I'm hurting, I'm wounded –
looking for an escape.
This life’s become unbearable –
there's nowhere I feel safe.
If only there was something –
(that) could take away my pain.
I searched for any remedy –
(that might) make me want to stay.
I drink on any antidote –
I'd stitch me up myself.
I'd literally do anything –
to find something that helps.
But I don't have the tools –
nor do I have some type of potion.
The ways, they come and go –
I'm overwhelmed with my emotions.
So, if I were to find something –
that might make me feel sane;
something to bring me peace –
and calm the noise inside my brain.
I'd probably believe it first –
that it were just a dream.
I don't think that I would believe –
that it were what it seemed.
I'd likely think it were a hoax –
just lies coded with glitter.
Not all that glitters is real gold –
so what makes this thing differ?
Don't get me wrong, I'd try it –
I’d risk it all for new found hope.
If there were just the slightest help –
I do anything to cope.
I’ve found an all new low –
is it just me, or am I dying?
I'm running out of options –
so tell me: what else is worth trying?
Everything about society is rotten
nobody wants to make a change
everyone wants to talk or blab
social media kind of like this very
website where we write for free
and those behind the curtains steal
our words and our feelings
our voices and our choices to be,
we know this and yet we still do it
because we are hungry for a change
all of us here want to be some famous poets,
but as long as you are asking these people
here who control this page for approval,
you are screwed one hundred percent.
All of this just to turn our hearts
into paper tigers
i am here too and that is a shame on me,
but poetry has lost its dignity
and respect has turned into load of you know what.
Unfortunately regardless of how many views you get
no matter how many those dumb ass gold stars you buy
your dreams are in hands of those that will do
everything and anything to destroy you,
so just keep writing, go ahead
show them how desperate you all are.
Beheld
Through lenses, welled,
A pool,
Reflections -
Echoed pressings of,
A fool:
Can I be the poem, and not the poet?
Bestowed with solace, still and stoic?
The admired, not the admirer?
Draw a gaze as licking fire, cause unrazable fixing desire.
The captured, not the capturer?
Found; unbound, sound faith unfractured.
The written, not the writer?
Penned in tense intention, tide-script monad gripping tighter.
Can I?
In this life -
Be the loved, and not the lover?
Stood under; not left, bereft, to wonder.
The wish, and not the wisher?
Made; spoken verily, heard, save tokens merely whispered.
The yearn, and not the yearner?
Nor rough refuge, nor shunned sojourner.
I exhaust myself so foolishly,
Being poetic, mulishly,
Admiring, captivating, writing, loving, wishing, yearning,
While never learning -
To be the moon and not moonstruck, dismayed?
Not to hold to those, who never learned to stay.
In saying nothing
I’ve said all,
in truth my silence lies.
I’m not hiding,
I stand tall,
consent and dissent my allies.
In time they’ll understand,
for now, it suffices to say:
Nothing
Loudly,
so that the whole world can hear.
( 8th Placement in Rob Carmack's Polarity Contest)
Everything seems so desperately dark.
Hope is but a mirage that's outdated.
Giving up... easy way out.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Alejandro kicked the door open.
His step-daughter was huddled on her bed,
weeping and trembling with fear.
There was no pity in him,
his heart cold as an iceberg,
his whole being reeking of alcohol.
Gabrielle dreaded her ordeal
but could not utter one sound.
"One shout from you and I'll kill you."
She knew he meant it as she stared
into his red rimmed hard eyes.
Downstairs his wife sat placidly
in front of the television,
watching the latest episode
of Desperate Housewives.
There is no desperation in trying.
You only long for the warmth
of the one who once held you in your sleep.
Arms that felt like a lullaby.
A touch that whispered, you’re safe.
It’s not desperation.
It’s love shaped by pain.
Audiologists test one's hearing
Most are expert at that
Yet for measuring the art of listening
I’ve not seen one Welcome Mat
The brittle leaf of an old oak tree
Dangles off a fallen branch
Like hope that catches wind
One gust away from touching ground
Being dragged across rain-slick, cobblestone
Shredded, throbbing veins
Pulled apart by the teeth of wailing echoes,
sucking the color straight out
Dusted and bruised—gasping for air
It trembles
Desperate to hold on
=] mused by OldPoetMK =]
*feel free to substitute her/them/those for ‘his’
** it’s my cultural/sexual blind-spot.
A sex object suddenly comes into focus
we’re all prisoners of that old neanderthal lust
it’s tucked behind the lizard-brain rust
in ready reach, just wipe off the dust
Is it his shape, his walk, his fust
that makes your loins feel about to combust
get out you smooth, and win his trust
prepare your prey, however you must
to accept your dandy, randy and desperate thrusts
.
.
A song for this:
The Men of Your Dreams by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
My daring, dashing Moor, how I adored you!
And you loved me too!
My darling, starling Moor, I wish you just knew
My passion was true!
CHORUS:
Once your wife and your life,
Why did you suspect me?
My dear, wish you were here
Where there's no jealousy;
My dearest, fearless Man, I gave you my heart,
I had you enshrined!
Smiling, beguiling Man, we had a dream start,
Who poisoned your mind?
CHORUS:
Once your wife and your life,
Why did you suspect me?
My dear, wish you were here
Where there's no jealousy;
BRIDGE:
I was dead the moment you didn't trust me,
You snuffed out my life with your jealousy,
With evil doubts in your mind, you crushed me,
So many killings and deaths senselessly !!
CHORUS:
Once your wife and your life,
Why did you suspect me?
My dear, wish you were here
Where there's no jealousy... No jealousy!!
A watchful eagle
spying high, swoops talons low
attempts to survive
In the ebonic afterglow, I hope for your return…
—by poet
Echo a Desperate Plea
Anxious calling across a mountain ravine.
Breathless in frigid heights, plummeting d
Callousness of the deaf-defying beast. e
Desperate to penetrate distance; pinpoint. g
Echo of eeriness returns to me thrice. r
e
e
s.
My reflection, fragile and desperate face that gazes at me from the silence of the mirror,
I despise you for the dark shadows you’ve planted in my soul without consent,
You’ve brought a desperate version of me into the gallery of lost reflections,
Leaving the memory of tears silently flowing in bathroom stalls,
Yet you defied my wishes, tearing it into millions of fragments,
Leaving it at the year's end, not knowing how to piece itself back together,
With a broken heart and the pain of wasted time, devoid of any joy,
Time lost forever, a dance of seconds flying with no return,
You left it longing for the comfort of others, lacking self-soothing,
A skill it still does not have, a thousand reflections, but one irrevocably shattered,
In the depths of the mirror, where dreams and fears silently intertwine, I truly hate you, my lost being.
O blackish-blue-eyed girl
with eyes lined with ember,
who dreams of clouds
and endless skies,
Let me gaze into your eyes,
once more,
as they bloom like a flower,
pulling me into their depths.
O girl with captivating eyes,
grant me the chance
to love you once again.
A violent storm arose,
dust swirled, veiling the earth,
and in the sky,
I saw your mesmerizing eyes,
drawing me into you,
like a black hole.
My soul left its home,
and merged with you,
the black hole faded
into the abyss of space.
ka~rum
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