I see you torturing yourself
living in the past
reliving ancient history
Rehashing memories
to the point that they're
warped unrecognizably
I won't correct you
I refuse to engage ~
where would I begin?
Whatever feelings
I once might have had
are long forgotten
The reality is that
we separated ways
a million years ago
It’s truly sad that regrets
is the burden you chose
over living a fruitful life
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
"Lingering leaves of gold
frolic in the autumn wind,"
Swept up by bygone breezes,
already collapsing
before they begin,
As disillusionment clouds an overtired soul—
Misplaced and irretrievable
To a society that ravenously
disembowels empathy,
Twists and mangles trust
until it becomes unrecognizably disfigured,
Leaving the carcass to be plucked by bone-thin vultures,
Fed by culture’s apathetic, parasitic narcissism,
Under the boiling, pre-winter sun.
I left the old me on the South Carolina sand.
The naive, sensitive, fragile girl stayed on that land.
I signed my life away for a greater good out there.
Sacrificed what I was to become someone better.
I left that place as someone unrecognizably new.
Stronger, braver, not someone easily subdued.
South Carolina kept all that I was before.
I clawed, and carved away until that wasn’t me anymore.
If I went there a piece of clay,
I was a slab of marble when I went away.
I’ll not forget South Carolina and what I left behind,
The battles won and lost are branded inside my mind.
South Carolina, South Carolina, I still feel the sun.
Though much time has passed and those days are done.
I still think of that summer and laugh, smile, and cry.
Sometimes it feels like no time has gone by.
But I left who I was back in South Carolina,
I gave that person up the day I arrived in South Carolina.
Vancouver looks flooded from this bridge
I see one lone brave water skier rounding a curve
It is November, but there are no biting wind chills
It is unrecognizably warm for Thanksgiving week
there are blotches and blips of leaves on the water
Oranges, tangerines and cinnamons twirling a bit
Let’s take a peek at the autumn faeries, I suggest
I hear one laugh, she sounds like a tingling chime
No one wants to take the hike, which is okay
Solitude is my preferred hobby, making photographs easier
no pushy humans demanding selfies and such
I linger for a while, now a fulfilled pirate queen
sometimes I feel like a two way mirror,
people look at me and I look at them,
with that hint of recognition,
do I know you, my friend?
And they'll say, "I've known you my whole life"
the truth concise, and said so nice,
it almost made me want to believe,
and so we go on playing pretend,
that friends we are and friends we've been,
but plainly put it is to see,
that look on you when you see me,
inside I twist unrecognizably,
But on I go playing the part,
for friends I have to share my heart,
I won't, but it's nice to know, you know,
sometimes you're a little less miserable,
so thank you friend for seeing me,
and possibly deceiving me,
I'm glad we've had our little rendezvous,
but I'm getting so sick of trying to be you
Vancouver looks flooded from this bridge
I see one lone brave water skier rounding a curve
It is November, but there are no biting wind chills
It is unrecognizably warm for Thanksgiving week
there are blotches and blips of leaves on the water
Oranges, tangerines and cinnamons twirling a bit
Let’s take a peek at the autumn faeries, I suggest
I hear one laugh, she sounds like a tingling chime
No one wants to take the hike, which is okay
Solitude is my preferred hobby, making photographs easier
no pushy humans demanding selfies and such
I linger for a while, now a fulfilled pirate queen
In the quiet stillness of vast empty spaces in time _hums the rhythm of my body.
As my inner hearing rings vibrations of the beating heart in steady motion.
Fading laughter and muffled sounds of distant voices slurs to unrecognizably mumbled words laid to waste. Decreased the thinking of the mind_ halts the plans made in haste.
Unquickened muscles release the tension down deep of spine. Slows the movement of my hands as all energy yields in decline.
Close my eyes in submission to the heaviness of night. Lying quietly suspended within the symphony of my plight.
Exhaling a shallow spirit of life as I leave another day behind.
~~~W12152019
She couldn’t remember
When she stopped being herself
So gradual was the disillusion
He wore her down till she was just a shell
Another casualty to his ruses
He had fallen in love with her
A wild horse he wanted to dominate
Loved the challenge of the chase
A game determined to win
He caught her and tamed her
Till unrecognizably docile and meek
The shell of the woman she once was
Not unlike a male black widow
Had sucked the life out of her
Another trophy on his mantle
Read on air by invitation ~ July 3, 2020 'LATE NIGHT POETS'
AP: 3rd place 2020
11/21/16
As far as I can see
Mindlessly
Been battling with sobriety
Extreme weather advisories
Over land or by the seas
Many multi-floored wineries
Producing product of the same or different varieties
Animals and humans living within or outside of societies
Where things may happen fairly or unjustifiably
World renowned notoriety
Obtained solo or through a dynasty
In all entirety
A world full of opportunity and vibrancy
All though there is irony
Happening loudly or quietly
Individuals and groups continuing to act defiantly
Showing their own true colors, undeniably
Never did I have much piety
Because it was religious, and something I always looked at undesirably
Is the cycle entirely
Spirally?
Or finitely?
Still to this day occurs piracy
And illegal sales of guns, drugs and objects like ivory
Corruption and briberies
Events carried out publicly or silently
Something well known, now viewed unrecognizably
And indefinably
By: Dalton Ogletree
That childhood faith, vehemently spirited,
Difficult to bend, impossible to tame.
That still-cradled heart, curiously open,
Eschewing fear, shunning struggle,
Accepting of each coming day.
The journey so hazardous.
Now a cold-forged and unyielding heart
Beats out each agonizing minute.
Jared by indolence and disappointment,
Vision unrecognizably scarred.
The journey so quickly done.
Needing to chance upon that child again
To lightly touch the angel's brow.
An indelible tattoo of Mary
Faintly graces my upper left arm.
I loved her but we never married,
Our love lost its meaningful charm.
So long! To the faded memories
Those years of yore all but disappeared;
Bygone are the glints of yesterdays
As I gaze at the scar once revered:
Abated colors now take the place
Where once her name etched brilliantly:
M-A-R-Y inked in upper case
Is now lost unrecognizably.
As long as this mark’s a part of me
Mary remains in my reveries.
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