Home » Poems » Best » Ashley Carroll » Best Ashley Carroll Poems

Best Poems Written by Ashley Carroll

Below are the all-time best Ashley Carroll poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Burning Light

The flames licked my arms
But I did not stir

The spring breeze sent the curtains flying
And the golden rays burst in and set everything afire
The light punched its way into the room
It knocked into the shelves that wept in silence
Book spines instantly faded
Then pages were ablaze, incinerated
It left bruises on the carpet
Whose dust rose up with the breeze
It danced with the fringes on the bedclothes
Making shadows ripple across the empty space before the pillows at my feet
The air sent ripples up my arms
And I gasped at its touch
Curved into the corner of the farthest wall,
I glared at the light seeking me out
It scratched its fingers into every crack and crevice
And fractured against my lonely reflection
	Blasting shards of glittering light across the walls
It was sniffing me out
It could smell the darkness on me
Daring to touch my withered skin
Yearning to warm my sunken face
The curtains shifted the shadows on the walls
And finally its eyes befell me
The golden rays found me at last
They clawed through the hair that clung at my face
Stretched forth and stabbed at my eyes
But I clenched them shut in fear I’d go blind with sight
I transformed myself into the wall
Curled up inside its weakened shadow
The golden rays licked at my arms
But I did not stir
The bright flames seared my skin
But I let it burn

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Spill

I’m starting to think it all begins at the bottom of this bottle
‘Cause the only time I’m honest is with my inhibitions lowered
Tip them back. One, two, three
Let’s see where one more takes us
How much do you think it’d take for me to want to risk it?
And I’ll spin around in circles, so as not to open my mouth
‘Cause I’d need more bottles to save me if ever the truth came out
So I’ll wait for the burning taste to subside before my eyes spring open
And you can talk, talk, talk to me, but I’ll deny that I am broken.
Now familiar words scream inside, ones thus far unspoken
So I’ll bring the glass back to my lips in a feeble attempt to stop them
This bottle is getting lighter now,
Let’s see if one more does it

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Where Loneliness Slept

But with a fury,
Sudden and harsh
Her loneliness seeps back in;
Reabsorbed through her cheek
that rested so tentatively upon him
Back through his chest where he had let her leave it
It turns her cheeks pale
as it settles somewhere in her lungs,
ratting around with each breath
A hollow noise
A harsh exhale, and it's out
Leaving her dizzy
The cloud of it hangs above her head
Where to put it now?

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Sleep, Or Lack Thereof

Fingers go numb and twitch with impatience
Please make my eyelids dance with visions

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

A Good View

The clouds stretched across in a perfect pattern,
evenly spaced across the sky
And the mountainside was dappled in shadows from the sun
punching the clouds with light
The treetops shined with a promise
that change was within their branches
Sprawling upward and teasingly swaying in the breeze
Just waiting for me to climb up and reach them
But I'm just sitting in the car
Head on the window
Mentally grabbing the clouds
Sunshine on my face
Drifting off into the shadows
The whole sight a gift for weary eyes

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Quiet

coffee stains on my notepad
the kind some might call art
to hang on a wall in a building full of people
taking pictures of pictures
to show others what they saw

wine glass on my notepad
it gets me to that place
where words flow from pen shaft to paper
and ink forms solid lines
for others to read what they could not say

whiskey glass on my notepad
it gets me to that place
where nothing inside me stays silent, 
but my pen stays in place
and no words form concrete for others to change

whiskey bottle on my notepad
quiet at last

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Where Love Began

Love fell over me calmly
The way a pink sunrise steadily collects the morning frost
It was a warm sheet that billowed out over me before settling back down

Soft-colored and small-winged,
butterflies came to life and breathed inside my stomach
They didn’t flutter frantically-
		swooping and dashing
They floated as one;
Swelling in unison with my breathing
and one by one, I breathed them out in my sleep
Their wings brushed a glow on my skin 
And they licked red roses on my cheeks
They remained there, hovering around my head

Love didn’t knock me off my feet
It asked to hold my hand
It gently rippled over me
The way a whisper in the ear ripples goose bumps over your skin

Slow and inviting,
Its embrace was like sinking into a warm bath—
I could feel that drastic line where it spread:
	where the water level stops and laps at your skin
	part of your body submerged,
	the rest, prickly and exposed in the cold air 
that line was where I was
and where love began

Love sailed towards me on the swirls of a gentle breeze
The way sail boats glide over waves on the sea
It lifted and played with my hair
I outstretched my arms and leaned into its embrace
It hugged me back
It swayed me to and fro
It lovingly tightened its grip, and it hasn’t let me go

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Ghost

"What have I done to you?"

Matched eyes in the silver glass 
Gaze into their own 
Searching, but 
     finding only ghosts 
A fading outline of someone who existed long ago, 
But since has fallen into shadows, 
     a voice meek and low 
And the shadow that gazes back, 
looking on from the other side 
Face withdrawn, eyes wide 
Opens her mouth in silent screaming 
“What have you done to me?” 

A matched pair, 
     once equally strong 
Struggled for power through the years 
Now, only smoky swirls are left reflecting in the mirror 
And each self-loathing gaze I cast 
pushes her further away 
Fading 
Alone and unseen 
What have I done to you? 

“What have I done to me?”

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

Veneer

We were perfect,
But I don't know what made it so.
Now we're a disaster,
And I don't know what happened.
And it's as if that perfectness never existed
Was never real
Just some sort of veneer from an old table that we were under the whole time
It looked pretty,
but it was just a cover.
That veneer chipped off
It exposed us
And now I'm sitting here, looking at the pieces, wondering how they ever fit together
And as much as I place that piece back on
Trying to re-imaging that perfect mirage
It just doesn't fit right anymore
It just sticks up, and I keep catching my thumb on it
Leaving cuts all over
So now that table is just pushed into the corner
The chipped side turned out of sight
Not spoken about
Forgotten about
Ruined
And all the unwanted knick knacks are placed on it
Weighing it down
And it's bending in the middle from all the weight
How much until it collapses?

Details | Ashley Carroll Poem

A Quick Breath

I will not let myself say that I miss you...
out loud
I will silently torment myself with the thought
Over and over in my head
As my stomach clenches and
I lose focus on all else

I will allow myself the comfort that you are here now
And I will not think of losing you
I will not think of your pain
and want to fix it--
make you whole

I will not let my heart leap with emotion when you look at me
Eye wide, soul exposed
I will not let myself reach for more
Because having more means losing more
and there would be nothing left of me but a whisper,
lost in the breeze from a breath that came out too fast
Too hard,
Too soon
Disappearing into winter air with a punch of white cloud
All from a whisper of:
"I will miss you"
No,
It would only be a quick breath,
and gone