You and I—
we feel,
we love,
we regret.
Yet we remain
the binding particle
of a formless self.

They divide us,
pit us against each other.
We found safety
for thirteen days.

Before dawn,
we felt the breath
that seeps through cracks
into minds like a narrow thread of force,
and the fog spilled out.

Above our heads, false stars
created by warm bodies
to annihilate
what passed through the gate
of a birthing woman.

We write words to conjure
happy endings
at the ball of extermination
that tears apart
the pulsing light
of a thousand veins.

Please sit with me
before you go
Do you feel it—
the mourning procession
of human beings
transforming into a state of fission
and drifting away?

And a sigh is so sad
of trembling atoms
when the victim becomes the destroyer.

Feel the force of the fall,
and do not shatter hope
even if the world
trembles to its core
because there is still YOU,
still ME,
and still

OTHERS.

Jesus wore only a robe and needed only a mount to speak to those around him. And yet his words, his wisdom, his divinity have lasted over two thousand years. But look at what has become of his legacy? Have you been to Vatican City? Have you seen the Basilica? What does it have to do with Jesus' core message?:  Love one another. The collective wealth of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches around the world is so massive that it cannot be determined. But Jesus wore only a robe and needed only a mount. Jesus would find upon his return a sight obscene:  a colossal monetary worth of those who were supposed to carry on his teachings! Jusus would scream:  "Sell all your worldly possessions! Sell the Basilica! Sell all the priceless and precious objets d'art in your collections! Sell all your churches! Give all your money to the poorest of the poor! Do you not remember what I did when I entered the sacred temple and found money-changers? I turned over their tables! I threw their coins on the floor! I threw the money-changers out! I found corruption instead of holy caring! What was my crucifixtion for? Pray to God and care for your fellow human beings. Do it in a vacant lot. Call it the Cathedral of the Sky.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I've been lately writing poetry!
Oh? What do I see?
A perfect poetry site waiting for me!
First poem, proud of it!
Oh? Someone in my messages?
This guy seems sweet
And he's hoping I don't get beat!
Pretty songs for me to listen to!
And a drunk man messaging me...?
“You're only making yourself a victim because you're cutting yourself"
Oh? Okay- thanks for the paragraph/drunk rant?

Shining lights on all of my latest poems?
Thank you! You're so sweet!
….oh…talking to me about pedophiles…got it…
Why are there so many sad songs?
WHY DOES THIS MAN HAVE SO ****** MUSIC TASTE AGGGHGDGFGCC

Oh? You wrote a poem about the 764 and absolutely humiliating them?
Great! Good job!
…But uhh… why and how did they make a virus only going after your followers that are minors? Not funny!
Why is this man warning me if they threaten me? Is he trying to make me scared on purpose?
Blaming the Japanese for this virus now, huh?
Oh? Now blaming someone else named Pax to be part of the 764? Crazy

…. going to another website? But you're so fun!
May as well click on the link you sent me so I can join you

Drunk rants with me? That's okay!
Giving me gold so I can freely make poems?
THANK YOU SM
Daily texting
2-10 hour sessions
Why are you drinking everyday?
You're making me concerned for your health
I told you to stop drinking, papa
You promised me you'd stop
All you did was keep on drinking

Commenting on every poem I made
Oh? So suddenly I'm a “nasty *****" when I have done nothing to you? ありがとう!
We have a suicide pact now?
I'm going off the bridge first?
Don't mind if I do

Oh? Another poetry site? Okay…
I really don't like the way this site works, can't we just message each other with email?
Yes? Yay!

People bullying you on the internet? That's not okay!
Why would they accuse you of being a *******?
Letting me join an uncensored group to back you up? Great!
Sending me to a Reddit page to back you up?
Alright!
….oh … they warned me and I didn't do anything….
******* this man is an actual *******…..
gotta go fast like Sonic
pack my bags and leave

Oh? I betrayed you? Crazy
We were just friends
Can you stop spitting my name everywhere?
It's like you're so obsessed with me
Stop trying to be the Eminem to my Mariah Carey
Made a poem about you and you HAD to take it down?
Never thought you'd want to hide your identity THAT hard
Oh? Betting on my suicide now, are we?
Sending me multiple emails, desperate for me to come back to him?
I'm not that ******* naive or gullible
It's crazy if you think that about me
…I did tell you to send those photos of your cut open arms but I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND DO IT

Being racist?
“Japshit”?
Why are you so obsessed with my Chinese genes?
“I thought I can use Kai because of her Chinise genes because the Chinise was known to be very good spies. ☝️🤓" へー! Didn't know that!
Also, that's not how you spell Chinese, my fellow kind sir
Threatening people to come to America with a Katana and slice us to pieces
So envious, I see
You're just mad because we have a little bit more freedom than your drunk *** does

Oh…. Talking to me about ****
Got it
Thanks
I didn't need to be taught about METART or some **** like that
I'm only 12 years old
You ***** *****

Well…this is the aftermath

You Talk, i listen.
That’s the way this works.

You ramble and You monologue,
while i keep my lips pursed.

i wonder if You’ll notice,
i haven’t said a word..

But you simply entertain Yourself,
and i remain unheard.

I have a notebook dedicated just to you
Every page is blank

In every room
I've lived in,
all the dilapidated shacks
over the years that I've
stayed in, always had a
brown spider that crawled
the walls.
It had a little suitcase.

I thought to myself that it
planned on leaving, moving to
someplace better.
It never did.
It always just set up shop, and
spun a web in the corner and caught
flies, and occasionally a small moth.

On drunken sad moon nights,
I sang dirges to the trapped bugs.
They smiled and laughed, even though
they were dying.

Dear stranger,
I have never met you before
never seen you smile
never held your hands
never looked in your eyes

To me, you are just a stranger
nothing else at all
then why do you
not feel like a stranger at all?

I have never seen your face before
never seen your eyes
yet I feel like I know
your soul
and everything inside

So tell me, why is this so
is it because we are
not strangers at all..?

fourth of july,
night sky.
sparkling lights
ands fireflies.
hands together,
and you were mine.
we smoked,
until we could fly.
i never felt,
so right.

two years later,
youre not around.
but when i look to the sky,
on the fourth of july,
im back with you,
in our small town.

I am in a mood
To wash away with the rain
Entropic and beautiful

Spin out and dissociate
Dust motes in a sunbeam
Leaves in the wind

I am in a mood
To live unremarkably
And dissolve in the sky

just because they gave
more than you did
doesn't mean they gave
their all — like you did

The Joni (Mitchell) Collection


https://hellopoetry.com/poem/1692219/a-case-of-you-joni-first-datelast-date/


https://hellopoetry.com/poem/957041/write-like-joni/


https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2185836/still-be-on-my-feat-for-joni/

Would you have loved me
If i was a worm?
Crushed and torn
Like i mattered nothing at all.

Silence

Silence a slice of life
A calm before storm

Silence a heart in strife
A gentle healing balm

Silence a slicing knife
Just a painful calm

Pavin

Tu s a cchiù bella 'e tutt' 'e principesse,
'e tutt' 'e principesse si 'a riggina.
Pe tutt' 'a vita addenucchiato io stesse
a cuntemplà sta grazia accussì fina.
Tu femmena nun sì, tu sì na fata
impastata 'e latte, porcellana e rrose,
sta pella è d'alabbastro avvellutata...
(Perdoname si dico chesti ccose).

'Ncopp' a sta vocca fatta cu 'e ccerase,
e 'ncopp' a chesta ***** 'e seta nera
ca tiene pe capille, quanta vase
io nce vulesse dà... matina e sera.

Chist'uocchie tuoie chin' 'e malincunia
ca tiene 'nfronte songo comm' a ll'esca,
songh'uocchie ca me fanno asci 'mpazzia.

St'anema mia s'addorme 'a notte e sonna
sunnanno 'e te, nun te chiamma Francesca;
ma saie comme te chiamma a tte? Madonna!

The nightingales still sing
over Orpheus' grave
Bending stone with sound
Sculpting cloud and chemtrail
in the likeness of Assange

A mirror universe
these threads vibrate
connecting other worlds
Ouroborus
the snake swallowing its tail

The puppet said to the sun,
“Never shine upon me.”
And then it said to the clouds,
“Do not hide me from the light.”
And then it gnashed its teeth at the sky, saying,
“I never asked to be seen
I never asked to be hidden
I only asked to be free.”

POETRY IS LANGUAGE AT IT’S MOST DISTILLED MOST POWERFUL… AMEN 🙏 ID BE ABSOLUTELY INSANE WITHOUT MY WRITING!!! AND I FEEL LIKE MY VOICE IS FINALLY BEING HEARD PROPERLY… I APPRECIATE THEE MANY TALENTED FOLK OUT THERE EXPRESSING THERE TRUEST SELFS IN THERE POETRY… CHEERS 🍻

they asked nothing.
still—
 i answered.

not in word,
 but in the shift
  of weight,
  the arch
  in my back,
  the unguarded thigh.

it wasn’t language.
 it was consent,
  folded inward.

not yes.
not no.

silence
 ruptures
  when held too long.

what they took—
 they didn’t name.
but i
 answered
  in posture.

—

my heart is a landing pad
breathe in
catch
breathe out
let go
breathe in
catch
breathe out
let go
breathe in
breathe in
breathe in
i cant catch
breathe oubreatheinbreatheinbreathein

i feel a sense of dread
there are beings inside my head
they believe me to be undead
i think the monsters want me bled.

i told them i think something is wrong
they looked at me, smiled, and moved along.
i danced with one in the dead of night,
now they grip onto my mind with all their might.

The fire beckons me in.
Offering warmth,
but bringing betrayal.

I don’t move from the flame.
It stings greatly,
but I’d still rather be warm

It's a bit until it's not
a proposal joke gone too far
or just a symptom of the times
a coping mechanism

two anxious attachment styles
in a room
they might kiss
what is a few thousand miles anyways

you were my "birthday surprise" that year
and best friend's roommate
so my admiration got pushed down
locked away beneath 39th Street

can't set off a bomb
we'll send hearts
end facetimes with
I love you too.

Theres always 2 options,
Before you make a decision,
Think of the options,
'Cause 1 choice will transform you,
But the other will destroy you.

I laugh—
Every time I’m on the edge of breaking.
When tears slip down,
Uninvited,
From eyes that were never meant to spill them.

I laugh with all I’ve got,
As if the sound can drown the ache—
As if pretending
Can make the pain behave.

I wear a smile like armor,
A mask of joy the world applauds.
But beneath it all—
Is a soul quietly screaming,
Begging to be held,
To be heard.

To be told:
It’s okay to cry.
It’s not weakness to feel.
It’s not a sin to break

i don't need a boyfriend. i need a therapist.
i'm not meant to be the one that got away. I'm meant to be the bullet you dodged.
i'm so yours. i'm so sorry.

after suffering a long time in silence. It's the moment of: "Wait... all of this pain was based on a lie I believed about myself?",and i laughed.

You weren't sure when you knew it. You weren't sure where it came from. But sooner than later it enveloped you. It was your calling. No words, nothing written. Just a sense, a feeling that permeated your being. And finally you knew. No ambiguities, no uncertainties, no ambivalences. Just truth. It was intuition. No manuals, no table of contents. No advanced degrees required. It was your life, the rest of your life. It was the reason you were born. It was the reason you were on Earth. It was your destiny. There is nothing more to say except to follow it, your calling.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

In your dreams
you're a different person
could it be this-
that you prefer that version?

When you go boating,

you are part of the city-


scape that others see.