Submissions by Northern_Soul
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
There is a trick to get out of your skin 🖤
SELF POEM
Published
14th May 2024 11:55am
14th May 2024 11:55am
So, Cerys—
we meet again
as I take up these words,
fall into the future with arms
outstretched t’ward stars
I think of how uncertain life
fucking is—
how it’s the unexpected
that sweeps me up,
puts its hands on old scars
reads them like braille
all those secrets,
all that bile
and it’s over now.
I think back to my Mother
how her heart is a fortress
arriving unannounced for visits,
glimpses into her steel-bar world
and Dad’s lack of feeling
blunting with every death,
choking...
as I take up these words,
fall into the future with arms
outstretched t’ward stars
I think of how uncertain life
fucking is—
how it’s the unexpected
that sweeps me up,
puts its hands on old scars
reads them like braille
all those secrets,
all that bile
and it’s over now.
I think back to my Mother
how her heart is a fortress
arriving unannounced for visits,
glimpses into her steel-bar world
and Dad’s lack of feeling
blunting with every death,
choking...
#StreamOfConsciousness
202 reads
8 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
11th May 2024 2:01pm
11th May 2024 2:01pm
Vigil
I lay awake
in a soft-light state
thinking of all the voices
that had come and gone
the good ones that stayed
how their memories echoed
through amber streetlight
barely shadows in the dark.
I think of him
the curve of his accent
covering old wounds
in new bandages
how I missed him
in poetry and photographs
that no-one really knows
except me
the sacred vessel
the empty shell
waiting to be filled
by a word, a look,
an apology that
never comes.
...
in a soft-light state
thinking of all the voices
that had come and gone
the good ones that stayed
how their memories echoed
through amber streetlight
barely shadows in the dark.
I think of him
the curve of his accent
covering old wounds
in new bandages
how I missed him
in poetry and photographs
that no-one really knows
except me
the sacred vessel
the empty shell
waiting to be filled
by a word, a look,
an apology that
never comes.
...
#StreamOfConsciousness
270 reads
9 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
9th May 2024 11:32pm
9th May 2024 11:32pm
In[true]sive
I once wondered how many
keys I’d have to stab into my knuckles
to become a part-time Wolverine
I don’t know
what the fuck that means
or the exact amount of skittles
a human can consume before
pissing the rainbow.
Sometimes I think the reason
people from other countries
like British people is because
they find our misery comforting
which is exactly
the part of me that wishes
just for one day I’d of been
a pregnancy statistic
for some suit to bitch about.
My Grandmother ...
keys I’d have to stab into my knuckles
to become a part-time Wolverine
I don’t know
what the fuck that means
or the exact amount of skittles
a human can consume before
pissing the rainbow.
Sometimes I think the reason
people from other countries
like British people is because
they find our misery comforting
which is exactly
the part of me that wishes
just for one day I’d of been
a pregnancy statistic
for some suit to bitch about.
My Grandmother ...
#OCD
235 reads
8 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
9th May 2024 10:46am
9th May 2024 10:46am
No-one ever said it was easy
six hours between visits
and the usual suspects
are pissing their territories
on their pixelated walls
I think of every woman
that has ever hated my spit
and the men who found
weird strength in it
as if my mouth is a trophy
nobody fucking asked for
gathering dust in a cabinet
they show to old mates
knowingly after dark.
I think about words
if they ever mean anything
remembering the last time
I allowed them in
watching my heart
get...
and the usual suspects
are pissing their territories
on their pixelated walls
I think of every woman
that has ever hated my spit
and the men who found
weird strength in it
as if my mouth is a trophy
nobody fucking asked for
gathering dust in a cabinet
they show to old mates
knowingly after dark.
I think about words
if they ever mean anything
remembering the last time
I allowed them in
watching my heart
get...
#PowerOfWords
#technology
310 reads
26 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
7th May 2024 11:13pm
7th May 2024 11:13pm
All The Green-Cap Mothers
I step through a willow gate
into May’s orchard
it’s where we chose
to meet this month,
this community place
huddled beneath sky
and spring blossoms
and so I enter an old yurt
looking at a filthy floor
more dirt than wood
slowly watching feet
gather through grime
it felt like a metaphor
so much bigger than myself
as I sat down in a camping chair,
poured myself hot tea from a flask
and thought about how it never changes,
my desire to see these women thrive
how it...
into May’s orchard
it’s where we chose
to meet this month,
this community place
huddled beneath sky
and spring blossoms
and so I enter an old yurt
looking at a filthy floor
more dirt than wood
slowly watching feet
gather through grime
it felt like a metaphor
so much bigger than myself
as I sat down in a camping chair,
poured myself hot tea from a flask
and thought about how it never changes,
my desire to see these women thrive
how it...
#admiration
#respect
#support #women
#support #women
178 reads
4 Comments
ANGER POEM
Published
4th May 2024 4:16pm
4th May 2024 4:16pm
Other Bones
What is her name
that one in your bed
draped in familiarity
as I drag thoughts across linen
as I picture a chicken carcass
forming shelters in the kitchen
where your children live.
Why does she not sing here
of all the words you never speak,
of her fingers and feet and face,
her vacant stories beating.
...
that one in your bed
draped in familiarity
as I drag thoughts across linen
as I picture a chicken carcass
forming shelters in the kitchen
where your children live.
Why does she not sing here
of all the words you never speak,
of her fingers and feet and face,
her vacant stories beating.
...
#StreamOfConsciousness
229 reads
6 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
2nd May 2024 2:00pm
2nd May 2024 2:00pm
All the tattered threads
I’m wide open
in a dentist’s chair
listening to words like
plaque and dental cement
how I’ve got good teeth
for my age, and I note
it’s not the same
for my folks.
I’ve a jagged edge
on a wisdom tooth
sheered right off one day
crunching on a sherbet
in the car
stabbed me in the cheek
for two weeks while I waited
to get the damn thing
filed and filled.
I think of how easy it is
to fill in the cracks
of the body
how all of me is mended ...
in a dentist’s chair
listening to words like
plaque and dental cement
how I’ve got good teeth
for my age, and I note
it’s not the same
for my folks.
I’ve a jagged edge
on a wisdom tooth
sheered right off one day
crunching on a sherbet
in the car
stabbed me in the cheek
for two weeks while I waited
to get the damn thing
filed and filled.
I think of how easy it is
to fill in the cracks
of the body
how all of me is mended ...
#SelfReflection
#SelfWorth
#StreamOfConsciousness #WritingPoetry
#StreamOfConsciousness #WritingPoetry
248 reads
7 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
30th Apr 2024 11:40am
30th Apr 2024 11:40am
The closing flame
beat the shadows
and the stars
into submission
pray
ask questions both
in life and in sleep
hold out hands to weave
the vast threads of that
great beyond
be still
burn wild flames
long into the night
hold the words
of those spirits
thank them for presence
for humble inspiration
in this world
and the next
because the old ways
are alive
they are beating
their love
against the sky
follow their wings...
and the stars
into submission
pray
ask questions both
in life and in sleep
hold out hands to weave
the vast threads of that
great beyond
be still
burn wild flames
long into the night
hold the words
of those spirits
thank them for presence
for humble inspiration
in this world
and the next
because the old ways
are alive
they are beating
their love
against the sky
follow their wings...
#Britain
#pagan
195 reads
3 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
29th Apr 2024 6:46pm
29th Apr 2024 6:46pm
Hymn to Connections
By lunchtime
we’d booked our digs
made an itinerary
set up a WhatsApp group
labelled it with cute emojis
changed the profile picture
to illustrate the potential
of wild girls on tour
away from
our Husbands
our kids
our doctors.
Don’t get us wrong,
it’s not that we despise those things
but sometimes, us women peak
when we’re allowed to return
to the feral, intuitive weirdos
we are when we’re cut loose
from the kitchen
feeding our souls
as well as our bodies
in...
we’d booked our digs
made an itinerary
set up a WhatsApp group
labelled it with cute emojis
changed the profile picture
to illustrate the potential
of wild girls on tour
away from
our Husbands
our kids
our doctors.
Don’t get us wrong,
it’s not that we despise those things
but sometimes, us women peak
when we’re allowed to return
to the feral, intuitive weirdos
we are when we’re cut loose
from the kitchen
feeding our souls
as well as our bodies
in...
#friendship
#pagan
#support #women
#support #women
214 reads
14 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
28th Apr 2024 11:15am
28th Apr 2024 11:15am
Hymn to the Land
bury your wounds, allowing
moorland dirt to coat fingernails
thinking of soles and toes and ankles
drumming dirt with the dance
of memories, of Beltane fires
wild arms extended
fingers flexed as if reaching
through clouds, weaving
night into glorious day
let a body drop, the weight of it
swaying gently on hammocks
made of willow branches
waiting for rain—
pure, crystalline droplets
falling from a mottled sky
giving yourself over to it all
bruised, yet full and feeling
because you...
moorland dirt to coat fingernails
thinking of soles and toes and ankles
drumming dirt with the dance
of memories, of Beltane fires
wild arms extended
fingers flexed as if reaching
through clouds, weaving
night into glorious day
let a body drop, the weight of it
swaying gently on hammocks
made of willow branches
waiting for rain—
pure, crystalline droplets
falling from a mottled sky
giving yourself over to it all
bruised, yet full and feeling
because you...
#Britain
#meditation
#pagan
139 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
27th Apr 2024 6:12pm
27th Apr 2024 6:12pm
Hymn to Rituals
So the thing is
I have an anxiety disorder
or maybe it's an anxiety order
thanks to my OCD
even I don't know
how I feel about that
mostly because the answer
is probably wrong and I've spent
the last ten minutes choking down
enough dry spit to worry about
your stupid fucking question.
I've always had this thing
this over-analysis
of everything
which surprises me
for two reasons:
one
I
never
stop laughing
at my own jokes
or other people's jokes...
I have an anxiety disorder
or maybe it's an anxiety order
thanks to my OCD
even I don't know
how I feel about that
mostly because the answer
is probably wrong and I've spent
the last ten minutes choking down
enough dry spit to worry about
your stupid fucking question.
I've always had this thing
this over-analysis
of everything
which surprises me
for two reasons:
one
I
never
stop laughing
at my own jokes
or other people's jokes...
#anxiety
#confessional
#OCD
#pagan
#StreamOfConsciousness
171 reads
6 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
26th Apr 2024 3:13pm
26th Apr 2024 3:13pm
Hymn to Lessons
I did not find her as treasure
never a graceful swan
never a butterfly
or moth or pretty wings
there are creatures born
unlike any other
woman with a nervous smile
red hair, soft wrists
I did not know it would be you
who brought me here
didn’t know about the scraps
we ate to keep each other close
how memory is the animal
that burrows itself in me
it wasn’t even that I wanted to
but I did want to
it was complicated
never a graceful swan
never a butterfly
or moth or pretty wings
there are creatures born
unlike any other
woman with a nervous smile
red hair, soft wrists
I did not know it would be you
who brought me here
didn’t know about the scraps
we ate to keep each other close
how memory is the animal
that burrows itself in me
it wasn’t even that I wanted to
but I did want to
it was complicated
#lesbian
#memories
#pagan
#SelfDiscovery
#women
261 reads
0 Comments
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