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Best Poems Written by Rachel Couvillon

Below are the all-time best Rachel Couvillon poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Before Her Heart Stopped Beating

Before her heart stops beating
Before it's too late
She has things to say
Things that just can't wait

This pain she's lived with
Has made her push people away
She thought she wasn't worth it
So they weren't allowed to stay

But before her heart stops beating
Before it's too late
She has things she must say
Things that can no longer wait

To her parents,
She's sorry she couldn't hold on
As she lays there while
Her lasts breaths are being drawn

To her family,
Everyone who showed her love
She's sorry she couldn't stay
She had too many things she couldn't get rid of

To her friends,
She's sorry, too
It wasn't their fault
They did everything they could do 

To the guy she left
Waiting for an answer to his question, "Why?"
She's sorry, but she knew
It would be a hard goodbye 

To anyone else
She may've left out
She promises to remember you
When she gets to the end of her route

But before her heart stopped beating
She spoke the words that could no longer wait
Even though her words would reach us 
Too late

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2011



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The Lemonade Stand

Life handed me lemons
And I tried to make lemonade
But there wasn't enough sugar
For the sour taste to fade

Like a naïve child
I created my own brand
And set up on a corner
With my little lemonade stand

But my drinks were too sour
And people quickly stopped buying
So I packed up my stand
And completely stopped trying

Life handed me lemons
And lemons aren't sweet
My little lemonade stand
Just couldn't compete

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2011

Details | Rachel Couvillon Poem

The Nuzlocking of Pokemon Red

For those we lost
Nuzlocking Pokémon Red
This is a poem 
To memorialize our dead

Rainbow

A level 4 Metapod
Caught with a single pokéball
Would grow to become
One of the best pokémon of all

Rainbow, the Butterfree
Evolved before our eyes
A valued teammate
We could never predict his demise

But in a simple trainer battle
Tackle was used by a Geodude
Rainbow had little HP
So we were screwed

A level 18 Butterfree
Was lost that fateful day
“Oh, Lord, what have I done?”
Was all his trainer could say

Kiedis

In a patch of grass
A level 16 Mankey we did find
Named after the great Kiedis
A spot on our team he was assigned

Immediately placed in the front position
Our hopes were just to high
A level 16 Rattata 
Would force us to bid goodbye

Cross

He was selling Magikarps
This little old man
And we knew immediately
He’d fit in with our plans

Only a level 5
He was a trainee to be sure
But we were already imagining
Battles he could be used for

As a Gyarados, Cross caught us a Snorlax
Rosie would be her name
But we had no idea
She would be his last contribution to our game

A level 29 Electrode
Dealt a critical hit
And as Cross fainted
His trainer threw a fit

You were so young, Cross
Why did it have to be you
We could only pray
That Rosie would do

The Rest

And may we never forget
The Pokémon we lost fighting MewTwo
The ones who gave their lives
To bring the best finale to you

*For Adam Hepler*

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012

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Good Morning, Apocalypse Now : a Tribute To a Vietnam Veteran

Untitled 5
(My Uncle: Good Morning, Apocalypse Now)

My uncle doesn't speak much
about Vietnam or the stuff
he witnessed when he 
was just a boy. See,
he likes to drive the back roads fast 
and honk at random cars that pass.
His friendly gestures always lead to how
he grew up compared to kids now. 

Jumping and racing trains on the tracks
became dodging bullets and carrying his buddy on his back.
The marshes and dirt valleys here
became the forests and trenches of the military frontier. 

Last year, my sister donned his jacket
a fatigued fatigue that hung in his closet. 
In color and memory darkened,
kept out of sight for fear it would harken
the PTSD he's stuggled to avoid. 

He saw his brothers, young like him
to Vietnam succumb
while on American soil
and he promised he would never speak,
for fear his stomach would coil, 
when remembering rice - a dish he no longer enjoys.
And there's no orange on his clothes to remind him of the agent that destroyed.

When he speaks a calm 
"Good morning", I wonder if he's thinking of Vietnam
or if he knows
that I admire his strength and 
bravery and how 
he continually fights against 
the "Apocalypse Now".

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2013

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Erich Fromm

“Every man’s goal in life is to give birth to himself.” –Erich Fromm

Hopes turn into dreams
Dreams into ambitious schemes
Steps are taken, paths are chosen
Time marches on unfrozen
To be successful is a goal shared by many			
Few are able to succeed
In this game we call life
Nothing’s ever as it seems
The path you thought you could take
Has become a mangled, tangled
Maze of confusion
Steps become measured, cautious, even
The schemes
Fail to accomplish their once hoped dreams

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012



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A Steel Flower

Once I was naïve and innocent
And believed that everything was Heaven sent
I was like a flower – soft and gentle
Open to the slightest breeze’s pull
I grew in unbridled sunlight
Where everything was perfect and right

But then there came the long, hard frost
And in an instant life was lost
The will to live vanished so fast
And I became nothing but a steel cast
A cast of what I once was 
My wounds bandaged with metal – not gauze 
I became resistant to the breeze
Nothing seemed to put my soul at ease

But I chose life over death
And continued to take in deep breaths
While no longer so easily swayed
I haven’t lost all of my old ways
I’ve learned it’s not always wise to hide
And have come to embrace both sides
Of my life and who I hope I’ll become
Without forgetting where I’m from

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012

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Take the Risk and Try

Desperate and so confused
I reached out and asked you
Is this gonna work? 
Do you think it’s gonna work? 
You had no answer, so unsure yourself
And I couldn’t tell you how I felt
In that moment if you asked me to
Oh, not even if you asked me to

I figured you’re the veteran, 
I’d lean on you
And you could teach me what to do 
But you’re jagged, edges ragged
Just like me
And you couldn’t tell me how this’d be
Everyone’s different, you said
Everyone’s different

We might not be perfect
But we’ll never know if this was worth it
Unless we take the risk and try
See if this love can survive 
Oh, let’s take the risk
And try

I’ll be honest,
I’m scared
The game of love doesn’t allow time to prepare 
And I’m worried that this isn’t gonna turn out fair
For you or me
After this could we truly go back to what we used to be
I don’t wanna lose you
I don’t wanna lose it all

You say we’re tight
And no matter what we’ll be alright 
But I saw what happened with you and her
And I can’t help but wonder if you’re sure
I’ll try to trust and just believe
That some good might come of me and you
It’s a risk worth taking if there’s nothing to lose
If there’s nothing to lose

We might not be perfect
But we’ll never know if this was worth it
Unless we take the risk and try
See if this love can survive 
Oh, let’s take the risk
And try

We might not be perfect
But we’ll never know if this was worth it
Unless we take the risk and try
See if this love can survive 
Oh, let’s take the risk
And try

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012

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The Promise of a Yellow Brick Road

Waiting for me
You always said
Was a Yellow Brick Road
But mingled in was the one made of red
And I think I took that one instead

You said there was a man
Who could help with everything 
But if he was so perfect
Why didn’t he fix anything
When my life was in a spiraling downswing 

I don’t believe in fairytales anymore
But I can still recount this one perfectly
And I can still remember your voice
As you promised these things carelessly
And gave me false hope for normalcy

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012

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Red Snow

It had just begun to snow
So we went outside to play
Who knew the winter of '99
Would scar us that day

He was a boy of thirteen
Much older than I
But he agreed to toss snowballs
Under the gray sky

Red would soon be 
The color of the snow
But little did 
Either of us know

I ran from him
And hid behind a car
I tried to gather more snowballs
But I didn't get far

There was a screech
A thud and a scream
Peeking out from my hiding place
I prayed it was just a dream

But there was my cousin
Pinned between a car and a fence 
The air around me changed
And became very dense

At that moment, my parents arrived home 
To see their nephew still on the lawn
My father cried, he was like a son
While my mother became very withdrawn 

I had seen everything
They told me to go
The last image I have 
Is of him on red snow

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2011

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Prepare, My Beloved

Prepare 
For a bloodbath, 
My beloved. 
Prepare. 

Prepare
For this day shall 
Go down in history. 
Make sure you stand erect,
Make sure your words are correct.
Prepare for a bloodbath, 
My beloved. 
Prepare. 

Prepare 
To risk not only your life,
But the life of the one at your side.
Whether your neighbor be me, 
Or be she,
Prepare for a bloodbath,
My beloved. 
Prepare.

Prepare
To choose a path
When the road splits.
Two sides and only one chance
Be sure-footed before you advance. 
Prepare for a bloodbath, 
My beloved. 
Prepare.

Prepare
Because actions and words
Cannot be reversed. 
In a way you’ve been bled
Once they are done or said. 
You cannot take them back. 

So
Prepare 
For a bloodbath, 
My beloved. 
Prepare.

Copyright © Rachel Couvillon | Year Posted 2012

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Book: Shattered Sighs