Submissions by Northern_Soul
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
There is a trick to get out of your skin 🖤
SELF POEM
Published
15th Aug 2024 5:12pm
15th Aug 2024 5:12pm
Mono
we stroke different walls in half-light.
fear falls in staggered breaths.
questions dart through skies
like summer swallows. i am
claustrophobic; agoraphobic
in the same stale town. suddenly i
remember how it all once meant
something to me. this complex
desire to disappear in one fixed place.
since winter, black has advanced
closer. i swallow that moon down
from the gold goblet of the sun.
fear falls in staggered breaths.
questions dart through skies
like summer swallows. i am
claustrophobic; agoraphobic
in the same stale town. suddenly i
remember how it all once meant
something to me. this complex
desire to disappear in one fixed place.
since winter, black has advanced
closer. i swallow that moon down
from the gold goblet of the sun.
#emptiness
185 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
14th Aug 2024 2:46pm
14th Aug 2024 2:46pm
Grime
Much like everything in life
I overthought it
the state of that kitchen window
the way this body would need
to extend through its current state
to reach the top
to scrub the dirt
to squeegee panes
and all damn year
I’ve looked out at the yard
through rain stained glass
knowing I could fix it
but not giving a single shit
because I haven’t.
I haven’t given a fuck.
I’ve felt destroyed
and I’ve stuck bandaids
over busted pipes in the hope
it would stop the flood ...
I overthought it
the state of that kitchen window
the way this body would need
to extend through its current state
to reach the top
to scrub the dirt
to squeegee panes
and all damn year
I’ve looked out at the yard
through rain stained glass
knowing I could fix it
but not giving a single shit
because I haven’t.
I haven’t given a fuck.
I’ve felt destroyed
and I’ve stuck bandaids
over busted pipes in the hope
it would stop the flood ...
#confessional
#depression
#grief
#myself
#disability
191 reads
6 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
13th Aug 2024 1:02am
13th Aug 2024 1:02am
the poem my period brought me
it’s been 107 days since I bled
my womb thick with exit signs
a few little deaths
long strands
streak across white tissue
as I look at them momentarily
revelling in an explanation
for the tears that flooded
the whole damn house
because sure
I blamed the moon
and Mercury
and that wayward bomb
as a valid reason as to why
I’ve felt so atomically shitty,
but there’s no-one else here
in the bathroom
behind a closed door
demanding...
my womb thick with exit signs
a few little deaths
long strands
streak across white tissue
as I look at them momentarily
revelling in an explanation
for the tears that flooded
the whole damn house
because sure
I blamed the moon
and Mercury
and that wayward bomb
as a valid reason as to why
I’ve felt so atomically shitty,
but there’s no-one else here
in the bathroom
behind a closed door
demanding...
#menstruation
#myself
#women #vulnerability
#women #vulnerability
167 reads
7 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
26th Jul 2024 3:07pm
26th Jul 2024 3:07pm
We interrupt your scheduled broadcast for a brief anxious interlude
I remember this news story once
about a chicken that lived on for days
after they axed its head in the rain
not sure if I found myself longing
to run full pelt and aimless
or revel in the gift of no brain
about a chicken that lived on for days
after they axed its head in the rain
not sure if I found myself longing
to run full pelt and aimless
or revel in the gift of no brain
#MentalHealth
#SelfReflection
205 reads
9 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
24th Jul 2024 11:52pm
24th Jul 2024 11:52pm
Baby Mine is still the saddest song in Dumbo
when I was a kid,
I had a rock tumbler
I’d pack it with beach stones
listening to the thing whir and crunch
for a month until I excitedly
unscrewed the cap
sieving off the thick granite slurry
to reveal my polished agates.
I kinda feel like my spine makes
the same noise these days
every morning it cracks
like a mother fucking glow stick
that refuses to actually glow
every morning I sit in the shower
washing off sweat and sleep ...
I had a rock tumbler
I’d pack it with beach stones
listening to the thing whir and crunch
for a month until I excitedly
unscrewed the cap
sieving off the thick granite slurry
to reveal my polished agates.
I kinda feel like my spine makes
the same noise these days
every morning it cracks
like a mother fucking glow stick
that refuses to actually glow
every morning I sit in the shower
washing off sweat and sleep ...
#LifeStruggles
#motherhood
#nature
#suffering
#disability
181 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
23rd Jul 2024 7:16pm
23rd Jul 2024 7:16pm
Black Balloon
grief is a part of me
has been a mantra
since my womb died
sometimes his ring finger
cannot hear the fists I pound
into breeze block walls
I’m numb from the waist down
yet some nights it feels
like everywhere
like the hair I pull out in strands
once under control
that I can’t seem to stop
or walking the supermarket aisles
dreaming of vodka smiles
in wide eyed relief
sometimes I feel as if
I am more apology
than girl ...
has been a mantra
since my womb died
sometimes his ring finger
cannot hear the fists I pound
into breeze block walls
I’m numb from the waist down
yet some nights it feels
like everywhere
like the hair I pull out in strands
once under control
that I can’t seem to stop
or walking the supermarket aisles
dreaming of vodka smiles
in wide eyed relief
sometimes I feel as if
I am more apology
than girl ...
#anxiety
#confessional
#grief
209 reads
8 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
23rd Jul 2024 2:45am
23rd Jul 2024 2:45am
How to love stained glass
lay words
upon silence like a vessel
and find where light creeps in
love until smashed shards
cast kaleidoscopic fragments
across empty walls
and there is no memory of shade
only colour in the dead of night
he should not fail to remember
upon silence like a vessel
and find where light creeps in
love until smashed shards
cast kaleidoscopic fragments
across empty walls
and there is no memory of shade
only colour in the dead of night
he should not fail to remember
#support
243 reads
0 Comments
ANGER POEM
Published
22nd Jul 2024 9:32pm
22nd Jul 2024 9:32pm
There’s power in the f**k off
not just the casual f-grenade
but the atomic fuck-all-the-way-off
until you reach the furthest point,
dream the impossible dream
and fuck off a bit further
like when my Mother called tonight
as she reeled off a bonfire of anxiety
about my Aunt and all her endless shit,
how they’re staying with her this weekend
and I wonder if all the victims
of Jeffrey Dahmer
would happily sit down
with the frantically chipped china...
but the atomic fuck-all-the-way-off
until you reach the furthest point,
dream the impossible dream
and fuck off a bit further
like when my Mother called tonight
as she reeled off a bonfire of anxiety
about my Aunt and all her endless shit,
how they’re staying with her this weekend
and I wonder if all the victims
of Jeffrey Dahmer
would happily sit down
with the frantically chipped china...
#conflict
#family
#frustration
219 reads
5 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
21st Jul 2024 7:22pm
21st Jul 2024 7:22pm
Scabs
I.
in the late 18th century
the term scab was used
to describe anybody
that wouldn’t join a union
or refused to strike
wounds walking around
like regular people
a dichotomy of living
and need
II.
the worst scab I’ve ever tended
was a cigarette I put out on my arm
aged twenty, full of fear
burnt skin doesn’t heal like slices
little red halos turn white
the world buzzes for a moment
nothing but silence
and weak knees
III. ...
in the late 18th century
the term scab was used
to describe anybody
that wouldn’t join a union
or refused to strike
wounds walking around
like regular people
a dichotomy of living
and need
II.
the worst scab I’ve ever tended
was a cigarette I put out on my arm
aged twenty, full of fear
burnt skin doesn’t heal like slices
little red halos turn white
the world buzzes for a moment
nothing but silence
and weak knees
III. ...
#confessional
#hurt
#myself
#vulnerability
#weakness
191 reads
6 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
17th Jul 2024 10:34am
17th Jul 2024 10:34am
Real Talk
I watch her perch on a seventies chair
hair draped across her face
skirt meeting skin at the knees.
I look at her there
crushed
somewhere between woe
and the wandering world
as she talks of how time
eats her alive
how love fucks her up
as she fidgets with a silver ring,
chews her bottom lip.
I can’t help but think
how beautiful women are
in their fury
how they arrive
crowning grief at the base
birthing hope into lives and rooms
that hold no place for them ...
hair draped across her face
skirt meeting skin at the knees.
I look at her there
crushed
somewhere between woe
and the wandering world
as she talks of how time
eats her alive
how love fucks her up
as she fidgets with a silver ring,
chews her bottom lip.
I can’t help but think
how beautiful women are
in their fury
how they arrive
crowning grief at the base
birthing hope into lives and rooms
that hold no place for them ...
#MyInspiration
#strength
#vulnerability
#weakness
#women
145 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
15th Jul 2024 9:31am
15th Jul 2024 9:31am
Dedicated to the grind
I could have pushed out a sprog or three
got myself a nice council house
with a brown fence and a yard
settled back in a chair
and watched dandelions grow
from crevices in a party wall
noting the sun silhouetted
by chimneys
but I didn’t.
I could have maybe got a good job
with a salary and a pension scheme
got myself a desk
and an anglepoise lamp
and stared at people
who looked like ants
from the tenth floor
but I didn't.
I didn't just roll over...
got myself a nice council house
with a brown fence and a yard
settled back in a chair
and watched dandelions grow
from crevices in a party wall
noting the sun silhouetted
by chimneys
but I didn’t.
I could have maybe got a good job
with a salary and a pension scheme
got myself a desk
and an anglepoise lamp
and stared at people
who looked like ants
from the tenth floor
but I didn't.
I didn't just roll over...
#LifeStruggles
154 reads
6 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
12th Jul 2024 7:44pm
12th Jul 2024 7:44pm
Friday, 19:44
My phone has 17 tabs open. I look at an encyclopaedia of craft patterns and recipes and weird facts I’ve shared with weirder friends. I don’t want to get frustrated by it, but I do, because that’s my mind so we discovered in therapy - my phone is my mind. The tabs are open, constantly refreshing, constantly flickering in the background.
I spent the whole morning talking about stress. How I deal with it. How it chews me up, spits me out. How much I’ve inherited the neurotic shoes of my Mother as they slide neatly under the desk at night. And I hate that I’m like that. I hate that...
I spent the whole morning talking about stress. How I deal with it. How it chews me up, spits me out. How much I’ve inherited the neurotic shoes of my Mother as they slide neatly under the desk at night. And I hate that I’m like that. I hate that...
#anxiety
#DomesticViolence
#LifeStruggles
#MentalHealth
#StreamOfConsciousness
210 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Submissions by Northern_Soul
