Posts tagged poetry prompt

in Poems

red flag

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Pay attention to the signals ahead. I missed my exit because I was skipping a song to one that didn’t remind me of him and when he loved me more than he does now. Be wary of any short hugs and apathetic answers, and stop wondering whether a separation will help, because it won’t. Remember that we have one single life and for all we know, we only have a handful of years left to live. Pay attention to the signals. And if you see a red flag, it’s not just okay — it’s the right thing to run.

Today’s … Read the rest

in Poems

in the golden hour

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I don’t want a big life, 
but I don’t want a 
small life either. 
I want a calm, happy, 
fulfilled life, 
which is one I 
doubt I’ll ever have.

Can you believe it
when I tell you I
want my parent’s life?
That I want their 
quiet, steadfast love,
their iron belief 
in each other?

I spent so many
years trying to
run from them 
telling myself this
is the worst
that can happen to me
and I was so wrong.

It would be the best thing
to go to bed and never
wonder whether 
the one you love 
wants … Read the rest

in Poems

Attention

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You can tell I’m nervous when I don’t shut up, when I turn into a chatterbox that will do or say anything to avoid having to do or say what has to be done or said. I am not brave. I am not fearless. I am not even casual, ever, it’s always all or nothing for me, this or that.

But when it comes to you I’m able to slow down. Really, I have no choice. Your skin against mine creates a still silence that comes from nowhere else, only you, you soft mouse.

No one will hear you unless … Read the rest

in Poems Written Promptly

don’t test me

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it wasn’t the argument that ended things for you,
the one you held on to and wrote about, the one
you felt was so demeaning and mean — 
it was a simple question — and you wanted to give a 
simple, honest answer

that’s it
that’s all

you didn’t know what would happen
you didn’t even know what you wanted
to happen, but you lit the fuse that 
would eventually blast you
to smithereens

boom
poof

and all these years later we are both
asking what the hell were you thinking
to do things like that, to do everything
the … Read the rest

in Poems Written Promptly

the only thing I want

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In this relationship I have to be flexible,
I need to always be ready to bend if necessary,
and to make myself small and quiet 
whenever I am asked. 

One of the prices I pay for this relationship 
is silence, my silence, my starvation for
affection and validation, and any 
conceivable hope for the future. 

Those I must pay for
one way or another. 
One day, or not.

In this relationship I have to be ready for 
cliff diving, train jumping, backflips, I
need to be prepared for the quick exits,
I always need to be ready to run. 

I … Read the rest

in Poems Written Promptly

no one’s second best

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I thought we were okay.

I was running on autopilot,
that I can admit,
but I know I was here,
present, conscious, 
I know I felt loved even if
I felt it a little bit less. 

I told myself “Sometimes,
it can’t always be 50/50,
sometimes one person needs
to offer the other more when 
their well is running dry.”

So I offered you more. 
I offered to give up my peace 
so that you could have yours
for a while, and apparently,
that wasn’t enough. 

You caught me last night,
deer-in-headlights I sat and
listened to all the things… Read the rest

in Poems Written Promptly

It’s nothing, I’m fine

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If I asked you what you see in your future I’m sure
I’d only be met with silence. 
Not because you don’t know where we’re going, 
but because you know we won’t like it.

We’re not walking into any future we imagined,
together nor apart, in every way that’s meant. 
Now it seems more like a slide into complicity,
acceptance, and “you get what you get,
and you don’t get upset” like we’re children
who never learned to play by the rules. 

I suffer through sighs and the sad empty gazes.
You suffer metaphorical but actual pain in your heart,… Read the rest

in Poems Travel Written Promptly

patience for the pilgrimage

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there are so many months between me and here and there
but I can’t wait to prepare. I can’t wait to go from wistful dreaming
to actual planning, to opening a duffle bag and beginning to pack.
Clothes and deodorant and soap, various and sundry things to fill 
the space in me (the bag) just like where I’m going will fill the space in me.

a whole entire winter and spring need to pass before this chance comes
and I have to remind myself it’s still a chance, anything can happen
in that amount of time. illness, death, job loss, … Read the rest