Submissions by rowantree
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
they/them/theirs. Polyamorous, proud, patient power. Love and joy and journals and the journey! Which IS the destination.
whiny weed
It's a dark and stormy one.
I'm getting rain-whispers through the window,
and thunder bangs on the walls.
I want to luxuriate in the moody slime
of this afternoon.
But my fucking roommate
is singing something stupid at the the top of her lungs
there in the living room.
My roommate -
my best friend, mind you, who I will always love -
is WHISTLING,
wiping out the rainy peace.
I notice that random rage
and step back from it -
we sing all the time.
We howl together in the living...
I'm getting rain-whispers through the window,
and thunder bangs on the walls.
I want to luxuriate in the moody slime
of this afternoon.
But my fucking roommate
is singing something stupid at the the top of her lungs
there in the living room.
My roommate -
my best friend, mind you, who I will always love -
is WHISTLING,
wiping out the rainy peace.
I notice that random rage
and step back from it -
we sing all the time.
We howl together in the living...
#love
#jealousy
225 reads
2 Comments
Magnapinna
The other week
when I freaked out
about the prospect of you joining lives
with someone who only wants to make you into a carpet
and a pretty wedding ring,
someone who has hit you,
who has locked you in your home and hidden the key -
someone who tells you terrible things
and affirms only your most painful anxieties,
who can give you sweetness and closeness
and rip it all away
unless you obey -
someone who has not once shown the ability
to sacrifice her own desires for something you want or...
when I freaked out
about the prospect of you joining lives
with someone who only wants to make you into a carpet
and a pretty wedding ring,
someone who has hit you,
who has locked you in your home and hidden the key -
someone who tells you terrible things
and affirms only your most painful anxieties,
who can give you sweetness and closeness
and rip it all away
unless you obey -
someone who has not once shown the ability
to sacrifice her own desires for something you want or...
#strength
#fear
164 reads
0 Comments
The Guilty Joyful and the Chronic Depressive Collide
I'm the goopy, garish yolk
cracked over your cast iron.
I turn impossibly bright
as I sizzle and spatter,
based on you.
I'm a crash of crayon
to your tired printer paper,
it seems;
the song that plays games in your silence.
I don't mean for my joy to stand out so bright against
the misery
you can't leave as easily as me -
the suffering you have become
because of mistakes
I've long since forgiven,
but that still chain you in an exhausting reality
like gravity itself.
The...
cracked over your cast iron.
I turn impossibly bright
as I sizzle and spatter,
based on you.
I'm a crash of crayon
to your tired printer paper,
it seems;
the song that plays games in your silence.
I don't mean for my joy to stand out so bright against
the misery
you can't leave as easily as me -
the suffering you have become
because of mistakes
I've long since forgiven,
but that still chain you in an exhausting reality
like gravity itself.
The...
#happiness
#anxiety
#love #depression
#love #depression
183 reads
0 Comments
soulgrowl
I am fingers of vines,
a soul of ivy,
refusing to stay still.
I move
forever
over everything.
I am a bush on a body
and I am a bush with roots.
I grow,
I insist.
You can try to trim me,
but it’s hit or miss.
I am a roach at night,
and a cat’s hiss
and glitter all over you when you least expect it.
That’s right.
Try and fight it.
By my very nature,
I will have my way.
a soul of ivy,
refusing to stay still.
I move
forever
over everything.
I am a bush on a body
and I am a bush with roots.
I grow,
I insist.
You can try to trim me,
but it’s hit or miss.
I am a roach at night,
and a cat’s hiss
and glitter all over you when you least expect it.
That’s right.
Try and fight it.
By my very nature,
I will have my way.
#power
236 reads
1 Comment
awesome sister
I can tell her my biggest secrets.
She says, “Cool.”
She doesn’t gasp.
She doesn’t dismiss.
She accepts truths
like catching a baseball out of the sky
with one hand.
Gracefully.
She is taller than me,
but younger than me,
and we’ve been best friends since a decade ago
when they gave us separate bedrooms.
We make mischief and cookies and we talk shit.
We are forever on the same side.
I heard her call me “sibling”
on the phone
to a stranger
in a semi-frantic situation. ...
She says, “Cool.”
She doesn’t gasp.
She doesn’t dismiss.
She accepts truths
like catching a baseball out of the sky
with one hand.
Gracefully.
She is taller than me,
but younger than me,
and we’ve been best friends since a decade ago
when they gave us separate bedrooms.
We make mischief and cookies and we talk shit.
We are forever on the same side.
I heard her call me “sibling”
on the phone
to a stranger
in a semi-frantic situation. ...
#love
#sister
#family
227 reads
2 Comments
March Ides-Eve: You Beside Me
I showed you how beautiful our days could be.
I proved how serious I am
about not being too serious
about anything that doesn't matter.
When I bought tortoiseshell, octagonal
gas station sunglasses
for seven bucks,
and snacks for our newest adventure,
you were right by my side -
the acid was starting to kick in,
and my favorite day ever was soon to begin.
We walked all over the back of the Beast,
sometimes hiking on just to our breathing -
sometimes laughing till the point of weeping,
and...
I proved how serious I am
about not being too serious
about anything that doesn't matter.
When I bought tortoiseshell, octagonal
gas station sunglasses
for seven bucks,
and snacks for our newest adventure,
you were right by my side -
the acid was starting to kick in,
and my favorite day ever was soon to begin.
We walked all over the back of the Beast,
sometimes hiking on just to our breathing -
sometimes laughing till the point of weeping,
and...
#love
#friendship
#freedom
223 reads
1 Comment
Love-rambles from Paradise
I forgot for a moment there,
but that is just the ebb.
I need only breathe
and bring the flow.
My earth
is too bountiful to ever be fully scorched.
I am
a true oasis.
A solace,
a land of almond milk and local honey,
a combination blessing of location,
luck,
and careful cultivation.
Surrender slipped away for a while
the other night, I guess,
to go slip into a different dress,
fix her lipstick,
preen her power for a moment.
While she was away,
I made room for her...
but that is just the ebb.
I need only breathe
and bring the flow.
My earth
is too bountiful to ever be fully scorched.
I am
a true oasis.
A solace,
a land of almond milk and local honey,
a combination blessing of location,
luck,
and careful cultivation.
Surrender slipped away for a while
the other night, I guess,
to go slip into a different dress,
fix her lipstick,
preen her power for a moment.
While she was away,
I made room for her...
#love
305 reads
1 Comment
Angrylove
I guess there is rage here, too.
I guess I’m not safe
from falling so deep in love with you you become my lifeline
Despite my best attempts not to depend on you
Not to cause you too much stress
Because you’re everyone’s voodoo doll
Tugged in each direction.
I’m so sorry
To be one of them.
I just
Care for you.
I think I
Really do.
Because I love your son
As much as you do,
And I’m terrified
For a fight
To unfold
In front of him
When it’s not so easy as
Sneaking...
I guess I’m not safe
from falling so deep in love with you you become my lifeline
Despite my best attempts not to depend on you
Not to cause you too much stress
Because you’re everyone’s voodoo doll
Tugged in each direction.
I’m so sorry
To be one of them.
I just
Care for you.
I think I
Really do.
Because I love your son
As much as you do,
And I’m terrified
For a fight
To unfold
In front of him
When it’s not so easy as
Sneaking...
#anger
#love
#children
257 reads
1 Comment
Loveseat (A Piece of Poly Pride)
It used to be a couch, but now I’ve got a loveseat
And now that it’s been three years of this love-thing,
Every mid-morning when I’m squashed into snuggling,
The dog and the cat come to curl up and bug me.
There is peace wall to wall in this thing that we built.
We love the same guy without panic or guilt,
And we love each other and we always will -
I’ll picnic - I’ll live, fuck, and die on that hill.
She wants to move out, but they’ll still stay in touch -
And so will us two, with the closest kind clutch.
We all will be...
And now that it’s been three years of this love-thing,
Every mid-morning when I’m squashed into snuggling,
The dog and the cat come to curl up and bug me.
There is peace wall to wall in this thing that we built.
We love the same guy without panic or guilt,
And we love each other and we always will -
I’ll picnic - I’ll live, fuck, and die on that hill.
She wants to move out, but they’ll still stay in touch -
And so will us two, with the closest kind clutch.
We all will be...
#love
#polyamory
499 reads
3 Comments
Fiery Folk
My old dust jacket looks good on the ground;
my shoulders glow warm in the sun.
My stillness, a bonfire for dancing around --
My silence, a sky hot with fun --
with wooping, and stomping, and sweet smirking smoke
from before and from after the gun --
I'm joining the riot of fiery folk.
I will sing my own songs -- every one.
I dare blackest nights to come make me afraid --
I double-dare loneliness, too --
I follow the light I have guarded and made;
my heart-fire takes living as fuel.
I offer it all to the hearth and the earth. ...
my shoulders glow warm in the sun.
My stillness, a bonfire for dancing around --
My silence, a sky hot with fun --
with wooping, and stomping, and sweet smirking smoke
from before and from after the gun --
I'm joining the riot of fiery folk.
I will sing my own songs -- every one.
I dare blackest nights to come make me afraid --
I double-dare loneliness, too --
I follow the light I have guarded and made;
my heart-fire takes living as fuel.
I offer it all to the hearth and the earth. ...
#happiness
#hope
#power #uplifting
#power #uplifting
280 reads
3 Comments
537 reads
2 Comments
@mom’s dismissals and doubts about me helping with rent when my loves are struggling
i know what I’m doing
I know who I love
I consider myself a decent judge of character
I am incredibly picky about who i choose to commit to
and I have chosen them
because they have again and again demonstrated respect for me and my boundaries and a value of my presence that runs deep.
No one in the past has ever taken advantage of me
That’s not just luck;
I am scrupulous and attentive and mindful of with whom, and how, I involve myself.
Sure, someone might break the trust I think I have made
and take advantage of me, ...
I know who I love
I consider myself a decent judge of character
I am incredibly picky about who i choose to commit to
and I have chosen them
because they have again and again demonstrated respect for me and my boundaries and a value of my presence that runs deep.
No one in the past has ever taken advantage of me
That’s not just luck;
I am scrupulous and attentive and mindful of with whom, and how, I involve myself.
Sure, someone might break the trust I think I have made
and take advantage of me, ...
#love
398 reads
4 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by rowantree