An empty chair kept moving closer
each time I moved it somewhere I couldn't see.
I dragged the chair into the corner,
but found it beside me the next morning.
I blamed the wind, the floor, the house,
anything I could blame instead.
Some things follow you without moving;
some things wait without being asked.
One night, I turned the chair around
and found old marks carved into the wood.
I didn't remember putting them there,
but I knew I'd seen them before.
So I carried the chair outside
and set it down where the grass was tall.
For once, it stayed where I left it.
That night… I didn't bring it back.
I thought the chair was following me.
It wasn't. I was the one bringing it with me.
The weight of indecision
Is a force so many in the world can bear,
Yet one that crushes me,
Gnawing away at my fractured sanity.
There's two paths, which one shall we trek?
There's a third choice but the Bible forbids it
My brittle spine can only endure so much.
Make haste with your decision, author,
Before the pillars of love collapse,
Before your lover finds a suitor with a steadfast spine
I’m counting the days
like faded rosary beads...
light’s losing its gloss
in old dusty memories
my forgotten passion lies
never over your
white-washed smile
words watered
with vibrant fragrance
fables
which filled my ear
linger clearly
as if they were now
shortly spoken
fateful flesh
fallen into nettle
&
burdensome briars
that since settled
at this whole heart
how had you found me
was I a litter of scrabble tiles
first, you spelled me
further, misspelled me
later, dispelled me
bad homme
burying sunlight
in bridal lace
& hollow vows
which vassalized me
chastised me
minimized me
& unmasked you—
solitary white
rose that bloomed
between those teeth
tumbled
& withered swiftly
in the wayward wind
never over your
basilisk-breath
black velvet tongue
threatening my life
scrambling joints
ruining sweat & tears
as every pore runs
red
becoming a river of blood
-
a place I'd rather
not be
All criminal urges start young.
We covet cookies from the cookie jar.
Forge daily our moral compass.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
This town is a burden
It lacks everything I need or want
Yet it holds doubt and discomfort
This sorry place has become a punchline
The thing it’s most known for is its emptiness
It holds enough attention to keep me writing about it
The joke is old
Just like the people
It’s been overused
Like the sidewalks
I’ve become bored with both the joke
And the town
It’s calm and quiet
And rid of people
I’d rather be anywhere else
I carry the burden of the town that sleeps before me.
Her eyes cling to the ground
following his trail
as he wonders
why she complains
“It’s just an apple,” he says
and walks ahead, anyway
her gaze falls
to her own
an apple
too hard
for her jaw
heavy enough
to chain her ankles
she looks up
wonders
how his still stays red
while hers darkens in her hands
her eyes search him
for an eraser
for the book
breaking her spine
but he only carries
a pencil
the same one
that wrote
the weight
she drowns in
still
on all fours
she follows
wondering
if she will ever hold
a book
light enough
for her hands
or taste
an apple
that doesn’t hurt
We tote the burdens of old of new
‘neath big-blue’s unabated leer
the pressures that build and brew
the world it bruises, its rain, a salty tear
Day by day the ocean washes with waves
the weight we bear we’ve lost at sea
The Earth Moon’s despair She braves
when endless seeds of courage we weave,
via lanterns, the pathway endless and vast
Still dusky are the sky clouds that grieve,
Earth's magnetic field's spin pulls us past
Lucky flames shone from within, lights
Upon duress Earth Angels’ spirits rise
and stars are the healers in broken nights
Angel breath sprinkles dreams God size
when the weight of the world feels like heat of embers
The Sunrays purify as does the ocean salt water
The Sunset a resting slumber in silent chambers
From wounds that whisper of lament we cauter
the weight of the world we’ll feel burden no longer
I am who I am,
In the shades of roofs I walk,
To the walls I talk,
All day long I work,
With heavy heart I mock,
The iron bars so abstract,
Now it feels unnecessary to dress,
All the efforts I put,
At the end I look at the foot,
So long I moved,
Yet not reached where I feel I should,
Millions of crying souls I hear,
Those clenched deep with fear,
No voice they have,
Obviously! What will it pave?
Thick is the infinite boundary,
Stuck in food and laundry,
Enough so far I have said,
I hope this thoughts doesn't gets raid.
I laid down a heavy burden called yesterday,
another called tomorrow,
and finally one called today.
Afterward I felt an infinite lightness surround me
buoyed by the breezes embracing the eternal present
which never leaves and which we leave
at our own peril and to our own dismay:
There is not another
just the one that is us and our own self
resting in the embrace of timeless praise.
Christopher M. Swan 2008
The burden bird’s wings in flight,
a duty none should bear
its weight never fair.
Although these wings
a stalwart agent,
is it enough to continue this fight?
An unfair question
to say the least,
the bully burden bird
does not cease.
It is a true beast.
A relentless creature,
a creation by one’s self
but one can’t help.
A hostile hammer
a continuing beat,
there is no sleep.
The fatigue is real
from this self imposed state,
oh please oh please
if only it would retreat.
Forward the burden bird’s flight
with an altitude now lower.
This birds journey to finally end
when there are flowers.
Only to know
if comes departed or celebration
wings will need to soar
bringing true salvation.
The weight, of a promise
Unfullfilled, is most heavy
to bear.'
As he stands with his head high, his heart sighs,
His heavy heart weighs down his soul,
Tears fall silently, the fallen drag his weary eyes red,
A helmet worn to hide a man’s burdens,
A man stands there, but not a man at all.
Among the crowd, a woman catches his eye,
Her skin pure white, her gaze better than the stars,
His eyes meet hers, but words he dares not speak,
For she is royalty, and he, a servant meek.
Yet his eyes began to shine, forbidden light within,
He stands in shadows, sword ready to begin,
The blade thirsts, ever parched for its fight,
For his duty is clear: to guard through day and night.
I am so alone yet too full of myself inside
my thoughts scream at me constantly leaving me nowhere to hide
I feel I break everything I go near, would it be better if I disappeared?
Would they be smiling? Would they be glad? Am I really just a weight on everyone I have?
A burden to them and a burden to me, maybe alone is really what I'm meant to be.
I have no right to the sunshine or even a warm hug, I will slowly fade away in this cold hole I've dug.
May you find a happier place without my dark cloud, maybe it's better that I'm no longer around.
Cease to breathe,
All things have parted ways.
Seemingly unknown one
Remains unknown for the time being.
Cease to exist,
For death is certain,
And birth is a timeless curse.
Nobody belongs to none;
Nothing else matters.
Nothing is really needed to cease;
at least, cease for cease’s sake.
No rope can tie you,
No chain can unchain you,
No bonding can last forever,
As no one can cease to decay.
The burden you carry forward:
You go to bed every day bearing your corpse,
Only to wake to the funeral in your own graveyard.
You are the timeless beast within your sight;
Your sight is nothing but a blind appetite.
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