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Poetry & Free Verse
Challenge Ended
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Ended July 9, 2017 • 13 Entries • Created by Lenore
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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for Adamotaur
Adamotaur in Poetry & Free Verse
202 reads

End of a Love Story

Why do we want fairy tales

When falling in love is always

The End?

So charming, the day I found you, my Prince

Eyes meeting in a crowd, just like the stories

Sparks and rapid pulses

Fumbling words

Fumbling hands

Finding strength in one another

We defied the invisible barriers

That stood in our way

Held strong in support of love

Fought together

Loved fiercely

United

This would be the end of a love story

A happy one

If the story ended there

But

It was only the start of a life

Shiny new trinkets may last a while

Keep you happy for carefree years

But somewhere down the line

They lose their shine

And there you are

Dulled

Forgetting what it was

To be in love

Days no longer built upon romance and thrill

But of dishes and laundry

Frustration and ennui

Are we still lovers

Are we still partners

If months slide by when all we do

Is fight or fuck

Or ignore one another?

We show the world our fairy tale smiles

Still such a cute couple, they say

Even after all this time

But inside I'm thinking of

The dirty plates all over the house

The milk forgotten on the counter

The lumber and screws left in the driveway

The clothes you borrowed and spoiled

The promises you forgot

I think of your wandering eye

The times you didn't notice my tears

The arguments I couldn't win

Because it was more important for you

To make a point

Than to acknowledge the validity

Of my pain

That infuriating habit you have

Of forcing every emotion

Through logical analysis

To obsessively define

And debate

And quantify

Until I just want to go numb

Are you likewise thinking of my failures?

Of my sharp and thoughtless words

My impatience and rigid expectations?

Are you thinking of how I brush you off

Turning to mindless entertainment

Or perpetual writing

Rather than listening to what you want to tell me?

Does it bother you when I write sweet poetry

For everybody but you?

Have I hurt you, my Prince,

As you have hurt me?

Once upon a time

We stood strong against a barrier

That tried to tell us we shouldn't be together

Here we stand again

Against a different barrier

That place of stagnation and resentment

That triggers the decay of so many unions

Surrender is the path of least resistance

But we are still here

Eyes wander and imaginations stray

Boredom numbs once passionate hearts

Perpetual frustration corrupts perspective

But you are still next to me at night

As I am next to you

And now we are ready

To turn over and reach for each other

We are still alive

To connect instead of fight

To make love instead of fuck

We need only climb out of our distracted minds

And remember how

We thought true love happened long ago

When eyes met in a crowd

And sparks exploded

But true love is now

When we're jaded and wounded

Impatient and fractious

When the dishes and laundry pile up

Into mountains that threaten to bury us

True love is now

Because each day we choose it

Each morning and night we choose one another

In all our imperfection and mess

My prince

You drive me crazy

And sometimes you hurt me

I hate your messes and your distractions

I hate your debates and stubborn logic

And the way you always need to make each mistake

In your own infuriating way

But I love you

I love you because we are both so imperfect

Because I know you're always trying

And you frustrate yourself most of all

I love you because you still want me

Still like me best

Still come home to me

And because you're too dumb to ever tell me a lie

Or keep a secret

I love you because you want the best for me

And empower me to stand up for myself

Even against you

Especially against you

This is love

It's a choice we make

A battle we fight

Each day

Standing fast against the tide

Of bitter reality

Of numbing practicalities

Love isn't an attraction

A transient flutter

A pretty flower

Love is these bare and raw bones

Left after many years of merciless life

Have worn everything else away

It isn't so charming

But it's real

And it's ours

15
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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Hamartanein in Poetry & Free Verse
133 reads

Loos’d

Gristbite of bone-shard riddled teeth dripping with remnants of pleasurous carnal horrors mistaken for an apocalyptic synergy propagated

by

propaganda

spread thinly by full lips

teeth were sheathed,

concealed and poised

to lash out and latch on

Disrobed with nimble lips

unabashed nakedness insufficient

that slithering tongue insatiably seduces self mutilation;

shear my skin to sinewy

trembling honesty-

Epidermis sloughed willingly

Carapace surrendered,

rendered unrecognizable

Hold me together with your newsprint papier-mâché- shouting decade old headlines of glorified travesties written by neglectful incompetents

Tinted not with loving paints my faults lie in half truths and muted stories written in black and white and read all over

as newly unshackled limbs propel violently against the jagged edges of freedom's cage to peel away

smeared visages of pulpy fiction

Vestiges of the original hue

peek through

8
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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
nia in Poetry & Free Verse
129 reads

whispers

leaves fell to the ground that day, and psithurism dominated the air. and she enjoyed hearing their rustle and whispers as she sat under the old tree with those leaves gorgeous leaves of brown and red, their sweet memories stuck to her mind and a plastered smile to her face. but the agony from his death made her weep. she heard the whispers of the dried leaves while she narrated her story to them, the only real friends of this "mad" lady. and with each leaf that fell to the ground, she felt her pain alleviate as she experienced her last agony. together, the friends faded away. what a sublime feeling it was, both bitter and sweet at the same time

7
2
2
Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for JonCarl
JonCarl in Poetry & Free Verse
122 reads

Some Days

Some days

Rain is daggers that pierce the earth

The small bodies of its blood that create

Feared reflections

When left to stare into their faces.

Some days

Rain is a kiss from the unknown

A gift from the light that hides above it

Cleansing the past and solididfying

A gilded future.

Some days

A dream is a camera

Full of forgotten fears

And wingless birds of when

When things were…

When I was…

When…

Some days

A dream is a blanket fort

Held sturdy by white string and rebellion

Of the photographs

It protects even those who use rock and tree

And the meek existences they battle.

Every day

Skies tell us they’ are blue

Grass says green

And roses say red

Every day

Is the light and warmth of a speck in the vast blackness

And the blindness and burns it leaves behind.

6
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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for Storybob
Storybob in Poetry & Free Verse
75 reads

Love Has Many Layers

Confusion is usually the crossing guard at this juncture in one's life and I was no different. I was torn with anger at the loss we were no longer together.

I've heard it said, "If you honestly love someone let them go if they no longer want to stay."

One day I bumped into a mutual friend who told me she had met another and was happy. As he walked away I'm comfortable knowing my love finally brought her happiness.

3
1
1
Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Cover image for post Small Town Fever, by TheCaptainsWife
Profile avatar image for TheCaptainsWife
TheCaptainsWife in Poetry & Free Verse
72 reads

Small Town Fever

I thought I was pouring oil on troubled waters

but really I was pouring oil on a flame

got small town fever 

time for me to leave her 

I've only myself to blame

I'm out here walking my restlessness down

my heart takes my body from town to town

and all I remember is the colour of your eyes

as grey as the Channel under cold English skies

I've a train ticket burning a hole in my pocket

said my goodbyes, got your hair in my locket

I can't go back to that town I came from

the pull on my heart is far to strong

I thought I was pouring oil on troubled waters

but really I was pouring oil on a flame

got small town fever 

time for me to leave her 

I've only myself to blame

3
0
0
Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for PiousPoet
PiousPoet in Poetry & Free Verse
85 reads

Never Ending Result

She came to collect what she shared with me

Once, they were ours...now they're just hers

She took more than that, she took her words

It wasn't fair for me

Well, these actions were not

But her last words...

I forgot

It doesn't matter what she said 

Or how I responded 

But the moment...

Ruby red

I have no intention to pawn it

Angles & cuts of formed dimensions

Now glistening through the words we mention 

Settling in a space where Love once belonged

Filling the air with music...not songs

Complimenting each other's notes 

We see that Love is but a moat 

A trench we must face 

A barrier thats keeps safe, the castle of its grace

It is to be conquered, by only the meek

The strong will fail...the cunning will sneak

The powerful will trail...& the daring won't peak

All will know, Love is not for the weak

We found out the hard way

And we've come to our end

But before she goes away

We talk...as friends

The world is swirling around us, throwing dismay in swarms

But inside her car, there is peace & warmth

As if we've forgotten...for just a moment 

Our current state...the upcoming torment

We can't go on together, so we leave apart 

But we're reminded why there was a start 

3
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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Altruistic in Poetry & Free Verse
92 reads

You Love Her Not.

(i.)

You fell in love with her

when she couldn't love herself.

You loved her wide brown eyes

that resembled the color of pure honey,

and her big plump lips

that were perfect enough to kiss.

You loved her voice

when she called your name

because she couldn't fall asleep,

and the silence of it all

when she was long gone in her dreams.

You taught her to love herself;

head, toe and everything in between.

Her body,

her mind

and soul.

Let nothing intervene.

(ii.)

She started to fall in love with herself,

but love you more each day and not less.

But maybe being in love with herself

was something you couldn't take.

It had you wondering about

the power that she had gave.

So you started breaking down

her confidence,

and telling her that

all the things you said weren't true.

"Well, yeah I felt that way once upon a time... but now I feel something new."

You started telling her that

she was worthless and

watched as she cried.

And while at one time that would hurt you, for some reason this time it made you smile.

(iii.)

You had her wondering,

trying to figure out how

any of this

made sense.

How could you love her one minute,

and hate her the next?

While she was sad for sometime,

her soul kept on burning.

And all of the flowers you had

planted in her soul,

from her tears they were still growing.

That's when she realized

how much she loved herself,

and when she started

to love you less.

"People like you don't deserve love,"

she said.

"because you take peoples weaknesses

and make them your strengths."

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Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for wood
wood in Poetry & Free Verse
73 reads

East wall

Old main library unfortunately outgrew west end space, and 1955 the old building was demolished.

2
0
0
Challenge
Bittersweet.... Write a poem about a moment or experience that was both pleasant and painful, joyous and sad. Nonfiction encouraged, but not required. Please tag me for the read!
Formal or free verse poems welcome. Please tag me for the read.
Profile avatar image for Overcast
Overcast in Poetry & Free Verse
77 reads

Regrets

I thought I was being fair

By saying what was true,

What was really in my heart,

The love I didn't have for you.

Everyday that we talked,

I wished you would let me go.

Find yourself another friend,

A lover, or even a foe...

And then you found her.

I wish you all the best!

I hope it's not your togetherness that I think I now detest!

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