Free Verse Club

EllieMae Creator

EllieMae · May 31, 2024

This is the submission thread for the June 2024 contest! Submissions are open from May 31- June 21

Things to remember:
-spoiler any poems with mature content/cursing
-title each poem
-up to five submissions per person/put each submission in a different post.
-links to published poems on YWS/ other sources are allowed, as long as the poem is written by YOU.
-collab poems are allowed
-the theme is a guiding point, but not a requirement
-reach out to me with any questions
-NO using AI to write poems. All poems are put through an AI detector prior to judging.
-have fun!!

Coffeewriter

Coffeewriter · May 31, 2024

Chickens… (Submission One)
I wrote this because I thought it was funny to imagine a person doing this so this isn’t serious!!

Chickens, oh darling chickens!
How tasty they are~
How fluffy their feathers are and how radiant their beaks are
They taste good any way
Fried
Cooked
Scorched~
My only one-chickens!
Their beady eyes give me goosebumps and their sweet sounds make my heart beat fast in excitement
Everyone calls me crazy but why should I change myself for others?
Chickens are my comfort food, my favourite animal and my one and only soulmate
Am I crazy for loving fried chicken?

Coffeewriter

Coffeewriter · May 31, 2024

Straight A’s(Submission Two)

-might be a little triggering for some people-

Stress
Overthinking and comparisons
Smiles and praises
Isitallworthit
AmIjustnotworthit? Whyisitsoloudhere? Ican’tbreathe-

Late nights spent with mugs and mugs of coffee
Bags after bags of crisps ripped open and devoured…
Is this all worth it?
Praises from teachers and all the comments
“I wish I was like you!”
“Shut up you nerd,”
“I wish I was smart like you,”
“How are you good at EVERYTHING!?!”
They all act like they know what I go through. They don’t. They never will because they refuse to look out through their stupid lives and actually look up from their screens and breathe
NO ONE IS BORN A GENIUS
EVERYONE HAS TO WORK FOR IT-LIKE A DOG

Nights after nights, afternoons wasted
Phone buzzing with texts and friends left annoyed and upset
Relationships crumbling, family pressuring or unbothered
Is it all worth it?

syzygy

syzygy · May 31, 2024

syzygy

syzygy · May 31, 2024

Oops:

submission one: chicken or the egg

fatherfig

fatherfig · Jun 2, 2024

Submission one: plucked

TW: potentially heavy emotions, possibly upsetting

i plucked it away; everything.

anything that reminded me of you,
loose nagging feathers. it left
sore skin, red abrasion marks.
yet, i still think of you.

what was it as all for?

i can think to myself;
at least it isn't on purpose.

that's the difference now.

i'd rather fry
than intentionally
suffer thoughts of you.

is it nagging feathers
dug under my skin
or your lies?

herb Officer

herb · Jun 9, 2024

submission one: pájaros de una pluma

cuando yo era joven yo pensaba que amigos son para siempre

but that was misguided hopes, and i can only wish for childhood innocence once more

y aunque me gustaría mis amigos una otra vez, soy raro y perozoso

and those 2 things plucked away my plumage (like mother hens to baby chicks.)

creo que soy el pollito feo, como aquella historia sobre el patito

(but unlike the ugly duckling, i will not become beautiful)

Spoiler

birds of a feather

when i was young i thought that friends are forever

...

and although i would like my friends again, i'm crazy and lazy

...

i think i am the ugly chick, like that story about the duckling

...

Coffeewriter

Coffeewriter · Jun 11, 2024

I’m a fake(submission three)… ~^^~

Do you ever wonder how you really look like?
I don’t mean how big your eyes are or what colour your hair is…
I mean who you really are.
Are you really kind? Are you actually loyal? Are you caring??
I wonder if everyone wonders that sometimes or if I’m actually just overthinking again, haha.
It’s too loud
Naushbehei625(‘*)3#ywi5725
I feel like my brain malfunctionsksne68&

Tired eyes, people ask “are you ok” only to get annoyed if they get an answer
Why is life so confusing? Why do I get angry whenever I see a mirror or break down screaming?
6283gbdkdhen68#
It’sjustalltoostatic
I think I’m a horrible person, I am selfish and cold as ice
I pretend to be a wonderful person but I’m dumb and horrible deep, deep down
I think everyone knows that
They ignore it…but why do they? Why can’t they see they don’t deserve me?
Why do they continue to put themselves through the torture and abuse?
I will never understand those who love me.
How can they?

Coffeewriter

Coffeewriter · Jun 11, 2024

Oops I was going to add chickens in there but I forgot to, whoops. Sorry!!

EllieMae Creator

EllieMae · Jun 11, 2024

@Coffeewriter, no worries! If you want to edit your poem, I can delete it from the thread for you and you can repost it once you are done, or we can keep it just like that

Coffeewriter

Coffeewriter · Jun 11, 2024

It’s fine, I’m too lazy to edit, haha. Tysm @EllieMae!

Book

Book · Jun 12, 2024

Fate: From the Beginning (submission one)
This is the beginning of a group of poems called “The Cruelty of Fate”. I hope these poems will outline how similar and different many lives can be.

Trapped in a prison, necessary for survival.
only for a time to grow and thrive.
Breaking from my trap, welcome my arrival.
Greet me, love me, help me strive,
for goals which hate my every move.
Push my limits so I can prove,
my worth to all who see me.
I'm just another in a sea,
of those you must prove their worth,
from the time of their own very birth.

Pushing through a broken shell,
loved by no one, put through hell.
Beaten, broken, pushed back down,
my every act met with a frown.
No friend who'll be there by my side,
only foes who have always lied.
My life was wasted, my love abused.
my only friend, my faithful dude.

Welcomed with wealth and all clear weather,
never straining a single feather.
Spoiled rotten, and all evil forgotten.
always praised, but always caged,
inside your own little comfort zone.
So you can have your little throne.

Every families different view
may knock their child's life askew.
Their different love wealth or neglect
may ensure their offspring's own life wrecked.

Fate: From the Beginning (submission one)
This is the beginning of a group of poems called “The Cruelty of Fate”. I hope these poems will outline how similar and different many lives can be.

Trapped in a prison, necessary for survival.
only for a time to grow and thrive.
Breaking from my trap, welcome my arrival.
Greet me, love me, help me strive,
for goals which hate my every move.
Push my limits so I can prove,
my worth to all who see me.
I'm just another in a sea,
of those you must prove their worth,
from the time of their own very birth.

Pushing through a broken shell,
loved by no one, put through hell.
Beaten, broken, pushed back down,
my every act met with a frown.
No friend who'll be there by my side,
only foes who have always lied.
My life was wasted, my love abused.
my only friend, my faithful dude.

Welcomed with wealth and all clear weather,
never straining a single feather.
Spoiled rotten, and all evil forgotten.
always praised, but always caged,
inside your own little comfort zone.
So you can have your little throne.

Every families different view
may knock their child's life askew.
Their different love wealth or neglect
may ensure their offspring's own life wrecked.

NoOneInParticular

NoOneInParticular · Jun 12, 2024

Innocence is bliss
Submitting this before I chicken out (haha see what I did there)

Chickens are
beautiful, perfect
Chickens are
adorable, because
that’s what they are,
innocent chickens that will
never know the world,
and pray hard they don’t.

Pray they don’t know
the slaughter
of thousands upon thousands
of chickens, shipped and fed
to millions of gluttonous mouths
across the world.

Pray they don’t know
the abduction
of countless baby chicks
ripped from their parents
systematically filtered and killed
for being the wrong gender
(males are not spared)
and raised in a cramped cage
where they will never know
the light of day.
(The closest they’ll get is artificial.)

Pray chickens don’t know
the suffering,
as the world stands by
and watches, numb(ing themselves) to the pain.
Innocence is bliss,
while wilful ignorance
is a mere absence of sympathy.

(Stay blind to the world
as it suffers, if it eases
your conscience, and maybe consider
your favourite chicken wings,
delectable on the tongue,
to wash away the sorrows that you feel.
Return to your life
as if nothing happened.
Stay wilfully blind.)

Pray they don’t know.
Pray hard they never will.
For if they do, I fear
what these chickens, sweet as they are,
will think of us.

[b]Innocence is bliss[/b]
Submitting this before I chicken out (haha see what I did there)

Chickens are
beautiful, perfect
Chickens are
adorable, because
that’s what they are,
innocent chickens that will
never know the world,
and pray hard they don’t.

Pray they don’t know
the slaughter
of thousands upon thousands
of chickens, shipped and fed
to millions of gluttonous mouths 
across the world.

Pray they don’t know 
the abduction
of countless baby chicks
ripped from their parents
systematically filtered and killed
for being the wrong gender
(males are not spared)
and raised in a cramped cage
where they will never know 
the light of day. 
(The closest they’ll get is artificial.)

Pray chickens don’t know
the suffering,
as the world stands by
and watches, numb(ing themselves) to the pain. 
Innocence is bliss, 
while wilful ignorance 
is a mere absence of sympathy.

(Stay blind to the world 
as it suffers, if it eases 
your conscience, and maybe consider
your favourite chicken wings, 
delectable on the tongue,
to wash away the sorrows that you feel. 
Return to your life
as if nothing happened. 
Stay wilfully blind.)

Pray they don’t know. 
Pray hard they never will. 
For if they do, I fear
what these chickens, sweet as they are,
will think of us.

herb Officer

herb · Jun 13, 2024

submission two: chickens holding the world
he loves me, he loves me not
peck, peck, peck
the chickens are odd
i know they have no say anyway
but they're so free
(false laughter generated by pecking chickens,
who would have guessed?)
he loves me, he loathes me?
they caw teasingly
loving/loathing/leaving
they're all pecking away at me mercilessly
(and if i leave the world to this hen,
she'll keep it spinning.)
reminisce about roosters
they taught me that i am the one who will be painted as the fool
(and if i'm pecked anymore i'll be pecking myself apart
ripping, tearing, gnawing, gnashing.)
peck, peck, peck
he loves me
he loves me not.
(in the end, this coop only contains me & my soulless heart.)
though these hens only caw for miserable folk like me,
i feel that we're all miserable in some sort.
(but my beak has been brandished with tears,
so i think this is what it means to know the end.)

NoOneInParticular

NoOneInParticular · Jun 14, 2024

There’s nothing like a mother's love (submission two)

She loves me. She cares for me.
Like a mother hen taking care
of her egg, her love is warm
and smothering. From birth,
she’s given me everything I need
food, water, lots and lots of hugs
It’s perfect.

Though she’ll scold me
from time to time
For a mistake made
~~It wasn’t that big, was it?~~
And make me feel ~~worthless~~ inadequate
inside, ~~like I want to die~~
I know, in my heart
She ultimately wants the best
it’s for my own good
It’s perfect, really.

She loves me
Her priorities are aligned with mine
She may be overbearing
but without her guide
(being sat on, warming me from the inside)
I wouldn’t survive
in the cold outside
freezing to death before I even knew
what the world is like.
It’s perfect. Really.
Everything
is perfect.

June Contest: Chicken Poetry! Locked

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