#versifyingpens

[kidgillis]

I'm in need of something. I'm not sure exactly what it is. But there's a craving for it—a need to experience what it could bring. There's a desire for it. It's so close but still so far away. I can feel it. I can sense it. I can hear it. I'm just not sure of its name. It is everything I need in the moment and everything I want in the future. It is everything I could ask for, but none of the things I thought were vital. I changed from being in its presence to just wanting to be engulfed by it entirely. It doesn't make sense to most, but to me, I finally understand. A healthy love will scare you, have you run for the hills, and leave you to examine yourself before figuring out your need to return. This is an experience worth losing yourself and your pride for. I'm just happy to learn that without complications and repercussions.

[chuckakot]

I secretly love you, I am summoned you near me, synchronized you with time, and if time happens to be an imponderable content, let your affection venture in me, let this love be a stature of formlessness, let it dwell in me a substance of belonging, your belonging to me, is a spirit of illumination, it is a light in the dark, for I am situated to you, to drown and become syncopated, to sink in your belly, for I am giving you this permission, to translate my soul into stars, for this is freedom, this is the constellation in you, to glide gently in space, and this love is justified, it has taken roots, flowering like mankind.

— Chuck Akot, Fiorire come l'umanità

[justscribbledwords]

Was you not loving me a choice of yours or a consequence of me being the way i am?

[divedintothedark]

Here I am once again,

Back on the doorstep of loneliness.

Purple and blue:

Bruised knees.

Red. Red. Red:

Blood on the floor.

Black all around:

Darkness enshrouds me.

Home is not a place where your heart resides,

Rather, it is a place where your heart loses itself;

Leaving an empty hole behind,

And I am once again back home.

~M.W.

[ateardropintheocean]

What’s wrong with taking a sabbatical?

.

What’s wrong with taking a sabbatical?

You fear that it’s something so radical,

Time off can lead to happenings magical-

Mental peace, clear goals, shifts subliminal..

 .

Whats wrong with taking a sabbatical?

Even if nothing happens that’s magical,

Even if people that matter look quizzical,

Even if you can’t justify how it’s logical.. 

.

What’s wrong with taking a sabbatical?

Nothing, for you can’t always choose practical

Nothing, for you need to refocus and mull,

Nothing, for this one’s for you, imperfect you.

.

[the-destiny-of-the-pendulum]

if you asked me what trauma is I would tell you it is the crows in my chest with flightless wings their eyes frenzied wild and distressed flapping flapping flapping with each shallow breath

if you asked me what trauma is I’d say too many crows in a crowded cage agitated and restless clawing clawing clawing with nowhere to nest.

[autumnsunshine10]

Time for a rewrite, right?

[nikithathampy]

How much longer ?

How much longer will it be, before I finally know, if this is love or not? There's no way it couldn't be and nothing terrifies me more. I'm passing each day praying we won't meet, when in reality I'm jumping from place to place thinking of your photo hidden in my gallery. Excited we come close, scared we don't dare disturb the reality. Many a difference layed out in-between and that undying fire within to accompany. Such an urge to ignore everything and all, yet such compulsion of life that you cannot. Exhilaration becomes me when you're around, it's pure bliss and yet, I'll admit I'm scared it's love, it's You.

How much longer so you think it will be, before I know ?

~nt

[dementia7]

intermezzo

Sick in the organs— regular career [golden demo] I wanted—        degradation, notorious love;

play between two others— [intermezzo]

I am yr wife, but I am not like you—        conjugal limbo,          talus scree—

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.

[imperiallefty]

You don't get to live peacefully in this world when lives like these are so violently ripped from it unjustly. No justice. No peace. For without justice how can there be peace?

”Oluwatoyin ‘Toyin’ Salau” - Say Her Name

[prasannawrites]

portraiture of you by the lighthouse.

your skin drinks the pale moonlight; your lambent lips beckons to the sea whose waves falls apart on our feet, begging for mercy. i move to comb my fingers through your silken hair, jet-black like the night sky, before stopping myself in a moment of hesitation. i wonder how many times your mother massaged your scalp and hair with coconut oil – was it a point of contention for you, or was it moments where you can revert back to childhood, devoid of worries, a time where the world was pulled still? cinnamon in your eyes: it was my turn to drink that in. your eyes shifted gravity, drawing those who gaze into them closer. holding eye contact for longer than a second is a type of intimacy that i was never comfortable, but you were the sadist, tearing me apart with your gaze and i, a masochist enjoying in secret. the lighthouse’s beacon catches you in full bloom; the freckles scattered across your face is my favourite constellation. i could kiss you right now, and taste infinity, i'm certain of it. the winds are lithe in your company, you shape it into poetry with steady fingers. it’s moments like this i wholly escape the burden of existence; you carry enough life in you for two bodies, but it would be selfish of me to ask you of that. instead, i watch you with dissipated breath, wishing for the tides to swallow me whole or for the salted winds to ebb me to nothing. like many matters in my life, i settle for the next best thing. you pull me closer and we collapse into a heap. tonight is devoid of warmth, but you radiate enough for the both of us,

you’re giving like that. you give wholly, i wonder if you know how self-destructive that is? i reignite the watchfire we made earlier and did not tend to, it roars and my heart crackles. you stare at the horizon, wondering how many ships failed to make it there, and i stare at you, wondering if you know that you’re the shore i swim back to, when i get tired of trying to cross the horizon. the darkling sky splinters, leaving the milky way naked. distant, ambient – everything you aspired to be. you surmised those who live an unfulfilling life is destined to be a star, an apology in death.   “there’s a lot of stars” i said. “tonight” you added.   you were always like that, bound to the transient, focused on the now, the fleeting moments, it was your way of conquering time. so you lived to the fullest, painted yourself as transparent as one can, fearing the future not for what it brings, but what it takes. conscious of the panoply of memories you leave with others, you do your best to do no harm – and i? i fight the urge to bite the sun, ripping hydrogen from it and swallow it, holding all the words under immense weight until it detonates, leveling those in the vicinity. i redirect my gaze back to you, you’re asleep, on the cusp of snoring. the type of sleep that’s needed when your soul is exhausted. i anchor myself and stroke your hair.  

[kidgillis]

I remember being told I must arrive at my sacred space. Only I will know when and where I am supposed to be. That those I meet along my journey there will teach me great things. That my only mission is to become who I'm supposed to be. I was born for this mission. With love, I was nurtured on this path. I've had many firsts here. I've taken many wins and losses. Ten years ago, I learned how to walk into rooms confidently. Smile on my face, head up, shoulder back, walking confidently in my stride. Twenty years ago, I learned how to capture the hearts of those I encountered. Allowing honesty to set my pace, having a mix of kindness escape my lips, and open intellect to express my thoughts while positive vibrations set my vibe. Thirty years ago, I learned how to embrace and release all that I experienced. Operating in divine feminine nature, intuned with my emotions, led by a God's spirit, and blessed with ancient wisdom and intuition - I became human. And I'm beyond delighted to continue learning in this place...This beautiful place.

[chuckakot]

Sometimes, you have to leave people, just there, in that vacancy of space, to give yourself peace, to embrace your own version of life without them. What is yours will be yours.

— Chuck Akot

[justscribbledwords]

Beauty was never a tag given to me, neither was pretty. I do remember being called fat, a lot. Though not always the same word but yes that was my tag. And it was also a fact.

So am I allowed to feel bad about do it or do I need to put on a brave face and dismiss a fact? Why can’t it be a fact and why can’t I be allowed to feel bad about it?

For me fat has always been just a word until people started to tell me that it was a bad word for me and that I should dismiss it.

Why do I have to believe that I am beautiful in my own way no matter what, when I know I am not and I am okay with it. Or at least I was until you all came along and told me I wasn’t supposed to be okay with it. And now I am not.

[divedintothedark]

Stay with me,

So that our souls get entangled,

And lost within the other;

Not just our bodies.

Our hearts will whisper,

The words that remained unsaid.

The stardust that flows in your veins,

Will pour down like heavy rain,

And every inch of my body,

Will glow with your name.

-Always and forever

~M.W.

[mortalghost]

All we want is love, and to be loved, insecurities,

Blemishes, and scars. The world is filled with enough

Hatred that we've forgotten how to love. Why hold

Back another from living, and loving, as they are?

Embrace the world, nurture the future,

Be here...now. Tomorrow is only a fairy tale

If you don't believe in making it come true.

-H. Murcia 9:10 PM 6/28/2020