such a fool to believe again Such a fool to suffer in torment. Pus and gross things spilling along side of the blood that seeps out. Deadly infection having set in, where I thought healing had started. Silly thing I have been when I thought it scabbed over, and healing as it should've been.. Such a fool to bare this burden. Such a fool to think it was gone. Such a fool to believe in trust. Such a fool deserves to suffer.
0
Sep 22, 2010
Sep 22, 2010 at 9:44 PM UTC
What a terrible thing
i want to be here for the ugly. the inopportune, the odious. moments when your back breaks from carrying a heavy load, when your heart bursts from the inside, when your tongue becomes toxic. i want to plant hydrangeas in the crevices of your spine, rose bushes in your heart, peonies in your mouth, so that when nurtured, you are able to stand, able to love, able to speak of yourself splendidly. know that this is never ending. know that even when my hands grow weary, and my knees become scabbed and dirt- covered, i will happily wipe the sweat from my aching brow and tend to you. because all of the ugly, the inopportune, the odious, will be forgotten, the moment you begin to blossom.
0
Jul 22, 2018
Jul 22, 2018 at 9:24 PM UTC
hydrangeas.
i'm not sure what to do with all the distance it's been months that have felt like years i can remember when you came into my life in the winter and I can remember when you left in the summer arrival and departure the distinct difference between the two i'm only at the thin line of division the way my emotions don't add up like miscalculated algebra all to your advantage i kept your love letter the letter where you plagiarized a novel because i wasn't good enough for your own words that was my only closure i wanted desperately to burn the stuffed bears from the carnival i could only part with one when i hold it close to me i feel like how a child would expecting prizes only in fabric and cotton stuffing not words of affirmation or love i almost drove by your house but i knew i would only go mad thinking of who has been touching your new furniture that i helped pick out leaving their fingerprints in place of mine i miss my t-shirts that you still have i hope when and if you wear them you can feel me close my heart beating where yours is sometimes i feel like i miss you enough for you to show up as if my pain could teleport the craving of a complete closure one where i don't need liquor or a lighter others bring up your name as if i'm not in the process of misplacing the letters or dismissing the syllables i've been trying to forget your face your face of sharp bones flaring nostrils and nostalgic lips i've been trying to imagine if that night would have never happened when that veteran couldn't take himself anymore he chose you to be his last interaction it was all in hints he was screaming for help without making a sound how were we supposed to know i still wonder where that blue jay is that he buried behind the building i just couldn't bare to see it now i wish i made a map X marks the spot where our love died i remember when you had to bury your own blue jay you never saw it coming you took the wrong step and it was under your foot just like he said his bluejay was fidgeting and fighting for life i'd like to think it was a sign from him to let you know it's possible to move on and forward so you did you moved on to scabbed skin and worn-out lungs i moved on to scholarly headaches and false pretenses back then i could never fathom my days without you now i find it difficult to recall how we were it feels like our romance was a dream because it only felt real when i was asleep
0
Dec 27, 2018
Dec 27, 2018 at 1:05 AM UTC
m.c.s.
i'm not sure what to do with all the distance it's been months that have felt like years i can remember when you came into my life in the winter and I can remember when you left in the summer arrival and departure the distinct difference between the two i'm only at the thin line of division the way my emotions don't add up like miscalculated algebra all to your advantage i kept your love letter the letter where you plagiarized a novel because i wasn't good enough for your own words that was my only closure i wanted desperately to burn the stuffed bears from the carnival i could only part with one when i hold it close to me i feel like how a child would expecting prizes only in fabric and cotton stuffing not words of affirmation or love i almost drove by your house but i knew i would only go mad thinking of who has been touching your new furniture that i helped pick out leaving their fingerprints in place of mine i miss my t-shirts that you still have i hope when and if you wear them you can feel me close my heart beating where yours is sometimes i feel like i miss you enough for you to show up as if my pain could teleport the craving of a complete closure one where i don't need liquor or a lighter others bring up your name as if i'm not in the process of misplacing the letters or dismissing the syllables i've been trying to forget your face your face of sharp bones flaring nostrils and nostalgic lips i've been trying to imagine if that night would have never happened when that veteran couldn't take himself anymore he chose you to be his last interaction it was all in hints he was screaming for help without making a sound how were we supposed to know i still wonder where that blue jay is that he buried behind the building i just couldn't bare to see it now i wish i made a map X marks the spot where our love died i remember when you had to bury your own blue jay you never saw it coming you took the wrong step and it was under your foot just like he said his bluejay was fidgeting and fighting for life i'd like to think it was a sign from him to let you know it's possible to move on and forward so you did you moved on to scabbed skin and worn-out lungs i moved on to scholarly headaches and false pretenses back then i could never fathom my days without you now i find it difficult to recall how we were it feels like our romance was a dream because it only felt real when i was asleep
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63
footsteps are echoing down a corridor long since empty. as they resonate, a ghost stirs from it's slumber within me. each passing sunset a key turns the lock, to reveal the Creature of the Night, the sweet Darkness I'd forgot. like the pages of a book browned & tattered, lying unread your scent awakens a soul I was certain was dead. how refreshing you are, blood upon my white dress. a release from gripping fear, I crave your death on my breath. let us massacre the stars & chance Hell on the Kid's gaskets. Heretics by nature, we can spite the Gods & waste life on their caskets. you feed me the poison of my father, & your name rings a painful past, you've destroyed the world as I know it & filled my nightmares with your laugh. devouring words of evil & Satan himself on film, I think, my dearest Devil, I have fallen under your spell. still a single thought, it haunts me. a doubt, deep in my mind. when I smile, do you see my submission to you, would you pleasure me with your bite? I haven't fed in so long, can I bind you to my dungeon wall? each sunrise we part, I pray to the moon for my blood in your heart. these tombs in me, breathe life once again. be my Dark Prince & I, your Babylonian. we can spread our scabbed wings across the eternity of Zion, put our faith in the flesh we see & forsake the terrible dawn. our eyes betray our sign, & our hearts beat in the South. but the torture we could bring each other is divine, let our cries erase the doubt. we cherish the scars of our skin, yet we are not brave. getting closer to God, becomes a Requiem & the bedroom can be our grave.
0
Sep 12, 2012
Sep 12, 2012 at 10:54 AM UTC
We, the Dancing Devils of the Desert
footsteps are echoing down a corridor long since empty. as they resonate, a ghost stirs from it's slumber within me. each passing sunset a key turns the lock, to reveal the Creature of the Night, the sweet Darkness I'd forgot. like the pages of a book browned & tattered, lying unread your scent awakens a soul I was certain was dead. how refreshing you are, blood upon my white dress. a release from gripping fear, I crave your death on my breath. let us massacre the stars & chance Hell on the Kid's gaskets. Heretics by nature, we can spite the Gods & waste life on their caskets. you feed me the poison of my father, & your name rings a painful past, you've destroyed the world as I know it & filled my nightmares with your laugh. devouring words of evil & Satan himself on film, I think, my dearest Devil, I have fallen under your spell. still a single thought, it haunts me. a doubt, deep in my mind. when I smile, do you see my submission to you, would you pleasure me with your bite? I haven't fed in so long, can I bind you to my dungeon wall? each sunrise we part, I pray to the moon for my blood in your heart. these tombs in me, breathe life once again. be my Dark Prince & I, your Babylonian. we can spread our scabbed wings across the eternity of Zion, put our faith in the flesh we see & forsake the terrible dawn. our eyes betray our sign, & our hearts beat in the South. but the torture we could bring each other is divine, let our cries erase the doubt. we cherish the scars of our skin, yet we are not brave. getting closer to God, becomes a Requiem & the bedroom can be our grave.
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54
1 cut, 2 cut, 3 cut, 4. cry for a while then cut some more. open cut, closed cut, cut scabbed over. drink away the pain, then cut again sober. old cut, new cut, cut dripping blood. drag the blade across and watch as it floods. cut on my wrist, cut on my thigh. wait til everyones asleep, then cut in the night. small cut, big cut, cut too deep. sit and watch as it continues to bleed. hi cut, bye cut, it keeps bleeding out. see you later cut, its over now
0
Mar 18, 2015
Mar 18, 2015 at 5:48 PM UTC
one cut two cut
It’s not about the hand you were dealt with, It’s about how you play the hand you were dealt with. But Imagine that the hand you were given attached to fingers with blistered pads and splintered prints that wound in swirls of blood soaked skin. Imagine, that the nails of each finger crucified you to stars willing you to brighten the night for children who fear the dark regardless of your burns. Imagine, that your palms were crumpled pieces of paper stuffed into the back of a trash bin on fire, the burning smell of garbage and secrets indistinguishable from one another. See Some people, they are given hands lined with rings; diamonds, silvers, and golds not a single callous and well-manicured. Some people, they are given boneless pieces of plastic that fail to do so much as curl and unfurl themselves: hands that are growing desperate to feel the things they touch. Some people, they are given scabbed knuckles that shake so bad they can only find comfort in scratching themselves henna tattooed scars; digging six feet into their skin, creating burial sites out of their own bodies. Tell them anyway, It’s about how you play the hand you were dealt with. It may never make a winner out of them But it will keep them from leaving the game entirely.
0
Aug 4, 2015
Aug 4, 2015 at 3:21 PM UTC
Playing Hands
prophet tongue with stabbing perceptions i gave him my name while in bed. soft white curtains though still chamber thick cold steel hands and the room sliced into pieces by morning light but haunted by night sounds crept into open wounds of the heart chills. his hand resting on my thigh while he snores summer bruised and adventurous though callous youth with his unbandaged scabbed knee skating last night. moment forgotten in the carride but a stone monument staring at me on the kitchen counter.
0
Mar 3, 2016
Mar 3, 2016 at 7:32 AM UTC
how forgettable
911 used to be scabbed on the back of my knees, and soaked carpets were like coming home. her eyes were nothing like mine, and the police always wanted to know. but i hated the way their lips smacked against their teeth. 911 used to be tied to my fingers with ****** ribbons, and if you ask me who my kindergarten teacher was, i couldn’t tell you. chocolate milk nights were thick with bruises. i made friends with the images in between the tiles in the bathroom. 911 used to be etched on my stomach, and even now i cannot see red blue and white flashing lights without wanting to puke. six months is forever when you’re seven years old, but daddy always said life is too short anyway.
0
Feb 15, 2014
Feb 15, 2014 at 11:08 PM UTC
accident
didn't shower sitting in the cubicle for long hours didn't shower and blood is still on hands and feet are still riddled with dirt staining cheap carpet floorprint afraid to touch anything coworkers peer over their fabric palisades eyes burning holes through ripped shirt and crooked tie head down don't exist no one has to know a thing didn't shower hair is manged and disoriented I can feel blood drip off fingertips pat - pat - pat on bland slate carpet design can't concentrate didn't shower everyone stares black eye swollen and scabbed everyone knows have to it's all puddling at feet washing with the dirt look away ******* look away! head is severed on the mahogany finish desk black eye bulged black and purple tennis ball everyone gathers whispers whispers jaw opens teeth fall out pat - pat - pat no one says anything look away look away look away get up to leave the head stays there dark souvenir quick drive home shower hours melt away infirmities recede sink back below skin didn't shower everyone knew what happened last night but now no evidence no witnesses no one knows the perfect crime a cruel smile emerges on bare white teeth as night sets in once again
0
Jul 24, 2013
Jul 24, 2013 at 5:26 PM UTC
Guilty Conscience
I wish, most of all, to have had a tangibly physical notebook to write all this in. instead I use the 'note' function of my smartphone, smoke a cigarette. busy on forward, it's Pandora. one of those acid-high coffee overbouts, feeling the brain compress inside the skull. for an hour. for a few. some man in tattered-all's gets angry when I state I have no quarter. like I'm lying when I say it, and must be lying because my pants aren't worn like his. bus and car alike ghost past, the monastic rise of the local music conservatory pokes at the skyline, straight at the overcast. I toss "If on a winter's night" by Italo Calvino atop the third step of the church stairs leading to the church doors, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Where we meet Jesus. I begin to write this poem, huddled atop my cellphone as if I were in silent debate with a lover, only sitting to make a point. to the left is a McDonald's flying a McDonald's flag. A man with a thoughtless white ball-cap and a thoughtful tattoo walks past with a McDonald's dollar drink in his right hand, pointing his arms in opposite directions to illustrate the dimensions of something he wants. "See?" he says to the woman he walks with, her face scabbed over with acne scars. my eyes are tunnel-visioned to the screen every time I follow a thought, or the glancing past of a passer-by like the woman with the black scarf, black hair, black sweater, grey pants, black shoes. the orange 'don't walk' sign pulses 7 times, and then sticks, as if waiting for a high-five. I reach into my backpack for a cigarette.
0
Apr 9, 2014
Apr 9, 2014 at 10:32 PM UTC
title appendix and dusk-break concentrate
I wish, most of all, to have had a tangibly physical notebook to write all this in. instead I use the 'note' function of my smartphone, smoke a cigarette. busy on forward, it's Pandora. one of those acid-high coffee overbouts, feeling the brain compress inside the skull. for an hour. for a few. some man in tattered-all's gets angry when I state I have no quarter. like I'm lying when I say it, and must be lying because my pants aren't worn like his. bus and car alike ghost past, the monastic rise of the local music conservatory pokes at the skyline, straight at the overcast. I toss "If on a winter's night" by Italo Calvino atop the third step of the church stairs leading to the church doors, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Where we meet Jesus. I begin to write this poem, huddled atop my cellphone as if I were in silent debate with a lover, only sitting to make a point. to the left is a McDonald's flying a McDonald's flag. A man with a thoughtless white ball-cap and a thoughtful tattoo walks past with a McDonald's dollar drink in his right hand, pointing his arms in opposite directions to illustrate the dimensions of something he wants. "See?" he says to the woman he walks with, her face scabbed over with acne scars. my eyes are tunnel-visioned to the screen every time I follow a thought, or the glancing past of a passer-by like the woman with the black scarf, black hair, black sweater, grey pants, black shoes. the orange 'don't walk' sign pulses 7 times, and then sticks, as if waiting for a high-five. I reach into my backpack for a cigarette.
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8
a toast to the gods of self preservation twenty one with plenty coming allowing to pound sounds within the crown aroused voided a founders of it’s bruises spells hold the fold, I’m coasting with the best resting in the east so I sleep with blinds low the comfort zone is far from solitude my molecules have aptitude to channel Jupiter seatbelts are useless wastes of matter, excuse me just a minute so you can miss me with that individuality your calloused grip on reality impairs the singularity old school, gold noose, silver lined diamonds Jesus pieces reaped the seeds that teach your blind lids came back with scabbed knuckled and heart scars hustled the portal of pretension ever so ethereally inner synthesis purged the day the plague hit on the courts or the graves, you name the slaves the game slayed the day the chains changed hands
0
Nov 8, 2013
Nov 8, 2013 at 2:20 PM UTC
solace
you, you are poison ivy. growing in my heart, sprouting first as a little bud at the base and then wrapping your tendrils and vines around tighter and tighter until I can barely breathe. you are poison ivy itching at the disassembled strands of my affections and i want to tear my chest open, pluck off the petals of my heart, hands coated in pollen and tell you there are no more petals left to give. you are poison ivy you still spread your arms around me, reaching for more that i can give, lathering my pollen into every crevice of your poison skin. you are a silver bulb and I am the moth that attaches to it, shadowing your every move, the way your fork always grazes your plate before you set it down. The way you run your fingers over the delicate arch of your ear or how you draw the sides of your books close together when you read, as if trying to pull the literature close to your body, letting it seep into your naked eyelids. I wish i was that literature. There was a whole new garden of emotions, of loss and sorrow sprouting delicately at my fingertips and you were not aware and now all i want is to uproot my garden and start again. you are poison ivy and i can't stand you, that itching that feels like screaming and ripping and scarring You were an itch that i scratched over and over until i bled and once the bleeding had stopped and the cuts had scabbed over I itched it again and again and again.
0
Jan 19, 2018
Jan 19, 2018 at 3:28 PM UTC
poison ivy
We waded knee deep in the puddles of vacant lots when the flood filled our gutters to the brim. When the rain died down and the water pulled itself from the streets we watched the rainbow of oil swirl around our ankles, walked the wooden footbridge that broke apart under the weight of our feet, the water-logged wood rot splitting while rusted nails slid out of place. We followed the streams back to the plaza, back to fake IDs and the ash-stained tobacco shop. We found ourselves under flickering lights, leaning against the rusted siding of the family market, faces hidden in a mask of smoke. We got lost in the electric hum of the laundromat's cyclic drone. They paved over it all -- covered freckled skin with cloth and hot tar, crushed vacant houses like hollow skulls, ignited neon lights and street lamps, strip malls and drugs stores that burn holes into old hiding places. They still try to sift through shattered glass, silence the hiss of the popped bike tire, wipe away the blood flower that blooms from my scabbed knee.
0
Mar 24, 2011
Mar 24, 2011 at 10:29 AM UTC
North Chili Plaza, Rochester, NY
My grade school burned down twice. Once in the 1930's then again  in the 50's. They rebuilt, there were two large black and white framed photographs of the school houses before both fires hanging in the main hallway. At some point in the reconstruction someone had decided on two boys restrooms. The one at ground level was always clean. There were small white tiles and fresh blue paint. It always smelled like pine cleaner, never ran out of paper towels. There was always sweet smelling liquid soap in the shinny silver dispensers. There were doors with shinny silver locks on the stalls. It was a timeless space, pristine and somehow preserved. Free and unscathed by the ugliness of the world. Then there was the other one. The restroom below ground in the basement. There were ground level windows with round wire cages over them. The view of the ***** untied tennis shoes attached to saggy socks and scabbed knees. The children ran about with purpose over every inch of the playgrounds hot black top as I'd try to guess who's feet were who's. There were no doors on the stalls, yellow stains beneath every leaky ****** Smears of rust around the faucets , a coarse hand soap in the often broken dispensers. More fit for prisoners than students. It smelled like **** and was always cold. I don't know why one was always cleaner than the other. Maybe it was an unwritten janitor law. Maybe they seen it as somehow lower than the other. I always chose the basement restroom. It just seemed more natural to me, it made me feel strong, made it all feel more real. Now after so many hardships as I sit with drink in hand or lay down while high on some drug I can't seem to  help but look back and remember. Then ponder the question. "Have I always been meant to live in such a ***** harsh environment, even way back then?"
0
May 2, 2013
May 2, 2013 at 8:49 PM UTC
Finding the empty way back then
My grade school burned down twice. Once in the 1930's then again  in the 50's. They rebuilt, there were two large black and white framed photographs of the school houses before both fires hanging in the main hallway. At some point in the reconstruction someone had decided on two boys restrooms. The one at ground level was always clean. There were small white tiles and fresh blue paint. It always smelled like pine cleaner, never ran out of paper towels. There was always sweet smelling liquid soap in the shinny silver dispensers. There were doors with shinny silver locks on the stalls. It was a timeless space, pristine and somehow preserved. Free and unscathed by the ugliness of the world. Then there was the other one. The restroom below ground in the basement. There were ground level windows with round wire cages over them. The view of the ***** untied tennis shoes attached to saggy socks and scabbed knees. The children ran about with purpose over every inch of the playgrounds hot black top as I'd try to guess who's feet were who's. There were no doors on the stalls, yellow stains beneath every leaky ****** Smears of rust around the faucets , a coarse hand soap in the often broken dispensers. More fit for prisoners than students. It smelled like **** and was always cold. I don't know why one was always cleaner than the other. Maybe it was an unwritten janitor law. Maybe they seen it as somehow lower than the other. I always chose the basement restroom. It just seemed more natural to me, it made me feel strong, made it all feel more real. Now after so many hardships as I sit with drink in hand or lay down while high on some drug I can't seem to  help but look back and remember. Then ponder the question. "Have I always been meant to live in such a ***** harsh environment, even way back then?"
Continue reading...
106
Thatcher vacuum seals nicotine Slurps cigarette like mosquito Ravenous lungs gnaw and grind for the slow pander, Thatcher’s just another name for the labeling We plaster and pine for an out, Stitch that finite lie beneath squeamish child skin, Thatcher’s the black lung paradise, ******* infancy coddling cigarette stifle, The caloric crack of his canines fletching out lust and sickly groove As he’s scopes out fiend and vexed vandals, Clutches the sick theistic ********** Cuddle those bruise licked hips Give God the gross percent, Cause heaven’s in those greenbacks and God’s in the ******* kick, Suckling bout the American tip The Christian capitol, Seething on shadow puppet ****** and American dream, Gods got nothing to do with the slickened crinkle of gain and glamour, Thatcher’s just the candy man give and cult, Cough the crutch of contagion greed And clutch the cuff of your porcelain sleeve, Thatcher gleans your blackest suite tight, Struts raven blade shoulders perched on American made spine, Thatcher does as Thatcher please, Thatcher thinks as Thatcher bleeds, And Thatcher bleeds venereal blend, Gout with the American veneer of broken girl and scabbed moral traumatic, Trauma tastes as the hollow pixies give out the get out, Bandaged baby girls, The teenage horror show, Just another blazoned hit of one two take the hand me down generic give away, Desensitize the humanize, Girls got to get the days glossy puff and sniff, Thatcher’s content to satisfy, Callous coroner a spectator suckling Marlboro lick, Lodging thick smoke and toxin between spittle slick lips, Albino plumes clotting and unfolding, Thatcher clicks back the cartridge Filter and cigarette, Thatcher gulps back the need because brain’s got a favoring kink for the buzz, Thatcher sings with the screaming in his straggling lungs, Hums the western creed Laughs fickle with God at his need, Thatcher’s the true American dream
0
Apr 23, 2013
Apr 23, 2013 at 5:17 PM UTC
Cancer, the American Made
Thatcher vacuum seals nicotine Slurps cigarette like mosquito Ravenous lungs gnaw and grind for the slow pander, Thatcher’s just another name for the labeling We plaster and pine for an out, Stitch that finite lie beneath squeamish child skin, Thatcher’s the black lung paradise, ******* infancy coddling cigarette stifle, The caloric crack of his canines fletching out lust and sickly groove As he’s scopes out fiend and vexed vandals, Clutches the sick theistic ********** Cuddle those bruise licked hips Give God the gross percent, Cause heaven’s in those greenbacks and God’s in the ******* kick, Suckling bout the American tip The Christian capitol, Seething on shadow puppet ****** and American dream, Gods got nothing to do with the slickened crinkle of gain and glamour, Thatcher’s just the candy man give and cult, Cough the crutch of contagion greed And clutch the cuff of your porcelain sleeve, Thatcher gleans your blackest suite tight, Struts raven blade shoulders perched on American made spine, Thatcher does as Thatcher please, Thatcher thinks as Thatcher bleeds, And Thatcher bleeds venereal blend, Gout with the American veneer of broken girl and scabbed moral traumatic, Trauma tastes as the hollow pixies give out the get out, Bandaged baby girls, The teenage horror show, Just another blazoned hit of one two take the hand me down generic give away, Desensitize the humanize, Girls got to get the days glossy puff and sniff, Thatcher’s content to satisfy, Callous coroner a spectator suckling Marlboro lick, Lodging thick smoke and toxin between spittle slick lips, Albino plumes clotting and unfolding, Thatcher clicks back the cartridge Filter and cigarette, Thatcher gulps back the need because brain’s got a favoring kink for the buzz, Thatcher sings with the screaming in his straggling lungs, Hums the western creed Laughs fickle with God at his need, Thatcher’s the true American dream
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45
Glances from across the room louder than the music louder than the bass that everyone is waiting drop. Musical notes clamouring against the floor, don't pick them up. leave them there, walk around them on tip toe in ballet slippered feet. feather light or lead heavy. veins of lightning. forming vowel sounds with my mouth. ooooooOooOOO EEeeeee i. i. i. AHhhhhh Sew me together with fingertips like the soft kiss of lemon drops, coming up the stairwell the warmth of wanting the bite of yearning. Flushed pink. Pinched red. Pricked purple. Spaghetti mind of soft thoughts turning hard and stale like cracked chapped candy cane lips. Naked and waiting. Scabbed mosquito bites that bled bright red. OOoooowww. Gimme a sec. 3-5 business days until rejection. I'll keep you posted. 48 hours of maybe. Lemme get back to you. No RSVP establishing a lack of certainty. but but but Re: Urgent: Plz Respond ASAP But when?
0
Jul 23, 2014
Jul 23, 2014 at 11:04 PM UTC
Vibes
The Devil is alive I hear its suffering Burnt out eyes and vacant lies Which whisper in my ear He snakes a hand across the chest And lies on glowing embers To writhe like centipedes in Nyx’s hair He walks into the kitchen at half-past five And takes my honey jars With scabbed hands and bleeding tongue He licks the sides and cap Transforms into my wildest dreams And rearing back at ecclesial verse Lies with me while I nap When the bodies are buried he returns home In the sewer marked with rotting pheasant Three feet in, light fades and dies But shrieks of anguish always faint He bids goodbye and leaves me here To stand in purest morning cold Still holding crucifix to die a saint
0
Apr 30, 2011
Apr 30, 2011 at 7:01 PM UTC
Honeycomb
Down behind the communal garages, Our knees were scabbed and scarred, Badges of honour, to ten-year old savages, Earnt in chasis' of burnt out cars. There, on the side of a wall, Nineteen-Sixteen, had been daubed in emulsion, Just another target for our ball, To find its meaning ? we had no compulsion. It was a circular Nine, like a giant comma, And the Six was rotund, as well, Against all the rules Sister Mary of the Immaculate Madonna taught, in those hand-writing classes from hell. It was similar to a giant 1690, I'd seen in another part of town, On the gable-end of a property emptied, Before an our street versus your street showdown. Then one day, the Old Fella' explained, In 1916 we stood up for ourselves, A pride in our nation regained, As the G.P.O. was shook to its shelves. "Son, we tired of crawling on our belly, Being beaten, battered and conned, Surely you've heard me talk of Connolly ?" I said, Yeh he's me favourite James Bond. But this was Liverpool, Nineteen Seventy-Two, And me Da' had been over here years, What he was on about, I never had a clue, Though it was the first time I ever saw him shed tears.
0
Mar 16, 2016
Mar 16, 2016 at 5:00 PM UTC
1916
my sister is picking fruit, tummy aching with the weight of a second basket; my mind three steps to the left of my skull, i ask for pomegranates (the sun is dead that watched me last time i ate.) my sister says: "there are no strawberries" my sister says: "there are too many raspberries" i need something the size of my fist, bursting with red cells and life to swell my chest, ground me here like a phonebox, my heart can barely hold one person before we start to bruise each other, peach soft, blushing dark and aching, as each mistake rots through to the pit of my stomach juice runs down her fingers like old blood plasma gilded, scabbed and spilled, please give me thicker skin, cake me in rind and membrane to hold the magma in.
0
Feb 18, 2014
Feb 18, 2014 at 10:29 AM UTC
Pomegranates
I'm four years old searching for bugs, lizards and frogs then putting them in boxes because I wanted to be like god. They never lived long. I buried my pet frog then dug him up to see what death really looked like. I'm eight years old getting baptized in holy water, my uncle puts me under. They say all my sins have been washed away but I still feel the same. My dad wore his suit and walked like God. I'm twelve years old behind home plate wearing my battle gear and scabbed knees, look dad! Did you see that catch?  I thought it was beautiful. He says I'm leader of the team. I'm fifteen years old being swept in to this strong boys arms. All I wanted was my dad. He never taught me the different between a boy and a man. I'm fifteen and a half, sitting at the park high, pathetically high. My lungs are cussing me out right about now. I'm fifteen and three quarters being sent to rehab for trying to die because of a boy that was nothing close to being a man. He left me with ******* in my system I'm sixteen years old and I found myself a man. He's my NA meeting whenever I need it. He reminds me of my dad.
0
Jul 18, 2014
Jul 18, 2014 at 10:17 PM UTC
Lizards.