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Young Writers Society


This Is Not A Poem



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Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:52 am
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Vervain says...



Let's have another go at it.

Things I will be playing with this NaPo:

- themes, possibly

- and by themes I mean "themes that may have actually nothing to do with loss, nostalgia, and faint childhood remembrance of things once happy"

- it's gonna be weird

- how do you even write poems without those

- help

- - -

you're totally welcome to comment/critique/talk to me here! I might not respond because my head is in 3 million places at once and I'm generally really distracted, but I appreciate every comment I get c: i love you guys
Last edited by Vervain on Tue Apr 04, 2017 8:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:01 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
a little ditty-kinda-thing today because it's Saturday and I'm tired and I just wanna watch TV. ugh. I hate this.


i. midas in the stars

everything i touch is more than gold;
it is the expanse & the weight
of reality -- 13 billion burning years
recycling stardust into diamonds
and back to dust again
again
again
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:03 pm
Virgil says...



I like this! It's short and to the point and I think it works for what it is. It doesn't need to be long to make the reader feel something, and that's why I enjoyed this poem.

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Discuss the last piece of media you consumed in Media Reviews!
  





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Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:21 pm
Audy says...



I love the concept it presents in its title and the refrain in "back to dust again" also feels apt. <3 You may hate it, but your lines beg to differ!
  





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Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:27 pm
bluewaterlily says...



@Lareine Why would you hate this perfection?
"A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language." - W.H. Auden
  





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Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:22 pm
birk says...



Wonderful! And I love the title!
"I never saved anything for the swim back."


Do not mistake coincidence for fate. - Mr Eko

they're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
  





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Sun Apr 02, 2017 8:10 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
another frustrated little ditty-thing because I don't understand emotions and I've been in a really bad brainfog lately. I'm trying to work through the idea that my boyfriend's family really likes me??? I don't get it. ofc I don't understand why anyone would like me at all, but they do. it's kind of weird -- I went from leaving my family behind to finding people who...love me. I don't get it.


ii. understanding

my heart beats fragile in warm hands
that don't belong to me and yet
belong to me --

i can reach out to you and touch you
and you do not dissipate into smoke
and mirrors

and things long forgotten by a brain
so preoccupied with possibility it forgets that
i can fall in love with reality
and reality has fallen in love with me

i have gone from being cut free
to being tied down by bonds and roots
but i cannot bring myself to despair;
that would be a shameful lie
when i have found a home.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Mon Apr 03, 2017 7:35 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
I mean, I warned you guys that most of this is probably going to be sappy love poetry. And coincidence poetry. And "how can this happen so perfectly?" poetry. So many strange, tiny, irreversible, almost-missable coincidences led to where I am right now, and where I am right now is a place that I never want to leave. It's not that I'm more complete right now -- it's that I finally realize how complete I am alone, and how I don't want to be complete alone, I want to be complete with someone else who is also complete and how we complement each other is the amazing thing.

And I just want to write sappy cute poetry he will never, ever read.


iii. cartographic memory

i found you in the creases of my map,
a place i hadn't looked for so i hadn't seen before --
a little town so faded by the folding and unfolding
and the folding and unfolding
and the folding and unfolding
and the neverending searching
and the questioning my life

i found you in the creases of my map,
a place i hadn't looked for so i hadn't seen before --
a place i never aimed for but i landed all the same
i didn't even know your name
i didn't even know your name
i didn't recognize the game
i couldn't feel beyond the shame

i found you in the creases of my map,
a place i hadn't looked for so i hadn't seen before --
i found you and you knew me and you loved me and
you held me

i found you in the creases of my map,
a little town so faded by the folding and unfolding
and the folding and unfolding
and the knowing and the holding
and i love you

and you hold me
just so perfectly
at home.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Tue Apr 04, 2017 7:39 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
Homesickness? Or just regret that home wasn't as wonderful as I ever wanted it to be?


iv. dear florida

i've been talking about home a lot lately --
i've been thinking about it, about how i miss
everything and nothing that you were.

i miss the sun;
i have the sun --
i miss the storms;
i have the storms --
i miss the people within you
telling me what to be grateful for.

dear florida,
i miss you,
but don't you come after me.

i have the rivers
but miss the sea --
i miss the land;
i have the trees --
i miss the ocean air but now
i breathe the mountain breeze.

dear florida,
i miss you --
but don't you come after me.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Wed Apr 05, 2017 8:10 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
because I cut onions at work. srsly.


v. the onion-cutter's daughter

the onion-cutter's daughter
was born with vinegar on her tongue
to mask the stinging tears; still she bawled
and couldn't sleep from pain
so deep and
visceral --

the onion-cutter's daughter
grew up with bread in her mouth
to mute the screaming tears; still she wailed
and couldn't sleep from pain
so deep and
terrible --

the onion-cutter's daughter
lived with water on her hands
to drown the burning tears; still she winced
and couldn't sleep from pain
so deep and

she wondered, how is it possible

that an onion-cutter's daughter
bears the sins of who begot her?
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Thu Apr 06, 2017 11:41 am
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Hannah says...



i miss the land;
i have the trees --
i miss the ocean air but now
i breathe the mountain breeze.


UM.
UM.
YES!?

And also the refrain about not coming after you. SO good.
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Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:41 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
I WARNED YOU. it's gonna be sappy love poems from here on out. or sappy indie love songs, as in the case of this.


vi. singing telegram

will you carry me when my legs are broken,
walk with me when my feet are sore?
will you bring me to the places where we fell in love before?

will you follow me when your eyes are clouded,
hold my hand when we both are lost?
will you care for me when our hearts are both turned snowy in the frost?

when the wind changes ways
and the weather changes minds,
where the palm trees don't sway
and the trees bear no vines --
will you love me when we're old?
will you stay with me forever?
will you be there, warm and cold?
will you help me bear the weather?

there's no one else I'd rather brave the storm with --

there's no one else who'd help me brave the storm.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Fri Apr 07, 2017 7:34 pm
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Vervain says...



vii. vinegar volcanoes

i simmer over a low heat:
androgynous bubbles in the pit of my stomach
float lazily to the surface and pop, erupting
into words i didn't know i was thinking;
they force themselves past my lips before i can stop myself,
"i'm so happy,
i love you,
i don't deserve to live,
i'm sorry".
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:36 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
I am pretty sure I have seasonal affective disorder of a sort. I literally cannot function without a certain number of sunlight hours in a day. Boyfriend is more or less the same way (though I don't know how hard his is to work past; mine is manageable but not enjoyable in the least). So I'm celebrating the best part of spring: the sunshine.

But hey it's not a sunset poem about Mallory Square at least?


viii. and finally, the sun

it has been a long and cloudy winter
full of gray and drear like none i've
seen before: the snow sang sweet,
rain sweeter, as the weather warmed
to spring, the clouds persistent
side to side 'cross the broad-horizoned
sky; the robins nest and sing now,
the spring showers are so light,
and finally, the sun
shines.
stay off the faerie paths
  





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Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:00 pm
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Vervain says...



Spoiler! :
a day late on ix, but yesterday wasn't a poeting day. I guess I'm not really going traditional this year, but my Saturday/Sunday poems may be posted during the week instead.


ix. intro to anatomy

basic science: the
cardiopulmonary
system is vital.
but when your lungs flit
and flood deep under pressure
you invite skeptics
into your mind space:
accusing vitality
of being a scarce
good reason why you
should keep your heart and lungs in
working condition --
they are your weakness,
that flit and flutter and the
hot breath on your lips.
stay off the faerie paths
  








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