Submissions by Micah
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
service polariod
he'd said time holds no honors
and soon you'll be
retired like the field jacket
in the back of a forgotten closet
taking its owner
for more than he gave
50 years ago
when all that had been
required of him
(up front)
were couple digits
and the permanent loss
of a peaceful night's rest.
and soon you'll be
retired like the field jacket
in the back of a forgotten closet
taking its owner
for more than he gave
50 years ago
when all that had been
required of him
(up front)
were couple digits
and the permanent loss
of a peaceful night's rest.
41 reads
3 Comments
when I thought you were lost
Thought about the way
mom would stroke my hair
when everything was wrong,
hoping to apply the same magic
(for us both)
as I touched your back
Slipping, so many things
(in that moment)
I wanted to hold onto
like childhood fragments
in already fading dream
It's the subtlety;
how emotions shift
and the new world order
implements itself
in the time it takes
to close your eyes
(I held my breath,
watching,
praying they'd reopen)
I know I'll see you again
It...
mom would stroke my hair
when everything was wrong,
hoping to apply the same magic
(for us both)
as I touched your back
Slipping, so many things
(in that moment)
I wanted to hold onto
like childhood fragments
in already fading dream
It's the subtlety;
how emotions shift
and the new world order
implements itself
in the time it takes
to close your eyes
(I held my breath,
watching,
praying they'd reopen)
I know I'll see you again
It...
42 reads
4 Comments
Derisions of Perdition
Always start with the
best of intentions,
so the story goes
(on and on);
and just as quickly
turn to noxious
notions of reciting
passages of affection
which,
if uttered here,
would evaporate
into the evening sky,
overbearing in encompassing
enormity.
Know that I'd tell you
(in flowery prose)
exactly how much the itching/crushing
curiosity of
your now-sensationalized-fingertips
(stilled, confident, always by your sides)
weighs on me
if I thought it'd
equate usefulness...
best of intentions,
so the story goes
(on and on);
and just as quickly
turn to noxious
notions of reciting
passages of affection
which,
if uttered here,
would evaporate
into the evening sky,
overbearing in encompassing
enormity.
Know that I'd tell you
(in flowery prose)
exactly how much the itching/crushing
curiosity of
your now-sensationalized-fingertips
(stilled, confident, always by your sides)
weighs on me
if I thought it'd
equate usefulness...
59 reads
2 Comments
either, or-
Maybe I should drink more coffee
instead of waking up to
5 a.m. musings on
2-year-old warning sings
as to why you might suddenly be
a recurring dream.
(or just hit snooze)
Maybe you're not as unaware
as I try to pretend to be
(just so you know, though, I only see what you allow)
Maybe I should take bad connections for what they are
and hang up.
Or switch to decaf.
instead of waking up to
5 a.m. musings on
2-year-old warning sings
as to why you might suddenly be
a recurring dream.
(or just hit snooze)
Maybe you're not as unaware
as I try to pretend to be
(just so you know, though, I only see what you allow)
Maybe I should take bad connections for what they are
and hang up.
Or switch to decaf.
41 reads
3 Comments
Index
blame it on rising mercury
(in my veins)
a blossoming awareness
crept in
set in
set up
until one day I realized I couldn't
hold my breathe long enough
to make you disappear
when it became inconvenient
to notice
colors
shapes
lines
in focus.
no blame to lay
(at another's feet)
clarity's damage done overnight
leaving no trace of ignorance.
And you became sensory overload.
(in my veins)
a blossoming awareness
crept in
set in
set up
until one day I realized I couldn't
hold my breathe long enough
to make you disappear
when it became inconvenient
to notice
colors
shapes
lines
in focus.
no blame to lay
(at another's feet)
clarity's damage done overnight
leaving no trace of ignorance.
And you became sensory overload.
66 reads
3 Comments
157
woke up from flashes of a ten-minute-late clock
and a shoulder that never quite healed right.
yesterday's coffee still in the pot
black grounds swirl like sand in a globe
with probably about the same flavor.
dew drops on a spider's web outside the window
make prisms in the slowly emerging sunlight.
last night stars were tangled in it
the moon narrowly escaping.
a cigarette sighs in a tray beside my cold mug
(the most important meal of the day)
yesterday's crossed out word puzzle
adjacent to block-print headlines
already limp and...
and a shoulder that never quite healed right.
yesterday's coffee still in the pot
black grounds swirl like sand in a globe
with probably about the same flavor.
dew drops on a spider's web outside the window
make prisms in the slowly emerging sunlight.
last night stars were tangled in it
the moon narrowly escaping.
a cigarette sighs in a tray beside my cold mug
(the most important meal of the day)
yesterday's crossed out word puzzle
adjacent to block-print headlines
already limp and...
68 reads
4 Comments
Iridium
The quiet had turned to grey
looming
a constant filter of static
enveloping
everything
I didn't see the point in perpetuating
pointlessness
so I
gave up
walked out
to clear my head
Darkness had beaten me
back to the house
no lights
(wait for me, honey)
no sound
but my own heartbeat in my ears
Paused in the doorway
And I thought of you
turning to look at me
asking questions without words
(serration tearing through me)
probably realizing by now
I had no answers
and most likely...
looming
a constant filter of static
enveloping
everything
I didn't see the point in perpetuating
pointlessness
so I
gave up
walked out
to clear my head
Darkness had beaten me
back to the house
no lights
(wait for me, honey)
no sound
but my own heartbeat in my ears
Paused in the doorway
And I thought of you
turning to look at me
asking questions without words
(serration tearing through me)
probably realizing by now
I had no answers
and most likely...
46 reads
0 Comments
Slave State
It felt better
when you were
the restraints
at my wrists
Biting into my skin
Forcing realization upon me
Making it my oxygen,
my blinders.
Control slipped so gradually
The comfort in severity
became reassuring,
felt so natural
like the acting ramrod
at my back.
My feeble denials opaque,
you gave me
what I really needed
instead,
til the choice wasn't so hard to make,
didn't feel like my decision
anymore.
And I can still feel
the weight of you
boring into...
when you were
the restraints
at my wrists
Biting into my skin
Forcing realization upon me
Making it my oxygen,
my blinders.
Control slipped so gradually
The comfort in severity
became reassuring,
felt so natural
like the acting ramrod
at my back.
My feeble denials opaque,
you gave me
what I really needed
instead,
til the choice wasn't so hard to make,
didn't feel like my decision
anymore.
And I can still feel
the weight of you
boring into...
51 reads
2 Comments
Room 109
She was sitting up this morning,
bright-eyed and coherent.
A far cry from the day before.
I asked how breakfast was,
and aside from anemic coffee
and dry toast, it wasn't bad.
Silence crept into the afternoon hours,
and I thought she was finally getting some rest.
Until I looked up from my book.
Brows furrowed,
hand clutching the pillow,
cheeks wet.
I asked what was wrong, handing her a tissue.
She told me to go home, she'd be alright.
Did her back hurt again? Should I get the nurse?
She closed her eyes,...
bright-eyed and coherent.
A far cry from the day before.
I asked how breakfast was,
and aside from anemic coffee
and dry toast, it wasn't bad.
Silence crept into the afternoon hours,
and I thought she was finally getting some rest.
Until I looked up from my book.
Brows furrowed,
hand clutching the pillow,
cheeks wet.
I asked what was wrong, handing her a tissue.
She told me to go home, she'd be alright.
Did her back hurt again? Should I get the nurse?
She closed her eyes,...
46 reads
0 Comments
Outsider
Too much work for
too little payoff
but you still come around
expecting a change
waiting for change
like an end of the world billboard.
really don't accept titles
with much pride
or grace
don't acknowledge
what leads to compromise
and just don't understand
what all the fuss is about
in the first place.
stare at the vein
like you could feel the blood,
but you're just a spectator
with delusions of a pulse.
too little payoff
but you still come around
expecting a change
waiting for change
like an end of the world billboard.
really don't accept titles
with much pride
or grace
don't acknowledge
what leads to compromise
and just don't understand
what all the fuss is about
in the first place.
stare at the vein
like you could feel the blood,
but you're just a spectator
with delusions of a pulse.
83 reads
0 Comments
Pulsar Siren
It's no sunshine smile hook
but something threaded
in those oval brown
glimmering neutron bursts
suggests either an understood
and voluntary surrender
or
to run for your life.
but something threaded
in those oval brown
glimmering neutron bursts
suggests either an understood
and voluntary surrender
or
to run for your life.
105 reads
3 Comments
thunderhead
they probably think it's raining
somewhere far from here
by now you and i know there's no comfort in shelter
when the thunder doesn't come tied in convenient 9-5 bow.
i drowned for the (i-lost-count) time in a bottle of solace this week
(it doubles as absolution on sundays)
while penning his last words on an ad for replacement monel types needed to fill an emptying conveyer.
maybe i'll send it off. maybe we'll meet when she's older, and i'm too far gone to regale.
green and red for miles
like a damned...
somewhere far from here
by now you and i know there's no comfort in shelter
when the thunder doesn't come tied in convenient 9-5 bow.
i drowned for the (i-lost-count) time in a bottle of solace this week
(it doubles as absolution on sundays)
while penning his last words on an ad for replacement monel types needed to fill an emptying conveyer.
maybe i'll send it off. maybe we'll meet when she's older, and i'm too far gone to regale.
green and red for miles
like a damned...
118 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Micah