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. [:
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
21st Nov 2020 8:16pm
21st Nov 2020 8:16pm
enough of that, turn on the moon
I’d remembered it as a terrible thing
when that switch flipped
the survival click that says
“you’ve felt enough of that, love”
I’d remembered hopelessness &numb
as a traumatic acceptance of bygones
settling in for the long haul
losing sight of the fact that this
is what cages were for
that we can be trained all our lives to pace
roar to an audience
to bash our heads against bars
that have long up &left only dust
and us, alone in the ring
I was ready
when the night lights came on this time...
when that switch flipped
the survival click that says
“you’ve felt enough of that, love”
I’d remembered hopelessness &numb
as a traumatic acceptance of bygones
settling in for the long haul
losing sight of the fact that this
is what cages were for
that we can be trained all our lives to pace
roar to an audience
to bash our heads against bars
that have long up &left only dust
and us, alone in the ring
I was ready
when the night lights came on this time...
#learning
718 reads
6 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
19th Oct 2020 10:04pm
19th Oct 2020 10:04pm
on underwater, love, and dust
Never forget, love
what joy and peace it is to be alone
your peace —
destroyer of a thousand monsters
that joy what lifted boulders out your lungs
It’s how you entered this place
of gossips and turning yellow leaves
six-foot deep holes
laced with Christmas and toddler words
It’s how you’ll leave
having loved a thousand times
having considered most how much you never knew
Revel in that close-your-eyes
water's-weight-on-eardrum solitude
Stretch — drink your power warm ...
what joy and peace it is to be alone
your peace —
destroyer of a thousand monsters
that joy what lifted boulders out your lungs
It’s how you entered this place
of gossips and turning yellow leaves
six-foot deep holes
laced with Christmas and toddler words
It’s how you’ll leave
having loved a thousand times
having considered most how much you never knew
Revel in that close-your-eyes
water's-weight-on-eardrum solitude
Stretch — drink your power warm ...
#strength
#universe
#water #peace
#water #peace
959 reads
13 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
20th Feb 2018 10:06pm
20th Feb 2018 10:06pm
Cerebral
We all know that feeling of waking up from a dream, where the energy hangs, still
between our eyes for a while --
just a little while because dreams can't keep us, cerebral as their traps may be
So I like how I don't fall into you like sleep -- we walk in, walk away
and we're water, fire, dirty dust all rolled into one: our orbits mirrored in the other
compliments to each other's thoughts, but not too close
I recognise you, you beautiful piece of the universe -- you terrible, hopeless seeker
who will never find the answers we want the...
between our eyes for a while --
just a little while because dreams can't keep us, cerebral as their traps may be
So I like how I don't fall into you like sleep -- we walk in, walk away
and we're water, fire, dirty dust all rolled into one: our orbits mirrored in the other
compliments to each other's thoughts, but not too close
I recognise you, you beautiful piece of the universe -- you terrible, hopeless seeker
who will never find the answers we want the...
1295 reads
11 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
10th Oct 2016 00:35am
10th Oct 2016 00:35am
Full: Journal Collection - Exhibit D
we're crashed here
perfect in the half-light
midnight, half-asleep affection
a leg over
hand to chest -
the heat knocks it right out of you
fucking like that
soaking wet
getting loud, trying
hard enough
not to startle the Germans next door
growling low, blood coursing
could feel the power rising in him
hauling me into it as he twisted hands through my hair
taking what's his
even though we both know
he was all mine in the taking
and we'll just have to...
perfect in the half-light
midnight, half-asleep affection
a leg over
hand to chest -
the heat knocks it right out of you
fucking like that
soaking wet
getting loud, trying
hard enough
not to startle the Germans next door
growling low, blood coursing
could feel the power rising in him
hauling me into it as he twisted hands through my hair
taking what's his
even though we both know
he was all mine in the taking
and we'll just have to...
1434 reads
29 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
7th May 2016 11:39pm
7th May 2016 11:39pm
not as I do
for holy water crosses
sinners' bowed confessions
stiffening those shepherds
who love
and loathe low their flocks
with preachers screaming hellfire
in our Alabama nightmares
we pray - a mouse in the pew
hoping open the sky's iron door
and they call us John
because we prophesy when the apocalypse
storms through our veins
speak in tongues of honeycomb
and locust
split visions of past and future
all playing out at once
our visions blazing...
sinners' bowed confessions
stiffening those shepherds
who love
and loathe low their flocks
with preachers screaming hellfire
in our Alabama nightmares
we pray - a mouse in the pew
hoping open the sky's iron door
and they call us John
because we prophesy when the apocalypse
storms through our veins
speak in tongues of honeycomb
and locust
split visions of past and future
all playing out at once
our visions blazing...
#religion
#hypocrisy
1227 reads
20 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
2nd May 2015 3:38pm
2nd May 2015 3:38pm
from here to that side of dawn
i bet
you see a realist in your reflection
a girl that figures
she knows when she's beat
deciding whether or not
this is the time
weighing it carefully
because you see the finality
want to make sure
you're really finished with life
or you're tired
busted open
and is it really worth the work
to climb back up to the peak
you fell from
the high point
surely
has been and gone on this timeline
and maybe
there's some kind of do-over
in a different shape
on a different plane
another year in another...
you see a realist in your reflection
a girl that figures
she knows when she's beat
deciding whether or not
this is the time
weighing it carefully
because you see the finality
want to make sure
you're really finished with life
or you're tired
busted open
and is it really worth the work
to climb back up to the peak
you fell from
the high point
surely
has been and gone on this timeline
and maybe
there's some kind of do-over
in a different shape
on a different plane
another year in another...
#depression
#hope
#suicide #MentalHealth
#suicide #MentalHealth
1162 reads
12 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
20th Jan 2015 6:53pm
20th Jan 2015 6:53pm
falling down, falling down
he left, a little like my real love's real love
a goodbye until i-don't-know-when
taking a rib or two with him
it'll be ok though
our heads didn't match up much anyway
full of rather different marbles
through which we roll the world
blood types no good for each other either
too cluttered
opposing signs
mathematically incorrect
and i do not mourn
the fire-breathing dragon in his belly
the one that belches toxicity
so easily ignited
by any portion of his long
ambiguous list of magic words
but we stuck it for the...
a goodbye until i-don't-know-when
taking a rib or two with him
it'll be ok though
our heads didn't match up much anyway
full of rather different marbles
through which we roll the world
blood types no good for each other either
too cluttered
opposing signs
mathematically incorrect
and i do not mourn
the fire-breathing dragon in his belly
the one that belches toxicity
so easily ignited
by any portion of his long
ambiguous list of magic words
but we stuck it for the...
1445 reads
26 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
16th Dec 2014 3:31pm
16th Dec 2014 3:31pm
from in here
if i weren't wandering along
the route they set for you in these places
i would be doing it aimlessly
sort of listlessly, imaginably
watching myself as a turtle from one of these
huge columns of fish i keep passing
it's incredibly easy to feel
well earned solitude
here in the blue light, dark walls
with animals who don't give one
who or what
is on the other side of the glass
though surely
they'd fancy a where
the anemones are my favourites
in an open tank
you can touch them
watch their tentacles wave in uniform...
the route they set for you in these places
i would be doing it aimlessly
sort of listlessly, imaginably
watching myself as a turtle from one of these
huge columns of fish i keep passing
it's incredibly easy to feel
well earned solitude
here in the blue light, dark walls
with animals who don't give one
who or what
is on the other side of the glass
though surely
they'd fancy a where
the anemones are my favourites
in an open tank
you can touch them
watch their tentacles wave in uniform...
1003 reads
12 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
16th Dec 2014 3:30pm
16th Dec 2014 3:30pm
north nam wasn't the only enemy
they were all full of madness then, child
the G.I. generation steeped in misplaced
patriotic trust
government's war slaves
point-pummeling police
shouting our boys to fight and die
for America's universal right to once again
shove the fucking banner
up another country's ass
the bureaucrats knew
their shiny shiny Monsanto agent orange
exposed most to mutilation
mangled children in the womb
and as their findings also proved
our lovely Lucy in the sky
does not enhance a soldier's faculties
in the ways they had hoped
against...
the G.I. generation steeped in misplaced
patriotic trust
government's war slaves
point-pummeling police
shouting our boys to fight and die
for America's universal right to once again
shove the fucking banner
up another country's ass
the bureaucrats knew
their shiny shiny Monsanto agent orange
exposed most to mutilation
mangled children in the womb
and as their findings also proved
our lovely Lucy in the sky
does not enhance a soldier's faculties
in the ways they had hoped
against...
1011 reads
10 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
5th Dec 2014 3:34pm
5th Dec 2014 3:34pm
Get up
You don't sleep so much now
with a wing flapping off your back
and a sweetheart hanging off your ribs
And you dream like I'm dead
Even with aurora borealis swimming in the sky
reflecting sunshine that's on its way back to you
your heart still pumps smooth as a balloon filled with soot
I watch trifles plant themselves
like the insult of wild freezing rain
and when you curl up
cold under your safest dune
your left side feels the pulse that means
existentially, you are
I know you wish your...
with a wing flapping off your back
and a sweetheart hanging off your ribs
And you dream like I'm dead
Even with aurora borealis swimming in the sky
reflecting sunshine that's on its way back to you
your heart still pumps smooth as a balloon filled with soot
I watch trifles plant themselves
like the insult of wild freezing rain
and when you curl up
cold under your safest dune
your left side feels the pulse that means
existentially, you are
I know you wish your...
1088 reads
15 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
4th Dec 2014 10:26pm
4th Dec 2014 10:26pm
origami
ten tiny toes dangle low over the water next to me
beneath duelling band shells of cherry tree light
furrowed brow
under an ink black fringe
busy fingers
folding, practice
focus
where only giants, mermaids
eloquent animals and other
rather imperative imaginings
only four-year-old wisdom dictates
may frolick in his stillness
his sofu says tsuru
brings good luck and peace
and the patience of one thousand
will summon a wish from the wild, but
these diligent little hands
care nothing for peace
as they've never seen war...
beneath duelling band shells of cherry tree light
furrowed brow
under an ink black fringe
busy fingers
folding, practice
focus
where only giants, mermaids
eloquent animals and other
rather imperative imaginings
only four-year-old wisdom dictates
may frolick in his stillness
his sofu says tsuru
brings good luck and peace
and the patience of one thousand
will summon a wish from the wild, but
these diligent little hands
care nothing for peace
as they've never seen war...
991 reads
11 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
28th Oct 2014 8:51pm
28th Oct 2014 8:51pm
Keeping track III: These are for me
i.
the romance of the word "Ennui"
it never left my diaphragm with the
satisfying consonance of "apathy"
preferring to sit on a padded tongue
before imminent escape from the mind
of a true romantic
rests in the chest
ii.
I'll take another day, Honey
another excuse to say "I love you" in another hundred ways
I'll find another card
that says it better than my hand-scrawled poetry
but realistically, the chocolate will be demolished
by the time you get in
...
the romance of the word "Ennui"
it never left my diaphragm with the
satisfying consonance of "apathy"
preferring to sit on a padded tongue
before imminent escape from the mind
of a true romantic
rests in the chest
ii.
I'll take another day, Honey
another excuse to say "I love you" in another hundred ways
I'll find another card
that says it better than my hand-scrawled poetry
but realistically, the chocolate will be demolished
by the time you get in
...
1050 reads
14 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Jestalessa
