"untether" poems
What if
I had fallen to my knees
On the cold parking lot concrete
Tears washing over my cheeks
And cries no one should ever have to hear
Bellowing out from beneath my ribs
Screaming at the sky
Looking up at your face
Forcing you
(and everyone else)
To see me in this godforsaken state
Of absolute chaos
Heartbreak
In it's rawest form
What if I had begged you to stay?
What if I'd told you I can't do this without you?
What if I'd told you how much I needed you
What if I did anything other than fighting back the tears
Maybe for myself, maybe for you,
Mostly for the crowd of people gathering
Saying their goodbyes
Anxiously looking around to bear witness to everyone else's reactions
And I didn't want to be that girl
That girl who falls to the ground
Kicking and screaming and crying and begging
But what if I was?
What if I was any girl other than the one I pretended to be that day
The one that held her tongue and kept her mouth shut because she knew the second she opened it to speak she would sob
The one that wrapped her arms around you for the last time,
and the one that let go
The one that couldn't bear to watch you walk away
So she kissed you goodbye
Got back in the car
And drove home
What if i wasn't that girl who didnt allow herself to completely fall apart until she was alone in the privacy of her own home?
What if instead I'd made a scene,
Doing what everything inside me so desperately wanted to
Grabbing hold of your hand and refusing to let go
Losing the facade of confidence
The charade of strength
But I'm not that girl
And I never will be
So each and every time you leave
I kiss you goodbye
I unclench my fists and retract my anchors
I untether my heart from it's human home
And I put on a brave face
Maybe for myself, maybe for you,
Or maybe
For that girl.
Jun 11, 2018
Jun 11, 2018 at 12:19 PM UTC
I will bless you.
I will not untether you
with an unholy prayer.
Even if it aches
This heart will bathe
in the grace of you.
but it seems
like a dead end
I can feel with the arc of
my breast.
heaving with yours.
a slow synchronized dance.
we move to the same rhythm.
reading each other's lips.
Dec 9, 2018
Dec 9, 2018 at 2:36 AM UTC
A dust storm blows through Kansas
Stinging, lashing shrieks
The sand blows holes through a Canvas
Who collects the words, and sleeks
The gunfire of their sound, for weeks
His brows steeled and heavy
The whirlwind quits its wails
And leaves, lily-livered in its belly
A tsunami bellows over Mastushima bay
Body slamming into townsfolk
A long-time build up lead astray
One sun-browned girl is left to choke
But then spits out the damage, in half broke
And the colossal wave recedes
Quietened, calm and apologetic
Anger fleeing as it bleeds
Snow drifts and crawls its way past Moscow
Gentle, almost alluring in its ways
Children present their tongues, and the sow
Charges, squealing, into guts and begins frays
Which twist their ears burnt, lasting for a thousand days
And eventually a conscience melts the qualm
And the damage rectified on-surface
But frostbite clings to fingers; done already is the harm
Weather will hound and scorch and spit
And eventually untether
And though people bite and kick and hit
No emotion lasts forever
Nov 3, 2015
Nov 3, 2015 at 8:44 AM UTC
As wires round the world get lighter and thinner
Your news scroll feeds you various homicides,
From desktops at noon to plasma at dinner,
The auto-cue scrolls through this week’s most viral.
The network fail to mention the other seven billion
Who kept living their life devoid of such sinning.
Disquiet on your perch, picture your pleasure:
Hopping alone, around your enclosure.
The window slides up, wind ruffles your feathers.
Beak to the bars, you're helplessly tethered.
Yell 'til you're heard, ’til you’re hoarse and unkempt,
Yell 'til the neighbours are mad and hell bent.
Step back to your pedestal, tapping your feet,
The rhythm you summon traverses the streets.
Nearby inhabitants sit watching their screens,
Warn-out, occupied, unfulfilling their dreams.
Tip-tap-a-tip-tap-a-tip-tap away the evening and next day.
Now you live vicariously through social media,
You cannot stop tweeting, lonelier… lonelier.
Connections you make get quicker and quicker.
‘Life is the greatest’ upon appearances,
You pick and you carve a residual image;
The best fools fool themselves into submission,
Post exponentially, build on your rhythm;
Second life, third face, prosodic yet speechless,
Your diary now echoes, empty and featureless.
Stare at your screen, silent and grinning;
Hive mind rewired, this story needs spinning.
Forget losing face, that farcical demeanour.
The needle wobbles on your false life fever,
As sunlight exposes where your cage is broken,
The tether is loose but you're past noticing.
Shared knowledge free of charge, constantly flowing,
Ignore others' viewpoints, or pleas to come in.
The glass in the window is brilliantly glowing,
There's fire outside that your posts have been stoking.
White noise, connection lost, you're no longer hosting
That multi-channel, fibre-optic, bandwidth expansion.
Untether your Ethernet, the cage disappears
Find sanctuary outdoors when quiet is near.
The caged bird tweets devoid of all reason,
Fooling itself about its own lack of freedom.
May 10, 2019
May 10, 2019 at 9:15 AM UTC
Swift winds run through the park, at dusk
Carried on legs of leaves
Temporary, as they blow from the path
Onto the verdant sheet of blades
Laid beside the pavement.
The contestants occasionally collide,
And tiny whirlwinds
Untether their foliage feet from the terrain
As they fall onto the track
Whistling merrily as they bounce upon the ground
And rebounce into their lane
To commence the runnings again.
No pace is kept
And each man is one moment a sprinter
And the next a marathon chaser
The disciplines remain inexorably tangled
In their fleeting eyes.
Oct 17, 2011
Oct 17, 2011 at 9:26 PM UTC
I will always remember the time
you took my hand;
you took me to various places,
to beautiful pieces of land
I will never forget the time
you let go of my hand,
and I felt the world shatter inside of me
for a while I didn't understand
I will always remember
the time we spent during that fair-weather,
and slowly, but surely
I will piece myself back together
I will never forget
how you were like a fortune teller;
always a bellwether,
showing me that I will eventually have to untether
I will always remember you, my friend
for am I still only a pinfeather
and you have helped me develop for the better
Feb 15, 2016
Feb 15, 2016 at 11:29 AM UTC
I lie awake in chilling darkness
Wilting lids refusing to unite
Mind unwilling to drift into peaceful slumber
Body wrestling the solitude of my empty bed
Yearning to be enveloped in the warm cocoon of his arms
But only finding a desolate space of sheets and pillows
My hand reaches for the only lifeline to my love
I swipe away a collection of meaningless pixels
And find a familiar figure
The axis of my world
I gaze into the pair of eyes that send whirlwinds through my aching heart
A beautiful dance of green and brown
My sight shifts to a glowing smile
Emitting sunbeams through the window of my amorous soul
I focus on every centimeter of skin
And feel my longing shift to content
Content of my lips parting his once more
Content of the pure ecstasy of his hand on mine
Content of the day we no longer have to say goodbye
For 300 miles may divide our bodies
But no force may untether our souls.
Apr 28, 2018
Apr 28, 2018 at 12:13 AM UTC
Step into the mind of a young man
Staying up late night
My mind's a mess living in a world of stress
So let me break it down for you
I write verses to fight my inner demons
Rapscallions everywhere tryna bring me down
Imma keep grinding in a tranquil hell
Till i reach another level i've never been on
The world is enough a hell to be ******
Why curse it further?
During my severed journey in metro rails
I see people with facades of character
Unable to merge with their true mores
No one can recognize me amongst them
Oh! I guess im a stranger to you
All i think about is music
Past memories splash like tidal waves
Gallivanting between my two identities
One fractured, the other to survive
My heart struggling to untether from itself
Now I wonder which is my home...?
This one or the world i dream about..
Now you may leave...
Thanks for sticking around.
Sep 15, 2018
Sep 15, 2018 at 9:03 PM UTC
I took my eyes out
Plugged my nose & ears
Burnt all my taste buds
Avoided touching my fears
I covered everything in a blanket
Of 'it has to be ok'
My main goal to achieve
Every single day
I snuffed all the light out
And let the laughter drown
I squashed all my emotions
Deep deep down
Time to unplug the senses
Untether what is deep and dark
Unlock all the emotions
Release the long lost spark.
Nov 2, 2015
Nov 2, 2015 at 1:59 AM UTC
To drift
Be taken far out
Brought further into
Subconscious
Slew of symbols
Color coded
Neurons colliding
Sever
To untether
Physical form
From spiritual
Deep inhales
Counting down
Vibrations
Hey,
I'll see you
Out there
In shadows and
Swirling cosmos
With three eyes
And bright aura
Jul 23, 2021
Jul 23, 2021 at 2:46 AM UTC
Threaded throughout this poem
is a network of understanding
in
a universe of attachments:
untie untether unite
Sep 10, 2024
Sep 10, 2024 at 8:34 PM UTC
The veils worn are deadly ones
Concealing broken wings
Just time is what is needed
Time to untether strings
So give us sight to bear
See the world not there
For this mess is a tricky one
Some just waiting for it to be done
Next time reach out and take a stroll
You might save a broken soul.
Mar 9, 2015
Mar 9, 2015 at 12:39 PM UTC
Mirror,
in front of me
tell me something that I don't know.
Anything, anything at all will do at this point.
Mirror,
show me something that I can't see
with my own naive and sheltered eyes.
That I search for, that I'm searching for so desperately.
I know you can't answer me.
Your lips can only form the words that my lips do
and you can only give me
the same desperate and paining look
I'm giving you right now.
I've been told I'm my own worst enemy
and maybe that's what I came here to resolve.
I've learned that every high and low expectation
that I have set for myself
can only be achieved by me
and I'm the only one stepping on my own coat tail.
I may claim to be broken winged
but the truth is my wings aren't broken,
I'm just to afraid to use them.
But I think it might be time
that I untether myself
and untie the knots that I have tied so tightly
around me,
and I set my self free.
May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014 at 1:15 PM UTC
Wish I could bend space to match the structure of your face
Untether myself from the ripples that have us destined to be separated
I don't want to be Doppler effected by you, longing for the highs you made me feel
I can put down my bowl and my alcohol
When you're around I don't need anything to make me feel like I'm falling towards heaven
Sometimes I feel like I cant stand it, till I remember you're on this planet
Who'd you lose your breath to this time
Are your feet in the air
Or is the time you spend just spare
Are the notes erratic or have you organized your fall
When you're just wasting time till you fall down
You're a tremor queen without a crown
You're the crust to my core on a planet where no shore meets another shore
I see you over there, but I ask myself "What for?"
Feb 18, 2015
Feb 18, 2015 at 3:02 AM UTC
where love is love still forever
and the wild sea crackles and broods
and the clouds float light as a feather,
and grey as grey are their moods,
the pinks of the sea always flowing,
the corals buried deep in the sand
and the wind with its strength
always fleeing,
the skirts of the land.
the flowers of the waves are all blooming,
the sun gathers strength from the day,
the surf cries and lifts then is
falling
and says all is left still to say,
the roll of the tide like a titan,
a giant whose breath is to lave,
and thunderous seas that would
frighten,
dissolve in their waves.
the sea is an arc of bright crimson,
the sky a whole sand-dune of gold,
the swallows of the sky unimprison,
the air from the story yet untold,
the devil sings out to his sister,
who refuses to come or obey,
for she is a lark of the water
and knows the sea’s way.
as twilight swiftens like a moon note,
and the blue air dreams of her
love
and the dark dreams of dreaming
in her star boat
and the sky sings forever there of,
my love for you grows still
forever,
as my kisses find all the dew of
your lip,
as me to you you pull and untether
as stars start to dip.
May 19, 2020
May 19, 2020 at 3:44 PM UTC
I went away
To the sky,
Where the clouds are high and the sun shines
Where every drop of water
And every spectrum of light
Screamed your name
And how your every touch felt
I went away
To the sea,
Where the waves kissed the shore
Every time it was pushed back
It came around again,
Like how I feel when you leave me in the crowd,
But I always find my way back to you
I went away
To the caves,
Where every echo sounded like a cry for help
Every time I don't feel your arms
And your tight embraces
Where the spires seem to accuse me
Of asking too much of the world
I went away
To the mountains,
Where the skies are close
And I could whisper my wishes unto the clouds
Where I could scream at the top of my lungs
Every single thing that I hate and release them
But your name never came out
I went away
To the sky, to the sea, to the caves, to the mountains
I went away to untether myself
But in the end,
I always come home to you.
Apr 14, 2015
Apr 14, 2015 at 8:40 AM UTC
I want to drink so bad
feel a burn in my throat
watch the whole world float away
the feeling of the overwhelming
tightening it's grip on my throat
disappear like smoke
I want to smoke so bad
laugh without reasons at all
forget my own existence
touch my hands as if they were not my own
untether myself from the hardwood floor
loosen the ropes of reality
I want to fall so bad
infatuated bubbly giggles at their name
sweaty palms when I look too long
flirty nothings kissed emoticons
teasing looks stolen across the room
sparks running through sober
Sep 10, 2019
Sep 10, 2019 at 9:37 PM UTC
Your body is wild magic.
You harden under my hand.
I am a sorceress
commanding forces
that untether oceans -
unleashing the tsunami
that will change the shape of things
forever.
Jul 14, 2017
Jul 14, 2017 at 5:54 AM UTC