Balancing Act

Here I stand 

precariously,

clinging onto 

smallest scraps of 

things

to which I build 

the floor beneath 

my feet;

a shaky tower 

of treasures and 

trash that I 

cannot bear to sort through. 

A push,

a pull,

a breath in the wrong direction 

leaves me teetering, 

off-kilter,

vulnerable. 

And so I 

try to be everyone's 

anchor to tie myself 

down,

and I smile 

and pretend 

that I'm not balancing 

on the line 

of (in)sanity.

Grenade

This has been 

a long time coming, 

bladed words 

bubbling at the 

back of my throat, 

and heat dulling 

the space behind my eyes.

But the screams 

have been torn out 

prematurely

before I can make sense 

of the thoughts 

that rake at me, 

thoughts that 

scratch and scrabble 

to cling on 

to a sense of security. 

The blades come back 

to cut me 

and warm tears run 

down my face;

my pin has been pulled 

and I just want to 

minimize the 

casualties.

It's been a rough night.

Refound Works

I found some of my old poetry from when I was in grade 6 (the time when I started to write poetry), and I thought I'd share them, because I think it's always interesting to see the progress anybody goes through when it comes to creative works (and I can see some of my style already starting to emerge from these).

The Final Pause

Words unsaid

yet taken for granted, 

finding closure 

in an unspoken agreement

was never quite 

satisfactory I suppose;

we had written 

the sentence 

but never wrote in 

the period 

to tie up the last 

loose ends, 

I guess I never realized 

how much I needed to hear 

those words

until now. 

Day 30: Goodbyes

(Even though there are technically 31 days in August, I only have 30 prompts, and so this will be the final poem of this particular challenge. If I can find another version of this challenge and I have the time, I'd love to do it again! And now for the final poem, to finish up the challenge started with hellos.)

We stand here
under the cold
street light
trying to find words
in which to tie
loose ends,
but within a
sense of finality
there are open doors
to an elusive possibility
of another beginning,
another hello.

Day 29: Acrostic

Evanescent brilliance
Pales into the mirrors of minds
Hounded by the thoughts of
Eternity,
Material and abstractions will only 
Ever disappear with time and we must dive into the
Rote of learning of
Appreciation not preservation when faced with the ever fleeting
Light

Day 28: Blackout Poem

lifelong 
obsession finding 
love spending 
days
for a 
colour always 
graceful 
elusive 
and comfortable.
 close to perfection a true romance 
happened by chance 
waiting for me. 
a slip, 
a whimsy that 
made me smile. 
I made my way 
to full-on love in an instant.

Day 27: Dialogue

The voice comes 

slicked with the 

blue-green sheen of 

oil, 

You never 

did mean much 

to anyone, 

they might have smiles 

around you

but they're just 

painted on. 

I know it's not true, 

don't lead me to think otherwise;

You're just a fraud with 

half a heart on 

her sleeve, 

if they saw the black feathers 

underneath the 

white plumage 

they would leave you 

like she did. 

They wouldn't, 

they're not like her; 

And yet you haven't changed: 

still a burden, 

still useless, 

still so pathetic. 

Please just 

leave me alone; 

But how can I 

if I'm just a part 
of you?