Tag: creative writing

A Response Weighed

My phone weighs heavy on my heart,

Words unspoken and sublime.

Cracks in both feel so brittle;

Can you feel life between the lines?

My phone weighs heavy on my soul,

An anchor dragging as it falls.

Can you see the ripples fading,

As it carries me in tow?

My phone weighs heavy in my mind,

See the blood begin to drain.

All is gray now in my sight,

As the warmth fades to rain.

My phone weighs heavy in my hand,

Maybe metal, maybe stone.

I grasp it tightly for reprieve,

But it only helps to grieve.

Banshee’s Foe

In my early years I heard a tale

Of woe and death and ache;

The high pitched screams

That made our houses quake.

All down the streets,

Parents awake

Grab their ears

And in silence shake;

Praying to old gods

And new for a break.

For piercing shrieks

These beasts would make,

Tearing through stone

Through roads and lake,

Till none knew escape

Though all ran for their sake.

The recorder, a foul curse

Whose song could slay a drake,

Played by that awful devil,

A 5-year-old named Jake.

Chamomile & Honey

Breathless joy,

And echoing laughter in the night.

A soul lifted,

Brightened and polished by your presence.

A day,

Made bearable by your words.

Vulnerability,

Un-shielded in your arms.

Mere echoes,

These shouts into ink that reach for you.

Speechless,

My tongue tripping over all the things I love

About you.

Burnout

My thoughts are wriggling,

Thrashing in my overcooked brain.

Waves of heat radiate through my body

As tendrils crawl into my chest.

I am suffocating on my own experiences,

Choking on each second

Acutely aware of each breath

I know I cannot take.

A sharp metallic tang fills my nose,

Like metal grinding against bone–

Fracturing foundations like fingerprints

Pressed relentlessly into my skull.

I am falling asleep,

Yawning until I cannot see.

Exhaustion is all I can taste,

A slick oily sheen coated with sweetness.

I wake up a shell,

Memories intact.

Still tired.

So tired.

I combust and collapse.

Naught but ashes left

Of a well-worn soul.

Lazy Afternoon

With my lips on your spine,

I count down the days left.

Each vertebra is a week,

And we’re reaching a middle.

Your back arches inward;

I’ve hit a ticklish spot.

I rest my head there,

Lazily writing love with my fingers.

I can feel your smile,

Radiating in the warmth.

We are content,

In this lazy afternoon.

We are home,

And not a moment too soon.

I wrap my arms around you,

Gently assuring you deserve goodness.

Kindness is less alien now,

But you’re still acclimating.

Your spine is a timeline,

Each vertebra a moment you were broken.

You’ve pieced peace together,

Often haphazardly over the years.

But now it’s becoming clearer

And in your heart you can believe.

A dream awaits on a distant shore,

And all you have to do is fly.

Looking for a Way Out

Do you want to talk about bloody nails;

Fingerprints scraped off by friction?

There are roots growing

Where the mud is caked on.

I can’t stop digging,

To the left,

To the right,

Trying to get higher.

I look up and see the stars above me,

So far away

And blurred by the sweat in my eyes.

I can smell yesterday’s work

Lingering on my lips,

Like a taunting kiss.

Who is this monster compelling me

To dig?

What is their name?

If I screamed it at the top of my lungs

Would they even care?

All I want to do is escape.

All I want to do is run again.

To feel the embrace of another human being

Or just hear my name.

All I want to do is escape,

But how can I…

When I’m the one who started digging?

Lips Like an Undertow

Darling, kiss me slow

Lips like an undertow

And drown me in your love, tonight.

Oh, pull me in;

Let me feel warmth again,

Until the sun starts rising.

Dear, let me sing to sleep,

Shear all your fears like sheep,

And leave your past behind you.

Darling, so kiss me slow;

Your lips are all I know,

And taste our dreams, tonight. 

In Defense

What defense can be afforded a broken heart

When barbs of wire pierce the very hands

That attempt to hold it dear?

When walls of stone erupt

Louder than soothing words can climb?

When a hard and empty shell

Echoes unsatisfactorily?

What defense can be afforded a broken heart;

Pray tell…

For I am growing too old to stand watch alone.

Color in the Lies

Color in your lies–

Promises swept underneath the rug.

Trace the curves of your tongue

And fill the void unfeeling.

Call out a name your nose remembers

And your fingers cannot forget.

Shout again to hear an answer–

An echo, your only friend.

Bite your nails in silent affliction,

All that’s broken may grow again.

Unless…

You’re the end of that nail, discarded.