ogygia ~ a poetry collection

1. to be a sailor's lover
2. exist
3. the sun is trapped at the center
4. sun v.s. moon
5. kindling
6. sisters
7. hermes
8. stutter
9. old statues
10. collapse
11. ashes
12. if the sky fell
13. i want to...
14. comfort?
15. holiday with you
16. scramble, squeeze, scatter
17. b r e a t h e
18. arachne describes athena's wrath
19. to live and dream
20. girlfriend
21. selene
22. afraid
23. mirror
24. safe space
25. ghost town
26. loving to the point of burning
27. wind
28. saintly
29. fear
30. my dove will fly
31. simple v.s. confused
32. god-centered grandma
33. i love her like a song, a bomb, a many hidden things
34. poetry
35. exception
36. judgment
37. love like water: echo on narcissus
38. skipping stones
39. everywhere
40. strong
41. by the light of the oil lamp
42. sea glass, smooth pebble
43. shelley by the graveyard
44. shelley by the sea
45. style
46. the greats
47. club love
48. missing a friend
49. byron
50. percy and mary
51. the star in your sternum
52. a short chant for the dreamers in pain
53. little sister, big sister
54. how demeter protects herself
55. january
56. a clouded day after a rain-filled night
57. vacancies
58. violin
59. iris and eos on love
60. tangled
61. cinderella and every other girl who lives past abuse, neglect, and shadowy thought
62. speaking of ink
63. dreamlike
64. chrysanthemum
65. cradle
66. ariadne
67. the labyrinth
68. the goddess of the hunt
69. impact
70. disruptor
71. snow day leisure
72. goodbye, snow days
73. phaethon
74. helios
75. do i breathe again
76. the love of a jilted lover
77. my darling
78. holding me steady
79. a map of the life of a lost ring
80. red day
81. when the poison of doubt leeches into my heart, my love is there to help me
82. sleepy academic
83. testament to my tiredness
84. pink
85. bully for my body
86. laodamia
87. mark of a freshly destroyed heart
88. philosophers and poets
89. recurring dream
90. evolution
91. past curtain call
92. fresh
93. spring storm
94. endocaelum
95. from the sun to the sea
96. rhythm
97. caged
98. blasphemy
99. i am a monster
100. "you're so strong"

more coming soon : )

this is a complete poetry thread that ran from November 26, 2024 to May 06, 2025 (despite what the final poem says, i did not write it on the 9th, and i did not post it until the 9th, and i am therefore saying that this poetry collection ended when the next one (not napo) began). these poems include none of the poems i wrote for napo (April) 2025, and the final poem in this collection was one i wrote halfway through this poetry collection but never deemed fit to share. i am thinking of organizing this poetry collection and turning it into a slim volume of poetry. until then, it's staying up for anyone who wants to read it to enjoy.

here's my napo 2025 collection for anybody interested: delphi ~ where godhood and mortality meet

and here's my new poetry thread from May 06 to present: delos ~ a poetry collection

to be a sailor's lover
to calm a sailor, one must tie
the wind around their neck
and seaweed through their hair.
to court a sailor, one must
drench themselves in ocean water
and bathe in coarse sea salt.
to wed a sailor, one must
cut themselves with sea glass
and let their blood paint it
into the pretty thing it is.
to mourn a sailor, one must
cry into the empty shell of a sea snail
and turn it into a conch.
to love a sailor, one must
send their heart into the unforgiving ocean waves
and pray that it comes back safely.

exist
my soul is but
another thread in the tapestry,
another hollow moan in the wind,
another laugh thrown to my notebooks,
another memory discarded.

why is it
that it's only within another-
a thing so cosmic and infinitesimal-
that i allow myself
to exist?

the sun is trapped at the center
i feel like
i'm always running.
not from you,
never from you, darling-
but i'm in such a fog
and i'm blinder than ever
and i'm lashing out
at everyone and everything i feel
because i can't stand to feel so much.
it's overwhelming,
it's overstimulating,
and i can't help but feel over everything.
there are nights when i can't breathe,
mornings where i
immerse myself in fantasy and
fall back into my dreams when
day breaks and afternoon falls
like a sun-covered shadow across the sky.
and i fear i cannot see it, love, for i am blind and numb
because i have never been allowed to be the darkness
since i am forever the sun.
what i would give
for one cloudy day!
let the rain pour for once,
let people be relieved to release me
to my own adventure.
let the sky breathe
and the waves whisper
as they wonder why they feel a tug to become something.
let nature ponder how the sun has become the moon.

sun v.s. moon
the sun was born
a moon.
instead of pulling tides, it pulled life.
instead of being cold, it was hot.
with suns, stars, and moons as the only options,
it's hard to not see things in black and white.
you can either be too hot or too cold,
too out-there or too reserved.
why, the moon is but a version of the sun
that was chastised for being bold
instead of praised.

kindling
i close my eyes
and you're there.
my heart vies
for yours, and i can't help but
smile as you curl my hair
around your finger
and stay mellow and calm
with me.

love, i'm worried i'll kiss you
and i'll push it too far.
i'm worried my passion
will be too much too soon,
and i'm frustrated
that i can't stop longing for you.
you're just over there
or you're right by me
or you're literally right on top of me,
and still, i want more.
there's a fire under my skin
and it begs to set you aflame with me.
it's found its new favorite kindling
i hope the flames don't burn you.

sisters
​strawberry pocky's, pink lemonade,
​laughing till the sky goes dark.
​scary stories in the hot tub,
​scaring friends together,
​groaning when morning comes.
​listening to lullabies,
​brushing our teeth together,
​whispering "sweet dreams, i love you" into the shadowed ceiling of our room.

staying up just past bedtime talking in the bathroom,
​being chastised by our mama,
​checking on you when you take the brunt of it.
​"get to bed," you say through gritted teeth.
​i comply. you come to bed soon after.
​you sound teary when you catch me praying.
​you don't know that i'm praying for peace in our family.
​i slide into bed and you follow suit, climbing to the top.
​we say our ritual "good night, i love you", but there's a sadness in it.
​i start to play the lullabies, and you timidly ask me a favor.

the deadpan, sassy younger sister, and
​the contrastingly sharp and soft smiling older sister.

when you thanked me for calling mama
​with "your mother and mine"
​over the sound system in our home,
​i nodded
​(though you couldn't see it
​from your perch on the top bunk)
​and thought to myself
​(though you couldn't hear it because,
​as much as you'd like to be,
​you are still not a mind reader)
​"this is what sisters are for."

hermes
enchant and delight
ev'ryone with pure wit and
charm. that is your magic.

stutter
Sometimes, I have to
brace myself to look at you.
Every time I do, you
knock the breath
out of my chest,
and I can't keep
myself from
loving you.
I can't help myself,
I can't force myself
out of my willing free-falling
into my love for you.
I am not
a solely religious woman
but you defy all precedents
and you are, indeed, God sent.
~

A/N: A poem I wrote in October when I was falling in love with my soon-to-be girlfriend *blushing smile*

old statues
i find myself crumbling.
there is too much, too fast, too quickly.
i move to hold my insides in,
but i am immobile as marble.
crush me into powder,
my fading is inevitable.

collapse
My brain falls in on itself
like a collapsing neutron star
built to sustain damage
but not survive it.
Built to fight
but not to win.
Built to hope
but not have a happy ending.

ashes
I feel cataclysmic
as though I am the catalyst
that will bring whole worlds
crashing down.
Why do the children sing it
when they know what it means?
Singing and dancing and harmony come to a halt
when a group cannot function together.
"Ashes, Ashes,
They all fall down."

if the sky fell
but what if the skies split open
and all of the clouds fell to the earth,
shunned from the heavens,
forced to plunk the remains of their sorry selves
onto the very ground
they used to be above
and always looked down upon?
would rain follow?
would crevices open in the earth
in an attempt to run from the sky?
maybe they'd wonder why.
maybe the sky doesn't tell it's children
that it's breaking.
it's too sudden a crack, then everything's still.
the sky isn't sewn back together.
it would need the clouds for that.
but the clouds have fallen,
and they can't patch it up.
this time, the sky fell
and the earth couldn't catch it
and the clouds couldn't fix it
and the rain couldn't heal it
and the sun and the moon are still there,
ornamental decor looking at each other,
hanging,
wondering how
and why
they're still there
when the structure that
held them together
broke in place.
it's a bit like
the nightmare
of a roller coaster
breaking down mid-ride.
nobody knows what's happened or is happening.
there's just
a pit-deep
sense of dread
as you hang there,
stuck in
a place you wanted to fly past.

i want to...
i want to
place you on my bed and
burrow into you.
i want to
kiss you senseless and
buy you a milkshake after it.
i want to
take you to the beach and
build cities full of sandcastles we rule together.
i want to
toast marshmallows with you and
teasingly share scary stories while you're in my lap.
i want to
have movie nights with you and
dedicate meals to you.
i want to
sip your love like liquor
and laugh when you tell me my breath stinks [from it].
i want to
buy you christmas gifts and
kiss under the mistletoe because it's That Time Of Year.
i want to
share memes with you in the morning and
snicker when you give me a Look.
i want to
take a breath and
leap into my love for you.

comfort?
i press my cheek to the pillow
and all i can hear is my heart.
i twist to position my body
and it's like my blood warms,
settling happily in my veins.
if this is comfort,
i'm confused.
because my heart has gone silent
but my blood is climbing through my body,
steadily roaring like a fire.
burning is not comfort.
being shredded from the inside
out is not comfort.