The Poetry Marathon

For hundreds of years
One life to the next
Our souls came together
In life, until death
When our eyes first met
Those memories returned
The lives that we’d lived
The times that we burned
The vows that we made
Lifetimes ago
That, where one went,
The other would go
All of this knowledge
We knew at first glance
Our souls came together
And started to dance
I knew early on
This life was our last
The Fates were done weaving
The die had been cast
The moment he died
My soul ripped in two
No one had to tell me
Because I already knew
So when you ask the Universe
To bring your soul-mate
Beware what you ask for
You don’t want my fate.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

Everything in Wonderland
Is destined to repeat
A spinning wheel of madness
That will drown you in defeat
Alice knew the atmosphere
Was poisonous, at best
She’d seen it enough times to know
The wicked never rest
And when the war was over
She knew it would start again
But nobody would listen
So she kept burying her friends
Till she was the last one standing
Over a Wonderland of graves
And she wonders if survival
Was worth the price she paid.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

Weird is what we make it
And normal’s just myth
Paid for by their bottom line
It never did exist
They tell you what you want to wear
Then tell you what to eat
In marketing and strategy
And everyone you meet
Give me gothic unicorns
And Edgar Allen Poe
A little Plath, a lot of black
And a pen to tell my woes
Normal’s overrated
I’d rather make it weird
Than conform to their vision
That would make me disappear.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

There’s no place like home
With a coffin of glass
In a magical forest
Where they grieve as they pass
For knowledge is poison
And love was a lie
There’s no kiss to wake her
Just tears left to cry
For each life she touched
Someone broke her soul
Until she ate the apple
And wanted to go
There never was a wicked witch
Just a hunter for her heart
True love’s kiss doesn’t exist
But they never tell that part.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

There’s a time capsule inside of me
No one else will ever see
For though I pour things out in verse
Few know the stories behind the words
They’re written snapshots of my life
Every poem that I write
Has some basis in my truth
They’re parts of me I give to you
I don’t have all the answers, see
Just a time capsule inside of me
I know darkness, I know pain
And survival is my middle name.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

A deadly storm is brewing
And only time will tell
Who will still be standing
When the water drains to Hell
Who’ll be struck by lightening
And who’ll just blow away
Who will find their higher ground
Or drown beneath the waves
A deadly storm is brewing
We’ve done it to ourselves
Will humanity survive at all?
Only time will tell.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

Inspiration: “A deadly storm is brewing, and only time will tell who survives.” from the back cover of “Shadow Flight” by Christine Feehan.

The hourglass is breaking
And I still don’t have a line
That fits this prompt’s parameters
Repeating 3, 4 times
You should see the balls of paper
Cluttering my floor
Full of lines that repeat 2 times
But couldn’t, anymore
Well, shit, there’s just 3 minutes
3 tiny grains of sand
I guess I’ll have to go with this
Or show an empty hand
And I kind of like this metaphor
This self-portrait definition
That, even with just seconds left,
I’ll somehow complete my mission.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

If you could stand at center stage
Between your future and your past
If you could see both sides at once
Would you take a different path?
And if you took a different path
Just how much would you change?
What if you never made it
To the center of the stage?
What if, on that different path
The footlights all went dark
Your curtain call came early
And you never met your mark?
Or would you just keep walking
The same path you’ve been on?
That made you who you are today
No matter what went wrong?
There’s wisdom in both answers
But tell you this, I will
You’re never gonna find them
If you just keep standing still.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

Apocalyptic endings
Mass extinction all the way
People think they’re rarities
But they happen every day
Within the souls of people
Passing on the street
You wouldn’t know to look at them
It could be anyone you meet
The kid who sells you coffee
Whose smile can’t touch his eyes
The old man in the pouring rain
Holding a cardboard sign
The chick who’s always cracking jokes
With a laugh that’s never real
The counselor helping everyone
Who’s forgotten how to feel
The point is, you can never know
What’s on another’s mind
What apocalypse they’re dealing with
So remember to be kind.
~Mandy Kocsis©2021~

All my life I’ve had a gift
A way with precious words
That when the right ones come to me
I put them into verse
If I try to force it
Or change it, just like that
If I try to make it different
I’ll lose it and that’s a fact
If I betray what I’ve been given
I’ll never write, again
And in that moment, I would die
Now, back to my pen…
~Mandy Kocsis©2020~