Preamble, preamble. It doesn’t matter anyway. Nothing really does. Which really contextualises our futile struggles for connection in a dying world, no?
Top three
First
Anonymous
Tongue In a memory pulled from the heart, I found a long-lost trace of your gentle cadence; your fiesty tenor, diminished but resolute. It compelled me, enveloped in a drugged haze to once again wear the feel of you between my lips like a wolf in sheepskin. But the feeling is unfamiliar, the heft of a hilt no longer meant for me to weild for the edges of your inflections have ebbed, and the shine of your blade has dulled, leaving your lustre another discarded carcass at the mercy of time, and another burden to be buried and offset. Yet you continue to reside in the recesses of my soul, the ghost of an old flame that withers me when I hear your unmistakable lilt trace the patterns of another ousting upon me the unbearable realisation that it is I who have lost you, and not you who has lost me. So I lock you away and leave the key under my tongue, now limp and dormant, until all that remains is my bored indifference as my lips stretch, not into words that call upon you but a tired yawn as I look towards the laborious movement of hands I compel to move faster still and have now slipped gently through my fingers to leave an awkward, uncomfortable stasis that makes me wish I was some other where so you would not be so regrettably out of my reach.
Second
Anonymous
Caved In
a modified twin cinema poem
Third
Ng Yu Feng
i dreamt of hell once in my sleep an empty, endless limbo where eclectic waters run forever deep and 'ships without people where fragmented mind-blips bob intermittent and snakes of smoke cloud wistful brooding the bleached corals, the false commitment of colours, washed up shore the stars were bright, bright as your face but now constellations are fading, blinking away you, a mangled array of utter misplace can't muster the memory of your face room waltzed with you, a crazed kaleidoscope sporadic coins of blue heavy on your eyes and white sheets, and flustered red skin and while im drifting away, a green goodbye green of growth, of growing apart blurring bounds between end and start though your hands on mine, a gentle touch but now, to me, it doesn't mean much my bewilderment an abstract art your grief-stricken a romantic im dissolving, a burst wart confused world frenetic morning i woke, drenched in brackish dew and your schedule starts anew i know you don't love me, you never do but im willing to make do i know this relationship is all scorn and torn and our first and only child was stillborn but i don't need your "love" and yes i know, my "love" for you has burnt out too my candle now half as long but just as bright and i want to end it right it was a mistake, this "love", just the two of us on a small boat parting from the main ship but now we've come so far, alone and i only have you now and i just need someone to watch me die i dreamt of hell once in my sleep and as much as i hate to admit, i don't want to lose you
Consolations (five, no order of merit)
Trinh
King of My Heart Dear Anon: You are the king of my heart, And I, your ever-faithful, loving queen. Fate dealt the cards and I knew from the start, It’s your love that I’ve always sought to win. A dream you were, so close yet asunder. Bedazzled by the diamonds in your hand, I took a leap of faith, and went under – This shattered illusion my new homeland. I lost the bid when I gave you my life, Handed me a spade so I dug my grave. Threw away my ace and I took a dive, But you are no knight - just another knave. And now Jack’s gone and he’s broken his crown, Shards embedded in my heart - rip! - they tear. In this endless ocean of you I drown, Ever since you left me in my despair. But even though you’ve shredded me apart, Forever, you’ll be the king of my heart.
Anonymous
ceryneian hind the next morning it rained gray i was left out on the hill standing, staring, looking away hunter's crossbow hanging weakly off my arm how many people does it take to ruin a dream? the answer is none - a dream is like a bubble shiny, iridescent, ethereal. be wary of when they pop. the day it happened: a deer galloped by sun glancing off its dappled cloak. it trod thousand-eyed dandelions underfoot crushed carnations into red, left me in dust. stunned. such a pretty specimen. i thought. what a shame i haven't seen a single animal in months. i raised my crossbow, and spent the next months stalking its tracks. the next months. obsession blossomed like a rose the longer the hunt went on. i trekked after trails fought through underbrush spent days listening avidly for the tales the leaves have to tell. (the nerve. i thought. to turn my life upside down.) the day came too fast. i tailed it to a stream, got my first full glance: gold antlers, bronze hooves, what an image it made this was my one and only chance. a deep, silent draught, conviction notching an arrow. i thought i aimed true. an arrow is fast, the deer was faster it leapt over the river, outrunning the recklessness of my arrow, ran off into the horizon, crushing my hope underfoot. i knew it’d never come near me again. how many people does it take to ruin a dream? the answer is none - a dream is like fiction satisfying while it lasts, but fiction has to have an end the next morning it rained gray i was left out on the hill an unwanted rag. beheld the destruction the hunt had wrought all for nought.
Anonymous
On that harsh moonlit night At a place where the sun does not shine You appeared, a figure of light Too good, too pure to be mine As time flies and the miles between us grow I wonder what I would sacrifice To blur the line of truth and lies Just for a chance to drown in your eyes You were my anchor to this reality Without you, I am blind to what’s ahead Your cruel smile razes like the raging sea Yet the warmth leaves me seeing red Worlds collapse, dreams shatter, flames burn With you, my heart runs rampant Fact from fiction, I can’t discern When unreturned, love’s a tyrant
Anonymous
Life of Penguin Today, she gave me the book, Small with green pages, Filled with messages of hope, Fired up that you are incoming. Today, she lay back on the bed, Frail with pale skin, Fraught with ridges of worry, Fear that you are in trouble. Today, I place you in a box, Tiny, with brown sides, Frigid with pangs of despair, Flayed that you are inanimate.
Joye Lim Qian Qi
scattered delusions you linger in my scattered delusions as i drown in an ocean of sleep – rippling refractions of sun on the water’s surface that fade as i fall down, and down, and down. and down. you flit among the trees, always just out of my reach. a flickering, dancing flame, bright blue against dark night whispering for me to follow, and i do. now i am lost, and you are nowhere to be found. you are a closed book, and i never learned to read. every eureka is proven wrong, every experiment blows up in my face. if a million stars and a thousand galaxies were scattered across every night sky maybe then you’d see me. you i hate you. but the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference and my hate and love are so entwined they may never be unravelled. sometimes they suffocate me. and sometimes they set me free.
All entries
Akeel Kani
My back, it hurts from her scars, Love is a dirty trick, But now I’m smoking cigars, Going with whoever I pick, A second-hand emotion, that’s all it is, A husk of what you thought was real, Deceiving others when I see fit, Love, marriage? just another ordeal Finishing and consuming every thought, action and decision Undermining your social structure and putting everything at stake Caring not for you and obscuring your vision Knowing your heart, it will crumble and break, I know the loneliness, I’ve been there, This isn’t cynical, it’s the truth – why love really stinks.
Akshara Arunkumar
roses, scattered on the ground
endless echoes all around
"just leave me alone", he said
"end those thoughts inside your head
can't you see i don't love you?"
try i did, but that held true
i, dejected, left the shred
of hope i had in fate's red thread
now my heart, no more, it's dead.
Neo Wee Zen
(don’t be so hard on yourself. issa good poem :>)
Stare with compassionate fury As you settle the unruly jury After all, you’re law and order, without reason So please, greet me with distaste and derision Deliver me death! My adoration will stay so evergreen, I wilt at the sound of your every breath This agony, more than you’ve ever seen For once, I was a tool, a jester under your rule Then, I disintegrate, a translucent ghoul I’ll fall into my place, and never show my face For the fear of the taste of disgrace My tale is all made up, My soul is all makeup, Call me out for my fraud, Redact the moments I made you applaud. She’s every misstep, every mistake Her glance, her grin, an intoxicating gin And a sentence said, with meaning but lacking intent A sin without a chance of repent Delusions, illusions soon follow Attempts at redemption ring hollow. She has me arrested, my thoughts overstayed. She has me blocked, in front of heaven’s gate. Filled with guilt, the atmosphere killed, I pray for my love and the lights to fade. Yet, your serenity shines through the clouds! You unwrap my airtight shroud ...temporarily. Convict me of treason, to the highest degree. Prepare my sepulchre and set my body free. Deliver me death! I wilt at the sound of your every breath My adoration will stay so evergreen, This agony, more than you’ve ever seen.
Anonymous
God, my heart's vacant now Yeah, she hates me now I popped a couple bottles of aspirin But it’s not enough, the emptiness still reigns I won't let the doubt creep in Banish the pain from within Happy I never let you in Glad I saved myself from ruin Love’s a game, it gives me pain My heart breaks yet again All I get from you is pain Never wanna see you again Now my life is spiralling down Heartache is all I found With love around my life’s damned Now I’m lost, now what’s the plan Love’s not a thriller Nothing but a cold blooded killer You, with that Viper’s tongue of yours All you do, all it does is lures But now I’m done with this It is nowhere near bliss It drives me to death Forces me to take my last breath Love is cold, and I’m done with it After all this, I’m well and truly beat Are you happy with what you caused Or will you brush past without a pause Just as you did before I can’t take this anymore. Breaking it off is what’s best So why can’t I put this to rest I’m tortured from the inside and this is how I’m gonna die...
Shen Xing Yang
Distractions and Fears I'm not ready for such dedication, O my treach'rous heart, why do you flutter? Love unknowable, bard's inspiration, But to me it's all just needless clutter. I take comfort in your touch so gentle It's become to me like bread and butter. Every way both physical and mental, On you I've become far too dependent. Can we act like this is accidental? Feels like you're the judge and I'm defendant. Fear rejection, yes, I am a coward, I'll look from afar, you're bright and splendent. I'll just stay alone; my love has soured-(Hence abandon I my love, unflowered.)
Eliora Delphine Loo Yun
i) you know everyone thinks that they know us. you? her? how - how? is that so? congratulations! they think they've got us figured out. we know better don't we? don't we? you do. i do. i do i do i do i do i do i do i do until i don't. ii) i need you to know that this isn't a confession. of love, i mean- i mean - it is. just not like that. i mean - i'm afraid. i'm afraid that it will become so. i'm so afraid, because i know what love like that does. it consumes everything in its brutal onslaught. i'm so afraid, because when it’s through with us there will be nothing left but a you-shaped hole in the fabric of my universe. i'm so afraid, because what's been done to me - it would happen to you. and it would be my hands pressed over your mouth and nose. and i need you to breathe. because - it's not that i can't, without you. but it's easier. breathing, with you. but i cannot have that the end to this tale is us learning to breathe through the gaps between each other's fingers. we'd still be gasping for air. and, well i can do nothing but say - God help me. God help me to love you enough not to fall in love with you.
Anonymous
1. As I watch her from a few seats away Nice and beautiful, silent and sweet, her radiant smile illuminating my way Destined for each other, or so I hoped, despite my faults and her flair Running into her anywhere makes my heart stop, I swear Emotions flood into my head with each glance, it seems And here is her story, finally expressed in real words instead of daydreams Which I believe is true, no matter from whose view “Opposites attract,” Is it true? 2. As I raise my head for a glance not daring to take a second one I start to wonder about the person out of my reach “The ability to see across worlds does not ensure granted dreams “ Have I truly been wasting time? Daydreaming about happy endings When it’s simply nonexistent? If love is blind Then so am I
Leong Jiandi Nathanael
My Unrequited Love When I saw her, it was love at first sight. Made my heart beat like the clock at midnight. Her shy and reserved personality, Was one of our commonalities. Her blushing face is too delightful, others glare at me, oh so spiteful. That pout when she gets a little mad, Makes me want to comfort her so bad. Fluent in both English and Japanese, Traveling overseas would be a breeze. Having an obsession with history, Makes our convos a constant mystery. That girl, she is simply divine. Forever showing up in my mind. I want to go out with her already. However, my love is stuck in 2D.
Anonymous
Pain Pain, pain Pain again. When they leave. Soursop. Slice, slice. Snip, snip. Heartstrings, All cut. Time passes. Gets better? Never. Sulfuric acid.
Anonymous
you, your eyes as dark as night as the blackened skies where birds take flight no emotions in them two cold and endless, black and blue under the depths of the sea now you have imprisoned me
Anonymous
last year, i made a wish a hope to get you as a duo school was a time to group talking to you was nice looking to your time to get expressing my attempted push then sent a message, did i to tell you how i mean eleven minutes, before long receiving none bliss exit my delusion, not a spec attempts too far, too extra creeping gave you more pain harassing made you no closer lying to myself was no cure i myself made this major mess new year new me? edit my fingerprints, i cannot
Anonymous
My Valentine's gift A long awaited day So loved be those that are loved And lonely to those who arent Butterflies flutter in my stomach as i think about whats to come In the morning when I arrive Students sleeping He walks through the dull hallway into my class A spark in the midst of gloom His friends await at the door Eager to see my reaction My heart pounds He hands me a letter Enveloped Encased with hearts Said something to me So passionate and Full of earnesty "im breaking up with you"
Anonymous
So much for roses “I loved you so much” Chanting in my head while I carry Visions of what we might have been I would walk barefooted across the deserts Swim like a dolphin, out of quicksand To seek you As I swim across the moat, hack at your fortress walls I scream “LET ME IN!!” I will prove my worthiness of entering your garden oasis Let us be friends, so we may then be more than friends. Excuse me please, while I still dream of holding flowers, for a while longer in your corridor dead-ends. Lower your guards, please. They bug me While I sugar a distraction from my intrusion. Don’t raise suspicion. Please trust me, Allow me the way into your heart chamber. Where there is no red carpet I pave the forward path with a gilded tongue Climb up upon lines of vines To reach you Here are a thousand poems dedicated to you, I will write more every time I smell your rose scents. see through your tinted glasses. hold up your bouquets by the stalk. hear the music of your fauna. softly harvest, plucking each plant one by one. hush my wincing. Until I can’t even hold a pen. My hands hurt, and they don’t look any less regretfully-coloured. A bloody pricking mess. What a catch. Cast an eye of disdain over the pain. Or cover it up, lest resentment infects it. Day by day, our flags seem to match closer to the red carpets. Since when? Did we litter rose petals on the floor for the purpose Of being trampled upon. The more I explore your castle, The emptier this Large House feels. Seeing red everyday doesn’t feel so rosy anymore. Maybe I loved you Only so much.
Ernest Emmanuel Cheong Haoen
our fanfiction The whole wide world was our galaxy, Big enough for just you and me, And you were the brightest star that could be. She took off the head of Cassio, And tore you away ‘till I let you go, To leave me stranded with no way to know, And in this equation We solve for all three bodies In a constantly chaotic path, Because there is no solution To the end of our stories And the parabolic curtain laugh. We used to rule the seven seas, Even though I grew weak at my knees, Couldn’t see the dark forest for the trees. She rocked our boat like a tempest storm, And before I knew it you were gone, Swept past me with the past that I still mourn, And in this assertion We find ‘Z’s ‘Y’s and ‘X’s In a constantly chaotic path, Because my revolution Around the central axis Has been snipped in two and folded in half. And there is no one in space To stop tangential rejection From the supernova’s aftermath.
Anonymous
When I first saw you, my heart skipped a Beat but down the rabbit hole I go uh- I’m addicted to you like a bottle of pills And before I know it, everything’s going downhill My brain’s high and it’s drowning in toxin Drunk with dopamine and oxytocin It’s like I’m taking a puff of a cigarette It hurts but I’m still chasing your silhouette My mind wanders around, I think I’m lovesick And I still continue being overly optimistic But you shot a bullet through my heart, “Eat lead” Left me on the ground to bleed a shade deep red
Anonymous
Two Weeks of love: A Brief Summary of Infatuation Monday, I first set my eyes on you on the way to school Tuesday, I can’t stop thinking bout’ you Statistically couples fall apart but we might just be true Wednesday, gathering my courage, I approach you and ask Surprise, there’s a smile there right behind your mask With you with me there will never be a single laborious task Thursday, we learn more about each other, at this moment (I think) Between us appeared the red string, an invisible link We talk to each other at the skating rink Now this is a ship that’ll never sink Friday, let’s watch a movie Saturday, walk in the park Sunday, go for some ice cream And walk home after dark I’m starting to lose myself Don’t want fame and don’t want wealth You’re the only thing in my soul Monday, my eyes don’t feel quite right Tuesday, my mind is telling lies Wednesday, my love’s fear in different light Thursday, new complications arise Friday, I realise, I have been blind Replay our memories in my mind Shake free of our untrue bind And go forth, leaving this all behind Saturday, I wander through the street Don’t know and don’t care who I will meet Alone, by myself, I go for a treat Sunday, I’m binging by myself, I’m seriously done Let’s hope tomorrow I won’t meet another one I guess I’m myself again No more heartbreak, no more pain The obsession has taken its toll
Vadivel Jaivasanth
Witch Oh Witch Oh Witch Oh Witch should’ve listened to my friends and ditched thought we were happy together but you kept changing like weather girl I know the love is dead should have known it way ahead you told me he was just a friend I caught you cheating in the end I treated you like such a queen but u went out with him on Feb 14 Trying to forget all that you’ve said Can you just stay out of my head.
Lim Woon Seng
He was rich and she was young. He was rich and she was young. It was quite clearly not love, When both act in self-interest, While saying the same “I do”. He was rich and she was young, On the special day, they went out, To get fifty-dollar chocolates by the river Seine And pictures that last as scars soon after. He was poor and she was young, An economic crisis, a job retrenchment, Laid bare the problem with the “love” between. She was sad not for him but for herself. He is poor and she is old. He was tired, she was sleepy. A petty argument over dishes. A slow fire that burns. He looked at himself in his mirror, And she looked at herself in her mirror, It didn’t reflect the image of who they want to be. Thus, they slowly agreed, That now, perhaps is the time, To acknowledge that there was no “love” to speak of. Her for him, and him for her, It’s all a lie, it’s just a facade. So much for love and joy and whatever That you see in those cheap magazines from the corner stores For humans are strange creatures who prefer the artificial safety of beauty and money Over love.
Law Rui Xi
Fluttering of petals, flowing like time, Clouds drifting freely in the sky. The girl I like, drawing sandcastles in the air She’s so gorgeous, I think I could cry Sitting at her desk, a picture of beauty, Pencil poised, words dancing on the page. She answers posed questions with unrivalled fervor Her bright eyes are the highlights of my day. Her house stands on a tree-lined street, Her dogs greet her at the door. She walks into a house smelling of delicious pie And curls up on the porch with a tome. A leafy dish graces her bowl as She laughs with the apple of her eye This painful truth, I struggle to grasp Why must it be him? Why can’t it be I? I am the only one for her Why is she so blind? I’ll prove it to herThat she can only be mineI drag her away one day like a prince Rescuing my princess from the dragon’s claws I convince myselfshe did not just wince;She’s with her only worthy worshipper at long last. A brawl breaks out, a fist to my cheek A foot to my chest and my ears start to ring. A strangled scream calls me a “creepy freak” But you refused to come with me Is it my fault? Scarlet mars myvisionlike blood in my eyes The hum of strength coursing through my veins I surrender no more toindecisionand ignore theirdesperate pleasI shallShe’s mine she’s mine she’s mine she’s mine She’s mine she’s mine she’s mineshe’smines he’smineshe’smineshesmineshesmineshesm ineshesmineshesBy the end of it all, I wield a shattered bottle of wine I stagger to my feet, woozy in the head “It’s going to be alright now, it’s going to be fine.” She flinches away, features plastered with dread “Finally. At last, you are no one’s but mine.”
Ritkriti Chatterjee
What's the point of love? Love, you tell me is something that’s everyone’s cup of tea But I just have one doubt – What’s the point of all this stuff? What’s the point of love? Remember that couple out on the beach? They were smooching and hugging as though in love But guess what? It was all fake For exactly three days later, came the news that the boy had left, and the girl suffered a heartbreak What’s the point of love? Now before you argue – here’s one more case There was a second couple, who after reading the fate of the first, decided that never by force would they fall in love. But guess what? They had three children, and then divorced What’s the point of love? Not satisfied? Here’s another tragedy A couple were dating, but then were separated The man went overseas, and three years later came back The girl was delighted – But guess what? He was carrying a baby and a diaper-filled backpack What’s the point of love? The last case is not so tragic Two high school sweethearts were married together They promised each other that they would never part But guess what? The man died of a heart attack and left the woman with an unfixable hole in her heart What’s the point of love? Is there any point of love seen? I can’t see any – can you? So is there a point of love? I’ll say no – but it’s up to you
Zhu Yancun
while True: a few glimpses away our eyes met a smile a look and we darted away a few days at times our paths crossed ways a touch a wave and I fell again for the crime a few nights in a row you flickered here and there unconscious laughs unfiltered glee I was kept lucid, yet alone a few months trickled by no there wasn't a few months had fun while it lasted felt dumb when it ended oh wait it happened again :0
Anonymous
It seemed too good to be true I fell in love without a clue I loved her with my heart and mind Never did I think she would leave me behind It all ended that fateful day When her feelings drifted away Why did it have to end this way She had left me to decay She always wanted to go higher I must have failed to fulfill her desire Was she always a liar She just had to set my heart on fire Possible I was not caring enough Perhaps I wasn't bold and tough Why did I have to fall for her charm Now in return all I get is harm It has been so long since she left me But she never left my memory This has been my burden to carry Never ever can I hope to be free Why did I have to love her so much Now all I long for is her touch She was my love, friend and so much more She had sent me begging at her door As my cold heart shatters It makes me think nothing matters From love and anti-love, I choose the latter Nothing is served on a silver platter My empty feelings cannot be expressed All I am now is depressed Wishing that I should have shown my best Wishing I could die of cardiac arrest Why she left I can never comprehend All my hopes are left to spend Now that my poem comes to an end Are you sure you want a girlfriend
Hope you feel less lonely after reading these poems, and thank you to all the participants!
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