Tag: life
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Wait… Did I order my life from Temu?
I wrote a poem about 12 years ago called ‘This Ain’t It‘ – It was a very short poem and, truthfully, an incomplete thought. My life felt wrong… but I couldn’t articulate it very well at the time. This is a more thought-out interpretation of how I felt then (and still feel now in all…
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To the Syndrome in my Head
You don’t belong here She said She said You are in the wrong place You are a disgrace A face that doesn’t fit You don’t belong here and you need to quit She said QUIT!! Let me be clear You aren’t even meant to be near this table Let alone sat here at this table…
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The Lion’s Share
Camel aside, the straw that broke the lion’s back was not in fact a straw at all, but the utter gall of the Pride arriving after the fall, Her cry was guttural and yet they stalled, But had they been there still – had that been their will – curiosity may not have lured this…
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Soul Food
Recent work in progress…. some food for thought, if you will 😜 Soul Food I like my religion as an aside, As a bowl of convention (and a bone of contention) just to the side of my entrée, I find I like small pieces to pick at whenever I decide, That are easy to swallow,…
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One and One
#NaPoWriMo Day Eleven Today’s challenge was to write a poem of origin. About where we are from and where we are now. I chose to write about parents caring for children who in turn care for their parents. There are parallels with my own experience too, of course. One and One It started with a…
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Barista
#NaPoWriMo Day Six Today’s prompt was to write a poem of possibility. Filled with coulds and shoulds and woulds. I chose to write a poem about a split second fantasy, about a possible outcome of a relationship sparked by a chance meeting. Barista She calls out my name and at the same time her eyes…
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Plasters
#NaPoWriMo Day Four Today’s prompt was to write a sad poem that uses simple language to convey strong emotion. The example poem used (sort of) iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets, so I too have incorporated those styles (sort of!) Also the topic I chose for today’s poem, knife crime, is close to my heart for…
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Swing
#NaPoWriMo Day Two Today’s prompt was to write a poem which transforms the natural world into an unsettled dream-place. I have loosely followed this prompt and combined it with #WorldAutismAwarenessDay, which is also today, creating a poem from the perpective of a child with autism. I hope I have done some small justice to what…
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Hurt
#NaPoWriMo Day One Another April, another month long writing challenge courtesy of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). Yesterday’s prompt (I am a little late) was to write an instructional poem, or a disinstructional poem. I read disinstruction and thought of rebellion. Of being instructed to do something and not doing it. So this is what…
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Duck egg, Blue
Trust is a fragile hue, A duck egg, Blue, Transparent shell, You can hardly tell it’s there but not there, It all depends how you look at it, But don’t look at it for too long, Eyes water, Blink and it’s gone.
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Rumour Has It
Rumour has it, You have something close to chest, Suppressed, And I’m impressed For somehow you pressed your finger to your lips – Careful not to let your secret slip – As you fed me soothing snippets, Appeasing tidbits, That quicked the nail upon your fingertip, Stripped by the sharpness of a forked tongue, Crisp,…
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Poor, Poor Joan
Another victim is brought to tears by these antisocial miscreants, My colleague goes to roll his eyes and, silently, I must chastise him, As she calls on us to stop it, I pull a tissue from my pocket, From his he pulls his mobile phone and averts his eyes from poor, poor Joan. And as…
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Door
I was not involved in #NaPoWriMo (now #GloPoWriMo) last year, and while I can’t commit to the whole 30 days, this year I may dip in and out…. Here’s a poem about choice: DOOR There is a door at the end of the hall, Shut tight. It is not locked, but jammed with fear. How…
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Can’t you see my happy face?
Can’t you see my happy face? I’m smiling, can’t you see? These are tears of joy, you know, Your blessings gladden me. Can’t you see my happy face? It’s the best news the world, I can’t wait to meet your little one, Whether boy or whether girl. (Can’t you see my empty space? The hole…
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Hush Child
Hush child, Close your eyes, Shutter out the world and let the stillness fill your mind. Hush child, Hold my hand, Feel its warmth and strength and know the might it can withstand. Hush child, Take a breath, Let it fill your lungs and feel the lightness lift your chest. Hush child, Lean on me,…
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Til Death
Don’t let my fingers slip from the palm of your hand, You’re all I have left. Inspired by the story of Italvino and Diva, a Brazilian couple who died within 40 minutes of each other, after 65 years of marriage, in the same hospital room, their beds pushed together so they could hold…
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Example
My Daddy hitted a man, There was lots of blood and I sawed that when daddy hitted the man, the man went to sleep on the floor, And daddy had on that face, Like the one when he hitted my mum and she cried and cried and cried and kept asking him what she had done,…
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Bridges
Bridge to Freedom I hear the melancholy slither of the stream across the stones, I feel the dampness of the wood as it seeps into my bones. My legs dangle through the railings, Dried up mud cocoons my knees, I watch my teardrops salt the water as I cast secrets to the breeze. I feel…
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When We Were Wee
We are friends and friends we’ll be, A promise made when we were wee, When we’ve grown old disgracefully, We’ll dip our toes at eighty-three in the very water of the very sea where you first made the pact with me. You swore to be there by my side, I swore in me you could…
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My Mother’s Pearls
What goes up must come down, If I am lost I can be found, I must learn to swim or I will drown, Success proceeds a sweaty brow, No difference trumps a common ground, There’s no place like my own home town, My family are forever proud, There’s silver lining every cloud, Tomorrow’s hurt will be…
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To All New Recruits
Accept nothing, Believe no-one, Check everything, Do not lose yourself admist all their lies, Even the innocent can filch and can savage the goodness that I see in your eyes, Have a refuge in which you just breathe, Kill some time there when things go awry, Learn to leave the day’s madness behind you, Never sleep with other…
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Identity Crisis
What makes you you? The things you’ve seen? The lives you’ve touched? The where you’ve been? If you woke without your memories, Tell me, who, then, would you be? Would you still be you? Could you ever know for sure? Or would you relinquish all that came before? Know this: Who you have been is…
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Kiss Me
Kiss me like we’re eighteen years old, Standing in Paris waiting for our lives to unfold. Hold my hand with the innocence of that boy who once handed me a rose and fixed my heartache with the joy. Look at me just like you did at first; Like if you ever looked away your very…
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In Her Tears
Yesterday I wrote a poem called “Heartsickness“. During my search for a suitable photo, I found the one featured above. It caught my eye and even though it wasn’t quite right for yesterday’s piece I felt it deserved to be shown off. So I have written a poem which was inspired by, and is dedicated…
art, beauty, fears, heart, heartbreak, hurt, inspiration, letting go, lies, life, love, pain, past, photography, poetry, relationships, sadness -
Between the Lines
Love is in the imperfection, And life is in the mistakes, So you have to pay attention, To the silence music makes, Listen to the beauty between the notes; Ornate stories of happiness, Venture beyond the words I wrote, Enjoy the truth my soul confessed. This poem was inspired by the two quotes about…
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Third of Three
I never met you, But I miss you, You don’t exist, But I kiss you in my dreams, I set aside a portion of my heart, Swaddled it in endless love, And engraved it with your name, But you never came to be, And so I miss you. Destined now to grieve eternally, For all…
dreams, grief, grieving, hurt, life, loss of a child, love, miscarriage, motherhood, mourning, pain, poetry, pregnancy, sadness -
Out on a Limb
Sometimes, you find yourself out on a limb for a friend, but then there is no sign of him, You’re tottering, pondering why you are there, What possessed you risk it for those who don’t care? Your kindness was trampled; just dirt on a hoof, Advantage was taken – how awfully uncouth! You desperately cling…
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Pip Talk
Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out? Why dress up in another fruit’s skin? You’re an apple; of that there’s no doubt. Your uniqueness is to be embraced, Differences make this world grand, If all fruits had the very same taste, Life would be terribly bland.…
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Foreverie
Once upon the daylight blue, A longing was drawn in vivid hues, And sat lucid in her reverie, For times that she and he once knew. Painted on her memory’s eye, Thoughts flittered like a butterfly, They tickled at the brink of truth, And swaddled her mind in a dulcet lie. He no longer walks…
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A Love Story
Here is where their story begins, In a time when they were young, And they did not yet regret their sins. A boy whose praises went unsung, Met a girl who ignored her worth, And together they climbed on love’s first rung. But they scaled too quickly from earth, And when those naïve darlings fell,…
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Cesspool
Cesspool. Burdened mule. In this hole I am not whole, Stagnant in my body and in my soul, Rutted in my thoughts and in my deeds, And all of my needs remain unsung. Unappraised. I’m played; A guitar that they can strum, My heart is just a bullet in their gun, Waiting for their will…
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This Ain’t It
My life’s the wrong size It just doesn’t fit I once had a dream But this ain’t it I prayed that the end Would be worth the long trip I once had a plan But this ain’t it From there it looked sexy From here it’s just shit I once had a vision But this…
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Tricks and Mortar
In the stillness all around there’s not a sound that the silence hasn’t bound The voices have been pounded into the cracks of these surrounds and the echoes of these walls The whispers of these halls – they tell it all – They scream in muted voices the errors in our choices And the legends…
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Home
There we lay as if time stood still On that isolated hill The sound of the wind was a trill through the trees Shimmering like disco balls of black and silver leaves The rush carried the faint echoes from the stream Of the jazz band playing just for me and you Planes flew past white…
Serena Malcolm 