Submissions by TCLilly (Tanzen Lilly)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Tanzen Lilly graduated SAIC in 2013 with a BFA. Tanzen is a visual artist, poet, and jewelry maker. Her work focusses on interpreting and illustrating the subconscious mind, as well as occult imagery and topics. Her poetry often explores gothic themes.
STORY POEM
Published
22nd Apr 2014 9:25pm
22nd Apr 2014 9:25pm
Why Do My Legs Still Ache?
Last night
I was crossing a bridge,
Running with all of my strength.
My legs started sinking
Shooting pain pulling them to the pavement
Like magnets
But still I crawled
Toward that unreachable goal
Until I woke up.
Why do my legs still ache?
Poem and drawing by
Tanzen Lilly 2014
I was crossing a bridge,
Running with all of my strength.
My legs started sinking
Shooting pain pulling them to the pavement
Like magnets
But still I crawled
Toward that unreachable goal
Until I woke up.
Why do my legs still ache?
Poem and drawing by
Tanzen Lilly 2014
#anxiety
#dreams
#sleep
#nightmares
#MentalHealth
739 reads
5 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
24th Mar 2014 5:49pm
24th Mar 2014 5:49pm
Dagny's Pledge
If I had picked your face out from the crowd that day, I would have done everything differently from that point on. Did you feel this same magnetic pull the first time you saw me? How strong you must be, to keep these emotions and desires at bay behind cool eyes. Working with that same coolness to undo all that I struggle to achieve, just to prove that in order to reach our full potential in this world, we must be separated from everyone and everything in it. But I will not give up. I will save my railroad. Not just for the sake of Nat Taggart, but for the sake of every soul out there...
#narrative
#ShortStory
#prose #love
#prose #love
922 reads
2 Comments
SONG LYRICS
Published
3rd Mar 2014 9:22pm
3rd Mar 2014 9:22pm
Dominique's Song
Your eyes are like water
And I've fallen in
I cannot escape their embrace
One look at you
And I'm instantly blue
Anyone else can see your face
Isn't it funny
They need you
Isn't it just terrifying
No doubt about it
I need you
We are just two of a kind
Like a greek god in statue
You've stolen my heart
I'm never to see it again
Others look on
They don't know what we have
It ended before the start
Isn't it funny
They need you
Isn't it just terrifying
No doubt about it
I...
And I've fallen in
I cannot escape their embrace
One look at you
And I'm instantly blue
Anyone else can see your face
Isn't it funny
They need you
Isn't it just terrifying
No doubt about it
I need you
We are just two of a kind
Like a greek god in statue
You've stolen my heart
I'm never to see it again
Others look on
They don't know what we have
It ended before the start
Isn't it funny
They need you
Isn't it just terrifying
No doubt about it
I...
#love
#lyrics
#music
1051 reads
7 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
24th Jan 2014 8:20pm
24th Jan 2014 8:20pm
Shirley
When you were on your feet
You were the best chef in the family.
Fixing dinners for two
Or four, or six,
and so on.
Full of life,
This sense of pride
Rushed in
When you visited last night,
Slipping through the window
With the cool night air.
Whispering of care and concern
Acting as my guide
On our night voyage.
You flew me to Washington
Like some kind of prophet,
Your mere presence
Filling my body with love.
Then you revealed the story –
Harsh words revolving
Around a lost soul.
While a dizzying storm was...
You were the best chef in the family.
Fixing dinners for two
Or four, or six,
and so on.
Full of life,
This sense of pride
Rushed in
When you visited last night,
Slipping through the window
With the cool night air.
Whispering of care and concern
Acting as my guide
On our night voyage.
You flew me to Washington
Like some kind of prophet,
Your mere presence
Filling my body with love.
Then you revealed the story –
Harsh words revolving
Around a lost soul.
While a dizzying storm was...
#grief
#family
#death
#memories
#mother
779 reads
5 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
19th Dec 2013 00:46am
19th Dec 2013 00:46am
Spin On
The world is spinning without me
And I'm letting it.
I tried for six long months
to slow the world down
and find my place in it.
In fact
In late August,
My feet almost touched the ground.
But that, like most things
Was too good to be true.
Just like people always say.
And so it is decided.
I'm not going to try so desperately
To play catch-up anymore.
Because it just hit me:
Maybe the world
Just needs to catch up with me.
Tanzen Lilly, December 18th 2013
And I'm letting it.
I tried for six long months
to slow the world down
and find my place in it.
In fact
In late August,
My feet almost touched the ground.
But that, like most things
Was too good to be true.
Just like people always say.
And so it is decided.
I'm not going to try so desperately
To play catch-up anymore.
Because it just hit me:
Maybe the world
Just needs to catch up with me.
Tanzen Lilly, December 18th 2013
#anxiety
#depression
#MentalHealth
#SelfDiscovery
#SelfWorth
697 reads
5 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
6th Dec 2013 11:17pm
6th Dec 2013 11:17pm
I Cannot Speak Certainly About My love For You
I cannot
Speak certainly
About my love for you.
Because I am not
Made of
Glass
(Or some other
Transparent
Material)
I often sit
And contemplate
Its existence.
I imagine
My heart is stained
By its color,
Its shade.
I listen for the echoes
Of your footsteps.
For indeed you would strut about
The stank abyss
As its sole inhabitant.
I muse
That these pangs I feel
Are clanging bells
As you swing from
The rafters of my heart ...
Speak certainly
About my love for you.
Because I am not
Made of
Glass
(Or some other
Transparent
Material)
I often sit
And contemplate
Its existence.
I imagine
My heart is stained
By its color,
Its shade.
I listen for the echoes
Of your footsteps.
For indeed you would strut about
The stank abyss
As its sole inhabitant.
I muse
That these pangs I feel
Are clanging bells
As you swing from
The rafters of my heart ...
#love
#forgiveness
#heartbroken
#regret
#grief
855 reads
4 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
16th Nov 2013 7:52pm
16th Nov 2013 7:52pm
Dream Maiden
I knew your name
Before you spoke it.
It came to me in a dream.
I knew your face
Before you showed it.
My heart leaped out
To be in your flame.
In order to keep on living
I tell myself
I will see you again.
Tanzen Lilly, September 2013
Before you spoke it.
It came to me in a dream.
I knew your face
Before you showed it.
My heart leaped out
To be in your flame.
In order to keep on living
I tell myself
I will see you again.
Tanzen Lilly, September 2013
#love
#lust
#dreams
#LGBT
#crush
614 reads
3 Comments
NON-FICTION PROSE
Published
15th Nov 2013 2:01am
15th Nov 2013 2:01am
Strawberry Girl
I had a dream
You were naked, standing
Atop a tall mound of earth.
Millions of strawberries
Were growing down its sides.
I was lost in a sea of people
All watching you from below.
We threw the large, juicy berries at you
Until you were soaked in red.
Finally, fighting my way through the crowd,
I climbed the hill
And swung you over my shoulders.
Everyone looked on with jealousy
as I stole you away.
Tanzen Lilly 2013
You were naked, standing
Atop a tall mound of earth.
Millions of strawberries
Were growing down its sides.
I was lost in a sea of people
All watching you from below.
We threw the large, juicy berries at you
Until you were soaked in red.
Finally, fighting my way through the crowd,
I climbed the hill
And swung you over my shoulders.
Everyone looked on with jealousy
as I stole you away.
Tanzen Lilly 2013
#love
#dreams
#LGBT #women
#LGBT #women
615 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
11th Nov 2013 00:53am
11th Nov 2013 00:53am
White Things in a Black Box
Back from the war
It is confirmed: his life is
A nightmare
A sequence of
Tortured memories
Posed and arranged
Alphabetized
Standing in line
The old man tries to make sense
Of the things he has done.
Plucking feathers from the earth
Muting the monsters, and taming their bite.
He sets to work
Laying little bodies to rest.
All white things in a black box.
Washing all these bones
A ritualistic act, an attempt
To scrub a soul clean
All these little things,
They used to live.
They used...
It is confirmed: his life is
A nightmare
A sequence of
Tortured memories
Posed and arranged
Alphabetized
Standing in line
The old man tries to make sense
Of the things he has done.
Plucking feathers from the earth
Muting the monsters, and taming their bite.
He sets to work
Laying little bodies to rest.
All white things in a black box.
Washing all these bones
A ritualistic act, an attempt
To scrub a soul clean
All these little things,
They used to live.
They used...
#depression
#grief
#soldiers
#identity
#war
544 reads
0 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
8th Nov 2013 7:19pm
8th Nov 2013 7:19pm
We Are Like Cigarettes and Coffee
I remember the first time I caught you smoking.
Flirtatiously I scolded you,
But I'm pretty sure you thought I was serious.
I doubt you noticed me staring, thinking
Your lips looked even more delicious.
On one of our first "dates"
We were at Wormhole.
Instead of doing homework
We interviewed each other over cups of coffee.
As if time was running out,
You wanted to know everything about me.
We are like cigarettes and coffee -
We go so well together.
Tanzen Lilly December 13th...
Flirtatiously I scolded you,
But I'm pretty sure you thought I was serious.
I doubt you noticed me staring, thinking
Your lips looked even more delicious.
On one of our first "dates"
We were at Wormhole.
Instead of doing homework
We interviewed each other over cups of coffee.
As if time was running out,
You wanted to know everything about me.
We are like cigarettes and coffee -
We go so well together.
Tanzen Lilly December 13th...
#love
#tobacco
#coffee
#lust
#memories
722 reads
3 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
3rd Oct 2013 6:59pm
3rd Oct 2013 6:59pm
Vision in a Meteor Shower
Years ago
I was twelve or so
Staring out my bedroom window
Fascinated by the sight
Red darts - flashing light,
I could not get much sleep that night.
A meteor shower raged outside
But there was something else
That caught my eye -
Through the tall trees I spotted
Two blazing red planets, sharing a single ring.
Thinking it a trick of light
I shut my eyes and held them tight.
But when I looked back to the sky
There it was, still shining bright.
Tanzen...
I was twelve or so
Staring out my bedroom window
Fascinated by the sight
Red darts - flashing light,
I could not get much sleep that night.
A meteor shower raged outside
But there was something else
That caught my eye -
Through the tall trees I spotted
Two blazing red planets, sharing a single ring.
Thinking it a trick of light
I shut my eyes and held them tight.
But when I looked back to the sky
There it was, still shining bright.
Tanzen...
#childhood
#nature
#memories
#astronomy
#scifi
785 reads
2 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
11th Jun 2013 6:03pm
11th Jun 2013 6:03pm
Rainy Day Fantasy
When it rains,
like the dust and bones I am
each part of me dissolves.
I imagine I am melting,
and as I sink into the earth
I caress each root and insect.
As the water pulls me down,
I'll keep running if I have to;
deep into the dirt.
Tanzen Lilly June 11th 2013
like the dust and bones I am
each part of me dissolves.
I imagine I am melting,
and as I sink into the earth
I caress each root and insect.
As the water pulls me down,
I'll keep running if I have to;
deep into the dirt.
Tanzen Lilly June 11th 2013
#anxiety
#depression
#rain
#water
#nature
629 reads
3 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by TCLilly (Tanzen Lilly)
