24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Darkness and a shred of light
A weighted thing lays atop me
My words the only thing in sight
And the whirling wind blowing at three
Trapped in a corner, I can move freely
The shred of light I can blow out
There’s nothing to scare me really
I’ll wake up to light eventually no doubt
(I forgot to publish this poem for Hour 19, it was still in my notebook š)
Running from it all,
Once small and meek.
Watching as they pass,
Hiding in the shadows.
I cower alone,
Remaining unnoticed.
Now,
Brave,
Strong,
Fierce.
A force to be reckoned with,
I emerge from the shadows.
They take notice,
Now they are the ones running.
I remember this day with grief, a great contradiction.
A part of me is bound for every year I become older.
With each passing hour, I bid farewell to the embrace of youth.
To commemorate this birthday, I grieve the loss of my previous flower.
I’m killing my younger self in a serious, sad ritual.
As the light of wisdom replaces the light of innocence and amazement,
The child I used to be, with such pure and wild fantasies,
A sweet inner child now sleeps in memory’s arms.
With lights glowing brilliantly and a delicious cake,
As stars in heaven sparkle, I lament what has vanished.
However, with each passing year, a new chapter is written.
A patchwork of stories gets told in the process of evolving.
So raise a glass to the youngster who used to play.
In this grieving celebration, a memorial to yesterday,
Because with each passing birthday, a piece of me dies.
But in the act of living, I’ll soar to the heavens.
Running through my head
Like all the things you said
And all the things I failed to
Simulation shift
This is not the time
To get caught and phase through
Though I appear calm
I’m running right ahead
My heart racing
At the speed of thought
Simulation drift
Situation dead
Driving past and pacing
Blank look no ace
Blank book, no space
Now always running the refrain
Tired goose, held place
Lonely friend just in case
Watching from the rain
And I could keep it going
Let loose as loose can be
Find an excuse to be obtuse
Perhaps a lil mean
Doing my best and resting
But clearly has you’ve seen
But I just keep running
SELF LOVE
I am a woman
I am a mother, a sister, a daughter
I love myself, my family, and my friends.
I am passionate about many things
That is what makes me who I am today
I love the way I look in my new dress,
I love the simplicity on my face
I love the way I look in a photograph
Especially when my eyes are closed, and my smile is real.
I deserve unconditional love
I deserve the yummiest of food
I deserve my gold and diamonds
And Universe wants only my good
I am not perfect
I am not always right
But that does not mean
That others can hurt me with their nasty words and unnecessarily fight
Love your neighbour, love your spouse
Love your kids and even love your pet mouse
Most importantly, love yourself
Your health is your wealth
Your smile is worth millions
You are priceless.
POEM BY SHREYA SURAJ,
Running.
I hit the ground running
and never broke a stride
never gave you reason
enough to hide.
yet you took my trust
and tossed it aside,
who knew that your betrayal
was so easy to find?
It was complacent
believing
you were on my side
But you turned out
to be an ordinary thief
the kind I deride.
no break in my stride,
still running.
Running for my life
Past following close behind
Don’t look, keep running
I have run out of routines
Waking Up
[Is less now like a time and more so an estimate, expansive above all else,
who knows how many angles of the sun I will miss in my dreaming]
Eating Breakfast
[Food, too soon, sits in my stomach, becomes its own urgent care on a Monday morning
each particle trembling, shaking their knees, clutching their palms, refusing to leave]
Making Coffee
[Always dependant now on the coffee sitting on the counter, or in the fridge, or none at all
a courtesy that has cracked autonomy open and let brown sludge leak out]
Brushing My Teeth
[My toothbrush has melted into a plastic pompom on a bending stick
and the paste has imploded in on itself, a minty black hole with white and green swirling]
Starting My Day
[When does a day start? At zero hundred? With the incessant clanging of alarms?
When eyelids open and yawns impact the air? When Iām ready to be alive?]
Running on empty
Pre-dawn hollowness
A shell of my usual self
My words brittle, stilted, halting
My emotions devoid of feeling
Free-floating angst and anger
So great, yet so nebulous.
I have no core.
My thoughts echo in the vastness
as they ricochet between scales from high and the abyss
Vacillating on the periphery
Of sleep deprived cravings
For friendship,
Commeraderie
kinship.
I miss my friends
and Some Poets.
It’s hard to remember a time
When I have felt as sorry for myself
As I do now.
Breath fills the cavity within me
Slowly released into the vacuum that connects us all.
It is enough for now,
for me
to keep running.
Running out of time
There is so much left undone
The clock does not stop
So much more to be
Minutes quickly become hours
Grains of sand slip through the hourglass
And I watch them slip away
Time just keeps running