Poetry

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.

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