Something New for a Change

Recently, a friend of mine suggested I share more poetry and stories on my blogs.

Most of my weekly posts are centered around faith, but I figured it might be fun to mix it up a little bit! Below I’ve compiled a few poems that I’ve NEVER shared before. You can’t find these on my Instagram or Facebook. They’re completely exclusive:-)

Here we go! (Warning: my poetry is a lot darker than a lot of my other writing hahaha!)

Inside

“Am I the only one that goes inside of things?

Every time I blink, I go into myself and dissect what I’ve seen. 

I feel the war veteran, the crying child, the nurse,

The murderer, the murdered, the mother,

And the curse

Like it grafted my soul and knit me together

And I can’t just walk away.

I remember all the little things

And how they felt

And I paint them onto my brain like graffiti. 

Is it fair to feel so alive and yet so alone?

So scared and crying and jubilant and brave all at once?

All the stories inside me live there, 

I mean, really live there

And they move around and I feel their footsteps in the kitchen. 

I don’t belong here

That’s all I can think

And one day my brain will be full of brighter, beautiful stories

That which I can live

Instead of watch

Because then I will belong.”

Identity

“Who are you?

Blanched by the light of your cigarette

Whose eyes feel like sand every time you blink. 

Who are you?

You place your identity in a screen

You filter time through the slots of device

Put buds in your ears and pretend

It’s okay. 

When you look up

You finally wake up 

From the dream that is life. 

Look at what really is. 

The bright lights feel like sand and cheese and hot oil in your eyes. 

It’s too raw, too fresh, 

Too real

Who are you? 

Tick with the rhythm of your clock

Blink with the rhythm of your feed

Laugh with the rhythm of your fingers

A rectangle controls your life—

Who are you?

Your fingers are snakes with heads and brains—

Don’t fall into his pixelated arms—

Darling—

Darling! 

Whose are you?

Whose are you—”

Ode to Acne

“They are roses on your cheeks

Kisses on the contours and curves of your face

Little reminders

That we are so much more beautiful

Than plastic.”

The American Dream

“There’s a reason they call it 

The American Dream–

You have to be asleep

To the ridiculous

Horrifying

Horrible 

Truth 

That so many weeds grow

In the fallen garden

That was once 

The home of the brave.”

Pruning

“Why I love you:

You know about the weeds 

That grow within you

But you let Jesus

Help you with

The pruning.”

And that’s a wrap! Let me know whether you’d like to see more poetry or go back to the usual faith blog I usually have on Saturdays:-) Thanks for reading!

Published by Annabelle Healy

Once the 17-year-old fantasy author who spent most of her time goofing around with her 5 younger siblings, Annabelle Healy is now 20, married, and living in a teeny apartment off in Colorado Springs. Time flies doesn't it? If there's one thing that hasn't changed, it's her love for Jesus and writing - and between her weekly faith blog and novels in-the-works, you can count on fun storytelling (no matter what).

4 thoughts on “Something New for a Change

  1. Hi Annabelle,

    My name is Frank and I am Debra O’Brien’s brother-in-law. I started writing songs and poetry at around your age and have not yet published. I did recently, however, put together some of my favorite works along with my interpretation of those works because I wanted to share the works and the “source material” with my adult children. I did this because I have always wanted to know the source material of some of my own favorite poets … e.e.cummings, Paul Eluard, and many more. Please read Les yeux d’Elsa by Louis Aragon.

    I mention all of this because I would love to know and understand the source of your above poems. I acknowledge that I write poetry for the reader with the intention that the reader experience something familiar or something new but mostly an emotion that is all his/her own from my words. But my recent attempt was a quest to have readers develop their own interpretations and then share with them the/my reality which engendered the words and feelings. Even if you can not yet share that kind of information, please do write it down to share with your loved ones or admirers in the future. Upon reading my poems and my “source material” my eldest son asked several pointed questions (about my meaning) which caused me to think back. You might find it emotionally satisfying to document now instead of way later.

    I enjoyed your poetry.

    Frank

    1. Hi Frank,

      Thank you so much for the insight! I really appreciate your comment. It got me thinking a lot about the source material and purpose for my poetry. I look forward to documenting and potentially sharing my source material for a lot of my work, but it is difficult for the vast majority of my writing because I can’t really remember the purpose I had in mind at the time I wrote the poem (for instance, poetry I wrote before I was 14). My current writings do have a much more specific intention to them, though, and I will definitely write that down so I don’t forget in the future. Maybe I’ll share it in a blog post at some point:-)

      The poem you shared was amazing! The imagery and meaning is so profound. Thank you for sharing; I really enjoyed reading it.

      Thank you so much for reading my blog post! I’ll have to share more poetry later with you; what I shared here was just the tip of the iceberg to my other stuff:-) Have a blessed week!

      In Christ,
      Annabelle

  2. I love your poetry! I have always loved poetry but as I got older I quit reading it. This is refreshing❤️

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: