Poetry – Page 7 – OVERVIEW AFFECTED

Beneficial Dysphoria

December 28, 2017December 28, 2017 Bradley Ward

I feel too much.
I have emotions that are far stronger than most people understand.
I feel my guts in knots over the slightest things.

I was a pushover.
I was a doormat.
To many people at too many times.
Maybe I’ve swung too much in the other direction.
Maybe my insecurity makes me seem prideful.
I’m just trying to stay out of the fetal position.

I’ve found myself in the stars.
I’ve found myself in freckles.
When stars and freckles aren’t present I’m often lost.
Am I really independent after all?

I’m a perfectionist about the things that don’t matter to other people.
I let the things that do slip through the cracks.
Am I determined to myself but lazy to others?

Maybe I’m too aware of the cracks in my personality.
Maybe I should step back and learn to live without worry.
Maybe I should pretend that’s even a possibility for me.
Is there such a thing as beneficial dysphoria?

Poetry

Relate

December 19, 2017December 19, 2017 Bradley Ward

via Daily Prompt: Relate

It’s you and me in this nightmare
That’s as often as pleasant as it is painful
Shared dreams, shared cracks in the shell
Humanity intertwined

Let’s not forget each other in the maze
My dead ends need your ways through
And my soul needs the one that belongs to you

Poetry

Daily Prompt: Patina

December 4, 2017December 4, 2017 Bradley Ward

via Daily Prompt: Patina

Years are a purifier
Straining and sifting
Polishing the edges
Gems refined

You and I are rough hewn stones
Pulled from the dirt
And returning to it
Wizened by time

There is value in age
A shimmer to experience
Lessons learned
Gems refined

Poetry

Clarity

November 29, 2017May 28, 2018 Bradley Ward

Take these hands
Or at least one of them
And pull me along
Through twisted trees

I want the adventure of a lifetime
But more than once
Every sun setting
On a lesson learned

I won’t accept the blur
The draining of the seasons
Into passing memories
Unremembered

Poetry

Gingerly

November 10, 2017November 10, 2017 Bradley Ward

via Daily Prompt: Gingerly

There is a fine line
Between trudging wearily
And walking lightly

I’ve danced back and forth
Across that line
Anxiety will do that to a person

In a moment
The tide can turn
From fear to elation
From panic to relief
Back again

In spite of my body
My emotions dance gingerly
Atop the nerves

Poetry

Faint

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017 Bradley Ward

via Daily Prompt: Faint

I’ve felt it two hundred thousand times
The rush of blood to the head
Dizziness that only barely masks the adrenaline
An unholy fear that this will be the end of you

Triggered by what?
Confrontation
Arguments
Expectations

Last night
Shaking
136 beats per minute

Is this normal?
It is for me