Boo! Bonus tricks and treats from works in progress

If you were following my OctPoWriMo posts, you might have noticed that I dropped off on the 17th. I had surgery that day (FYI: All is well!) and though I intended to use the downtime that followed to write more and post more, I ended up smacking head first into a bout of writer's block and I haven't written anything in a little over a week.

In an effort to make up for that, here are eight snippets from unfinished poems that otherwise would not have seen the light of day yet. If any of these catch your eye and you'd like to see them finished, please comment and let me know which one(s)!

#1: Burning Down the House

Carrying this weight
for more than half my life—
now realizing it wasn't
my burden to bear.
Still, I drag it along,
because I am a traitor
if I tell anyone the truth.
I still protect her
even as she
screams
obscenities
at me.

#2: Luminol

I floated through time
like a demented marionette.
False stories swirling around me
as I circled the drain,
twirling in the aqua,
a wordsmith's angel
tickling my brain.

Come and save me.

I wished on every star
that you'd return to me.
That life would not devour you.
That the ache would not destroy me.

The years have sung their song.
I'm still damaged—you're still gone.
I'm telling this story
to let it out of my mind and body
and to remove what rots within me.

#3: Clouds Will Wish

Rain-baked,
moonlight white,
I sleep on dunes
and dream of ruins
long left behind—
mind of a child.

But the clouds don't move for me.
They do what they damn well please.

And they may watch me fade from view
before they get their own chance to.

#4: Moon Flower

From here, I have to put myself first,
even if seemingly paradoxical,
for the good of this relationship—

because if I'm denying myself,
then I'm resenting you,
and I am not loving either of us
the way we both deserve for me to—

because if I'm carrying regrets
like a suitcase of rocks behind me,
then I cannot carry any gifts of love
to give to you in gratitude—

because if burdens weigh heavily upon me,
heavier than the worthy weight of love itself,
then what value am I to you at all?
What point in trying to be flip and fun
if, inside, I'm dying or reminiscing or numb?

#5: Rekindling

Magical nights in the twinkling glow
between the frost and the year's first snow.
We walk side-by-side, worn but optimistic,
savoring the slow rekindling
of a love that deserves to live.

I won't regret slaying the demons
that came attached to your broken heart.
I won't lament the decades of confusion
because that path led to clarity and kindness.
But special indeed is this love thing
returning to the vibe that saturated our beginning.

I knew I couldn't live without you,
but I saw it as a unique and beautiful doom.
But no. It is an intricately carved destiny
that heals all things and washes us clean.
A brand new start for the laughing girl and me.

#6: Return Keys

The costume that I wore kept me from knowing
what real connections feel like.
I'll try being naked now.
I'll intertwine fingers with reality
and see how it treats me.
I won't lose any more return keys
to the banshee,
the wannabe,
or the absentee.

#7: Denied

So used to being the outcast,
she didn't notice they'd invited her in.

Denied expression, fulfillment—
denied the fullness of her self.

#8: Untitled

Driving.
Pointing out the old haunts.
Watering holes are now car dealerships.
Dance floors where you used to congregate
are now just more failing retail space.

I wish I'd been alive
when there was still money and time
to make plans and spend nights
dropping quarters in jukeboxes
and getting lost in swirls of alcohol.

Again, if you enjoyed any of those and would like to see them finished, please let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading. <3