Poetry Update: Him

This is the near-finished version of Him, which is the poem my highly-esteemed fellow poet suggested I continue to work on. So, of course, I did and this is what I have. Let me know of any thoughts, suggestions, etc. They are greatly appreciated.

Him

You and I are like

two sides of a coin

either way things land

only one of us wins

we are two sides

opposites

black and white,

and shades of gray

logic and knowledge,

and love and emotion

your weaknesses are

the monsters in your closet

no one knows about them except for you

at night they come out to play

but in the daylight
you lock them behind doors

of charisma and charm

humor and intellect

my weaknesses are
as vast and obvious

as the ocean

as necessary and terrifying

as the sea

but even in its weakest moments

a coin is still a coin

the opposing sides create the whole

So it turns out that me and you

We’re two sides

Of two very different coins

My mom warned me

About the bad boys

She said “all their words

Are just noise”

She taught me how

To spot them in a crowd

Spot them a mile off

And she would be so proud

Of how good I’ve gotten

At keeping them away

But she should’ve told me

About the good guys

The ones who discuss Monet

And the meaning of life and truth

Until you find yourself in love

Until I found myself in love

With you, one of the good guys

But we weren’t good

We were extraordinary

Launching ourselves up into

Lofty clouds of conversation

Like what will become of our generation?

What is love? and who is God?

But the fact that we never could answer

didn’t matter because He

Was always right there with us

In the endless coffee cups

And old book shops

Fancy dinners and late night walks

And after all this

We’d laugh our way back down to earth

I fell in love with how

I could see God reflected in your eyes

The way that life and intelligence

Flowed from your lips with such eloquence

The way our hands fit just right

Which was weird because

You aren’t quite my height

But we weren’t good to the end

Our death was a disaster

An ill-fated end as incredible

as our bewitching beginning

And after it I ran away faster

Than my heart could think

Because maybe if I got far enough away

The realization would never hit

But I forgot that

The further you get from home

The more people you meet

Who remind you of people back there

I keep running into

pieces of you everywhere

His hair, that kid’s walk

That stupid cardigan

The way he talks with his hands

And the high-brow jokes

and I wonder if it’s all a big hoax

some clever set-up

set up by the angels above

or maybe the devils below

because it means I can’t forget you

I cannot forget you

There are pieces of you

everywhere

And while you can never be

The worst part of my history

You are the best thing

That I ever regret

Poetry in Progress

These are all works in progress that I'm considering performing next Thursday at the poetry slam. Let me know which ones you like and what works about them!

*the lines are to show a break in the poem where some more material will eventually be added to help with the flow and message; the stars denote the end of one poem and the beginning of the next

The Best Worst Thing

You are

by far

the worst thing

that has ever happened 

to my poetry

You see,

I thought that 

if I could write you

a poem

well, then

you'd have to 

fall in love

with me

But it turns out
capturing someone's affection
is more difficult than
scooping fireflies into glass jars
and stringing some silly
self-indulgent rhymes together
so it's hardly worth the mention
and me?
I'm finding it hard to
even hold your attention
when I'm just a girl
writing a poem
about a boy
and who cares anyway, right?
because if it's not
scandalous or glamorous
why waste the time?
it wouldn't even make a good headline
Girl Likes Boy
that's old news
so I'm asking my muse
for some help here
a little bit of magic here
so that my words
might just catch your ear
but she just looks at me
with disgust like
"why are you wasting my time?"
she wants nothing to do
with my horrible lines like:
Rose are red, violets are blue
my poetry sucks
and it's all thanks to you

______________________

I’m caught in the

Unwavering guidelines

Of my own uncertainty

Because what if I say something wrong

What if I can’t be strong what if

I mess everything up what

If I’m not good enough

****************

Untitled

I frequently fall in love

With strangers on the sidewalk

________________

It’s the littlest things

The laughter in a smile

The sunshine in a laugh

Looking someone in the eyes

And seeing understanding there

That flows deeper than the sea

Walking beside them and

Feeling God in the quiet spaces

The echo of laugh lines

And eye crinkles
_________________

And most of the time,

All I want to do is write this down

And hand it out:

Check if you love me, check if you don’t

Check if you’ll date me, check if you won’t

Check if you’re genuine, check if you care

Check if you exist and then sign there

********************

Inspired by “Ego” by Rafael Casal (look it up, it's so good)

I went to have a chat with my soul today

____________________

I hear Insecurity whispering dark nothings

Of doubt and failure

And Expectaion is over there

Talking to responsibility again

They’ve been hanging out a lot lately

And is it just me

Or are those disappointed stares

Directed this way?

Ambition walks past me

Her head held high

Power-stomping by

In her power heels and power-suit

And Conscience is sick

She’s got a bad case of guilt

*******************

Him

You and I are like

two sides of a coin

you ruled by logic

and I by my emotions

you hate showing your weakness

so push away and pull back

push and pull

until it’s just you, hidden

my weaknesses are far

too easy to see

they flow down my face as tears

_____________________

But me and you

We’re two sides

Of two very different coins

_____________________

I fell in love with how

I could see God reflected in your eyes

The way that love and intelligence

Flowed from your lips with such eloquence

The way our hands

Fit just right

Which was weird because

You aren’t quite my height

_____________________

And I keep forgetting that

The further you get from home

The more people you meet

Who remind you of people

Back there

I keep running into

pieces of you everywhere

His hair, that kid’s walk

That stupid cardigan

The way he talks

with his hands

the high-brow jokes

and I wonder if it’s

all one big hoax

some clever set-up

set up by the angels above

or maybe the devils below

because it means

I can’t forget you

I cannot forget you

There are pieces of you

everywhere

The moon is gone tonight

It was there yesterday so

I can’t help but think that

It’s walking away from me

Back curved, eyes closed

Just like you did that night

_____________________

My mom warned me

About the bad boys

She taught me how

To spot them in a crowd,

Spot them a mile off

And she said

“honey, just not them”

But she should’ve told me

About the good guys

The ones who have

you laughably in love

With one sly grin

Who convince you

you can fly

but then take off

suddenly for the skies

leaving you behind

still flapping those wings

wondering why you can’t follow
___________________

(last line)

You are the best thing

That I ever regret

************

Untitled

Because a man’s not a man

Unless he’s a gentleman

But the problem is

Not many match that description

So men, I challenge you

To be better

But don’t accept that either

Be your best

And ladies, I challenge you to accept nothing less

Collaboration

So this idea popped into my head recently (mostly inspired by one of Mr. Tahmasian's recent posts) and I think it's brilliant. Here's the idea: I post the first stanza of my poem and then, in the comments, you guys continue to write it. It'll be our very own collaborative poem! Also, I just really need help writing this poem and some inspiration from you guys would be very helpful.

You are

by far

the worst thing

that has ever happened 

to my poetry

You see,

I thought that 

if I could write you

a poem

well, then

you'd have to 

fall in love

with me

additions (but not a finished product):


But it turns out
capturing someone's affection
is more difficult than
scooping fireflies into glass jars
and stringing some silly
self-indulgent rhymes together
so it's hardly worth the mention
and me?
I'm finding it hard to
even hold your attention
when I'm just a girl
writing a poem
about a boy
and who cares anyway, right?
because if it's not
scandalous or glamorous
why waste the time?
it wouldn't even make a good headline
Girl Likes Boy
that's old news
so I'm asking my muse
for some help here
a little bit of magic here
so that my words
might just catch your ear
but she just looks at me
with disgust like
"why are you wasting my time?"
she wants nothing to do
with my horrible lines like:
Rose are red, violets are blue
my poetry sucks
and it's all thanks to you