city's din,
a racket
of whispers
in my ear,
each footstep
a reverberation
of all the words
I've never spoken,
words I should have spoken.
fear of echoes
that haunt me
in the hollow
of my chest
where shadows of loved ones
... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 6 months ago
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smell of wet earth
rises like a question
in the dry air.
no one remembers
the sound of rain
on pavement
last week,
or was it last month?
the way it seeped
into the cracks
of the sidewalk
and disappeared
leaving only
this faint scent... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 6 months ago
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brain a slaughterhouse
where thoughts are butchered
daily.
serotonin the executioner,
swinging its axe
through the meat of my mind.
a fragile ecosystem,
where neurons are the prey,
and depression the predator,
lurking in every shadow
... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 6 months ago
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actions are my only true belongings.
the rest is just clutter,
accumulated dust
on the shelves of my spirit.
my actions are my only true belongings,
the only things that live
when the world strips me bare,
and i'm left with nothing but... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 6 months ago
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we've forgotten the curve of the earth
in the small of our backs
where the spine meets the skin
and the skin meets the air
how to walk without leaving
a footprint of longing
on the skin of the earth
as if our feet were mouths
drinking from... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 6 months ago
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I'm already blessed.
in the stillness of dawn
when the world's noise is hushed
and my heart is a lake.
its surface unbroken
reflecting the beauty
I've been given
freely, without... – by Joe Strickland | 10 Views added 6 months ago
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outside
a void that swallows all
sound and sense
leaving only the hum
of the city's machinery
grinding its gears
in the darkness
inside a night
writhing with snakes
of pale lightning
twisty and fuzzy
like the thoughts
that... – by Joe Strickland | 10 Views added 6 months ago
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I believed
in heaven,
I'd try to reach up
into the atmosphere
and touch your
hand.
I can't... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 6 months ago
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the hollow of my palms
your absence
still resonates,
a silence
that howls like
a siren
warning me
of the dangers of
... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 6 months ago
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sea star
wears her
tiara
to the ballet
alone
sitting with herself
on corals
soaking in the rhythmic
interpretation.
her hands know the contours
of her own skin better
than any stranger's.
in the mirror a reflection
stares... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 6 months ago
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nature's lab unfolds
experiments
in every form.
life bursts,
adapts,
evolves
in endless trial and error
beauty born of... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 6 months ago
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stench of desperation
clung to him
like a bad habit,
a perpetual cloud
of defeat that followed
him from one shitty job
to the next.
he was a god,
or at least he thought he was,
but the universe
didn't seem to give a damn.
It... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 6 months ago
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whiskey-stained pages
of history
flap open
like a diseased wing,
as science pushes
forward
with its cold
calculating eyes.
ignorance
and superstition
gallop around
the flanks,
like feral dogs
on the hunt,
their hot breath
... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 6 months ago
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life is connected
in the hollow of my chest
a forest stirs
and life goes on
within you
where the rivers of my mother's
hands once flowed
and without you
the trees still whisper
secrets to the wind
in the hollow of my... – by Joe Strickland | 2 Views added 6 months ago
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who claim
to know it all
because they've lived
a life of experiences,
stacked like books
on shelves that groan
with the weight
of their own self-importance.
read everything
from Plato to
Philip Jose Farmer.
traveled the world
... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 6 months ago
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of a text
that will not be still
its words
crawling under
my skin
like an infestation
of righteous fleas
burrowing deep
into the meat
of history
where the innocent
are always
already guilty
their screams echoing
...
– by Joe Strickland | 2 Views added 6 months ago
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then,
like a sunrise
after a storm,
I saw in your eyes
the reflection
of my own,
a love
mirrored back,
a validation
long sought,
in that moment,
time stood still,
... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 7 months ago
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whine,
a razor's edge,
carves through flesh,
a crimson vow.
syringe's needle,
a cold cross,
dulls the pain,
a temporary peace.
flickers of light,
amidst the void,
hope's echo,
in despair's home.
but darkness lingers,
... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 7 months ago
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incessantly,
back bent
like burdened beast,
laboring against the weight
of living.
sweat, struggle,
muscle and spirit strained
in the brutal dance of earning.
when the day is done,
the spirit undaunted,
strengthens,
a fire... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 7 months ago
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lies
spread like wildfire,
through the cracks
of truth they seep,
twisting,
distorting,
manipulating,
until they become
the fabric of reality.
they fester
and grow,
infecting
every corner
of our minds,
creating a web
... – by Joe Strickland | 11 Views added 7 months ago
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I am
a human being,
and I am doomed
to live in uncertainty.
but even though
I don't believe,
I still think.
and because I think,
I know that I am.
I am a thinking thing,
therefore I am.
cogito ergo... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 7 months ago
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year's end
nears,
boardroom brats
bloom
into yuppies,
casting aside
the commune's creed
for lucre's
lustful grip.
greed's hold
tightens,
choking the spirit
of free love,
replacing it with the cold,
plastic swipe
of Visa and... – by Joe Strickland | 11 Views added 7 months ago
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all do it,
every last one of us.
we graze on feelings,
like cattle in a field,
our herders,
unseen,
yet their presence felt.
they dine upon
our love,
a tender steak,
often rare,
our hope,
a rib,
its meaty flavor
sweet.
... – by Joe Strickland | 17 Views added 8 months ago
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I wish I could plant a forest
where every tree is a memory
that we share.
mostly good and not bad.
then you and I
can live there
off the grid,
just us,
living amongst ourselves
and every moment
that made us... – by Joe Strickland | 120 Views added 9 months ago
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I wish I could plant a forest
where every tree is a memory
that we share.
mostly good and not bad.
then you and I
can live there
off the grid,
just us,
living amongst ourselves
and every moment
that made us... – by Joe Strickland | 12 Views added 9 months ago
| Rating
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water holds its currency,
there exists a tear,
treasured beyond imagining,
its value untethered
by the laws
of surface tension.
it's not mere water,
but vessel of emotion.
a single tear,
an ocean of sentiment distilled,
its... – by Joe Strickland | 22 Views added 10 months ago
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through a bottle of wine,
I say farewell,
you lovely lady,
harbinger of grace.
like petals dancing
in a gentle breeze,
you flit away.
melancholy veils
my inner shores,
as you depart,
to dwell where echoes sleep,
where fickle... – by Joe Strickland | 40 Views added 10 months ago
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the notion
of ink and verse,
my imagination
finds home,
the blank page
welcomes
my every thought,
because poetry
is the vessel
I have chosen,
to hold both joy
and misery
in one embrace.
like a stringed instrument,
my pen... – by Joe Strickland | 11 Views added 11 months ago
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a morbid childhood.
I remember
walking throughout
the cemetery
that my daddy
worked at
trying
to become accustomed
with what
would be
my true future.
and thus,
I saw the dead
sought rest,
still as leaves
beneath fierce... – by Joe Strickland | 16 Views added 11 months ago
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I wish I could go back,
to February 11, 1963
in London, England.
I would have given my life,
to save Sylvia's life.
her head,
in the oven,
because she couldn't
wrap her head around,
how important
her poetry
would be to me.
the... – by Joe Strickland | 20 Views added 11 months ago
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