This is Not About Growing Up.

Steal everything.

my hometown didn't have a beach.

the veil of song lyrics
between me and my melancholy
is paper thin and miles long.
all the poems i write on it
come out sounding like karaoke.
all the poems it writes on me
come out sounding wrong.

only half of it is cryptomnesia.
the rest is shameless.

i can keep up the matter-of-fact
until the last liar on earth
asks me politely to shut the hell up.
maybe by then i'll have recaptured a moment
well enough to justify my chokehold on its memory.

no one has ever seen my soul,

though i'm no more deliberately opaque than clever.
just look at me;
i couldn't even put these words in the right order.
i'm not wearing any clothes,
and it cannot be easy to believe
that my cracks are there by design.

i've never even lived by the ocean.

Reviews

[sienikeha]

excellent. clean.

like it --> my cracks are there by design.

[Elizabeth]

Hell, yeah. This is so typically you and therefore, brilliant. Honest, unflinching and god-damned great. You start and finish at the same place... but we moved light years along with you in the process. The 2nd stanza is beautiful and almost delicate. Almost. The last stanza is the gut wrenching truth I expect from you. Except, I disagree with you on the point of putting the words in order. These words are in the precise right order. And I do believe a bit of your soul is showing, dear.

[Crowley]

I love that never seen the ocean and don't have a beach thread....this is a very cool introspective look at that side that can't seem to get traction. I get in the same damn mood and want to throw my hands up and say...f**k it...I'm done. But it never works out that way. "more deliberately opaque than clever" great line. Good work.

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

I need to spend time and catch up on you poetry my friend, miss your work.

[zig]

"my hometown didn't have a beach.... i've never even lived by the ocean."

i like the way those lines frame this poem, kinda like know where i stand as i scan the views. you put a lot of effort into your poems and it shows, your words have very strong character, great movement and flow, and flashes of humor. this was a true please to read.

zig

[MuSe Ampoule]

Great turn of phrases! Loved every line....except the last, but that's because the poem was done and there was no more to read.

"no one has ever seen my soul,
though i'm no more deliberately opaque than clever." Great!

[NoneOfYourBusiness akaK..]

swimming the lines~ metaphors and imagery are shiveringly delightful~ thoughtful line between brows as I read then curl of lips at the wistful and slick insertion of humor in the final lines of the last stanza~
actually~this is quite a peek into your soul through a well delivered peep hole~ =)~

[SpokenWord]

Why hasn't anyone seen your soul? Life is what we make it, they say in the end we all have choices.. Enjoyed~

[Emily B]

you are way too modest . . .

bred as we among the mountains,
can the sailor understand
the divine exhiliration
of the first league out from land?