I've been trying to write poetry more recently and I wanted to share some of my favorites (which is kind of funny because I usually don't like any of my writing oops).
**All credit for the titles of my poems goes completely to the Avett Brothers. I didn't come up with them. I simply thought of how their songs connect to my own work and incorporated their lyrics. They are one of my biggest inspirations and I wanted to include them somehow.
**All credit for the titles of my poems goes completely to the Avett Brothers. I didn't come up with them. I simply thought of how their songs connect to my own work and incorporated their lyrics. They are one of my biggest inspirations and I wanted to include them somehow.
she's fighting with the sky
I saw myself in the reflection of her
tears as if I were swimming between
her fluttering eyelids. At first I
wondered why I was unable to fully
empathize but then I remembered
it was because my apathy had been
fueled by her constant absence
long ago. And I wondered why
swimming was the first to come to
my mind. At least I didn’t see
myself drowning in her self-pity.
tears as if I were swimming between
her fluttering eyelids. At first I
wondered why I was unable to fully
empathize but then I remembered
it was because my apathy had been
fueled by her constant absence
long ago. And I wondered why
swimming was the first to come to
my mind. At least I didn’t see
myself drowning in her self-pity.
Usually I'm the speaker in my own poems, but not in this case. It's different and I really like it. The first sentence just randomly popped into my head one day (Crazy! Who knew I could create imagery like that?) and I built it from there. It was an interesting writing experience, especially since it actually has nothing to do with anything that has ever happened to me.
head full of doubt, road full of promise
they say that everything you want
is on the other side of fear
so
imploring God to help me,
I clenched my eyelids
to block out the sight of
my terror.
then I ran.
I felt dead
and in sheer desperation
I felt my heart shrivel up
so horridly
and most appallingly clear--
I stopped,
overlooking the large entrance
to the outside.
I had reached the end
of the longest corridor
in my mind.
is on the other side of fear
so
imploring God to help me,
I clenched my eyelids
to block out the sight of
my terror.
then I ran.
I felt dead
and in sheer desperation
I felt my heart shrivel up
so horridly
and most appallingly clear--
I stopped,
overlooking the large entrance
to the outside.
I had reached the end
of the longest corridor
in my mind.
This is actually from a blackout poetry book I have (it gives you passages from horror novels and you create your own poems by blacking out the words of your choosing). I didn't want to keep the blackout look and I wanted to add a few words that weren't in the original passage, so I retyped it in a regular form.
Oddly enough, I wasn't completely inspired by the Avett Brothers but instead by Tyler Joseph's (twenty one pilots) line, "Nothing kills a man faster than his own head". I like the idea that sometimes we must battle our own minds, but we can still win if we try.
the fall
Another blackout poem. It's hard to read in the picture so I typed it out exactly how the lines are separated in the passage. I love this one.
you've gotta get off that conveyor belt
mirrors are made of
mostly glass.
that’s it.
you are more than just
a reflection.
you are more
than just a shiny
tantalizing
sheet of deceptive
glass
convincing yourself
that you are
less than enough.
mostly glass.
that’s it.
you are more than just
a reflection.
you are more
than just a shiny
tantalizing
sheet of deceptive
glass
convincing yourself
that you are
less than enough.
For this one, I thought about how mirrors tend to be percieved as something more than what they actually are - glass. Definitely not my strongest piece, but I still stand by the message. It made me think of the Avett Brothers's "Another is Waiting", so that's where I got the title from.
without much regard for the moon or the stars
Since my blackout book is filled with classic horror passages, I thought it was cool to be able to create poems that are the opposite--something carefree and happy.
the back and forth sway of the hammock all day
the words that rolled
out of his mouth
were like a sweet combination of
butter knives,
band aids,
and butterflies--
they were just enough to
break me up,
make me up,
and wake me up
long enough to see he had
filled in me a void in need of
light pain,
soft healing,
and lively beauty
that I never knew I needed
out of his mouth
were like a sweet combination of
butter knives,
band aids,
and butterflies--
they were just enough to
break me up,
make me up,
and wake me up
long enough to see he had
filled in me a void in need of
light pain,
soft healing,
and lively beauty
that I never knew I needed
This one came to me much like "she's fighting with the sky" - I woke up one morning and the "sweet combination of butter knives, band aids, and butterflies" line just ran through my head. I know it's weird, but the butter knife thing is so interesting to me - it's not going to slice your finger off but it'll still hurt if enough pressure is applied. Interpret it how you want. Also the parallelism helps each of the items, actions, and abstractions stay connected. I don't know, I really like this at the moment.
for life and it's loveliness
the bow glides across my heartstrings
and i wish you were listening.
if you were,
maybe you’d finally know
what it is i’ve been
holding inside for so long--
the music in the air
that makes me who i am,
the notes you gave me
that silently transpose
and combine to make
all these
lovely chords
in my lonely soul
i am a song
that you are still writing
and maybe
i don't want you to finish
and i wish you were listening.
if you were,
maybe you’d finally know
what it is i’ve been
holding inside for so long--
the music in the air
that makes me who i am,
the notes you gave me
that silently transpose
and combine to make
all these
lovely chords
in my lonely soul
i am a song
that you are still writing
and maybe
i don't want you to finish
I was listening to the Avett Brothers's "No Hard Feelings" one day and the cello in it really affected me. It's such a beautiful instrument for that song and the first line of this poem came to me as I was thinking about it. The rest of the poem isn't related to the theme of the song, but I wanted to at least continue with the music imagery. I also love to think of human beings as songs, with different notes and chord progressions that some other person (or event) had a part in creating.
In addition to the Avett Brothers and twenty one pilots, some of my other inspirations include poets like Sylvia Plath and rupi kaur. rupi's style is to not use capitalization, so I've been experimenting with that a little bit. I like the simplicity of it - I'm a fan of minimalism and breaking traditional boundaries. Hopefully I'll be writing even more poetry in the coming year, as well as some writing for children (I'm enrolled in a class next semester that focuses solely on that aspect of creative writing and I'm super excited for it!)
Thank you so much, I really do appreciate the reads!! :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc, etc.
~Say Love <3
Thank you so much, I really do appreciate the reads!! :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc, etc.
~Say Love <3