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MorePoetry! there's links to other people's poetry, or if you have a page of poetry, put it here. Check out PoetryMaraZine, an attempt to create a zine out of PoetryMarathon archives and poems! Shameless plug! If you like continuing stuff, check out StorySnatch! OneTwoFiveOh shout outside my skin has been crawling with yesterday and the rain i absorbed rain of joy rain of pain rain of you my mystery has been the mud puddles have been my bath have been my sanctuary when you were gone you never were my sanctuary anyway but i need one you know? i know you do. you've always known. that's why it's raining. -franny OneTwoFiveOne that's why it's raining even if i knew the reason you would still be sitting there smiling like there is anything to smile about i smile back because it's all i can do & when you're gone i miss you but when you're here i hate you & when i told you that i love you & you made a joke all of my resolution crumbled & that's why it's raining.
OneTwoFiveTwo (for you) that's why it's raining because when you there and i'm here and i can't tell you it'll be okay you cry i know you do and in my perfect world you're happy tonight and maybe you are but when you're not and you need a shoulder or an ear or a heart or someone to yell at bitch to scream at and cry on i'm here babe. i'm here. -franny OneTwoFiveThree you're happy tonight (there) and I, here, swore not to write poems of loss anymore just this saturday I put down my pencil on a plain page (flat white) leaving no record of regret behind I breathed instead (oak, fresh paper, spring) leave enough unsaid to begin again. --Rosemary OneTwoFiveFour leaving no record of regret behind and oh, but i tried so hard to simply shut down, and quit trying one minute one day one hour one moment that will last forever but i can't leave it behind like a stormy night, or forgotten dream it's there, in the back of my mind waiting. waiting.. waiting... moving on too fast remember the swings? "things'll never change" you said it, but i never truly believed.
OneTwoFiveFive Remember the swings? It's raining in the blue room Hear the rush of greyness through The bars. Inside, everything stops. Outside, it never existed. You can't kill a dream... but you can -make it wish- it had never been born.
OneTwofiveSix You can't kill a dream no matter how hard you try it will always be with me no matter who tries to take it away it is my dream that will go on my dream that will live you try and take whatever you can from me but NO! I won't let you It's me that you try to steal to kill and destroy so that no one would hear me, see me, know me I won't let you take me away I won't let you take my dream away. never. -Snow OneTwoFiveSeven i won't let you pretend your yesterdays didn't happen even though you've created enough pain for yourself without that and you think you're lost when you look in the bathroom mirror late late at night when all your family is in bed and you've been meditationg on the living room floor i still won't let you erase you need to be watching i won't let you watch me like that with fear with doubt with hate even you are my tomorrow. count your yesterdays i will stay. -franny OneTwoFiveEight you are my tomorrow and it doesn't matter where you are today or what happened yesterday all that matters is that you know just how much i care, and that i mean it love, when i say "i'm here for you always and forever".
OneTwoFiveNine All that matters is gone is lost is never able to be had again all that mattered was never worth having and was never mine never yours never anyones though we had hoped and wished for something to have for our own to keep for ourselves to love.-snow OneTwoSixOh all that mattered was pinned to my clothsline and blowing the smell of you away. (i won't ever wear that shirt again) all that you'd said was in my journal and then i lost it on purpose and some woman carrying groceries in one arm wailing baby in the other probably picked it up in the grocery store parking lot and is home now laughing or maybe crying... (i am) every time i layed my head on the table and cried is this dent in my head (that will be filled someday) and everything is washing off of me (today) i think i'll dance in the shower. -franny OneTwoSixTwo
you spoke in that tone of voice
the one that i hate
that makes my skin get goosebumps
my jaw clench
the two eyes draw tears.
i have to get out of here
withdraw from myself
into that shell
that is a clear and present danger
not at all noticable to you.
everything is washing off of me i tell myself but i have reached the point where to survive in those moments of hellhole i must find some method that works. what would i do
without those people
who can relate
with spoken words and physical means
of comfort
of protection
that can tolerate me
when i obviously cannot?
a mental working-enviroment suicide.
OneTwoSixThree what would i do? you sneer i smirk i would hold you hand and jump over the sidewalk cracks i would tell you later. i would jump the ocean waves and then we'd run on the beach with salty shoelaces dragging and sandy hair blowing in our eyes. i would kiss the top of your head and then run until we collapsed on the baordwalk into the ocean into the sunset into the rest of tomorrow. -franny 1264 what would i do? to hold you and never let you go. what would i give? to spend the day all warm in your hands. what would i give? to kiss you till i'm real and hole once again.
1265 this aint so jive: to kiss you feel you hair know your there but no, i only stare wish you cared and no, i won't go cause don't you know its not my lie you never try but it won't die why must you always be the object why can't the joy come back to me guess you taught me well that no ones perfect even you does that mean now it never even mattered? -will 1266 even you who puts pen to paper and lets words flow out like liquid from your fingertips even you who always manages to smile and always has something to say who can find a silver lining to everything even you lips pursed together in concentration hair matted and tangled face streaked from crying hot tears even you are beautiful
OneTwoSixSeven even you are remaining forever in my heart to live through memories and breathe through roses even you will smile. -franny OneTwoSixEight a daisy's an easy flower like the sun but looking won't spot your eye: radiant is a daisy, the yellow center bright the petals spreading like a hand. and next I ought to compare this precious with happiness or love or passion or comfort but it's not an emotion, it's just a lovely little flower devoid of human emotion save perhaps a gratitude towards sky and earth to which it owes its life, but perhaps a flower's purpose isn't to thank anyone or anything simply to replicate its maker's brillance and live through an exhaustion of a world with any strength something like a daisy can muster.
OneTwoSixNine sky and earth to which it owes its life yet these it denies. trapped inside, the truth sharp as a knife know these are not lies seeks the night, living only by slight world empty of joy it can't pretend everthing is all right no longer a boy tell it just what we've got to offer just what we live for no more! shall it sit by, watching its self die filled with pain, killed by shame today it breaks free, today it can just be me -will OneTwoSevenOh living only by appointment. i am one of the clock people. my head aches right on schedule at night rebellion kicks in and i can see the possibilites of the day painted sharpie-black on my whitewhite walls. i always stay up too late. i know it's bad when i panic when the clock doesn't alarm me in the morning.
One Thousand, Two hundred and Seventy-One One of the Clock people.
One of many.
Many, I mean, as in millions.
At least, at last count,
One. Me.
Normally, by all accounts,
One wouldn't notice that One is always on time.
Not until you notice it's not One on time.
It is Hundred Million on time.
The SWARM.
The morning FLOOD.
If I lived a hundred feet to the right...
And perhaps at 45 degrees...
I'd be crushed.
Crushed by the Hundred Million's clock.
Descartes, his words ring loud.
His decree?
The world, nothing but a machine.
Sometimes I forget Descartes, forget his ticking
Tock;
But after a time of timelessness,
With a start, I look at the clock.
OneTwoSevenTwo One of many falling. We gather ourselves again and throw ourselves to the judgers you can stay. you had better go now. that hair won't do you know pink was last week stand up straight. they tell me being a teenager in america is better today being a girl in america is better today everything is better today (oh. until we start shooting each other in the halls of the schools who have taught us all we need to know but this, this isn't their fault) they say it's easy to be me in america today. i am free. to do. as i please they say i'm free to be who i want and who i (should) want to be can flirt with the guy scooping ice cream but not the girl at the grocery store. who i am wanted to be is not free who i am wanted to be is boxed and slammed into a wall then told to stand up straight and not cry (i go to the movies and cry in the darkness then glare when they stare at my red eyes afterwards) who i am taught to be is nervus in dressing rooms trying on jeans in case someone see's her strong strong enough to hold up body. strong be strong and i am until it's slam again fall again get up and don't cry again. it's funny see? laugh. (so i do) i learn quickly. curl up to fit in the boxes don't cry (when people can see) and then stand up straight to face the world (with my stomach sucked in) -franny 1272 everything is better today he, here-to-fore heinously hidden concealed conspicuously beneath bogart bolshevik bullshit finally finds freedom from most maniacal modern menaces finds freedom to truly try tribal tao -written Will-fuly 1273 finds freedom through "expression" laughs when it really isn't funny makes eyes at /her/ instead of /him/ who said listening to you would be simple who wrote the rules to the game we all play? planned out steps on a monopoly style gameboard you take the boardwalk because the hotels are mine sit down with steaming chocolate whipped cream making a dainty curl on your upper lip laughing at the expression of that silly waiter coming by every three minutes giggle girl, laugh your heart out drive round in circles 'cause we can are you revealing things baby girl? or is it just the light making your face glisten as though wet... who wrote the rules anyway? sitting on the sidelines and suddenly being thrown in the game cry darlin' you know you need too just let it all out and maybe, just maybe you'll find it isn't as hard to reach for the moon as it seems, cause remember even if you don't reach the moon your still in the stars.
1274 sitting on the sidelines thats all i do anymore i'm benched. you never call me up to bat anymore and you hardly ever even look my way i'm behind the fence. you've got favorites i used to be one push came to shove and i got shoved. you keep me close just incase you ever need to use me. you frequently do. for the last time. if you're not careful, i'll leave the game forever. One Thousand, Two hundred and Seventy-Five
If you're not careful,
You might go where you don't want to go.
Such a statement,
Ach, may sound uneducated at best.
Hmrph... prophetic at worst.
You'll find yourself in a place bathed in...
...A type of misery.
Self-wrought.
Something, tangible, but faithless.
You'll sit, and you'll--wonder,
Why did I have to sit here, when I could,
For example,
Sit over *there*.
On the mossy knoll.
Combing my hair.
Eating something that isn't fast food.
I could, If I would, sit in the dandylions
(on the mossy knoll)
Blow the seeds away
Smell the richness of the peat of the nearby marsh,
down below.
So, I'll repeat: if you're not careful!
Nasty, unpleasant things could happen.
(to put it bluntly, my dear)
Friends could say, are you having, um, "Fun?"
And you might pause, and look around,
Glance from face to face and say,
"aw, screw it, man!"
And find someplace that suits you better than.
1276 So, I'll repeat: if your not careful! i may not stick around forever do you miss me? or is this feeling awfully one sided it takes more than one to maintain a friendship and suddenly its hit me i don't know you anymore did you even think to tell me you were leaving or am i merely a convienence around so others won't ask and just assume we're an "item" so go ahead, walk around hurting me rip my heart out but just rememember: if your not careful! i may not be here when you need me i might not care. i'm a dresser drawer whose been pushed and pulled just a little too much so go ahead forget about the swings forget who i am but just remember, i'm not gonna stick around forever...
1277 I'm not gonna stick around forever... schools taught me one thing and that's how to paint your own freedom, without da brushes. Watch our world, I'm armed with a ticket and a free mind. I'm armwed with love compassion and my fathers boots. I forgot were I came from and were I am going so I'm lost inbetween. Watch Out World. I'm armed with a Word.
1278 Traced my finger around your edges and discovered they had never existed so I'm lost in-between wanting to feel your definition and wishing to move through you like water 1279 discovered they had never existed, these things i thought i knew. some things i cannot let go of and you should know that you're disillusioned by your love and you're too stupid to say what you mean the first time around when it actually counts. some things you can't take back so don't say things you want to take back because i'm through with giving it up for you. (some say i'm not alone) 1280 for you a token of my ungratitude don't steal other's words without giving them recognition for what you stole. i see through you. don't pity me it's a way to pity yourself through others. i see through the web you weave you've been hurt thats no excuse to act like the world owes you something you owe yourself something other than self doubt because that's my job everything you say sounds the same every truth you tell sounds like the lies i tell (get over it.) OneTwoEightOne you were hurt and i didn't mean it but we patched things up okay and now i'm in something close to pain caught between fire and ice burn and melt and freeze freeze everything but my emotions and i can feel the words we said one of the last days we had with strings through our bodies holding us together but even then they were starting to stretch for breaking. crack. we fixed it okay that time you were hurt i was hurt we healed that was that. now i'm caught and i can tell you the middle is the worst place to be. choices. it always about choices. once you said you loved me both of you did. you'd always be here for me you still are i thought the same held true for us as three. i'm wrong. -franny? 1282 Freeze everything but my emotions and I...
...Know that I can't fool myself
I tried before,
To mask that nagging bitchy thought inside,
To show that my soul does not reflect the darkness.
~--~
but as i part the simple cloud
of a simple soul
i find a fear
a simple fear,
of lonliness.
fear that a simple mistake could obliterate
friends
those that i tried to have; to keep
a simple fear of a pencil-tapping God
trying to finish a long-drawn out
ferocious
... russian
...melted chocolate
play on dreams
on me
alone.
when i see my future, all glittering proud
i sometimes use the word "hope"
knowing "hope" is something you have at the end
the end of something...
...or the beginning
but nowhere in between can it be seen.
"hope" is when you don't have what you seek.
"hope" is when you realize
the thistle is not the olive branch.
alone.
but how could a poem show the power of alone...
when the poem will be read.
1283 when i see my future, all glittering proud i know that moments like this will certainly pass you'll stand by me but i won't need you any longer and than i'll know, i'm finally Free.
1284 Free, was how it sounded echoing down hallways, like some part of my soul left behind. Like a lucky dime slipped into my pocket when i landed you for free, and left something else behind. -Dawn 1285 Possible was how it sounded The echos in the belly of the beast Spiral staircase concrete hard and concrete cold like the eyes of the those who bore their pain inside with some unbalanced duet of shattering glass and unyielding stone tearing and building surging and ebbing in a cacophonous sea that never made a sound Sound The sound of the bell... a saving grace harsh screeching doom and business as usual depending on who you were and what you faced Faceless in the lonely crowd of chattal crushed together adding to the din that screamed in whispers "You are naught" "You are a number" "This is the machine" "The machine is your beginning" "The machine is your end...one way or another" Crunch Grind Crash Spark Crack Creak And then the sound of silence Beautiful was how it sounded The echos in the belly of the beast Solitary footsteps and the reverberation of the soul Roaring out into the light of day Jauss 1286 Light of day. It rains when I go away Brushes my head, full of riddles Alone with my riddles Will I learn? The years are like stars They will not stop Eyes are like scars They cover things up. Wind is old Maybe it's patient. Will I learn?
1287 It rains when I go away and later, the sun with her drop-dead rays shines down my shirt, and blinds my eyes with their lack of supercilious sunglasses. Holding the last image of your leaving back in my stoic heart, I pretend that I didn't stand there in the noon-day airport watching you walk away from me, not looking back. I would have looked back. I stood there until you were entirely out of sight, like I was partaking in some ritual, then left slowly, feeling light, untethered as a balloon. I floated out over the miserable gray parking lot, a dejected bird. It always rains when I go away.
OneTwoEightEight it rains when i leave big drops of it rolling down the car windows from your face while the sun shines bright. you said 'i can't say goodbye yet' so we didn't, hugging each others parents and finally holding on tight to each other just before i got in the car and promised to call when i got home. sat tight and wouldn't let myself cry the only parting where i haven't too many people watching i'll cry when i get home. it feels like a dream in the dark coldness of Mississippi pulled over for ice cream it feels like we never walked hand in hand down the beach didn't sit with our arms around each other watching the sun rise over the ocean me in my sweater and you in my other sweater it feels like we never sat on the washing machines writing poetry to the quite hum of campers and dryers and i held the warm clothes to my face while you finished a line (the shirt grew cold) it feels like none of it happened. so in the car i clutch the 'other sweater' to my face and suddenly you're there. (that's how i didn't cry) -franny 1289 Feels like none of it happend, That night that I floted throught the naght sky. With you, being wisked away on evey warm cool flote of air that pushed us further. The stars that britend are way to where ever we where going. Floteing flying through the clouds, shairing, feeling, touching, Flying away. on through the moon let night, through the sparkels, of sparkels, of stars. Shairing souls beond souls. Falling on air, and being caught. In just one Kiss.
OneTwoNineOh that night i froze in my tank top in the arkansas air and though of you when i saw the flashing pink neon sign saw the styrofoam cup in the gutter saw the black girl with braids who stood behond me in line that night everything was you because i left you and leaving takes so long. even back in the car headphone chord tangled in my sleeping fist is the umbilicle chord to dreams of you of yesterday i love you sing the headphones windows freeze again. going north leaving you holding on. i forgot the mississippi great black beast of the night guiding me home (away from you) i forgot it froze somewhere (that's the real line) -franny OneTwoNineOne Mother Nature has so much beauty and people distroy it with their trash I realized how much it's effecting the earth when I saw the styrofoam cup in the gutter the creek is filled with hanging toilet paper the oceans filled with cola cans and there is nothing I can do but clean it hand by hand
OneTwoNineTwo fat and ugly people all around this world chomping on their big macs they make me want to hurl i want to wake them up those rediculous fools and there is nothing i can do but set a good example so here i go i'll do my best i will live my life and leave the rest with themselves to find their way but i'd love to see the day when we all come back to nature's way - OneTwoNineTwo so here i go catch me if i fall i'll peter pan for a day but just in case i run out of pixie dust be ready? i'll be all the classic love stories i'll be lifted up with love (of course i won't fall) i'll be a hero (just for one day) i'll tell you i love you in public and mean it i'll be a hero and climb the mountain of who i am trying to become (don't forget to catch me when i fall) i'll run so cliche through the daisy fields i'll faint and swoon (i'm only imitating you. you know) i'll pretend though that i never laughed when you said love makes the world go round i'll pretend i never thought that i could live without it but all the same be ready to catch me. -franny OneTwoNineThree i'll pretend though that i never laughed when you said i was beautiful that i never thought you were sincere i'll pretend that it doesn't hurt when you wave instead of hug because i'll i have left are pretenses of who you used to be and what i tryed to believe but it never worked and now i'm sitting here left in the dust watching the cars drive by missing you and who i used to be but that was then and this is now "move on" you say sure. yeah. right. i can't just forget my mind doesn't listen to me no matter how much i tell it your still there just like you used to be when you held me as i cried and listened as i poured my soul into your outstretched hands trusting trusting trusting you. what happened? why don't you realize friendships are important and maybe you need me as much as i needed you.
OneTwoNineThree what have we done with me? instead of hug, we only talk, never too close, never too real. focus on that we can't feel, run from truth we might reveal. same old thing, even THIS, predicitable pattens, somethings a-miss. cry out for help, they only hiss: 'meanings been lost though so much retelling no wonder no one hears your yelling why are you here, can't you see, i've got enough problems just for me. what we need is a leader, some one to show our beliefs are correct, there's somewhere to go.' but fuck, why me? i'm not ready, anyone can see... we're sorry, we have nothing else to offer. you can't sing, you can't dance, most of all you can't add to the coffer. go now, be on your way, i realy hope you have a nice day. and that's all, after all these years, i find myself, alone in tears. why isn't there something more? all i want is an even score something to feel good about for once a thing that works out. instead dreams turn to ashes find myself alone and cashless singing again the tired old song, 'tell me mister, where'd i go wrong?' -willo Instead of hug, I wave goodbye, We're not that close anymore, And touching you just feels, Wierd now. OneTwoNineFive close like peanut butter and jelly like donut and it's hole i wanted you to be my missing piece. and then our connection showed up hollow eyed on the back of milk cartons (does a body good, you told me you should drink more) and i was close to my own melodramatic destruction. without you to tie me together like railroad tracks connect the future with today like telephone lines piece together the ground and the sky. i'll give you less to swallow if you won't let me drown.
OneTwoNineSix the ugly side if you won't let me drown your soul's death will result i stand here, dying asking nothing of you but your life you might let yourself suffer to sweeten my days your soul may die but souls are born again i do hope i have killed so many, i think and i wonder at night where do they go? do you not see that i destroy anything that does not consume me? OneTwoNineSeven i do hope that seven years was long enough to finally get over our "issues" long enough for us to really grow up because i've suddenly found myself with a best friend and i don't want it to take us another seven years before we realize that we're to far tangled into the web of each-others lives to ever forget this friendship that seven years has come and gone and yet, doesn't seem like time at all
to ever forget the last time you said 'i love you' and left again life consists of leaving sometimes i think with i love yous in between and you always know that soon they'll be gone but you never expect it to be now. goodbye kiss ment so much until it ment nothing (you never knew that someday goodbye would be a word instead of a tear) you can cry again now. crying in between i love yous and goodbyes and trying to let go and leave at the same time let go let go they say and only then do you realize how tight you've clenched your fists and how much it hurst to let go. wrote you name in pen today on the back of my hand and took a shower before my mom got home washed you away away but i couldn't rip the pictures the kissing good bye in the train station pictures i tried but it hurt too much. wrote your name on the paper today let it lay on the sidealk in the rain washing you away away climb the tree outside balanced above traffic kiss the clouds goodbye for you goodbye fly you away away. -franny 1299 I couldn't rip up the pictures even though I sat there staring into the picture of your eyes and so much of me wants to destroy every memory of you that I have and never read those letters again and take off the bracelet you made but an equal part of me doesn't the part that loves you through my tears and through everything and I realize I can't hate you
1300 Every memory of you that I have is Defined by the color of the mood of the moment. Dark and flickering-dancing fire flames. The cold, white gray that permeated the air -- The air, the sounds, our clothes, our shoulders. Looking back, I can see a field of wheat and you moving away. Maybe I couldn't see it at the time, but Everything is brilliant gold, overexposed, raw. You are far and rolling farther away from me still, Waving from the back of a honey-colored wooden cart, Squinting in the sun despite your straw hat. Looking back, all is flashes of color, light, and shapes, Never still, never solid, never sure. My mind is become an impressionist's whorehouse. Tell me, did you ever leave in a cart? Does that field even exist? And when you look back, Will you see only a tired old mattress-shaped woman Who couldn't keep up?
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I'm going to write a poem. Then whoever happens to come here next, will take a line from my poem and write a poem from that and add it to the bottom. The next person will then take a line from 
