Young Writers Society

I'M CATCHING UP! This is 14/30. Sorry notifers.

Utopia

I felt it once
when I was daydreaming,
but I write about it all the time,
that moment of peace when finally
everything is fixed, and life
whatever life is, can return
to the heap of starlight
that bakes heaven.

Utopic love a dressing
of the skin with caresses
and a plethora of sentimentalism

Utopia, where Utopic love thrives
and knowledge reigns over wisdom
but it dissolves like salt in water

Garden

omitted

Oasis

My oasis is a spit of land
deep in the woods by a little lake.

The entryway was ripped up
for the development of some old folks place
hidden in my oasis, but, I don't suppose I care
that much.

If I could, I'd live on the other side
down the ruddy dirt road that winds
behind civilization
where I wouldn't have to cross a school
to run away from life.

It's a peaceful little nook
tucked in a valley with huge trees
too thick to hug
that tumble acorns in the fall
and block mossy stones

The deer like it too
I think. I've never seen them there
but once or twice, I saw their lay spots
as my dog ran among the stringy grass
kicking up decaying leaves.

He often wants to leave before me
ready to get on with his walk
instead of settling down
among the songs of the trees
to listen

Soul

I used to believe in the body
individual atoms held together
by sheer will and science.

I used to believe that we all
were generally composed
the same way, bits reproducing.

I used to believe that the sun
was our ultimate deity overlord
because that allowed us to survive.

But, when you're done reading this
close your eyes, and breathe.
Breathe deep, large inhales,
large exhales,

and imagine for a moment

a pitch blackness
of nothing

no weight on a chair
no hands tingling
no blood racing inside
no lungs filling

Imagine no extraneous colors
seeping to your retina
through the kaleidoscope
of your blood racing
through your eyelids.

Imagine, just, being.

Be somewhere little
close to your chest
tucked within your clothes
just inside your skin
beneath your ribs
near your heart and lungs.

Feel your will command
and remember
we are more.

Petrichor

It's my favorite smell,
fresh moist grass
just after a rain.

I didn't know
Petrichor
until a show.

I'm ashamed to admit it
but television teaches too
and today we watch more than we read

I'll always remember that
when I smell petrichor.

Circadian

My heart beats like a metronome
tick, tick, tick,
and with it I walk like a clock
tock, tick, swish,
so I may raise and fall with the sun
beating beneath my bones
feeding me excitement
and I get high
off rays of light
trailing across my skin
burning me like roasted turkey
because I live beneath the clouds
I'm a
Sympathetically
Annoyed
Disaster
waiting to happen.

Don't supply me with a gun
I might get upset enough
to need to go on the run

or maybe I'll just safely decrease
the deer population.

You never know.

Balk

Before the dawn of time
Above the clouds eternal
Lay my amazing, astounding
K-uh, Kaptain?

Now you see why I balked
at the suggestion of writing
acrostic poetry.

Ocean

Wash me Away
Tossed into the Fray
Loosened I Stay

Sucked out to sea
Pushed up to meet
Skies bright as sleet

drowning
thrashing
falling faster
dropping quicker
gasping burning

Air

vastness
all around
no land in sight

drif
ting

dr
if
ting

dri
f
ti
ng

lost

Piano

I am the backbone of your maker
shaker of your solemn hand
when you step into the choir

and dismisser of your imperfect pitch
like a pascifist who paws at perfection
and I can sing better than the rest of you

gentle, gentle, chrisCenDO
DIMinUendo

My forte is your hardest breath
my soft sticcotto beats your weeps

and into the ears of children I sing
of melodies they need only read

Honor me. Worship me.
It's upon me you fly

to any other instrument
and I am left to brittle in your corner
losing masters
to lost time

I'm sick of playing hide and seek
without you by my side

Tome

Written in the 15th year
of a calendar never yours
I was abused like a battering ram
until your hands lay upon my spine
and soothed me open to reveal my secrets
deeper still than your own time can tell.

I am your mystery,
your succulent supply
of saucy rituals and dreams

I am your daytime adventures
among the living and the lost
taking you deeper to the forest

of never ending thoughts.

Was it real?
Am I some sort of lost art?
A real treasure map to cultural integrity?

You found me buried in a box in your backyard cellar
built to withstand the brutality of the bombing in WWII

But I was more than some old rusty book
for you, I was the endless hours of wonder
as your grandfather packed away your grandmother
and shipped her home with your aunt and family.

Now, as you worry over which words is right,
I lay sleepily upon a seldom dusted shelf
memorized and entombed again
this time in shed skin and debris
waiting for you to seduce my pages open
one more time,

or maybe you'll just use me for a fanfiction.

Ecstatic

The sun glistens on a shiny stone
wet with rain or dewdrops, no one knows
and it shimmers pure white beneath
the happy rays of bursts.

My chest heaves forth my heart
as sacrifice as I grin so hard it hurts.
You are,
a timid baby bird
who learned to fly at last
and I, stand there, your perch.

It's nice to see you afraid to let it out
because there's so much welled up there
it'll turn you inside out,
exposing your heart to air
your colon wrapped around your waist
your lungs unnecessary, as your veins
do their work already
and your skull an exoskeleton.

Heh, Sesshomaru's 105.
Thanks for making me laugh
when it was the middle of the night.

Apprehension

I'm excited and morose
feeling like my shoulders
could cave beneath this stone
as I shove myself skyward
praying I had someone to betray me
so I could cave and die
become a pile of stones
or mush of mortar.

Please don't touch me now
I'll crumble to your feet and gape
my mouth unhinged and sagging
as I crawl back towards sanity.

This is a possibility
this life I once could dream.
Too close to see it now
too far to remember it existed.

You are my mirror,
I, your ugly genetic twin.

Let's dance before the preps catch us
and our individuality cards are turned in.

I am excited
because I might find this world I've lost
and morose;
it's distant still, and I could fall and break.

I'm not a good walker,
so why take up the sprint?
but still, if I'm to get anywhere
I might have somewhere homey there.

I hope for water on the way
and some day, maybe, I'll be on the sidelines
passing out plastic for racers struggling by.

I've been reading through some of your poetry and I thought I'd drop in a few comments. (note, I haven't read them all)

You're really good at conveying different feelings and moods through your poetry. That is something I strive for but it isn't really the kind of thing that can be taught so I always look up to people who it comes naturally to.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing or anything, but I notice that quite a few of your poems take some time to understand. These poems tend to describe specific events, with metaphors and similes and such, and it can take a bit for me to really grasp what emotion/feeling/whatever is really at the heart of it. If you're looking for a way to branch out and expand your poetry it may be good for you to try writing something specifically about a certain feeling or emotion as your starting place.
I don't know if that actually described what I meant to say or not, but I tried. lol


Keep it up! We're almost done!

My turn to exchange the favour! Here's a list of suggestions to help the last few poems for buddy up.

I call this my thinking box
the colour of anticipation
echoes
footprints in the sand
pantomime
only once
fool me thrice, shame on the circumstance
I'm not sorry there's nothing left to say
writing desk
page turner
verbose
antonym
villanelle
memory card
interruption

Window

Gateway is more accurate
frosty glass, broken seals,
silent collecting of sun.

We take so much for granted
when we have a pane of glass
between us, and them.

I saw a seal once trying to eat
a little baby, maybe in redemption
for all the baby seals killed for pelts

but everyone was talking about
how they made friends.

Humans.