Submissions by GreaterPeril (Jared from the Backwoods)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
i pissed away my scholarships and chose the hard way in life, but i make up for squandered potential by reading like words are the antidote to a fire that has been burning on my scalp itself for a decade or two (but who's counting?)
SELF POEM
Published
14th Apr 2023 9:04pm
14th Apr 2023 9:04pm
line no. 1
will this be forever?
i stare down at phones,
books, feet
anything in the floor really
while another in a rather long line
tells me all about
how dangerous, how deadly,
how destructive my choices tend to be
my mouth opens, moves, closes again
i'm sorry tattooed across my tongue
for the ease of repetition
they shove off, exit stage right
and another steps forward
to tell me again
how dangerous, how deadly,
how destructive my choices tend to be
i stare down at phones,
books, feet
anything in the floor really
while another in a rather long line
tells me all about
how dangerous, how deadly,
how destructive my choices tend to be
my mouth opens, moves, closes again
i'm sorry tattooed across my tongue
for the ease of repetition
they shove off, exit stage right
and another steps forward
to tell me again
how dangerous, how deadly,
how destructive my choices tend to be
#sadness
#regret
#SelfReflection
139 reads
2 Comments
DRUGS POEM
Published
14th Apr 2023 1:18pm
14th Apr 2023 1:18pm
junkie no. 1
the reaper cometh
for me and all the other
little junkie boys
still going to bed with nightlights
and lullabies
watching monstrous shadows
dance across the wall
eyes closed, prayers said
rolling in the cold
lonely of the night
hoping against all odds
for a storybook ending
don't forget, when you leave
please turn out the light
for me and all the other
little junkie boys
still going to bed with nightlights
and lullabies
watching monstrous shadows
dance across the wall
eyes closed, prayers said
rolling in the cold
lonely of the night
hoping against all odds
for a storybook ending
don't forget, when you leave
please turn out the light
#night
#addiction
#sleep
276 reads
1 Comment
DRUGS POEM
Published
14th Apr 2023 1:02pm
14th Apr 2023 1:02pm
tennessee no. 2
ambulance fire
red and white
burning up the trees
just one call
left to make
i think it might be me
a tube inserted
in my nose
will force my corpse to breathe
night time ferry
from far away
they wouldn't let me sleep
i circle slowly round the drain
someplace in between
i wonder what became
of all my wildest dreams?
and all the places i would go?
and all the things that i would be?
red and white
burning up the trees
just one call
left to make
i think it might be me
a tube inserted
in my nose
will force my corpse to breathe
night time ferry
from far away
they wouldn't let me sleep
i circle slowly round the drain
someplace in between
i wonder what became
of all my wildest dreams?
and all the places i would go?
and all the things that i would be?
#death
#drugs
#addiction
242 reads
1 Comment
LOVE POEM
Published
13th Apr 2023 9:08pm
13th Apr 2023 9:08pm
flowers no. 1
i traded in my lunch
for flowers one day
daisies
i walked the long way
around the city
for a flowershop
where i stopped
for my love,
to purchase something pretty
i am not a man of means,
you know this to be true
but this is what you mean to me
i let flowers speak
in colored hues
like they are known
to do
anyway, here they are
i hope you have a vase
take my daisies and wait
there are other,
better flowers
on the way.
for flowers one day
daisies
i walked the long way
around the city
for a flowershop
where i stopped
for my love,
to purchase something pretty
i am not a man of means,
you know this to be true
but this is what you mean to me
i let flowers speak
in colored hues
like they are known
to do
anyway, here they are
i hope you have a vase
take my daisies and wait
there are other,
better flowers
on the way.
#love
#wife
#marriage #flowers
#marriage #flowers
176 reads
5 Comments
DRUGS POEM
Published
13th Apr 2023 1:04pm
13th Apr 2023 1:04pm
opium no. 4
how many days
has it been i reach in
somewhere deep
way within
under skin
but it is made of the air
hung between us that night
and all the fights
that we had
while we were friends
more sad music plays
i ride another hobby horse
from my desert of decay
until the hooves that i love
that have carried me away
crumple up like burning paper
turning black and then to gray
i will pull
every arrow from my skin
hand them over
and let you put them right back in
one by one, sin by sin ...
has it been i reach in
somewhere deep
way within
under skin
but it is made of the air
hung between us that night
and all the fights
that we had
while we were friends
more sad music plays
i ride another hobby horse
from my desert of decay
until the hooves that i love
that have carried me away
crumple up like burning paper
turning black and then to gray
i will pull
every arrow from my skin
hand them over
and let you put them right back in
one by one, sin by sin ...
#drugs
256 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
13th Apr 2023 12:46pm
13th Apr 2023 12:46pm
face no. 1
my face has cancer
i mean literally
this hole in my jaw
that just bleeds
and bleeds
it looks like
i shot myself
and fucked that up
too
but i don't have the guts
for that
i want to pretend
like that's a thumbprint
from god
where he made me
with loving hands
a unique and tender soul
worthy of love
but who stops in a museum
to study defects
and what kind of sculptor
leaves a thumbprint
on the face?
i mean literally
this hole in my jaw
that just bleeds
and bleeds
it looks like
i shot myself
and fucked that up
too
but i don't have the guts
for that
i want to pretend
like that's a thumbprint
from god
where he made me
with loving hands
a unique and tender soul
worthy of love
but who stops in a museum
to study defects
and what kind of sculptor
leaves a thumbprint
on the face?
#myself
#cancer
#SelfWorth
229 reads
6 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
12th Apr 2023 8:47pm
12th Apr 2023 8:47pm
work no. 1
i can't sit still
as i feel
the inside of my hollow skin
fill with fire ants
wasps
pins and needles
my hair stands on end
and a cold sweat breaks
across my forehead
i flip over pages
in an abandoned
manuscript
you can actually see
the exact moment
that the life left my eyes
while i was writing it
i pick up the phone
and the exact tired words
i eat every day
get regurgitated back at me
as a question without form
i come back every day
and still
if i tell one person
in this...
as i feel
the inside of my hollow skin
fill with fire ants
wasps
pins and needles
my hair stands on end
and a cold sweat breaks
across my forehead
i flip over pages
in an abandoned
manuscript
you can actually see
the exact moment
that the life left my eyes
while i was writing it
i pick up the phone
and the exact tired words
i eat every day
get regurgitated back at me
as a question without form
i come back every day
and still
if i tell one person
in this...
#depression
#job
207 reads
2 Comments
DRUGS POEM
Published
12th Apr 2023 8:40pm
12th Apr 2023 8:40pm
opium no. 3
madness, manic, malice
wait
that's just the sense of wonder
wandering through withered
veins
what little piece of myself
can i take off to trade
today?
what pound of flesh
will the pawn shop take
for pay?
how spun can i get for a
tongue
or distant memories of
love
and the happiness it
makes?
it has begun
to eat me alive
inside
every pill
every time
i die
i must grit teeth
yet permit to pass
just one more
or i'll spend
another day
somehow...
wait
that's just the sense of wonder
wandering through withered
veins
what little piece of myself
can i take off to trade
today?
what pound of flesh
will the pawn shop take
for pay?
how spun can i get for a
tongue
or distant memories of
love
and the happiness it
makes?
it has begun
to eat me alive
inside
every pill
every time
i die
i must grit teeth
yet permit to pass
just one more
or i'll spend
another day
somehow...
#sadness
#drugs
#addiction
294 reads
3 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
12th Apr 2023 12:46pm
12th Apr 2023 12:46pm
home no. 2
i opened my mouth
my baby bird
my sparrow
to receive
all that hatred
that your parents filled you up with
they took turns,
pouring it in your open mouth
like water or air
from a tin watering can
until you were full
but that's okay
for you see,
i have this hole inside
(i've been told)
impossibly wide
and so deep
if you spit
it will never reach the bottom
my baby bird
my sparrow
to receive
all that hatred
that your parents filled you up with
they took turns,
pouring it in your open mouth
like water or air
from a tin watering can
until you were full
but that's okay
for you see,
i have this hole inside
(i've been told)
impossibly wide
and so deep
if you spit
it will never reach the bottom
#sadness
#love
102 reads
1 Comment
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
12th Apr 2023 12:35pm
12th Apr 2023 12:35pm
tennessee no. 1
one time
we passed out
in the middle of the road
on a bridge over the creek
way off in the holler
fireflies and starlight
and hooch in the grass
this creek gets mighty high
with rain in spring
and you sip and hand it back
but we don't talk no more
and i can't remember much
from those days anyway
you like many others
will fall retrograde
in my wake
trailing behind
like newborn stars
to a runaway black hole
or headlights slowly
going around
an obstacle at night
we passed out
in the middle of the road
on a bridge over the creek
way off in the holler
fireflies and starlight
and hooch in the grass
this creek gets mighty high
with rain in spring
and you sip and hand it back
but we don't talk no more
and i can't remember much
from those days anyway
you like many others
will fall retrograde
in my wake
trailing behind
like newborn stars
to a runaway black hole
or headlights slowly
going around
an obstacle at night
#love
#night
125 reads
3 Comments
ANGER POEM
Published
11th Apr 2023 2:40pm
11th Apr 2023 2:40pm
father no. 1
first of all
fuck you for fathering me
in the first place
I haven't been the same since
and secondly
I wish you had taken your due
in your satchel
and not in your own hands
to save some for later
and lastly,
I will always wonder
if life did this to you
or vice versa
so i know what to expect
while all this smoke
filters through
my own spread fingers
fuck you for fathering me
in the first place
I haven't been the same since
and secondly
I wish you had taken your due
in your satchel
and not in your own hands
to save some for later
and lastly,
I will always wonder
if life did this to you
or vice versa
so i know what to expect
while all this smoke
filters through
my own spread fingers
#parent
#family
163 reads
1 Comment
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
10th Apr 2023 8:40pm
10th Apr 2023 8:40pm
god stole my gun last night
god stole my gun last night
right from my locked car
center console
i bet he didn't look anything like my sunday school god
hunched
in a filthy hoodie
thumping the top of a shim
with a gloved and open palm
at night, no doubt
so as to not be seen
by mere mortals
i know he didn’t smash the window
didn’t leave a trace or a scratch
i bet he at least had a beard
god stole my gun last night
he left the door cracked
waving just a little bit
just so I knew
that’s the first sign
i...
right from my locked car
center console
i bet he didn't look anything like my sunday school god
hunched
in a filthy hoodie
thumping the top of a shim
with a gloved and open palm
at night, no doubt
so as to not be seen
by mere mortals
i know he didn’t smash the window
didn’t leave a trace or a scratch
i bet he at least had a beard
god stole my gun last night
he left the door cracked
waving just a little bit
just so I knew
that’s the first sign
i...
#sadness
162 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Submissions by GreaterPeril (Jared from the Backwoods)
