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Aley's Amazing Atrocities



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806 Reviews

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Gender: Female
Points: 1883
Reviews: 806
Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:01 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
Building Blocks

Gently guide me down beneath the waves of paragraphs, drifting through my brain as signals I categorize, recognize, synthesize to a universe dancing upon the cusp of written tongues, the dreams of scrawled words are as real as my fingers tasting the page, which is not a page at all, a touch screen. How books have changed.

When we were young we used to look at books as building blocks for stairs to get on counters, as things to grab and shake like rattles, and then as mysteries when we began to recognize and symbolize our sounds. Books were Mommy Time and Daddy Time and Granpa and Granma Time and Bed Time before we knew the reality of time, the lack of it,

the suffocation.

Could you read this to me? I like the pictures. "Have you seen my cat?" and we would answer, "No, ... " as the play began again, and again, until you shunned it, a groaning growl, a misplacement of our treasure. Too quickly, "You're old enough to read yourself" as if that was the same. As if somehow reading without you could amount to more than your soothing voice, sitting next to you, watching the pictures dance within our minds.

No, please, I want you to read it to me. I want you close to me. I don't want to read. I don't want to know how you get the same story time after time, a story I had to memorize to repeat, a story I change like water in different cups. These signals are alien to me and

Please, come back. Please, make time.

As if time were not a measurement of history or future, these things we cannot see, cannot sense directly.

Please, I miss you. We used to have time to read together when I was too little and thought these things were building blocks instead of books building into universes all our own, like the one where you still read to me, where you spend time with me as I know it is something to spend, not make.

I miss you.
  





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Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:50 pm
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
Noble Dogs of Foolishness

The lion lay in the backyard,
paws rest folded, with his peering
noble head high like a postcard.
Dog, have mercy for my hearing.

I do not want to be barked at,
to be corraled by your leering.
I am not yours to play combat
dog. Have mercy for my hearing.

Three straight days you barked me awake
my peaceful dreams disappearing
and you gifted me a headache.
Dog, have mercy for my hearing.

And this nothing is your master
who roars all sleep. Just a jeering
fool waking me up all the faster.
Dog, have mercy for my hearing.

He is your example, poor mutt,
he has a loud raukus cheering
and you agree with barking glut.
Dog. Have mercy for my hearing

Before your bark drives me insane.
You sit there as a prince, sneering
despite your barking so inane,
dog, have mercy for my hearing.

You have a postcard pretty mane,
a noble air, a collar ring,
but you are tempting to be slain
dog. Have mercy for my hearing.


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Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:40 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
A candle gently glistens in the long forgotten dark
Everything is gone. My life, my dreams, my soul.
I've sold it all to the nothing that would accept it.
Give me back my dignity and I will have
profited twentyfold.

Darkness surrounds me, a pain
etched deep in the marrow of my bones.
They say that vaccines work by infecting you
with just a little bit of that thing you need
to fight. If only that worked for you.


Inspo Inspired clubs/2849/forum/77356?start=0#p1018154
  





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Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:40 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
The Kennel

They batted weary eyes up at me
testing limits, barking at one another.
Loud obscenities they expect me not to understand

One, I kid you not, ran up to me, ran up to me
and bounced off my front, happy as can be
so happy he didn't realize there were rules
to such engagements

He is the type to bounce around on his hind legs
and scream up at you because he's so excited.
He's the type to wet the floor because he just can't
contain. They can't sit still. They squirm at the end
of the invisible teather of decorum.

everything goes in their mouths still
and if one of them starts barking
they all do.

Some days I hate working in the middle school.


Inspo inspired clubs/2849/forum/77356?start=0#p1015663
  





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Fri Apr 06, 2018 1:56 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
I stand in the rain and listen to it falling.
Pattering against my face, trickle in my hair
the more I let it fall, the more I feel like crying
my temptation hugs me tight,
just break down and sob.

I've waited as Penelope for Odysseus
I've waited oh so long.
My patience is my reliable belt holding up my dignity in life
as I've stood here
waiting as time ticks and tocks by.

I can wait forever, I've proven that to myself,
but Pressure stones me with his angry glares.
I'll blow up from the inside out just standing in the rain.
The water wraps within my wicker walls
I'm slowly losing the war I wage.

A dark storm brews above me
the cloud hangs low, ready to burst
so it can drift dantily distant.
Mountains in the distance hold up the blakened sky
Zeus is hammering lightning bolts to smite me
They make it like a balloon ready to pop with tears.

My umbrella clings to my hand, the valley engolphing me,
I want someone to come rescue me from this feeling just
a tiny flicker of light beneath this dank storm.
My wants won't be fulfilled though,
as I am an invisible speck of dust
they see right through me.
My screams are lost on the path to their ears.

Maybe one day the rain will stop
or maybe the snow will overthrow the rain's tyrrany
maybe one day I'll see the sun again
scoffing nusances
One day I'll just grow old.

Today whispers of sorrow, and chains me in bed
my phone threatens me awake, but dread pets me.
I am a Hawthorne book in Washington State.
Brighter days are still far away
Mudslides have captured the city gate
so for now, I'll just turn my head up
and welcome the dagger rains.


Inspo inspired clubs/2849/forum/77356?start=15#p1027239
  





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Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:55 pm
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
I Am the Death of Plants

Invaritably you crumple brown

absorb the keening waste
merge with rotting, convert to dirt

these things are bound to happen
hell even expected when I purchased you
even dreaded as I tried to avoid it

dried and withered, you sit cultivating bugs
earthy things crawl and decompose you
and all I can do is water you, drown you
thinking I'm helping
hoping this isn't the last breath you take

oblivious that it was months ago when you
found the meaning of life in death

please forgive me for dooming you
little air plant cactus bamboo
an inexperienced hand was meant to tend you
not this hand of death
this hand of failure
successful only in your demise


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Fri Apr 06, 2018 9:20 pm
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
The Farmer Dragon

We fly above the skies on wings of paper glass
eyeing the fields of fluffy green grass
searching for bunnies and horses and cows
anything worth sinking in our teeth, even sows

I roar across the wind, bat my wings and glide
drifting like a chicken at Link's side
just as deadly too, if not a master sword
for I am far above Hyrule, and I am the Lord.

My partner comes close and our wings bat a flap
before her head shakes round, and she dives in a snap
At first, I don't know where she's gone, just where she had been
But then I spy a night riding loose reigned, shiney as I've seen

and I know what she means to do, black hide and quiet winged
but that rider is galloping by completely unsuspecting.
She snaps out her wings and lands behind, claws out
and grabs on tight. The horse screams loud and rears a shout

But she is hardly feared. He puffs and paws, the rider tames
and she leers down from her hight and blames
"You are much too heavy for this steed of yours
with twenty pounds on each leg, and all those swords"

"Forgive me, my lady, but I must go to war
and all I have is on me, I can't tend my steed any more"
He bows his head and trembles just, her big maw
just above. Her nose puffs overheat him and he must withdraw

"If you are too heavy for your steed, then this will have to do
I daren't see him collapse a wick for some arraint fool like you"
and so she lay upon the ground, presenting her shoulder thus,
and I landed not a turn about and watched the soldier cuss

He'd never been atop the sky, and climbing up as he did
it was obvious to be a bumpy ride if he could keep a lid
on all of his fluids at all, despite being a rider sound
But still, I took the horses' reigns and off I lead it round

Off they popped, the soldier blanched, and high ahead they flew
while I walked my dainty steed towards the forest made of gloom
And this is where you find me now, ruler of all the lands
or at least those here where I have made my final farmer's stand.


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Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:51 am
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alliyah says...



Aley, your poem about working with children made me laugh out loud. I worked in a daycare this summer, so the poem brought back um... "fond" memories. XD Yes, I think the tone and imagery of your poem was right on point there!

Your last poem too had a great blend of unexpected humor with the more formal elegant language in there, and was just an all around fun story to read through poetry.

Also I'm a big fan of paragraph/prose poetry in general, so your first one I found really interesting where you decided to set lines apart into "one liners" had good dramatic effect. I do hope you experiment with this type of poetry again for NaPo.

Looking forward to following the rest of your NaPo poems! :)
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Mon Apr 09, 2018 3:45 am
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Aley says...



Thanks for the comments @alliyah! I really appreciate them <33

Poem today is just going to be free cuz it's about boy. I'll add in a tag if I Inspoed to write more romance. I might have.

Spoiler! :
You treat me like gold
saturating your life
embedding myself in your veins
your pillows, your nose, your lips
each thing I touch you shiver
and absorb my essence. I am Maidas
and you are the lover soon to gold.

I worry one day you'll wake up from
this dream of yours, sated and unfamiliar
with all the hours we used to spend
together, now apart. I dream
you'll find the end of your line
and see me holding the other side
decide to cut it free, run away

And I won't follow you
I'll let you fly free
leave you to drift
among the waves
on your tugboat

I won't wave my arms
search for help
wish you to come back
as I dip
below


clubs/2849/forum/77356?start=15#p1027245 -7
  





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Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:24 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
You hold me at gunpoint
a diaper-clad carrier with a rubber ducky side-kick,
and complain that I am too childish.

That I don't care enough about you
to do the grown up thing.

That I have no dicipline
despite the swarms of you
who I have thrown in jail
killed in the streets
cuffed and arrested
and ignored.

I spit out hurtful words in retort
it's your fault. I am not at fault.
You're the one who pushed it.
You're the one holding the gun.

You're the one who is crying
out for attention and seeking
discipline and control through
these negative means rather
than accepting that I'm giving
you complete power, freedom
to make your own choices
and
you chose to befriend the rubber
duckies in the first place. You
are at fault. Not me. You should -

You should -

But inside, my stomach knots
as I realize you're still sucking
on a pacifier, can't contain your
mouth to your face for all
it's yawning, wanting nap time
and your brain is still growing
learning to make choices, discovering
what danger really means.

You're still immortal in your world
despite our warnings, you're still
imagining that heaven is real
and maybe sending some people
would be a good way to get in.

They could prop the door for you
so you could join the bouncy house
in the sky rather than living in this
hellish world where adults pass you up,
ignore you.

I'm sorry, for all the stupid people
for the way we've had to set a time bomb
in our electoral system, and we're waiting
for it to explode just as you join our ranks
just as you sign up for the duty to our adulthood.

It's not fair that we made these choices
and you have to die the consequences.
It's not fair that I was told "Life's Not Fair"
as a motto for why my paper wasn't accepted late
and you're learning "Life's Not Fair"
because of Mr. Rubber Ducky.

Blood splatters Nap Time.
Sleep in the corner, learn to dogpile

Quiet time means the thunder might
be closer to earth than we hope
it might echo in our walls rather than outside.

I'm sorry life's not fair, that we've already
set our shock paddles to full and rubbed them
as ferociously as we could together
ready to press them on the chest of our nation

Revive the Revolt. Revive the Revolution
Revive the Reason we're Really against Reds.
We the people all agree that what we see
is not what was meant to be, so we are taking
our rights, our forefathers rights, and tearing
everything to shreds. Start again.

My generation knows how to fix a broken thing
Kick it, try a hammer, maybe pry at it
with a screwdriver in any crevice you can reach
and when you call IT, say you tried restarting it
but finally do it again when they catch you in the lie.

Click and hold the power button 15 seconds.
17 lives. 10 lives. 28 lives. 33 lives.
and all those single digits in between
Click the power button on again.

See if the magic of a lack of power for 36 lives in 2018 so far
will remind us that "our children are our future" is more
than just a political slogan to get people elected.
It's a promise to be there
when circle time is stained red
and rip away those toys
revoke our rights to rubber ducky
because clearly, we're not adult enough
to be responsible.

This is why we can't have nice things.
I need an adult.
  





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Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:29 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
Desolate planet, more yards than people,
green grass, tall trees, moss, rain,
She was a tech geek, an isolationist
who prefered to surf the itnernat than the waves
and they hated her, the current masters of Nature.

They leveled sticks, stones, bows, angry chants, torches
tied her to their horses, dragged her through town
drown her in the deadly water, until the military intervene.

The green has gone to their heads
She is not her cousin, blue eyes not green
Blue Eyes - Not Green!

But they will never be seen, not now.
Matilda's ranch is oh so far
when a planet is ready to scar you.
  





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Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:32 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
There once was a dog named McGlog
Who happily married The Bawk
until a tragic day
when there was a big fray
and McGlog swallowed The Bawk.


clubs/2849/forum/77356?start=15#p1027235 -8
  





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Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:03 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
It was ten years ago today,
and I know that you would want me
to be happy, to continue the tradition
but all these years, I just couldn't do it.
I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I sat nervously, throat choked and trembling
as they bagged my order, just a single
lonely box, plastic and simple. Did I want
utensils? No, I'm going back to the house
once a home, but without you?

Do you remember when we lost the dog?
He had a legion of warriors on his brain
and it came on so suddenly we were unable
to bring ourselves about for months. The
house never recovered. Now it decays.

At the building I open my solitary box
and stare. Mushrooms everywhere.
But whenever you bought it, there were none
not a lick. I would know. I swell like a balloon
any time they touch my food, so why?
Why? I call the restaurant back, near tears.

Just this one thing, this one thing
It had taken me ten years to get the courage
to order this meal, our anniversary meal
and it was ruined. I couldn't eat this. I couldn't
even begin to touch it, or pick them off
or suffer. I asked as calmly as I could
Did you change your menu? Did it change?

When did it begin to have mushrooms on it?
But you say it always has. It always has.
No, no, it couldn't! My husband brought it home for me
I'm allergic to mushrooms, I'm allergic and he
always assured me it didn't have mushrooms
it was the one thing I loved which I could have
for sure, without fear, every time.

She's been working there for twenty years
and it always had mushrooms, but she'll ask the chef
The wait is painful, like my stomach
is crawling through my nose
I wait in silent agony
How could this be?
I never once got mushrooms
all those years.

Are you the wife? You're the wife aren't you?
There was this guy who came here for years,
I hear your name, and start to cry. I can't take it.
He always ordered it and insisted on no mushrooms
Always insisted. Whenever we got new chefs
we would use his order to teach them how to cater
to the allergy community since he was such a stickler
Every time he called me away from the line
asked if we'd had mushrooms on our utencils
if we'd had mushrooms on the surfaces
asked if we had mushrooms on the food
or by it, and I'd say no, and we always made sure
always cater to the allergies! That's a chef's job.
We're nutrition not hospitalizations!

One time our new guy couldn't get it right.
He sent it back three times, it took an hour
to get him his meal, his was cold by the time
he left, and we offered to remake it
but he said you were waiting at home.
He didn't have time.

I'm sorry, we didn't know it was you.
If you'd like to come back, we'll make it for you
just like you need. No mushrooms on anything.

I said I'd come back tomorrow,
I couldn't drive
I held the plastic case in my hands
staring at the mushroom meal
imagining you in the restraunt
each year, sometimes a few times a week
when I was having it bad

so many times while I was pregnant.
That was why we started going there.
I was craving something salty with soy
but everything had mushrooms.

He told me not to worry, and off he went
he came back with that. Mushrooms everywhere.
I set it aside, curled up and cried.
I miss you so much. I thought I was strong
but I'm not. Without your love, I feel so helpless.
You did so much for me without complaint,
and I feel as though I did so little in return.

You never said how you got that meal
and I never asked. I always assumed
it was prepared without mushrooms.

I wiped my tears, and tried to calm myself
focus on my breath, focus on my hands
my butt, my feet, anything but my achey heart
anything but the clog in my throat
like my lungs were waging war with my throat
anything but the dizzy dysphoria of realizations

I closed the lonely plastic box, and sat it aside.
Tomorrow, I could try again tomorrow
you wouldn't mind.
  





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Sat Apr 14, 2018 4:46 am
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Aley says...



Spoiler! :
I lay dying in the dust
your feet crush me flatter
and churn me into the carpet
until I am nothing
but pulp.

Is this cleaning?
  








I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.
— Flannery O'Connor