Last year, I published my poetry I wrote over the summer on here and I enjoyed putting out the content that I decided I would do it again this year!
Most of you know that for the past few years, I have went back to school. I'm majoring in Creative Writing. Poetry is one of the classes I had to take for my degree and so I decided to share what poems I wrote over the past year! Here I will share with you the poem and the story behind the poem: what were my inspirations, why would I write this kind of poem, etc.
So, let's begin!
Poem 1: First Love
This was the very first poem I started to write this year. I just finished watching a show on Netflix called First Love. The show was inspired by the music of Utada Hikaru, my favorite singer. I even reviewed the show, you can read my review here. After watching that show I listened to the song on a loop (Still do) and was curious about the idea of why we infatuate about first love.
I sit at our park bench and wait each day Even though, I know I won't see you there. To look out in memory, my mind plays I still hear you laugh, and still smell your hair. To hold your hand again is all I want, But I remind myself that you are gone; All you wanted to do was flirt and flaunt. I just can't get over you, my dear swan, Please come and save me. My heart longs for you, If it's only for a moment, that's fine. Embracing your presence, I won't feel blue, I only want to feel your hand in mine. Will I see you before the days complete? For you see you are my first love, my sweet.
I wanted the poem to have a love feeling to it, so I wrote it as a sonnet. I felt it would fit the mood I was trying to sell to the readers. It was a fun one to tell a story about. I started with someone on a bench and asked myself, "Why would they wait this long? What would be the reasoning?" and the idea of first love came into my head and that was it.
Poem 2: If you only knew my feelings for you
I promise, this is the last love poem. I just wanted to get the love poems out of the way to get to my favorite poems! There wasn't much to this poem that inspired me. One night, I thought of the line, "If you only knew my feelings for you" and I thought it would be good to put in a poem. It really has the tortured love story that fits most poetry (Not saying all poetry is about that; but most are).
If you only knew my feelings for you
I did not plan to find you appealing,
But I know I’ll be left alone and blue.
Bottling up my thoughts of you heads me to
An emotional collision, peeling,
If you only knew my feelings for you.
I am like an actor missing my cue,
My heart is a gun I’ve tried concealing
But I know I’ll be left alone and blue.
When I saw your smile that’s when I knew
It was all of me that you were stealing
If you only knew my feelings for you.
My love’s like a tumor that only grew,
You, the antidote, would help the healing,
But I know I’ll be left alone and blue.
I’m a detective, searching for a clue,
You have kept me on a film loop, reeling;
If you only knew my feelings for you,
But I know I’ll be left alone and blue.
I wrote one draft and my teacher told me to go deeper with the imagery. That is what made this poem more enjoyable!
Poem 3: Locked Out
Now this is where the fun begins with my poetry writing! This poem started it all. One day, I had to get a rental for a few days because of an accident I was in (don't worry, it wasn't my fault and I'm fine) and the rental car had automatic keys. That means, for those who don't know like I didn't know, that as long as the keys were nearby the car—it would unlock. Well, I was used to my car not doing that. One day after work, I was heading to my car and realized my keys weren't in my bag..... Yes, I did that... I left the keys in the car...... A rental car.... I worried the whole time that I wouldn't get in my car. Luckily, since the keys were in the car AND it was one of those cars, I was able to get in and go home. But I thought about, the whole walk to the car, what I would do if I was locked out. That was when I realized, this needed to be a poem.
What would I do if locked out of my car?
Would I search frantically for the car keys,
Or would I settle at a local bar?
The day could be an adventure for me:
I could go to the beach for a nice tan,
Or settle for coffee and feel bitter.
I could spend hours shopping like a madman,
Or walk home, accepting I’m a quitter.
I could get sweaty dancing at a club,
Or get popcorn at the movies alone.
I could fill my belly on greasy grub,
Or sit on the side of the road and groan.
The adventures to be had if I roam,
But I found the keys and instead went home.
This poem gave me the thrill and inspiration to want to write more poems! It gave me a passion for poetry writing!
Poem 4:
Now we go dark for a moment... The thing I can't stand about society is how we have let Earth decay. Still, as you're reading this, we allow this to happen. If you know me, you'll know that I can't stand seeing trash in our trees and bushes. I can't stand our trash being outside of the trash cans... I see it is common EVERY DAY I WALK MY DOG. One day, I got so fed up and wrote this poem. We have failed this planet and it is disgusting.
Nature is dying because of mankind,
We have strip-mined the land killing its trees,
Our extinction is already outlined.
We run this world with our eyes covered blind,
Our fears have killed most animals, and bees,
Nature is dying because of mankind.
To help would go against our selfish mind,
We instead, sit back and watch the world freeze,
Our extinction is already outlined.
The research, to save us isn’t hard to find
But we’re absorbed in greed, that no one sees,
Nature is dying because of mankind.
A deadly fate for us has been assigned,
We hunted the world for our own appease,
Our extinction is already outlined.
The world was happy—peace and light aligned—
All to be ruined by war and disease,
Nature is dying because of mankind;
Our extinction is already outlined.
The saddest thing I realized as I wrote this poem is that we see it right before our eyes that we are killing this world—and yet, we do nothing.
Poem 5: The Writer's Block Within Me
BACK TO FUN POEMS!! Towards the end of my semester, I needed two more poems to write and I STRUGGLED to write anything. Sometimes, my brain just needs a break from everything, even writing. I realized this semester, that I have an inner demon within me... That demon: The Writer's Block. He comes and goes as he pleases. I have thought of great lines and story—but when it came to writing it down? I was tricked by the evil trickster!
The Writer’s Block within me
Causes me to lose words at the most inconvenient times.
In my mind, I express my deepest thoughts;
But on paper, my words become vacant.
My imagination shuffles around in my mind,
Urging to escape its eternal fate.
It calls for adventure, for finding love at long last,
It calls for fear and for death—all for the life of fiction.
A protagonist and antagonist wrestle within me all day long,
Living and breathing through me. I create them from within:
They talk, walk, and feel through me.
I try to remember all the words that scramble in my head,
Only to forget them when I reach the paper.
Sparks of brilliance only last but a moment, then
I go back to staring at the blank white page.
My brain becomes increasingly indecisive,
Twirling into a mess of nothingness.
Even as I sleep, I feel my imagination stirring and turning.
The stories live inside me: talking to me,
Fighting with me and finally, avoiding me.
I bottle them up and hide them away until
I’m ready for the big step forward.
The stories haunt me until I can’t take it anymore,
It becomes time to commit.
I pick up my pen, only to face
The Writer’s Block within me.
Well, now the joke's on him! He is now a poem I can look back on and laugh! Muwahahahahaha!
Poem 6: In My Car
I know it'll be dangerous and scary to admit this, but I wrote this poem while I was driving. Not like it sounds! It was at red lights... LONGGGGGG red lights..... that I wrote this poem. I'm not that crazy of a driver. At least, I don't think.... What made me write this, while driving, was two reasons:
My Writer's Block is a bitch.
I realized I was making up stories in my head, like one does, when I was driving. I had silly stories and ideas of who I was and I realized, probably others feel the same way! So, I had to write it!
When I’m in my car—I’m who I want to be.
The road seems endless with every mile I pass,
I am isolated with my thoughts and
Where life could take me.
I am a singer,
Performing to a sold-out crowd in my back seat.
I win every argument,
Knowing all the perfect things to say when you’re not around.
I am in an action movie,
Increasing my speed to escape the bad guys.
I am an explorer
When I take the wrong turn.
I am a beautiful stranger
That you meet at the intersection and never see again.
I am my own boss
In charge of time, speed, and direction.
I am untouchable
When I’m in my car.
I am who I want to be.
Now, I didn't write ALL of this in my car (In case you were wondering). No, I wrote little lines down like "I am isolated with my thoughts and where life could take me" when I was thinking of those lines, I knew I had to write this!!
Poem 7: Kage no Otoko
This is one, if you know me, you're familiar with! Kage no Otoko, aka The Shadow Man translated in English, is one story I hold near (and dear) to my heart! I knew when I had to write another poem for class, this would be one I wanted. I originally wrote it all in English. I wanted Japanese, but felt no one would like it. I really have enjoyed writing in Japanese. My teacher spoke to me about the English translation and told me it wasn't scary enough. I told her where the story came from and the original title, and she told that sounded a lot more scarier and edgy than what I wrote. She also told me to "go nuts" with the Japanese. And I did...
Kage no Otoko
It is said to be a legend, but is he real?
He comes to take you when you cannot sleep.
He is watching from the corner of the room;
Kare wa kage kara miteimasu.
Try to sleep before the morning comes,
Byou yomi ga hajimaru.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
If you see him in the night, hide your hands,
Or he will take you away into a deep sleep, into the shadows.
Shivers will run down your spine, as you freeze in horror,
Me wo tojite. Hyaku nete. Oki nai de.
Kage no Otoko will take you away,
Hinode mae ni.
Sleep now, you’re losing time.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Hikari. Yami. Tsune ni Kage ga arimasu.
You’ll hear him breathe, but will never see him,
If you do, pray he never takes you.
Ignore the sounds he makes to get your attention.
That’s not a tree branch tapping at your window;
That’s not the bedroom door creaking, yukkuri hiraku.
It’s him, coming to get you as you lose another hour.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Beware Kage no Otoko, the man in the shadows:
He has sharp teeth,
White eyes,
Long claws.
Mada netenai?
Don’t let him sense your fears, or
You will not see tomorrow.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Hashitte, hashitte, hashitte.
Sweat will run down your face, as you try to escape.
Hashitte, hashitte.
The cold air will slowly creep all around you.
Hashitte.
It is too late. The morning is here.
Kage no Otoko wa koko ni imasu.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
I already wrote the poem in complete Japanese AND made an animated short film out of it, which, you can watch here! This poem just adds to my collection!
So, that's it for the poems I wrote this year! Which one was your favorite and why?! I hope you enjoyed my poems! I'll release my short story prose I wrote VERY SOON!
Let me know what you think and thank you for reading!!
HAPPY SUMMER!!
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