creative writing

Humid Goodbyes – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
The air is thick with condensation and regret
that we chose to make our homes here when
we knew they'd fall apart eventually.
August's unforgiving sun beats down on us,
one last bout of humiliation before we admit
this wasn't the place for us and we need to leave.
Sweat trickles down the back of my neck, and my
legs, and the crooks of my elbows.
We knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

I hope you enjoyed this short poem! I am not a fan of the humidity, and the heat wave in California as I’m writing this (a week ago by the time it’s posted) is hitting me hard. What a way to end the summer, right? Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

I’ll Come Begging – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
Repeated statements and one-sided
conversations, empty words, cutting
remarks, and awkward smiles.
All on the menu when we interact, 
not knowing what is genuine and
what is a joke between two people
bound by blood.
Guilt often settles in my stomach
like a bad lasagna dish at lunch,
but it only boils over to make
me angrier and lob pointed
insults I'll later regret. 
Don't expect me to come back and
mend what has been frayed for
so long, but don't expect me to 
go away.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was slightly longer than a lot of the pieces I’ve been posting lately, so that’s progress 🙂 Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Keep Moving – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
I miss when all we wanted
was for things to speed
up, the trees and melted sky 
blurring in the rearview
mirror. 

Climbing under tables 
in both restaurants 
and at home, 
unshaven, knobby legs 
running down
the streets and embracing 
the cuts and scrapes
that come with falling.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! My sixteenth birthday was a little while ago, and I’m kind of hitting a point where I actually wish time was slowing down a bit. I mean I don’t actually want it to slow down, but I can appreciate the childhood I so desperately wanted to fly by when I was younger. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Let’s Talk: Struggling to Finish Longer Poems

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Today we’re going to be talking about something I’ve had difficulty with recently: trying to work on longer poems/longer pieces of writing in general. Most of the pieces I post on this blog are fairly short anyways, but even outside of blogging I’ve gotten stuck after writing the beginnings of a ton of different poems. It might be a result of my scattered brain at the moment, but there’s more to it than that. If you want to hear more of my thoughts on this, keep on reading!

First of all, I want to make sure I clarify that it’s completely fine (without a doubt) if you prefer to write short poems or if you prefer to write long poems or if you like writing everything/don’t have a preference, or if you don’t like to write poetry at all! This is just a short commentary on my recent experience with the length of my poems, since I’ve been posting short pieces almost exclusively.

There’s so much on my plate right now with the school year starting and trying to transition my other activities/responsibilities to a virtual or social distancing-friendly format, and I don’t have as much built-in time in my schedule reserved for writing right now. I’m not happy about it, but it’s what has to happen in order for me to get everything done and not rush myself with necessary tasks. As a result, I’m having little bursts of creativity throughout the week that I’ll scrawl down.

A lot of times, these bursts of creativity come in one or two lines, or an image I want to incorporate. I’ve been writing them on a fresh page of my notebook, taking them as far as I can before I lose my train of thought, and then just leaving them to sit until I can revisit them. By the time I can revisit them, it often feels disingenuous to engineer an ending to my thoughts, and I often want to leave them as they are, a few dainty lines dancing across the page with possibility.

Maybe the perfect endings to these ideas will come to me just as the beginnings did, but for now, I’m not really in a place where I can brainstorm and spend hours deliberating on what direction to take the pieces in. I’m missing my summer writing workshop and the hours we spent discussing and cultivating writing… regardless of that, I don’t want to stop writing until I have time to work on it more seriously, as writing keeps me sane and is sort of a coping mechanism even when I can’t do it as much as I would like to.

In the first phases of quarantine, I had sooooo much time to write and think and edit and deliberate on more writing, and I kind of miss that. Isn’t it crazy how different our quarantine situation has become over time? I would love to hear your thoughts on this and what your writing headspace/situation is at the moment.

Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. I would love to hear from you! Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Flash Flood – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
There are many things that don't stop
when you ask them to, and tears are 
one of them.

They flood the streets, leaving me 
stranded with my emotions and too
much time to think about them.

I'll watch them carry away what
I took for granted as stable, 
nothing left behind or visible.

Sound the alarm, get to high ground--
there's no guarantee when the 
waters will calm again.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I know I said I’d try to have some longer poems in the works but I struggle to finish them…I’d love to hear your thoughts on that and possible prompts/challenges/inspiration in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Brooke

Invisible Hug – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
Six feet apart with no physical contact,
I wish I could at least feel your warmth,
have the wind swirl around me and the
air feel comfortably hot, just for a moment.
The way a warm night tickles your bare 
skin, the Earth telling you "I love you"
over and over again.
Let's both imagine it right now, let
the heat seep into our skin-- we can feel
the same feelings.

I hope you enjoyed this short piece! I cannot believe summer’s coming to an end; although that wasn’t directly addressed in this poem, I feel like it kind of relates. I hope you all had wonderful summers. 🙂 Feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there. Fall’s around the corner!

Brooke

Seeking Comfort – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
it's hot and humid but I can't help wanting 
to curl up under blankets and watch movies
and drink hot chocolate; nothing's guaranteed
and we're stuck inside, so why don't we pretend
it's winter and wait for the snow that won't fall?
I'm ready for lights and tree-scented candles
and cable-knit sweaters we'll replace with hoodies
and sweatpants and we settle into this comfort
even more. there's making ourselves comfortable,
and there's the fact that i'm comforted by you.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I’m honestly ready for winter and the holidays– if we have to be inside and quarantined, I want to have that coziness! Winter’s my favorite season 🙂 Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

It’s Never Quiet – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
We can always find the chaos to envelope us, and
there's a faint (or not-so-faint) buzzing in our ears.

People build and tear down buildings everyday,
and birds still continue to chirp their high-pitched calls.

We become silent and listen, but there is always noise
outside. If we talked over the noise, would it really be

any louder? This world is big enough for us all to share
our voices.

I hope you enjoyed this short piece! I’m really trying to work on some longer pieces, but my mind is so scattered right now and I have so many separate ideas that it’s hard to stay on the subject of one idea for a long time. I’m working on it 🙂 Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

In Control – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
Driving on the freeway, cars and lights blur by
and become one. Nowhere to go but straight,
everyone moving onward. Observe each driver,
each car. We are all in control of our own vehicles,
but what has brought us to these roads in the first
place? I don't feel like driving anymore. I want 
to watch sunrises and sunsets without the glass
and metal between.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I know it was really short. I’ve spent a lot of time commuting from place to place in my life, and there’s definitely times where I’ve felt particularly annoyed by it and wanted to boycott cars and driving (not very realistic). Please feel free to leave comments and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

I Want To Know – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
I want to learn alongside you about places
far from here, what colors the sky turns 
on the other side of the globe 
(are they the same as the colors we see here?)
how deep is the ocean really, and what
lurks beneath the waters in the places
unmapped and unknown to man
what local delicacies lie in markets waiting to be
discovered by our watering mouths
let's go visit and find out for ourselves

I hope you enjoyed this piece! There’s so much we don’t know about the world…there’s even so much we don’t know about ourselves. I’m the kind of person who wants to absorb as much knowledge as I can, and there’s so many questions like this that I ponder. Please feel free to share feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke