stillness bleeds unapologetically like watercolors on an empty page
droplets running down a broken pane
lightning flashing through the pouring rain
shooting stings, like drilling needles, into a field of dried up veins
picks at scars and tears your heart like it is reinventing pain
sadness peels the scabs you’ve healed, like stickers, stuck on a wall
closing the bar, before last call
just when you’re feeling 10 feet tall
it’ll drive the nails down deep, into your bleeding skull
no response or no recall, waiting for your hopes to fall
Feeling no remorse, giving no recourse for you, at all.
About the Creator
Kelli Sheckler-Amsden
Telling stories my heart needs to tell <3 life is a journey, not a competition
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More stories from Kelli Sheckler-Amsden and writers in Poets and other communities.
A Flower Song
Apparently the Aztecs, Toltecs, Chichimecs and other Mexica were crazy about poetry. Despite the book-burning, slaughter, and epidemics that characterized the early stages of the Spanish conquest of the empires of Mexico, some hundreds of poems from the height of their tradition come down to us in Classical Nahuatl, preserved by Nahua and Spanish scholars of the 16th century. One of the most famous poets, Nezahualcoyotl, was a sage-king who opposed the cult of human sacrifice associated with Tezcatlipoca, God of the Smoking Mirror, and favored Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. Flowers and feathers were the favorite offering of the Plumed Serpent. Moreover, flowers and feathers are a metaphor for poetry. Individual words, scattered petals, the down of tropical birds. The temples of blood sacrifice could be transformed into temples of flower and song. A sublimated offering to the Heart of Earth and the Heart of Sky encapsulated in the Classical Nahuatl kenning for poetry: in xōchitl in cuīcatl, meaning, "the flower and the song." The following poem is part of a longer work, and is in a state of flux, so take the waters as they flow:
By Rob Angeli4 days ago in Poets
Comments (9)
Kelli, you captured this sense of heartbreak & loneliness so completely, all of this different feelings crashing down upon us at one time. Powerfully expressed.
great description
Wow this was incredible one of those poems where you start reading and it just grabs you and won’t let go until you’ve read every word
Your expression is vivid and breathtaking here! "picks at scars and tears your heart like it is reinventing pain" wow. This poem paints a gorgeous picture while sinking down into the skin and speaking to parts of me I didn't know were there - amazing!
Nice job kelli 😊
To create it is to know it. 😥 beautifully composed Kelli.
Kelli, you never cease to amaze with your beautifully presented images. Emotive, real and raw. Well done!
Are you a bartender in this poem? Or is your love interest a bartending? Or neither?
"sadness peels the scabs you’ve healed" Never truer words spoken - what an irresistible and oddly beautiful piece! Kudos Kelli!