Submissions by Istra
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I write because I want to filter all the chaos in my head, and get the truth of the experience out. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's crap. But I keep trying.
STORY POEM
Published
23rd Feb 2012 8:10am
23rd Feb 2012 8:10am
Road Trip
I went to Nebraska last week.
Exhausting hours spent on the freeway,
and radio stations all sounded alike.
Started when the stars were still winking.
Drove until my hands were numb, and
stopped to get a burger that was
surely made of cardboard and pencil shavings.
It was still dark, and I was in a truck stop.
I'd been there before, years ago,
when I was someone else.
Watched the tired and almost ghostly travelers
as they made their way
wherever they were going.
Ate the pencil...
Exhausting hours spent on the freeway,
and radio stations all sounded alike.
Started when the stars were still winking.
Drove until my hands were numb, and
stopped to get a burger that was
surely made of cardboard and pencil shavings.
It was still dark, and I was in a truck stop.
I'd been there before, years ago,
when I was someone else.
Watched the tired and almost ghostly travelers
as they made their way
wherever they were going.
Ate the pencil...
733 reads
3 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
11th Feb 2012 7:02am
11th Feb 2012 7:02am
Reincarnation
You breezed through the door,
and the past gushed in behind you.
My God, man.
It's been a long time.
You were unaware of me,
but I
couldn't keep my eyes
from your form.
You were
dirty
stringy
gorgeous,
and your eyes held
all that knowledge
that you never wanted.
Relaxed and cool
and denim-clad,
you checked out the
religious T-shirts with
a smirk of incredulity.
Turned around and said to me,
"Render unto Caesar, huh?"
I
almost
died.
Pushed your
long greasy blond hair...
and the past gushed in behind you.
My God, man.
It's been a long time.
You were unaware of me,
but I
couldn't keep my eyes
from your form.
You were
dirty
stringy
gorgeous,
and your eyes held
all that knowledge
that you never wanted.
Relaxed and cool
and denim-clad,
you checked out the
religious T-shirts with
a smirk of incredulity.
Turned around and said to me,
"Render unto Caesar, huh?"
I
almost
died.
Pushed your
long greasy blond hair...
704 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
6th Feb 2012 6:58am
6th Feb 2012 6:58am
When the Static is Loudest
Knuckles
[crack]
you
lying here
nothing is ever good enough why aren't I ever good enough?
tired
with a tie and a nametag that says
[nothing at all]
am I [nothing at all]
am I real?
lotion that smells like lavendar and regret
spraycans and
ashtrays and
longing for
[nicotine] for understanding
senseless paintings of time gone by
heart hurts
I hurt
you hurt me
I hurt you
my [head] hurts
thinking of dying
but never enough
courage, dear
keep flushing ...
[crack]
you
lying here
nothing is ever good enough why aren't I ever good enough?
tired
with a tie and a nametag that says
[nothing at all]
am I [nothing at all]
am I real?
lotion that smells like lavendar and regret
spraycans and
ashtrays and
longing for
[nicotine] for understanding
senseless paintings of time gone by
heart hurts
I hurt
you hurt me
I hurt you
my [head] hurts
thinking of dying
but never enough
courage, dear
keep flushing ...
623 reads
3 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
3rd Feb 2012 6:28am
3rd Feb 2012 6:28am
Fond Blessings
A little lost tonight.
Hadn't realized how much
I defined myself
through what we had.
It's not there any more,
and I'm more sorry
than I expected.
Just mourning the death
of us as we were
a little.
So I raise my glass,
anam cara,
to what we used to be.
Fate be kind to you,
and may your soul
continue to grow.
Hadn't realized how much
I defined myself
through what we had.
It's not there any more,
and I'm more sorry
than I expected.
Just mourning the death
of us as we were
a little.
So I raise my glass,
anam cara,
to what we used to be.
Fate be kind to you,
and may your soul
continue to grow.
752 reads
4 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
2nd Feb 2012 7:30pm
2nd Feb 2012 7:30pm
Rot-gut Rye Regret
A million miles ago,
the moon took me away.
Whiskey on your breath,
pressure on my spine.
"Please, baby, please."
All right.
Memories run faster
than my car.
Grass, prickly and dry
on my legs, reminders
that
I was still there.
Until the moon took me away.
You were
not quite what I wanted.
Too much, too harsh, in need of
everything I had.
But my heart just begged
(harder, faster) for someone.
So I lay in the field
and gave
what I had,
and let the moon take me away.
And no...
the moon took me away.
Whiskey on your breath,
pressure on my spine.
"Please, baby, please."
All right.
Memories run faster
than my car.
Grass, prickly and dry
on my legs, reminders
that
I was still there.
Until the moon took me away.
You were
not quite what I wanted.
Too much, too harsh, in need of
everything I had.
But my heart just begged
(harder, faster) for someone.
So I lay in the field
and gave
what I had,
and let the moon take me away.
And no...
720 reads
4 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
20th Dec 2011 7:20am
20th Dec 2011 7:20am
Father
Oh, Father, at first I don't
notice you. In the complete
newness of my life, you
fade into the background.
You are there, but
not important.
I don't realize that you
have already taken my hand.
Our journey began long before
I was aware of it.
Without my consent.
We move forward.
There is no stopping.
You move so slowly.
I can see you now and
you move so interminably slowly.
Why can't you keep up
with what I want and
where I want to go?
I'll never get there
at your pace.
I cannot stand you.
I hate...
notice you. In the complete
newness of my life, you
fade into the background.
You are there, but
not important.
I don't realize that you
have already taken my hand.
Our journey began long before
I was aware of it.
Without my consent.
We move forward.
There is no stopping.
You move so slowly.
I can see you now and
you move so interminably slowly.
Why can't you keep up
with what I want and
where I want to go?
I'll never get there
at your pace.
I cannot stand you.
I hate...
683 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
18th Dec 2011 3:24am
18th Dec 2011 3:24am
Refuge
Hold me still.
Please.
I'm thrashing
too much and it
hurts.
Hold me still.
I'm tired and I
just want things
to stop spinning,
but it's me that's
spinning.
Please.
Hold me still.
Hold me, cradle me,
put the world
at a distance.
Rock me, kiss me,
be the hedge that
separates me from
hurt and sad and
all that comes upon me
in the night,
in the cold.
Hold me still.
Please.
Let me feel
the way I want to,
even though it
isn't practical, isn't
honest, doesn't
prepare me for the...
Please.
I'm thrashing
too much and it
hurts.
Hold me still.
I'm tired and I
just want things
to stop spinning,
but it's me that's
spinning.
Please.
Hold me still.
Hold me, cradle me,
put the world
at a distance.
Rock me, kiss me,
be the hedge that
separates me from
hurt and sad and
all that comes upon me
in the night,
in the cold.
Hold me still.
Please.
Let me feel
the way I want to,
even though it
isn't practical, isn't
honest, doesn't
prepare me for the...
669 reads
3 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
9th Dec 2011 00:39am
9th Dec 2011 00:39am
Altar Call
Her corset tight and jade
in the moonlight and she
lights her cigarette from
the butt of mine. Her hand lingers
as she brushes my fingers and
hands me back my
momentary crutch.
She crosses her gartered and stockinged legs
like a seasoned poker player
shuffling his cards. Sizes me up,
makes me feel small.
"So," she muses, her
dander up and her frosted blonde hair down
around her shoulders,
"why are you here?"
Her eyes make me
squirm, make me
hot, make me
sorry I came here, but I will not
be...
in the moonlight and she
lights her cigarette from
the butt of mine. Her hand lingers
as she brushes my fingers and
hands me back my
momentary crutch.
She crosses her gartered and stockinged legs
like a seasoned poker player
shuffling his cards. Sizes me up,
makes me feel small.
"So," she muses, her
dander up and her frosted blonde hair down
around her shoulders,
"why are you here?"
Her eyes make me
squirm, make me
hot, make me
sorry I came here, but I will not
be...
995 reads
8 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
3rd Dec 2011 7:13am
3rd Dec 2011 7:13am
Dizzy
You looked at me with
shining eyes and lips so full and flushed,
and I wanted more than
just our mouths to touch.
And you said, "I want you
oh, so damn much."
And we kissed and I felt
every muscle turn to mush
and I was
Dizzy/nervous
God, you made me spin
and the world was glowing,
and you tasted like sin.
All I wanted then
was to do it again,
and I felt myself melt
as you breathed me in.
When I laid you down
in the bed at the hotel
for the first time and I saw
your breasts heave and...
shining eyes and lips so full and flushed,
and I wanted more than
just our mouths to touch.
And you said, "I want you
oh, so damn much."
And we kissed and I felt
every muscle turn to mush
and I was
Dizzy/nervous
God, you made me spin
and the world was glowing,
and you tasted like sin.
All I wanted then
was to do it again,
and I felt myself melt
as you breathed me in.
When I laid you down
in the bed at the hotel
for the first time and I saw
your breasts heave and...
902 reads
9 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
1st Dec 2011 8:55am
1st Dec 2011 8:55am
Expurgation
Take my soul
and break its arms.
Let it not hold
the burden of my past.
I would not
take it with me any longer.
It grows cancerous and
I would rather one pain
than the other.
Take my sense of destiny
and whip it, 'cross the shoulders.
Make it uncomfortable again,
let it not rest longer.
I would not stay and
moulder in such
profound and
rancid stagnation.
There is no life here.
Take my mind
and throttle it.
Press deeply into its
airways, only give mercy
at the last moment.
Let every...
and break its arms.
Let it not hold
the burden of my past.
I would not
take it with me any longer.
It grows cancerous and
I would rather one pain
than the other.
Take my sense of destiny
and whip it, 'cross the shoulders.
Make it uncomfortable again,
let it not rest longer.
I would not stay and
moulder in such
profound and
rancid stagnation.
There is no life here.
Take my mind
and throttle it.
Press deeply into its
airways, only give mercy
at the last moment.
Let every...
769 reads
5 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
30th Nov 2011 6:16am
30th Nov 2011 6:16am
Distracted
I've been
thinking about you
today.
All day.
Your image
pops in my head
at the oddest of times.
Pieces of
the moments we shared
are lurking in my mind
all the time
until the moment is
most unexpected.
I've been wondering
about you
today.
All day.
Wondering if you'll
be there when I get there.
If you'll
still want to
talk to me.
If your eyes are still
enigmatic and deep.
If your voice will still
bring unbidden thoughts
to my wanton mind.
I want to know,
I'm nervous for the...
thinking about you
today.
All day.
Your image
pops in my head
at the oddest of times.
Pieces of
the moments we shared
are lurking in my mind
all the time
until the moment is
most unexpected.
I've been wondering
about you
today.
All day.
Wondering if you'll
be there when I get there.
If you'll
still want to
talk to me.
If your eyes are still
enigmatic and deep.
If your voice will still
bring unbidden thoughts
to my wanton mind.
I want to know,
I'm nervous for the...
730 reads
6 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
26th Nov 2011 6:45am
26th Nov 2011 6:45am
Arguments in the Fourth Year
Someone's been made a fool
tonight.
I'm not terribly sure how
it happened but
it did. And there are
hurt feelings and
angry words with lots of
accusations and
twisting of meanings.
Nobody likes to be
made a fool.
Someone's been unjustly accused
tonight.
I'm not really sure why
they were but
they were. And now they
are crying and
confused and so hurt,
wondering how this could
have happened.
Nobody likes to be
unjustly accused.
So we sit across the room
from each other,
and wonder how we...
tonight.
I'm not terribly sure how
it happened but
it did. And there are
hurt feelings and
angry words with lots of
accusations and
twisting of meanings.
Nobody likes to be
made a fool.
Someone's been unjustly accused
tonight.
I'm not really sure why
they were but
they were. And now they
are crying and
confused and so hurt,
wondering how this could
have happened.
Nobody likes to be
unjustly accused.
So we sit across the room
from each other,
and wonder how we...
779 reads
4 Comments
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