Free Poems #4 – falling_in_love(“better off”) & sometimes

Twitter user @heisawolf — aka Juansen Dizon — asked me to write a #freepoem for him today! I haven’t gotten a request in a bit, so as soon as I had a moment I launched into it.

Just to preface this first poem, I’ve been learning Python, a programming language, on Codecademy.com (awesome resource, by the way!). I will paste the text below, but you really should look at the picture to get the poem in its true form.

falling_in_love(process)

boy = “open”
girl = “open”

def falling_in_love(process):
if process == “ideal”:
boy = “in love”
girl = “in love”
print “They live happily ever after.”
# Who believes in fairy tales anymore?
elif process == “complicated”:
boy = “in love”
girl = “not ready”
print “He hurts.”
# The likely outcome.
elif process == “better off”:
boy = “doesn’t notice her”
girl = “not ready”
print “They never love, but they never hurt.”
# Wouldn’t he rather?
else:
print “Uncharted territory.”

falling_in_love(“better off”)
# Sorry.

My second poem has a bit of a more hopeful tone.

sometimes

sometimes
he likes her
like a lot

sometimes
she doesn’t
feel the same

sometimes
sometimes
it works out

Feel free to request a #freepoem of your own! Contact me on Twitter @GeorgiaTell or submit to my contact form!

 

Free Poems #3 – Finding Peace of Mind

I had another request for a #freepoem on Twitter! This time the person kind of gave me a larger realm to work with: life struggles and finding peace of mind. I’ll admit having such a broad topic made this one a little harder, so I searched my personal experience to come up with my version of peace of mind.

Calming down after a long and busy day is a Herculean task, especially for me. I was doing NaNoWriMo this month, but I had to stop because I was getting snappy with the people I love — mind you, I finally found a method that works for me… voice-to-text, and I was certain I’d be able to finish this month. As a result, I’ve been trying to appreciate the small calm moments that happen all the time, and that’s what this poem is about:

momentary pause

you find it everywhere
among hassle and chaos

it is the green light
on the busy commute home
a breath let out as you
take your foot off the brake

you find it everywhere
among toil and discord

it is the slide of the deadbolt
in your front door
quiet at last as you
shut out the world for the night

you find it everywhere
among strife and trouble

it is the heavy unconscious
on the 300 count sheets
sleep slips in as you
drift peacefully away from the struggle

Thank you for reading! Feel free to request a #freepoem from me on Twitter or on my contact page!

Free Poems #2 – For K.M. Pohlkamp’s Apricots and Wolfsbane

Fellow writer K.M. Pohlkamp messaged me on Twitter to request a #freepoem for her novel Apricots and WolfsbaneThis was such a fun request, because the novel is adult historical fiction about a female assassin who uses poison. That inspired me right away with this short poem:

of the same kind

a drop of poison
thief dead on the floor
saw off his finger
he keeps the ruby ring no more

There’s something about historical fiction that makes me want to rhyme! You should read an excerpt from the book to see the rich inspiration for this poem.

For the second poem, I tried to encapsulate the most unusual aspect of the protagonist which is that she is devoutly religious and reconciles this with her killings by confession. Here it is:

I enjoy

the squeak of a chair
watching their eyes realize
life was draining away

the stillness of the body
when my poison won
taking proof

the silence when it was done
echoing in my head
until confession welcomed God’s voice back

Hope you like them! Check out K.M. Pohlkamp’s website!

Feel free to message me on Twitter @GeorgiaTell if you want a #freepoem.

Free Poems #1 – Depression

A few weeks ago, I posted on Twitter offering to write poems for people for free. Yesterday, a stranger messaged me asking me to write a poem for their friend with depression. First of all, this person is obviously such a sweetheart. Secondly, I was way too excited about this: my first #freepoem!

I’ve been sick for the last few days, but I grabbed my graph paper notebook and began writing immediately. It’s a sacred undertaking, and I take it seriously.

metamorph

insurmountable black of the darkness
he wants to not exist
always tired and perpetually missed

he cannot climb out of darkness
is there a purpose to exist?
a target he always missed

when a caterpillar happens to exist
eats and eats, not a leaf missed
he cocoons in darkness

a butterfly begins to exist
the opposite of darkness
a sight not to be missed

a light exists in the darkness

Sestinas are hard. I originally tried to make “metamorph” into a sestina, but it was ultimately a slave to the form. Instead, I honored the idea of the form and made it my own.

bottle cap necklace

bottle cap rolls
from the park bench
to the store
and around the block
a child picks it up
made into a necklace
with a shiny chain

This poem was much quicker to write and conveyed the lost-and-found-and-upcycled feeling of recovering from depression. I hope you like the freeform “bottle cap necklace.”

As an endnote, feel free to message me on my contact page or on Twitter @georgiatell if you want a free poem!