Soft sun that I can't feel,
Tell me that this isn't real.
Wind whipping at the ends of my hair,
But it doesn't linger there--
No, it doesn't linger there.
I could walk down the same streets, could
Play songs you like on repeat,
But it doesn't linger there--
No, it doesn't linger there.
Metallic and violent, blood on my tongue,
Am I immature, or am I just young?
These things I do, my day-to-day,
Nothing makes it go away.
I carry it with me, heavy like a burden,
Leaning hard against the railing,
Folding in,
I'm folding in,
Wishing I would have lingered in the doorway;
Maybe I wouldn't miss you so much that way.
Standing one foot in, the other out,
I don't even remember what we talked about.
Heavy like a weight,
I can't set you down in this state,
Deformed and misshapen,
Because I didn't linger there--
No, I didn't linger there.
leave me to the lingering
leave you to the stringing me along
there goes my vacancy of interest,
i’m caving for you.
there goes my weightless breath
it’s collapsing my throat now
throughout my thoughts of you.
since you’ve taken leave
i’ve found it convenient to withdraw
from my tendencies to chase you,
so i’m holding back.
my fingers still symbolize yours when
my heat arises and when i get alone
because i can’t exist in darkness
without your face behind my eyes.
He said he loved me,
yet still left me.
If he loved me, how could he hurt me?
Forever, I will love him
the way he could never love me.
Still I recall,
Your warm and gentle embrace
Spring blooms no more
Your absence shadows my days
Silence flowers in my heart
Warmth lingered through the final days
As eternity tried to reign
Over my Dad’s triumphant gaze…
Warmth lingered through the final days
While he declared God’s wondrous ways
Smiting infirmity-caused pain…
Warmth lingered through the final days
As eternity tried to reign*.
*Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
June 24, 2026
1st place, "A TRIOLET TO MAKE MY DAY" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Andrea Dietrich; judged on 7/1/2026
my imprint in life
eighty percent water
white pale freckled skin
pink lips
green eyes
two legs
two arms
my dna passed on to my children
creating an imprint
I may be gone but
my footprints stay forever
hidden in your heart
Rain clouds every moment beat,
bursting full at my bare feet
as lovesickness redefines.
Years passed like ascending vines.
Its trimmings bind, soar aloft,
then linger and gently waft.
A faint whisper sign of hope
falls beyond the narrow scope.
muddy hiking trails lingering footprints
Even memories steeped in regret
may become dew like a resin torch flame
that clears the dark
and on the stem of silence fed by that light
a smile damp yet enduring through jagged years scatters
The dry smile of you departing my side
touches my pale lips that only watched
while the loosened smile that must release you
spreads finely into your clouded averted eyes
Through nights unrolled in sleepless sorrow
though longing swells like a storm swollen with rain
if the bond once woven is gently drawn
we may become mandarin ducks
forever held in each other’s embrace
passionate all night
lingering traces of love ~
sunshine in the soul
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
roses wilt too soon~
your laughter lingers longer
than any bouquet
The beach holds my footprints momentarily,
before a wave washes the shore clean again.
The scene is a snapshot album of memories.
Of light, reflections and moods swings begun there-
dawn hushes, afternoon lingers, and dusky forgiven's.
The sand remembers me more faithfully than I do,
warmly receptive when I stepped long enough to impress,
leaving a meandering trail of recollections.
Its beauty will continue without my witness,
not fading because I am not there to see it—
like true love that endures at a distance
waiting - suspended, surrendered, gently upended.
Preciously gathering each rose petal
Younger sister’s funeral come to an end
The depth of pain unbearable
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I am drip
and slide
and vanish. . .
a thousand tongues of liquid silver.
I do not fall; I linger,
curling around your lamp-post shadows,
speaking in Morse of forgotten rooftops.
I taste of concrete, asphalt, and the sigh
of the world exhaling.
I am not water.
I am memory in motion,
threads unraveling skyward
even as I descend.
I fold into the cracks of your street,
a choreography of quiet chaos,
dancing on wind,
splintering the day into reflections
you cannot catch.
I am pulse and pause,
the echo of clouds colliding,
a liquid hum that knows no beginning.
I kiss the edges of your world,
then disappear inside it,
leaving only the smell of possibility.
I do not end.
I am still falling
inside the places you cannot see.
Phin Jiu
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