Working Title 7/12/18 (MSP Poetry Curation)

And then I will be less alone
than i feel now
here
in this hollow thicket
of razored briars
and sinful petals
and broken metals
that can't fix anything
anymore.

Swing Thoughts by @paintingangels is stunningly beautiful. She uses symbolism and diction in such a magical way, with an excellent placement of text in the center. I can't recommend this poem enough!

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Generate an income
on thoughts and prayers and
sweat and tears. When trees
are down, lift them up. Re-root
them in the manure of your life.
That shit has to be good for some
thing.

Thoughts, Prayers, and Other Sh** by @shawnamawna discusses why people should offer more legitimate resources to people who are suffering. Shawna is one of my favorite poets on steemit, and you should read everything she writes.

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The goal of a good poem is to encapsulate a single theme/idea in a way in which the reader can unpack it in their minds and turn it from words on a page to actual experience. Does this sound like something that’s hard to do? It should – poets spend a long time in practice getting these things right, and you’ll never get to your best stuff on a single draft poem.

Poetry Editing 101 Session 8 by @damianjayclay has some fantastic advice for editing your poetry. You should absolutely check out the other sessions, as well, if you're a poet. Even regular writers can benefit from much of the information. I also really appreciate how this helps the community- informative poetry posts are a great way to build community, and improve the quality of what we are all creating.

telling me to run
stand still,
do everything
do nothing,
that it all matters and
that none of it matters at all.
You don’t necessarily tell me different. You just, make the thoughts slow.

Dear Xanax by @betterbeing is an interesting poem that explores the issues of mental health. There are some serious complications- often people think that mental illnesses don't exist, or can be solved through "natural ways", rather than medication- there's not a lot of understanding for people who have found medication to be the best solution to their issues, for them. I think in the end it needs to go both ways.

Voiceless –
What is the point of language
when “No” is rejected
and “Stop” is ignored?

Voiceless by @poetrybyjeremy explores some hard hitting issues of consent. This was tagged "me too"- I highly recommend it.

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Art and pull quotes are sourced from individual posts
Reflections are the property of Sunravelme