40 posts
“Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.”
— Lemony Snicket
It’s been 2426 days since I dragged my childhood bedroom across the pavement
Almost 7 years since my love for my mother spilled from my suitcase onto the driveway
i still feel as if I could waltz into that house
Now belonging to strangers
Sit on my pink fluffy bed
And remember her screams
As if they were happening presently
The house is now home to an elderly couple
I wonder if they can feel the ghost of my younger self
Etched into the bannister
Youthful laughter in the backyard
I don’t know what part of me was left in that house
But if feels like not a day has passed since that crisp April morning
When my mother decided that I was not the daughter she had wanted
And one day may I lay in an endless landscape of wildflowers
Let my stomach be full and my hair unruly
The sun beating down in true mid morning light
The birds sing a song not of this world
I want to bathe every ounce of a life that was never mine away in the stream a mile north
Icy cold water
Babbling over rocks
Washing away someone’s mother’s screaming
Erasing his sweaty handprints from her body
Let my face be stained with blood red fruit
Sitting underneath the cherry tree
Gorging myself with the very definition of contentment
My cheeks touched by the sun
There is a pleasant sort of exhaustion I will feel
When my basket carries freshly picked fruit
My arms sore from the trees I had scaled
To pick better fruit and gaze at what lies in the field of beauty
It’s 7
The sun is going down
Fireflies take over the land
crickets are chirping a symphony
It’s the kind of spring that you believe might last forever
My window is open
The trees sing their hollow lullaby
I’m asleep in minutes
I wake up to find myself drenched in sweat, the window is closed.
there are no birds.
I must be dreaming.
My childhood came to a screeching teeth grinding stop one day
And my world hasn’t taken a single day off of spinning
My mother was thrown against the living room wall
And I’ve been trying to mend the cracks in my brain
It all came crashing down that day
giddy child laughter silenced
And the screaming began
I hadn’t felt a prick of pain
And it came like a fucking tidal wave
Knocking down Barbie villages and trampolines
Leaving only dented walls with the shape of my trauma etched into them
i used to rub my eyes as a child sitting in bed. when i did so, certain figures would appear, almost pixelizations in a way. It was certainly beautiful. The pressure formed intricate landscapes that I got the perfect view of. It felt like flying.
it could’ve been my strong will or maybe it was my secret city that allowed me to survive my childhood. Id like to think it was my city. When the world got too loud, i would escape to my home. Turning corners with a simple tilt of my head, it was the only place i felt at peace, souring over the city.
i don’t know what changed to cause me to stop visiting. my best guess is the stress of growing up amidst chaos made my adolescent hands to heavy to bring to my eyes. I still mourn my little city. I miss being able to fly.
i was a daughter at some point in my mortal existence
now i am what’s left of a child
rugged-worn down being
who’s outgrown the wonder that used to course through her veins
I want to be small
to be able to fold my body into itself
To hug my own essence within gangly limbs
I want to embody my own soul and display its fragile state
I have spent much time knowing I am too much for this life
I want the bone chilling matter of being insignificant
It’d be nice to feel small for a change
not every dead man was noble and neither are the dying
has every fall from grace been exonerated
now that your date of demise has been established
long have we honored the fallen as kings
with little regard for their true archetype
have the moribund beings been pardoned of their wrongdoings
now that they face deaths eternal grasp
-sundayafternoonsedentary
i’ve witnessed the cavities slither their way into his brain
etching out the desire to get out of bed
rotting teeth were never so beautifully maddening
the poor man didn’t stand a chance against the decay in his mouth
-sundayafternoonsedentary
i really wish i hadn’t charmed my therapist
maybe i wouldn’t be sitting in the position if i had
i wanted her approval just as much as anyone else’s
so i lied and cried at the right parts
reeling her in until-
snatch.
“this is not your fault”
but you see sarah,
it is.
all of it is.
but if i reveal my tactic of manipulation
my whole facade will come crumbling down
and you’ll begin to realize that i am not the victim of my own story
i’ve been pulling the right strings and moving the right pawns
but again, here i am
wishing i didn’t have to lie to you
because right now. i need you.
-sundayafternoonsedentary
he finally told me he was proud of me yesterday
after i had given all of myself
searching in other people what he didn’t give me
selling parts of my soul for short lived validation
but you’re proud of me dad?
all that is left of me is my heart in your hands
what i’ve become is great he says
but i look in the mirror
and i see a few strands of hair falling from a broken down body
morsels to appreciate
but finally, he is satisfied
-sundayafternoonsedentary
was i created to lie here forever?
molded into a cancerous being
rotting from the inside out
i have been running from existence for so long
only to find out that i will never be able to escape my predetermined demise
so i will remain here
letting a once lovely creation rot
-sundayafternoonsedentary
searching for warmth when you are the only life to be found is maddening
ravenous hands clawing at any ounce of heat
only to find your body slashed and your fingers bloody
colder do the nights get as your being disintegrates
slipping into nothingness
the once lively body etched with scars
remains indefinitely reaching for the love of another
something about falling snow is unsettling
peaceful to the eye
silencing the havoc throughout homes with a foot of soundproof encasing
sure the purity of the winter is breathtaking
but my lawn has been walked over time and time again
and the chaos is seeping out through the gaps of my snow boots
my screams echo with snow flakes hitting the ground
this chill in my bones is not serene
i spend hours upon hours lying sedentary within my porcelain throne
filled to the brim with the tears of my past lovers
soaking in the glory of being alone again
~sundayafternoonsedentary
will you turn my brittle body into poetry
when the cold kiss of death finally reaches my solitary corpse
will you interpret the path i skipped along
writing brilliant words of how my spirit dances in the wind
or will i be forgotten?
just to become a feast for the life that lives under the surface
scribbled lines in the once lively flesh
it was never pen ink that cherished me so
if my name has not been lost
and you happen to graze upon my initials in a history book
run to my tombstone
letting it be known that it wasn’t all for nothing
recite to my grave lovely words
soothing my wandering soul
remove my past from the chain around my ankle
let my image seep into the setting sun
allow all that is left of me to be the stanzas of a lifetime
an exhibit of beautiful words bleeding from a lifeless body
permit the future to forget the configuration of my skeletal being
but to devote their time to decipher the words you have strung together to recall my existence
please oh please let me be poetry
- sundayafternoonsedentary
make me a goddess
shaped out of pure divinity
mold my features so that they appear to kiss the setting sun
search my soul with eyes full of lust, love and wondering
so sweetly set me on your pedestal
displaying my celestial substance for all of the mortal beings to gaze upon
as the liquor crawls down your throat the phrase I love you is drunkenly forced out
fatherly compassion that only surfaces when the alcohol has engulfed your body
submerged so deeply in a drink that love is just another meaningless word
a silly phrase that slips off of your tongue with the sharp taste of whiskey
too intoxicated to hear the crack in my voice
when i tell you that I love you more
more than your addiction
more than myself
but my words are tossed into the trash
clinking with empty bottles
colliding with conversations you don’t recall
memories of an absent father that loosely maneuver through my conscience
I have to compete with a $58 bottle of bourbon
but you seem to love being numb more than raising your daughter
it’s alright dad
i’ll carry the both of us out of this mess
maybe one day when you wake up you’ll thank me for it
but for now, I love you and I can spare enough love for the both of us
I should’ve jumped when the ball-point pen across the room started scribbling
scratching the surface of a worn down notepad
hovering over it, I saw my name
in bolded letters I read the word ALONE
how dare a mystery writer reach into my soul
ripping out my deepest feeling
addressing it like you would the day’s weather
I would’ve complained, if there were anyone to hear me speak
the invisible critic marked another word
AFRAID
my hand connected with the paper as an arrow pointed to my destroyed nail beds
I guess the analysis wasn’t wrong as I drew back my shaky hands
oh lover,
how I miss us
things were simple
the world wasn’t so big
we didn’t have to be anything to impress
it was just you, me, and a sky full of newly named stars
i’m sitting here in the peace of midnight
just trying to reciprocate the terrible feelings i’ve felt
never will i be able to comprehend how i felt with you
and nothing will be said about how my heart shattered when you left
all i have left is the darkness welcoming like an old friend
Pain is the price of creation
Thoughts on Poetry/Having a Womb That Bleeds Every Month | @rose-resplendent
i’ve dreamed of death countless times
oh how i wish to not have woken up in the last moments before my demise
the sweet seconds before a forever peace are whispering to me
taunting me to stumble into deaths eternal embrace
how beautiful is it to be lonely
whenever the air you breathe has only been touched by your lungs
the emptiness in the echo behind your screams
thoughts to be sorted in the cavern of your cranium
how beautiful is it to be by yourself
i found myself ripping out my eyelashes
blowing them off my finger
wishing that you would find yourself falling in love with me
hoping that star that i pray to every night
would take pity on me
granting my wishes true
i told you i loved the night we spent together
i wish i could have captured the grin you wore
so proud of the terrible things you did to me
how i love that smile
the same lips that grazed my skin not long ago
the same hands that caressed my body
the same hair that I tugged on as i made a show of your acts
it was only an act
all of the good things came to an end
the heavy breathing started
my lungs were collapsing
my heart forgot to beat
it was too busy aching to love you
wishing to be more than just a body
how i envisioned the night sky sitting next to you was so much more beautiful when i hadn’t experienced it
whenever i felt my dream coming true there was a different feeling in the air
you were never there to watch the stars and fall in love
you were there to push me to your car
to rip off my clothes and promise me sweet nothings
i couldn’t see the sky from the backseat, as my heart sank into the driveway below us
all i wanted was to fall in love
you wanted was to fall into the rhythm of sex
making love they call it
we didn’t make love that night
my love was lost somewhere out in that bright beautiful sky that i wanted to experience with you
i wanted to feel the rise and fall of your chest not feel the rise and fall of my body on top of you
we had very different plans for that night
i just wanted to see the stars
I'm not afraid of death
I am afraid of the minutes before it
When my bed of steel nails
Grow into roses
If petals could talk
They would whisper in pity
By their words, I'll bloody up my hands
With the wounds the size of torn rags
And I'll tear away the civilization I made
Count every grain falling through an hour glass
Till goodbyes erode away
Mountains stand short
Bring forth my old rivers
Drain them of glory
Count every grain falling through an hour glass
Till molten corpses fall from the sky
Bells A-ringing in chaotic serenity
Doves turn to face the weeping nights
To wish my old constellations goodbye
By their words, I'll bloody up my hands
Throw away my world, let it leave my grasp
If the petals could talk
They would whisper in pity
By their words I'll wash up my hands
Lay in my lush foggy blankets
Till my eyes flutter shut
And peppered kisses, end at the hands of my crumbling world
Divide my soul and body with bleach
I'll drink it until my body is pure and free
From sins I committed at their word
following a prophecy and commiting a sin,
is how religion is born, with its birth
Comes timed demise
I'm not afraid of death
I am afraid of the minutes before it
When cold blooded sins turn dove like, gentle
If petals could talk
They would whisper in pity,
"What a fool she was, to follow a prophecy to create belief. What a fool she was, to burn dynasties for their words. What a fool she was, what a fool she was"
(Repent for your sins to make those after you believe in rules, repent for your sins to turn unity into society, Repent for your sins to look at your hands to see the monster you've become, repent for your sins, repent for your sins)
The world I saw through adolescent eyes isn’t as brilliant now that I stand in it
Sometimes I write in my journal as if somebody a century from now is going to find it and suddenly become captivated by the old ways of life. After they finish reading it, perhaps they’ll start living life similarly to how I do. In the past. In another life.