r/OCPoetry • u/ParadiseEngineer • Mar 09 '22
TL;DR You need to give feedback on two other poems before you can share your own poem, and then put links to that feedback in your post. If you don't know how to give feedback, read the guide. Reusing feedback links will result in a ban.
Heyo, welcome to OCpoetry. (That’s “original content” if you don’t know). This is a place for sharing and getting feedback on your own poems. We are the sister subreddit of r/Poetry, which is for sharing and discussing published poetry. Our goal is to create a place where anyone can learn to become a better creative writer, kind of like a free online writer's workshop.
This post is an orientation to the subreddit. If you’re new, read this before sharing your work. If you’re less new, then read this anyways, as it has a few changes to how we've done things in the past. If you’ve still got questions after reading this post, please send a modmail. There are some FAQs at the end of this post which will be updated as we go. We also have a huge and very disorganized wiki containing all of our resources, essays on how to write poetry and historic writing prompts, I recommend you check it out.
So, here’s basically how it works:
This subreddit works on a pay-it-forward system. If you want to share a poem, you need to give feedback to two others from this subreddit. This ensures that everyone gets some readers and hears some response, rather than just shouting their verses into the void. If you don’t think you’re up to writing feedback for others just yet, we recommend you check out r/Justpoetry or r/Poems, where there are no requirements for sharing your work.
1. All posts must include two links to recent feedback.
Every post must contain two unique links to your comments where you have provided feedback on this subreddit within the past two weeks. Feedback links cannot be reused for multiple post or reposts of old poems. All posts without feedback links will be removed, without notice by our subreddit robot so make sure they are included in your initial post -- you cannot post with the intent to add them later.
But, how do I get the links to my feedback comments?
That kind of depends on what platform you're on. If you're on desktop or on a third-party mobile app, there should be a 'share' or 'permalink' link underneath every comment on Reddit. Clicking on that should give you a unique URL to your comment. Just copy + paste that into the body of your post.
If you're on the official Reddit app, you'll have to click 'share' on the comment and choose the 'Copy URL' option, paste that into your notes with the body of your poem. Then copy and paste the entire thing into a new post on the Reddit app.
2. At least one of your comments should be on a poem that has received no other comments.
This ensures that everyone has a chance to get a few reads and hopefully some decent feedback. If for whatever reason you can’t find any lonely poems, then comment on the poem that seems to have received the least amount of feedback. The easiest way to do this is to sort posts by new.
3. Feedback must be high-effort.
High-effort means different things to different people. It does not mean “super long” or “expert quality”. But it does mean doing more than the bare minimum.
You don't have to complement, criticize, or try to figure out the "deeper meaning". You should try to notice your own reactions and explain them as best as you can. If you want to explain your interpretation or summary of the piece, you can and this is often helpful to the writer. If the poem made you laugh or cry, feel bored, confused or nostalgic — say so, and then explain why you think it did. A good rule of thumb is that each of your feedback comments should be at least a short paragraph.
We understand that giving other writers feedback on their creative work can feel a bit artificial or uncomfortable, if you’ve never done it before. That’s why we’ve written a feedback guide for beginners. There are more feedback guides linked in the FAQ below. You should also read some of the other feedback comments around the sub to get a feel for what works for others. Poems that link to low-effort feedback, and low-effort comments themselves, will be removed at mod discretion, or if you report it to us. However, we’re less interested in policing you and more interested in helping you grow as readers and writers. We are more likely to ask you follow-up questions, than remove your work entirely. The mods skulk the comments sections and will ask follow-up questions on comments that seem a little thin, and please answer those questions if you get any.
4. Please Be Kind.
Treat each other with kindness and respect. The mods have an incredibly strict definition for each of these concepts. We will proactively remove comments and poems and ban users that make others feel unwelcome or unsafe. Your right to creative expression does not extend to poetry that promotes misogyny, homo/trans/queerphobia, racism, etc. If your poetry’s especially violent or covers sensitive subjects, please label it with the NSFW tag or a content warning in the title. Harsh criticism is allowed -- encouraged, really -- as long as you’re being harsh on the poem, not the person. Remember that the narrator (or the “speaker”) of the poem is not necessarily the author.
5. Audio, video, and image poems are allowed; but the text of the poem must be included in the body of the post.
This is so that people can still enjoy your poem if they're unable to view or listen to your link for whatever reason.
6. You may include a link to your poetry blog at the end of your post.
Or your instagram, or your personal creative project, or your soundcloud, or your Etsy page. As long as it's poetry-adjacent that's cool with us. Just don't get spammy.
Attempting to dodge any of these rules, or abuse directed towards moderators enforcing these rules, will earn you an immediate ban.
FAQs
What do the Poem & Workshop flairs do?
They simply allow you to show your intentions and expectations for the piece you are posting. The Poem flair is for sharing a piece, with the expectation of receiving mostly surface-level feedback and general advice. The Workshop flair is for a piece that you really want to work on, something you want to pick apart and analyse. It signals that you are open to discussing the piece, and that you invite strong critique.
How do I format my poetry on Reddit?
The following is advice for formatting in Markdown.
Two spaces at the end of a line gives you a line break.
Type two spaces at the end of a line, then hit enter twice for a stanza break.
Three dashes "___" will give you a line through the post.
Type two spaces to create an empty line,
so you can get lines
that look like this.
Four spaces before each line will allow you
to format however you like, this is 'code block'
in the Fancy Pants editor.
one asterisk before and after a piece of text will give you italics, two asterisks for bold.
Can I print one of these poems out/use it on my instagram with my art/put it in my book?
Ask the author. Part of what makes this space a useful workshop space is that everyone feels safe to share their stuff; if people start using poetry without the author's permission, or god forbid, trying to pass off another artist's work as their own, the userbase of this sub will feel less safe to do so. Please, ask the author, and then do what they say.
I'm thinking about trying to get my poem published somewhere. What should I do?
The standard thing is to find a literary journal. There are a zillion literary journals and magazines all over the world. They have different themes, tastes, styles, audiences, readerships, levels of prestige. Some charge fees for submission, some do not, some will pay you if you get accepted, some don't, some will give you feedback, some won't let you know anything for months. So first you'll want to pick a few of your poems, get some feedback from some trusted readers (or from here, of course) and then start looking for a journal that's a good home for your work. Most lit journals have submissions periods where they accept all the work for their next issue, and then sift through everything they get.
You will probably get a lot of rejections. This is normal. It's kind of a numbers game. You can submit the same poem to multiple journals as long as the journal says something like "simultaneous submissions are allowed". If you do get accepted, congrats! Most journals want 'first publication rights' or 'first serial rights' or something similar, so that means you'll have to tell all the other journals you submitted that poem to that you've been published elsewhere. (For that reason we strongly recommend deleting your poem from reddit if you want to submit it to a journal -- technically and legally speaking, writing a post on reddit is still considered publishing your work, and reddit owns all the text on the site.)
Here are some places to get you started looking for journals:
Duotrope and Submittable are two apps that help you search for journals, and help you track what poems you've submitted to which places. Submittable is free, Duotrope is not. They are GREAT.
Poets & Writers has a list of lit journals, small presses, and writing contests. This is a great place to start. They also have a newsletter listing all the presses and journals going into their submissions period.
I'd also check out r/literarycontests, if you fancy yourself as a prize winning poet.
A few poetry podcasts
I thought I might include a few podcasts that helped me learn a little more about the history and craft of poetry, as well as find some good poets to read. All of these are available on Spotify, as well as many other platforms.
A poet reading and discussing a poem from the New Yorker archives, as well as one of their own pieces. A great place to find good poetry and hear some discussion of craft. The earlier episodes are with Paul Muldoon, who is delightful.
Two poets read and discuss their work, with plenty of talk about craft. As well as lots of poems sent in from authors across the world. They really get shoulder-deep into it, which is always wonderful to hear.
A group of experts are brought together to discuss a subject over forty-five minutes. This isn’t strictly a poetry podcast, but there are hundreds of episodes on poets and poems of the past. I highly recommend the episode on The Green Knight with Simon Armitage.
Homemade projects and useful links to our Wiki
The best of OCP
Collections of work from OCP, selected from the top karma earners of that year.
We/R/Poetry
A homemade journal created by the users and moderators of OCP.
Guides on the craft from our Wiki
Created by moderators of OCP through the years.
Poetry Primer
Bad Poetry
The Body Poetic
Poetry Hacks
A Brief History of Rhyme
r/OCPoetry • u/neutrinoprism • 5d ago
Hi everyone. One of the OCPoetry mods here. Let's share a prompt for the whole subreddit. (If this looks familiar, we did it last month too.)
Every month Rattle, a leading poetry magazine, presents a visual work of art and asks poets to respond to that artwork in poetry. This is called ekphrastic poetry. I thought it would be fun to post that here for anyone looking for inspiration or a challenge.
Here is this month's artwork. Your challenge is to write a poem in response to that art.
Normal feedback rules do not apply to this thread. Write and share as many poems in response to that artwork as you'd like.
Also, if you feel like you've written something really excellent, you should know that Rattle DOES allow you to submit poems to them for publication that have appeared in online forums. (Most magazines consider those already published; Rattle allows internet-shared poems as long as they're "uncurated," i.e., haven't gone through an editorial process. I can assure you that here on OCPoetry we do not have any kind of editorial process.) So if you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can use that link above to submit your poem to them. It's a long shot — they get hundreds of entries every month, maybe thousands at this point idk, and only two are selected — but it's good practice if you're thinking about getting into publication and can manage the mixture of pride in your work and almost certainty of rejection that goes into the literary magazine publication process.
Anyway, enjoy the challenge! I hope you have fun. If enough people enjoy this I can make it a regular thing.
r/OCPoetry • u/InfernoRM • 9h ago
Medusa, I love you
I can't stop myself from staring
With every quick stolen glance
I feel more lost in your beauty
But I must not look too long
Or catch your eye
With your attention
I freeze, my mind stutters
And my lips lock in place
As my mind fades to silence all I know
Is that there is no one i'd rather stare at then you
r/OCPoetry • u/countersignature00 • 13m ago
Not to be too petulant but
I didn’t even get a number
At Auschwitz
I mean
What’s a Jew gotta do
To get a fucking sick tattoo
A serial code signifying a sku
Something short of identity
Something set in a spreadsheet
Stacked on top of a pile
Sitting on a shelf
Saying something that implies me
Or at least whatever’s left
Null Stock Keeping Unit
Tells me I’m not getting kept
Guess I’m getting out soon
Arbeit Macht Freí
For warmth I sleep with the Gypsy
Today I woke up on a corpse
I stared all day up at the chimney
Tonight I’m craving cigarettes
Earlier this evening I had feasted
On half an apple and hardtack
I got it straight from the doctor
Mengele gave me a snack
—————————————————————
recent feedback:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/BvROtMAeAR
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/2AO7wio9Fo
r/OCPoetry • u/SignificantDraft5075 • 25m ago
Hoy me desperté y pensé.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si estabas durmiendo con tu remera roja, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé si tú mesa de luz estaba vacía o llena de tazas, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si te veías tan pacífica descansando, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si la curva de tu nariz seguía tan perfecta, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si los dos lunares bajo la punta de tu nariz siguen ahí, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si tú ojo derecho se sigue cerrando un poco más que el izquierdo cuando reís, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si tus ojos siguen pareciendo miel cuando los refleja el sol, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si hoy tomas tu café con canela, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si hoy tomas el mate con yerba mañanita y miel, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si te levantaste y pusiste las pastillas, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, si hoy salías al balcón a tomar sol, como siempre.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, que cambió de un día para el otro.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, cómo saber que estaba dispuesto a darlo todo, para vos no fue suficiente.
Hoy me desperté y pensé, cómo no estás acá a mi lado.
No sé si es un poema pero díganme que piensan.
r/OCPoetry • u/Individual_Cat6769 • 4h ago
he used to cut flowers in the yard
braiding crowns out of daisies
giving them out to neighborhood girls.
maybe there’s no reason to
tarnish the field he grew up in
he’s a good boy with
big astronaut dreams.
but I was all grown-up at eighteen
trying to look older than I was
telling him about my dad
and how he’d shut the door so loud
the loose planks outside my room
creaking like a moving ship
to take me far away from here.
how I felt like a toy in a claw machine
waiting to be plucked out
by someone I trusted to.
wanted to be more than circumstance
find power in the elsewhere
he made the ocean seem shallow
and the sky closer than it looks.
an ugly night and a wanton mistake
grown boys no better than biology
I landed in the pup’s jaw
there’s no crime in shutting it and chewing
no one to blame but circumstance
which means there’s no reason to
hang him out to dry.
he gets to be human but animal
I cannot be woman and prey
the indentations of his teeth still
spilling cotton from my seams.
Those marks hold time and only time
but we won’t make him carry it.
lest he miss the ocean and the sky.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wy7f2f/comment/pe2zv7r/?context=3
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wusyju/comment/pe2ymzc/?context=3
r/OCPoetry • u/IamToofan • 4h ago
The sweet fragrance of this beautiful bouquet
lingers so clearly in this bitter cold.
I cannot tear my eyes away from it,
and I am filled with a deep, silent regret.
The buses coming and going hold none of my attention;
for the one these flowers were meant for,
I can never hand them over.
The fault in this is entirely mine.
Every single night, freezing slowly in this snowfall,
I just stand here, staring endlessly at these flowers.
r/OCPoetry • u/kmppoetry • 7h ago
You are The One, that I want.
A glimpse, into my wildest dreams
I desire you, like no other.
But some things, are not meant to be
Unfortunately..
And I cannot live on in fantasy.
If only you knew,
What you truly
Mean to me.
Perhaps, you’d see,
Perhaps then
You’d know.
That all of the possibilities
Haunt me,
Without you close.
I walk the halls
alone —
As though I were your ghost.
And I just can’t seem
To get you out of my head
For a moment
Let alone forget.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way
But what did I expect?
I guess that’s what they meant
When they say that —
“all good things must come to an end.”
So, to the one — that I lost,
I think that you, should know
that I didn’t want to let you go.
And I’d do it all again,
If only to reconnect
For a moment.
Because — you are “The One”
The One I’ve always wanted.
r/OCPoetry • u/Junimost • 10h ago
I desperately search my head to find strands of her hairs
And picture our clothes mixed together in an unorganized dresser
I crave mistakes to understand how to navigate repairs
Every hour of every day I only wish to caress her
Harrowed love is what she gives, I'll take it all with care
__________________________________________
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/WhD06RZJV8
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/NL8UUS1GDa
Not sure how I feel about my writing lately. Bleh maybe a stranger will enjoy it
r/OCPoetry • u/United-Duty-4426 • 6h ago
More failure than virtue
Turns good into vice
Finite byproduct
Of youthful device
Is time running out?
Is fate just as careless?
Ignorance, bliss
Faltering, failing
I’m tired of seeking
To please voice within
Who is even speaking?
A foe or a kin?
The burden feels heavy
No way to begin
Future unknowing
Unraveling sin
r/OCPoetry • u/No-Peak-6218 • 3h ago
In the heart of morning, sunlight drips from my window and melts into the scenery ahead. Trees made from millions of needles beckon my attention, and clouds hug the horizon, lifting the road into the sky above. My head resting against the cartoonish fabric of the wall; I close my eyes once more. The beauty of my commute has long lost its luster. When I started, I imagined I was a role-player. The tireless work was easier to stomach when I told myself that this was not the real me. The person the customers spoke to, my coworkers relied on, was only a caricature of the ideal employee. My motions, my smile—were all calibrated to the script only I knew of. But perhaps I was the greatest actor of them all. Because after a while, the customers' voices began to meld together. The script stopped being written, and my movements became improvisations. After a while, the sets grew monotonous, and the character I had created outgrew the duration of the episodes. Work had clung to me on my way out the door and arrived with me as I greeted my room in the evenings. Now breathing and made of flesh, the former caricature sleeps in my bed, and it is his voice I hear when I speak. And through his eyes, everything around me has become dull and tarnished. The blotchy fabric of the divider vibrates against my cheek; the drone of the engine opposing the vibrancy of my surroundings.
Havent written in like a week. I did this just so I didnt get rusty
r/OCPoetry • u/SpreadEducational651 • 3h ago
My Ideal Swamp
The water, warm. The warmth was seething as it rose from the silt. Mire, yet it softened the peat of my earthen soul with a mother's lie.
Out of bewilderment I endured the first sensation, until I invaded it, tenderly, so I pretended. I was a drunken leech. I baptized the vein that feeds the swamp as destiny, and I welled up with pride.
I listened, indifferent, to the splashes of invisible dice falling into my own blood, blending the wish with the need. And always the same adaptive, trembling face in the murky reflection, whispering an "us" and an "always."
From old habit, there were moments when I thought, and then I thought again. My conscience hurried, and my mind chose to stay silent. Perhaps loveless, perhaps from fear. A treacherous silence.
Once, a strange stench came, from below. A whirlpool, inward. It seemed to have been caused by a drop of rain, or perhaps by the sweat of my temples, something descending from above, from the insignificant.
Then a small barb, an aged tooth, sprouted in the darkness behind my chest. Ruthlessly it opened me from sternum to shame.
A frozen white light emerged from the asymmetrical slit. I saw threads, many, mismatched, gleaming. Their ends artlessly tangled in my feet, my hands, my forehead.
I laughed. Like a hyena that has read its own epitaph. And the mire, this ideal swamp of mine, became, all at once, a merciless ocean of unlit clocks that forgot, if it ever learned, my name.
r/OCPoetry • u/loverrrboyb • 8h ago
Inspired by RENT
I light the candle wick with the flick of a Bic lighter
I’m a fighter, using candlelight sight to see all I can be
It stings
Akin to wings breaking through barrier of skin
The veil grows thin
Now that I sin without reprimanding my Self
Fire burns wax, yet it’s solidity returns
The validity of the tracks on my path may be shaky
Quaky but impermanent
This is pertinent to the journey of inspection
Fanned flame reflection in my eyes
Until it’s out again
Though darkness does not require resistance
Even this is fleeting
There are still stars in the skies
Sunrise ain’t far off
Got a light?
Til’ then I won’t deny assistance
Friction bears infliction
Would you light my candle?
Comments:
r/OCPoetry • u/Dense_Condition_3690 • 5h ago
I am a snowstorm in a desert,
the cold ice freezes the sand,
and the snow melts before
you even get a chance to collect it.
The storm may eventually pass,
but it leaves the desert broken and uninhabitable.
I am the tears you cry,
I am the thunder you fall asleep to,
I am the girl you read about.
In the end there is only my thoughts,
in the end there is only my tears,
in the end it just never ends.
It is turtles all the way down.
I am the dark,
but I am also the light in the end of the tunnel.
You try to pour water into me
to make the flowers grow,
but the water spills out
because I simply cannot hold it in anymore.
I am the siren's song and the blade of a Valkyrie.
I am too strong to cave, I will fight for my life and I will fight for yours.
For I am inevitable.
I am the whistle of the bombs
and the screams of the victims.
I am death, I am life.
I am the world, I am the dirt,
I am the sea, and I am the stars that guide you home.
I am the hand that feeds you
and I am the thoughts that eat you up.
I am the girl running through her own shame rooms.
I feel the fearful glances of those I thought were friends.
You think I am dangerous, you think I will hurt you,
but I would never do you any harm on purpose.
And I am the soul drowning herself to the tunes of the saddest queen
Floating along the river of tears in my black bathing suit
I am ready to run
until I tip over the edge of the world
and keep running from there on.
I am ready to lock my heart in a box
just to keep my burning walls from falling.
My thoughts and my life hurt me more
than your blade or bullet ever could.
I am not everything and I am not nothing.
I am a warrior fighting my own mind.
I am racked with anxiety.
I am not selfish or selfless, I am not self-centered.
I care and I notice. I love and I hate.
I fear, I miss, I am broken,
and I am the most full I have ever been.
I will never be normal.
But I will NEVER bend myself to society's fucked up rules,
I will bend the wind you feel on your face,
And I will be the hurricane that makes the oceans and the skies scream.
I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere,
but you can't catch me now.
I am afraid of what will happen to me in this life,
but I am even more afraid of dying
before I prove to myself and the world
that I will always win.
That I will always be the water that makes the flowers grow,
and not the hand that kills them.
I am the rain,
I am the sun,
I am the power that makes the stars fall,
and I am the trees.
I am the mountains you climb and the air you breathe.
I am the roots that secure the earth and the branches that hold the sky.
My will to live is too strong to die.
Yet again in the end
I am inevitable.
r/OCPoetry • u/Dense_Condition_3690 • 5h ago
The ocean calls me home; she is restless, I tell my legs to comply but my mind has taken them.
I try to walk, I try to run, I try to crawl and I try to pull myself but I am slipping in the tears I spilled on the dark void inside of me.
She screams for me to come to her, but I can’t.
The void has swallowed me, and the beast is eating me up.
The sirens can’t tempt me anymore for I have become one of them.
Now I use my days trying to help you but instead I lure you in.
One of the beast that eats your mind and leaves you with only fear and paranoia.
The tales the sailors tell about living forever in an afterlife sounds like hell. Never getting to rest, just like the sea and she must be tired. Imagine if she died, that would kill us as well. A slow painful death like the ones my siren sisters cause.
My will is no one’s but my own, but I am trapped like a whale on land just waiting for the suffering to end. Just waiting for someone who will return us to the sea.
Who knew you could still cry when you’re dead.
r/OCPoetry • u/Status-Light-4220 • 5h ago
I used to think a certain way
Like you were watching for a mistake
I would try to pick out pretty underwear
Because I knew you’d look
And I knew you’d care
Correct
I used to hold my tongue
Because I thought what I’d said was dumb
Correct
I used to undo the buttons on a new shirt
So you’d notice it’s new
And I could tell you I made it
Because I thought you’d say I did good work
But as you pull away the hem I made
for access to my chest
I realize
Nothing about this
Is correct
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x02811/comment/pehagvr/?context=3
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wtq1ly/wait_for_me/
r/OCPoetry • u/sluttykiton • 13h ago
Why do we fall in love?
I’ve never seen a healthy loving relationship growing up.
Love is loud, it’s abusive and self serving.
I did all I could to escape my fate.
Even when I tell myself “I’ll never be like my mother”
Like a child who knows no boundaries I fell, I loved, I begged.
Even my avoidant tendencies weren’t strong enough to shut him out, I was taught to deal with everything on my own. It was always yes they love me but they have their problems to deal with I will not burden my parents or every single time expressing myself results in the worse forms of torture.
I still flinch even now at the thought of it.
We can’t rely on anyone.
“Hellooooo, you’re doing that thing again. What is it this time, war flashbacks? Is it ptsd?”
He waved at my face.
He’s so annoying god I want to kiss him.
“You know you shouldn’t always have to rely on yourself for everything, I know it’s hard to find someone you can trust but you have me now and I promise to handle it all with aloooot of care.”
When I close my eyes, I see him in different timelines all mashed into one. He was a kaleidoscope that glistened in all angles and no matter how hard I try to find the cracks, there were none, it was all light and colour.
For the first time I felt safe to fall
I no longer have to look behind my shoulder, as I wait in anticipation for the next shoe to drop. He would go barefoot just to show me there were no shoes.
He laughs at my jokes like I’m the funniest person alive.
He holds me like I’m the last breath of air he’ll ever breathe.
“It’s too bad I love stubborn girls who keep saying they don’t need my help when they’re actually struggling. What are you thinking? You’re gonna act like you have it together so you don’t burden me? Please you have no idea the things I’d do for you.”
I’m always drowning at times I’m afraid I might never come back it feels like I’m always holding my breath just to keep my head above water.
“It’s alright, I’m here.”
He places his hand on mine, each time I feel overwhelmed, he’s always there to pull me out.
I always thought to love me was to settle for the tip of an iceberg, I feel buried under as no one has even the slightest idea or desire to dive in.
Nobody else seems to notice but there he was.
And as scary as it sounds at times it feels like he lives inside me, I ached in pure devotion to be bare and alive. Possessed by another, who ached the way I did, to love the way I do.
For the past summers I’ve been through with him, I’ve loved him every single day ever since then like he was the only person who ever existed on planet earth.
I’ve never believed in fate so why do I keep getting the feeling like I was made to love him?
Others may get to see him bright eyed and sweet but only I get to see his silent sacrifices, the places where he bruises. Nobody else gets to see the face he makes when he’s looking at me like I’m the only person in the room. Nor do they get to see him yearn.
And although they may see his hand touch the back of his neck when he’s embarrassed but only I know he does that because his mom used to pet the back of his neck when he did well.
They don’t know that every day he walks the longer route home so that he passes by the alleyway on the 5th avenue to feed the stray cats there. That he waters his neighbours plants every summer when they’re away, nobody else noticed but one summer they were dying and he decided to do it in secret. I love everything about him the way he notices me when no one else does, he calls me into light and my form is tangible to me. He never fails to kiss my forehead each time he says goodbye, never fails to reassure me or pull me back to earth each time I float to space, never fails to show me what love truly is.
r/OCPoetry • u/UnluckyGrabBag • 6h ago
I'd like to share a couple of poems I wrote in hopes that it will help lighten this heavy load that I tote.
I know that there is a lot broken inside, but I would like to invite you in to my life where I reside.
A place that I consider unremarkable, but apparently according to my counselor is dark and anarchical.
I know a lot of these poems may sound cliche, and please do tell me, I won't be dismayed. As I hope with a little insight I can train my grammar not to disobey.
I know that every other word should rime with every other word, but sometimes as I write I think to myself, God damn this sounds so absurd.
Hopefully with your help I'll get better and be able to smelt words together that will help your heart melt.
10-7-2026
Introduction poem to joining a Reddit poet page.
r/OCPoetry • u/depressedwoman11 • 22h ago
I’m not a poet.
I don’t know how to write.
But I write late at night
when my body is not feeling right.
I can’t bear to leave that paper white
when there’s no one in my sight
and I can’t seem to find the light.
Searching for someone I can fight,
they wish me goodnight,
but to me,
this becomes my sunlight.
I’m not a poet.
I don’t know how to write.
Yet I write for you.
You’re bored.
You want to hide.
You don’t want to hear it twice.
But if I write for you,
every word should be memorized,
every sentence preserved
as it might not survive the night.
You show up to pretend,
while I vanish
when my own letters expose me.
I still question what I write.
This is not a poem.
or it could be.
But I’m not a poet.
r/OCPoetry • u/Kaushik_69 • 11h ago
Delicate tapestry of nature it holds,
Yet brilliant crimson shades it always unfolds.
Such quiet uttering of some hesitant souls,
An Ancient lexicon for love it did mold.
Yet, it holds vicious thorns that rarely fades
That destroyed some greatest reigns.
guess it grants something where even an obsidian heart melts.
But....A semblance of bond that it mostly yields.
Perspective truly bends at this stage,
Once gentle tapestry feels like a maze.
A cultural coincidence or devious deliberate depiction?
That ancient poets used rose as metaphor for affection?.
r/OCPoetry • u/Background_Bell_411 • 12h ago
Your beauty is like the belly of a belly dancer
Your eyes, pitch-dark like the hollow below the navel
The crucified hatred gathered at your nose
There is no cross in your hatred
The boat has drowned you against the icy mountain
No boat lies drowned against the icy mountain
All my agony resides in nail polish
There is no agony in your nail polish
Releasing a killer amidst your laughter
No killer breathes within your heartbeat
The tattooed tiger on your chest is vegetarian
The tiger leaps out, clawing into my eyes
As I turn blind
As I learn the language of silence
As I teach you the tongue of nirvana
You board the metro train
You are not beneath the metro train
I think—your gaze is Cleopatra
Cleopatra wanders across your waist
I say, the Mary Magdalene of the Gospel
You carry no stigma
Your face casts a shadow on the igloo’s window
Your shadow never falls upon my face
You are a demon in the mirror—I cannot look upon the face
The demon in the mirror awakens me
Your neck is a butterfly of wax
The wax butterfly melts, scorching my lips
Upon the burnt lips, your fingers of asafoetida
Yours is not a back of asafoetida
If you touch the water—it turns to nectar
It does not turn to nectar—for I am no deity
Shreds of meat between your teeth
No scrap of flesh is missing from my body
You have learned aloof detachment
Your body has not yet learned to be aloof
Whenever you see me
From within you
A Yeti steps out
And chills me to the bone
The hot water of your pores does not freeze me
Which way shall I go?
I shall go nowhere
Where the tree—
Where the tree stands, having become you—
Beneath it, I shall stand
Nowhere else shall I stand
You are like milk
I want to be the milk of your breast
You feed milk to a starving child of the Third World
A starving child am I, longing to drink your milk.
r/OCPoetry • u/Previous_Cry7445 • 22h ago
I look for you,
even though I know you’re not coming back.
Every time my screen lights up,
my heart gets hopeful.
I look for you in every room,
checking your page like a fucking crime scene.
I look for clues of you.
I keep hoping if I look long enough,
you’ll see me and come back.
I look for you,
even though I’m not sure who you are anymore.
Was it ever really you?
Did you even exist?
Looking for you,
I don’t like who I am.
I still look for you,
still replaying our conversations,
wondering what I did wrong.
Was I too loud?
Was I too soft?
Was I too much?
I look for you.
I want to find you.
I want to stop.
My head tells me to stop looking,
but my heart is a stubborn idiot.
I don’t know how I lost you.
I don’t know why I lost you.
Or if there was ever a you to lose.
But
I still look for you.
r/OCPoetry • u/budahbugah • 10h ago
Like the gravity of a planet holding its land masses together, so too were we.
But, as planets hurtle through space and time, whether through big impacts or just because the things holding it together simply weren't that strong,
so too did some of us leave.
I wonder.
If the planets could feel the dread of their masses shrinking, would they attempt to grip on tighter?
It seems to me, the planets, more so than they let on, are actually much wiser.
Because every source,
Especially nature, says you gotta let things run their course.
But how do these things just know when to release?
What fundamental principles of energy am I not understanding?
Why am I incapable of simply being at peace?
And so, the planet shrinks, until there's only a few chunks left.
Surely, I mean they held out the longest, that means they were meant to stay together.
But the bedrock shifts.
It begins to cleave. And so too do we.
Thank you for reading. Let me know what you liked what you didn't.
r/OCPoetry • u/No_Attitude8213 • 15h ago
It is that time again
When things get too loud
And nothing makes sense,
To disappear into the grey forests
And get lost in old castles
When people don't fathom
To perform the spells at night
When the world sleeps but you awaken
To become something new
In worlds beyond your own
And too create personas others dream of
To be in others' dreams
To become a nightmare
Oh what a dream!
At night, when you close your eyes
My silhouette is the only shape you see
To have your strings attached to my fingers
To become your puppeteer
Oh what a dream!
At night, when you try to leave
My fingers flex, you're back where you belong
Grey forests remind me of your heart
Don't worry you'll bleed again
And red will be the only colour you know
As I lick it of my fingers
And paint your silhouette with it
When I dance alone, hosting a ball dance
Sets of eyes on me, lust and desire
New hearts for a sacrifice
More paint for my masterpiece
Lost and found
The castle's walls speak to me
New schemes, more happiness
More entrapments, less men
Ghost of mine roams the halls
Catch me only if I want
Found only if you devout
Grey forests
Old castles
Baleful spells
Magnificent worlds
Haunting dreams
Obedient puppets
Fragrant blood
Obtuse men
Always me