astoryscribbler

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 16

Pride

Is it time to celebrate? Is it time to be proud

For rainbow paint and flags as capes

Pastel blue and pink emblazoned 

on shirts and sheets and posters

Laughs and cheers and songs 

echoing through the crowds

When we march, will it be with joy?

With love and pride and hope

To drown out the naysayers, the haters

By saying us existing banishes their shadows

So we can shine without restraint

Or will we be dressed for something darker

No capes in fear they might choke us

Tattoos covered and paint stowed away

In case the march becomes a chase

When we march, will it be pride or defiance

That echoes in every shaking step

And sets our voices trembling?

When they see our faces

What will that day of pride become?

When its time, what will we become? 

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #new poem #poem #poetry month #free verse #lgbtq #trans

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 15

(And with this I'm caught up on posting for my blogs. Also I'm running out of ideas so this one started from a meta place)

Halfway there

The midpoint is the hardest part

Worn down by the gruelling grind

That finish line too far away

To give its spark of motivation.

Here it’s only dark and dirt and sweat

Digging through mud for a nugget of gold

To treat and weave between calloused hands

Into something beautiful.

Limbs shiver from the cold

Brain fogged with fatigue

It would be so easy to stop.

But that’s happened before.

And you regret it every time.

Regret the treasures you planned but never built

The time you spend digging with no spoils

The dreams you cast out only to starve.

It’s the midpoint.

There’s no sign of the finish line.

But you dig down deep into the earth

Down to your shoulder, feeling blind

For that next little nugget of gold. 

And this time. You will find it.

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #new poem #poem #poetry month #free verse

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 14

Your Worst Enemy

Air burns in your chest

You can’t do this

Your limbs losing strength

It’s a waste of time

Head too heavy to look up

It’s a waste of energy

Too afraid to meet their eyes

You’ll never succeed

Each step is so painful

Not when you’re this useless

Dragging reluctant feet and heavy arms

They are so much better than you

The next step feels impossible

You can’t hope to compare

But you take it anyway

You can’t hope to compete

Raise arms that try to turn to jelly

You will make a fool of yourself

Lift your head that wants to crouch and cower

They’re going to judge you

You know that you will lose

They’ll know the truth about you now

But failure is only temporary

Just give up

So try again

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #new poem #poem #poetry month #free verse #mental health

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 13

Sherwood

There is nothing wild here anymore. No unruly underbrush beyond nettles and bluebells, kept away from wide paths made safe for buggies and bikes. Dive into the trees, stray from the road and still, every few steps there is a well trodden trail to overlap with another walker. Nature is alive and well and green and cultivated. A clearing here. A signpost to civilisation there. Artificial wilderness, made pretty for the masses to tramp over and ogle all the way to the crown jewel of the forest. In a throne of pillars bearing the weight of branches too old, too heavy, too worn by hands touching and feet treading.

But in the heart, where the trails are thin

You can see the trees speak to each other

Years of challenges and truces

Over sun and wind and space

Stretching out in branches that never touch.

Higher and higher, making bridges

For birds to rest and sing

And squirrels to skip over.

Winds whisper and whip through the trunks

Into a roar that echoes through the woods.

You could believe that creatures roam here

Those that hide from our touch wander

To hunt and herd and fight and live.

In the heart, away from our world,

The wild gathers and grows

And sings its symphony. 

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 12

The Dungeon's City

Ghostly city carved of stone

Narrow brickwork alleys

Stretching from wall to wall

Within the monstrous chasm

Silent but for the squatters

Sneaking across cobblestones

To scout and hunt and raid

Avoiding icy spectres

Bound to life in limbo

Praying for a final end

For the torment to stop

For the Mad Mage to rest.

But no. No first comes fire

Scarlet scales growl and glimmer

Glowing eyes scan for something

Hunting. Hunting. Hunting.

For a legacy long gone.

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #free verse #new poem #poem #poetry month

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 11

Another

Another call

Another step forward back to step one

Another plaster over broken bones

Still trying to bear weight

Another day with traitorous thoughts

Threatening my every breath

Waiting to be told how to live with them

Never rid of them, just exist with them

Another day of praying this time will work

That I won't need to be worse 

before they help me get better

Another waiting list, waiting, waiting,

Waiting to be fixed

To be told I'm not broken

To be told I'm unfixable

To be told I'm fine

To be told it's all in my head

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #free verse #new poem #poem #poetry month #mental health

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 10

Regret

'You made your decisions.'

That was what you said

With steel eyes and icy breath

Cold fury freezing your heart

While returning the last of mine

Still bathed in your cologne

Filled with gravedirt and dust 

'And I made mine.'

Let me take it back. Please.

I would give anything

For time to unravel beneath our feet

Rewind to relive the first time we'll meet

Undo battles staged in black and white

For a second chance at our final night 

Our love so bright, it had barely begun

Let me take your hand and ask you to run

'Now we die by them.'

No. That won't be allowed

This dusty dying heart 

Shatters at the thought

Of a world without you in it

My world already lost your light

But your star can't be snuffed out

Not yet, not today, not ever

Evil yearns and good prevails

But there is nothing good about this fate

Of a life alone. A world without you.

You will keep your resolve I know

Your will is titanium, dear heart

But I will deny you this fate

Even as it guarantees mine.

But you will survive this

For only one of us needs to die.

#napowrimo #poetry #poets on tumblr #free verse #new poem #poem #poetry month #lovers to enemies

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 9

The Hunt Begins

Black pits swallow yellow eyes

Watching every twitch, every breath

Absorbing all sights and colours

Until nothing can hide.

Close to the ground, unperceived

Coiling tighter and tenser

Waiting for the perfect point

To leap, to bounce, to strike and kill

There. The weak point revealed

Shuffle to get the strength 

And 

Pounce.

Success.

Now to claw and bite and bring the beast-

No. The beast resists. Looming above

Paws rip apart the death grip

Like its nothing

The beast hisses, before roaring back

Grappling limbs and tails

And flinging the hunter away

Before fleeing for peace.

That's right, the hunter thinks

Run from your fate. You have peace

For now.

#poetry #poetry month #poets on tumblr #new poem #napowrimo #free verse #poem

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 8

All Of You

Do not ask me to name my favourite part of you

I cannot answer, no matter how hard I try

There is too much of you to commit to ink

No answer less than “all of you” could satisfy

I never fail to get lost in your coffee eyes

Until your honey smile makes me beg for a taste 

There’s nothing like feathersoft kisses to pass the time 

Until I lose the day in your warm embrace

Fill my days with unapologetic laughter

And let whispered secrets consume all my nights

Make me despair at every pun and one liner

While I deny that I bask in your sheer delight

The world’s taunts hold no power, for your warm love

Soothes the aches they promise before they can try

A gift so forbidden I could never dream of

Until it filled every day, lighting up my sky

So don’t present a rose to make me choose one part

For only when whole, is it the rose I adore

So please, ink all your existence into my soul

So I can love all of you, forevermore. 

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #new poem #poetry month #napowrimo #love poem #love and romance

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 7

That Wears the Crown

Such a lofty weight, I sit on your brow

Knowing this symbol makes you watched in awe

But despite the power I might endow

I know that I will never be adored. 

That is not my purpose, what I inspire

In mortal hearts will never be that sweet

I know envy rises from their desire

Until your reign, their craving unseats 

Or their hearts instead are bittered by hate

Loathing me and the brows I adorn

What violent worlds my existence creates

And in the end, I am doomed to be scorned

Such beauty I bear, spun from jewels and gold

But break me and watch my power unfold

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #new poem #poetry month #napowrimo #sonnet #crown

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 6

Disclaimer - I had never heard of a ghazal before I found this prompt, so this is my first attempt at one. Also my first attempt at a refrain. Do with that what you will.

Ghazal - Dreams

Old childhood homes are now less than a dream

Of when the magic of life could make you dream

Every road made grand by innocent eyes

Led to undiscovered, newly made dreams

Wonder was still free to claim and trade

Before concrete and steel could threaten dreams

Shoulders crack, back breaks under growing weight

Breeding pain and despair to smother dreams

There's power in this name, gather the Ash

To scatter into a phoenix fire dream

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #new poem #ghazal #poetry month #napowrimo

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 5

The First Ride

Dragons cannot be tamed.

You are living proof

even with every rider that tried to

that rode you and bound you.

The fire under your scales never weakened

never wavered, rippling with every step

every glare, every breath.

I approach, broaching the chasm 

that guards us from your ire

heat climbing higher

while you watch and regard

ancient eyes holding deadly sparks

to render me to ash.

But I approach, mother tongue strong

even as flesh wavers and winds whip

to steal my voice, my plea, my chance.

The fire stays back

long enough for me to touch scorching scales.

Leather ropes pale in comparison.

You cannot be bound

be tamed, remade, by something so quaint.

But you've been ridden before. 

So I'll ride you next.

Before your wings spread I sit above the mountains.

Before the ground splits I could touch the stars.

And then you lift. And soar.

And for a moment I fall.

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #new poem #poetry month #napowrimo #free verse #house of the dragon

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 4

Untitled

Oh darling son and dearest brother

What arrogance calls from your chest

Thinking you know best

About how the world spins and speaks

And stills

Lending no ear to heartbroken whispers

Until the only sound left is rage

You try to cage

Too afraid to shake the dust from your rafters

There's comfort in your puppet strings

That cut green ideas before they bloom

There's no room

For words that might sprout new roots

Around ashen customs they still feed you

They need you

To carry the torch without knowing what sparked it

To continue the fight without knowing the cause

Or course

Your monochrome sight will take you

No questions! They gave you answers

No doubt! They inspired faith 

Righteously placed

So don't sway

Don’t speak

Don't

Break

Believe everything they say 

so you stay

Their perfect son and loyal brother

#poetry #poets on tumblr #poem #new poem #poetry month #napowrimo #free verse

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 3

Painting Against the Rain

(Inspired by a video of someone doing street art as it rained)

Pitter 

Patter

So it begins

The race to make

Colour take shape

No time to waste

Each pitter streaks against the paint

The patter shifts the white to grey

Droplets cut through perfect lines 

Stinging, stealing, seeping, bleeding

Threatening the magic before

The lines can take their final form

But life still springs from shaking hands

And in the rain, the paint can dance

The form lingers

Edges flicker

Blending quicker

Turning into

Something

Unique

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #poetry month #napowrimo #new poem #free verse

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 2

So day 2 sparked one idea, that then immediately developed a response, and the next thing you know I have a three part story across three poems. So here's a triple treat!

Lament of the Heartbroken

Do you believe in life after letting go?

Once half starved love finally burns away?

Can I believe in love with what I now know?

The promise of maybe once made my heart glow

Fuelled by fantasies of our future days

Do you believe in life after letting go?

What’s left of my love cannot feed the crows

Plucking at scraps before I decay

Can I believe in love with what I now know?

The pain is too much, I have to forego

The dream of those words I wish you might say

Do you believe in life after letting go?

No other betrayal brought me so low

So I'll abandon my tears, make apathy stay.

Can I believe in love with what I now know?

You’ve been blind too long to this heartbreak and woe

Now my world withers, colours lost to the Grey

Do you believe in life after letting go?

Can I believe in love with what I now know?

The Heartbreaker’s Prayer

Only after the drought came could I know

The feast of colour you brought to my door

The light and love seemed to endlessly grow

I never thought twice about taking more

I assumed your love was infinite

Now harsh truth hangs in the void where you stood

How I starved that heart once so passionate

I would take all of it back if I could. 

How can I save this life, make your heart bloom

With that blinding joy and laughter once more?

Your icy veneer is promising doom

That threatens to leave me in the dark once more

Dear heart, how can I earn the right to stay

And show you what I was too afraid to say?

Telltale Heart

Your heart is where it belongs.

Filling the spaces in the walls

setting the pace that my world spins

until I fall asleep to its rhythm.

The rattle in the floorboards

seeps into my chest until my heart

learns to memorise the beat.

The rat a tat in everything

brings us back into tune,

fills the space with you again

while I wait for the books

and the adventures

and your smile to return.

#poets on tumblr #poetry #poem #newpoem #poetrymonth #villanelle #sonnet #napowrimo #freeverse

[astoryscribbler]

NaPoWriMo - Day 1

I have been attempting National Poetry Writing Month and so far have eight days of poetry to my name. Yes they’re on other social media but it felt appropriate to put them up the on the site that I made for writing. So this one is day one, I will get the others up soon until I’m all caught up!

Transformation

There is no instant crash, lightning flash, switch from day to night

No spell to change this form like a phoenix sets alight

Magic cast in flesh is slow, no blades ever seen

Or sharp scalpels draw out where to split the seams

Speed requires violent body breaking pain

Or you wait an age with little gain

But the magic is never still

It creeps in at its own will

Until the reflection

Shows the magic’s fruits

The inner truth

Finally

Revealed.

Hi. 

#poets on tumblr #poetry #newpoem #poetrymonth #napowrimo

[astoryscribbler]