Regular poetry thread (part 2)

[Woodwind]

they call it free-fall because it feels like flying

i.
the world is
crystallized molasses

my smile,
fake-sweet and brittle
like airplane waffles
or promises

and even the sky wonders how not to choke
on the powdered sugar and melted snow

clogging

every sewer
phone line
trachea.

ii.
why didn’t you call?
just slipped away
silently

or did you scream?

iii.
all i remember now is
laughter

crunchy in hindsight
with some invisible sickness

like gravel in a food processor
leaves and dead bugs still inside
with
pearl eyes

or no,
they’re closed now
under forgotten stardust
all laid out in pretty rows

and i wake up screaming

nebulae tattooed across my lids
in frankenstein patchwork
nightmares.

iv.
i think about how you are

slowly

turning into watercolor.

v.
you taught me that freedom is an aftertaste
minty
with hints
of sulfur and saltpeter

you taught me that bravery
is taking that lump in my throat
big as james’s giant peach and swollen under the sun
shaping it into cake batter
and flinging it into the hallways
to cover up
the sideways looks and carpet staples

every door a reminder
of how emptiness echoes.

vi.
did you know

you beat me to it?

i can’t think about endings anymore
without seeing you

fall.

vii.
you’re so

selfish.

[Woodwind]

prometheus, set me on fire
at the cr-
ack of dawn
the sky bleeds broken egg sunrise
all down the mountains

when i am the night’s bandaid & plaything,
does anyone care to notice?

i wonder how you can get up every morning,
smile side up.

me? my yolk burst years ago,
an appendix of yellow bile
still spilling out past the eagle-talon eggshells
(ha, ha, you think. humorous.)

so i
gift-wrapped my guts in pretty tape
threw a t-shirt over the scramble to
keep
it all
in,

& talked to the streetlamps low at twilight,
watching them flicker

like fireflies.

[Poinsettia]

okay so I literally just wrote this out of the blue. thoughts?

it wasn’t a world of sunsets,
but the sky was filled with vivid colors nonetheless,
trying, hoping, wishing
to paint my world with love the way the sunsets paint the sky.

[Woodwind@Poinsettia]

I like it – it’s short but sweet and you have some beautiful imagery

[Poinsettia]

thank you so much <3

[Poinsettia]

top

[Rainbow]

un·im·por·tant

/ˌənəmˈpôrtnt/
adjective
lacking in significance or value

example:
my existence seems unimportant
to them

nothing
worthless
meaningless
overlooked
(if seen at all)
forgettable

unwanted

it isn’t adding up
explain to me how this equation works:
close friends {(“…the fact you’re one of my best friends”)}
+ (saying they care about me)^3
+ (close friends end of last year / did something happen over the summer??)(talking often)
= 1 > x > 0 (where x = communication,
contact,
any sort of connection)

all this is pushing down on me:

heck ton of emotion (force)
___________________________ = pressure
1 friend (area)

how do i convert it
for it to make sense
to me?

if 1 friend = 24/7 anxiety
and 1 friend = 1.5 rsd
and 1 friend = 5 mL of tears
and this has gone on, for what, 6 weeks?
so…
24/7 anxiety 1 friend 1.5 rsd 5 mL of tears
__________ x ________________ x _________ x ___________
1 24/(6(7)) anxiety 1 friend 1.5 rsd
is that the proper setup?
do i just solve to find the answer?

should i put it in another language?
would that help?”why does he not talk to me?” “did i do something wrong?” “i thought we were friends?” “why is this not all that true now??”

i study the events leading up
and i don’t think i can pinpoint
the cause of this

all i see
is a history
of people lea–
ving me

and i wonder
if this is
the same

i try to compare it to
what’s going on at the same time
but i don’t have those stories
there’s no reason
that i can find
to “split the text”
comparing & contrasting characters
is difficult
when one is barely there
searching between the lines
for a chiasmus, inclusio, parallels
to see where things changed

but there’s nothing there

like this all was rushed
barely thought about
clearly unimportant
to the author

clearly i’m unimportant
to them

_________________

________________
i just wrote this poem today :3 (363rd!! yay). my teacher have got to love me lol-
also not this poem being the, like, 50th (exaggeration, prob) poem i’ve written about this friend, esp this …issue i’ve got goin’ on 🙁
really hope this goes through. and the formatting works.

[Rainbow]

mm okay so some formatting didn’t work
the chem section was supposed to be:

24/7 anxiety 1 friend 1.5 rsd 5 mL of tears
__________ x ________________ x _________ x ___________
1 24/(6(7)) anxiety 1 friend 1.5 rsd

(really hope that works)

and the “diff lang” was in hebrew, so it makes sense it got cut out but each bit was like:

should i put it in another language?
would that help?
”why does he not talk to me?”
“did i do something wrong?”
“i thought we were friends?”
“why is this not all that true now??”

but the part in quotes was in hebrew

[Poinsettia]

whoa, this is so relatable. you capture the puzzlement and sadness of being left out, so perfectly – and it’s so lovely how you use chemical formulas, like you’re building poetry out of something commonplace. the juxtaposition of the dry formulas with the unpredictability of emotions really symbolizes the contrast between the narrator’s hopes and reality… even if the formatting didn’t go through properly, it still has such an effect on the reader. anyway, this is a great poem, thank you so much for posting it:)

[ZetaLupi]

I know it’s like a month old but I adore this poem. I was drawn by the dictionary formatting and stayed for the math, physics, and chemistry. What a creative way to express such a deep pain! I hope the pain lessens but the creativity stays.

[Rainbow]

hmmm so the formatting for the chem part just isn’t going through
i’ll upload a screenshot of the actual thing ig

really hoping that’ll work

[Woodwind@Rainbow]

too bad the formatting isn’t going through but I loved your concept. the math equations and stream-of-consciousness feel were cool!

[Woodwind]

my grandpa turns 91 this friday and i am
halfway through my high school career and
sprinting away
from another place i don’t belong.

i told him ninety-one’s a terrible number because
everyone thinks it’s prime,
but i didn’t say there’s thirteen
times
seven
thousand
things i wish i knew about him.

he said
my mom never finished highschool
because the transcript got lost in the mail,
and sometimes i wonder why i am trying at all
when it’s the start of junior year
and i can’t get off the floor.

i should use these “best years of my life”
before i need help to move three inches into a different wheelchair
not that it’s wrong to need help
but i am tired of little diagrams explaining
just
what’s
wrong
with
me,
and i am tired
of getting out of bed in the morning,
and of lying in the hallway and watching you
walk
away,
and i am scared.

when you turn ninety-one are you still scared?

[Poinsettia]

ahhhhh this is just the type of perfect CB poetry that I love <3 there’s so much to say about this poem – the use of numbers, the way one line builds into the next, the family legacy, the different stories, the way the last line is the finishing touch…

[Seadragon]

Everyone’s work on this thread is so beautiful! I write poetry, although I don’t really revise it and I don’t think I’ve posted any before, but here’s a poem I wrote a while ago:

ANXIETY
You see it behind a friend’s back, within earshot.
You find it between the pages of a main lesson book, where it makes you hesitate with no real reason.
It lurks in that classroom, you about to give a speech, clinging thickly to your friend’s high heels and stained lips.
It follows you to the studio and the pool, and leaps onto your chest late at night.
In the lavender room, behind the blocks…
The devil is always there, and though you beg for release it never comes, so you are used to the devil, used to it appearing every so often.
You are not so interested in therapy, you say, but doesn’t it sound strange, like something that shouldn’t have to be there?
I am used to the devil?

[Poinsettia]

ooh, interesting! the lavender room is an intriguing idea, that line seems like the best one to me:)

[Seadragon]

Thank you!

[Echo]

Moondrops

Sometimes when I’m watching the stars,
Moonlight slips out of my eyes
And rolls down my cheeks.
Maybe like tears,
Or like memories of us
Slipping out of my mind.
But I still remember them.

Do you?

[Hawkstar]

100%

[Moon Wolf]

Day 131 – Shadows
Shadows
Paint darkness
Behind the sun
Cloaking half the world
In the shade
Along with the night
And all its stars
Like the sun’s shadow
With a moon
Glowing silently
Against the shadows

[Author]

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