u/One-Consequence4104

Perennials blooming in mid-April,
yet they’ve been here all winter.
Awakened by spring's morning dew,
shocked back to life.
Kind of like me, in a way,
the moment I met you.

Rested through a deep slumber,
broken in two since birth.
You were an idea even then,
just not yet flowered.
Budding, maybe.

Years later, I was two.
You arrived completely unburdened.
You would carry weight later,
but then, you were unstained.
I like you better worn.
Sometimes I think of you then.
Me then.
Imagine if we met at that time—
maybe we wouldn't be so jaded.

We are what we are:
planets birthed in the blink of an eye,
inhabited by strangers who take us for granted,
dirtying our streets with garbage.
Yet, I have learned to be thankful for it—
the trash-filled streets and the sweeps who pick it up.
Is that why inmates pick up trash?

Then we ignited.
I was the matchbook, you the match.
Ablaze we set,
looking at pieces of art,
never checking our watches for time.

You already had a child.
I did too.
That is how fields come to life:
different flowers,
of different colors and shapes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vkks5g/commuters_crisis/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vkj14a/the_matador_and_the_bull/

If you were coffee, I would take you black.
No sugar. No cream.
Rich and absolute.
Your flavor multiplied.
Harvested in some remote mountain town.
A delicacy.

If you were whiskey, I would pour you neat.
No ice. No chaser.
Burning and unfiltered.
Your warmth magnified.
Aged in barrels for years unnumbered.
A luxury.

If you were vinyl, I would play you raw.
No speakers. No needle-skips.
Loud and analog.
Your cadence amplified.
Carved into the heavy wax of a master tape.
A classic.

If you were ocean, I would sail you blind.
No map. No compass.
Swift and relentless.
Your depths mystified.
Mirrored cleanly by a sea of falling stars.
A dream.

If you were perfume, I would wear you pure.
No lotion. No blend.
Warm and breathless.
Your essence personified.
Crushed drop by drop from a midnight bloom.
An obsession.

If you were tobacco, I would smoke you bare.
No filter. No paper.
Heavy and slow.
Your presence intensified.
Cured under a blistering, golden sun.
An addiction.

If you were coffee, I would take you black.
No sugar. No cream.
Rich and absolute.
Your flavor multiplied.
Harvested in some remote mountain town.
A delicacy.

If you were whiskey, I would pour you neat.
No ice. No chaser.
Burning and unfiltered.
Your warmth magnified.
Aged in barrels for years unnumbered.
A luxury.

If you were vinyl, I would play you raw.
No speakers. No needle-skips.
Loud and analog.
Your cadence amplified.
Carved into the heavy wax of a master tape.
A classic.

If you were ocean, I would sail you blind.
No map. No compass.
Swift and relentless.
Your depths mystified.
Mirrored cleanly by a sea of falling stars.
A dream.

If you were perfume, I would wear you pure.
No lotion. No blend.
Warm and breathless.
Your essence personified.
Crushed drop by drop from a midnight bloom.
An obsession.

If you were tobacco, I would smoke you bare.
No filter. No paper.
Heavy and slow.
Your presence intensified.
Cured under a blistering, golden sun.
An addiction.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v9xfjv/a_red_wind_chime/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v9zblk/i_say_it_to_myself/

Framed in mirror glasses of a fractured goodbye,
Hollow fragments of broken static changed a tune unsung.
Yesterday's dreams become yesterday's regret tomorrow;
Forgetful pigmentations harboring cracks in cement.

Broken, painful sighs of relief.
Shallow beats missing another systematic recharge:
A picture, a moment, a passing hello,
Posted smiles on your wall of forgetfulness.

A lift of a top hat thrown on backseats filled with magazines,
Cluttered mindfulness displacing what once was prioritized.
Hang me up to dry with the clothes you won't wear again.

But alas, maybe...

Forget me not.

Framed in mirror glasses of a fractured goodbye,
Hollow fragments of broken static changed a tune unsung.
Yesterday's dreams become yesterday's regret tomorrow;
Forgetful pigmentations harboring cracks in cement.

Broken, painful sighs of relief.
Shallow beats missing another systematic recharge:
A picture, a moment, a passing hello,
Posted smiles on your wall of forgetfulness.

A lift of a top hat thrown on backseats filled with magazines,
Cluttered mindfulness displacing what once was prioritized.
Hang me up to dry with the clothes you won't wear again.

But alas, maybe...

Forget me not.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v82p6z/powerless/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v81n56/part_1_in_the_beginning/

Desperation of love unrequited
Casual brush strokes from a stranger uninvited
Downward spiral of admiration unguided

Longing, could you learn to love?
Casting care like a net hoping to catch one.

Sparks on parchment waiting to be ignited
Civil battles avoiding to be sighted
Betrothment yearning to be plighted

Begging, could you notice?
Light them all hoping to match one.

Silent admiration left unacknowledged and slighted
Bitter freezing winter of affection undecided
Breathless connection what love would be provided

Weeping, could you reciprocate?
Breathing into ashes hoping to revive one.

Silent monologues yet to be indited
Anxious pulses from looks too excited
Perfect stranger yet love expedited

Yearning, could you grant release?
Throwing expressions like stones hoping to strike one.

An empty devotion too often one-sided
Covetous sentiments longing for love incited
Torture lingering achingly delimited

Pleading, could you look back?
Gazing at the stars hoping to align one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v6hs56/to_my_father/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v6hb4b/pressure/

I wrote two versions of this poem one is just free verse and then I restructured it to make it flow. Let me know what you think.

Its Still Not Time (Free Verse)

I saw you walking
Pride in every step
Are you walking backwards
Maybe you're floating
Either way I noticed
Something in your step said otherwise

Are you lonely
Or just afraid
Balancing sanity at all costs
Tectonic plates shift at the quake of your step
A juggling act between reality and non-fiction

Just a few more steps
You're almost there
To the finish and starting line

Deep breath

It's just a dream you tell yourself
Soon you'll be awake
Or is it soon you'll get to sleep
Either way you're tired

You look cool
Calm, yet uneasy
Trusting yourself
All the while not recognizing the mirror
Thought you heard your phone
You always keep it on silent
No text, no call
Still waiting
You check your watch
It's still not time
Back home

Its Still Not the Time

I saw you walking with pride in your stride,
But something was shifting or slipping inside.
Are you moving backwards, or floating in space?
Either way, I noticed the uncertainty in your pace.

Are you lonely, or afraid?
Balancing sanity, wishing you would have stayed.
The tectonic plates start to quake as you tread,
A juggling act in the space in your head.

Just a few more steps and you’ll be done,
The finish and starting lines will have only begun.

Deep breath.

It’s only a dream that you tell yourself keeps,
Are you waking up soon, or just starting to sleep?
The answer is blurred, but the truth remains clear:
You are utterly tired of everything here.

You try to look cool, standing calm yet uneasy,
Trusting your feet saying the mirror doesn't see me.
You swear that it rang, but your phone is still numb,
No text and no call, but the waiting will come.
You check on your watch, but the hands won't align.
Back home in the dark. It is still not the time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5a7th/wanting_becoming/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v51u9y/if_my_heart_could_speak/

The Anticipation of antiquation to an end
The Bastardization, brutalization from a friend
The Constipation of capitulation tends
The Domination of demolition you would send

The Expiration of emancipation of your sin
A Formulation of fabrication let in
The Glorification of grossification it lends
A Hallucination of harmonization attends

The Idealization of isolation akin
The Juxtaposition of justification herein
The Kyanisation and keratinization of skin

A Lamentation from laceration chagrin
The Manipulation of matrurization wore thin
A Nauseation and nervation within

The Ostracization and obliteration of kin
Had a Premonition the proposition would begin
In Preparation the population would bend

A Qualification or quotation to mend
The Recommendation for recirculation to defend
A Saturation of simulation to pretend
The Termination of terrorization to lend

An Unappreciation for unification like gin
A Vacation from validation you grin
The Westernization of winterization like wind

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v6a183/with_an_umbrella_into_the_dark/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v651h9/nothing_changes_if_nothing_changes/

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Concerned for what was wrong,
“All is right,” they always told me.
Cornered, I stood among the flames.

My one and only home they consumed.
Extinguish them I always sought—
no fire, they always conclude.
Holding my ground, I fight—I choose.
Yet the more I tried, the more I lost
The more ground I defend, the bigger the flames got
Was I chasing a safe spot
or was I chased by cold flames?
So what for, if one never chose me too?

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Done everything right, as much as I could,
yet the appreciation I feared they couldn’t show.
Maybe i was never meant to fight
So one last resort–
I sit back, fists to the ground
Eyes closed, and hope–
To hear silence, amongst the crackles of flames
Maybe peace, will be coming home
But if not–

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Walking away, it’s all I had left—
away from a home burned to the ground.
Look back, I still see beauty in its ashes.
Heart aches, stay and try, Heart wishes—

yet there’s nothing I can rebuild alone.
So I step on my heart, and just walk.

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Beauty might’ve slipped out of my hands, true—
I hope the softness of my palms is what she misses.
Holding it tighter would only choke her.
I can never call her back if silence is all I’ll get.

Yet my sadness whispers:
Hope she feels the bitter absence of
my voice in another’s words.
And the roughness, of another’s touch

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

**"**That's why I told u l've never loved uu bcs if I did ..! won't be able to forget uuu just after a while and after a lot of suffer" She typed

So one last thought I must reply:

Regardless me or another, a living or a thing
The scale of oblivion is not always–
slow or fast, easy or hard, painful or not

Once we believe something’s truly beautiful,
we hold on, even at the edge of amnesia
Presence or absence, love or hatred—
beauty is remembered.
What can’t be changed cannot be unmade either.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/NDmDGb0pso

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/HPIyeRFgwV

I wrote two versions of this poem one is just free verse and then I restructured it to make it flow. Let me know what you think.

**Its Still Not Time (Free Verse)**

I saw you walking
Pride in every step
Are you walking backwards
Maybe you're floating
Either way I noticed
Something in your step said otherwise

Are you lonely
Or just afraid
Balancing sanity at all costs
Tectonic plates shift at the quake of your step
A juggling act between reality and non-fiction

Just a few more steps
You're almost there
To the finish and starting line

Deep breath

It's just a dream you tell yourself
Soon you'll be awake
Or is it soon you'll get to sleep
Either way you're tired

You look cool
Calm, yet uneasy
Trusting yourself
All the while not recognizing the mirror
Thought you heard your phone
You always keep it on silent
No text, no call
Still waiting
You check your watch
It's still not time
Back home

**Its Still Not the Time**

I saw you walking with pride in your stride,
But something was shifting or slipping inside.
Are you moving backwards, or floating in space?
Either way, I noticed the uncertainty in your pace.

Are you lonely, or afraid?
Balancing sanity, wishing you would have stayed.
The tectonic plates start to quake as you tread,
A juggling act in the space in your head.

Just a few more steps and you’ll be done,
The finish and starting lines will have only begun.

Deep breath.

It’s only a dream that you tell yourself keeps,
Are you waking up soon, or just starting to sleep?
The answer is blurred, but the truth remains clear:
You are utterly tired of everything here.

You try to look cool, standing calm yet uneasy,
Trusting your feet saying the mirror doesn't see me.
You swear that it rang, but your phone is still numb,
No text and no call, but the waiting will come.
You check on your watch, but the hands won't align.
Back home in the dark. It is still not the time.

Casually, carelessly lying pieces down
Like boxing day
Hurry, hurry, hurry
Put it all away
Clear out the memories
Save it for a rainy day

Disorderly, dastardly ripping pages out
Like a book I hate
Quickly, quickly, quickly
Watching the color fade
Get rid of everything
Bleach all the stains

Costly, crassly burning pieces out
Like a bad date
Rapidly, rapidly, rapidly
Forgetting every way
How you left me feeling
Tell me it'll be okay

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5m7xz/calico/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5l6ep/the_world_was_spinning_so_fast/

Speak now or forever hold your piece
The pistol chamber freshly cleaned
Your words are bullets unloaded
But your silence cuts deep

Speak now or forever hold a grudge
Let your silence not be the judge
Your forbearance could save an explosion
But your death could be unwillingness to budge

Speak now or forever hold your chisel
The spark that started the flame starts to fizzle
Your words could be a corrosion
Your silence could be as sharp as a thistle

Speak now or forever hold your pride
Your unspoken words having nowhere to hide
Caving in yourself a silent implosion
Wishing you spoke or had even tried

Speak now or forever hold your feelings
The words unspoken from you are stealing
They could be what's needed for erosion
The outer shell you hold started peeling

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5eawf/comment/ozi4a5s/?context=1&screen_view_count=5

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5eh4w/i_was_here/

I wrote two versions of this poem one is just free verse and then I restructured it to make it flow. Let me know what you think.

Its Still Not Time (Free Verse)

I saw you walking
Pride in every step
Are you walking backwards
Maybe you're floating
Either way I noticed
Something in your step said otherwise

Are you lonely
Or just afraid
Balancing sanity at all costs
Tectonic plates shift at the quake of your step
A juggling act between reality and non-fiction

Just a few more steps
You're almost there
To the finish and starting line

Deep breath

It's just a dream you tell yourself
Soon you'll be awake
Or is it soon you'll get to sleep
Either way you're tired

You look cool
Calm, yet uneasy
Trusting yourself
All the while not recognizing the mirror
Thought you heard your phone
You always keep it on silent
No text, no call
Still waiting
You check your watch
It's still not time
Back home

Its Still Not the Time

I saw you walking with pride in your stride,
But something was shifting or slipping inside.
Are you moving backwards, or floating in space?
Either way, I noticed the uncertainty in your pace.

Are you lonely, or afraid?
Balancing sanity, wishing you would have stayed.
The tectonic plates start to quake as you tread,
A juggling act in the space in your head.

Just a few more steps and you’ll be done,
The finish and starting lines will have only begun.

Deep breath.

It’s only a dream that you tell yourself keeps,
Are you waking up soon, or just starting to sleep?
The answer is blurred, but the truth remains clear:
You are utterly tired of everything here.

You try to look cool, standing calm yet uneasy,
Trusting your feet saying the mirror doesn't see me.
You swear that it rang, but your phone is still numb,
No text and no call, but the waiting will come.
You check on your watch, but the hands won't align.
Back home in the dark. It is still not the time.

I wrote two versions of this poem one is just free verse and then I restructured it to make it flow. Let me know what you think.

Its Still Not Time (Free Verse)

I saw you walking
Pride in every step
Are you walking backwards
Maybe you're floating
Either way I noticed
Something in your step said otherwise

Are you lonely
Or just afraid
Balancing sanity at all costs
Tectonic plates shift at the quake of your step
A juggling act between reality and non-fiction

Just a few more steps
You're almost there
To the finish and starting line

Deep breath

It's just a dream you tell yourself
Soon you'll be awake
Or is it soon you'll get to sleep
Either way you're tired

You look cool
Calm, yet uneasy
Trusting yourself
All the while not recognizing the mirror
Thought you heard your phone
You always keep it on silent
No text, no call
Still waiting
You check your watch
It's still not time
Back home

Its Still Not the Time

I saw you walking with pride in your stride,
But something was shifting or slipping inside.
Are you moving backwards, or floating in space?
Either way, I noticed the uncertainty in your pace.

Are you lonely, or afraid?
Balancing sanity, wishing you would have stayed.
The tectonic plates start to quake as you tread,
A juggling act in the space in your head.

Just a few more steps and you’ll be done,
The finish and starting lines will have only begun.

Deep breath.

It’s only a dream that you tell yourself keeps,
Are you waking up soon, or just starting to sleep?
The answer is blurred, but the truth remains clear:
You are utterly tired of everything here.

You try to look cool, standing calm yet uneasy,
Trusting your feet saying the mirror doesn't see me.
You swear that it rang, but your phone is still numb,
No text and no call, but the waiting will come.
You check on your watch, but the hands won't align.
Back home in the dark. It is still not the time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v5a7th/wanting_becoming/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v51u9y/if_my_heart_could_speak/

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