Submissions by Jestalessa
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Someone that writes on & off, in a conglomoration of past, present, fiction, & non, often in one piece... as we do. [:
sun.shine
my thoughts are. stuttered
like ADHD trying
to complete. a sentence
trees. whip by train windows
and i. catch my reflection
my eyes. are. a bit swollen
my hair was. less feral
leaving the house. i'm
sure
it's new being between
something. that wasn't
and a thing that. won't be
leaning my split. soul into both
i should be out on the hills
mist rolling in to
wrap me. intentionless
body heat
converting drops. into steam
that joins ...
like ADHD trying
to complete. a sentence
trees. whip by train windows
and i. catch my reflection
my eyes. are. a bit swollen
my hair was. less feral
leaving the house. i'm
sure
it's new being between
something. that wasn't
and a thing that. won't be
leaning my split. soul into both
i should be out on the hills
mist rolling in to
wrap me. intentionless
body heat
converting drops. into steam
that joins ...
#confessional
859 reads
13 Comments
it doesn't just come
you’re a force, you
grown
with a power
lassoed pulled
to earth
sweat sting
fingers
dug through dirt
toes buried silt
on the bottom of a river
will
anchored 4 feet down round
the roots of an oak
resting in the ribs
of your rolling hills
you
breathe with the grass
blowing over in waves
burn runes into the rocks
with your eyes, you
sing in guttural moans
whisper in no secrets
scream
i.
am....
grown
with a power
lassoed pulled
to earth
sweat sting
fingers
dug through dirt
toes buried silt
on the bottom of a river
will
anchored 4 feet down round
the roots of an oak
resting in the ribs
of your rolling hills
you
breathe with the grass
blowing over in waves
burn runes into the rocks
with your eyes, you
sing in guttural moans
whisper in no secrets
scream
i.
am....
#admiration
#StreamOfConsciousness
873 reads
16 Comments
i'm not a morning person
so it is odd
my insistence on writing them
but i imagine
they are this mythical place
where the world
turns a glorious page
the smell
of coffee &clarity wafting
from downstairs
no schoolday clutter by the front door
early is bright here
breakfast is warm
washing hung
dressing gowns are courtesy
here we have tea &time to speak
&want to
without snapping twigs
between our eyebrows
i tell you
i miss you
now the mall is more fun than singing ...
my insistence on writing them
but i imagine
they are this mythical place
where the world
turns a glorious page
the smell
of coffee &clarity wafting
from downstairs
no schoolday clutter by the front door
early is bright here
breakfast is warm
washing hung
dressing gowns are courtesy
here we have tea &time to speak
&want to
without snapping twigs
between our eyebrows
i tell you
i miss you
now the mall is more fun than singing ...
#morning
300 reads
0 Comments
strip-the-willow
it’s a strange game we play
spinning
spinning
bruising clasped so momentum
doesn’t throw us full pelt
into our own orbits
with our new moons
yours already with names
there was a time
the vacuum of space
sucked away my breath
as you extended me out
to spin and i
scrambled for your arms
trying too hard
to lay my head
to kiss there
between your neck
&your shoulder
where every muscle
would have relaxed at the scent ...
spinning
spinning
bruising clasped so momentum
doesn’t throw us full pelt
into our own orbits
with our new moons
yours already with names
there was a time
the vacuum of space
sucked away my breath
as you extended me out
to spin and i
scrambled for your arms
trying too hard
to lay my head
to kiss there
between your neck
&your shoulder
where every muscle
would have relaxed at the scent ...
#dance
#secrets
764 reads
14 Comments
bog creatures
it's chilly
living on the outskirts
of connection
observing
soul-swallowing heartbreak
loneliness
love
minds muscles
flourishing growth
in everyone
else
but this
water tension
hasn't broken
just yet
and my jacket
is warm enough
if hands stay
in their pockets
---
today though
had a bit of sun in the lowlands
proper taps aff summer
got colour on my cheeks ...
living on the outskirts
of connection
observing
soul-swallowing heartbreak
loneliness
love
minds muscles
flourishing growth
in everyone
else
but this
water tension
hasn't broken
just yet
and my jacket
is warm enough
if hands stay
in their pockets
---
today though
had a bit of sun in the lowlands
proper taps aff summer
got colour on my cheeks ...
#denial
567 reads
11 Comments
gnawing
9..5
heat has left the building and my work-break
tea has long been smuggled down my neck
thought i had lost the rest of me somewhere
that all and everything was worth an ear
but her voice in staccato is dotting around
celebrity court, some colleague drama, and
an ambling quest for hubby's fast track passport
in a world where bureaucracy has slowed
to that sneak my chameleon used to do
whilst trying
to look like
...
heat has left the building and my work-break
tea has long been smuggled down my neck
thought i had lost the rest of me somewhere
that all and everything was worth an ear
but her voice in staccato is dotting around
celebrity court, some colleague drama, and
an ambling quest for hubby's fast track passport
in a world where bureaucracy has slowed
to that sneak my chameleon used to do
whilst trying
to look like
...
#grief
#dreams
#science #disappointment
#science #disappointment
509 reads
10 Comments
schmetterling
they won't speak to me
can't hear the shudder anymore
of stanzas
recuperating from flesh plunged
sewing up of wounds with letters
written to the past
to the next
maybe the deepest magic
has returned to forests
sirens &selkies
or mustered its.whole.self
into faraway 4am
firelit sandy toes
whisky tunes
filling lungs with schmetterling
[chin up, darling
to the ever expanding wonder
of lights &dust]
but i am passing now
survivalist stagnancy ...
can't hear the shudder anymore
of stanzas
recuperating from flesh plunged
sewing up of wounds with letters
written to the past
to the next
maybe the deepest magic
has returned to forests
sirens &selkies
or mustered its.whole.self
into faraway 4am
firelit sandy toes
whisky tunes
filling lungs with schmetterling
[chin up, darling
to the ever expanding wonder
of lights &dust]
but i am passing now
survivalist stagnancy ...
#WritersBlock
663 reads
6 Comments
pause the anime for a minute
you’re not so different now
from that feathery light
wide-eyed little Cindy-Lou Who
with pineapple hair and angel-shaped lips
your belly laugh was the most perfect sound I’d ever heard
could bring joy to a rock with the honesty in it and I’d do
so many embarrassing things
just to watch it bling across your cheeks
now, you can touch the door jamb
without even standing on tippy-toes
and it’s amusing, the way you obsess over your hair
your newfound stock in vegetarianism
[but just for an...
from that feathery light
wide-eyed little Cindy-Lou Who
with pineapple hair and angel-shaped lips
your belly laugh was the most perfect sound I’d ever heard
could bring joy to a rock with the honesty in it and I’d do
so many embarrassing things
just to watch it bling across your cheeks
now, you can touch the door jamb
without even standing on tippy-toes
and it’s amusing, the way you obsess over your hair
your newfound stock in vegetarianism
[but just for an...
#daughter
502 reads
8 Comments
chopsticks on the living and dying of things
I
I saw an advert for teardrop shaped caskets
where coroners break one’s rigor mortis
to fold them back into foetal position
plant them with a seed
and let nutrients
from the decaying carbon
feed a tree that will go on to help us breathe
I thought that in itself was poetry
how we’re born of seeds
and to seeds, roots, limbs, leaves
we may be fed
I love -- that there’s no choosing
whether to enrich this nest of ours
in whose familiarity we will never again
drink or be...
I saw an advert for teardrop shaped caskets
where coroners break one’s rigor mortis
to fold them back into foetal position
plant them with a seed
and let nutrients
from the decaying carbon
feed a tree that will go on to help us breathe
I thought that in itself was poetry
how we’re born of seeds
and to seeds, roots, limbs, leaves
we may be fed
I love -- that there’s no choosing
whether to enrich this nest of ours
in whose familiarity we will never again
drink or be...
#LifeCycle
565 reads
10 Comments
eioau
i feel like a vowel today
like a flaccid letter between
clacking consonants
bit dull
but necessary
not quite enough
to make up
a meaningful word
alone
except you
or i
neither of which
is really enough either
as we both know
vowels wait for another letter
to carry them
flourishing in the spaces
between corners
to create ambience
rather than
sharply
impressing on meaning
they’re where a word breaks
where emphasis peaks ...
like a flaccid letter between
clacking consonants
bit dull
but necessary
not quite enough
to make up
a meaningful word
alone
except you
or i
neither of which
is really enough either
as we both know
vowels wait for another letter
to carry them
flourishing in the spaces
between corners
to create ambience
rather than
sharply
impressing on meaning
they’re where a word breaks
where emphasis peaks ...
#apathy
560 reads
8 Comments
Processing: Journal Collection - Exhibit E
I went to immortalise the woman
with thoughtful words
some she deserved, with heart
cupped in hands behind them
almost made it before the third line
where I dived off
into tedious grievances
family history --
to contrast her character
with his was the goal
but it just went on
about my little brother
my grandfather’s assholery
my mom as a victim of her upbringing
in the face
of verbal assault on her young son
my rage over it all ...
with thoughtful words
some she deserved, with heart
cupped in hands behind them
almost made it before the third line
where I dived off
into tedious grievances
family history --
to contrast her character
with his was the goal
but it just went on
about my little brother
my grandfather’s assholery
my mom as a victim of her upbringing
in the face
of verbal assault on her young son
my rage over it all ...
#grief
#family
483 reads
3 Comments
most days
woke up groggy like every morning
got the kids to school like most mornings
snacks packed, lunch money's accounted for
hair/teeth/shoes/jackets - hoods up
kiss you/love you/have a good day
and got back into bed
with 2 hours to spare before bus time
since my work hours were cut for the winter -
can't shoot any tourists this time of year
i lay there and thought of him randomly
strummed my lips a little bit
gave up because no use in just wanting
and wanting what ain't coming
hit transport and did the day, like...
got the kids to school like most mornings
snacks packed, lunch money's accounted for
hair/teeth/shoes/jackets - hoods up
kiss you/love you/have a good day
and got back into bed
with 2 hours to spare before bus time
since my work hours were cut for the winter -
can't shoot any tourists this time of year
i lay there and thought of him randomly
strummed my lips a little bit
gave up because no use in just wanting
and wanting what ain't coming
hit transport and did the day, like...
#morning
644 reads
7 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Jestalessa