Young Writers Society

i keep losing words
i could tell you
you told me that dandelions were sun drops
"might be whisky or the midnight rain"
but i had a hard time believing
because for now, I am too afraid
there may be a small chance
drowning is death disguised as breathing
and i'll tell you i love you in
a word said at an imperfect
point in time. Because it's
empty bottles in a ditch, kicked away
and write our names in ashes
and wondering if silvery letters still cross your mind.
you told me that you cared
and you clutched my hand in your own.
you told me that you cared
and telling secrets with voices hushed so quiet
that you and the stars are the only ones to hear
and sometimes i wonder if
i would have been better off if we never met
but i don't think it'd even
make a difference
but sometimes
i think it might.
but i don't find that regretting the flame
is much help when you're still trying to extinguish coals.

Ruth and Naomi

You be Naomi and I’ll be Ruth,
we’ll be family and I’ll follow you
anywhere.

Let me tread in your paths,
let me worship your God.
And when I come home
at the end of the day
with a pouch of wheat from gleaning,
with a back that curves like a sickle,

leave a kiss on my cheek
and tears on my neck.

Let your people be mine,
let my rest be thine,
and if one day you die,
may I be buried

beside you.

I used to pretend mosquito bites
were like getting Spiderman power in reverse
the more you get, the weaker you become,
and I would dramatically fall on the ground
and howl becoming. slowly. more. lethargic.
as the poison set in
and my dad would tell me to stop itching
because it was time for dinner.
And I liked the attention of rolling on the ground
and telling him I was dying.
Sometimes I still find people pretending they are weak
where they should be strong,
because no one likes arrogance or over-confidence.
But I swat at mosquitos now because
putting on a facade irritates me,
and anyways I prefer Ant-man.

a love for the stars

a piece of my heart has been given away
no, not to a lover
but to the stars, in a way

i've fallen in love
with somethings too far away
but my heart has a place for the stars up above

so come lay down with me
let us love the stars together
with wonder and peace and joy so carefree

I have studied your vocabulary,
made hieroglyphs out of gestures, glances, heart beats,
counted breaths, measured fingernails, searched in forgotten tomes for hidden clues,
found meaning and morality within the veins beneath your cheeks,
studied and hypothesized and questioned and answered,
longing for understanding, connection, communication,
but all I can find, all I can see
is me.

You glow, marigolds
invade the violets.
Each caterwaul
contorts my funnybones

I adore you, smelling
barbeque and
oatmeal baths. You
sanitizes your mudpies.
A pawprint pasted floor.

A nose shruken
the mud you dug.
I love your twitches
A clockwork. It's midnight.
You are neon wrapped blankets.

I hope you never go.

a story I wish I didn't remember

In May, it began
when I lost myself
on the hills of streets in Spain
and you guided me home.

In June I fought
against bullies and drunks,
and you became my shield.
When I sampled your cigarette,
I thought I was in love.

In July, I kissed thousands of boys
that weren't you
trying to inspire jealousy in your heart,
but only succeeding in bruising mine.
When we hugged goodbye,
I inhaled your cologne
and prayed this wasn't the end.

In fall, I wrote you letters
you would never read
and my heart tried to survive
on the crumbs you gave me.

In spring, I lost my mind,
and even when my brain collapsed,
I wrote to you.

After a year, you returned,
but I only felt silence,
discomfort highlighting
the gaps between us.

They say a heart entirely broken down
Cannot be broken any further.
Yet, here we are.

i know people have had worse,
But this is the worst i can take.

i wish i could stop,
Stop all the pain & suffering.

i feel helpless & lonely,
Wandering the woods of terror.

i want a shoulder,
For when i cry.
i want a sky,
For when i fly.

Even though i am screaming,
Screaming as loud as i can,
No one can hear me,
For my voice is drowned,
Drowned by those of others.

Every time i rebuild,
i am just broken down again.
Yet i have hope,
Hope that one day,
No one will be able to break me again.

They say a heart entirely broken down,
Cannot be broken any further.
Yet, here we are.

Thanks for sharing your poetry, and for participating in Camp NaPo!
@WritingPrincess, @Storybraniac, @tgirly, @Aley, @fortis, @metrophobia, @TheBlueCat, @niteowl, @TheWeirdoFromBeyond