The Poetry Marathon

CJ,

I will miss the taste
of your grape sugar and
the soft touch of your fingers
brushing over my skin
to adjust the camera
as the middle-aged uber driver
watches us vlogging “NY with Claire”
with a frown on his face
in the rearview mirror
while the city blurs
into a van Gogh painting
outside of the window and
the starry, starry night
falls upon higher grounds
which eventually will lay the stars
at our feet and we will be bigger
than the entire state of New York
to the point where
when you reach for my hand
the streets will hold their ground
against a northerly wind
but before soon you will be gone and
the likely chances that we will meet again
will be a million to one and until then
I will wait until I can steal your gum again and
draw inside the wrapper
a little doodle of the two of us
but then I will scrunch it up and
throw it out behind your back
because it reminds me too much
of a love I once had
because I want to have
a unique space in my heart for you and
not for you to fill the unique space
that someone else once left behind
so I will hold tight to the polaroid
until the day fate brings up the idea
that we should meet again
under the lights of the Empire State
or the stairs in front of the Met
and if we met again today
I would have taken you out
on a proper date
even though you probably would have
preferred to drag me to
your brother’s friend’s sister’s gallery
and suggest that we
make out in the bathroom
and I would have had to politely decline
because my lips would be chapped
from the cold
but however, I would gladly
take up the offer to hang out with you
and occasionally share some kisses
even though that would leave my lips
swollen when we leave
but how fun it would be
to explore the streets of New York
with you again.
Plus, I owe you one pack of fruit gum,
six hugs, and exactly one proper date.

All Love,

SL

Sometimes I sit in my bed and read through my dozens of notebooks and wonder if my writing can be classified as original content. The words usually balance somewhere between the lines of awkward fiction, insomatic prose, sinful fantasies, and cliché poetry. If I could go back and rewrite that one poem about pura vida bracelets, I probably would, because I just suddenly remembered that I used “full” inside of the stanza when I really should’ve used “filled”.

It’s really stupid how they teach us that two negatives cancel out to be a positive, but two wrongs don’t cancel out to be a right. I made two stupid mistakes, hooking up with Claire in the gallery and losing her number, but I bet she’s doing alright.

If Claire doesn’t remember me, I bet Victor doesn’t either. We had a thing going on for a few months, but that was years ago, and now I’m bitter because why are my relationship now shorter than the ones I had years ago?

My pen is not cooperating with me. I’ll probably have to type this all up, but right now, I’m scribbling the words down with this pen. It’s really smooth when it comes to making lines and all, but the ink is bleeding and messing up my pinkie.

I have a bad habit of forgetting to cap my pen in my bed, and sometimes I wake with ink stains on my pillows and sheets. Sometimes it’s mascara, too, because my pillows are either for crying or cuddling. If I’ve fallen asleep, they’re probably on the floor, because I’m a messy sleeper, or in my arms, because I’m a huge cuddler— they’re just never actually under my head.

Looking back, I’ve realized that English is a strange language, red is a mesmerizing color, my guitar sounds better when you play it, and only one of the two mistakes in sentence five was stupid.

Do two past events cancel out ot be a present events? Or is it a future event?

Whenever I write questions I can hear a voice in a my head telling me to think again, but I swear to God, the answer isn’t right in front of me, so shut up, will you?

It said no.

This is the most unstructured work I’ve written in this notebook, but I like it. It’s messy, but it’s raw. All that good stuff. I want a new notebook.

Time’s up, it’s 10 AM, now. I should get out of bed. I’ll get some skittles with that.

Hello everyone!

What’s up peeps!

Hi there!

This is my first time doing this poetry marathon and using WordPress, so I’m hoping everything goes smoothly. I’m not sure what I should write about in this post, but it said to introduce yourself, so I guess I’ll try to briefly introduce myself.

I’m sixteen years old, supposed to have my learner’s permit right now, and incredibly stressed because I know junior year is going to be awful once it’s September 2020. I just wanted have some fun with my friends this summer (since most of them can legally drive now), but instead, I’m stuck at home, reading three biology textbooks, preparing for these ridiculously stress inducing competitions, trying to write music and lyrics at 3 AM for this band I’m in, looking for online jobs because the place I wanted to apply for is still closed, and stealing the Xbox from my brother, who keeps hogging it, so I can finally play Call of Duty.

I’ve been doing creative writing for a long time now (I think I really started getting into it in fourth or fifth grade), but I don’t think I’ve ever written 24 poems in 24 hours, or 12 poems in 12 hours… heck, I don’t think I’ve even written more than 2 poems in a single day! Hopefully, my brain doesn’t cancel on my last minute. I really don’t want to have a writer’s block in the middle of the marathon.

That would really suck.

Anyway, my life is kind of a mess interesting right now, but thankfully, this marathon is still taking place! I’ll be doing the half-marathon this year, since it’s my first time. I also really don’t want to pull any more all-nighters than I need to.

Well, I think that’s enough about me for now. Good luck to everyone participating, and for those doing the full marathon, I’m wishing you some extra good luck with staying up all night!

Selina 🙂