I wish I could plant a forest
where every tree is a memory
that we share.
mostly good and not bad.
then you and I
can live there
off the grid,
just us,
living amongst ourselves
and every moment
that made us... – by Joe Strickland | 114 Views added 6 months ago
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bleeds
onto the page,
a crimson tide
of thought.
hate it, i do,
this agonizing rage
of words that claw
and fight.
but like the blood
that pumps,
a constant,
vital stream,
it courses through
my soul,
a necessary
dream.
... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 10 hours ago
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elon, bezos
launching dreams into the void.
the stars aren't just pinpricks
in an indigo sky anymore,
they’re destinations,
gritty ambitions
crossed out on a to-do list.
smart cars purring,
where the only danger
is forgetting what it... – by Joe Strickland | 13 Views added 1 day ago
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upon
the plane
where galaxies
sleep,
whispers of light
drifting through the vast.
time stands still,
in this quiet
cosmic embrace.
dreams echo
amongst the stars,
their secrets imprinted
throughout the makeup
of the... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 2 days ago
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walked the alleys of my youth
where laughter lingers like smoke
from long-gone cigarettes smoking on the stoop,
friends sprawled across cracked pavements
talking about dreams that never came
to be.
do you remember
the café on 4th street?
... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 3 days ago
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the bruises,
before the dawn,
and the taste of poison
lingering on bad intent,
pointed at the heart,
the cycle clenched tight,
as fists rise like
smoke from a dying fire.
all morning, and those
early shadows stumble,
like lovers lost... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 3 days ago
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vision has been
black and white for so long,
each day a gray grind
the coffee bitter,
the love dull.
the faces are as familiar
as skin peeling.
i’ve learned to navigate
the shadows,
the comfort of monotone
where chaos is... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 3 days ago
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clouds
like cotton
float on a sea
of green glass,
where moonbeams
dance slow.
a giant sunflower
smiles,
golden teeth
in the twilight.
ryleigh and stella
danced on the clouds
like ballerinas.
i called for them
to come back... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 4 days ago
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doesn't talk much.
she's a puzzle,
a collection of jagged edges,
constructed with contradictions.
she's a riddle
wrapped in a mystery,
a paradox walking
on two legs.
she's a broken mirror
reflecting the truth,
a stained glass... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 4 days ago
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pelican dreams.
tornado clifftops.
andante grief.
fingerprint susurration.
sparrow.
dance mexico.
a windswept canvas,
the pelican's shadow
a fleeting, feathered inscription
on the sand.
tornado whispers
in the clifftops,
a... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 4 days ago
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was the weak link,
the fragile thread
that snapped
and fell, and fell,
and fell,
and still fell.
i wrote poems to prove
i was still alive,
still breathing.
but the words that poured
out of me were dark
and dirty and mean.
i... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 13 days ago
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don't try
to polish the stone
of your own existence
into a reflection
of someone else's notion
of what it means to be
worthless and used.
the rust on the pipe
of your own life
cuts through the lies
and the pretensions.
just let it... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 13 days ago
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is a concept
that i struggle
to grasp.
i think of the ocean's
endless blue,
the waves crashing
against the shore,
the salty smell of the air,
the feel of the sand
beneath my feet,
the way the seagulls
cry out in protest.
... – by Joe Strickland | 8 Views added 13 days ago
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it's been 89 days since stella's
flesh was torn
apart by the snapping jaws
of a mutt,
a cheap little thing
with a cruel mind
and a manicured coat.
the doctor's words
dripping like holy water:
"fully healed".
stella's face a mask ... – by Joe Strickland | 10 Views added 13 days ago
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roaches scurry on,
unblinking,
unbothered by our fear.
in the world
we've built a monument
to our own future
where we're poised to commit
slow-motion homicide.
the roaches will inherit the earth,
a grim reminder.
their... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 14 days ago
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soles,
whispers,
promises of
paved roads.
i'm a beggar with a briefcase,
a gauntlet of good intentions.
i'm making more money now,
but the stench of sweat
is still on my shirt.
i've got more than you'll ever know,
but i'll... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 14 days ago
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touch
is like a kick in the jaw,
a wake-up call
to the blurry, numb world
i'd rather not live in.
it's a jolt of electricity,
a reminder that i'm
still alive,
still reachable.
crystal is a twister
that's always on the... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 14 days ago
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quotidian despair
that besets our days
as every fragment of life's
tattered facade
collapses, crumbles,
like the walls of a worn out
cinderblock,
burying us beneath
its crumbling mass
and yet,
and yet,
and yet,
this one thing
... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 14 days ago
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my mental tomb
dead dreams
and desires
lie still.
resurrect my mind
like jesus.
bring them back
to life.
make my past... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 14 days ago
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air whispered a
secret
through the reed
of a once-loose scatter,
reunited
in the great plain,
where music
takes on the aspect
of the land,
erosion,
deposition,
and in
the echoes,
a new country
of sound and sense,
as if... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 15 days ago
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buzzing of
whispers
in the afternoon's
glassy sprawl,
the echoes of a humming
promise,
a harmony of distant
riffs calling.
a fragile luminescence
creeps
across the cobalt ceiling's
cracks
where petal-soft
declarations,
... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 15 days ago
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lines,
worn roads,
like credit scores,
inflated dreams,
a currency deflated,
value is theoretical.
slashing red ink,
like slashed hopes
foreclosures,
like fragments,
shattered windows,
financial fears
growing.
debt is... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 15 days ago
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you gotta
jump in the fire
and see if you burn.
and i've jumped,
my skin seared,
my soul reborn.
i've faced the inferno,
felt the heat,
felt the burn.
when the flames licked
at my skin,
i thought i'd be forever
... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 19 days ago
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suitcase,
a passport worn
languishing with
forgotten stamps,
a reminder
of borders crossed,
visa denied,
and dreams
left in line,
like a traveler's last
address.
the stories we hold,
like a shell that's lost
its pearl.
... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 19 days ago
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crumbling
beneath me
like a midnight
beneath
a city street
littered with trash
and weary hearts
belongings
the weight
of my days
folded like a worn
cloak
around my shoulders
carrying
the memories
of every wrong...
– by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 19 days ago
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you love someone,
the greatest gift
you can give them
is your presence.
ryleigh and stella,
am i failing... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 19 days ago
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as the belly
of a whore
the clouds pass by,
silent as a tomb,
stealing the sun,
burying it deep,
in the gutter
of this town's decay.
they mutter secrets,
like a dirty little lie,
whispers that only
the alleyways
can hear,
... – by Joe Strickland | 2 Views added 19 days ago
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lie
until they're telling
the truth,
and then it's too
late.
i've already
forgotten how to trust
my own hands,
wandering through
my own thoughts
like a ghost
searching for the shape
of my former life.
the outlines... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 19 days ago
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never meant to
bring you here
and now you're standing
in my hair,
hairline cracks reflecting
stormy skies
as worry's nimbus clouds
deny
the sun's promise,
warmth
and... – by Joe Strickland | 8 Views added 20 days ago
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city's smog creeps
down the alleys
where shadows slink
like lovers.
in the dark i find
the shapes
of what was whispered
but never spoken.
the trees stand sentry
at the edge
of what we thought
was our own,
but the wind whistles
... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 20 days ago
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like a wet rag
wrapped around my head
moistening thoughts,
drowning reason's feeble
flicker of hope.
i am the sole inhabitant
of this insomnia-ridden,
drunk cemetery
of forgotten dreams,
where shadows
dance with the noise
of... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 24 days ago
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dreams
in her head,
a toxic cloud
that follows
whenever she's alone,
or alone by choice,
up with the dull,
numb, gray.
a pinch of white,
a flick of flame
and her thoughts scatter
like rat
tails in a
gutter's grime,
as... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 24 days ago
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10:27am
"why is it so hard to go
crazy
if you're not already
crazy?"
say the pigeons on the
fountain's gentle lip
where einstein's
statue watches over the
neon
lure of dennys'
fake smile and
the motel's stale breath
that's always
... – by Joe Strickland | 21 Views added 24 days ago
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beauty
is a gauntlet,
hatted,
hatted,
a mask
for the void,
sun's knockout
blow within
eyes,
a vaccum,
where light knuckles
in her presence.
i'm undone.
she is both a mannequin,
and... – by Joe Strickland | 5 Views added 24 days ago
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i'm stuck in this phone call,
like a moth
to the frail light of a
dying bulb.
the voices on the other end,
faded away and i
can now hear vivaldi,
four seasons
as i grasp the wire,
a fragile thread
to the past,
to the present,
to... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 25 days ago
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don't see the point
in resisting your temptation
like a jellyfish,
stinging and tender.
did you come on to me?
a whispered promise
of midnight highway kisses,
reckless abandon?
did i come on to you?
the thrill of unknown
a... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 25 days ago
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mi mia,
my fiery heart
wants to consume you like
a whiskey-soaked flame
licking the edges of your skin
tasting the salt of your sweat.
your lips, a bloody portal
leading to the depths of my addiction,
i'd drink from your mouth like a... – by Joe Strickland | 12 Views added 25 days ago
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asked me with a cold,
calculating stare:
"are you ready for me to be a thorn
in your side?"
as if the very words
were a dagger,
piercing
my soul,
a reminder that i'd
never be rid
of the manes that
haunt me, the demons
... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 26 days ago
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of the fellas
like a rusty gate
hinges on my mind
swinging shut.
afternoons spent
in the unforgiving sun
chasing shadows
of our own making.
learning to inhale
cigarettes that one of
them snuck off their
old man.
the smell... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 26 days ago
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up manually,
but when she's around
it doesn't work.
her fingers are magnets
attracting the weight
of my body.
i'm a bird stuck in a tree
trembling with the effort
of flight.
her words are a hook
pulled across my chest,
... – by Joe Strickland | 9 Views added 26 days ago
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we've sold our souls
to the devil's trade
of whiskey and dreams,
of lost and found,
in the alleys of our minds,
where shadows are seen.
we kept
hidden in the shadows,
our hearts still beating
like a mouse in a maze,
we're searching... – by Joe Strickland | 10 Views added 26 days ago
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human beings
would treat other humans like
human beings too
perhaps the grief would not
spread like a stain
across the page of our
souls,
like the slow creep of
a winter's morning
frost,
reaching for the edges
of our eyes.
if human... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 27 days ago
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woke to the vineyard's
drunken sigh,
morning's haze,
a bottle cap yawn,
the wine of forever,
my heart's disease,
fermentation's slow
acid burn.
i'd drink to forget,
to remember anew
the faces that lined my eyes,
like the wine
... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 27 days ago
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i'm conjuring the stench
of forgotten dreams,
the weight of my
grandmothers sorrow.
i'm sinking my fingers
into the damp earth.
i'm unearthly,
but not alive.
in this moment,
i'm both the corpse
and the undertaker.
both are the... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 27 days ago
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love's rusty hooks
catch skin, leaving scars
that whisper "mine"
on the wet pavement
we used to share.
no love's dry expanse
a desert where lips wither
and the eyes of strangers
are mirrors to our pain
reflected, unrelenting.
... – by Joe Strickland | 7 Views added 27 days ago
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you're a tight circle,
closed and cold,
a fortress built on
shaky ground.
i'm the moth drawn
to your flame
and i'll burn if i don't
watch myself.
i see the secrets
gathering dust
like gravestones
on some forgotten hill.
each one... – by Joe Strickland | 6 Views added 27 days ago
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people are plagued
with anxiety.
maybe i should pretend
to be rich,
floss my teeth with gold,
buy a mansion
in suburbia's sterile,
manicured hell.
but what's the use of
fleeting comfort
when the future's
a bleak affair,
no... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 28 days ago
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throne,
or so i'm told
empty,
creaking,
worn
from the weight
of delusions.
i've claimed it,
for the moment
only because it's far
from the streets
i've stumbled
from,
where the booze and women
are cheap
and the dawn's
a cruel... – by Joe Strickland | 2 Views added 29 days ago
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solitude i find
my reflection,
true i see
no one i'd rather be
no other path i'd choose
to take,
my own... – by Joe Strickland | 3 Views added 29 days ago
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beauty of the circle,
round and round
we go.
the dusk approaches,
like a shadow
stalking the horizon
of my skin.
it's how i learn to
recognize the curve
of my own neck,
the slope of my shoulders.
as i round the bend,
i feel... – by Joe Strickland | 4 Views added 29 days ago
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