Echoes: ‘a glorious anthology… bursting with delightful poems’ Buy now. Limited stocks.

understanding (Remove filter)

Recent Comments

Rabbit hole

Ive noticed that sometimes us humans tend to cling onto smaller things, because we feel that it may all come together to create something bigger.

What about that bunny that stopped and stared at you on your journey to the woods?

Maybe you got home that same evening and tried to find out what breed of bunny you saw so that the next time you saw it, you could tell your friends.

Next thing y...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(1) 

finding   longing   understanding   wonder

Letting you in

I open my chest like a book

Spine bending to allow this move

Both arms in use

I’m the shape of a hook

As though a hollow recess nooks

In the shelter of my wings 

But instead: colours and depth expose

Crumbs of my world escape

They’d talk for us if they could

You’re far away

Stiff, a figure from wood

Unable to reach out 

From where you’re stood 

Or even from n...

Read and leave comments (1)

🌷(4) 

bond   closeness   cold   Connecting   connection   dependence   desire   difficulty   effort   emotion   extrovert   family   flow   hunger   introvert   knowing   love   more   natural   need   opening up   openness   people   relationships   substance   understanding   vulnerability   vulnerable

Perspective

It’s just a tiny flicker,

in my hand it seems to be

a single point of light

and yet it mesmerizes me.

 

Can’t help but wonder what’s inside,

what universe lies there?

It makes me feel like I’m a God

and there’s an earth somewhere

 

inside this little point of light

to small to comprehend.

And I’m too large for them to know.

Let me tell you my friend -

 

...

Read and leave comments (0)

perspective   point of view   understanding   viewpoint

Skeleton Key

In you swoop, with your skeleton key
Your well-thumbed dictionary
And your careful schooling
Giving labels to vague sensations
Giving names to my complications
Inking in the pencil sketch
Of my loose understanding
Of these ancient inner workings

Your delicate hands, so skilfully
Unspooling films that I’ve been censoring
I rush to scramble the combination
But you come with title cards ...

Read and leave comments (1)

🌷(3) 

friends   talking   therapy   understanding

Listening For Change

This poem is about a society increasingly divided, where accusations fly and truth seems lost. It speaks to the urgency of listening instead of blaming, understanding instead of judging, and choosing hope over fear. In a world where opinions are quickly voiced and emotions run high, the poem urges a shift in perspective—one that values connection, love, and the strength to find hope, even in diffi...

Read and leave comments (5)

change   division   empowerment   future   hope   hope vs expectations   listening   love   resilience   social media   society   strength   truth   understanding

the Silence of the Sea

there’s a saying that I've heard,

something about ‘the silence of the sea.’

but I can’t figure out what it means.

 

the sea is not silent

as the waves crash onto the shore.

it rages and fumes as it batters down

the door.

 

the sea is as loud as thunder,

as deafening as a plane’s engine.

it is anything but silent,

its presence always known.

 

but maybe ‘th...

Read and leave comments (1)

sea themed poems   teenage bullshit   the sea   understanding

One

I’m sorry to disappoint you

That I can be too sweet and so weak

And yet I can be cold and cruel too

That I can completely snap to my core

And morph into a creature of different sorts

I’m sorry that I’m not white or black

Or immaculate

Or of any matter 

For that fact

I’m not anything 

At all

Not wholly whole

You see,

Incompleteness 

Has been my superpower 

...

Read and leave comments (2)

🌷(5) 

be yourself   emotion   freedom   grounded   growth   happiness   healing   humanity   identity   independence   inner strength   liberation   mature   mind   move on   people   personhood   reflection   self   selfhood   single   soul   spiritual   truth   understanding   unique   visible

Language Barrier

I’m screaming at the top of my lungs

But she can’t hear me.

I might as well be yelling in French or Spanish because

She just doesn’t understand me

When I tell her I can’t do this.

 

She doesn’t get it when I tell her

I don’t know—

Je ne sais pas,

Yo no sé

—how I’m going to see this through.

 

It’s like my brain es en fuego from all

Of the información being ...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(8) 

family   overwhelmed   teenage bullshit   understanding

My trauma sees your trauma

My trauma sees your trauma

 

We are only skin deep

While we don't know the heavy stuff about each other

One stranger to another stranger

To cross that line

Can bring connection 

But with that, vulnerability and perceived danger

 

I want to take that step with you

But I'm afraid of what it might stir up

It may bring us closer together

Albeit, it might just trigge...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(4) 

connection   emotion   trauma   understanding   vulnerability

The Tide Will Come Out Of Your Mouth

SMASH!

Every time the glass of your skull

Crashes into the fist of another memory

To crush you where you stand

Because another memory has broken you

Because another memory has entered you

Like intruders, they force their way inside

They punch their way into your attention

They invade your heart

Until you must look at them

All so that they can violate you again

They...

Read and leave comments (1)

🌷(9) 

accepting   assault   block   block out   bravery   coping mechanism   dealing   dealing with trauma   difficult   feeling is okay   forget   future   getting better   growing   Living after trauma   memories   mental health   mind   mind protects   moving forwards   moving on   pain   painful   past   rape   recall   relive   self preservation   self protection   supressed   supressed memories   survivor   toxic   trauma   understanding   violence

To Those That Hurt Others

I pity you for the worldview you have acquired.
I pity you for the hurt you have suffered.
I pity you for the opportunities you have squandered.
And I pity you the friendships that have foundered.

I pity you for the fear that propels you.
I pity you for the decisions that shape you.
I pity you the isolation that awaits you.
And I pity you the path actions take you.

I pity you who canno...

Read and leave comments (2)

🌷(5) 

hurt   meditation   perpetrator   perspective   self worth   understanding   victim

Some Words

Some Words

 

I had been her son all my life

                But not all of hers

When she started calling me

                By her brother’s name

                Not my dad’s

                Her bother’s

 

Dead for these past 10 years

 

A stroke will do that to you

                Make you forget what you were saying

                Struggling to find the rig...

Read and leave comments (3)

🌷(3) 

day 6   loss   napowrimo2018   stroke   understanding   unusual formatting and line breaks   words

Anticlimactic

I know I traded something

A part of me

For the splendid splendour of money

I did that thing you shouldn’t do

I gave myself to him

You know, the soul

Cut a piece of myself out for him

You know, the heart

I cut a piece of myself off for him

(You know which part)

But I didn't feel a thing

I'm waiting to miss it

Miss this

Thing

I'm waiting for the pain

You...

Read and leave comments (2)

🌷(5) 

anticlimactic   anticlimax   confusion   empty   ethics   internal   mystery   myth   pain   reaction   sex   suprise   trauma   understanding   unique

Dyn Hysbys

There are no wise men any more

their old wisdom is lost

no old spells that cure

no potions endure

where once they saved the farmer's herd

the mystery is blurred

and spells that helped a marriage spurned

are no longer learned

the people who once were in their debt

turn to the internet

 

There are no wise men any more

their actions show their flaws

no old spell...

Read and leave comments (2)

🌷(2) 

Brexit   conjurers   cunning men   diplomacy   Dyn Hysbys   negotiations   understanding   wisdom   wise men

Of Flesh

Her skin can open up like a mouth

It can speak

When it parts

It can extend like a tongue

It can taste

 

Your arteries are seams

Try to unpeel them

Slip off your flesh

Undress

Search your pores

For secret trap doors

Let the inside out

Part it like a mouth

 

Like hers

It can speak

Unfold the red carpets

Of rolled and folded tongue

Let it searc...

Read and leave comments (2)

🌷(5) 

connect   depression   love   pain   reaching out   self harm   speaking out   support   understanding

Being

 

He bows at her body, thankful and polite, acknowledges the service, plays the part.

She smiles at stories, smart enough to be cynical but hopeful enough to be happy. 

He takes out a notepad and pretends not to watch for a reaction 

As she reads his silver words

As she reads his mind through the blunt tool of his silver words.

He runs. 

He thinks he’s wrong because she told h...

Read and leave comments (0)

conflict   consciousness   life   living   perception   poetry   relationships   understanding

Another's eyes

I hope that around the world

people, everywhere

are trying to look through

another's eyes

taking another perspective

opening up

and showing compassion

and understanding.

Read and leave comments (9)

compassion   Understanding

Peace, love and understanding have left the building

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen

They’ve really enjoyed playing here over the years

It has been a wonderful experience for one and all

but now it is my sad duty to announce that

peace,  love and understanding have left the building.

 

Peace,  she left by the back door

Her sullen face only lightened by the thought

that it cannot always be this way

Wandering around...

Read and leave comments (16)

love   peace   understanding

First Fight

There were tears

Rolling down my face.

I never was a pretty crier,

So I looked away.

 

Heard your voice

Over my heavy breathing,

Crying harder when you said

You weren't leaving.

 

I hold tight to everything;

Knuckles white from my grip.

If I let go, even a little,

My whole world could slip.

 

I've been afraid, though,

To hold onto you.

My heart ga...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(1) 

faith   fears   fight   love   resolution   respect   soulmate   support   understanding

I Find Beauty in Whats Different

true beauty comes from the radiance and uniqueness of something standing out like a fire lit in the night sky... what i find beautiful, is something different. something that is unlike anything or anyone else. it'll stand out.. have a purpose, a meaning, or just something beautifully different to look and find interest in.. something that has so many more "shades" and colors rather than just one. ...

Read and leave comments (0)

inner self poem   me   naomi   understanding

My Ray Of Sunshine

Here I go again
Explaining another quirk to some bullshit that happened years ago
I don't keep journals anymore
I hate writing in pen, normally
Someone always saw
Someone always spoke
I always saw some psych
So I never published under my own name
For fear of commitment
In a sense
And here I am
Again
Ashamed of my behavior
Knowing how damaged I sound

"Considering the many things
Th...

Read and leave comments (1)

🌷(3) 

argentina   healthy relationship   i love him   love   Manuel   my partner   partner   polyamorous   polyamory   sunshine   understanding

Danse Macabre

Too much was lost in silence

too long the time that winds

between our words of love and passion

with communion only in our minds

 

Too much assumed in union

of our two souls' mute desires

but I did not see her inmost needs

or hear how quietly pain suspires

 

I should have peeped inside

while she nightly dreamed in peace

to glimpse her mind's apparel

as it dan...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(2) 

communication   foresight   illness   love   time   understanding

The Humble Heart of the Craftsman

I have always hankered after the life of the artist - including the world of the visual arts. In retirement I have the opportunity to follow that yearning.

 

The Humble Heart of the Craftsman

 

As corruption sheds its sting when seen

from lofty heights,

so humility shows its mettle

in the steady care of the gifted creator;

turning one's gaze from skilled hands

to the thi...

Read and leave comments (0)

🌷(2) 

carnate   creator   humble   mettle   mysteries   skilled   Tuareg   understanding

The Theater of my Life

I've lived the times
Of the theater of my life
Dancing in the foyer:

Commedia dell'Arte
Comprised the entirety
Of my personal repetoire;

Dress rehearsals were
Never taken seriously:
The final play was just

A moments decision
Hurried through a huddle
Of half-written plots.

The masterful monologues
Of my long and intrepid career
Were carried off by the

Glib tongue of the cha...

Read and leave comments (1)

art   Commedia Del'Artte   life and death   reason   Theater   understanding

Great Warmth of a Curious Heart

Lurking in the natural world
there are sentences, still unspoken
always waiting to be written
frozen in time
waiting for the great warmth 
of a curious heart

Haunting at the edges of the living world
are spirits of the unspoken connectivity in people
dead and alive, the as-yet unborn
caught between planes
waiting for the flashlight beam
of a curious heart

There is an untapped seem ...

Read and leave comments (5)

connectivity   curiosity   exploring   faith   science   spirituality   understanding

A Reimagining

Sonnets are meant to be about romance

and love.

You know? All that's good.

But why should form be contained,

can one not make love to the page

in their own expression?

I can,

and will.

Imagination like a dodgems car,

wild yet bumpy.

And I guess that's what love is,

you can try to steer in the right direction

but there will always be obstacl...

Read and leave comments (0)

Communication   Cooperation   Life   Love   NaPoWriMo   Philsophy   Reconciliation   Sonnet   Truth   Understanding

"John"

 

"John"

 

What worlds turn behind your almond eyes, that ready smile,

that childish innocence that lingers long when you are gone?

I feel your warmth through chubby hands and stubby fingers

of a child. You will not make old bones in this cold life

of sticks and stones and superstitious fears. Some careless god

cut short your years; played blackjack with your chromosomes

in a game that ...

Read and leave comments (7)

compassion   disability   Downs syndrome   humanity   tolerance   understanding

This site uses only functional cookies that are essential to the operation of the site. We do not use cookies related to advertising or tracking. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Find out more Hide this message