Poetry Collection by Makkris
by maikkris on October 1, 2026. © maikkris
Famine/Starve
Homelessness
Dispossession
Catastrophe
Dehydration
Devastation
Malnutrition
Punishment
Boy with severe burns over his entire body
Annihilation
Obliteration
Deprivation
Decimation
Destitution
Casualties
Schoolgirl with infected shrapnel wounds to her head
Desolation
Orphaned
Slaughter
Sociocide
Atrocities
Domicide
Carnage
Disaster
Disease
Anguish
Fatality
Despair
Woman clutching a newborn lost to lack of medical care
Trauma
CRISIS
Moms. Dads. Sons. Daughters.
People.
Author notes
Whether or not the conditions in Gaza meet the legal threshold for genocide means nothing to the people suffering. When a legal definition of a word causes us to lose our humanity, we need new words. Listed above are words that do not require such a specific legal threshold.
This should not be about governments, Hamas, October 7th, or even religion. Not anymore. This is about basic human rights and people dying. It’s not that people are unaware of Hamas’s recognized use of civilians as human shields. But that doesn’t mean you just ignore the shield. These are people.
by maikkris on September 26, 2026. © maikkris
reflections golden under summer sun
we ran until the day was nearly done
the hallways held our footsteps in the light
as windows watched us disappear from sight
the churchyard stretched beyond our little lot
and all the world seemed ours, or so we thought
beyond the trees, the evening gathered deep
we knew no word for what it came to keep
weeds growing tall with paths hard to cross
a smile now gone, measured by its cost
the fields were green, the skies remained blue
but childhood slowly faded from our view
time watched the parking lot growing bare
as people left, no longer staying there
some rooms lost their light as evening fell
and a darkness hid what no one could tell
grass growing high along the chain-linked ledge
the trees kept turning toward the sun's edge
years passed and changed the world we thought we'd known
but in that frame, the same light still shone
the corners curled, the paper yellowed thin
the light fading where a face had been
yet through the glass, the old field still shone
the grass and the trees stood as they had grown
i think the picture kept what we had lost
a little world before we’d known the cost
held windows, parking lots, and climbing trees
but not the child who moved through the breeze
the photograph grew older in my hand
while weeds took back the edges of the land
the churchyard closed behind its iron screen
and nothing said of what had once been seen
it seems a fence was put in all around
not for our safety, but to hold their ground
no line was ever drawn around the field
while a deeper truth would remain concealed
Author notes
my poem began with a recent photograph of the place where i had spent several years of my early childhood. what i saw was a fence across from the front of the building, where there had been none. that small change opened questions about my childhood, memory, boundaries, and what we may not have had the words to understand at the time. the fence may be quite literal, but also so much more… my piece is deliberately ambiguous.
by maikkris on August 15, 2026. © maikkris
keeping the room under a reddish glow
where silver takes the shapes i never show
negative lying naked within its tray
tender prints refusing to feel the day
no fingers touching what is still unseen
darkness working chemistry in between
your breath lies warm against the waiting glass
i nearly reveal myself as you pass
at first, i see the shoulder in the frame
a pale throat taking shape without a name
the hollow where a collarbone descends
curves where skin and shadow almost blend
as you speak of grain, texture, depth, and weight
where light and shadow slowly separate
your gaze moves slowly, lower than before
as something in the image asks for more
images blooming beneath a ruby light
as soft lips appear slow to kiss the night
curve of a breast emerges at the edge
pulse hints at what lies ‘neath a silvered ledge
i feel you watching, breath against my ear
the darkroom contracts until you disappear
i reach to touch you in the darkened room
swear i can smell your alluring perfume
yet now i see the hand that stained each frame
its heat, a hunger… developed in my name
no stranger waited where the red lights burned
an image looked back, flesh beneath it stirred
by maikkris on August 9, 2026. © maikkris
golden locks shone bright against the pale night
while veiled black figures swallowed up her light
they whispered softly, knowing well her name
and bore her where she would not be the same
no morning crossed the windows of the keep
nor earthly bird disturbed the endless sleep
the veiled ones combed the tangles from her hair
and told her she was chosen for their care
beyond the keep, a garden slept in snow
where roses bloomed beneath an ageless glow
each bore a name along its thorny stem
her own bud slept within a frozen gem
dark priest called her bride, offered her his hand
then led her where the wedding vows were planned
they named her chosen, beautiful, and fair
and placed a silken veil upon her hair
through cast-iron doors, a woman came in prayer
more beautiful than any dream could dare
her eyes held stars no mortal eyes had seen
and candles bowed before their waiting Queen
a name marked every rose for those she wed
she told her how their mortal lives had fled
each bride was loved until their breath was gone
within the Queen, their bridal bloom lived on
she touched the bud and felt its petals stir
and knew the waiting bloom was meant for her
she knew each rose had risen from a tomb
and understood each bride became the bloom
the Queen kissed tears that trembled on her face
and held her close with her inhuman grace
she spoke the words no mortal heart had known
and took the woman's grief as if her own
she walked the stone path where the altar lay
and knew the cost, yet did not turn away
she saw what waited past the final veil
yet chose to stay where mortal hearts might fail
the rose began to open, dark and red
while slender arms drew closer overhead
she gave the Queen the light she could not save
and wondered why she’d ever feared the grave
by maikkris on August 1, 2026. © maikkris
maui blue hawaiian, fountain cups and straws
chilled on the main, just coasting past the laws
drive the party, while backroads roam alone
as every county line has become home
leaving our shadows by the tracks we’ve seen
measuring our youth by tanks of gasoline
as thoughts wander through fields that i once knew
“spirit in the sky” drifting through the blue
summer nights dissolve in a rural haze
headlights burning through endless country days
bottles roll around, loose along the floor
making every mile harder to ignore
booze won’t drown the driving through my head
just lets me fade where every mile once led
nights now a place where i can try and hide
morn’ sees me out on the passenger side
the backroads swallow each mile that we knew
and field grows dark beneath a fading blue
empty sky stretches out along our dash
following each turn too soon on our path
headlights open up across the empty land
following every curve that we couldn’t plan
corn fields flying by quickly as we pass
moments blur by and disappear too fast
country all around, no landmark left to spot
too fast, it’s too fast… we can’t even stop
blue down to my fingers, seconds drift afloat
gas pedal against my face, dirt in my throat
by maikkris on July 28, 2026. © maikkris
my face has learned the language of the game
eyes betrayed what lips refused to name
to guard the words i never dared confess
and bear the scar from wounds i can’t address
the softest laughter will not reach my eyes
a borrowed joy i never claimed as mine
behind my gaze, a room without a key
where none can see the softest parts of me
my childhood learned that every gift had cost
and gentle hands concealed the deepest loss
not every smile was safe to trust or know
some stole the faith a child was taught to show
searching for amnesia in silent nights
escaping echoes under broken lights
to chase oblivion in a lover’s kiss
drowning in my thoughts, trying to dismiss
each shifting glance left ink that does not fade
a ledger filled with choices that i made
the names i buried still remain inscribed
between the lines where every silence died
who'd read the pages hidden in my stare
and see the weight i've carried everywhere
my eyes were never taught the craft of lies
they only learned the stories silence writes
my eyes now judge the motive in each face
pronouncing every kindness out of place
searching for cracks beneath the brightest smile
expecting warmth to turn itself hostile
my eyes found blades where none were meant to be
even hands reaching out to steady me
knowing the sound of every single door
certain each footstep meant one leaving more
my eyes revised the stories that they knew
leaving out every kindness proving true
they bolded each hurt in a darker print
excluding every mercy from the script
eyes still swearing that it’s the truth they know
while memory keeps rewriting what they show
i can still trace the scars from every storm
yet i can’t tell the truth from what trauma formed
by maikkris on July 25, 2026. © maikkris
lie down the ending you've carried this way
no torn-out page ever unwrites your name
a weathered spine opens without breath drawn
and the margins kept space for one more dawn
while faded ink still traces back to you
the rain has drowned the words it once held true
a spine bent low beneath the weight you bear
the next crumpled page waits beneath your care
no missing edge could steal the path back home
though every mile persuades your feet to roam
the folded map still knows the road to take
while every mile invites your heart to break
missing all its corners, but not its way
the roads are waiting by the light of day
hands unfolding distance no one could steal
tracing paths your hands forgot to feel
a voice you seek still waits beneath your breath
keeping you from the choice of quiet death
the breath you give still echoes as it leaves
finding the part of you that still believes
the empty air still listens as you speak
from words you buried underneath your grief
each whispered thought returning in the night
to find your hand still reaching for some light
i wrote words i had thought another gave
tracing the roads i thought another paved
the silence answered softer than before
i was the voice i had been waiting for
by maikkris on July 20, 2026. © maikkris
i feared my broken pieces cutting skin
fixed my silence neatly inside a grin
i learned to count my failures in the dark
and built my walls from every loss i marked
i called my caution my concern for years
a haunted mind kept tripping over fears
my weakened voice confessed before you asked
and wrote each fault where present met the past
i trusted ink when memory turned to mist
the pages held what i could not insist
i bent beneath the weight i called my own
and marked the wounds as something i had sown
yet some dates held a stranger kind of light
that would not yield beneath another night
those dates stood firm within my failing mind
with truth still waiting in the dark behind
i read the words i thought i knew by heart
and saw mistruth now woven through each part
inked confessions naming me cruel and blind
no longer matched the life they claimed was mine
my journals marked what every voice would blame
how every hurt was handed back with shame
a hallway narrowed into borrowed walls
until my silence echoed through the halls
inked pages knew before i'd learned to read
the quiet grammar sworn in every deed
i searched each page because it stayed the same
while every quarrel ended in my name
the journal kept its spine while mine gave way
recording what my mouth could never say
its margins would not bargain with the blame
while every page was forced to bear my name
your voice rehearsed itself beneath my skin
until an echo answered from within
i pled your case before i knew the crime
until my mouth forgot which voice was mine
although my words had sworn that i was wrong
their truest oath was i remained too long
acquitted of all the crimes that i’d been thrown
except the life i never claimed my own
Author notes
prompt 3
the influences we assume, the stories we repeat, and the ways our memories can be shaped around our understanding of ourselves. the space between what we once believe, what we are told, and what we can eventually discover.
many personal truths are discovered gradually rather than revealed all at once. be safe and be well.
by maikkris on July 13, 2026. © maikkris
she stood where no one needed moving past
the child was owed no more than she should ask
i measured my love by what could be spared
and called it care because it sounded fair
her growing years passed quietly by mine
such careful restraint, by edge aligned
growing her shape into what i’d allowed
while she learned to vanish into the crowd
watching her bloom in weather meant to blight
with a practiced smile of either calm or flight
dressing up in ways that drew no remark
tender parts forever kept in the dark
and bearing herself just as i’d have known
she carries my vision into her home
she asked me for nothing that i could see
taking the silence as her thanks to me
carrying all the parts she now keeps unseen
still seeing the woman that’s made from me
keeping her pace despite our slowing days
i see the years leave traces on her face
looking for the girl she thought left behind
and finding the voice that once shaped her mind
wearing patience deeper than her own skin
asked me for nothing, even to the end
at long last lifted to the morning light
keeping no secrets, as i never lied
you call me mirror, yet i wore your face
i gave you back what you could embrace
by maikkris on June 30, 2026. © maikkris
rain confessing alibis against the glass
darkened smoke unhooking the hours as they pass
sitting alone wrapped deep in velvet black
a soft cascade of light falls down her back
moonlit hair falls silver down her curves
eyes betray hunger, even darkness yearns
sequined dress clings tight, yet hints at more
each careful breath unravels toward the floor
her waist could teach the willows how to sway
dying light lingers where her crossed legs lay
her gloved fingers tap a rhythm on the chair
waiting for someone who’s not even there
the door kept watch as calm settled to grace
but nothing had moved… not a single trace
the clock keeps watch with each booming click
her longing deepens, air turns slow and thick
if love had arrived, it never showed its face
and the room grows smaller in its empty space
smoke caressing cloudy pearl along her throat
curling through all the promises they broke
cupid's bow, ruby lips, a quiet fire
trembling underneath unspoken desire
lips were mine, not hers, hidden from view
how I’d prayed she'd wait… for me, not you
by maikkris on June 22, 2026. © maikkris
across our two valleys fell a heated rain
lightning stitched bright seams across his plain
mountains pressed against our peaks in the dark
every ridge strung tight, allowing us our mark
storms moved in slow with a burning need
silver tongues unlaced where our bodies meet
rivers loosening their grip into the sea
jealous land watching, its wish to be free
"not what you think" i said into the gale
thunder rolling slowly through hill and vale
rain kept finding every hollowed ground
silence spreading fingers through all i found
"not what you think" while lightning split the sky
a sharp crack echoed where the clouds divide
emotions opened wide into this flood
roots now awake and drinking from the mud
“not what you think,” but he still turns away
clear skies a lie, that this would be okay
changing winds passing, soft across the seam
yet she stirs the sleeping ache beneath the green
weather went restless, tearing at its skin
lawless and loud, breaking what had been
rivers rose higher than their own beds
guilt came down hard, hammering my head
“not what you think,” my voice turned thin in rain
words dropped heavy, then rose up again
as i watched you catch her valley light
my storm inside cut sharp through the night
dawn exposed the sky, open as a scar
feeling so different, known i’d gone too far
“not what you think” grasping it was through
not jealous of her, but never feeling you
Author notes
be careful what you wish for. desire rarely follows the map we have drawn for it. many a wish has the most devastating of consequences, paths we might travel containing plenty a slippery slope, or the imagined fantasy arrives wearing quite unfamiliar faces. please travel them safely. be safe and be well.Happy Pride
by maikkris on June 20, 2026. © maikkris
painted oils flicker under dim light
shadows shift beneath the glow of night
gray crowds remain restless, drift two ways
shifting back and forth, no wish to stay
figures pacing in a frame too tight to leave
shapes become scars no one would grieve
their breath staining glass where echoes slide
whispering their sins no canvas can hide
voices scratch at me, insects on my skin
each thought a needle, every voice a pin
choices left to rot while they lie asleep
in strokes of paint too heavy, dark, and deep
between those crowded masses stands one form
does not waver or tremble in this storm
it neither begs nor turns to meet my eyes
but silently waiting, it knows the whys
others stretching out, smoke along the glass
claws at the air, upset, can't seem to pass
this one stares back so unmoved by any pain
while it carries something that i can’t name
back i come, drawn over against my will
the gallery grows cold, and deathly still
crowds may retreat, yet all remains the same
a silence shaped too well and owned by shame
alone i watch them through tattered light
a room devoured whole into the night
while both groups of others fade unknown
until the center shadow now stands alone
i’ve seen that stance, that distant shape behind
a moment carved in corridors of time
a shadow i still know i can’t outlive
the sin i made, and never could forgive
by maikkris on June 15, 2026. © maikkris
deep inside pressing secrets start to spin
soft velvet blades sewn deep beneath my skin
a sweet touch from you before i awake
as crashing silence gently bends to break
mirror twists around, find no joy at all
as words dissolved from out my mouth they’ve crawled
tongues in flames speak what only they can know
nothing left to hold, nowhere left to go
thoughts dissolving from where dreams meet my skin
ripped thoughts from my lungs, and words from within
slowly losing grip where delusions die
scraping out my bones, eating me inside
dark kisses are the hymns i can’t resist
deadly prayers coil tightly around each wrist
each breath a snake grown thick around to swell
as i’m dissolving, barely just a shell
drifting empty, no will remains to live
no anchor breaks, no mercy left to give
you the hunger, my hollow’s left to crave
licking off the skin, i’m the willing slave
filled up my space the world forgot was there
sweet suffocation, you became my air
picking at edges i begin to fray
while i unravel further in decay
as morning breaks, no heaven in reply
my damned reflection tells another lie
you weren’t the nightmare silence let me see
but i was poison i mistook for me
by maikkris on June 7, 2026. © maikkris
the prairie held his counsel through the night
and wore the frost as judgment earned by might
a shape begins to stir against the cold
that fills the space where wind and root unfold
crows flew low, and stitched the fields deep with thread
as something crossed his mind could not be said
grass bent beneath the hollow winter snow
learning how quiet’s made by bending low
far west, the mountains held her crowns of stone
in forms the plains had never even known
rivers drifting from valleys in the spring
long before any of the birds might sing
people passing by, reading earth as sign
and creature prints cut thin along the line
never naming what lay deep under stone
nor hearing root cracks moving through the bone
each winter drew the borders hard and clean
and praised the field for being what it seemed
the field complied beneath his iron cold
and hid the tale he could not safely hold
at dusk her rising peaks blushed into fire
until she vanished past the darkened mire
the prairie watched until her light was gone
and grieved the thing he could not name at dawn
no problem lay in furrow, stalk, or loam
the plain had known his level earth was home
the thaw unveiled a subtle, deeper strain
a rise that slipped back down beneath his plain
silver moon crossed slowly as if bound
laying thin veils on field and broken ground
coyotes call from ridges black and steep
their voices drop where buried contours sleep
at last the snow withdraws from root and seam
and streams run bright with traces of the dream
the prairie feels his hidden ridge return
as distant stones begin inside to turn
by dawn the people find the weather still
and thank the sky for bending to its will
beneath her stone she sheds a final skin
at last she wakes, the mountains she had been
Author notes
it’s hard when people decide to tell you who and what they think you are. maybe for prairies and mountains too. this is to all my mountains out there being forced to be plains… and my plains crying out to be mountains. Happy Pride
by maikkris on May 31, 2026. © maikkris
serving you with silence from our front door
a clock unwinds across the broken floor
as an echo prowling through narrow halls
rent still unpaid and yet you claim my all
my garden learnt to hold its bitter frost
blooms cannot name the beauty that’s been lost
our love in winter slowly fed to stone
to watch the deep roots of memory groan
each room grows heavy with unpaid years
each corner trembles with its laden tears
i have counted the hours as stolen breath
weighed down by love against the slowest death
so many doubts which we cannot agree
final pieces of what i wished you’d see
the act of letting go is now my art
etched in with ice so deep throughout my heart
i nailed the door, drew out a final line
and said aloud that this space was not mine
but in the act of my one final plea
evict not you, but what i thought could be
by maikkris on May 28, 2026. © maikkris
smoky lanterns hanging throughout the night
and ink-dark streets bend softly out of sight
i move through stalls where voices barter flame
memories trading dust for every name
spices rewrite themselves in passing air
rosemary burnt to ash, saffron to prayer
each step erases borders from my skin
until the world forgets where i begin
he lingers near, his love still on my name
a trace that time cannot again reclaim
yet when his gaze falls, all my colors thin
as ink that loosens into sand within
the crowd fractures thought in tidal surge
each voice a hollow I cannot purge
my name unthreads itself from sound and bone
and I drift through echoes no longer my own
my hands forget the language of their heat
they grasp at forms that never feel complete
this world demands i vanish piece by piece
and offers me but fragments of release
he turns away but never truly goes
as if his path the world alone now knows
a world assigns him ways i cannot read
while i remain where absence plants the seed
yet soon he’ll follow when his journeys run
when we are joined and life itself is done
no earthly sorrow touches what shall be
for love remains beyond both sight and sea
Author notes
I used prompt 8 the Irish song “She Moved Through The Fair”
Lyrics — My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind"
And she stepped away from me and this she did say:
It will not be long, love, till our wedding day"
As she stepped away from me and she moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there
And then she turned homeward with one star awake
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake
The people were saying, no two e'er were wed
But one had a sorrow that never was said
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.
Last night she came to me, my dead love came in
So softly she came that her feet made no din
As she laid her hand on me and this she did say
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day"
However my poem is written from the point of view of the ghost of his departed love, although she’s not quite sure of that until the end when she realizes their wedding day will be upon his death… and also realizes it won’t be long.
by maikkris on May 25, 2026. © maikkris
a rose trembling in cinders found
up through ashes on sacred ground
they called it mercy, born of fire
its essence held a beauty higher
it arches toward me, crisp and near
teaching my fingers what to fear
wearing soot like a borrowed crown
its roots push blind through embered ground
it climbs my throat on vines ablaze
to learn the shape of what i crave
it speaks my body into flame
as if to say we’re all to blame
so name it ruin, call it fear
it leans in closer, still and near
“you think i rise from what was burned
no… i am what the flames have learned”
by maikkris on May 19, 2026. © maikkris
folding hunger as lace tied strings
to wear upon your throat
such little things with sharpened wings
too delicate to molt
a mirror keeps a tiny bird
behind its film of frost
and fed to her each brutal word
your mother had not lost
through winter even soup grew loud
as teaspoons echoed cruel
and wrists as question marks aloud
beyond the doctor’s rule
so still you smiled with careful teeth
while ever those that stared
as though the body underneath
were merely left unaired
you counted clavicles and knees
as holy count their beads
each rib a pale apostrophe
to some unspoken need
i waited once to tell you thus
when mouths can learn to heal
each name unsaid still bruises us
while bruises still turn real
so as they carried you downstairs
my shoes, there was no time
while paramedics asked your name
somehow they answered mine
by maikkris on May 16, 2026. © maikkris
i read into you by lamp light gold
half naked in a borrowed white
hotel curtains breathed high and rolled
lungs alive against dark of night
a novel trembled beneath my hands
its fever slipping through my skin
each word as sweet as wanton bands
pull loose where craving folded thin
a heroine who had unpinned her hair
i felt each brush against my throat
imagined lover touched skin so fair
and drowned beneath the lines you wrote
my bedside glass sweating heat
the mattress sighed beneath my knees
i mouthed your name between the sheets
as if each page had left me keys
outside, the city burned in blue
inside, my pulse was now the room
i read my story into you
and bloomed for none in my perfume
dawn slid sudden through the sheet
to touch the spine beside my thumb
as if my book now fast asleep
before all longing might become
by maikkris on May 10, 2026. © maikkris
bound fast by words that winter spoke
with a hard and frigid chain
fastened silence against my throat
as frost against the pane
walls rehearsing speech back to me
as whispers fed to crows
praised by the posture of my fear
and bending of my bones
i thought devotion had been earned
to swallow whole the knife
and kneeling in another’s storm
to grasp at scraps of life
and yet below the frozen dark
a flash had yet survived
a smelted iron deep within
which might not be deprived
so hot forged steel split the ice
as locks began to fail
and i pulled hooks from my ribs
as barbs pulled from a whale
now let them speak, let arsons’ tongues
strike sparks along my name
while they didn’t see chains i dragged
now only see my flame
so i that once begged storms for love
now dance where fires burn
soft ash and soot coat my face
then flare while i return
the cruelest lie i’d ever learned
to think that i was chained
no lock was ever on the door
it lived within my name
by maikkris on April 26, 2026. © maikkris
not while your hand was in my own
or when we swore not to be alone
not in the rooms of dim-lit air
where broken names dissolve in prayer
nor did the silence lift its head
to voice the things we left unsaid
we met in circles, worn, austere
from folding chairs and restless air
our pasts lay open, raw, and wide
our shame had nowhere left to hide
you fought a storm you could not name
and i a thirst i could not tame
two ravaged lives learned slow to stand
with hurting hearts and empty hands
yet somehow held us soft and low
a fragile peace we dared to know
you called it hope, i called it grace
yet fear still lingered in our face
three children rose from fragile ground
love it gave could not keep us bound
and twenty years passed like a thread
unraveling all we’d left unsaid
a silence shifted 'neath the skin
where light grew thin, and darkness in
you missed the steps you vowed to take
and something deep within would break
who i had loved grew strange, afar
a shifting, weird, and foreign scar
a voice turned harsh, a gaze unkind
as if you’d left yourself behind
and growing mean in answer too
my anger learned what fire will do
burning each other, word by word
until no softness could be heard
at last you left with ink and seal
a quiet wound too deep to heal
the house stayed full, yet emptied fast
a place where nothing good would last
at first i raged, and cursed your name
fed ruin deep and fed the flame
but rage so loud will break, not bend
and in its fury, finds its end
til nothing rises in its place
no echo left, no saving grace
no fight remains, no cry, no plea
and nothing stays of you and me
so here and now, let silence stay
erasing all we could not say
it fills our rooms, the very air
proving we are no longer there
all i possess of this i find
is louder hush than in my mind
a silence, once it knows our name
becomes the truth we could not claim
by maikkris on April 24, 2026. © maikkris
cracked by hands that did not care
no judgement spoke, no witness came
a blush of faults beneath my skin
fine valleys cut that take no name
from a small room’s thin, accusing glow
i read from lines no one could hide
each silence etched a narrow claim
each shadow scribed me from inside
i thought my breaks were proof of lack
a verdict sealed in brittle clay
till i beheld a mender’s art
that turns what’s ruined toward the way
it did not sand my stories smooth
nor bleach my record into grace
but heat a slow enduring glaze
and trace my wounds in rightful place
no single pour can make me whole
no sudden craft or swift undo
but patient fire along my seams
remakes the shape i fractured through
the molten runs where once i bled
more honest than my names once knew
it holds my edges into form
and binds the broken into view
so those that turn from fractured things
i bear mine open to the light
not less for having come apart
but veined with gold and made more bright
by maikkris on April 13, 2026. © maikkris
down through a hole where laughter used to bloom
a grown girl falls into a withered gloom
the walls recall a brighter shade of day
now whisper back in warped and cruel ways
her shadow splits against the mirrored glass
two versions drift, but neither dares to pass
mirrors hum with voices bound to thread
each word a wound her silence never shed
“who are you now?” the wilted flowers cry
from roots that still refuse to learn to die
they drink the dark where buried secrets seep
and name the things she swore she’d never keep
a teacup shakes itself around but never spills
it sings of rules that twist to strangers’ wills
a clock ticks once, then forgets how to be
while time breaks her body in its teeth
a door appears too small to let her in
yet whispers she was meant to be within
to shrink herself inside her growing frame
until pills make her fit the echo of her name
her laughter dwelling, something not her own
from the girl she was but now she is alone
and air so thick with words she shouldn’t speak
as if giving life to those, that make her weak
colors drain and stain all the edges gray
where innocence and nightmares start to fray
and children still play beneath a hollow grin
so that an older evil might slowly settle in
she takes steps, no time for turning back
closes her eyes and walks into the black
so in her world where nothing stays the same
she now believes she’s the only one to blame
by maikkris on April 12, 2026. © maikkris
my night keeps what my day won’t speak
as silence holds and shadows seek
where whispered secrets go to die
where lost and scattered moments lie
in ink-soaked cloth, it learns its skin
and every silence held within
the weight of sheets, chilled hard as glass
thoughts drift through me but do not pass
they circle back, return, remain
no voice at all, just drawn in pain
like smoke that scripts itself in air
and haunts the rooms when none are there
each truth i bury, left to end
it learns to mold, to split, to bend
it slips through bone and unseen skin
and starts where i will not begin
and so i see what none can tell
i am not night, but what it held
not shaped by what i choose to say
but what the dark won’t give away
by maikkris on April 6, 2026. © maikkris
tides keep time no clock might dare
as colors pulse beneath the air
the surge a breath of nights inhale
that break its whispers, soft and pale
evening spills into the sea
a dark-ink night’s new tapestry
our moon this eve, a ruined bloom
bleeds softly through its crimson tomb
a bloodied eye is closed in sleep
stained through skin of darkness deep
and waiting there amongst the foam
stands as though the shore’s her home
barefoot in verse of shifting sand
sea and salt ebbing from her hand
her dress, a blush of drifted white
collecting lost bits of embers’ light
strands of flame in smoldered hair
ignite and burn the evening air
her tides crash and make things bend
yet waves forget that they too end
perhaps she’s what seas now dream
when time unravels at the seams
broken rhyme the moon once knew
before the skies had split in two
the tide moves on and a moment frays
as time now swallows whole our days
she as dusk of the dream withdraws
from beyond the reach of mortal laws
yet still the ocean keeps her face
in every wave that takes her place
reminds us that someday we die
and murmurs low where lost things lie
Author’s note
Pre-Christian Celtic Goddess Brigid, often revered as a "triple goddess" aligned with fire, water, and inspiration while associated with poetry, healing, nature, fertility, spring, smithing, and protection… and whose lore profoundly merged with St. Brigid of Kildare within the Catholic faith. She is associated with the sacred flame, holy wells, and the first signs of spring light. She is known to be a goddess of both Fire (flame of the forge) and Water (sacred healing wells.)
by maikkris on April 5, 2026. © maikkris
stupid
damaged
dark
the words that circle
the chambers of my head
spoken once by those i loved
and given life inside my head
long after the moment passed
cold
sick
i am all of these
and still
too little
to exist
nothingness
from darkness
to darkness
i remain
blinded
with no escape
beginning as voices
small
and familiar
close enough to know my name
before i learned
to shut them out
stupid
damaged
dark
spoken softly
until they took root
and grew
into everything i am
there is no quiet now
only something hollow
repeating itself
within me
i search
for the edge of myself
but every boundary gives way
like a rot
consuming its own shape
cold
is no longer a feeling
but a structure
sickness
is not within me
it is what i am
i am thinning
thread by thread
thought by thought
until even absence
feels too full
and what remains
cannot be called a person
i stop resisting
i let it take my outline
nothingness
not emptiness
but something worse
a presence that erases
as it exists
darkness
devouring
its own shadow
no bottom
no surface
only collapse
without end
i reach
but my hands do not return
i speak
but something else
keeps the echo
there is no isolation here
because there is no “i”
left to be alone
only this
endlessly
unmaking
Author notes
80 lines / 229 words grd 90
by maikkris on April 1, 2026. © maikkris
harsh buzz
metallic, splitting
stitching each hour
into airlessness
it burrows
a live wire
needling inward
threading
soft parts into my skull
i would leave
if the walls did not rise
bleached bone
to hem me in
doors gaping open
only to consume
each passage
every idea of elsewhere
hope now fraying
drawn like blood
from each vein
until sorrow
lies empty and unclaimed
my eyes
empty wells
harbor no storm
no tide to rise
no levee breaking
sky hangs above
blind to rain
sealed tight
to its undoing
Emptied
a hushed body
past any feeling
they quiet me
with careful poisons
and small white mercies
that sand me smooth
stripping every scream
i have lost the nurse
keeper of hours
dispenser of my silence
the air stings
bleach and absence
biting to the tongue
flowering pain in my skull
time bends here
dripping and pooling
a liquid tide around me
perhaps we eat
perhaps not
it hardly matters
everything fades
walls leaching surrender
voices thinned to murmurs
that circle and dissolve
even the living
move like unfinished thoughts
words slipping away
before they can touch me
and i am left
in this pale, diluted world
where nothing sharpens
nothing sings
god, i despise it here
if i could…
if the self that remembers wanting
still lived somewhere inside me
i would…
but the harsh buzz returns
and the hard metallic crack
threading, threading
unbroken
Author notes
LNP After Midnight 5/25/26 - 1:17:30
73 lines / 235 words grd 95
by maikkris on March 30, 2026. © maikkris
wasn’t always quite
so close
to the ground that wore me thin
something as
a face
a pattern you could spin
now i am
all mouth
forced to swallow road
used in long
black stripes
to give out what is owed
your friction causes
searing
and drives me slow insane
wears me down so
threadbare
smoothing off my name
i see it inside turning
through an axle
that isn’t mine
as each mile takes a layer
never cleanly
but close along my spine
peeling at my edges
burning sick
and sweet your love
now you press me harder
to hear it screech
from up above
as i thin upon the road
soon there’ll
be nothing left
my great fear is worn
to bones
left the biggest theft
i suspect it’s what you want
of this
my greatest sin
when i can no longer tell
if i’m used
or being eaten
Author notes
LNP Books and Bards 7/22/26 - 1:08:35
42 lines / 150 words grd 93
by maikkris on March 29, 2026. © maikkris
mirror, silent waiting
still sheet
of patient glass
takes me in
reflects me
shows me as i pass
stop and look
at what now
the eyes can only see
if seeing what’s
reflected
is staring back at me
fingers curl
and loosen
and then, so slow, repeat
as if they’re set
to music
with melody and beat
pale line along
my wrist
drawing on skin so tight
subtle token of
the past
while winter frosts the light
a breath caught
in my throat
my pulse in steady sway
turning slowly
and shifting
as night pulls far away
memories as ink
that fades
but never’s truly gone
every line in skin
tells stories
once bright as morning dawn
hands now fumbling
the script
as smoke through dampened air
what remains feels
so blurry
lost to the weight of care
a body that once burned
with love
now hums with a quiet ache
while fingers pressing
to feel
what time can never take
Author notes
48 lines / 161 words grd 90
by maikkris on March 15, 2026. © maikkris
waiting
watching
walls glistening with candle sweat
the air heavy with molten wax
and something… far older
your eyes found mine
threads of weight pulled taut out along
my face
eternity coiled all around my spine
hands, fingers never touching
lips never kissed
all converging within your gaze
and i step back
breath clinging as fine gossamer
each exhale a silent promise
every inhalation a small betrayal
skin memorized by dreams
shadows leaning closer
and our hands meet
time bends slow as molten metal
lips brushing across my ear, soft as ash
pulling me towards something forbidden
something that should not be touched
the thread snaps
my pulse falters
yours burns as a flame in the dark
shadows close
i fold
not into you
but into the darkness
that has always waited
whispering your name
etched into floor, walls, even my own skin
you smile, white as bone
eyes gleaming in a darkness without bottom
desire becomes the ritual
surrender the blade
i am now the shadow
you had always been the dark
pulse folded into each echo
never leaving
never leaving
Author notes
41 lines / 181 words grd 97.6
by maikkris on March 11, 2026. © maikkris
within the body
warm lips insist
a pressure rising
a sharp unruly language
hammering my ribs for exit
pouring onto paper
my breath exhaled
through trembling hands into lines
there is no learning to stop
surging
singing
staining everything it touches
across the room
cold standing witness
a smooth face
mercilessly patient
reflecting back exactly
the tilt of a mouth
a tremor of doubt
slow arithmetic of years
light becomes gold
silence becomes verse
glass becomes truth
so now i stand hair burning like the sun
heart spilling words it cannot dam
certain i have mastered the night
certain now i have become
until my mirror
harsh as a winter frost
shows me something strange
a terrifying creature
devouring wind and air
but mostly
a person
trying to look dramatic
in the pale bathroom light
Author notes
LNP Garden of Enlightenment 8/24/26 - 1:11:50
36 lines / 135 words grd 94
by maikkris on March 1, 2026. © maikkris
i swallowed my own words
until they
burnt to fire
silence taught as virtue
humble
made attire
left in my compliance
sat in
classic grace
made to dim my blaze
to soften
each new space
be patient and be kind
be smaller
than the room
tied my rage with ribbons
left to
my own doom
a spark now so denied
will burn
down all alone
as embers slowly smolder
in caverns
of their own
as each yes struck flint
and swallowed
no’s fed flame
until the smoke of all of it
was breathing
out my name
opening my mouth at last
prepared
to see such wrath
but spoke with clear
direction
purpose and a path
my voice did not destroy
did not
rent the sky
just let the silence die inside
and let
my truth reply
i’m not madness loosed at night
nor chaos
to conspire
but do not think a woman’s throat
is something
you can wire
Author notes
48 lines / 158 words grd 93
by maikkris on February 18, 2026. © maikkris
your hands spoke
soft
before i saw them bleed
lines and scars
etched
maps i could never read
tried learning
to
carry what is yours unfair
too much for
me
a burden i’d never bear
slipping through
and
over fingers as if to see it fall
sometimes a
wish
is a wish never wished at all
hearts do not
break
the way that dreams still do
and hands don’t
hold
us close at all unless they choose
close around
those
pieces that we’ve been shown
not to have
you
back… but to touch my own
Author notes
LNP The Twisted Sisters 5/26/26 - 1:22:00
30 lines / 96 words prompt 7 grd 90
by maikkris on February 1, 2026. © maikkris
tightly wound
with care,
precise time in my gears
polished face
with love,
whispering beauty hears
delicately
watched, kept.
tired in ways no one sees
ticking through
moments,
appearing with practiced ease
but beneath
the glass,
i feel a flaw inside
beginning
to slow,
no matter how i hide
surviving
antique,
held while they were crying
now broken
relic,
no one saw me trying
Author notes
64 words / 24 lines grd 89
by maikkris on January 9, 2026. © maikkris
once smooth skin, now rough and worn
is etched with cracks where i’ve been torn
a rusty frame and wheel that's bent
stands long neglected, a sad lament
though idle now, i reminisce
of harvests brought and fruitful bliss
for in my bed, i carried dreams
of fertile soil and verdant streams
dreams of bales of fragrant hay
and pebbles smooth to pave the way
i've hauled a hundred loads with ease
from flowers to mulch and fallen leaves
but time a thief has stilled my toil
and left me weathered, stained by soil
for once proud bed, a fertile field
now overgrown, the story sealed
perhaps one day, someone will see
my potential and set me free
with care and oil and loving hand
to once again work the land
Author notes
131 words / 20 lines grd 91
by maikkris on January 17, 2023. © maikkris
i’ll let you
roam my gardens now
but please be gentle where you tread
i’ll let you
place me in fresh soil
my hungry flower must be fed
i’ll let you
quench my thirst with rain
dripping wet from the sky above
i’ll let you
slowly coax my bloom
so you can feel my blossomed love
i’ll let you
feel my leaves brush by
soft as a breeze upon your cheek
i’ll let you
taste my petals now
as i tremble, and knees grow weak
Author notes
84 words / 18 lines
by maikkris on September 12, 2021. © maikkris
i am just a puzzle
mixed pieces in a pile
an image slow revealed
if you spend a while
but i am just a puzzle
don’t waste your time on me
some questions don’t need solved
sometimes there is no key
do my secrets call to you
seek you out by name
better to never even try
than go and make that claim
leave my pieces jumbled
and remain a mystery
because if you solve my puzzle
i’m your responsibility
Author notes
16 lines / 80 words
by maikkris on November 12, 2020. © maikkris
paint your colors on my skin
and let your palette stain me
chained by kisses, deep within
let your marks now claim me
skin afire, as fingers trace
lips now crave such hunger
passion’s storm, upon my face
echoes out as rolling thunder
so paint your colors on my skin
let me feel you deep within
touch my heart, feed my soul
make it real, make me whole
heal me where i am broke
hide my love within your cloak
please don’t leave, stay within
and paint your colors on my skin
Author notes
92 words / 16 lines
Aligns with your “I paint you”
by maikkris on October 9, 2020. © maikkris
my petals open softly
caressed by gentle hands
as if they hold soft sunlight
sweet water to my sands
i feel their soft embrace
coaxing out my bloom
the fear of every flower
as led to my own doom
my fear drives my desire
my passion to be known
to give myself so freely
as yours and yours alone
i feel your touch throughout me
from stem and leaves and tips
lost within your fingers’ touch
and my taste upon your lips
Author notes
82 words / 16 lines
by maikkris on June 18, 2020. © maikkris
who is the stranger
in the glass
staring back at me
i try to look
around her
hoping she won’t see
eventually
our eyes meet
and i try to give a smile
she smiles back
so faintly
as if it’s been a while
it’s hard to miss
the passion
a storm of love and yet
i can also see
her sadness
as a well of deep regret
i see it painted
in her face
not in circles but in lines
etched in the edges
of her lips
and corners of her eyes
i wish i didn’t
know this girl
as i now dim the light
and as a stranger
to this life
i kiss the dark goodnight
Author notes
“I am a bundle of past recollections and future dreams, knotted up in a reasonably attractive bundle of flesh.”
117 words / 30 lines
by maikkris on January 26, 2020. © maikkris
from the morn
do i appear
as dew upon the mist
and shimmer as
a raindrop
in light do i exist
i dance around
as rainbows
soft colors in their arc
while parts of me
now disappear
as light falls into dark
and broken are
my pieces
as a puzzle in your soul
am i just
the pieces now
or will you see me whole
Author notes
65 words / 18 lines
by maikkris on December 15, 2019. © maikkris
you see a puppet
my mouth sewn closed
a master’s toy
his will imposed
you think i’ll speak
if threads are cut
since merely strings
do keep it shut
you slice at them
with careful speed
my bonds soon break
a puppet freed
now just a puppet
without my strings
threads hold more
than lips, it seems
Author notes
57 words / 16 lines
