Profile Photo

Where Rivers WanderOffline

    • Profile picture of Ghosteen

      Ghosteen wrote a new post

      Week in the Life of an Insomniac's Dreams

      Monday    I travelled through the night to try and find you    Tuesday    Awake in the far away  it could be July or December,  bones rattled under sleeping blankets  like a beggar’s hand cupped to receive silver    Wednesday    Perchance to dream my way back to  the music of our rains  and...

      Read More
      2 Comments
      • Rob, your poem drifts like a half-remembered dream, tender and yearning. Each day carries longing, memory, and desire. The way you reach for someone across nights and cities is heartbreakingly beautiful. Even sleeplessness feels like a lover in your words.

        Beautifully done

        • Thank you Roma. Life becomes a two-storey building collapse, with past on one level and present on the other. The trick is to navigate through the rubble.

    • Profile picture of Ghosteen

      Ghosteen wrote a new post

      'No Dad, We Won't Be Home Tonight'

      For eighteen months before   alzheimer’s shred his soul  I trapped my father’s voice  in the answering machine    Palimpsest of tobacco teak  lay over his Nottingham dialect,  did Robin Hood fire similar phonemes  into the deepest of oak?      The familiar sibilants which once read me into  other universes in...

      Read More
      7 Comments
      • My father had dementia. I have written notes but no answering machine voice which would be really great. You’re lucky. You have some unique writing here. Glad I read this. Good one.

      • I wasn’t expecting the pictures this painted with words. It was so vivid that I could feel those memories even though they weren’t my own.

      • That’s a really moving and powerful piece. The way you capture your father’s voice and the layers of memory, from the “palimpsest of tobacco teak” to the echo of his working life, is just beautiful. It really makes you feel the weight of what’s been lost and the preciousness of that preserved memory.

        • Many thanks Roma. We lost our parents in the same week in separate Nursing Homes. Almost surreal.

      • Profound ink Ghosteen.

        Bat

    • Profile picture of Styxian

      Styxian wrote a new post

      White Coin

      Too many years wasted, life poorbecause I spent them unwisely.So quick to be a have-not,squandering a wealth of days. Befitting then, to staya silhouette, asideyour passing light.My hat in my hands;have mercy for me.Be as generous as I hope you are.May the moon that glows upon you,be a white coin, enriching my night. Someday, when I burn,when what's left of mewill be urn'dinto crack-rocks of bone,chop me, linear and longlike I always was,with a starter credit card.Pretend I wasn'tso close to worthless after all. But, I can't stop you,if you want,from laying me pronein the ground.Holding me down,with a tombstone;Come read, anytimewhat I meant to you.A love that went away,spent with quartersof the partial moon. ~ I will tell the other ghoststhat we were fantastical.You, a unicornwith your black mane, andpiercing eyes.One of a kind, thatI, the dragonleft the hollowof my mountain for. I faked fire with my words.Yet it still felt warmwhen you were cold.And with you whenI stretched in bed,arms overhead,it was the closestI ever came to flying.As your smile offeredsilent applause.Maybe that was my best-effort at rising, eclipsingthat white coin.And I can saythat I was a dragon once. ~ Tonight, still alive,I crack the window;a slot between glass and sill.The one white coin slips through,and I'll spend my portion on you.With all of your ample generosity;It's the least I can do. ~~~

      Read More
      14 Comments
      • I’m proud to say I’m a writer when I read poems like this. It has integrity and image. You’re a great writer, Styx.

      • Well I’m glad that you continue to write in here, Tim. To me, this is a group effort for all of us to enhance our abilities.
        For years, decades even, I kept my material mostly to myself. A shy writer. LOL. Yet, no, open up and give and take.
        Thanks for your encouragement Tim. I do try.

      • This is sweet and has many layers to it. I do like the way you say the moon is a coin.

        • Hello Fia!
          I liked the idea and then I just wrote. But I had no idea where it would go or what the outcome would be. I surprise myself sometimes, with my results. I’m an audience to my own writing, if that makes sense!
          Thank you for the nod, too.

      • This poem reads like a quiet confession beneath the moonlight. I love how the “white coin” becomes a symbol for time, memory, and love — spent, lost, and offered again. The dragon and unicorn imagery gives it a fable-like weight, while the emotions remain deeply human. It’s wistful, tender, and quietly generous in its final offering.

        • Thank you for that thoroughly kind comment. I wasn’t sure what I was after, when I decided to start writing “something’. So it is sort of a mosh perhaps. The contemplations of life and love making it through it all, I suppose?
          Your comment is quite generous, thank you.

      • Your use of symbolism is a joy my friend.

        • Everything is something…
          As I age, I’m trying not to be a hoarder! LOL. Yet I like lots of random things, trinkets, etc. But I do need to thin out my stuff. I may be moving sooner rather than later.

      • Oh how to comment on this! It’s stunning and heartfelt.
        Truly an epic write. My eyes got a little teary and my smile kept smiling throughout the whole read.
        Each section took me somewhere new but the emotion carried over smoothly.

        What a talent you are and a blessing:)

        • Well, I am definitely blessed the past few years. Finding DUP, and the many talented and electic writers, seemed to have inspired me to write more.
          And then, you. Incredible fortune to have you in my life, baby. I love you.

      • Beautifully penned, Mark. Into the book it belongs! Love the depth and layers of this one my friend, excellent storytelling per usual. Appreciate you.

        Damian

        • Thank you Sir Damian. I’m surrounded by some wonderful writers in here, so I have to pull my weight yaknow! LOL

      • Kinda like a romantic Lord Of The Ring or Game of Thrones, like this along with your word play within the piece. Tight

        • What’s up!
          I feel that too many times my endings suck. LOL. Yet I tend to ramble too long in a write as well. I’ve been working on shortening my writes lately. Hopefully it pays off.
          I was definitely looking at this as a bit of a romanticism, yes. Not over done though. Sappy is softening us all. LOL

    • Profile picture of Fia Naturie
      Profile Photo
      Fia Naturie
      @fianaturie
    • Profile picture of Ghosteen

      Ghosteen wrote a new post

      The Paper Streets of Bittersmith-on-Sea

      We created an imaginary town  so we could drape our bodies  over sky furniture    Wed into badly drawn chapel  we spoke in ghost as ectoplasm spears,  stitched haunted mist    to cold lips of yesterday    River libraries flowed requiescat verse  into the shopping centre hospital;  intensive care was just...

      Read More
      4 Comments
      • Once I read sky furniture I knew this was going to be a unique read with
        lots of imagination.
        Then river libraries flowed.
        Just wow. I loved where this took me.

      • The last two lines are epic. It’s a creative write throughout, yes, and the ending sends it higher. What a strong wording, thick with the weight of thought. It’s what makes us better readers, when taking on such things as this. No fluffy bunnies. Bears and wolves with a pen.

        • Think this needs some re-working to be candid Mark, but such compliments from writers (and people) like your good selves, somehow make it worthwhile.

    • Load More Posts

    My Friends

    Profile Photo
    Styxian
    @styxian
    Profile Photo
    thoughtsdie
    @thoughtsdie
    Profile Photo
    Atticus Abbey
    @bonjour
    Profile Photo
    BSavvy
    @bsavvy
    Profile Photo
    Bat Powers
    @batpowers

    My Recent Posts

    New Report

    Close