POETRY FEATURES - August 8, 2014

Aug 8, 20147 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: Aug 8, 2014

1.5K Views

Every month, we find examples of some really great work and improvement within the PowerfulWriting gallery. Here are some such pieces out of our Poetry folders.

Dust
Emotional Free Verse by Xtemporary-insanityX

DustThe faces turn to paper
The paper turns to flame
The flame turns to smoke
And the city is empty again
The longest moment of our lives as you fell
Three thousand heartbeats--
The last four were mine, when there was emptiness
Where once stood life
And when a smiling face
Reduced to smoke and ashes,
A memory like dust in my eyes.
You think that I'm just a kid
Staring into a world I don't yet understand
Where you're grabbing a gun
And claiming justice for these ashes
But under these ashes
Is my home
And I'm trying to put the towers
Back together
I'm trying to hold the sky up on my shoulders
So it doesn't fall on us again
Under these ashes
Is our city
Under these ashes
Is an unmarked mass grave
Under these ashes
There are no angels, there is no God,
There are no martyrs to bleed for their faith
Our gospel has burned
And we are burning with it
Hands gray with ashes
Souls red with our collective blood
The passion we have all bled for
We have all suffered for it long enough
We will cry until o
The longest moment of our lives as you fell
Three thousand heartbeats--
The last four were mine, when there was emptiness
Where once stood life

This haunting piece beautifully captures the frailty of life in the wake of a terrifying disaster. This piece has power in capturing powerlessness and has deeply affected some of the admins here at PW. It's a wonderful, heartbreaking piece.

Esteem.
A Spoken Word of Human Nature by KelaLewis-Morin

Esteem.Esteem.
Your loneliness has spread to your eyes,
It has now become a part of who you are.
You can no longer keep contract of your own lies.
Everyone else but you can see that this has gone too far.

Your expressions and body language have become bionic.
It’s almost like the lights are on but the room has been ransacked.
What is ironic is that you try so hard to subtly avoid the topic.
I choose and use my words carefully because I know how you will react.

There is only so much I can say or do; the rest is solely up to you.
Only you can dispose of the trespasser that lies underneath.
If you only knew the trials you have unintentionally put me through.
Maybe then you will shed your grief and embark onto a new leaf.
I hope you take my sincere concerns on board.
Because time is one thing none of us can afford
To squander and wonder our lives away.
Be true to yourself.
I hope you take my sincere concerns on board.
Because time is one thing none of us can afford

This is a a lovely piece that does a great deal to showcase the improvement we have seen in this author. While thought provoking piece and nice on paper, when read aloud it comes alive with a sort of drive that makes for a very powerful and memorable piece.

If Only
Free Verse Story by BlakeCurran

If OnlyFrom a mother to her child
If only I could have held you
for an instant, perhaps
I could have told you
what I really wanted for you.
Because it certainly wasn’t
this, whatever this is.
If I could have seen you,
glimpsed the colour
of your brown-blue
eyes, seen your dimples
or lack thereof, just so I
could better imagine you.
If only I was able to
look after myself,
as well as you…
Little Johnny Martello
from up the street
came in today. I was
minding him because
Mr. Martello was still
at work and Mrs. M
was at the doctor’s.
He’d be as old as
you, or near enough.
Thin black hair cropped
short, shorter than I’d like,
but it made me think of
your hair and who took
you to the hairdresser’s,
and who decided on your
style. Who? Who are you?
I wish I knew.
Sometimes I turn to find
your hand, as if I had
always held it, instead
of never. How big must
you be now? Already in
school, going well, surely.
Hopefully.
I dreamt of you last night.
Sometimes I
Sometimes I turn to find
your hand, as if I had
always held it, instead
of never. How big must
you be now? Already in
school, going well, surely.
Hopefully.

What sets this piece apart from much of the poetry on this site is it tells a story. Within this story, the author is able to capture very real and complex emotions and display them in simple verse. The effect is touching, thought provoking, and wonderful.

The Music We Make
Emotional Spoken Word by CrumbledWings and LightOverpowers58

The Music We MakeI feel your heart
Beating softly with mine
A pure harmony
Burrowing deep inside
Crescendos and allegros—
intertwining mirrors of our
actions, your baritone echoing my alto,
our hearts the metronome to the rhythms
of our voices lifted raised in the wordless
music of our song.
Though I don’t know the words
I merely sing the melody
letting the beating of our
hearts slowly lead me
to the words waiting inside
The cavernous organ where words
coalesce and convalesce, unearthing
phrases yet unspoken and thoughts
undisclosed…our song—my song and
your song, two favorites written and
recorded as night stretches unending
And I listen as
our song weaves together
a lazy, loving ballad
telling tales of both
now and forever
So let’s listen to the stories
we hear in our heartbeats
as our pulses race and soar,
aching to synchronize beneath
the moon’s glow as
We let the world fall away,
disappear into the flowing of
our music, the lovely lyr
Though I don’t know the words
I merely sing the melody
letting the beating of our
hearts slowly lead me
to the words waiting inside

This is a wonderful example of a collaborative piece that manages to capture the styles of both authors without any feeling of disconnect. It's beautifully written and composed, and thus creates a very lasting effect.

Too all of our featured writers, well done.