#vent poetry

Come night, once again, she’ll perform her act
As the living doll and the acrobat
She’ll climb a ladder to the highest-most
Tether her pull-string to the starting post
She’ll wave to the crowd with a painted smile
She’ll steady herself for the coming mile
Then, with bated breath, she’ll proceed to walk
A wavering tightrope against a clock

Step by step all while avoiding a fall
She’ll lean with everything to heave and haul
But light as feathers, she’ll barely progress
With the weighty shackle she must possess
Yet still she’ll try to pull her pull-string taut
To engage her organs to reel the lot
And free her voice box to finally bring
That unheard song she’s so desperate to sing

But every night, something winds up awry
She’ll plummet below with a voiceless cry
The viewers will shriek as they did before
Bracing themselves for the upcoming gore
But not to worry, she’ll still aim to please
She’ll shift to entertain with skilled trapeze
She’ll swing with arcs as graceful as they come
A beautiful hypnotic pendulum

The show never tires, it never gets old
Through all the years the tickets still get sold
We all have yet to listen to her bit
But nonetheless, each show’s still a big hit
I wonder what future holds for the doll
If there’ll be an end to her curtain call
Maybe tonight will be the night she’ll sing
But if not, it’s still fun to see her swing.

“Home on the West Coast”

California dreaming since twenty eleven

Been wanting to write scripts since the age of seven

Three thousand miles is long way from here

But this house is a house, home is nowhere near

They’ve grown me in this box, this rural hell

They try to keep me here inside creativity’s jail cell

I’ve never fit here, and I think it’s pretty clear

I’m going on with my life while everyone else sneer

~JR

“Alone with a Piano”

I’m the only face in this empty place

It’s just me and these eighty-eight keys

I’ll write you a song so we can sing along

About a love gone sour, but it’ll while away the hours

I’m sparking words to vent about a love that never meant

To be alone, inside this home

Wishing for you to come to see what I’ve done

Even though you’re gone, you still spark words on

This piano, my one and only, though you’ll never hear what I’ve written

I’m just all too lonely. ~JR

“Love Will Come Again”

But I know that in time

You will lose what you find

And everything it cost

Will one day all be lost

But I can promise you my friend

Love will come again.~JR

“Their Chat on the Cliff”

They sat on the cliff and stared at the sky

As the sun started to set, she began to cry:

“I hope that you will never leave my side.”

He thought for a moment, then looked her in the eye

He said “Just like yourself, one day I’ll die,”

“One day we must go and leave the world behind.”

“But if you remember me, and I’ll live on inside,

You will never lose me, my dear, for the rest of your life.”

And so she laid on the grass and she fell asleep

For their memories in their hearts were for them to keep

But then a moment later, he started to weep,

Soon his life would be ready for God to reap

~JR

“Leaving Lack of Self Love”

So it’s time for me to leave

Drink away your madness

I’m done having you throw me out

Into your dumpster fire of sadness

I can’t love you anymore if you can’t love you too

I can’t fight for something that you can’t even do

So leave me be, I need to go and fill up the space

By the time you wake up next, you’ll have been replaced

~JR

“Without Your Love”

without your love

i can’t breathe

i’m so addicted to you

nobody can compete

without your love

i couldn’t live

nobody out there

could give the love you give ~JR

“November Haze”

He sung like drips of sunshine and leftover curry

His life sprinting away like it’s in a hurry

All his time slipping away through my hands

as i lament on these English sands

I only knew this man for two days

before he passed in the November haze

and so these calloused hands play his guitar

his songs will mend this broken heart

~JR

“Spending time with those unable to love will make you think you’re unable to be loved.”

~JR

“Trigger Warning”

I can’t believe after all of this time

I’ve grown, l’ve changed, I’ve seen the light

Thanks to you, the one who saved my life

Wrists untouched by my silver knife

Too much blood has flown upon my wrists

Almost addictive, couldn’t resist

You came to me and broke the spell

The one to save me from eternal hell

I never expected you to walk into my heart

After all this time, after all the times we were apart

But by the grace of god, you’re still here

Like a blue summer sky, my mind is clear

Darkness driven out by all of your light

I was blind until you granted me sight

I spent too much time on those incapable of love

Until you were sent to me from heaven above

I look into your eyes and I only see heaven

Kind and gentle, saved by your presence

With you in the world, life can only get better

But this is the first time better will last forever ~JR

“Always By My Side”

Not long ago, I wanted to die

And then a certain someone walked into my life

Someone sweet, someone gentle, someone kind

They taught me how to reprogram my mind

They let out a hand after nobody else would

They helped me do the things I never thought I could

They were there in times of trouble, in times of pain

They were there as my umbrella so I could dance in the rain

Life has been so much better with you around

You’re the greatest thing that I’ve ever found

I can’t wait to watch the rest of our lives

I can’t wait to do it all with you by my side

~JR

“Thoughts and Prayers”

Tweet out your “thoughts and prayers”

Thoughts and prayers don’t get us anywhere

Pray all you want, but the kids are still dying

Underneath a president who knows he’s lying

Everywhere the shooters are still shooting

President couldn’t care, too busy talking with Putin

So every time they shoot, share your “thoughts and prayers”

They can’t save us with a president who won’t care

Take your thoughts and prayers, stick in your ass

Doesn’t change millions of kids afraid to go to class

~JR

“What Could’ve Been”

I think there’s a lot of things I wish I would’ve done. I wish I broke it off after that movie on that cold November night in the pouring rain. I wish I would’ve looked left before crossing the street. I wish I saw her before she passed away. But I also wish I didn’t spend my present sulking in how I could’ve changed my past. The present is a gift from the universe to make something out of yourself, to become better and to grow, just as a flower does during a warm spring. We grow to make our futures better, so that one day we might not have to sulk in the present about how our past should’ve been. Instead of worrying about what could’ve been, we should spend this time trying to shape the future we can have. ~JR

“Our Imbalanced Love”

Our love was a circus, I was your clown

Our love was a country, I was your town

Our love was the sky, you were the storm

Our love was only yours, I was forced to conform

Our love was a painting, I was your paint

Our love was a god, I was your saint

Our love was the sun, you were the rain

Our love was only yours, to bring on the pain

“My Greatest Friend”

It’s a little funny how one could give me hope

A little tune to grant me so much joy

Able to inspire me, take my brain and rewire me

A little piece of heaven refilling me up again

After a long day I’ve played you out

My only friend through the loneliest of days

You made me feel human again

You pushed me to sleep through another night

To my lifelong friend, my greatest of friends

A friend like you shall be a friend to the end.

~JR

“To An Everlasting Love”

I can never find the right words or the right rhyme

To express the love I’ve felt for you in such short time

We live like passionate lovers day by day

To make up for all of the lost time along the way

It’s funny how someone kept us apart for so long

When our hearts were beating to the same exact song

To an everlasting love I have always longed for

You are the only one in this world I could truly adore

Don’t leave me now, we still have forever ahead

To a love so great, lasting long after we’re dead

~JR

“Summer Day on Sawyer”

Stuck here on the corner of Sawyer

Houses stacked like Legos row by row

Next to the abandoned church lies a liquor store

7-11 selling juul next to the elementary school

Sitting in a Chevy, humid is heavy

Just another summer day in the city

~JR

“Have You Ever?”

Have you ever caught yourself fading fast?

Like you knew the world in front of you wouldn’t last?

Like you tried to catch time’s grains of sands

As they rapidly slipped right through your hands

Have you ever caught yourself falling

Out of the love you felt calling?

And isn’t it appalling that you were so in love

And now you curse the stars above?

Have you ever caught your soul dying?

When the silence is broken by your heart’s loud crying

And the you that you knew was slipping away

And you’re suddenly someone newer than yesterday

Have you ever caught yourself not fitting in?

With all of the people that you called friends

But now their speech sounds like Mandarin

As you struggle to comprehend and even try to listen

Have you ever caught yourself changing?

Always taking life and rearranging

You go through phases, your past starts fading

And your new identity starts caving in

~JR

“City in a Forest”

I’m a skyscraper inside of an ocean

I’m the city street along a dirt path

I’m the stop sign waiting in the woodlands

I’m the city hiding inside a forest

I’m not meant for nature, I must say

I am a product of a concrete jungle

Buildings stretch high as a kite

Piercing the innocent sky

~JR

“The Man on the Moon”

The man on the moon is waiting for me

Living among the stars ever so sweetly

Why must the sky separate us two?

To the man on the moon, I long to be with you

The man on the moon is as tired as me

Waiting to find me among the starry sea

It’ll be a long time before I can fly to my love

Among the dark blanketed sky above

~JR

“Predator”

I gave you my world

You threw me away

You were a special kind of girl

I was the news of yesterday

I became your prey

You went in for the kill

Prescribed the wrong medicine

And you were the pills

~JR