I See You

I see her while she's crying,
I see him while he tries
to conjure up a reason
to believe your lazy lies.
I see her while she's smiling
her way through agony.
I see you while you hurt my friends.
But you never see me.

I see you while you craft a god
to justify your claim.
I see you when you crack the whip,
ignoring cries of pain.
I see you while you take her heart
and squeeze it 'til it breaks.
I see your victims wonder why,

and for them, my soul aches.

The One you say you serve knows well
your true identity.
The One whose name you spit upon,
He sees both you and me.
The rulers of a great domain,
you think yourselves to be.
Two monsters who will die alone
are all I'll ever see.

I've Just Had a Wonderful Day

I haven't been okay.
Not in the least, I'd say,
being without you.
Yet out of the blue,
I've just had a wonderful day.
I've no idea why
I'm touching the sky,
or why all the pain's gone away,
but through methods divine,
I am doing just fine,
and I'm hoping that feeling can stay.

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Weird!

Iron & Wine's 'Boy With a Coin'

Because why should this be all about me?

Song lyrics and poetry are decidedly different things. More often than not, trying to turn a poem into a song is disastrous. But on occasion, there are songs that work brilliantly even when their lyrics aren't attached to any melody or beat. 'Boy With a Coin' by Iron & Wine is one of these, and it inspired the previous poem I posted here.

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Boy with a coin
he found in the weeds
with bullets and pages
of trade magazines,
close to a car
that flipped on the turn,
when God left the ground
to circle the world.

Girl with a bird
she found in the snow
that flew up her gown,
and that's how she knows
that God made her eyes
for crying at birth,
and then left the ground
to circle the earth.

Boy with a coin
he crammed in his jeans,
then, making a wish,
he tossed in the sea
and walked to a town
that all of us burned
when God left the ground
to circle the world.

2014

I want to be
                a little godlier,
                                    a little smarter,
                                                         and a little nicer.
I want to think
                    a little more about others
and
     a little less about me.

I want to think
                     a little more with my head,
and
     a little less with my heart.

2013
       was
a
       big
year.

I'd
    like
a
   little
one.

Tomorrow

There's a beast at the door.
It's come here before,
though not so persistent as this,
and I fear it will bore
its way through the floor,
and offer an animal's kiss.

All the windows are barred,
but I've found it's hard
to keep out a beast so enthused,
and I've often been scarred,
and had my home marred
by the weapons I've had to use.

But I'm safe for the night.
The door is shut tight
against beasts, and wind, and sorrow.
I will wait for the light,
and then I will fight,
for it will get in tomorrow.

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Bit of a different rhyme scheme from most of my other stuff. My next poem, ya'll, will be the size of a children's book (think 'Where the Wild Things Are', probably longer), and I've already been working on it for what feels like forever, so hopefully it won't take much longer!

No Idea What to Call This One

I'd Call this 'ABBA Rhyme, Take One', but then everyone would be expecting a poem about Mama Mia and the Dancing Queen, and I would fall tragically short of their expectations. It is my first experience writing in this type of rhyme scheme, so hopefully a fast improvement is imminent.

---------------------

There's something that I want to say.
I can't recall, or just don't know,
just how I want the words to go.
I've tried to think of it all day.

There's something that I want to do,
yet can't remember how to choose
which games to win and which to lose,
or when to break the board in two.

There's something that I want to learn,
but I get in the way of that.
When inspiration asks to chat,
its every small advance I spurn.

There's someone who I want to greet,
but alterations must take place
before I'm fit to show my face.
Too much to edit and delete.

There's someone who I want to be.
He's left me here, and gone his way.
Though granted, if he were to stay,
he wouldn't get along with me.

----------------------

Man, I'm getting almost as annoyingly indecipherable as Coldplay's lyrics.

My Favorite Emily Dickinson Poem, and Something Else That I Haphazardly Wrote in Roughly Ten Minutes

That Thing

Jumping, bumping in the night,

Thrashing, gnashing, poised to bite.

Your every muscle’s tensed in fright

and you cannot avoid its sight.

As to what it is, I have no clue.

But you thought of something, didn’t you.

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I was tired, and I felt like blogging. I apologize.

In an attempt to save or at least slightly brighten this post, I am including below a little gem from the magnificent Emily Dickinson. From what I've read of her work, this is my personal favorite piece.

---------------------------------------------

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

-------------------------------------------

I like to think we would have been friends, Emily and I.