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You're hardly there...
sketched, into the backdrop
of my convalescence,
in hematite brush strokes.
Not a flicker, of breath
warms the cold curve, of my cheek,
but I feel you cup it, anyway.

My own hand,
bloodless, bleached
collapses, in pain.
Fatigued, it creeps,
across the coverlet
in a wraithlike half dose,
to seek you, sleepily
and pull you, across the void.
To capture you, by the mouth,
and bring you, like a magnet,
into another dimension.
Lips, press down, as if stitched;

the Cupid's bow,
folds itself, into the lower lip,
and sutures shut.
It forms a thin veil, of suppression,
and secrets.

Stay with me...
stay with me, a while...
stay with me, until I fall

...a...

...sleep, overtakes me.
I'm too weak, to wrestle with it,
and sink, below its dusky tides.
Darkly, they swallow me.
I float, in an indigestible stupor;

caustic waves, ripping away
at whatever remains,
of me:
half-consumed,
in the raging belly,
of the beast.

Still... the melted glaciers, of my eyes
seek you, above the insouciant turn,
of melancholy tides.

I wish to tangle myself,
all around you
to knot about you, composed,
comprised, in looping ties
like ropes... that only bite,
into the fruit, of your skin
if you draw me around you, tightly.  

And though, there's naught,
but an echo, of you,
above the seismic waves,
of pain

That same thought, rises
A shallow cry,
but it rips, through my soul
with the sudden release
of an arrow, leaving
the taut, aching pull,
of its bowstring.

Stay with me...

stay with me, til night, falls...
hold me, til the dawn, breaks...
love me,til our worlds,
collapse...

and, stay......
stay with me.
Gavin Starr Jul 20
I've spent most of my life
being fascinated by the flame,
trying to figure out how close I can get
without burning myself.

At the times where I've handled it closely,
it has left me charred—
but when I've tried casting it away altogether,
life is grey, cold, and lifeless.

So I keep returning
to the edge of the flame—
fingers trembling—
hoping this time,
it'll warm me
without consuming me.

Sometimes, the flame finds its way back—
not sparked, not summoned—
reminding me
it was never something I lit,
only something I carry.

I find myself haunted by the flicker—
drawn not by recklessness,
but by the unbearable quiet
of a world without warmth.
The Battles of Life,
through sickness, and through health,
through blessings, and good wealth,
all the trials, tribulations, and
everything else,
the wants, and the needs, and
the envious, and the greed,
the feeling of success, and
wanting to succeed!!!
the feeling of hope, the feeling of fear,
the feeling of Challenges, and
the fact that they are near,
don't give in, and don't Cave in,
Stay on the road of
excellency, because
YES!!!
YOU CAN WIN!!!
Keep your eye on the prize,
Keep working for it, and
YOU WILL SEE,
YOU DO HAVE THE ABILITY,
YOU JUST GOT
TO BELIEVE!!!!
AVOID SELFISHNESS, and
CARELESSNESS, and
ALL OF THE ABOVE,
Do your VERY, VERY BEST,
I AM SAYING THIS TO
YOU WITH LOVE!!!!
THE THINGS that we ENDURE,
with AGILITY, and with STRIFE,
the CHALLENGES that we FACE,
THESE ARE THE BATTLES OF LIFE!!!


B.R.
Date: 6/29/2025
mae Jun 29
i walk into the clinic
like it’s a gas station off Route 66,
neon buzzing, hearts tired.
my body full of roadmaps & warning signs —
but no one reads the signs,
no one hears the engine knock.
they call it stress, call it nerves, call it nothing,
but I’ve been breaking down in slow motion since the Eisenhower years.
You, my past and my present
You try to help with lonely lessons
You, you **** me and you bleed
Through every vein inside of me

You, my future and my end
You stitch me up with torn back mends
You, you keep my joys unfound
I gotta gut me to end you now

It never will be easy
To get tumours removed
That’s a fact especially  
When that tumour is you

I need to rip off my own flesh
This cyst, this germ, this flu
It’s me, the chronic sickness
That needs to be removed  

I’ll dig you up with sharpened steel
And rip this tumour out
I don’t think I can fully heal
Without killing myself

You, my love and my sorrows
You bleed me out until I’m hollow
You, I’ll never say goodbye  
You’re all I have and I’m all bled dry

You, you’re something I must lose
But you are me and I am you
You, you’re something deep engraved
And I’ll live with you until my grave
It’s hard to get rid of someone toxic in your life when that toxic person is you.
Mariah May 26
I love
I hate
I yearn
I ache

The pain
The chase
Eyes and ears and taste

The hands
That shake
Making love to my mistakes

Regret
Remorse
Embracing my own corpse

Change
Sorrow
Waiting for tomorrow

Paranoia
Trust
Drenched in pixie dust

Manic
Placid
The future's dipped in acid

Hope
Unrest
Bricks inside my chest

Friction
Freedom
Lies that I believe in

Tears
Laughter
Curate my own disaster

Chalk
Frost
Skin made up of moss

Tide
Concrete
Death before retreat

Time
Space
Stuffed inside a case

Fraud
Truth
The difference between the two

"I'm fine"
It's true
And if you actually knew
What could you even do?
I'm sick. I'm sad. Thank god.
052625

It rained.
The sky trembled,
and so did I—
waking in the hush of lateness,
a body unraveling in silence.
Illness came not like thunder,
but like memory—
quiet and overdue.

Weeks ago,
voices too young to understand
asked me things I couldn’t answer.
I smiled.
But something inside
went missing.
So I closed the door
before the next knock.
I named it fear,
but maybe it was a kind of vanishing—
the way I’ve always slipped through
before connection could tether me.

Trust—
a thin, brittle bridge
between islands.
I walked it once.
Now I float
in my own weather.

I thought
I was finished breaking.
That the years had made me whole.
But strength is not stillness.
And even stone remembers
how to fall.

There were worries
I tore from my own hands,
pages I left blank
so no one could read me.
And yet—
this morning,
I unwrapped something fragile
I had wrapped in forgetting.

And it was me.
Still here.
Still trying to become.
R Spade Mar 22
Kneel beyond my throne, unaware it was born of lies.
Eyes linger on my every move, whispers shouting.
Am I meant to replicate perfection, or just die trying?
Cold smiles approach, thinking they have uncovered my tell-tale heart.

But I am a seasoned ghost.

Being raised to suffer, I have learned to hide.
To mold myself to fit the standards.
To grit my teeth and stand still as my form shifts once again.
Knowing the brief seconds of waking are a soft euphoria I will soon miss.

I wake to a dawn meant only for the dying.

I wake to reset my own jaw,
bending my bones backwards
with the occasional crack,
a ritual ensuring I resemble something human.

People believe I am powerful, successful, happy,
(but i am as fragile as frost on a window touched by morning).
My costume is convincing, but cannot change what I am.
Invisibly so, and so the pretending continues.
neth jones Mar 17
hospital bed                                      
                   wedded flourish of decor
catcalls foam the past                
                   behind the eye blind     stimulus
limbo scapes rake...          
                                then nevermore
early version

hospital bed wedded
flourish of decor
    catcalls from the past and blind eye
landscape  illumination... then never-mind
James Ignotus Mar 17
Sickness.
A middle ground between
A life worth living
And a life sequestered
From the worth
Of living.

Hallowed be thy strength,
Calling forth a certainty
That life will remain.
Preserved, teaching
Lessons of perseverance,
Stagnation and decay.

If only strength
Was strong enough to
Keep sickness at bay.
Falter faster, with ease,
Conveying a simple,
Yet efficient mean.

Time slips, memories fade.
Strength gives in,
An internal raid
Fills the void
With a void,
Yet how surprising

When you were never loved.
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