Author's note: based on this quote by Oscar Wilde: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars." (did I write a series of haikus in iambs with a random 9-syllable line at the end? it's possible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
this sun(f)lo(v)(w)er turns her head to the sun, seeds crispening like marshm(e)a(d)(ll)ows under the warm golden syrup that seeps through a late summer sky to flood her chlorophyl[l
over] and over she always tries to keep herself awake when the sun sets, but always her petals hang heavy and her head sinks like precipitation-weighed clouds into her neck, leaves mu(r)d(ere)d(y) in the dark;
always she just misses the (st)(m)ar(k)s and must listen to their message on the dew- -netted answering machine in the morning
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
don't be a girl who cries jam every time she finds another jar on rusted shelves (and never pauses first to wipe the grime obscuring the reflection of herself).
with fingers folded like a serviette she crams her hand into the squishy space - discovering too late the glass won't let her naive fists escape with this much grace.
the condensation of her sweat collects (like morning dew at every hour of the day) around this tightening jam jar's neck, yet stills she thinks it fits just like a glove.
she never learns the way of breaking free is smashing jars until she finds her key.
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
text (page 285 of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children): my doubts all agreed it was a jailbreak. chaotic and distracted, We met at the end of the ladder. and I was easily unscrewed. the night air, already waiting, gave us a crushing hug and black rain. I saw the loop to how float into view past the edge of the roof. I peeked over the roof to see a window waving up at me. Apparently, we had backing. I don't remember shattering my load. There seemed to be no steel edge. "Don't fall." I whispered. I closed my eyes and stepped.
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
Ahhh whatcha all these poems are so creative and ahh incredible!!! :OOO I love how in your latest poem it’s like a puzzle and I get to see how each line connects to the others! I feel like this is a piece that I’ll read over and over and find new meaning in each time, which is awesome ^-^ And it’s also super neat that you wrote, “until it’s too late to hit rewind” backwards; to me it emphasizes the fact that rewinding is kinda like turning back time, which is super cool!! I’m sure there’re a ton more amazing details about this poem that I’m not picking up on, but for now suffice it to say that this is a m a z i n g!!! Ooh and I think I said this before, but I absolutely love the wordplay in “[lover] and over” too; I feel like reading each of your poems is such a dynamic experience and ahh keep up the fantastic work!!! :DDD
Hey whatcha, just wanted to stop by real quick! <3 I love that you tried out the jam jar poetry prompt, you definitely put a nice spin on that c: And what a lovely blackout poem that was! Those can be more difficult than they seem, but you did a great job with that one. Also, that last poem is magnificent, I like how the lines are dancing around to make a shape :') Awesome work so far, I believe in you! Much love <333
"silv is obsessed with heists" ~Omni
"silv why didn't you tell me you were obsessed with heists I thought we were friends" ~Ace
"y’all we outnumber silver let’s overthrow her >:]" ~winter
@Spearmint awww thank you so much!! <333 I'm so glad you felt like the VHS poem was a puzzle, I was thinking it might just be very disorganized and scattered haha xD
@SilverNight <333 aaah yes blackout poems and I have a sorta love-hate relationship @_@ they're always a fun challenge though!! SADFASDKJ THANK YOU, much love for you as well c:
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
1) i am weeping cats and dogs but they all skitter away, nails raking against an impartially tiled floor, and i am left with no one to bury my face in the fur of. 2) The more i try to find consolation in the fluffiness of a cat's neck the more hair i breathe into my nostrils. 3) Why do cats seem to think their tongues are sandpaper and my skin lumber to be smoothed down? 4) And maybe i agree, and maybe i would assist them, but my tears reduce all the sandpaper i can get ahold of to a grit-and-paper-pulp mush. 5) i cannot cure myself of these splinters so i beg others to (they scrape away freckles without hesitation). 6) Freckles are constellations that ride on goosebumps - perhaps i'd find they form the outline of a goose if i could be bothered to pay enough attention. 7) i've heard it said that life is like an ocean (or was that just me remembering the hollow clanging of things i've told myself?); 8) sailors sail life with a compass and the stars to guide them but i let my stars fade to ghosts upon my forearms, 9) so now i must search someone else's nose and cheeks for the connect-the-dots of a sea monster. And i may never find it because you can't see the constellations splayed across your own face, skin like a canvas stretched across a sloping frame, and 10) i can't navigate by a mirror image.
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
cw: implied violence and just overall...absurdity?
13. cereal killer dreams
my empty stomach is a small pudgy child's fist, finger rumbling together in a plead for something sweet. mama says we can go to the bakery across the street (the street that frays at the edges into gutters and icing leaves).
the side entrance is skinny, foreboding in a friendly way, frame standing straight like cinnamon sticks.
we take off our shoes and step into the entryway - a long slender hallway with a conveyer belt for a floor. a customer service human glides towards us, nose lifted like she smells candied flesh on the wind.
"socks off please, barefoot from here on in." we are conveyed past employees with sugar-glazed gazes and deposited in front of a granite counter. there is a woman ahead of us in line and mama tilts her head impatiently. toes tap the surgical tiles like warm milk bubbling on the stove.
then it is our turn; the cashier nods us over. "a tray of cookies please" mama says. "that will be a million." the cashier's voice is swimming in dissolved tootsie rolls.
mama frowns and reaches for her twizzler wallet, and i say: "mama no, that is too much. this is the wrong bakery. she thinks you want me chopped up into curly lasagna bits and baked into dough and my blood dehydrated into sprinkles."
"oh." mama says, and clarifies this misunderstanding: "no thank you, just a tray of regular cookies please."
she pays and we leave, my heels catching on the hardened caramel grout. "they shouldn't be allowed to do that," i say absentmindedly, cookies clenched now in the pudgy fist as we stroll back down along the fraying black licorice road.
"it's alright dear," mama murmurs, squeezing my hand, "as long as it's consensual killing."
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
i miss knowing the lines in someone else's palm better than the back of my own hand.
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i want to forget the railways that forge zig-zags into an eternal game of tag upon your palm. and then i'm going to trace the topography of my hands like i am a sandbox (that only i get to rearrange into cratered lands and prairied plains), so that one day i can say, "i know myself like the back of my hand".
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
I was going to comment earlier whatcha, but I just want to say I absolutely adored your blackout poetry - like the combinations that came from that are so unexpected and compelling like "crushing hug / and black rain" and "a window waving up at me". I am seriously impressed by all of it - it seems like the speaker is someone ready for oblivion or wanting to enter something controversial / changing / death? and the little way they're contemplating it is dark and dreamy and mysterious and you just did a great job actually making these different phrases create meaning and mood!
I also really enjoy how you are not afraid to use uncomfortable images too like "soggy star crumbs" , "sweat condensation" , "nails raking against tiles" - a lot of people are afraid to delve into poetic images that aren't "pretty" or "sentimental" but you are jumping straight into some very rich poetic images that in some places create an uncomfortable reading experience, but in a way that's very emotive and interesting! And I just love that you're going for it.
The bodily imagery you've got is also very poignant - and these last two are so filled with longing and regret and intimacy. The whole metaphor between tag / longing to know someone deeply like the "back of your hand" is so intriguing. And the title for that one is perfection!
You've made it half way through NaPo and already have a lot of great imagery and emotional depth in these, not to mention all the different formatting creativity you've got going on too! <3 Looking forward to the 2nd half of your NaPo!
you should know i am a time traveler & there is no season as achingly temporary as now
@alliyah aw thank you for the lovely comment <3 I've really been enjoying digging into kind of unpleasant imagery and I'm glad you're finding it effective / interesting!
Aaah yes I was really proud of my latest title - often times I really struggle coming up with an interesting and just generally good title but I felt like that one fit perfectly ^^
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
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