Hello everyone, I wanted to start this forum because of the one that was on absolutepunk, I really enjoy sharing my writing with others, getting feedback, reading others work, and giving them feedback. I know that my work means a lot to me and I hope you all find something in this group like I did many years ago!
This Is Where I Leave - I'm staring down crossroads again With my never ending awe to the wind And my back against this wall There's a subtle bend, But everything mostly just breaks As I awake, sick to my stomach one more time Created by the void in my heart Claiming, screaming out, "I don't know how to live my life" And if you had the nerve to watch me As I break my own bones, Making this effort to carry The weight pressed upon my chest Would you call that falling in love? The sun just reminds me of everything I've yet to become, and summer, She traps me inside of a memory That I still haven't learned how to let go of. The glimmer, the glamour It's blinding me, I never saw you leave I don't know what was chosen to believe When all I've ever done is my best Graciously, I was given a path to forge But there isn't an answer as to why Straying is in my blood, I tried my best And I don't want to try anymore And if you had the nerve to watch me As I break my own bones, Making this effort to carry The weight pressed upon my chest Would you call that falling in love? The sun just reminds me of everything I've yet to become, and summer, She traps me inside of a memory That I still haven't learned how to let go of. Everything will be left behind, From a steady city to my empty bedroom There's so much space, And no room at all to breathe If life is what we make of it Then I want you to watch, As I follow through with something, finally. This is where I leave
The Year Everything Had to Stay the Same - I don't feel like talking, And I've already said too much I hope you feel it when we touch The lack of color connected to Veins invisible through blurry eyes I don't know if it ever did, But this just doesn't feel right As I feel my ocean escaping yours, I see you've found the answers That I can't seem to lead myself to It's a crushing, lonely defeat A shifting war that can't be won Settled on beat up thoughts Carrying me to an early grave, Some days I'd rather not be saved from My fight to give up and give way Into a bigger picture where the details Finally make sense, just keep me safe. My words often provoke thought Into hearts that can't handle it Would I be happier if I said something else? Would I be better if I were someone else? Talking so much of my head and that shelf, I wonder if it was made to be - Me and only me Inside a space that was meant to grow, But the heart inside just can't find a way As I depict such a grandeur onto your chest There's gotta be a timetable for going on like this Ticking clocks, syncing toward the sounds Of how much time I have left And I don't know how I got this far, But I'm sinking and miserable again Last year was a reflection of the past And a moment to finally start, Instead I took every inch and shredded it apart Only to continue this wishful thinking that, No matter what, I'll get through the hard parts A gamble on love, A shamble from above the clouds; Rain sends a message, but we hide indoors Standing next to an island with no chairs, Always remember that I cared.
When the Sky Broke - I'm always alone when I'm with you Whether it's just the two of us Or inside of a crowded room Please, just tell me no Leave and never return We'll see the sky break Into the atmosphere As our history finally dies, But only inside my head The place where it still resides A collection of unanswered questions That'll carry me to an early grave, But at least I know That when you told me to leave, I stayed. That's what true love means to me For you to understand this, That is my one last wish So when I asked you to stay, All those years ago now And you left me within paper walls To sort my shit out Carried away in the nothingness That will eventually consume us all As I leave you with these words under my breath, "Maybe I just need to be alone And I finally understand that, For once"
Glow - Were we always dependent on the sun? And is it selfish to think, "I have to accept that I have the ability To figure out the choices I need to make, Then I can begin to understand who I am?" It all gets set aside again As sight is lost to the taste Of winter on my breath Basking in the glow Of a perfect afternoon Blurred vision in the eyes Of another stormy rain I have no sense of direction In my head or otherwise, This ship cannot be steered By a man who chooses not to live. - Those two months of Summer, A light in my eye changed the way I felt Just enough, to understand that when I blink I'll already know that none of it was ever real Oh god, I need something real Because these fucking nights Where I stay awake, counting ways I could convince myself to give up on everything They're all I've got left. So I'll breathe again, it's been awhile Maybe I'll shake this endless obsession, To become a semblance of this ideal Constructed of the most cryptic unanswered questions That I preach, but cannot capture Tied to a lock of titanium - My life has to be more than just an essence Of looking for a weightless key.
Poetry thread! I've always loved writing, but have recently become really invested in writing poems and pretty much fallen head over heels for it. I'd love to see this thread get some more attention! Here is a short one I wrote about a year ago Baby Marshmallows My little teacup is full of the universe and I will drink it up Inhale stars and planets like baby marshmallows I like to pretend that I'm God and my will shall be done as long as I don't spill it out or spit it up
Awesome, thank you for posting! Hopefully this will grow into something. I love your piece, it has a very light feel to it especially with the use of marshmallow metaphor and then, it guts you in the last verse. Leaves a lasting effect on me. Your imagery is also fantastic throughout, very good work. Thanks again for posting. Makes me happy to share my work with others, but most people don't get it.
good idea reviving this thread; i remember wanting to save a few i saw on AP but never got around to it i really like this, especially from "and i've" through "we touch." can't really describe why from a critical standpoint, but it resonates with me personally agreed with cut!print; reminds me of a Bukowski poem
here's a song i wrote that i'm currently trying to write music to. the opening lines i've had for years and then one day a few weeks ago the rest just poured out. sometimes you've just gotta wait on it, i suppose. in my head i use matt skiba's voice haha Some things shouldn't see the light of day the truth is i’ve been just too afraid we still stand accountable for the things that keep us awake and all sit tight for better days for lives filled to the brim with heartache our vices are the vessels in which we send our souls away i feel the arcades retreating deeper i felt every centimeter my blood grew so hard and heavy at the thought of your delay we chose the method of our eviction write me a song with more conviction i can't afford to let you know for now these vices will lay low young heathens, still learning, aren't we? my recollection’s been a bit hazy it’s relief, it's relief, oh i miss that feeling, the calm before the warmth my muse is mine alone, but the matches we burn now aren't my own flood the room with red light and acetone we held tight waiting for the smoke but it was a slow burn, we waited for the moon to peak out through the roof this night never felt quite right the sky was the wrong shade of blue but our fate is quick and unjust, you are summer rain we don't search for senseless meaning, the bats will echo our names and like clockwork, the moon was the last thing we saw with a black fox as our only witness laughter haunted the dark and i remember your starlit naked shoulder giving way to the glow of the ember and the heat, as it crept on closer you sang Some things shouldn't see the light of day the truth is i’ve been just too afraid we still stand accountable for the things that keep us awake and all sit tight for better days for lives filled to the brim with heartache our vices are the vessels in which we send our souls away
Thank you both so much! I really appreciate it. @js977, I enjoyed reading through that piece. Your opening and closing stanzas are quite effective in particular. It will definitely make for good lyrics.
thanks a lot! also much appreciated. i've got about an album's worth of material that i'm happy with but i'm new to recording so that's on the to do list.
Yeah, I myself was making a rhythm to it, it flows very stream of thought. Similar to how I write, I think. The chorus at the end was haunting and held more conviction than the first time it was read, I like that.
The Hard Parts - But the moon, she hangs in the balance From dusk till dawn, I'm alone in thought Brushing dust off this old notebook, Said I left that heart behind, but we can't escape The things that make us who we are As musical notes bounce off pages, I'm home for more - sure I've aged a bit But I'm better than I used to be, Spent everyday dreaming of that moon Hanging in the balance of all we could have "I'll see you someday, maybe soon." Mocking the very question I'm afraid to ask allowed, Unsure if I can take the quiet pain - It's all the same. Swallowed whole, down to the bottom Of your disease, I sink. It's all I could do, I did nothing else. My hands were cut like yours, still, You never had a thought of something more So hang me up, next to the brightest star In the blue of my chest, All I ever gave was my best, But the moon, she gave me away, Into the night I will perch on my window sill Just begging for the light to come back in Sunshine, sunshine, "The grass is greener than this emptiness" But I let it go to my head Because my heart can't handle it: A balancing act between every fiber of my being And an idea baselined through imaginary things I'll wait right here, until a reason comes to exist Just like that moon, but we can't see in the dark. A life lived alone is not a life lived at all, But they never gave us a way, A way to get through the hard parts.
thank you! i'm glad it comes off like that. i can't wait to have it down musically. i think The Hard Parts is my favorite of the ones you've posted. progresses very cleanly, and there's a handful of lines that just stand out to me for their elegance, between the word choice, flow, and rhythm in my head, i.e. lines 3-8 first stanza, 5-7 in 2, 5-6 and 9-11 in 4
Thank you! Much appreciated, I did feel that this one took on a different nature than some of my other work. I guess that's what happens when you don't right for months and the write again haha, my writing has changed because I have. Everything else I posted was just stuff I had. This one is fresh off the press! I appreciate your compliments sir!
the earthquake was pretty no-nonsense it came and took apart the aged and patched-up fastenings we would lay on top of on midsummer nights overly still from tension the heat dancing around our forms then merging in ways of memory until we'd fall into a guarded sleep the fear finally separated into dream tones and in color I saw the space where sight and love and abstraction coalesce before they grow up and leave your mouth dull and bitter the stark of your eyes enters mine and pulls away again turning every pixel of presence through for the images you once formed back when we were so different fragments of former friends' lives local news headline in North Carolina the bliss in his trash he steps on and then off just to take with his eyes what he can't or he's fucked in a month you'll be twenty-two and further decomposed in a month I surpass your fixed head start as some no one weeps for absence in altered time at four in the morning the glow of worlds through holes in foliage confessing lifetimes of sin to all those who never existed wonder what it feels to have life taken wonder what it feels to have taken life wonder if you're still around
well don’t we look good, we’ll never change and if love could age like wine, we wouldn’t forget I’ve found breaking relieves the stress, like the wind in the park masks the chill in your breath We condensate, we are clouds, we slip out of the air Like ice on the windshield when the heat's phasing out, or dew on the grass when the sun goes down Every single day has been a drop Every single day has lifted us higher up But rather than sit along the edge and enjoy the view We have to drag it out, i have to watch you move and oh how you move and how quickly you forget has it been that long? does today hurt less? but it's still a work in progress, much like a child's eyes on christmas, looking out at green streaks across the snow how you used to look at me i'd still sweat under the sheets, so i choose to freeze Here's to us Drink up What happens next depends more on our fate than luck Fill her up With dust Because we've drained the well and rusted out our love maybe one day we'll be able to look back at ourselves and say "you know, I think we did ok”
Spectacular piece! It flows very stream of thought and does not skip a step, the second verse especially carried me away into a different universe as I was reading it. Great metaphors and linking everything back to the story at the end. I'm very impressed.
Just wanted to say thank you for everyone for posting in here and finally getting this going a bit, please feel free to ask questions, request feedback, talk about inspirations, favorite artists, etc. Writing poetry, Including the ones who turn it into music, because lyrics are poetry. These are lost arts and very under appreciated in this world. In the old thread on AP, I actually became a better writer from sharing and talking to others in their. Sure, harsh criticism can suck sometimes... but it ultimately gave me the tools I have to write the way that I do. I'd like to see if things could maybe be like that again in here.
i posted a lot in the old forum when i was 15 and 16 (i was saddr weirdr), and i honestly do not think i would have started making music if not for that forum. it shaped the way i write and relate to/interact with lyrics, helped me think analytically about attributes like flow/imagery/meter/phrasing and learn to critique myself effectively, and later made me want to explore delivering stories through music. now i write songs and play shows and it's sick and none of this would have ever happened if not for everyone who posted there and gave me their time and energy and kindness. very grateful to those people and am glad to see familiar faces again. i always feel a little bit presumptuous giving unprompted feedback but if anyone wants their stuff critiqued, i would be happy to.