Young Writers Society

sing me home,
oh raven king. i
have gathered enough
bone for your
nest.

danse macabre swallows
your veins as
the hierophant sings
you to life. we have
embraced our horns and
yoked ourselves with
roses—sharp can be
beautiful, darling, and
it’s short of nothing
we’ve ever longed
for. (we are almost
at the end. eight of cups
the world
ace of cups. drink
your fill and smile.
the sun will soak
your brow. Your chest
is a tinderbox and now
is the time
to ignite.)

and yet
here i still
am. building
breaths one
piece of myself
at a time. you
remind me of sleeping
with both windows
open and waking up inside
a blue warm world. if
only i could sing a new skin
from these sheets—no
more would i need to
darn myself whole. (but the
moon never speaks in the
early hours and october
is too cold to leave my
shutters ajar for
my shadows to sneak
in and out, and
yet here i still
am. awake. asleep.
never dreaming of
a time built for
myself and the king
of cups.) (unconsciously,
i have built a cage and
i am the only one who
knows where to hide
the key.)
(page of swords.
page of wands.
two of cups.
the last sip is
always the worst.)

bury yourself
under these
four blades. sleep is
not something to be trusted
and the best of it always
belongs to other people in
other beds. sleep at ten bells
and wake up at four (these swords
promise rest but the only
rest i get is when i think of you
dropping your keys in
the dish by the door. the leather
coat i bought you is already
shaped like your skin). sleep again
for two more hours if the cat
doesn’t knock over the
speakers on
your desk (he’s chasing away that
fiendish nightmare: your name is
reality. quietly now. quietly. your
sheets are getting cold.)

like i
matched names
to the faces
of the members of my
favorite band, someday
i will not have to google
the meaning of everything
you ever told me.

@Sachiko, you have such a unique poetic voice! I enjoy how a lot of your pieces seem to begin half-way through a thought. There's no introduction, the reader is just there in the middle of whatever you're describing. Your poems for the 26th & 28th specifically have interesting beginnings. And your poem for the 24th is hauntingly elegant and beautiful.

"sing me home,
oh raven king. i
have gathered enough
bone for your
nest."

Just a few lines, but it leaves an impression!

(ace of wands.
you woke
in the morning to find that
the sun has decided to breathe
on you once again.)

(eight of cups.
this manuscript contains
one hundred thousand
iterations of the alphabet
rearranged. nowhere in
its pages will you find
your name. i have become
grace,
the destroyer.)

(seven of wands.
softly, courage:
speak.)

(ten of swords.
from blades you
placed at my feet
i forge myself
a nuclear virgin.)

(god, give me
this day, my constant
search, and absolve
me my empty
hands.)

No
amount of water
will ease the taste
of miles in the back
of your throat. you
have faltered on a
tarot spread for
nonbelievers, and
every card you pull
is a mirror
image—taurus seeing
red conjured in a
universe you can’t
touch from the one
you’re drowning in. (take
your own hand and imagine
what it’d be like to impress
carnality. a flesh wound that
only grows bigger with each
push and pull. you have always
been your own imaginary
brand of sin.)

you were born under
strength and the star from
a cathedral womb. (and how you
have grown, sweet girl. count
the roses in your hair. There is
one for every small transgression, every
broken thing you shed. you walk on
petals from dusk to dim. you bleed
in nebulous streaks.

(this card is a mirror image. taurus
Of earth, of strength, of
Going forward.)

(
—softly. you are the bull
sleeping. your pride is a color of
no name. you are a mirror
image. your story is never done.
)

These poems flow like butter when I read them out loud. Congrats and well done!

Also, there's a numerology ad on the side for me. Coincidence? I think not.

You disgusting impostor, you.

ilu.

<3

(but i like your poetry more)

Basically you officially can't complain about anyone forcing you to write poetry again.

You already know I basically love everything you write. You have such a way with words and how you put them together that makes me green with envy. I know you don't believe it, but you're very good at this <3

What I especially like about these is that they all seem connected, like part of a whole. And they're all really beautiful, like you <3