The start
I loved you in less than a week and although there are plenty of days that I wished that I did not
My love for you continues to flourish non- stop
Like a cactus without much water on our love seeds
Like the sharpness in my chest that fractured my heart and causes my love to bleed
Just promise you'll stay this time, promise you won't leave T
You are oxygen to me
Before you, I was waiting to exhale
Without your love, life is jail
As long as I have you, I'll be stronger
As long as I have you, I wanna live longer
Falling in love with you was just the start
Let's build with everything we have, starting with our heart
No matter
what life throws at you
you can always bounce back
and restart
She learned to love,
But she was filled with hatred.
She learned to be kind,
But she was filled with harshness.
She learned to be strong,
But she was filled with emptiness.
She learned to be hopeful,
But she was filled with thorns of hopelessness.
She learned to be happy,
But she was filled with shades of scars in her eyes.
She learned to be confident,
But she was filled with holes of vulnerable scratches.
She learned to be a stunning moon,
But she was filled with suffocating nightmares.
She learned to be a beautiful woman,
Only to find all these
days that she
had not
learned to love
her beautiful
self,
Which was fading
In her myth
of facade darkness,
which she
protected
like her true self.
I wish we could pack up and escape
to wherever the road will take us
I wish we could forget the world
and together start anew
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I no longer fit the outline
of who I used to be.
The edges have shifted,
some softened, some sharpened,
some lost altogether,
as if time has carved me
into something unrecognizable
but still mine.
I reach for old habits,
old names,
old certainties,
but they do not sit right in my hands.
The echoes of who I was
do not match the weight
of who I am becoming.
So I start again.
I trace the new lines,
hesitant at first,
learning the angles of my own existence,
the way I bend,
the way I refuse to break
in the same places twice.
I do not know
if this version of me
is stronger,
but I know it is real.
I know it holds.
I know it is still standing.
And maybe that is enough.
Once again they lie,
Once again, they spin their tale,
My instincts whispered long ago.
Underestimated, as always, it sails,
Through currents of pretense they choose to throw.
They undermine, as though it's blind,
Do they think It doesn't understand?
A child's mind, they seem to find,
Easy prey for the idle hand.
Yet here it stands, more wise than weak,
A heart grown cold but far from dull.
Their careless schemes, so bold, so bleak,
Have sparked a flame they thought to cull.
Once, it hoped we'd learn the same,
That trust could thrive where doubt was sown.
But disappointment breeds disdain,
For now, it's clear—it walks alone.
No longer will it play the part,
Of puppet in their hollow play.
It's soul demands a fresh restart,
It turns from them, then walks away.
Again they leave, abandon, flee,
And in their absence, it finds it's own.
Let them lie; I’ll let them be,
For silence suits me best alone.
Open your eyes,
Let the sun rise.
Begin your art;
Think it a restart.
Getup for hiking.
You better be joking?
Setup your chart,
Think it a restart.
Situp for breakie
Let that be cookie.
Just fill the cart,
Think it a restart.
Let's learn to walk again,
hold hands for first steps, new beginnings.
Not afraid to stumble,
or fear being judged for fumbles.
Nap anywhere without setting an alarm,
and no thoughts cross our minds of self-harm.
Let's make cheat notes rather than journals,
not to conclusions, but let's jump over hurdles.
Shamelessly laugh like when we had one tooth,
and when we didn't think twice before speaking the truth.
Let's start again.
Let's be kids again.
thrusting the back day's echoes into cache and restart with new sunshine
Morning Monoku Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Michelle Faulkner
Syllable Counter: How many syllables
Date: 29-05-2022
Born to create, deceived to consume.
We think we are so royal and grand.
Brilliant and creative we do assume.
In truth a wasteland, at best secondhand.
We repeat what has already been had.
Or simply change what someone else has made.
Then stand proud as if an olympiad.
And continue this creative charade.
Remove for one day or even a week
the music and screens to which we are chained.
And you’ll crave distraction an empty soul seeks.
the stimulus that keeps us entertained.
You will loath after just three days alone
those worn out tapes still playing in your head.
That whistle you’ll bemoan as monotone.
And crave anything new that can be said.
Around day 4 you will soon realize
Your inability to just create.
A single original thought give rise,
With your mind so addicted to click bait.
In solitude I am humbled to see,
My peace rests on that which is external,
Rather than what’s been placed deep inside me.
Where a still small voice speaks the eternal.
Like a computer that needs a reboot
We have to unplug and turn off the noise.
Wake up your self ready to execute,
A masterpiece, which robot life destroys.
You need a song
To carry along
With you in your heart
For you to restart
Help you find a new groove
When you need a new mood
Or blindsided by love
And you just had enough
On your journey through life
To stave off the knives
Through all the rough times
Pull you from the deep dives
When your love folds their cards
Everything seems just too hard
Your all alone in your room
No one there to hold you
When your friends miss the mark
The road ahead seems too dark
Despite how awful it sounds
You have a way out
Sing your song soft or loud
No matter the crowds
It will help you switch gears
As the words reach your ears
Soon you’ll be dancing around
In the new life you’ve found
It won’t even take long
Now go write your song
Locked in, I should count my blessings
cooking, cleaning, playing, having fun
recalling good olden rememberings
the things we could not do on the run
we always had a 'to do list' gun
whose bullets never seemed to end
this opportunity is a godsend
so let's make the best use of it
till from corona virus, we defend
and step out fearless to restart titbit.
Living this far
The years of trials
I face
Amazed
With my two feet
Still standing still
Wondering
How I still be able
To be here, Today
Though
Wishing
Restarting my life again
To certain time
That days
That very moment
Before it falls apart
Should not have
Think so freely
That it will be simple
And worked out fine
Should have done
Things
Preparing for other years
The other me
Later on
Would have
Been happier
Open to fall in love
Striking out
My adventures
From my bucket list
Making use of time
Creating beautiful things
For the people around
For the world
That forever hope
That forever happiness
Living my life
Like a speed of light
Coming back
To my senses
Tears in my eyes
Finally have the answer
To my questions
On later years
Appreciating
Grasping it
This is all I have got
I cannot restart
But I can create one
A brand new page
To the life I seek
With the better me
Time to go
And be on my way
Kissing my past
With goodbye and greatest thanks
© Sue Sanzz 2020
M-orn
I-s
L-etting
D-awn
R-estart
E-rasing
D-ark
E-vening
B-y
U-sing
E-ffulgence
Topic: Birthday of Mildred Ebue (October 07)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
Stop.
Pause.
Restart.
Let the day begin
You’re in my life again
I never thought this would happen
My face hurts from smiling
I love you
I really do
I never thought I’d say that again
We have both grown as people
I see that we’re both a little more broken than before
I will help you and you will help me
A garden that we will help sow
I want to watch you grow
I hope you want the same
Together we can do anything
We may have ups and downs
But may that never stop the upward climb
The climb to our future
The climb to our new beginning
Stop.
Pause.
Restart.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.