Submissions by Tristique
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Goodbye Sits on the Horizon
Silently I will you to happiness.
You gift me a flat gaze,
refusing to share anticipation.
I want to plan tomorrow
and you insist on taking my smiles
and smashing them to dust
in power struggles between your head
and your baggage.
You leave and I am relieved.
I know when you come back, you will
cross the room without making eye contact,
waiting for me to say hello first.
Small victories in your small mind,
while our home burns.
You gift me a flat gaze,
refusing to share anticipation.
I want to plan tomorrow
and you insist on taking my smiles
and smashing them to dust
in power struggles between your head
and your baggage.
You leave and I am relieved.
I know when you come back, you will
cross the room without making eye contact,
waiting for me to say hello first.
Small victories in your small mind,
while our home burns.
613 reads
1 Comment
Fractals
Let me look for salvation in a cigarette.
I pinch the filter off – what's the point?
Four drinks in and I still haven't found
the unsaid words that will free me.
I want to be me, but I can't. I got lost
somewhere between what you said and what I didn't.
Is my voice audible over the static?
Test me, one two three. I can take it, if you hold me.
I could do it alone, but I don't want to.
I pinch the filter off – what's the point?
Four drinks in and I still haven't found
the unsaid words that will free me.
I want to be me, but I can't. I got lost
somewhere between what you said and what I didn't.
Is my voice audible over the static?
Test me, one two three. I can take it, if you hold me.
I could do it alone, but I don't want to.
662 reads
0 Comments
Time As Measured in Pain
Anytime I find myself alone, I cry, and not always with a concrete reason. I seem to need it. It tears through me like the slice of noise when the forgotten car window is cracked open at high speeds. I think I have been lying to and running from myself for so long, whenever I catch up, I can only resort to wordless grief.
I will never be myself with my father. There are so many artificial borders painted around the table – the table that is constantly between us. I feel better if there is a table to buffer the blows, to cling to in high gales and through crashing waves. What else can...
I will never be myself with my father. There are so many artificial borders painted around the table – the table that is constantly between us. I feel better if there is a table to buffer the blows, to cling to in high gales and through crashing waves. What else can...
749 reads
4 Comments
Gone and Gone
How do I search for dreams
that are a whisper on an old cassette tape
stuck in a dusty drawer in my childhood bedroom?
I wake up every day with empty faces hanging around me
and my mind scrabbling to hold their names
like a curled fog in a fist.
I uncurl my fingers, and a mind shadow winks past.
Unfulfilled mourning reminds me of what faded.
that are a whisper on an old cassette tape
stuck in a dusty drawer in my childhood bedroom?
I wake up every day with empty faces hanging around me
and my mind scrabbling to hold their names
like a curled fog in a fist.
I uncurl my fingers, and a mind shadow winks past.
Unfulfilled mourning reminds me of what faded.
766 reads
6 Comments
Again
Tattoo your name in my alphabet,
a permanent stain on every utterance I heave,
strained as the sheets that trail off
from the bed.
The core shaking recedes, a dirty tide
that leaves silent spaces littered
with the shame of half-smoked cigarettes
and annoyed neighbors.
We breathe, then your eyes open.
Again...
a permanent stain on every utterance I heave,
strained as the sheets that trail off
from the bed.
The core shaking recedes, a dirty tide
that leaves silent spaces littered
with the shame of half-smoked cigarettes
and annoyed neighbors.
We breathe, then your eyes open.
Again...
901 reads
6 Comments
raging lust
840 reads
6 Comments
You Missed Your Cue
"I'm sorry for each flinch
of the welcome wagon.
Truly, honey.
I paraded excuse
after excuse in Rio grandness,
but you missed your cue
to pay homage.
I'm sorry I took every real moment
and stretched it to fit my dressing table,
because if I don't look fabulous
this will get ugly.
I changed my mind,
she is wonderful,
but I can't stand him.
It really is just
about how you
fucked up, sweetie."
Well, I apologise to me
for blindly following
and for giving it all away.
I confused...
of the welcome wagon.
Truly, honey.
I paraded excuse
after excuse in Rio grandness,
but you missed your cue
to pay homage.
I'm sorry I took every real moment
and stretched it to fit my dressing table,
because if I don't look fabulous
this will get ugly.
I changed my mind,
she is wonderful,
but I can't stand him.
It really is just
about how you
fucked up, sweetie."
Well, I apologise to me
for blindly following
and for giving it all away.
I confused...
669 reads
4 Comments
Liquid Velvet
You're my liquid velvet obsession.
Our talks send sparks
behind my eyes.
Every word
flows down my spine,
hot mercury flashes.
Melting, I'm melting
into the timber of your voice,
the heat from your arms.
Our talks send sparks
behind my eyes.
Every word
flows down my spine,
hot mercury flashes.
Melting, I'm melting
into the timber of your voice,
the heat from your arms.
727 reads
5 Comments
Omnisensual
I blindfold you,
tie you
with silk scarves
so you don't miss
a single finger trace.
Hot oiled tips
from clavicle
to thigh.
Hard to say
whose
hitched breath
has caught in my throat.
Astride this
dilemma,
to untie
or knot?
tie you
with silk scarves
so you don't miss
a single finger trace.
Hot oiled tips
from clavicle
to thigh.
Hard to say
whose
hitched breath
has caught in my throat.
Astride this
dilemma,
to untie
or knot?
900 reads
4 Comments
Diamond Dust
My thirst for conversation deepens
and I don't mean, "how's the weather".
I mean the talks, the words that mean
I am seen, I am heard.
When the thoughts in my head matter
to someone who wants them...
and I can listen, take a turn
in holding a light and a mirror.
Rare as diamond dust,
precious as water.
and I don't mean, "how's the weather".
I mean the talks, the words that mean
I am seen, I am heard.
When the thoughts in my head matter
to someone who wants them...
and I can listen, take a turn
in holding a light and a mirror.
Rare as diamond dust,
precious as water.
788 reads
4 Comments
Vespers
I see the stillness of dusk,
a patient unveiling of you.
My copper cup holds clearness,
well water for the thirst burning you.
The stars blink after the sun's fire,
wanting the promise of velvet night
while we find each other.
a patient unveiling of you.
My copper cup holds clearness,
well water for the thirst burning you.
The stars blink after the sun's fire,
wanting the promise of velvet night
while we find each other.
744 reads
2 Comments
Marauding Dawn
The Sea cherished the Moon,
dressed herself in shimmering strings
of pearl light, frolicked in froth.
He caressed her with starlight,
phasing to ripened glory
then spent, a blink in newness.
The Sun stretched out,
a titian lick, spreading a fire
of empyrean diamonds.
The Sea succumbed,
her first amour outshone —
her depths ablaze, boundless.
dressed herself in shimmering strings
of pearl light, frolicked in froth.
He caressed her with starlight,
phasing to ripened glory
then spent, a blink in newness.
The Sun stretched out,
a titian lick, spreading a fire
of empyrean diamonds.
The Sea succumbed,
her first amour outshone —
her depths ablaze, boundless.
713 reads
5 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Tristique