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Amanda Kay Burke Feb 2021
Work hard and build the life of your dreams
It is all up to you
Create a world inside your head
Then make it come true
Amanda Kay Burke May 2018
If only dreams could continue forever
Endlessly glide through night
How merciless it is to be awakened
At morning's glowing light

In dreams there is never sorrow
Confusion, guilt, or heartache
Dreams are a subconscious movie
Our minds decide to make

Every twist and fork you encounter
On roads that lead to nowhere
Are just choices your mind invents
And are metaphors for somewhere

Dreams are flush with easy rhymes
You always find a friend
It's saddening that every dream
Eventually has to come to an end
Except nightnares, those I think we can all agree are better when ended.
Amanda Kay Burke May 2021
I miss you all hours of the day
More throughout long nights
Curled up next to somebody else
It just doesn't feel right
I lie awake for an eternity
Memories in my head
Wishing it was me there with you
Instead of her beside you in bed
When finally my mind drifts off
Expecting sleep to bring relief
It is a blessing and a curse
You always haunt my dreams
Sigh
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2021
Give an explanation for the lies that you tell
Drinking in the ******* cause you do it too well
And I find a way to get to the point I need to reach
I want to learn the lesson pain is trying to teach
And I will not give up on all the time I was with you
Many songs I wrote for us without intending to
I wish I was inspired
A new muse instead
These words paint your face cause it's stuck in my head
I have attempted to take your picture down but can't seem to make it move
Sinking into inky sea of love I can't remove
In tears I drown my pain and flood this whole **** place
Can't produce enough liquid to fill this empty space
I was inspired by that scene in alice in wonderland where she cries and floods the room
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2018
I have been drinking too much to write you a song
Downed too many drinks to say I care
Because when sober the pain becomes
Far too much for me to bear

I've been drowning sorrows in alcohol
Numbing the hurt night after night
I want to tell you I love you
I've been drinking too much to write
Written 6/10/13
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
Life is such a simple thing
At 18 years of age

When you have just bought your first car
A black 95' Ford Tempo

Reconstructed title
License plate boldly bearing the name "WRECK"

Keys pressed eagerly into an excited palm
As you head home to learn how to drive a manual


You never ever did get good at operating a stick shift, did you?
Day 22: a poem about your first car

My dad talked me into buying a car I couldn't even drive myself!
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2018
Drowning
Under and under
Blackness grips my heart
I ache and suffer
Sputtering dreams from pale lips
Hands from below reach and grab
Kicking and struggling for surface
That gleam of light I never seem to have
Air is so scarce
Hard to hunt
In loneliness I hide
Freezing depths, no sign of sun
Limitless possibilities
Because it is only in my head
This vivid feeling
Anxious, wish for peace instead
Insecurity constricting my thoughts
Haunting my wild mind
A dark fantasy out of control
A reason to cry hard to find
Here in my dark corners
Tears are nothing, salty wishes
Breif drops of ocean, tributes,
To the chaos my brain misses
So, with much misery
And little sense
Top of lake approaches
Breath gone, hung in suspense
My lungs have failed again
Oxygen vanished, happiness too
You don't need water to feel like you are drowning
I sink further each time I look at you.
I love that quote. You don't need water tobto feel like you're drowning.
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2021
Drowning in tears you caused me to cry
An ocean of fear
Can't swim
Loneliness suffocates and I don't know why
Room more comfortable dim

You looked back with remorseful eyes
Your mistakes written in major key
Held a plethora of perplexing replies
Words struggling to get free

Biting tempted tongue
Teeth standing ground
Barricading thoughts behind bars
Imprisoned
Forced to run round and round
Their footprints fade to scars

Paid the ultimate price for pure love
I am pained and poor
The same sun that once shone above
Sinks from sky to settle on the floor
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2020
Do not hate someone
The version surfaced by drugs
Love who is inside
Because inside deep down they are still the person you care for
Amanda Kay Burke Oct 2018
I am feeling lower than ever before
In my head I hold leaden weights
Think I need professional help
Emotions ignored become hard to navigate

Push down pain a little longer
Numb wounds for awhile
Gulp lumps of uneasiness
Conceal misery with a phony smile

Heart broken and bleeding
Hidden from all who look
I have mastered the art of composure
Face an unreadable book

Quiet night is tense and dim
Begging me to sneak off and play
Think I might cave in this one time
I'm scared I won't be able to get away

Under covers I hide in bed
Hoping I will not be found
By weakness and uncertainty
I lay motionless without sound

Trying to sort my issues
Organization isn't really my thing
Prefer to shove difficult subjects in a box
Lock out of sight so I can avoid the sting

Discovered something dull inside me
I found a tool sharper for out
Condemned the skin once considered home
It is easier to not think about

I'm told intensity only worsens with time
A smile hideously glued
Energetic as dying muscles will allow
Wild heart now meek and subdued

Memories will not depart
Echoes of voices loved then lost
Brighter still, rotating faces
Seasons changing sunlight to frost

My head has become a dark dungeon
Trapped there with my dirtiest sins
Watching mistakes as they rattle rusted bars
Capturing worst thoughts caged within
Sometimes my head is a quiet empty house painted white and others it is a crowded prison, dimly lit, dingy, filthy and loud.
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2020
I wish I was less selfish

Would that not be great?

To speak kindly to you more a few days a week at least

If I knew the way
I would try

We could have better

This heart yearns for peace

But it is stuck in dysfunction
It doesnt quite work right
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2020
Your early heat nudging my back
The coldness floods this impatient day
Made brittle in the breaking Dawn
Soften when the biting wind blows ice away
About waking up to a cold day in a warm bed next to my soulmate
Amanda Kay Burke Apr 2020
Earthlings live and lose
Standard human protocol
No one is exempt
I wonder what the protocol on Pluto is
Amanda Kay Burke Mar 2018
I love you no matter what happens in life
One day I will become your wife
Burdens grow heavy but weigh less if we share
From now on all our struggles will be easier to bear.
A message I sent Taylor at the beginning of our relationship.
Amanda Kay Burke Jul 2018
I miss easy days and nights we shared
Before dishonesty blew us apart
When we were eachothers best friend
It was much better at the start

Poured my heart into your ears
Told every fear, scar, and tale
Let you see ugly parts
Dirt beneath each fingernail

Hit me up every day that first summer
All your free time spent in my kiss
I could see feelings for me were real
Your company is what I really miss

Never were into dancing
Self-concious, shy, scared someone else might see
When we were out and music came on
Had no problem swaying with me

Would go where we wanted, wild like horses
By your side I felt like royalty
Shackled to your lap, my discovered throne,
Had no crown yet still a queen with your arms around me

Began over a bottle of Smirnoff
You coming to my house
Little did I know in the moment
All the worries and intense feelings you'd rouse

I am not saying I regret taking a chance with you
Can hardly imagine a world otherwise
I exist in the confines of my decisions
You inside labyrinth of lies

Fell for my passiobate spirit
I was still full of life; innocent
My love for the universe has faded since then
You witnessed my sparkle before it went

It was winter as soon as we blinked our eyes
Cracked like ice our hearts were doomed to break
Shards slicing through tender tethers
You apologize for making yet another mistake

Closeness that once was so simple to find
Disappeared when demons took charge
Spent many nights fighting them, and you
Dangling issues powerful and large

Lullabies switched to sad reverie
With every careless word and decision
Can you remember who we were before
Lies put us in this prison?

Loved you more than I loved myself
Loved you far too much for my own good
Gave you all I could, and would do it again
Before we broke we had something pure and good
Friendship ending with two lovers happens all the time, but love ending in friendship? Never.
Amanda Kay Burke Mar 2018
I'm easy to love.
Yet I am hard to be with.
My heart is so big and so full,
But my soul so empty and dark.
When I am happy my smile lights up the sky
When I am sad, I am devastated, my tears crash around me as the unstoppable thunderstorms in my eyes rage on.
I give myself wholly to you, everything I have and all that I am, completely.
The problem is when I do that there is nothing left to give myself, and I am left hollow and dim.
I will tell you how much I love you every day and show you I care with little acts of kindness.
An hour later I will find myself lashing out violently with angry hands and shouted words.
I promise I will never leave you,
I can't promise you will never want me to.
I am easy to fall for,
But I am hard to stay with.
I don't usually write freeverse but here is what I am feeling right now.
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2018
Thoughts are eating me alive
I feel sharp bites as they gnaw
Bleeding out pints of sense and reason
From conclusions I draw

I am glad to drift to sleep every night
Even with precious time flying by
Happy to experience any relief
No problems behind closed eyes

Conversations filling free dreams floating within
Attempting to be understood
Have no interest in indulging opinions
Hanging silent in my head, engraved in 'would'

In efforts to turn around my thinking
I stuff my mind with different distractions
Put hands to use with various tasks
Only substances bring satisfaction

I need to unearth the causes
Responsible for lack of peace
Little by little learn to be happy
Sorrows burning my brain will cease
Thoughts can cause more damage than anything else
Amanda Kay Burke Apr 2020
Her ebony hair fell down across shoulders like a thick storm curtain

Tied knots around fingers like drawstrings

And I have not ever seen such a beautiful display of heartache

In ebony locks a tragedy is written
A paragraph in each strand

And in hands she cradles pieces of what is left of her intertwined emotions

Her ebony heart cracked open wide
Toppled over
Empty of love
About no one in real life just a moment of inspiration I had while randomly reading an article with the word ebony in it. It's a beautiful word. An especially beautiful word considering it is a synonym for black.
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2022
I am a little bit different
Do things my own way
I would rather be weird than boring
Don't care what others may say
I will always stay true to myself
Amanda Kay Burke Sep 2018
Words are echoing throughout my bones
A steel casing around each one
You stung me with your poison, now I can't breathe on my own
Windpipe broken, damage to lungs done.

Pain through every tissue fiber seeps
Anguish flooding narrow veins
Insults scratch so very deep
Consume thoughts within my brain.

Anger and frustration take over
Recognizing lack of determination
Hurtful attacks make me move slower
Lose any remaining motivation.

To be honest I do not care as much
Present in body, not in mind
It is truly unfair for me to tightly clutch
Fading love I'm unable to leave behind.
Why do I put us through this?
Amanda Kay Burke Apr 2017
The moon is beautiful tonight,
and it reminds me of you,
I wish you were here with me,
So you could see it too.

I know we share the same sky,
But right from where I stand,
It feels like no other person,
Has a view as grand.

If you look above you,
and your breath steals away,
I hope you know I'm feeling,
Exactly the same way.
Amanda Kay Burke Jan 2019
I sit on the sharp edge of the present
Fine line separating future and past
My legs dangling into the past
Preventing me from living the current moment
Dwelling on wrong choices made
Words I did not mean to say
Friends and family I lost
Each lonely thought grips me and drags me further into the canyon of memory
I am barely holding onto this cliff with my fingertips
How do I pull myself back up?
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2018
Call me "druggie" or any other name you want
I am more than the degenerate society sees
Quick to be cold, they don't know who I am
Toss insults around like leaves in the breeze

I tried to make people understand
Staring is not the correct way to learn
Lack of caring, disrespectful looks
Is all an addict will earn

Show me one person who has never been down
Has no mistakes to hold
Demons find their way into all of us
Life leaves the warmest hearts cold

Things taken in different strides
Each person handles pain in their own way
Some stand ground, others escape
Sense of self-worth is the price we pay

Because of you, the stigma you spread
I found how harshly most judge
I want to educate ignorant masses
Their opinions too rigid to budge
I hate being judged on who I was in the past
Amanda Kay Burke Sep 2022
Yet with the hype and madness about the Coronavirus
I open window and take a deep breath breath of icy Alaskan air

The glass wearing a frosty negligee
Leaving transparent area just large enough to get a small peek at the natural show of pale snowy scenery on the other side

Eerily quiet
There is a foreboding sensation about the vacant stadium
Lone songbird whistling simple serenades to a pre-apocalyptic invisible audience
Written 3-3-20
Amanda Kay Burke Sep 2018
I wish you'd put as
Much effort into getting
Clean as getting dope
When I lost my excuses I gained results
Amanda Kay Burke Mar 2018
Our friendship is still fragile
Treat it like glass
I am still a little scared
Doubt loves to harass

There is a piece missing
Easy to overlook
It is hard to say
Which one you took

My heart feels
Like it is gonna bust
The most important thing is broken;
Our eggshell thin trust
A super old one I made a few changes but it didn't really need too much improvement.
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2020
I bet someone else
Is so lonely like I am
All by themselves tonight
Amanda Kay Burke Jun 2019
Dark clouds collect overhead
You are as hidden as the sun
As far from me as the moon
Joined life we knew is done

It has been storming since we parted ways
Raindrops falling all the time
Friends tell me to keep my chin up
Starting to think the sun lost its shine

I am tired of this poor weather
Heart colder than winter snow
Drafts slipping through the front door
Sneaking in the crack below

I look towards the sky for freedom
Releif from this torrential curse
Although buckets of water dump from above
Only your kiss can quench my thirst
Why is it always gloomy in Amandaland?
Amanda Kay Burke Sep 2019
Working hard is what we do
Each day this place we show up to
Selling pie and pastries too
Wiping tables when we're through
That's just life for me and you
Day two of my 30 day poetry challenge: write a five-line poem to the last person you texted (or fb messaged in my case since i lack a cell phone)
Amanda Kay Burke Mar 2021
The emptiness in everything haunts all I do
Truth behind the silence makes it hard to breathe
Fall before the morning leaves me on the floor
The goodbyes are all I hear and see

It scares me you moved on so fast
Dark beneath the hum of day
Light within has become so very small
Voice that I long for has nothing to say

And broken heart continues beating
Afraid how that can be
Scars I wear inside and out
Pain I wish would set me free
But instead it holds me captive
Amanda Kay Burke Feb 2019
(VERSE 1)
Know the pain I'll receive at your hand
They say I'm dumb but they don't understand
How hard it can be to let go of futures planned
To escape clutches of a cold command
Life without you I don't think I could stand
When it comes to me you don't give a ****
Unsure of a way to make you see
How ****** up it is that you always hurt me
Sit in silence suffering, sad and lonely
When we try to talk it out we simply disagree
You hear but do not listen to my plea
I continue giving you my love and time for free

(HOOK)
You just want me to be there
I want you to show you care
Of my unhappiness you are aware
I suppose you have your own greif to bear
Too busy to ask, too closed off to share
So I cry while out the window I stare
The whole time knowing it isn't fair
To give my heart when in return I only get empty air

(VERSE 2)
Lost intimacy that once came with ease
Love you but neglect is causing my heart to freeze
That expression you wear when I ask you to repeat
What you already said is less than sweet
The ground beneath shakes and quivers
From my eyes flow rapid rivers
Let's talk to not talk at eachother, tell eachother how we really feel
Let's release the words we've been longing to say, let's talk so we can heal
Let's talk about the good times we have both shared
Let's ask the questions we wanted to but before were too scared
Open your mind and allow thoughts to be free
I'll do the same if you don't judge me
Maybe then some understanding could be reached
Because our reasons aren't so simple to teach
We'll have to let down our walls to let love in
And let out worries that make the future seem grim
It will be worth it to pour out our hearts
So the fighting will end and the loving can start

(HOOK)

(BRIDGE)
All your promises are empty
All your love is fake
It's too late that I am realizing
You are just a big mistake

(HOOK)
Is that part called the bridge? I am pretty sure that's correct but not totally
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2020
All this emptiness is filling me up slow
Can I be full of nothing?
Don't know
What a contradiction
Amanda Kay Burke Aug 2018
Emptied yourself of emotions
Nothing remains but shadows and rain
Warmth inside diminishing
Numbness spreads throughout each vein

Used to be so alike
Hardly recognize you in this state
I am too fragile to withstand
Damage from the drug I hate

Despise you for letting it win
I see you surrender, can't speak
I get embarrassed loving someone
So selfish, careless, and weak.

I imagine I look pretty stupid
To those who saw the picture from afar
Cut the best parts of my heart out for you
To this day you keep them in a jar

Swallowed by powerful doubts
Choking on tears that pour
Sinking in confusion building
Frozen by longing for what we had before

Staring through hazy promises
Walking in a resentful fog
Alone, hollow, unable to let go
Shards of our relationship spell our epilogue

Litter floor with broken dreams and syringes
They cut, scream at me to turn around
Try and patch our injured hearts
They grow weaker with each pound

Yet we continue attempting
To repair the love we destroyed
I need to accept that you're no longer you
Where your soul once was there is now only a void
****** changes people into empty shells of their former selves
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2020
Sometimes I feel small and alone
Intoxication will beckon me home
Only find there is nobody there
An empty glass and emptier chair
Maybe if I had not treated them so bad
Loved ones I would HAVE
Instead of HAD
Sigh
Amanda Kay Burke May 2019
All that's left are empty pages
Words I can't bring myself to write
Stuck in a pit of self-loathing
Telling everyone that I'm alright

I roam empty hallways alone
Scared things will never be the same
Wish I could take everything that once was
Set all the memories up in flame

I am free-falling into nothing
Disappearing into thin air
Cannot exist without you
You remain okay and unaware

Although you cannot see it I'm bleeding
From wounds you opened within
The purest form of sadness escapes
Seeping ike the melody of a violin

Though you are the cause of my pain
Know you didn't do anything wrong
Have only myself to blame
Believing you could stand me for long

Clearly I was foolish and naive
Thinking you loved the things I do
Even though I'm hurting now
I will never regret being with you
No matter what happens between us I could never regret loving you. Because I never thought I deserved your love anyway.
Amanda Kay Burke Mar 2020
You swear you really mean it
I'm pretty sure you don't
Too often I have let you slide
Counting on the fact you won't

I've asked you to try my shoes on
You don't hear a word I say
Too busy ranting while you stomp
Storming the opposite way

I'll succeed with or without your help
Slowly dying with stubborn pride
Opinions don't control me anymore
Or cut me inside

I do not care if you revoke support
You'll be my Mama no matter what
Is it hard to accept me for who I am?
Hiding behind a door tightly shut

It is tiring attempting to make you proud
Sad thing to see you cry
I disappear for I can't bear your tears
Unable to handle the disappointment in your eyes

A long time ago was the reason you smiled
Old photograph serves as proof
Held me through the years
Held me down
Handed out name slurred with *****

Now we do not even sit down to eat dinner
On steps I lay my dreams
A broken home empty of potential
Collecting on dusty beams

Drinking from your water bottle
That's not what's actually inside
Wind tipping you off balance
Alone as guilt you hide

At grey clouds I shudder
Foundation of our fears
Still true to trust and time
Detached demeanor clears

Wish I had courage to call you out
Call your bluff
Admit I know
When you tell me to get out
You really mean "please do not go"
About my mother
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
I'm sad and hate who I've become
Everything is caving in
Because I'm all out of options
I don't know how to win

And if I'd face the awful facts
For one day in my life
I'd see that the only way out
Would be to end everything with a knife
Just one of those days
Amanda Kay Burke Nov 2020
Beauty within seems so far out of reach

Being slim comes easily

Starving for something more fulfilling than calories or carbs

For a glowing serving of enlightenment
For soul food
Amanda Kay Burke Dec 2019
Both our hearts are caught in between
Envy coating us pistachio-green
A varnish not shiny but smooth
Reflecting light the tiniest move
Eye-catching beauty to who dares look
A white pebble sparkling in a slow-paced brook
Containing jealous winds with restraints of ink
Emotions grow faster than you think
What starts as cloudy weather goes from small to bad
Soon a storm of feelings leaves you powerless and sad
Day 25: use the following words in a poem: pistachio ink pebble varnish weather
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