Featured Poet - L. Marie

THE ERRS THAT BIND US

The weight of a thousand stories 

Plump and rich of a book 

Your troubles, your traumas 

Your crannies, your nooks 

Pensively opening the page for a better look 

A prologue? How wonderful to see 

It may not have been the best start 

But how grateful are we 

And what was to be 

All the reasons why 

All the lies you told 

The hellos and goodbyes 

The friendships unfold 

Chapters deep in journeys you never thought you could 

Words of choices, regrets, and dreams 

A verse full of sorrys, and I know I shoulds 

The loves, the kisses 

The dear diaries, the near misses 

The heartaches, the grief 

The failures, the pain 

The wins, the relief 

The never agains 

It jumbles in the centre, the plot is not clear 

Writer's block of emotions 

Ink smudged with tears 

A blank page comes upon you 

Yearning for imagination and tales 

Only you can fill in the spaces 

What happens next? What unveils 

You scribble and scrawl 

Pages ripped and torn 

But there’s always another chance 

No matter how much bound is worn 

Typos and spell checks of where you went wrong 

That favourite chapter, the nostalgia 

Of happier times of days agone 

The slow starts, the contradictories 

The coming of age, the histories 

Life is a page turner 

Shrouded in mysteries 

Imperfections and edits 

Tattered and severed 

Novella of look backs 

The storms weathered 

Everyone’s journal packed 

Of hurdles, pains, and pleasure

For these are the errs that bind us together.

WHAT IF

Through this endless chaos 

Of your relentless mind 

Is a voice within telling you to be kind 

How simple though, is it to say? 

I am not good enough 

What if I cannot 

What if I fail 

What if I am a lot 

What if I make a mistake 

Why can’t I be like them 

What if I don’t survive 

I can never make amends 

Why am I like this? 

I feel so low 

I cannot stop worrying 

I cannot say no 

I feel trapped 

I tend to be unlucky you see 

I could have said that better 

Why do they hate me? 

I must keep saying sorry 

I hate myself 

I cannot leave the house 

I fear for my health 

Stop

Through this endless chaos 

Of your relentless mind 

Is a voice within telling you to be kind 

What if I am good enough 

What if I can 

So, what if don't win 

Yes, I am a lot 

Yes, I will make mistakes 

I don’t need be like them 

What if I do survive 

You can always make amends 

Why am I like this? Because you are human 

I feel so low and that is okay 

I cannot stop worrying, this shows that you care 

You can say no and that would be fair 

If you feel trapped, please know you are worthy 

Lucky for you, you matter a lot 

I could have said that better, never mind, already forgot 

Why do they hate me? I doubt that’s true 

What if, when you speak kindly to others, you speak kindly to you too.

GRIEF

My soul carries a graveyard of emotions 

My heart rests in broken glass 

My mind a ghost haunted 

My body, to which my senses harass 

Memory is the only thing 

That takes me back 

Back to the place I saw you last 

When we laughed, when we cried 

When we argued, before you died 

Memory is the only joy 

Fragments of time and place 

The scent of you, your unique face 

Woeful waves ebb towards me 

Could easily drown 

It is so hard when you are not around 

I carry it now, well just enough 

I can’t take it back, I cannot change it 

But I can be tough 

Grief is a melancholy mixture 

a song, a lyric, an object 

A scent, a letter, a fixture 

You may have left me - forever apart 

But I will always have the best picture 

The one of you I carry deep within my heart. 

PERFECTLY STITCHED TOGETHER

I’m sorry it’s taken this long 

The mountains you have had to climb 

To which you never gave up 

Because you are strong, powerful and worthy 

I will feel sorry for those who get in your way 

Your track record climbing those mountains 

No matter how many falls, is one hundred percent 

Because you are resilient, magnificent and worthy 

Let the hurt ebb away 

Like the calmest waterfall 

It flows away 

You have washed away those tears 

To fight another day 

You will heal all those things 

Things, you thought you wouldn't 

The ones you said you couldn’t 

You will put a step forward 

You will take a deep breath 

You will smile again 

Because you are incredible 

Because you are wonderful 

Because you are worthy 

So do not apologise anymore 

You are a beautiful bundle of flaws 

Perfectly stitched together 

Battles, bruises, cuts, and scars 

Emblazoned on your skin forever 

Because you always have been and always will be worthy.

PRISM PRISON

SO, IT BEGINS 

Forget the world 

it is damned with perishable things 

Stay with me in this moment 

So, I can breathe 

Let true colours face me 

For I cannot be black and white 

It is a multitude of dark within 

And bright 

I cannot breathe 

Step away from me 

For I will feel the ground 

And let it bring me back 

Where I yearn to be 

To be grounded again 

This cage so overwhelming, head-splitting 

Obsessing, isolating, unremitting

Why am I like this? 

Forget what I can control 

Percipience of pain prevails 

Misunderstood OR NOT in my mind 

I long for the fear to end 

There is no need to ask 

I see you, though you do not see me 

There is no simple switch 

It is okay, just let me be 

I comprehend what I can control 

For a moment Bliss 

But this internal cage is loud and heavy 

Forever trapped in this 

Prism prison. 

Prism: Used to refer to the clarification or distortion afforded by a particular viewpoint.

DARK STORMS

An inner whirlwind of chaos 

It will never change 

A flaming force of heaven and hell 

A lover, a fighter, sane, deranged 

A cyclone of darkness surrounds me 

No longer bound, but chaotic and free 

Turbulent, unrelenting, fearsome 

My mind fighting for freedom 

This tempest, it bellows, and it soars 

Yet it is as fragile as the nature swept away 

In my mighty roar 

WHY should I hold back? 

Why should I betray my light, my siren song 

My story, my core 

I will sweep you away, away from my thoughts 

It takes over, suffering and suffocating 

Trapped, in the no man’s land 

The dark cloud, it rises, it whisks you away from the ground

You grapple, you grasp, you cling 

The violent storms 

The unforgiving winds 

I am a whirlwind of chaos 

I will never change 

Do not underestimate me 

Behind my gentle rhythmic waves is a 

Ferocious, fiery sea 

I will take shape, majestic form 

You will hear my crescendo 

For I always have been, and always will be 

A STORM.