A moment to remember
it’s ok to let go
ok to let show that you don’t know
how your life is directed or in which way it flows
It’s ok to say that you’re feeling overwhelmed
But take a breath and look from a different perspective
Don’t forget today’s lesson
is simply to breathe
become aware of the oxygen
then let it all leave
—
Photographer: Israel Sundseth
Dreams don’t come around so easily
Not with lazy days sitting so idle
It takes some effort, a level of consistency
Break away from your hardening denial
Let go of how it was meant to be
Unknown destiny, life was never a trial
But simply a moment to hear and see
Able to perceive from galaxies to the atomic
Slowly solving the puzzle, the mystery
Able to see life much like a blank comic
Where each panel was left to be made
By the stroke of your brush and a little bit of logic
This is the dance before all we know must fade
So in the end let us cherish that we gloriously played
—
Photographer: Sebastian Marchand
I‘m currently in a poetry workshop where we have to experiment with different forms. This poem is following the Terza Rima scheme:
Terza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. (Terza rima – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
One step, one note
Just one motion forward
The choice of moving toward the next expression of life
Each passing day and night blinking like a flashing light
Until the day that tragic strikes
And then we remember just how short the journey is
Yearning for more, barely able to bear this inevitable sense of doom
Death around the corner, the ever-present sense of gloom
But then it makes me laugh at how mad it all is
An infinite series of patterns growing out of grasp
And here we are
Despite all the pain able to choose to rise and love again
Able to wear that smile ’till it rings true, cause a smile shared is not just for you
It’s contagious — outrageous! — the infectious speed of connecting across the ages
Call it an ideal against all these shifting deals between the powers that be
Yet in this moment let’s not forget the power in you and me
—
Photographer: Nicole Eliason
A universe of existence
From atomic scenes to galaxies
Mysteries of interstellar seas
Of motion and action
Emotion, reactions
Cognizant perceptions
Convert energy into a life
Of big numbers and little fractions
Cosmic interactions
Every passing moment a chance to connect
Able to use the time we have left
To live a life worth living
With a heart, like a star, beating in our chests
—
If this arrives on time, then it’s 365 days in the past
I’m you from the future and I want to express how last year went:
Tomorrow you found yourself on the wrong side of the line between escape and entertainment
Enjoyment and an attempt to fill a void with thoughtless distraction
A fraction of life’s potential wasting away in inconsequential moments of apathy
Until presented with a choice
You could choose to allow self abusive habits to roam free
Or you could choose to grow
Choose to rise past the sorrow and move toward a new day
A day worth living, worth singing, worth every of ounce of life that
we’re all clinging to
And you chose to grow
In a month you found yourself alone
Nights of cold, empty blankets while dreaming of someone to hold
When the thermostat says 70 degrees but your heart’s feeling 40 under
Feeling darker and darker until fading into nothingness
Destroying all you’ve worked for until you cared for none of this
And then you saw a reflection that you often miss
The part of you against the love
Who wants to live alone in a world of his own problems
Who sees self-sabotage as simply a way of life
The inescapable cycle that always ends with this metaphorical knife
Yet still, you shook off your doubts and fears and you chose to grow
Six months in came the confidence that you always had, just never felt was there
Consistency and discipline laying the foundation to self mastery
Taking it one step at a time while working towards bad-assery
Seizing this moment to be the hero of your own story
Fast forwarding to the good part, where we live with
Every heartbeat remaining, no complaining
While continuously sustaining this temporary
Expression of love
And you chose to grow
In 12 months, you came across a quote
It read: “A year from now you will wish you had started today”
You’ve got some work to do, my friend
Good Luck!
—
Photographer: Jordan McQueen
Quote: Karen Lamb
A boat in a bottle
Never let out at sea
Too busy worrying what she’d think
Instead of letting my own heart live free
You see, love is not an arrow shot at a target
Love is open seas — three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of rough choppy water
With the gentlest breeze
Choking on the salt of dried up tears
Of which time stole all the moisture
So much time spent unsure
Just a wish in a bottle, a boat that never touched water
Whose sails never felt the rush of a gust of wind at
Simply the sight of you
It’s not a carefully crafted message to never be seen
It’s spontaneous — dynamic!
Love is a shared boat
I tried to build the perfect boat to lead me to you
I followed every direction perfectly, didn’t break a single rule
Yet still I find myself crying these tears of solitude
Once more drinking on an empty deck
You say there’s more fish in the ocean
But I’m too scared to let my boat sink
Took me so long to realize I never made room for someone else
I looked for a savior without being one to myself
You see, let me not forget I am the captain of my own ship!
Shaken in the seas of good days and bad
Sailing through these waters, a soul sits at the helm
Seeing out into the world and deciding upon which direction to go
Which direction should I go?
Here or there, who really knows
All that matters is to feel how the ocean flows
Waves of emotions as we die and as we grow
—
Photographer: Barn Images
Side-note: If this piece reads a bit differently than previous poems, I’ll tell you why! I’ve recently been going to the Poetry Club at my school. The long-form rhyming that’s in most of my written work reads out-loud much differently than in my head. I received some awesome critique and feedback and wanted to apply it. This piece is part of my growth into being able to perform my work. It sounds much better spoken 🙂
One time
A line of continuous moments
Separated by a distance that no one has known yet
The space between each passing second seems impossible to grasp
No way to unmask
The illusion my mind conjures before me
Allowing the opportunity to write my own story
One that I love
One that can’t be boring
No, not one-hundred-percent happy
But one-hundred-percent invested
Taking each passing second as a chance to better who I am
Defining new limits, new bars to reach and overcome
For now I know I won’t stay forever young
As the only time we ever have has only been now
Everyone has been saying it, sharing out-loud
That numbered days are irrelevant when presently involved
Giving all to this moment, whether we rise or we fall
—
Photographer: Andree Brown
Choices make up this continuum of time
To find a calmer state of mind
For time moves forward, never going back
And we already know this moment won’t last
It’s the sound of air that reminds me of what’s there
On what we all share
This responsibility for nature that we all bear
Let this sound remind you of gratitude
How in the end, there’s little left to lose
Just pass along the torch
Before it’s your turn to leave it scorched
But through an open heart begin to do your part
So that somewhere down the road a better life can truly start
Why must we keep on pretending
When clearly everything we’ve come to know is soonly ending
I wish I could lock this moment in a box
Take a second to put it all on pause
In desperate attempt to infinitely grasp this sense of continuous perception
Not to mention, the fact that all my beliefs are held in suspension
Finding it hard to feel grounded
When the concept of sanity seems to elude me
Religious beliefs fail to sooth me
It’s when this pen touches paper that the world begins to move me
As I get further lost in taking my thoughts
And transforming them into something new
Creating a new perspective for me to view
While leading my heart towards living true
And expressing this thought from me to you
—
Photographer: Josh Felise
Oh but don’t you worry for we are bound to make mistakes
Whether we take it slow or we hurry, there’ll be plenty of outtakes
For it takes more than just one moment for a heart to succeed
It’s continuous motion, to love and be free
Means to truly believe in what it means to freely breathe
We are beings of oxygen, of big bits and little bits
Atoms and molecules all fused together with hidden rules
All acting together to bring to life what we call existence
Each passing moment, each passing instance
Here we are, able to think this
Awareness, mindfulness
Sharing fading memories while traveling through these distant trees
Uncovering ideas and unknown philosophies
Able to be grateful for this sweetest breeze
Here is what I see
Interconnected families
Growing in all directions, becoming something new
Or perhaps a reflection of dreams coming true
For society as we know it was at some point constructed
Grown institutions imposing ideals on how life should be conducted
By the hand of man, we built the life that we’ve always wanted
Creating our own world, despite its future being forgotten
—
Photographer: Joshua Earle
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