A Collection of Unrequited Haikus
By Sammy Bratton
Sharing dreams and hopes
Bittersweet differences
Parallel people
Very similar
Masterfully coexist
Better together
They share likes and hates
While I catch myself glancing
They shine and sparkle
When feeling shameful
They care and believe in me
That sight, blind to it
Unlocking my doors
Depths of my soul presented
Trust or wishful thoughts?
Friendship growing strong
A window blocking my path
They just smile and wave
Staying up, long nights
No sleep with chance on my mind
If only we try
I hope you notice
The small details of mine
Entranced, like I am
Ignoring the truth
Burning a hole in my throat
The best medicine?
Beside me is pain
Do not change the unbroken
A leap is fatal
Ancient Story by S.V. Krishna Lakkimsetty
Oh, sing me a song of a wine-dark sea.
Tell me a tale of yore.
For I’ve sailed and prevailed with great bravery,
and I’m left still wanting more.
Oh, sing me a song of changes in form
where even the twisted can turn.
As the old stories go, the beast can reform.
So don’t let the scrolls burn.
Oh, sing me a song of arms and the girl,
who tried so hard to reach me.
I hope that she knows, my sails did unfurl.
I made it to who I wanted to be.
So just sing me a song of a wine-dark sea,
for I’ll never know how you gave up on me.
Overwriting by S.V. Krishna Lakkimsetty
Have I forgotten how to write a poem?
I have all these emotions, I’m so dissatisfied with life.
I used to be able to put it all in lines.
One at a time, my thoughts
escape my grasp when they ought
to flow out all at once.
So many feelings fight from my fingers,
tripping themselves, trying tell own story theirs—
Where did it go?
I swear, I used to know
how to make the words work for me.
I could make them overflow,
bursting at the seams,
explosive and burning,
and now…
They’re flowing far away from me.
I can’t hold on.
Now I’m drowning in a sea
of everything I thought I wanted to be.
Now, I must ponder honestly
whether words still could set me free.
Shall I give up on poetry?
Wait.
Wait a minute.
Let’s read that again, just humor me.
Oh my god, what are you thinking?
Give up on poetry? Girl, please.
Maize by S.V. Krishna Lakkimsetty
When the yellow stalks are raised so high,
how can you be sure what stalks nearby?
Countless ears stretch towards the sky
while just as many listen at your height.
Impossible to make sense—
Is it loose critter, or loose killer?
When all around you sound
the wind’s whistles and the leaves’ whispers.
It’s a bad, bad time to let your thoughts stray
when you’re lost in the middle of a corn maze.
Photographed by Brian Hays
The Act of a Guilty Narcissist by LMG
i have become the songs
that the birds would sing
to me.
i have become the breeze from
a hurricane over the sea.
and if you pass the trees
i am the roots underneath.
i have become every place
that consisted of you and me.
and when the air whispered
those were my screams.
i have hugged you as the ocean
and held your hand as the breeze.
the stars would call me selfish
and pathetic while i’d grieve.
but this is the closest i could get
you to me.
maybe it’s condescending,
vulnerable and weak.
even if i am all the things
that can not speak.
there is no possibility
that you’ll lose your
memory.
i hope in all the places you go
that embody peace,
you never lose the sight of me.
Sadism by LMG
i’ve turned my skin
inside out
so you could love me.
you have picked
at every vein
until i started bleeding.
yet i romanticize
what others find
deceiving.
but i’ll never undermine
this controlling feeling.
i watch as you
corrupt me.
i’ll never give
up gently.
whatever this
could be.
why don’t you
pretend with me?
you have wrapped
the veins that
controlled my every
move.
around the neck
of what once
tortured you.
but i live for you
to hold me.
inside out and all.
because every vein
that bleeds for you
is a victim of you
assault.