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Caitlincaitlin musgrove is the definitionCaitlin6 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
and prime example of the fact that
the very worst of things happen to the very best of people.
(warning: this is a cancer story.
this is a mother and daughter story.)
fact:
when caitlin grades quizzes, she writes a smiley face
on the top of the paper if you did well, or a
an even bigger smiley face if you didn't.
i didn't know caitlin's mom had cancer until
a couple of months ago
because caitlin's not only strong, but her damnation
might be the fact that she hides everything until she can't anymore.
but maybe that's also because she didn't want to tell me.
and that's understandable.
we're not
stop me if you've heard this one beforei.stop me if you've heard this one before7 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
there is a man on the corner of my street
who gave me a bottle of bleach
and told me if i drank it, i'd finally feel clean.
but i gave it back to him, and went home to take a shower.
because i am almost happy,
and i do not want to mess that up by
chugging bleach or fingering knives or thinking too much
about that man who turned my insides cold
from inside of his car.
because this has to be happy.
this has to be what happy feels like.
it feels like god gave me a vodka bottle
filled with nature and people and oceans and deserts and seas,
cause see, it feels like i'm drunk on life.
ii.
i have this nervous habit of scratching
Matthew M.Matthew Minor married Tim McGraw's daughterMatthew M.8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
When he was in preschool,
And only in Music City.
He's all sharp angles, curly hair,
And geography bowls he won in fourth grade.
He's holding onto things and letting her go,
Brought up on family politics and Southern beliefs.
Our second grade Spanish teacher
Filmed Matthew's laugh and put it on Youtube.
He's seventeen missed calls and
Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana
My home sweet home.
Matthew got all the solos in elementary school
And loves songs and musicals no one else
Has ever heard.
He didn't really want Mrs. Fortner to video his laugh,
So for ten minutes of trying, al
half-priced whoremaybe in fifty years,half-priced whore5 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
she thinks,
she will stop feeling his finger-shaped bruises
on her hips and arms.
stop hearing his words—you think you can stop me, little girl?—
in every passing "are you okay?".
stop feeling the wind like a ghost of his acid breath
on the back of her neck
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful little girl.
maybe fifty thousand dove soap bars later
and too many scalding showers
and dusty baby blankets and days spent lying in bed,
looking up at the water stained ceiling,
will be enough to leave the man
on the corner of anderson street and rosa parks avenue
right where she never wanted to find him.
just ask her,
you break it, you buy it.1. someone came up to me the other day, and told meyou break it, you buy it.6 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
that if i didn't start using capital letters in my poems,
she wouldn't read any more of them.
i just told her in a quiet voice that i was tired of screaming
at people who would never listen.
the thing with me is that i always
read too much into things-
people, newspapers, fucks, metaphors.
and usually i fall in love with things that
could never love me back.
2. i destroy the things that mean
the most to me, and i've never gotten the hang
of writing in stanzas.
most days i walk around reciting numbers
and other people's poetry, but usually
i just count the seconds i spend falli
criss-crossed veins for the trigger girliii.criss-crossed veins for the trigger girl8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
"you're not okay."
"I'm fine."
"no, you're lying. i can tell. everyone has a trigger."
"What's mine?"
"you smile."
ix.
she's walking around in circles
and trying to pick up her broken pieces, but they're
not fitting like they used to,
something's damaged beyond repair.
v.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?"
"because i've forgotten what it feels like to heal."
viii.
she regrets not cutting deeper, when she sees the life
still running through her veins, and her parents asleep
on the hospital chairs.
ii.
she comes to school the next day with a bandaged hand
and blue eyes that seem a bit dimmer.
"i broke a mirror."
an
Laurynlauryn is the best example of the reasonLauryn5 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
i like writing about people.
because i have waited too long
and now i have forgotten—
because now i do not even remember
if i spelled her name right.
lauren? laurin? lauryn?
here's the three things i remember
about the girl in the back of my spanish class
who showed up late for video rehearsals,
but pronounced espaņol like she'd been speaking it all her life
one-
lauryn is the only person i can
remember asking me to write a poem for her.
the rest of them just sat back and thought
that eventually i would write a poem about them
that they could steal and read.
she is the only one who ha
JeffreyJeffrey Williams is homophobic.Jeffrey10 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
But I cannot hate him for his beliefs, like
He cannot hate me for mine,
Though I know there are some days we both want to.
But there's other reasons to hate the boy-
Hate him because once a long, long time ago
I thought I loved him.
But then we both grew up into
Real-world terms and opinions that were
Never made to fit.
So, some days I think I'm just making up for lost time.
There's this part of me that thinks he deserves
A 'Bad Poem'
Because he called me ugly all through sixth grade,
Insults my friends ("I'd like him, really Grace, I would,
But he's just so... gay.")
And expects himself to be a
catch the stars to remember her wishesi.catch the stars to remember her wishes7 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
she rememberes the little things first.
her favorite color is purple
she likes blueberry pancakes,
and leaves pennies face-up on random street corners.
even with these pieces, it feels like
a huge chunk has been torn away that she could never retrieve
ii.
there are scars on her person
she does not remember getting.
her body is a map of memories
she does not know how to read.
iii.
they say she used to be calm and collected,
but now she is hot and fiery,
and they don't know her anymore.
but that's okay, because she doesn't know herself.
iv.
she misses the sun,
and the bad school coffee and English projects
and her own b
Allieat the age of one, allie martinAllie8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
was diagnosed with leukemia.
by three, her parents were carrying around a hairless baby,
and dreading each x they marked the calendar with.
but this is not a cancer story,
because by the age of four, she was cured
and she doesn't know why,
but she doesn't concern herself with the why.
allie martin is the best cheerleader i know,
just because she seems so happy to be up there
trying to make everyone else happy.
see, when she was in the hospital, her parents said,
she was the happiest patient there.
"alison martin?"
"it's allie, and i am here."
if there is one thing i cannot say about allie,
it is
cinderella died yesterday"burn your tiaras,cinderella died yesterday10 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
bury your fairy godmother.
it's time for you to grow up now, you're
no peter pan.
forget never never land.
stars are just burning balls of gas that are
slowly running out of time- they can't
hear your wishes.
cast aside your dr. seuss books like you will
later cast aside your bibles.
after all, a fairy tale is a fairytale is a fairytale.
life will teach you that.
grace, you were born into a role
only a very strong girl can play.
see, society will hate you for being
what they don't want to believe.
surrender your throne, your castle is under siege.
stop being fascinated with the sky,
you'll never go there.
Daniellei am sorry this took so longDanielle9 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
to write. i think i have been too focused on
reality and how the universe is big and Danielle is so small
that i forgot that Danielle thinks the universe
will never be too big.
she grabs my hand and drags me down the hallway:
"c'mon, Grace- skip!
if you think too much, your life will stick like that!"
no one can be that happy all the time,
so i think a lot of the time it's fake
and i think a lot of the time she just wants to stop.
but she doesn't, and she does it on purpose.
because-
Danielle tells me, "your hair looks
heavy metal, today" because she knows i think
people lie when they say things li
Never trust ladies with scythes for smiles.i.Never trust ladies with scythes for smiles.8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
these god-hands are barbwire's,
snagging & scarring everything
they touch.
ii.
black tongue bleeding sweet ichor
along the guarded walls
of skeletal frames.
iii.
'i want to taste heaven.
it rests there,
just beneath your bones.'
iv.
he is a god dog
made of scythes & scalpels,
sewn together with weak thread.
v.
and she is
Sometimes, you enjoyed being blind.Over 1,000 letters have found their waySometimes, you enjoyed being blind.8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
to the pulsating heart of my wastebasket.
Until you.
You carried them away saying, "I'll use these
to fill the empty spaces of my universe."
You proceeded to tape them to your eyelids,
wear them like Augusts leaves along your limbs.
"I will be your voice and I will sing your words to the trees."
Slender spider fingers prancing across my misspelled scrawl.
count to infinity before you sleep.cause i knowcount to infinity before you sleep.4 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
there are days when
it's painful to even breathe,
your throat closing up on the knowledge
that you don't know
how much longer you'll be waiting on this
band-aided, superglued planet.
every cell in your body vying to be the next to die,
and all you have to tell them is
maybe. maybe next time.
those are the days you spend
cutting rose thorns into your palms
and clenching your fists tight around
jagged reflections and prismed rainbows.
the days you realize
we're losing so much faster than we're learning.
we're maturing faster than we're growing.
adults stuck in the bodies of kids,
moving around, making the mistake
sometimes i feel like a superherothe house across from my bus stopsometimes i feel like a superhero6 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
is a temporary funeral home, but back when the Yankees controlled the town,
it was owned by a family whose daughter rode bareback
twenty-seven miles in the middle of the night to warn her
rebel leader of a lover that the Yankees were coming for him,
the Yankees were coming, the Yankees were coming,
the Yankees are coming, John, get out, quick!
and maybe she tripped and fell,
or her red cape got tangled up in her stirrups and ideals,
because by the time she rode into the neighborhood,
the houses were already on fire, children were already
crying for their mothers, and her John
was already hung up
NecromancyShe replaces her wristsNecromancy6 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
with the sharp thorns
of roses and slurred
don't-touch-me's
-
as she speaks
in an old tongued
language that whispers
de
cipher
me.
-
She collects stars
on her knuckles,
& her dust eyes
are sad moon nebulas
starved for love.
-
But, the kisses
she sinks into the curve
of her lover's ribcage
by night, warm that
supernova heart.
Androphobiai was stitched lips and a flightless raven heart-Androphobia8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
all sex and a contorting spine;
his own lips engraving 'kiss me's' on empty stars.
& between you and me: i feared his teeth,
& tongue, & honest organs-
with skin that begged, 'please, don't touch me.'
don't touch me.
don't fucking touch me.
i am not soft.
there is a war raging in my lungs,
screaming through the uncharted galaxies
of my wanderlust heartstrings.
i am not soft.
i am lust, & war, & envy—
i am sin,
crooked, misshapen,
& the kind of prosetry yet to be proofrea
Sydney MerrellThe first thing I ever noticed about SydneySydney Merrell1 year ago in Free Verse More Like This
Was that her last name was branded on my no-laces shoe.
The second was that she was the first person my age to smile at me.
That was when we were five
And played pirate on the run down playground
Where a splinter was a death wound.
I can't make it. You'll have to go on without me.
When we were in first grade, she held a Barbie
Up to my nose, and told me,
"When I grow up, I'm going to be just like this."
Maybe I shouldn't have laughed.
I can't make it. You'll have to go on without me.
It was easier to go on without her than I originally thought.
Just ignore a few house calls, then a few
ChaseFor the third grade talent show,Chase8 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
Chase Tidwell dressed up as a cowboy
And preformed "YMCA" with an Indian,
Construction worker, cop, and a soldier.
In first grade, his biggest accomplishment
Was that his initials spelt out the word, "CAT",
And for the first couple of years I cannot remember a time
When I didn't have to tell my friends,
"Yes, our names rhyme. No, we're not soul mates."
He was also the first person in my grade
Who learned how to say, "Hello, my name is Chase," in Spanish.
Hola, me llamo Chase. Hola, me llamo Chase. Hola, me llamo Chase
Nine years have passed,
And not much has changed.
Chase became taller, his brai
DanielIf it wasn't for Daniel CalhounDaniel10 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
I would have gotten that part in the
Middle School Fall Play when I was
in eighth grade.
But Daniel's someone you forgive easily,
Just because he's Daniel and I've known the boy for nine years,
And anyway, Daniel kind of comes with a get-off free gene.
He also seems to have come with a blush-easily gene,
Because his face is tomato-red half the school day.
I guess that's okay too, because it's
Kind of funny.
Some find it annoying how he can't stop laughing at times,
But I can't help but find it hopeful- like his open,
Laughing mouth, squinty eyes and bright red blush
Paints a picture with the capt
not all humans go to heavencock itnot all humans go to heaven4 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
april 23 2008
“bye mom. i love you so much, i swear
i’ll be home soon.”
“please, you’re only eighteen, you have your
whole life ahead of you, please
don’t throw it away.”
“i’m going, mom. i’m going overseas
but i swear i’ll be back before you
miss me. love you!”
aim it.
now
most nights he shakes himself awake
with the vision of bombs and fire and bullets
still imprinted on his eyelids.
he doesn’t know what to call them.
the dreams, i mean.
what do you call bad dreams when
you’ve already lived the nightmare?
his therapist says his problem
is he think
Mili1.Mili1 year ago in Free Verse More Like This
it took me six years, one promise{dream},
three secrets
and four little words dropped like a bomb
for me to realize that Mili Shukla
was not special.
2.
mili has this way of entering into your life
out of nowhere, like a Tennessean storm,
and disappearing like the last minute of a sunset.
in sixth grade, Mili was the first one to decide
she was old enough to cuss. I always made fun of her for
being short, but now I think she grew up more than all of us.
mili doesn't eat a lot, but she swears she knows she's thin.
she also swears she knows she's loved, but once
she spent an entire lunch crying in the bathroom.
when Mili real
Ady{sen}Seven year old Adysen ReaderAdy{sen}11 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
Took her mother's most fancy wine glass
And filled it with apple juice,
All the while telling me that one day,
She'd really be able to taste the stars.
"You know," she tells me, "You could jump from the
Empire State building and survive."
I tell her she's wrong, and that you'll die.
"No, no," she insists, "it's not the jump that kills you- it's the ground-
The sky just hugs you and wishes he didn't have to let go."
Ady's been able to draw since she was four,
But she hasn't been an artist till she was nine, and
Manned up enough to tell me that she really didn't
Believe in dragons, but she hopes we can
Sta.sh
