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a year lost, at home with nothing to write about



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Fri Mar 05, 2021 5:04 am
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niteowl says...



Image

Like quarantine thoughts, a meandering path of past and present and futures I will never know in worlds I'll never see. As always, no real theme but chaos. Side note: I definitely said last year I should title this year's thread "the other side of catastrophe". Oh, to be so young and naive!

weathered, yes, but still standing (2020, completed but barely)
saturn is home, and all is well (2019, completed)
all the thoughts you wish weren't real (2018, not completed)
buried under the coffee table (2017, completed)
the (non) master of my own (sham) destiny (2016, completed)
often wandering, still quite lost (2015, not completed)
Niteowl's Nest (2014, not completed)
Niteowl's Nonsensical Nothingness (2013, probably not completed)
Nite's Poetry Dumpster (2008, not completed)

Prompt Bank
Spoiler! :

-"corporate woods"-on a location name I came across at work
-A ballad, but like better this time?
-The song bunny "But I'll stay easy to find, just in case you change your mind"
-my perception of love as an obligation (because who needs therapy to unpack that shizz when you can just write a poem about it?)
-"life as a really weird sports game" idea from last year I never played with
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:48 am
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niteowl says...



the first day all over again

this is not the first time
i have woven my heart
through my fingers,
spinning threads of useless words
that knot themselves into something
you might call a poem
if you were feeling charitable.

this is not the first time
i have stared out into an open plain
knowing that i have but a month
to build a mountain
out of nothing but words
and a dwindling inspiration.

this is not the first time
i have hated every word i write,
only to return a year later
and marvel and what was formed
under the pressure of april.

no, this is not the first time,
but it still feels
as daunting
as hopeful (yet hopeless)
as exhilarating as ever.

this is the first day
of a new journey.
let us see where it leads.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

<YWS><R1>
  





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Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:06 am
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Meshugenah says...



"this is not the first time
i have woven my heart
through my fingers"

THIS. <3
***Under the Responsibility of S.P.E.W.***
(Sadistic Perplexion of Everyone's Wits)

Medieval Lit! Come here to find out who Chaucer plagiarized and translated - and why and how it worked in the late 1300s.

I <3 Rydia
  





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Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:17 am
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niteowl says...



Thanks @Meshugenah! The words-as-threads metaphors is something I've touched on before and may work with again.

(body of text has been removed)
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:24 am
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niteowl says...



on groceries and false hope

if i could be anyone,
i would like to be
the kind of person
i imagine i am when grocery shopping.

when i think if i just buy the right things
like vegetables and recipe ingredients,
i will be the sort of person
who happily cooks healthy meals
and doesn't run straight to frozen pizza
and ice cream the second things get hard.

or perhaps i can be
the sort of person i imagine i'll be
when i work from home and see
all the things i need to fix
but i can't now, because i'm working,
but after work, i will get so much done
and not succumb to endless phone scrolling
and procrastination.

in grocery shopping fantasies,
i could be anyone, anything,
at least until my bags hit the floor
and i remember how reality works.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:09 pm
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Shady says...



BUDDY! Omg, I love all three of them, they're so good! I really love all the imagery you use, it really drives home the emotion and makes it hit harder.

the kind of person
i imagine i am when grocery shopping.


I particularly liked this, it's witty. I actually laughed a bit when I read it because I knew exactly what you meant -- and I think it transitioned nicely from that, to going into WFH struggles. Your third one was my favorite so far and I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of your work this month! ^-^

"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus
"From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf
"A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni
[they/he]
  





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Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:00 am
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niteowl says...



Ahh thanks Shady! I wasn't sure about the third one but I'm glad you liked it!

4. the stories that chose me

i have asked the words a thousand times
to go away, to find someone who deserves them.

someone who can use them properly
in bone-crushing poems
and stories so good
you hate leaving them behind
when they are finished.

someone who can write consistently,
who doesn't make excuses
and claim they don't have time
when really there is so much wasted.

someone who knows how to plot stories
and structure a poem
so they have something more
than a few good lines and lots of drivel.

please
i beg my words,
go to someone who deserves you.

but they refuse to leave
and so i am left with no choice
but to try to get them out into the world.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:34 am
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Atticus says...



NIIITTTTEEE I LOVE THIS AND YOU <333

I gotta say all of these are spectacular, but I really love the first poem. I dig the idea of words-as-threads and the way that you took it in a different direction than I anticipated. I love the underlying theme that you don't deserve the gift of words and can really connect to the idea of having wasted potential (former gifted kids unite!!). Even though the idea of writing as a last resort, writing to ease the pain inside, etc. is a familiar theme in literature, you manage to make it into something new, fresh, and a little heart-achey. Super excited to read more from you! <3
[he/him]

"tiktok and giving children meth are my passions" ~ @ShadowVyper
"carinas long foretold chaos protege" ~ @veeren
"smol bean, future of chaos" ~ @carina
  





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Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:05 am
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niteowl says...



5. The Tomato and The Fish

the tomato

I thought I was something once,
the brightest and reddest on the vine.
When they picked me, I knew
I was going to somewhere great,
I just knew it.

The truck took me miles away
where I would be shown off
for the world to see,
for someone to choose me
as the one they would slice open
for their sandwich or salad or pizza
(we tomatoes know
it is our lot to be sacrficed).

But then,
a screech, a crash,
a great rumbling before
the dizzying fall off the cliffside.

and now we are here
floating in the ocean brine
with the wreckage of the truck.

I was not meant to die like this,
a victim of the currents,
my flavor and color unappreciated
by the strange fauna of the water.

some humans believe
they get extra lives,
another chance to grow.
perhaps tomatoes get the same mercy
and in the next life,
I will find a better way to die

the fish

swim swim swim
feed in the light
hide in the night
(sleep with eyes open
or the big teeth will grab you).
every day is blue,
every food is green.

but today there is red,
spheres of something new,
no teeth, not boat,
maybe food?

swim closer, it keeps floating,
smells strange, good strange?
new food or new poison?
only one way to know.

nibble nibble,
so rich, lovely,
don't want green again.
would rather starve
than live without red flesh.
if poison, that is okay,
can still die in bliss.

Spoiler! :
So I was in a poetry jam pad today, got named "tomato", and then there was this whole tangent about writing a poem about a tomato in the ocean. What followed is this year's first entry in the "super weird but so fun to write" category. I also have a highly scientific explanation that the tomato knows so much about the world compared to the fish because tomatoes sit still in one place and can talk to each other and learn from the whole world network of tomatoes, while fish are too preoccupied with not dying to really learn about things.

Semi-related video of catfish on a tomato farm: https://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/12743656/

Also, thanks @Tuckster <3
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

<YWS><R1>
  





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Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:43 am
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alliyah says...



Woah woah woah!! You've got some great stuff here already nite. I agree with Mesh & Tuck that opener was really striking and then also this little section was just perfection!:
here, it is always january,
full of arctic air
and new years lies
of "we'll do better this time,
we won't be fools who fall again".

the hearth is just warm enough
to keep the blood in circulation,
with none of this skipping jumping
butterflies-fluttering bullshit
because we're too old and fragile
to break again.

!! Especially those first three lines I just love! And you've communicated all those feelings of fed-up on love so clearly / strongly and the metaphors you've chosen work well. Really looking forward to seeing where you go with the rest of these.
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Thu Apr 08, 2021 3:08 am
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niteowl says...



Thanks @alliyah!

For my next poem, let's use the handy dandy Poetic Line Generator. "some of the waves above you turn like a child," is the prompt.

6. whirlpool

when i was young,
i would spin about,
arms out like a helicopter,
until my brain nearly exploded
from the dizziness.

the joy of spinning
made the headache after
seem like almost nothing.

the waves that drag me down
are far older,
ancient as the earth itself,
but they whirl about in much the same way,
trapping me in the gyre.

but am i trapped?
or am i just too afraid
of the pain on the other side
to remember the joy of being free?
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Thu Apr 08, 2021 3:30 am
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niteowl says...



This one is a bit of a song idea that needs to get more fleshed out, but I'll plop it in here for now.

Chorus:
When I eat pistachios,
When I drink too much red wine,
When it's 3 am and I'd text you if
I didn't know better this time.
When I hear our summer songs,
When I'm burning on the beach,
I see you damn near everywhere,
but do you ever see me?

Verse 1
It's a perfect summer day,
my feet sink into the tide
when suddenly the past attacks
and takes me for a ride

logically you should be gone,
I should have long since moved on
from the bit of magic
I thought we felt
but it was just me all along

And I don't waste time
looking for you,
but you're too easy to find...

Verse 2
It's a boring summer night
You're in the grocery aisles
When a song comes on, you hate it
but you don't remember why

Then it all clicks into place
Now all you're seeing is my face
And in the checking line you're wondering if
I'm still doing okay

And you deny it
Every time but
I'm too easy to find...

When you eat pistachios
When you drink too much red wine
When it's 3 am and you'd text me if
you hadn't lost my number to time.
When you hear our summer songs,
When you're burning on the beach
You hate how damn near everywhere
You're still seeing me

Link to very rough recording: https://voca.ro/13uc924Hz3JY


Spoiler! :

Old version of
Verse 2 (not sure, but maybe it's imagining what the "you" remembers even if he denies it. Or maybe this is "me" some more and then the bridge will be "you"?)

it's a boring winter night
you're at the grocery store
when you hear a song, you hate it but
you can't remember what for

then it clicks and you freak out
because you can't change the tune
so as you fill your cart you wonder if
I'm doing okay now?

some days I'm
too easy to find
if only in your mind....
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:50 pm
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Shady says...



AYEEE I love these all so much, you're so talented ;-; and you're doing SO good with keeping up!!!

Also, you have my eternal approval for writing fish poetry ; ) I didn't know I needed needed that video in my life, but I absolutely did xD

"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus
"From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf
"A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni
[they/he]
  





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Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:14 am
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niteowl says...



Thanks Shady! And lol so much for keeping up. Idk what even happened to me this weekend.

8. love-is it worth it?

i've always loved a good love story--
the will-they won't-they tension,
the rush of the first kiss,
the happy ending
that fights through all the problems.

i've read that love is necessary,
human connection as essential
as air or water
and that a good love
can be a lantern in the darkest nights.

but i've also read horror stories-
the charmer who turns into abuser,
the sighs of a housewife chained to a man-child,
the ropes of contempt that strangle
what might have once been a great partnership.

and as far as i can tell,
love is 90 percent obligations-
pretending to like the in-laws,
compromising on dinner,
coordinating schedules and chores
and sacrificing the time that was once yours.

and i don't do well with obligations
or the effort required to trudge through dating apps,
so i say later, when the time is right,
and now i'm thirty, and my time has never come
because nothing is ever right
and i'm not sure i can be responsible
for someone else's happiness.

and so i'll keep reading love stories,
but keeping in mind
that those are not reality
and solitude is better than bad love.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:54 am
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niteowl says...



When in doubt, use the Poetic Line Generator: "your oldest friends of the soul speak in the streets,"

cw: allusions to drug abuse or eating disorder (could be interpreted as either)

Spoiler! :


9. through thick and thin

when we were five,
we knew what it would be like
to grow up, to buy big houses
right next to each other,
and travel the world together.
we'll be friends through thick and thin
we said, as if we had any clue
what that meant.

then seventh grade came,
and suddenly you saw me
as an obstacle to popularity
and so you shunned me in the cafeteria
and i watched you laugh with the cool girls
as i devoured my lunchable in the corner.

in high school, you apologized
and we'd sit next to each
at lunch and in every class,
friends forever, through thick and thin.

but then he came along,
lured you in with a charming smile
and promises of adventure.
everyone knew he was trouble,
but you didn't listen to me.

tension grew between our desks
because i hated how you only talked about him
and you hated that i didn't see him
the way you did.

next thing i know, he has your weekends.
you're texting me drunk nonsense at 3 am
and i tell you to be careful
and you tell me to stop sounding like your mom,
and i wonder if this is the thin or thick part
of friends forever, through thick or thin.

by graduation day, we're hardly speaking.
you say i'm jealous of your true love and parties,
but these days, you look pale, gaunt, ragged--
is this what he's turned you into?

you grow pale, gaunt, shivering--
you say it's fine, but i know better.
there's only two ways this can end
and i can only pray you hit rock bottom
before it kills you.

i walk past your house,
wondering if you see me,
wondering if i could shout
loud enough to wake you up,
but i don't think i can
so instead i whisper
friends through thick and thin, we said
so come back and let's grow thick again.

"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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