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!
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
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
I love your poetry! I have always loved poetry but as I got older I quit reading it. This is refreshing❤️
That is so good to hear!! Thank you so much for the comment☺️💛