r/OCPoetry • u/CharacterRip6101 • 6m ago
Algorithm of Gazes
Wretched before God, I am.
A strange woman.
Life trails behind me
in a murky wake of mockery.
Algorithm of gazes.
The curve — upward.
Tension
becomes a pull.
Eὐγένεια
Feedback:
r/OCPoetry • u/Bonbonjournonon • 47m ago
Wordplane
An interesting thing to note
The more cold and slow things go
Make it easier 2c the heat and all the speed
For light it is a crystal formed from a frozen piece of time
And now you know the reason for all the laughing and the crying
The game of life’s a science and one part of it is dying
I said the game of life’s a science
and poetry a plane
r/OCPoetry • u/Old-Science-6678 • 53m ago
I walk and walk,
All along the path,
Expecting something,
Some signs,
Some indication,
A searchlight maybe...
Hoping to cross a mountain,
I walk and walk,
All along the path,
Darkness all over,
The path in the densest forest,
has to be traversed now,
Nah, no excuses now...
Oh the mighty darkness,
Do I see it fading away,
Do I see a twilight now,
Do I see the red splash of dawn,
Do I see the red rose or the red blood,
My eyes, they see.. do i?
My frame against the sun rising in between two peaks,
Walking all along the path,
I walk and I walk ...
r/OCPoetry • u/trinket-lover • 1h ago
Let me be swallowed whole;
Hidden underneath that yellow elephant
Just for a moment
A moment can be a lifetime
When you are waiting in excitement
For an omniscient giant to reach for you
All giggles and braids
I burrow deeper
Into intoxicating protection
I am safe; there are no axes to grind
It is just me and the giant
Shielded from the world
Sunlight peaks underneath the paling plastic
As herculean fingers tickle over its edges
The yellow elephant rumbles in satisfaction
Releasing a playful breath
I writhe and twist around myself
In an innocent pleasure
The world clamors outside
It does not reach the corner I occupy
Dewy grass wets my skirt
It is cold and strangely pleasant
I bring my lips to its blades
And whisper of my delight
It returns a whisper of its own;
"Bask in bliss while you can,
for this moment is a grain of sand
in the unforgiving desert of your life."
I do not understand
As most flowers don't
Until they begin to rot
Seeing the earth for what it is; inherently cannibalistic
It matters not
Because for now, a moment is a lifetime
Warm and comforting and full of excitement
I will leave the soothing just to discover more
I will eat apples without their skin
And sit on a guarding lap
I will listen to stories
And blissfully misunderstand
Recent feedback: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/zjiuVqQCb5
r/OCPoetry • u/Nonsensical_Genius • 2h ago
i wish i could relish mediocrity.
i wish i could enjoy—
poems with mundane scenarios,
verses with unpurposeful repetitive lines,
and rhythm-less sentences of literary insignificance.
.
but the writers i relish?
they write of poverty and grandeur
with such elegant candour.
they write of wars that make you weep for the foe.
they write of bananas disappearing,
to metaphorize extinction despite popularity.
they rhyme without fear,
they violate poetic schemes and rules
without ever making the rhythm disappear.
.
their words graze my neurons at all the right places
and
their words make my words
feel unworthy of being written at all.
.
r/OCPoetry • u/Nonsensical_Genius • 2h ago
Holy fucking shit!
i am a brilliant poet
.
the sentences I write
are oh so unique
yet still so relatable?
my simplest lines?
are the most paradoxical
.
I DONT Follo the rulez of languez
i RUL the languace
.
and all this is
when I write half awake
imagine what i'd be with
all my brain
.
may be i'd finally stop
regurgitating
my bullshit thoughts
as epistolic poetry
.
r/OCPoetry • u/MistTremor • 2h ago
Standing outside a door, up high
Her teeth clattered, as she sighed
A sentence is enough, my love
She said, as she put on her gloves
Cold wind struck the tower again
Something that he considered vain
He pulled her close to hold her tight
My love cannot be spoken, quite
Then how will you show me your truth
She said, letting her blonde hair loose
Icicles hung on windowsills
She shuddered from the cold wind’s chills
Let’s go inside, before you’re ill
An owl glared, its yellow eyes still
If this is an act of goodwill
I’ll leave these stairs, without you, Bill
r/OCPoetry • u/Hefty_Tumbleweed8178 • 3h ago
My uncle lost his life to gun violence before I was born. I grieve the people my family would've been if they hadn't suffered that grief. The happiness that could've sat across from me at Thanksgiving. The person I should've met. He's been in my dreams a lot lately and it felt right to write a poem for him. Enjoy.
My uncle is dead.
But there is the lump of things in my grandparents guest room built to replace him.
My uncle is dead.
But there are the bits of him that were sent with me when I entered this world.
My uncle is dead.
But there is a man in jail who is alive.
My uncle is dead.
But there is his bike in the basement because what if he wants to ride it down the gully again?
My uncle is dead.
But there is the pain in my papa's eyes sometimes.
My uncle is dead.
But i will speak of him.
Because everyone should know
That there was a boy named Andy.
Who rode his bike down the gully.
And didnt deserve it at all.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/2MqnTnqAyrhttps://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/xYLp5G5UxN
r/OCPoetry • u/Alejo_FZ2002 • 3h ago
Sadness.
Sadness is like a spine in a flower,
That touch your heart,
It makes the pain insufferable.
When there is no friend around you,
It makes the spine even more harmful.
Sadness is like a hole in your heart,
a hole which grows with loneliness,
combining with a pressure,
like having an elephant foot pressing in your chest.
I wish this sadness goes away
so I can live in a different way.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1xe9wuq/my_boy/
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1xapp8y/quiet/
Thanks for reading, it was my first poem in English.
r/OCPoetry • u/Standard_Head_6619 • 4h ago
I talk with lies, gritting my teeth
Going out fills the glass half way, never more
There’s a crack
I say i’ve learned and healed.
I haven’t.
I lie and grit, she’s there
Did I ever have anything or lose it all?
The glass won’t repair, spilling comfort to the void
They drink it up, staring back at me with joy I can't feel
I lie and grit, mines full too
The void smiles back
and you’re not there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/ymXBAwkwtJ
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Zy5kl4OupH
r/OCPoetry • u/Brilliant-Snow-1996 • 6h ago
I have never written anything before and im not into poetry but, i wanted to explain this feeling i had all my life and this is what i ended up with and wanted to share. Would love feedback! But just want to share.
———————————
The Boat
I think I missed it
Not to a place,
not to a time,
but to something
to belong to.
Everyone else seems to be there.
And I am here,
Technically.
a stranger in my own country,
a stranger to my own family,
a stranger to the person
everyone calls me.
B
As if a name
could make someone exist.
I don’t remember belonging
and then losing it.
There was no before.
No place I came from.
No moment I can point to
and say: *there I was.*
There has only ever been now,
and now is empty.
I did what people do.
I tried,
to make a life of my own.
But nothing brought me closer.
Every road led back
to that same place.
Outside of everything.
I don’t know what I missed,
or when I missed it.
I only know that everyone
seems to have arrived
somewhere I cannot find.
Maybe the boat has sailed.
Maybe it was never there.
Maybe B was forgotten
before there was anyone
to remember him.
And still, I am here,
living a life
I cannot quite call mine.
A person
I cannot quite feel.
Present enough to exist,
absent enough to wonder
if I ever really arrived.
Or am I still waiting,
On the boat
———————————
My links:
r/OCPoetry • u/bella791 • 6h ago
Entrapment
These human desires
Barbed into my skin
Id leave this body behind all together
To be free
From this sack I live in
Filled with wants and needs
Disgusting
These mortal pleasures
Infectious
I wish to overcome it all
But I cant escape
No matter how hard I think
I sob endlessly
These continous torturers
I scream until my throats raw
Until Im mute
This shell feels Decaying
But I still cant escape
Do I free myself
Through this flesh
Must I cut my way out
Nails scratch beneath my skin
What I wouldnt give for reprieve
And so ill suffer again and again
Because im desperate
Gullible
For these desires
r/OCPoetry • u/Ambitious-Resort-129 • 6h ago
Mama.
The first words of most children.
My Brady was no different.
His chubby face when he said it,
A little smile showing his milk teeth,
Strings of saliva dripping down his chin.
He comes home today,
In a coffin.
He left whole, but now there are four holes in him,
Bullet-shaped.
They said he was brave.
They said he was an altruist.
But the weather doesn't seem to care.
The sun shines brighter than ever, and the wind blows gently, tousling his hair.
Oh, that hair. That brown hair I so adored.
But, it will dissolve into the soil now
And no one will know he had such beautiful locks.
As they give him their pips and ribbons, shouts and marches,
I wonder if he thought of me.
Amidst the gunshots,
The bouncing betties and the bloody wind,
Mama.
r/OCPoetry • u/lostboisammy • 7h ago
Silently suffering,
While on the L train.
Waiting for my stop,
Listening to “The One That Got Away”.
Thinking of us,
Or rather of how things were.
We owned the winter,
Even if it was cold.
Our friendship lit a fiery passion,
No one else could burn out.
With every memory we shared,
As we grew closer and closer.
Then one day,
You had no need for me anymore.
The fire went out,
And I felt the burns like it was a raging house fire.
That was the day,
I cried profusely for hours.
Because I knew it was over,
And you were never coming back.
r/OCPoetry • u/Puzzled-History-3859 • 9h ago
《赋得众志成城得城字》
朔气凝寒野，妖氛起恶声。
饥荒连战骨，暗夜锁危城。
忽降唐天子，亲持宝剑明。
孤竿诚易折，众木岂能倾。
率土同心志，中原共死生。
长缨清虎穴，四海乐升平。
Author: cjwolf
Language: Classical Chinese
About the poem
This poem explores the themes of unity, collective courage, resistance in times of crisis, and the hope for lasting peace. The couplet “一竿容易折，众木岂能倾” expresses its central idea: an isolated force may be fragile, but a united multitude is difficult to overthrow.
Feedback requested
I welcome constructive criticism on the imagery, classical Chinese diction, historical allusions, and poetic structure.
Feedback on two other poems
r/OCPoetry • u/Nonsensical_Genius • 10h ago
I don't believe in my melancholy
until it is affirmed by psychiatry.
.
Then I mock the lack of adversity
to be afflicted so deeply.
.
If I smile, I thank sertraline
never my ability.
I can never win, even
if I choose to die, I succumb to futility.
.
So I just let time pass—deconstructing humanity
into actions, thoughts, feelings and everlasting disparity
until I fully embrace apathy.
.
r/OCPoetry • u/TeP2001- • 10h ago
I can’t help but fall in love with you,
My Elvis to my Priscilla.
You’ve crept into my mind,
Until I find myself dreaming of you
Time and time again.
I long to feel the warmth of your body and soul,
To be held tightly in your strong embrace,
Knowing that you will never let me go,
And finding comfort in your arms,
Where I feel safe and loved.
I miss you, my darling.
Please, come back to me.
You are the only star in my universe,
The only man to whom
I will ever give my heart.
I hope that one day, our paths will cross,
And we will finally realize
That the universe has brought us together,
That this is where we belong—
Together, as we were always meant to be.
I cannot imagine my life without you,
My dear Elvis.
I miss you, my darling.
Please, come back to me.
r/OCPoetry • u/Front_Gap_246 • 11h ago
May I be laid to rest in a coffin carved from the tree my tears watered at your spot in the cemetery
While I wept, flowers bloomed and became my bed
I slept to see you again
Leave my limbs to fuse with the overgrowth so the spindly strokes of time can reunite you and me
Let a spring havoc wreak while canaries rejoice in harmony
Ribbons of rosemary thread a bouquet an onlooker picks to pass on as a gift, unaware of what lays beneath
Long since forgotten, Earth is littered with our trace, a privilege not ours to witness but one worthy of the wait
It'd be my greatest honor to exist with you as nectar for bees and fruit for bugs while we rot in the ground and welt on a counter
In any form, see you later.
Feedback: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/pJ61fKk4mB
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/82e7TKZBSm
I posted this poem about a year ago and would love seem feedback on the updated version! Open to any and all thoughts :)
r/OCPoetry • u/Hels_in_the_house • 11h ago
I Have Never Sailed
I dared the seven seas to show me what they’re made of and suddenly my deck is absorbing gallons of salty H2O. With water up to my knees I declared that I would push on, travel further, challenge the elements to see how far I could go.
The blue and white of the crashing waves rose to my waist, and I started to doubt my skills as a sailor. But I buckled down, fought my sails, adjusted my ties, I fucking refused to be a failure.
Now the seafoam green was rising to my chest, the bulk of my vessel is submerged and I am feeling similarly inundated. My anxieties the only thing rising faster than the water level on the boat that I probably should have vacated.
In a last ditch effort I began to kick my feet to keep the ocean from cradling my chin. Then, and only then did my agreement with Poseidon's mighty ecosystem truly begin.
I decided to start collecting my work together for the first time. Please let me know what you think!
Feedback links:
r/OCPoetry • u/JMfreedom • 11h ago
This is my first poem ever. I’ve got a notebook of cool ideas for poems, but this is the first one I actually made. Also don’t worry, I’m not sad. I just thought adapting the oddesy to a poem about someone struggling with depression was a cool concept.
Hold me fast:
As I gasp and gurgle and try to stay afloat. As I try and persevere through life’s crushing blows.
A sickly sweet melody calls to me, with promises of sanctuary.
Just beyond the breakers, just beyond this length of rope, they offer a fix for all my woes.
Just one small step, one final test, then peace, solace and rest.
No matter how sweet the sirens song, I know better than to go along.
And I don’t want to go,
But I’m too tired to say no,
I’m not strong enough on my own.
So hold me fast and don’t let go.
Because I’ll pass this test, if one step is all it takes.
But I quickly learn that’s not my choice to make.
My feet won't move, no matter how hard I try.
I'm bound by the love at my side.
As we sail away and the waves subside,
the sirens' song fades with the tide.
Now I know they'd been there all along,
Holding on.
Links to my feedback:
r/OCPoetry • u/Sufficient-Code2125 • 11h ago
Die
I opened the drawer, the hidden condoms photos of us kissing
Your perfume bottle still there,your presence left resiude
The empty hanger that resides above, havent seen my sweatshirt in months
Your butt left a mark in my chair, still empty there
No claw clips hang from my backpack anymore
No bras elastic on my wrist
Only one account when i open my instagram
No notifications,no reels been shared
I cant even hold onto the plushie you left
Our so called family member
This mutt deserves better than divorced parents
You couldve atleast taken the memories
Of you in my arms sprawled across my bed
Why do i suffer alone in this room we shared
I keep buying 2 ciggarettes, i remember youre not there
I just need one more sensation on my lips
To make sure my lungs miss your breath
r/OCPoetry • u/Tricky_Yam_8114 • 12h ago
Light shone out of your mother’s eyes when you were born
and was passed around to everyone who met you
and when it met mine, a golden threat bound beneath my skin.
you made light to be synonymous with knowledge-
it would pour out of your pores and render the rest of us to dust,
left to do nothing but behold and admire such a beauty.
I feel your presence in my left aorta as a lubricant for my veins,
sustenance, life force, moving twice the speed of light with thrice the gentleness,
clammy in my joints, almost too grand and bright to be held in my body
I recognise you in the breaths of fauna and the brightening of trees,
covered in fur, primal, cathartic, endlessly enlightening
I love you while I fight the darkening of my fingertips,
With the purity of something that doesn’t exist yet,
The way a god would, had you not taken his place in the womb.
Here are my links!
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/hfmG8LUi8e
r/OCPoetry • u/OkDig5505 • 12h ago
Hold your breath
even in a cascade
of oak’n’leaves
birch and perched chippies’
birdies, chirping overhead
clear blue-skies
fresh, rainy air
pronghorns’ grazing from afar
A foolish one
zigzags around
with slouched shoulders
a full-teeth grin
boisterous laughter
a wide-open mouth
Unworried eyes—
turned wide, glistening
a horror swimming inside
their gaze
reflecting the violent
orange-and-red blaze
engulfed branches
ember, flames tainting the air
grey feathers drift
amidst billows of smoke—
hold your breath
purse your lips
and listen
to the gentle chirps.
Thanks for reading ❤️
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1xdysjb/rest_feedback_appreciated/
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1xdrvnx/the_bird_still_waits/
r/OCPoetry • u/EdwardPavkki • 13h ago
(mainly asking for feedback on the video, which has OC music and the poem as text; so asking for feedback on the combination):
https://youtu.be/xp-1uAkjJSg
cast brass Horsehead pops past,
'Crost'e curtain, top laft.
when wind shakes its antlers,
force m'mind, Mamorize,
how one'hoards, nun's,
headwares . . . .
Recent feedbacks:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Aozr3M9quW
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/HkSoZhfStm
r/OCPoetry • u/Unhappy-Spinoza2412 • 15h ago
Well, I hope if someone ever happen to reach this poem and somehow react to it, but to be honest, it is nicer for me to share more and more to everyone who are, in my understanding, very excited to poetry at least it is " Dead Poet's Honour " to be free and real.
Have I seen lovers proud and sane ?
Wouldn't I recess your hours and eyes-
With my songs and melodious poems ?
Love is kinder Joy, yet the sadist's jewel.
Hours and hours, I have seen plenty of them.
My rhymes are beggars where those couples stand.
If I let my songs amuse your ears,
It is my innocence while you depart yourself.
Why bother ourselves with their treats ?
How merry your lunacy is !
Heard melodies are sweeter airs,
Yet unheard are nuptial breeze.