Please stay I know I said I’d be fine If we ended it tonight But I lied I’m not ready to lose you You are my guiding light Trust me, I’ve tried Not to get so attached to you Not to get caught up in you In my daydreams If only they could come true It’s hard when you tell me That dreaming won’t hurt Don’t you know I’d throw myself on the fire first Because you are the kindest person I know On Earth I am in limbo Between feeling too much and being in love It’s hard not to get what you want But when it comes down to it I only want you In any form or fashion It’s always you So I will take what I can get An hour or a moment You will always be the best part of my day So please stay —Michelle Dana Sabado

Rest easy and know that your presence will never fade from my soul's memory for in my heart love has made you eternal.

e.v.e.

I don’t know how to look at things that fall because I’m so scared of what my hands can do..and I don’t know if your footprints leave sun rays on anyone else, but this morning I traced my way home from the places you once were on me. I never want to be anything more than the smile that reaches both your eyes and your heart. I want to love me the way that I love you.

I am the empty.

I am the cracked.

I am the broken bottle.

I am the smashed glass.

I am the mess.

What No One Remembers 11.27.21 “Home is Where the Hearth Works”

Lights are left on --home alone-- Leftovers are right where I left them “Every day is a holiday with you” The bathroom tiles like a church hall Full of light, sound, and self reflection These walls and roof are not my home But together they make a house I do not own Borrowing keys and time and thyme Not a speck of snow until I squeeze my eyes Only then, the night begins to glow Shaking my head like a discount snow globe I still believe there is a Santa Claus Because his materialistic claws Bite like cellophane shrapnel “I know you’re not to blame” Upon each shelf, reminders remain Unwrapped, now wrapped in dust “Why did I want this?” Just like you, and me as well It meant a lot to one of us one day Now, we too, collect our dust today Should eyes wake to break the storm Part curtains like clouds, like eyelids What vainglorious sunlight will present itself After our unwrapping

@env0writes C.Buck Ko-Fi & Venmo: @Zenv0 Support Your Local Artist!

One day, one rhyme- Day 2877

This octet is a tribute to

My neighbor’s daughter Grace,

Whose trampoline was wired so tight

It launched her into space!

She gave the folk on ISS

Quite a severe surprise,

They never called it in, cos they

Could not believe their eyes!

.

we are not here to judge

(others and their experiences)

but witness

.

~@pocketfullofpoesies

Smoldering

Smoldering

Within me is a fire A smoldering fire Yearning to be a raging, All consuming Living fire

In this bed of coals hiding There are sparks abiding Yet to be doused or putout Still lighting

These sparks have not gone out though rare They just need a breath of air Someone to take notice To be fed See them there

All it needs is a hand A bit of tenderness to fan What is yet alive... In me Waiting to expand

There’s a fire set apart Waiting to warm your heart Waiting to engulf With passion, And love your heart

Within me is a fire

K. C. Barry

Radio Silence

and when it's not all soft surf and sunsets but tired hands and trembling hands and everything inside of me unsure

so many parts of me that still leak

no chance of recognizing myself in this light and these quarters too tight to even turn round, forward, always forward, choose my words like dance partners like

dinner with the family

my little niece standing on my toes, glowing, I invent the steps as needed and remember the warmth of love, she asks me what this one's called I call it by her name and she fuckin loves that but then

I remember I don't always have to speak I don't have to speak when someone reminds me why ultimately I hate these things by asking me questions that are, at best, poorly timed but

takeoff

she wants to fly and tonight I grant wishes tonight I am an airplane frame and engine

tonight I don't have to hear all that chatter from the tower tonight we go radio silent we switch off the props and glide through the hostile skies of the living room

the pilot too young and naive to understand the flak bursts as flak bursts but she steers course to return-to-base, safe landing in the kitchen

ground still calling, calling, come in, calling, asking if I'll ever try again

my brother hands me a glass

hallelujah, hallelujah, amen

Twenty seven thresholds crossed Only to end up In a garden of walls Peace loves the chase Why wouldn’t it, even The universe just keeps going There’s nothing left to prove Now that I’m useless, still missing And, captain - I can’t help but Feel free

i've always loved you one way or another. i break out of your ribs only to bury myself back in. i've always loved you one way after the other. everything else is a fleeting state — cruel, fluid transience leading me back to you.

some ghosts you just miss, darling — some ghosts, you'd die just to see again.

— fray narte, "july"

Let there be light

I have loved you fiercely Wholeheartedly Without question In the dark of the night My mind turns to darkness To madness To unmentioned slights To acts that although forgiven Stained my soul Events seem harsher by night You have dismissed me My soul and heart united in grief Weeping tears of gratitude and betrayal For I am by nature compassionate Forgiving You will not let me in Will not begin a conversation So I turned inward replaying past and imagining future conversations in my mind Every part of my being is in turmoil Thinking Perhaps even hoping that you are experiencing a little of this unsettledness It is too much to bear Thinking that you are merrily living your life While I am standing on the other side of us Trying with all my might Crowbar firmly gripped in both hands Attempting to wedge the door open Even slightly As I do so voices tell me to walk away Say farewell Move forward However minutely Meanwhile I will hope for a while longer For some sign from you That I matter That you care Knowing all the while My waiting and hoping is quite possibly in vain.

Delightsofmysoul 26 November 2021

Oh, I miss you. I miss you so much the tears that pour down my cheeks can't fill this ache. My heart so desolate it's scorched ground, a salted plain.

e.v.e.

S

The word snake begins with your sinuous picture:

ophidian reptile curving and swirling

so as to look back at its own arching tail –

the serpentine slither held still as a sleeping

snail and oh so subtle!

 Sizzle, snap, sigh and smack are among your safari of sounds

as you sweep the salt off a steep set of stairs

and there you are at the start

of star, startled, swordfish, and snow swirl.

 The essence of S? As Z concludes the whole train

of ferocious alphabet, you complete what now is.

 © Scott Thompson

All we ever truly do in life is suffer ourselves.

Suffering is the spice of life.

Suffering is the proof of pleasure.

So let us suffer.

the good news is you're going to get out the bad news is you'll do it alone

the girl who smells like strawberries and hope? she tries, she really does the next time you see her she'll be in a casket and for once her hair will be neat and her wrists will be carefully hidden beneath her sleeves they play amazing grace at the service and you'll frown because she hated that song you always thought she'd be the one to leave

the boy with the crooked teeth and the too-big smile? he stays you'll see him again, at her funeral he's got a wife now, and you'll pretend not to see the way he stiffens at her touch or the way he stares at the old barber's son this town has no room for people like him

this girl with the dark lipstick and sharp teeth? she's right where she belongs she's got her hands around another pretty boy's throat whispering dangerous things in his ear while her nails draw blood she's always known how to survive here you won't see her again, but she's there standing under the willow tree watching them lower strawberry girl into the ground she has nothing left, now she turns and leaves, and that night she pretends that drunk boys with big eyes and clumsy hands are enough to make her forget but later she'll stumble to the bar and stay there til sunrise

the boy with the shaky hands and brilliant mind? he's never going to make it that's what they always say, and somewhere along the line he starts believing it he shows up at the end of the last song, grease-stained and sweaty he works at his father's repair shop, now, and just like his father he smells of cigarettes, motor oil and cheap beer he's everything he never wanted to become you wont ask him to come with you, this time you already know the answer, and it's far too late anyways

you'll get out but you'll do it alone say your goodbyes and don't look back mutter a prayer for the ones who stayed then keep on walking forgive, forgive, forget this town is a black hole and you're just past the event horizon keep walking this town will swallow you whole if you let it -- r.a.b.

One day, one rhyme- Day 2876

This poem’s about John McKnight,

Whose teeth are such an intense white

That when seeking things in the dark,

A slight smile can give enough spark

That even the darkest room may

Be lit up just like it’s midday.

The problem is at night, they keep

Waking him up when he wants sleep!

AGAIN

I read your words out loud like I read Maya Angelou, a thousand times, before I imprinted "I Rise" into my mind,

Felt akin..

And then inked it into my skin.

O

in ambivalent continuation, infinite and infinitely indifferent,

a perfect absence for some tiny light to dwell

shadow of a single flame, a candle, warmth of light in void and

features each made sharper by forced darkness at angles entirely too hard

you sleep,

you sleep and I keep watch and I keep guard -

aging,

closer to your horizon and expanding, in orbit and in awe,

admiration,

in perfect order