Aversion

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ere i walked the shadows
of a shameless life eschewed
i sometimes talked for hours
on the telephone
’tis true

attending to the inbox
which would hold my correspondence
until one day i stopped
having become too despondent

seven years have come and gone
and still i have not looked
nor listened to my messages
not even on facebook

this plague pervades
most every aspect
of my adult years
i since have lost the respect
of my family and peers

for they can’t see the reasons
nor the logic of my plight
its tragedy is lost
amid the inference of their slight

presuming that it must be
that they’ve somehow drawn my ire
some say i’m maladjusted
others think i have retired

i cannot help but panic
upon hearing rings and tones
instilling in me frantic feelings
reeling in my home

truth be told i have disabled
every last alarm
and push notification
for they only cause me harm

and should you try to reach out
with an intention to touch
you’ll not invade this redoubt
that has long since been my crutch

and if you are to know me
then you first must understand
even if you are the homie
you can talk to your own hand

morning

haunting words from Ryan Kelton

ryankeltonpoet's avatarThe Poetry of Ryan Kelton

he has forgotten
himself again,

as morning comes
devoid of memories.

grey sunlight
casts a pallor

over the silent
room, contained

of lost thoughts
that dissipate

with the approach
of another day.

eyelids will lift,
and he will

behold the
hollowness

of raw
dawn.

(1/28/17)

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Monarch Sky

i thought
that you could see me
through the lens
which rend your heart

the foment
of foreboding heed
that sought
to play your part

with every waning
flaxen tide
thus waxing
unquashed tears
comprised
of unseen sorrows
as they fall
into arrears

this blood yields not
to yarrow
‘neath the fields
of monarch sky

the piercing
of your arrow’s wound
seals fast
our love’s demise

Sudden Denouement/Secret First Draft Divergent Literature Writing Contest

Sudden Denouement's avatarSudden Denouement Collective

Sudden Denouement Literary Collective and Secret First Draft are holding a joint Writing Contest in the month of March to elicit new writers for the Collective.

Writing Prompt: March Madness

Unpublished/Original work

Each entry should be more than 50 words but less than 500

Each writer may submit 1 to 3 (maximum) pieces of writing for consideration

Submissions will be accepted: 3/1/2017 through 3/31/2017

Full prize information to be announced soon!

1st Place Winner will be granted membership in the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective

2nd, 3rd and 4th Place Runners-ups will be granted membership in the Secret First Draft Collective.

Send your submissions with your name, your pen name (if applicable), the address for your blog and a short biography (1 to 3 sentences to): Suddendenouement@gmail.com

The Sudden Denouement Literary Collective and its sister sites Secret First Draft and The Whisper and The Roar are forums for divergent literature that we hope…

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Petaled Trails

once
i walked
a lone procession

in the blossoming
wake of a cherry
bloom daydream

lost
in thought
as threnodies
cried peals
of Zeus’wrath

helpless
in a gaze
transfixed

counting down
each drowning
footstep

tread upon
tremulant flesh
yet shone anew

as our minds
fell behind
racing hearts

failing
to bridge
the frigid waters

on that day
when i long held
truth

as the subtle sky
absconded
with your song

My ~Friend~

“oh look!
a pretty* girl”

*subjective
don’t assume so much

my ~friend~

why not instead
show respect
and treat her
like a human being

use your brain**

**the one in your head

think of her experience
endlessly accosted
by lotharios
on dalliance

decency
staunchly objects
to your crass
objectification

luckily
there is yet a bus
awaiting
at the local station

destination: evolution
join the ranks
of humankind

should you choose
to thus forgo
please know
you are no friend
of mine

Whatever I Have Known

whatever
i have known

in thought
through observation

has trickled
through the
hollow holes

that hearken
solstice winds

in shapes
and sounds
from profound
to mundane

demanding
their address

effortlessly
spent
like pleasantries
appeasing
pastime purpose

presently
with serpent’s tongue

through absent blessings
fed to flames
then cleft in twain

on the overhung edge
of our sanity
dissimulated

modern love

a tragic isolation beautifully expressed by Ryan Kelton

ryankeltonpoet's avatarThe Poetry of Ryan Kelton

would it be so bad,
he asks himself
on another night
spent like a thousand
nights before,

to be alone,
to lock oneself away
from a world
full of cuts and bruises;
thorns and thistles–

all the hit and runs
of modern love,
they are meaningless
in the end; they amount
to nothing.

tonight, the stars
shine brilliantly
over a city
full of people
with hollow chests;

they sit low
in the sky like fruit–
you could almost
reach up
and grab them

to bring them down
to fill the hole
in your chest
where your heart
once was–

but all
you get
are shadows filled
with what was,
and is lost.

1/30/17

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cornerstone

Beautifully composed uncertainty from the wonderful Lois E. Linkens

lois linkens's avatarLois Linkens

daisy.jpeg

there sits the cornerstone.
in the summer,
its almost entirely swamped by weeds.
the autumn winds
see them off,
and golden leaves tumble over dry rock
like acrobats
in a dried-out circus.
the winter frost crackles over,
and melts in the icy midday sun –
but nobody campaigns.
springtime summons
her clearest skies,
breathing new warmth
into the frozen stone.
i wait for the first daisy,
and smile
when it sprouts.
i know the first daisy will come,
it always does.
but with you –
with you, i do not know.
yet still, i wait.

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Suffering

suffering
is not
quantifiable

pray not
think it
quaint

never
is it
justifiable

it is
only
pain

diminishing
the human spirit

with every moment
passed

dare not
impose
upon its merit

lest ye be
a heartless
ass