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Author Topic: The world is quiet here.  (Read 4120 times)

December 31, 2019, 10:11:03 PM
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hermione_brains

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The world is quiet here.
« on: December 31, 2019, 10:11:03 PM »
Because I wrote a poem this morning, I thought I'd share it here and maybe add things once in a while ^_^

I'll also probably fill it in with some of the other things I've written in the past.

Table of Contents

Calligraphy Lesson
A Perfect Princess
Lightning Strikes
Before and After- Mature Warning: Suicide theme
Self-Encouragement
work in progress
blank
Lost Poem
Histogram
On Regret
« Last Edit: August 31, 2022, 12:34:50 AM by hermione_brains »

December 31, 2019, 10:11:32 PM
Reply #1

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2019, 10:11:32 PM »
Calligraphy Lesson

I drew a letter painstakingly onto the paper.
Next to it, I drew its brother.
"We are different,"says the one letter to the other.
"Look how much darker your ink is on the downstroke.

"See how your slants are uneven, your flourishes crooked.
I was drawn more perfectly than you."
"We may look different," said the other, "but are we really so?"
"Your upstrokes may be finer than mine,

"Your flourishes may be neater,
And your slants more straight,
But they were drawn from the same ink."

Said the other letter to its brother,
"Our creator may not have drawn us the same,
But we are just different strokes of the same pen."

January 01, 2020, 12:52:30 AM
Reply #2

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2020, 12:52:30 AM »
This is one I actually submitted to a poetry contest in 2017. Didn't win, but I still like it.

A Perfect Princess


Fair-skinned, beautiful, and kind
She sings, birds listen, and fly to her hand
The World fights against her, and she smiles still.
This is the Fairy-tale Princess,
   Selfless
      Graceful
         Innocent


Bullfrog.
(Who could bring herself to kiss such an ugly thing, anyways?)


If she were human, she would feel resentful
   At the Stepmother,
      the Witch,
         the unobservant father
And maybe even her helpless so-called friends-
   The reluctant woodsman-executioner
      The hapless dwarves
         The bumbling Fairy Godmothers,
         (who mean well but only do so much)


If she were human, she might have pimples
   Her skin might be any shade of yellow or brown
      One eye might be higher than the other
And her voice could be deep as a man’s

She could have well-built muscles
Be strong instead of weak.
She could fight the evil dragon herself, if she chose-
And she might not be so easy to put under a spell.


If that Fairy-tale Princess were human
She might be me. Full of human feelings
   Anguish
      Fear
         Anxiety
Or she might be you-


You there, Snow White, yes, you,
   With the upturned, narrow eyes
      and sallow complexion
And you, Sleeping Beauty,
   with your bed-coiffed hair black and frizzly
      and your breath like last night’s dinner
And you, you poor, overworked Cinderella
   Middle-aged, line-faced
   Still dressed in second-hand rags
      And with a child or two in tow
You, yes, you


You are a real Princess.

January 01, 2020, 01:44:14 PM
Reply #3

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2020, 01:44:14 PM »
Lightning Strikes

Lightning Beach is full of glass
From all the Lightning strikes.
There are no trees, it's all flat land,
yet every storm must there make sparks.

And time has turned soft sand to stone,
Shimmering beauty with deadly touch.
Lightning melts and Lightning sculpts
Award-winning art, artisanal crafts.

The magpies love to gather there,
A treasure trove of shiny finds.
But woe to the barefoot, curious child,
Who in delight runs out to sea.

January 01, 2020, 02:29:28 PM
Reply #4

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2020, 02:29:28 PM »
Mature Warning: Suicide theme

This poem/short story is in response to this article, about a girl who chose to die in the Netherlands, in a legally approved assisted suicide.

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

Before and After

Dark, so dark. The darkness pressed in on all sides of her, suffocating her, crushing her.
Her terror and despair mingled and burst forth in dry sobs, the pillow muffling her cries.
She felt nothing but terror at the life to come.

Even the daytime was dark, the light locked out by heavy blinds. The knock at the door was timid. She ignored it.
The door opened softly; the woman placed a covered tray on the bedside table and quietly left. She ignored that, too.
The smell of the food never reached her.

She could feel herself growing weaker. She welcomed it. She had long since written her goodbyes.
Her mother's worry never reached her. Love was letting go, she said.

Love was letting go, she thought. She did not love herself, and so she was letting go.
Perhaps when she shed this dirty body, she would finally feel free.

The end. She felt nothing, her body long since numb to the pain.
She looked down at it, the stick-like arms and legs, the bones showing through. She felt nothing.

She could hear her mother's cries.
She almost felt nothing; the brief pang of regret dissipated quickly.

Dark again. The darkness pressed in on all sides of her, suffocating, crushing her.
Her terror and despair mingled but the dirt stifled her cries.
She felt nothing but terror at the life to come.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2022, 12:35:13 AM by hermione_brains »

March 11, 2020, 11:06:13 PM
Reply #5

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2020, 11:06:13 PM »
Self-encouragement

I'm confidence incarnate
Positivity reborn.
I'm soaring like a bird
on the wings of success.
I'm floating like a leaf
adrift on the wind.

I'm jumping through the hoops
Rings of fire won't scorch me.
I'm somersaulting over the bars
Hear the world roar.

Stubborn and defiant
in the face of my thoughts.
Denying my fear

I'm confidence incarnate
I won't lose till I've lost.

March 11, 2020, 11:09:25 PM
Reply #6

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2020, 11:09:25 PM »
blank

blank




can't                  think


  won't                                                       come


           don't                                know


 empty                                                                junk


brain               buzz                               fluff                        hurts


          blank                                     mind


   buzz                                         static        noise


 what                      why                                                    how



blank
« Last Edit: March 11, 2020, 11:11:00 PM by hermione_brains »

January 06, 2022, 06:51:43 PM
Reply #7

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2022, 06:51:43 PM »
Lost Poem

TO the lost poem
abandoned by the wayside
I'm sorry my brain couldn't keep you.

I can't say you're in my thoughts,
because the fact is I've forgot you.

I don't know how you would have turned out
or if you would have still sounded good 10 years later.

I might uncover a fossil of you later
and use it in a new poem, but that poem isn't you.
One line of you might stick around,
but that's not all you were.

Some distraction caused me to lose you.
A knock on the door of your world brought reality in,
the ethereal driven away by the banal.

January 06, 2022, 06:56:19 PM
Reply #8

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2022, 06:56:19 PM »
Histogram

You know how a histogram works,
sorting your data into a number of bins?

The human brain does the same thing;
from the moment you're born you start setting up bins,
ready to fill with what stereotypes you will.

Our past experiences guide our future choices;
the simple decision of what to eat is evaluated based on what we've had before.
Before you know it you'll be making instant judgements,
subconsciously sorting everything you encounter.

So it is with people, too--
when the bins are divided along lines of color,
we call that racism.
And when along lines of outward gender,
we call that sexism.

But you can't fight what you're not aware of;
you have to fight to become aware of it,
and build new bins not along lines of external appearance,
but along lines of inner character;
harder to see, perhaps, but better to judge--

Because if you can't see it,
how can you judge?

January 06, 2022, 06:56:54 PM
Reply #9

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2022, 06:56:54 PM »
On Regret

If you ask me "Do you have any regrets?"
To be able to say "I regret nothing" is a futile dream
It's too late not to regret.

If you ask me if I have any regrets,
To be able to say at the end "I don't regret everything"
Then indeed that would be a life worth living.

January 06, 2022, 06:59:13 PM
Reply #10

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2022, 06:59:13 PM »
Work in progress

Let me express my sorrow for tomorrow
For tomorrow I see no hope
And how hope, when the earth is weeping tears of fire,
Fire and smoke

Smoke...

August 31, 2022, 12:30:48 AM
Reply #11

hermione_brains

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Re: The world is quiet here.
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2022, 12:30:48 AM »
Seaside

Softly does the south breeze blow
Sea salt smell, fair and slow
The breath I draw is sharp and tart
The sigh that echoes sounds my heart

Gently does the sea breeze blow
The siren song languid, low
Reed pipes voice a lonely lament
The summer rain a sudden torrent

The keening wind is sunshine tinged
The parting clouds are rainbow winged
The sigh yet lingers in my heart
Beckoning shadows dance and dart

Sea salt breezes stroke my hair
Azure shadows taunt and dare
Summer rain a soft embrace
Sunshine kisses an upturned face