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  • Writer: Riley
    Riley
  • Mar 26, 2021
  • 3 min read

How's it going? Everybody going out and getting their vaccinations? I hope all is well out there and your health isn't taking any big hits. Truth be told I've been struggling lately. Poetry has been a very good outlet for me these past couple years. It's been nice to work on while I take my hiatuses from the novel. Good to just let it breathe for a bit, you know? I recently came up with the idea to put together a weekly therapy/workshop/support group with friends and/or artists. I'd be stoked to see it happen so that I can have meaningful conversations with people again as well as share fun stuff like this. I also want to hear and see a ton of other people's perspectives. One of the most inspiring experiences I can have is when I hear someone share their own free thoughts and ideas in whatever context they excel in. I miss having access to that and I would have had it if it weren't for that meddling pandemic. If I could build a place of communion like that for someone, it might just be one of the most rewarding adventures ever. If this idea interests you, please reach out to me! It could shell out so much positivity for so many great minds. I've surprisingly curated a really solid and diverse group of thinkers so far, and would love to get you included. Alright, plug over, let's get to the Poetry Pack now:


Five Second Rule (Pt. 2)

The gates crash

The sirens sound

Form a perimeter!

Guards at towers

Firing squads

At the ready

Let the fight begin

The extermination

Commences instantly

Leave no survivors

Leave no survivors

No one gets through

Except for the

0.001% of germs

That do


No Buyounce

Caption me with a

Moving window

Of some grimy

Metro line

Or a barnacle

Pustule eating

Away at the skin

Of a marcescent rudder

Mostly stagnant

In the greenish murk


Decompose

I’ve never seen grosser hues


Become a surface level chump too rapidly

And get stuck with the bends

You put their feelings first

You try to stay loyal to friends

And in the end

They walk all over you


Don’t worry I’ll

Play pretend

Make my own amends

Answer the call when you’re at your worst

AGAIN

Is that what I’m supposed to do?!

Might as well call me a good mutt


These blood suckers claim their stake on me fast

I must be a good cut

I guess all the times I was there wasn’t enough

To just take a second to ask “what’s up?”

It’s overdue


Our time is tinted

My words vocal

My trust totaled

Can’t move on

when I’m immobile

Another day


At your disposal


Fair Weather

Cant no man say I ever pulled the plug first

I’ve been down on the ground so long

I’ve learned to love dirt

Maybe I’m too in touch with my emotions

Dangerous headspace for

Someone going through the motions

I had to determine my love’s worth

Left for dead in these oceans

Even still

These doors remained open

It wasn’t until

I saw the path you’d chosen

That I was swallowed by the surf

I’ll save what’s left of my breath

And leave the rest unspoken

But when I’m unfrozen

You better find the tallest hill because

These words could flood earth


By Any Means

Never let a motherfucker with a rubber neck steal your thunder

They’ll see you drowning and push you right back under

I put my faith in the wrong people

I look back and it’s all so see through

If life’s a beach I’m a dead seagull

dodge any responsibility

Then only call when they need you

Another day of lesson learning

I already had a lot on my plate

Then they wanna come by and drop a second serving

I remember when I was the only one in the venue

My amygdala sends me bold threats

They buy out everything on the menu

And leave you to pay the whole check

I guess you fold best

Must be placing old bets

If you think I'm getting stuck with the cold sweats

Because time after time I come back

And I'll say that again with my whole chest







  • Writer: Riley
    Riley
  • Jan 28, 2021
  • 3 min read

Welcome back, forum! All creativity in most directions has been completely stifled by this empty and "bleh" inducing void that is my life right now. I haven't been able to get into most forms of writing, but one aspect that's stayed consistent is my poetry. Maybe because I can always, at the very least, squeeze some short bursts of entertainment juice out of my rotting lemon of a brain. If that's the case, I'm still in need of a means to charge the old lemon battery up there. Man, these would be so much more fun to read out loud somewhere. I guess we can pretend that it's less impersonal on here. I think that's what I miss most about old pre-pandemic life; Being around other creatives and bringing the best out of one another. If anyone wants to post some of their stuff on here sometime, let me know! I'd be happy to do it. Okay, with introductions out of the way, I present you with a good mix of funny and/or serious poetry that I've written recently.


Five Second Rule

A toppled golden-brown monolith

Crashing down like debris

The microbials are so courteous

Very polite to wait their turn

Velvet ropes queued

Red carpets unraveled

Always butter side down

Always

The crowd eagerly awaits admission

But Jeff does not listen

He jumps the barricade

He starts making angels

On the rugged crumbs

Jeff will be punished to the

Full extent of the law

Cuffed, put in the back of a car

And given one phone call

That’s not the way we do things

Says the judge of the trial

Jeff argues that it’s all a façade

They string him up from the courthouse façade

An example was made that day

Will he get the chair? Who knows? He may

Call it unjust. Call it cruel

That’s what happens to a germ

that doesn’t follow

The five second rule


WARNING

Ideas

unsafe

To eat

Unless

Baked

properly at

350 degrees

for ten minutes


Anti-masker Anthem

I am at service of NOBODY

Except God


AND the United States military

should they call upon my services in a desperate time...


AND my job

I’m really the only one there that knows how to operate the forklift...


AND my doctor

She told me to include less sodium in my diet...


AND that lady from the AT&T call center yesterday

She needed me to do a customer experience survey for her so I figured that would be helpful especially if she works off of commission or something...


AND my dog, Rufus

He's got a case of Haemorrhagic Gastroenteritis so I need to be very attentive to whatever he needs to recover because I truly care for his wellbeing...


AND the IRS

I ain't getting in trouble with those guys again. I can't go back to prison, man...


But that's it! No one else. Let freedom ring!


Don't you know

Before the back of my button up shirt

collar turned yellow and brown

And I was willing to get up in the dirt

And give a big fat kiss

To the boots on the ground

With no hesitance

And high tolerance

Before I came unwound

Don’t you know

You can get real sick

with just one lick

From those same boots on the ground

It changes your consciousness

You’ll believe everything is a trick

Your eyes begin to dart all around

You start to imagine your hearse

Driving downtown

But I’ll tell you what’s worse

When it all clicks and you realize your worth

In search of opulence

If you don’t get with it quick

You’ll have already drowned

There are too many

Enticingly tall buildings in metropolis

I went from being on top of it

To crock of shit

In a matter of pounds

Don’t you know


My self destruction is inbound


Last Ditch

Scrape the wall with my hands

Rip the skin on my palms

Spit erosion

Buying time to dissolve


Stunt me and I grow back twice as fast

I'll welcome it all right back

Let’s start off from scratch

I get my plaques regardless of path

And I don’t need some self-righteous hack

Who's got half of what I have

Telling me half a fact

And you don’t even know the half of that.



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