Hewo everyone!!!
This is the seventh poetry comp, and I think everyone knows how this works by now.
If not, you just read all of the poems and vote on which one is your favorite!
I was too busy to post last week’s poems, but they are here for this week, and the prompt was Shedding Tears in Silence.
Also, congratulations to last comp’s winner, @ripple !
Here is their poem if you would like to read it!
Medicinal Music
I never thought something as simple,
As simple as music would change my life.
About a year ago,
I was stuck,
In a hole I could not get out.
Mother was worried,
Father was so upset he left.
He said it would help,
But it didn’t.
It made life far worse.
I kept doing it,
I couldn’t stop,
For the pain on the outside was killing me,
However it would calm.
With the tiniest pill,
The voices in my mind fled.
Even though I was feeling better,
Less stressed,
Less hurt inside,
had developed an addiction.
Mother tried to get me therapy,
Tried to fix my brokenness,
But nothing worked.
Well that is until I found,
A whispering melody,
Tuneful chords created,
When pulled from each string.
The melody enchanted me,
So I went into the music room,
Sat on a chair facing a figure,
A kind fellow.
I just started telling him everything,
Although I didn’t know him.
He recommended me to music,
Said it helps us show our inner voice,
Show our vulnerability without feeling shame.
He told me to join,
Said he’d get me started.
I picked out an instrument that day,
I thought he was just saying that,
But when I played,
I felt at peace.
I could be myself,
And no one would judge.
I don’t believe in miracles,
But you could say that day was a miracle.
From that day on,
I fell in love with music.
I guess it is true what they say,
With a small melody,
A drifting note,
Even the deepest wounds,
Can music heal.
I discovered as I played,
Plucking each string,
That I didn’t need no pill,
I didn’t need to hide,
Pretend like I was okay.
The pill was just putting a bandage,
Like putting the strip over a cut,
With no medicine,
No air,
How must it ever heal?
But once music,
Once music had been put into my life,
I was no longer on that pill,
Heck I didn’t even realize,
That something so small,
Just a hobby,
Could save me from my plight.
The medicine I thought I was taking,
Was not medicine,
For the medicine was music.
And here are this week’s poems!
The grand winner of February will be announced tomorrow!
#1
I’ve always heard that the world bleeds
But never that it cries
What about all those hours
We cried ourselves to sleep
What about those times
We looked at the mirror
Saw the tears mark our face
And scrubbed them away
What if we heard
At once
The noise of all the doors shut
Just for the sake of shedding a single tear
Would we notice?
If all the tears shed in silence
Became raindrops
That flooded the world
Would we notice?
Would we notice
Their pain
The pain of our friends
Our family
That hide
Because of us
Because we say tears are a weakness
Because we can’t admit
That we cry in silence
So when will the world stop to bleed
Stop to be ashamed of tears
And start to realize
That it’s the silence
That breaks us
#2
I walk as I smile, my face in the light,
A portrait of gold in the broad noon sky.
I wave and I laugh, everything is bright,
No tremor betrays what I keep inside.
The sun paints warmth across my skin,
The breeze hums soft against my chest.
To the world, I am strong and whole within,
A soul at ease and a mind at rest.
With friends, I bring them into embrace,
We laugh and smile with teeth and crinkled eyes.
No shadow flickers across my face,
No fracture splits the bright disguise.
We joke until our ribs grow sore,
Bliss ringing loud, unscarred, complete.
The never hear the closing door,
The locks that click or the tears my eyes excrete.
And with my love, she steadies the air,
Her voice a weatherman for my storm.
She brings me comfort through my despair,
And makes the sun shine through the clouds all warm.
She quiets the riot under my skin,
Softens the voice I cannot name.
But what would live inside her grin,
If she saw the smoke behind my flame?
I walk alone, my light grows thin.
Golden flames dissolve to ashes gray.
The smile unhooks from where it’s pinned
And my day’s performance flickers away.
The sun is eclipsed by something colder,
And the breeze has grown harsh and I struggle to float.
The weight I carried must be a boulder
And it finally drags me down by the throat.
My tears fall soundless in the dark,
No witness but the ceiling’s blank stare.
They split their salt and leave a mark,
Over thoughts too heavy to repair.
Morning comes, I rinse my face.
Practice brightness in the glass.
Conceal the evidence of last night’s wake,
Let wary eyes and questions pass.
Dark crescents bloom beneath my gaze,
Thin lines drawn where no one sees.
Long sleeves guard my quiet frays;
I wear indifference like a disease.
Why speak, if silence shields them all
From the thunder I cannot contain?
Why risk the crack, the breaking wall,
If I alone can swallow the rain?
Would anyone lean in if I confessed?
Or would they shift about, uncomfortable, afraid?
If I pressed the bl@de harder on my wrist,
Would something finally give or fade?
They wouldn’t care if I disappear.
That’s what the whisper likes to claim.
It shuts my jaw and bends my ear
And calls self-destruction by my name.
If only the bl@de wasn’t so blunt,
If only courage meant release,
Perhaps I’d find in ending this life I hide behind I front
A counterfeit of peace.
But no one must know the girl in the light
Is also the one who wilts at night
Who folds herself in quiet despair
And denies herself any care.
They cannot know I drown in my tears,
That I break where no one looks.
So I perfect my smile over the years
And close myself like unfinished books.
“I’m fine.”
The simplest lie to try and sell.
“I love myself.”
I say it well.
These polished words, rehearsed, refined,
They keep suspicion at the door.
But somewhere deeper in my mind
The silence screams for something more.
#3
When she thinks she’s alright,
But she knows deep down she’s not.
Although a smile is plastered,
You know you’re just hiding your fight.
The fight she is experiencing inside her head.
The voice getting louder and louder,
Each time she walks-each time she thinks.
No one can know you are struggling,
Just act casual-just act like you are fine.
You need to be perfect with everything.
If anyone sees you crying,
You are doomed.
They cannot see your fear or rage,
They will think of you as weak.
The rest of them are not crying,
But I need to cry,
I can’t hold it in anymore.
She can still see in her head,
The screaming,
The engine vibrating.
Why didn’t I do anything?
It replays over and over in her head,
Why didn’t she tell Mother to stop the car?
Why didn’t she take over?
She should’ve known her mother was dr^nk,
That it was not wise for her to drive.
The flashback keeps passing,
Getting worse and worse,
Until she feels like her head is on fire.
She heads to her room,
Slamming and locking the door shut.
For the first time,
She’s able to let it out.
Without feeling ashamed of what had happened,
She’s finally shedding tears in silence
I couldn’t have known,
It wasn’t my fault,
It was just truly an accident.
She doesn’t blame herself,
Or her mother anymore.
She realizes that it’s fine to show her side,
The side that she knows is vulnerable,
That needs healing.
Tears are not a weakness,
That’s why no one can bear to shed them,
In the public at least.
She realizes that this whole time,
Instead of clutching the weight on her chest,
Reminding herself of the incident,
She could’ve just cried in silence.
Where no one is judging her,
Where no one will think of her as weak.
Crying does not change things though,
The boy that she loved was still de@d.
But tears soothe,
And eventually,
She’ll feel better.
#4
They said you were the strong one
They said you were brave
They said a lot of things
They lied
Father walked out when you were two
Father said he couldn’t take it
Father said he would call every month
Father never replied
Mother dr@nk herself to de@th
Mother never liked you
Mother said she never wanted a child
Mother was full of pride
Now it’s just you
Now there’s just a lonely child left
Now you must get ready
Now it’s time to face the world so wide
You feel like you’re a mass of twigs
You know you could break at any moment
You try to breathe but-
SNAP: your heart is open to the tide
You’re on the floor, sobbing
You feel 17 years of hate
You feel 17 years of sadness, but also
You feel the presence of kindness at your side
Stand up
Stand tall
Stand steady
Stand with pride
You’re ready
#5
Hi!
Hey there!
Thought you forgot about me like all the others,
But it’s okay,
Because I know you did.
And you hurt me.
Geez you really did.
I turned and sobbed and you st@bbed me back.
Let my guard down, for you to crawl in,
And you soften my walls just like that.
I said we were twins.
I said we were the same.
You were my bestie from the very first day.
Meant to be we said,
Strangers destined as soulmates.
Remember when we found out we liked the same boy,
In different stages of life?
Laughed the whole dang time…
Hey!
Where have you been?
You just shrug and ignore me and I roll my eyes.
Whatever’s up with you is going to drive me to a slow demise.
I thought we were friends.
I thought we were it.
Next thing I know my skin’s all too pale for this-
How could you say that?
How dare you laugh?
I hugged you with tears,
And you hugged back.
We laid on each other.
We talked nonstop.
And suddenly…
It all just dropped.
Went behind my back,
And hid behind your talk,
Skipped class to avoid me,
And no longer stayed with me when we walked.
And now I know.
Now I know and the pain is too much to bear.
So I cry away all my hurt on the bus,
And wipe my eyes so they don’t know.
Cause shedding tears in silence is the only way.
I texted my friends.
You know?
The real ones.
They said it was sad that this is
THE ONE MILLIONTH TIME
A lifetime of people,
Who stay for a matter of time.
I wanted them.
Sobbed for them.
Lied for their backs,
And laughed with their words.
And they left.
They always do.
Am I really so hard to love?
Shedding tears in silence is the only way.
Otherwise they’ll all realize I might be crazed.
#6
You’re stupid,
You’re useless,
You’re not stupid,
You’re not useless,
I only said those things because I was mad.
Idiot, b-word, c-word,
You are none of that.
I only said those things because I was mad.
Crying,
I’m crying.
Every time I remind myself,
I shed a tear,
Soaking tissues, pillowcases, the bedsheets.
Those words hurt,
I’m used to them but,
They hurt.
You’re a po*,
You’re a stain,
You’re not a po*,
You’re not a stain.
I only said those things because I was mad.
How can you claim to love me?
How can you treat me like this?
Do you hate me?
Do you want to tear me down?
Crying,
Another day,
I’m crying.
Yesterday, the day before,
Most likely tomorrow.
This is all I do now when I’m alone.
It’s loud,
So loud.
When I’m shedding tears in silence.
#7
When
A tear
Is shed
In silence
The moments just
Become embarrassing
Even if there’s no one
Watching, listening, gossiping
You still feel like a coward even if
You’re not-as shedding tears in silence
Is something even the most confident people do
The most popular, the bullies who seem like they
Don’t have empathy, won’t shed a single tear. But
They will. Just in silence. Just like you. If some
Person offends you-they may shed tears like you
They may weep into their pillow for forgiveness
Retch straight before they meet you in stress
Or berate themselves, leaving read marks on
Their arms-leaving sc@rs on their leg
Shedding tears into their shirts-
Leaving them wet with tears
#8
You never heard my cry
You never noticed me
All you did was lie
You killed me internally
I thought we were friends
That obviously wasn’t true
I see how quickly this was bound to end
I cried for days because of you
You never seemed to notice
You thought I was “fine”
I never seemed to show it
Those secret tears of mine
No one ever knew
Those days I cried in pain
When I asked about the anger in you
You acted like I was insane
I thought I knew you
But I don’t
I feel so sick and blue
I want you to quit but you won’t
And here is the poll!
- #1
- #2
- #3
- #4
- #5
- #6
- #7
- #8
Tysm everyone and happy crafting/writing! -Yani, Alora (my pen name)
