Jack on a rainy day,went on his toes
To show his bravery to friends and foes
He sang,danced,hopped,jumped and smiled
He slipped hard,though rarely styled
With back upside and downside with flat nose
it's suicide...
to love a heart like yours.
but my soul is tied...
I hate that I still want someone like you.
Temperatures are sizzling;
Fires burn and spread.
Salad sales are fizzling.
(Eat grass-fed beef instead!)
Immigrants are terrified;
Deportations rise.
Flat-out lies are verified.
Drones invade the skies.
News reporters get the boot.
Algae grows and blooms.
Secret deals to prosecute
Are made in private rooms.
Institutions once revered
Are shuttered or debased.
Everything we’ve always feared
Has happened, in such haste
It’s almost inconceivable,
Yet somehow it is real.
We know that it’s believable,
For nothing can conceal
The way the world is crumbling
And only those in charge,
Despite their shameful bumbling
And greed are living large.
I do not see a way to fix
How bad things have become,
For nature’s tricks and politics
Have made me sad and numb.
Echoes of a peculiar sound fill my rib cage.
A sound escapes my mouth,
And my whole body goes alert,
Trying to determine
Whether there is danger.
It recognises the sound,
But not quite.
It searches through memory,
Turning over forgotten pages,
Trying to remember
What this feeling is.
I stiffen at this familiar,
Yet distant sensation.
I try to read my body language,
Hoping I'll understand.
But it is a foreign language.
Why does every fibre in me
Insist
I should recognise it?
Like it's a language
That once rolled off my tongue
Without needing translation.
But my eardrums puzzle it out.
All I hear
Is a peculiar sound
That feels borrowed.
The room fills
With its echoes.
The longer I listen,
The more I realise
Something is missing.
It sounds...
Hollow.
Like an actor
Who knows every line,
But has forgotten
How to mean them.
And then,
I recognise it.
Not because it became familiar—
But because I remembered
Who it belonged to.
It was my laughter.
So that's why
My body couldn't place it.
It had been so long
Since joy had spoken
In my own voice.
Now nights are peaceful
as if there were no ritual
of saying goodnight.
I woke up one morning
and my chest was quiet.
No storm, no ache —
just a room with the lights off.
I used to feel everything:
the sharp edge of joy,
the weight of a name,
the way goodbye could bruise for weeks.
Now mornings taste like nothing.
I pour coffee for one.
The door locks behind me
and doesn’t ask where I’m going.
Living by myself
is learning the sound of my own breathing.
Some nights it’s peace.
Some nights it’s a question with no answer.
I’m not waiting to feel again.
I’m learning how to be a house
that isn’t empty — just quiet.
And maybe quiet is healing too.
my...age-imagination
image-notion be
beard grey grey grey
len
Have I forgotten how to feel
Cannot smile nor cry
My mind has built thesewalls
So deep and dark and high
I've losses life has dealt
The constant grief and pain
Has made me fall to numbness
Never to feel again
It's safe within this hole
It's dark and I stay blind
It keeps me from the suffering
In my cold and frozen mind
I need to cry and grieve
I need to scream and shout
I need to run away
But i cannot just get out
So I watch from a window
Fogged and damp And dumb
I stay inside this nothingness
Cold and grey and numb
Borrow songs Poetry Contest
1/21/2026
Sponsored by: Fire Bird
In the gentle pulse of a distant guitar,
a voice drifts, half-remembered, half-alive.
White walls and silent corridors,
where thoughts flicker like old fluorescent lights.
A question asked—are you listening;
are you somewhere between here and the dream?
The world outside blurs at the edges,
a hush falls over memory.
Hands reach, but sensation is muted,
as if wrapped in fog or faded cloth.
There is comfort in the numbness,
a velvet ache that soothes without healing.
Stories echo—childhood fever, distant voices,
a doctor’s silhouette at the bedside.
The notes stretch, unraveling, filling space,
hovering above the weight of flesh and mind.
Each chord a gentle descent,
spiraling inward, away from the pain.
Light shines through half-closed eyes,
soft and indifferent.
The question returns—
is this relief, or surrender?
The music persists,
carrying fragments of hope and resignation.
A threshold discovered, not crossed,
where presence is a gentle hum.
Here in the quiet, the song lingers—
not a cure, but a balm,
leaving you peacefully, comfortably numb.
After sun there is rain
then her and her brandy on
a gloomy balcony—
moon sharp like a forced smile
Dark skin folds under
a dark, windy night, in
chocolatey air—with a note of
chemical cherry, candied like her lips
imprinted in the snifter’s memory
It doesn’t keep track
of the route of sun, only
the dusty cabinet and her
trembling finger around its neck
Breathing seems unnecessary, at least
when glass no longer tastes like rejection
numb lips no longer taste tears
Numb.... Lonely
Staring at the same gloomy rain
dripping down 2 different
window panes
over 300 miles away
Feeling alone & ashamed,
full of regret because of how
we hehaved
but not giving up
bc this Actual, Magical,
One of a kind love
is just too unfathomable
to not crave
its right there out of our reach,
our plans, wants & goals
so easy to speak
but walls of fear deadlock life's gears,
and we rolled backwards
without even realizing we were
so far gone,
my dear
we did this together
but you gotta honestly tell me
if climbing back up w. me by your side
is going to be too heavy
I can only love you if you let me
I need you just as much,
You're the only one that gets me
and accepts me,
and my damaged beyond repair, crazy drug addicted brain
we drive eachother insane
but it could be so much different
we can be happier than ever
its an uncontrollable animal instinct
I wish that whenever you got mad
you'd just shut up & kiss me
before the bullet filled words
rip through my heart
& every single one hits me
like im marked with a bulls eye
all we need is stability,
but the chaos continuously emerges instantly
He is no longer in love with me.
His spoken words flesh caught like dull razors.
Churning pains toss me in raw seeped reelings.
I feel feather fragile as weighty aches
conflict and trip me upon foreign ground.
Heavy, my eyes are merely tear-weak slits.
God, in prayer I do ask, with mercy come
and ease my wrecked self with gift feels of numb.
If you want
To go out
Have a drink
Shake a leg
Take a bet
Take a chance
Win or lose
Have a dance
I don't really care
I don't care
All that much
Come and go
it - so?
Have a run
Getting fit
I don't really
Give a...
What do you want
Do you know
Please yourself
Let it - go
Take a risk
Feet first
Jump right in
Bubble - burst
If you think about, how you live your life
What do you want to leave behind?
I want to see the world, I want to know that I
Did the very best that I could
I pissed myself
I'm getting old
It was warm
It went - cold
Do you love?
Is that enough?
Are you the one?
I think I'm done.
(This poem is dedicated to sertraline)
You don’t know me
You don’t know me
You believe you do
You don’t know me
You say that’s not true
You don’t know me
I hardly know myself
You don’t know me
I barely hold myself together
You don’t know me
I don’t know whether
You don’t know me
I walk the night
Can you even see me
I scream through the fright
Do you even hear me
Or I don’t understand why
You don’t know me
Or if I can walk another day
You don’t know me
Or should I go or stay
You don’t know me
If I go will you understand
You don’t know me
If I stay can you love me
You don’t know me
If I set myself free
You don’t know me
Walk past the mirrors
A stranger walks with me
Am I truly there
What is it I see
Best for me, best for you
You don’t know me
Best for us, best for all
You don’t know me
Best to take the fall
You don’t know me
No me.
I see the wind
And hear the sun
And when it hurts
I have such fun
I know not when
But the where is sure
The reasons are clear
Though fully obscure
Thoughts I suffer
The long night through
Bring such comfort
How is this true
Confusion reigns
Within thoughts clear
And peace so far
And yet so near
I can feel it
Though I’m completely numb
My mind subtracts
To find the sum
The answers are certain
The questions unclear
How much longer
Must I
remain here
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