Photo By Byron Johnson 

A lesson in forgetting:
 the past always heals faster
 when you’re not looking. The way we try and hold
 onto memories like they are more
 than water. The way we look 
into the pools of our past
 searching for minnows, searching for fish. A lesson in remembering:
 the water is always smoother
 in retrospect. Where are the waves? Where are the currents? The way in which we tell ourselves we could do it again. Dive in again.
 Make it out alive. Last night, your voice touched me in my sleep;
 I woke up thinking about waterfalls.

Kelsey Danielle, “A Lesson in Forgetting” (via pigmenting)

black lips

five weeks before you broke my heart, i had this dream where my father stood in front of me. two generations lost in close-knit shadows, facing the other in the midst of a nightmare & staring deep into the vortex of each other's eyes.  

in a rusty voice, he recited to my face every lie he's ever told.

his childhood, the seize, the running, my mom, his misery.

in the rhythm of his words, in the flow of his lies, his lips began turning black.

Lie      after               lie, his lips, a shade d   e      e         p            e               r in the obscurity.

turning my back on this show proved useless, as my neck was stiff & my legs, knee-deep in thick soil.  

stare & listen, while tears water the ground

i tried screaming, as to suffocate the torture of his words with my own shriek. but my mouth was sealed closed & my hands, disloyal to my commands.

i woke up a fountain of cold sweat, sobbing.

....

two nights before we murdered our love in cold blood,   we met for drinks at a bar à vins. the gleam in our eyes yelled to the entire world how traces of ancient grapes ran in our blood. god were we playful while life was onto us.

sneaky little romance

we talked about it all that night: gravity & flying,      friction & fire, language & riddles. for the 500th time, you corrected my pronunciation of the letter u. & in the stretching of your mouth, i fell victim to the evident art in your beauty; jawlines dancing in perfect rhythm; an enigmatic symmetry traced in your face.  

on our way home, we walked the streets as if sidewalks were made for peasants & we had just been crowned kings. laughing,    stumbling, holding onto each other.

in a deserted street, you wrapped me in your arms while murmuring in a secretive voice:  

i love you

we both smiled.

& under beams of moonlight, while my eyes hunted for your eyes, i noticed red wine had stained your lips black.

- @skinthepoet

* by Alexey Dubinsky

i am afraid that if i open myself i will not stop pouring. (why do i fear becoming a river. what mountain gave me such shame.)

Jamie Oliveira, “Erosion” (via wordsnquotes)

NEW POETRY!

some weeks ago, my line breaks woke me up before sunrise. they pinched my temples while whispering in my ear: stop caging us in your dark corners, we’re much more than that. 

& they’re right; ever since poetry found me trying to escape the wild beasts in my heart, i’ve been keeping them in the back of who i am. shouting to the world this is all of me but please don’t look at that. i can’t do this to my saver. my haven deserves to be honored. 

i’m skin the poet, a writer putting it all out: poems, thoughts, line breaks & rhymes. my shortcoming & my light. all for you. I’m here for other poets out there, to engage in a world with you. please feel free to comment on my works or link me your own poetry. 

love  xx 

@skinthepoet

there are some stains only a dark rain can make.

Stacey Waite, from “when someone asks if you believe what you just said,” the lake has no saint (Tupelo Press, 2010)

Choose yourself. You deserve you.

more sunrises and less screen time.

more loving and less comparing love.

more happiness and less posting “happy” pictures on instagram.

more living in the now and less worrying about what hasn’t happened.

more tumblr and less instagram.

more yoga and less hitting snooze in the morning.

more real conversations and less talking about how drunk we got the night before.

more peace and less judgement.

more simplicity and less impulse buying.

more water and less coffee.

more self-love and less looking for love.

more living with intent and less having the wrong intentions.

more being responsible and less not studying for important things.

more music/books and less television.

more deep breaths and less not being able to control my life.

more forgiveness and less anger.

more self-soul searching and less looking for another soul right now.