Nothing Is Real

You spent the night with someone else I can't help but wonder if I'm too hard to hold Am I that easy to forget? I should've known I can't make an impression Am I that hard to remember? Should've known I'm not that memorable Am I that easy to overlook? Should've known I couldn't catch…Read more Nothing Is Real

Desire

I wanted you as close as possible I wanted to live between the limbs of your ribs I wanted your silence and your words I wanted to bathe in the full moons of your irises I wanted your dreams whether they were impossible or coming true I wanted to sleep in the crescents of your…Read more Desire

My grief sits in my pelvis embedded in my womb kicking my ribs like an unborn child I didn’t want My anger throbs beneath my skin tender and swollen begging to be released like a splinter that won’t come out My heartbreak boils in my stomach stabbing and churning obnoxiously present like a parasite eating…Read more

Morning Mourning

imagine mourning the deepest love your heart has ever known it’s cold like killing the lights before the song is through

Sharing Flesh

I took a bite of your apple picked off the roadside tree Our teeth bit the same flesh The most intimate I've ever been

Journal Entry 12•10•23

I cannot stop watching videos of and looking at pictures of myself. Not at all out of vanity...out of pure desperation and trying to hold onto the memory of who I am...who I was. I'm trying to hold onto my identity, my existence, the core of who I am, for dear life. Grasping as if…Read more Journal Entry 12•10•23

Landing Place

My heart is tired of searching for a landing place I wander like a bird soaring across the ocean Every patch of land is just a mirage Every time I think I found a safe place to stop I cry tears of joy Only to discover it is unstable yet again I cannot find something…Read more Landing Place

Le Chagrin Féminin

To be a woman Is to hurt To be a woman Is to bleed To be a woman Is to yearn To be a women Is to grieve To be a woman Is to break To be a woman Is to give And never receive

Delusions

Does anyone see my heart At all Or was I imagining being known and loved I am weary from Always trying to kill This deep ocean of love within

Gushing

Love veils my thoughts softens my lens melts my worry and wraps me in a bubble of contentment When it shows up I am a bird tucked in its nest A baby content in a swaddle A cat in the sunshine My cheeks can't help but smile My chest fills up with warmth And my…Read more Gushing

poems rise in me like the tide as winter pulls summer under its cold shadow this longing deepens my heart only knows how to love you

Cedar Love

Love grows from my heart like cedars reaching towards the stars reaching towards the earth and reaching for each other growing in every directions growing in a liminal space

Silent Hope

I follow the moon across the ocean through the night Looking up with stary eyes and deep love as it waxes and wanes Imagining someone is watching too I rise every slow morning from my lunar dream in the pale light of silent hope Do you howl for love too?

A Taste of Heaven

I think of you and my chest caves in The knots in my stomach tighten And there’s an earthquake in my legs I never knew my angel could become my shadow I tried to speak your name out loud, but my voice cracked half way through I never knew it could hurt so much to…Read more A Taste of Heaven

Cradle of The Unknown

I amble gently down this path Collecting flowers and weaving poems Trying to capture the fleeting feelings I stitch my heart to these special places Until I’m blanketed in a patchwork of honey hued moments I follow the hems of the hills and valleys My eyes search for a landing place My feet crave solid…Read more Cradle of The Unknown

I am the prisoner of unfortunate timing Held captive my whole life by the shackles of having no where to put my love I think my heart must be off beat or my soul untethered Everything ends before it begins I’m endlessly tumbling in the undertows of Right person, wrong time Wrong person, right time…Read more

Patchwork Soul

I lost my thimble somewhere on the journey Now my needle keeps poking my thin skinned hands While I sew the last of my paisley print patches on the knees of my favorite rust pants And darn the holes in my tired striped sweater I’ve been wrapping bandaids around my fingers Like I wrap a…Read more Patchwork Soul

Full of Love

I am counting the collection of conversations that fizzled out Like the rings of a fallen tree My hands are blistered from the threadbare saw I use to cut myself off like dead and brittle branches Why does the world run from connection? I want to be turned to Like sunflowers turn to the sun…Read more Full of Love

Garden Whites

Dancing with the honeybees Wearing pollen like gold bangles On their velvet spindle legs Flirting with the garden whites Adorned with obsidian jewels On their powdered alabaster wings I am dusted with peace In their wandering presence The dandle of their wings And kiss of their feet On my sun honeyed skin Is natures olive…Read more Garden Whites

Mountains of Life

I wake to the Cascades softly silhouetted by a peach stained sky I stare at the ranges of curves and summits the ebbs and flows of each valley and ridge I try to memorize the movement of the mountains To engrave the shapes and patterns of their peaks in my mind All in a desperate…Read more Mountains of Life

Night Has Settled

I walk out into the night And my tears turn into trickling stardust rivers As I marvel at setting sunbeams & shadows performing a lover’s dance I look out and striking contrasts appear Darkness forms a backdrop While light lines the edges of the mountain’s collarbones defines the irises of the sea and silhouettes the…Read more Night Has Settled

Overflow

Here is a recitation of the poem. My restless mind is keeping me up in the night yet again The nocturnal hurt is always the worst Every night, these confusing thoughts keep their midnight oil on a slow burn until I finally drift off from pure exhaustion Tonight, the fire won’t fade I rise from…Read more Overflow

Poison of Apathy

I am kept from sleep by utter indifference A coping mechanism that has never settled right with me I want to care, I want to hope But when counting everything from the stars to a piece of sand, There is so much in this world to care about I pendulum wildly between adoration and apathy…Read more Poison of Apathy

Light Reveals Shadows

The pretty full moon scenes had me reflecting on some things. Here’s a poem about shadow work. I’m working on recognizing the parts of myself that I *can* work on, then taking steps to improve them. As well as recognizing the parts of me I have become insecure about, but *can’t* really change (my appearance,…Read more Light Reveals Shadows

Stardust

This post is a bit different. It's not a poem, but I wanted to post it on here because it's meaningful to me & straight from my heart. It's just a short memo about some of my random "deep" thoughts and reflections that I felt compelled to share. Thanks for reading, everyone. – Elise I…Read more Stardust

Self Portrait As The Titanic

I held lauding beginnings & heavy endings. I held cheering hope & teeth-chattering worry. I held golden promise & howling pain. I held radiant futures & bruised pasts. I held gourmet luxury & penniless poverty. I held melodious music & ear-splitting cries. I held swelling gluttony & gurgling hunger. I held a world inside me,…Read more Self Portrait As The Titanic

Late To Bloom

The Queen Anne’s Lace blooms in August. Budding like August memories. Thriving like August harvest. Dancing like August trees. Happy like August nights. The dandelions die in September. Dimming like September sun. Falling like September heat. Fading like September leaves. Bittersweet like September summer. Take me back to August. To summer warmth still abundant. To…Read more Late To Bloom

Dusty Lungs

This one kinda came to me out of nowhere. The day I wrote it, I was feeling a little melancholy. Not a bad melancholy, but a reflective, sensitive, & calm melancholy. I felt like the world was in hyperdrive & I could feel everything around me. This is the feeling I always get when my…Read more Dusty Lungs

A Life to Live

I stepped over somebody’s handwritten words in the sand today. So I didn’t disturb someone’s mark on the earth, So I didn’t destroy their attempt to be remembered– to be heard. I became upset & wondered, “Why doesn’t the rest of the world give the same respect to other people’s screams into the void?” But…Read more A Life to Live

Inverting

My world inverts. I watch my light turn to shadows. I used to live in the brightness, But the negative spaces have become tangible & physical. They have engulfed my bright places, And I feel the overwhelming absence of light. I want to let the shadows dance in tandem with my soul, So I can…Read more Inverting