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Best Poems Written by Ryan Lyman

Below are the all-time best Ryan Lyman poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Ryan Lyman Poem

sun

i once heard
of the one
who swallowed the sun

they spoke of it
like it was something bad
something to be feared
yet somehow 
something revered
a two-sided coin
a double-edged sword

and so i feared people
who shone so bright
the sun must have lived in their lungs
who had an aura
made of plasma 

i ran away 
from boys so radiant
they hurt my eyes

i ran away 
from girls so aglow
the sky turned yellow
around them 

i ran away 
until it was just me

alone 
in the dark

and then i met her
and i was blinded
by a light so blazing
i would have been foolish
to continue to look her way 

but i could not tear my eyes
off her shining skin 
fiery cheeks
skin so warm 
proof of the life within her
proof of the sun within her

and so i stayed
i touched her skin to mine
let her warm my flesh 
allowed her in 

my mind told me to run 
my heart told me to stay 

and so i opened
the space in my chest
so long vacant
cobwebs had formed

i let her in 
let her touch me
as i had not been touched in years

a void
a part of me missing
i had not even realized

she made a home
behind my sternum
between my lungs
in every liter of my blood

and i like to think 
as i lay beside her at night
that my body 
is warmer
than it was
when i met her

Details | Ryan Lyman Poem

Dirty

i feel dirty 

dirty 
like dishes
in the sink

dirty 
like forgotten clothes
in the hamper

dirty 
like the earth
between your toes

dirty 
like my fingernails
after a day’s work

dirty 
like the mind
of a high-school boy

dirty 
like a twenty-two-year-old man
and his fourteen-year-old “girlfriend”

dirty 
like a woman’s skin
soiled by a man she once trusted

dirty 
like the feeling in your soul
when a man calls to you on the street

dirty 
like how it feels
to be betrayed

dirty 
like society 
patriarchal, corrupt, hostile

dirty 
like our president
arrogant, incompetent, unfit

dirty 
like kavanaugh’s conscience 
as he sits on the bench 

dirty 
like the justice system
views abortion

dirty 
like the look 
a police officer gives a black man

dirty 
like a government 
that i cannot change

dirty 
like humankind 
view people like me

dirty 
like my grandmother
thinks of me

dirty 
like the world
i am expected to raise a child in 

i feel dirty