Rules
The rules for the Daily Poem are simple, and are as follows:
Submissions must be entirely original, and written by a single poet - collaborations are not allowed.
Fan-work is not allowed unless the source material is now in the public domain. Please consult the page public domain explained for details on the term.
Submissions must be in proper English.
Submissions must have appropriate content - no excessive violence, hateful, or adult content. 
Submissions must follow the Daily Poem Format.
Submissions must not be more than fifty (50) lines in length, minus empty lines.
Submissions per person must not exceed four (4) at any given time.
If there are spelling and grammar errors in your submissions that prevent them being featured, the Daily Poem bosses will notify you in the comments section of this page and you will be given the opportunity to fix them.
The Daily Poem Bosses will not tell you what is wrong with your submission. The Daily Poem Bosses will not correct your submission for you. If you attempt to fix your submission and ask if it is fixed, we will gladly answer you.
Because of the aforementioned, the comment section of this page should not be used for chatter.

Failure to comply with these rules in two (2) sequential submissions or in four (4) totals submissions will result in an indefinite ban from the Daily Poem. Choosing to violate this ban will result in immediate entry removal as well as a warning from the Elftown Guards. To view a list of members who are not permitted to submit to the Daily Poem, please see Daily Poem Violators.

If for some reason you should be unable to edit this page properly, please contact one of the Daily Poem Bosses with a message containing your submission (in the correct format!) and, barring any issues, they will add it as soon as possible.

Entry Processing
The submissions are processed in the following manner:
Entries are sorted for possible feature candidates.
Feature candidates are chosen at random to be featured on Main Street.

The Daily Poem Bosses reserve the right to not feature poems based upon the quality of work. Those poems which are removed from the list of candidates will be deleted without question. Therefore we suggest that you make sure that you submit your best work as well as make copies of what you do submit!
These rules are very strict. However, it helps cut down on the number of featured submissions, allowing for a faster, more efficient Daily Poem process.

For more details, please see the Daily Poem FAQ.

Please submit entries to the bottom of the page! 

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Spring

Spring is a new beginning
with much to do and to see.
New opportunities are waiting
to make our dreams flourish and bloom.

It's such a grand time to plan change,
to begin the new start we may need.
To try something bold and brazen,
to reach for the stars and succeed.

Spring is a new beginning,
a precious new chance sent to us.
We chase our dreams and capture them
with joy in our hearts each day.

Written by [Stephen]

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tan lines

let summer brand us,
take a hot iron to parts
we are told to hide

Written by [hannes]

---

the thing is

the thing is
that when the music
beats at my temples,
when these voices
surge and crash over my head,
I lose myself in the tide;

the thing is
I have been adrift
without a compass,
sans dictionary for
the language of wind or stars;

the thing is
I have been building a shelter
out of my own life-raft
and dressing the gaps
with pieces of my soul.

the thing is—
I have been teetering and now
all of my walls
are coming
down.

Written by [Linderel]

---

Ascent

I would like nothing
so much as
to quietly dissolve into the rain—
go rushing against
the drops that pass by,
dive up through clouds, back into sunshine;
reach higher, farther,
beyond the exosphere and away
where no sound can enter—
until finally, bewitched, becalmed,
I could grasp at peace
and be one with the stars.

Written by [Linderel]

---

The Gift of Wings

There are feathers in
your hand when you wake
and from somewhere afar you
can hear the song of beautiful
little birds, beckoning.
You want to join them.
A fluttering on the windowsill, now—
capture it in trembling
fingers and whisper
old memories into ears
that will transform your clumsy
human speech; new melodies
will be born out of your sorrow
and perhaps tomorrow
you will feel lighter.
For today, for now, you can hold the bird gently
fling it onto the sky
and smile.

Written by [Linderel]

---

Mother of an Ocean

River flowing wildly,
Bold and delicious-
Take me to your Mother.
Take me to your sea.
With the sun in my smile,
  We'll go dancing,
      and dancing-

Light a candle in the temple,
And see what we can find.
There's a fire in the catacomb,
  The spirits run
      Around and around.
They look at us
While they are chanting,
And when they bow
    They kiss the ground.

See the river to the West-
Nurturing like an ancient Mother-
Let's all of us jump in,
And be part of one another.

Written by [kamisch]

---

I Didn't Make it to the Beach in Time

The morning awakens with fierce fuschia fingers,
      Clawing with a hunger at the tail end of night –
           Blue mystique blushes and melts
             as the spectrum is savaged:
            Bolts of bold color raking the canopy,
              Dripping in the brilliance of halos and innocence
               Refracting with resonance to purple and gold.
Hunkered on haunches,
  The world waits in silence as I watch in awe
     Dazzled as the crown’s glory grows.

A1A never looked as beautiful as it does in this light:
   Dew glittering the scene,
   Glowing embers reflecting the
              might of the majesty rising out of the east;
        Wagging his shining mane and roaring a warning
                      until the stars run aground,
        Poured like shattered diamonds all over the road.
Consumed by their fire and drawn to their grace,
  I ride to keep pace as if scaling a mountain …
     The closest breadth of the ocean is home.

In Phaeton’s name,
        The chariots rage against the horizon,
    Threatening once more to set us all ablaze!
    Fleet feet on my pedals are not gods,
         And the distance to rapture is beyond man’s race -
                Ravaged by the winds embarking the day;
                Mired by the brambles of rambling wheels. 
I collapse upon shore too shy on this side of heaven,
  Lost in the excitement of anticipation,
     Under a firmament turned pale.

Written by [kamisch]

---

I See You Deflecting

I'm hungry,
   Hungry - 
  And what are you?
       You're just there watching,
                       Scowling,
                        Judging.
   Come here to my arms,
          They're open,
     Come into my heart.
See my life exploding with you in it
            Like the stars about to start.
And maybe I'm just naïve,
    Hanging,
       Dangling
       From the lines of lies that you keep dripping –
Why am I so full of compromise?
                For you, love,
                For you only,
             Will this logic crack and crash and keep me guessing,
                         Doubting everything about myself,
                                            About you and us –
                              Still…no regrets.
Once I saw unicorns there in your eyes.
         Have they gone or am I blind?
               Or are you blind? 
      So, we're both blind.
                 It doesn't really matter,
                       It's too late now,
         Our lives entwined in conversations sweetly heated,
                They'll chase you down,
                      Haunting,
                            Panting,
                                 Howling
                                             If you run.
                             Will you run?
            I can't say that it'd surprise me.
Still I'll hold faith by the trigger,
                  Will it to shudder,
                                    Surrender.
Famished, terrorized and seething,
         I'll wait for you,
            Sit here for you.
                 And your rolling eyes -
                     Just there, scowling,
                                Judging
                              Watching.
                      Feel me trembling anxious,
                            All… a quiver.

Written by [kamisch]

---

Mess You Up With Love

They told me love was beautiful,
      Some fresh angel
         With bright comforting wings
  But oh she’s so savage
         The slattern, the whore
       She’ll rape your logic
              Leave your defenses torn:
               Claw right through bone,
                       Through sternum –
                  Your heart is hers.

Did you think I wouldn’t notice?
           The changes made…
   A blush and a panic,
       Inhaling feral flesh
          Through conversations and dreams.
What is it we’ve come to?
           Cue the serenade…
   Touches brought to tantric
                 You were everything.

I’m left here bleeding,
          Soaked and ravaged
    The hungry hunter’s off again.
              I call her ‘cause I want you,
               I call her to come back to me!
       She robbed me, left me cold,
               But she did it all so beautifully.

Written by [kamisch]

---

The Truth

A rant of epic proportions,
Condensed into a moment of lies,
The feelings swirling up from the ground,
Condensing at the top of my spine.
When did we die?
Thousands of words tumble through the darkness,
Bearing a death grip on my chest.
My traitorous eyes,
Heavy as the world and the words caged behind.
Why do we lie?
The lips of a harlot,
Blood red and sitting slightly awry.
The heart of a succubus,
All withered and dry.
We are the lie.

Written by [Tekkon KinKreet]

---

The Answer

We all posses the answer,
Or so we think, we do...

What We believe is "rational",
What We believe is "true".

For so the media told us,
And so the politician said;
And those of old who disagreed all somehow wound up Dead..

Yet We would never do that, for We are so "advanced",
Far wiser than our ancestors, in fairy tales, romanced.

To burn a maid upon a stake, believing her: a witch,
To torture young men with machines, so lies, they will confess,
To call an illegitimate son, a bastard, or a female dog, a bitch,
To show preference to our own kind, before all of the rest,
No, these were things we did in times when we all knew "much less"..

We don't debate religion, nor marry based on race,
We barely even bother,getting married in the first place.

People are no longer: "Good", or "evil",
With silly ideals, like "Wrong", or "Right";
Just vexed by "political upheaval",
Caused by "socio-economic" plight.

We don't tell our friends: "You're confused",
Nor insist that they change;
But rather, to spare their feelings,
Our lives, we rearrange..

For tolerance is not enough; no, we must all agree..
That what was reprehensible for many centuries..
Is now, not only accepted; but "beautiful" and "free"
"In fact" the deviant proclaims, "You should all be more like me"..

Written by [NorthStorm]

---

that kind of a day


if the world was just a little bit bigger,
or slightly smaller,
maybe we'd all be closer.

maybe we wouldn't drown
in surges of longing;
maybe the longest distance
would be an arm's length.

maybe the world is perfect,
and it's just our own
fears
limitations
naive hopes
that keep us apart.

maybe we'll never know.

Written by [hannes]

---

fall leaves


It is fall
and we are lost
on unknown seas,
on soulless land.
It's our fall
and all is lost.

Spring was green,
the sun exhaled
fallen trees
arose again.
Time was lost,
not found again.

The world is cold
around us now
but fires burn
where skin meets skin.
Nothing between.
All is lost.

Written by [hannes]

---

i'm gonna run

i'm gonna run

drain my
thoughts, muscles, guts

of this
accumulated tension
unintensional frustration
indefensible elation

drain it all
into a big wooden cup
to savour, keep warm

until the day
my mind is clear
my muscles worn
my stomach prepared

to drink the wine,
ruby red,

of your touch.

Written by [hannes]

---

A Dream Revisited

The sun, golden, flowed down the world,
Beams, glowing, bent and curled.
The oceans gleamed, brilliantly blue,
That sparkling, twinkling, cerulean hue.
It filled my mind, my purblind sight;
I saw it, felt it, every night...
But my eyes opened and light streamed in;
My sunshine gone until night again.
Lately though, it won't rise for me,
My dreams give way to reverie.
It's gone now, nevermore to be,
So live on, dear, in poetry.

Now the sun, dark, flows down the world,
Beams of red bend and curl.
Up the valleys, down from the ground,
That sparkling, twinkling, shimmering brown.
It fills my mind, my purblind sight;
I see it, feel it, every night...
But my eyes open as light streams in;
My sunshine gone with the night again.
And no more will the sun rise for me,
My dreams are sickened heresy.
It's gone now, no more warmth to be,
Left only with cold idolatry.

Written by [Mortified Penguin]

---

Continual Renewal

The flowers unfurl their petals
fresh as young women in their spring dresses
the birds chirp bouncing from flowery branch to budding tree
the leaves unfold waxy and new in the warming breeze

This is a beginning that happens every year
and yet each year is new
it is a promise we all hope to see fulfilled
by the sight of the robin
home from a long journey south

Each new blossom tells my heart
that I can be created anew after trouble
after short, cold, dark days
bare and empty like the winter trees
there is a way to grow back again

Though the world is so old
Still it dresses each year for spring
Healing is in my spirit's design
a pattern written in its core
I breathe deep of the wild scent of the heady rose
and hope

Written by [daydreamer]

---

Living The Dream

"How are you?"

Oh...

[There were once words of worth to write but where they went only the road weary and weather worn will reckon, beckoning as they do with silence pained enough to ignore. With sword of Sharpie and shield of cardboard the unwanted, unfortunate, unloved take to corners for loose change, standing their respective vigils for their respective dreams as blind eyes burn holes everywhere.

Everywhere save them.

...

I long to die. Physical pulling want. Once sweet kisses, now cessation, stir my remaining butterflies. Alas I am lashed to this life as a rider fallen from his horse in all respects save his ankle so as to be dragged against stick and stone until all life leaves or some miracle frees him of his shackle. As am I in my arrow of time, scraping this flesh marionette against the concrete ground until one succeeds the other.]

... living the dream: one day at a time. Yourself?


Written by [Company Awesome]

---

Help me

I am inconsolable.
I feel beyond repair.
Everyday, decaying spiritual leprosy.
If there is hope, it is larger than life.
If there is, it is bigger than I.
What will become of me.
You might find me in my epitaph.

Written by
[Erin go Bragh]

---

(im)Personal

Yes I'll throw away my friendships.
I'll throw away my past.
I'll spend my days in trances
Staring into crystal plasma glass.

In some dreams I'm flying;
In others I fall into the grass.
Sometimes I lose my teeth
Or my lungs turn into ash.

As I near the end of summer
My toes will itch for home.
My mind will grope my heart
For even a glimmer of backbone.

I can't say what I'm thinking
Because I still don't know where it is
That tongues can meet on civil streets
Just to share their bliss.

I am sorry when I wake you.
I am sorry when I don't.
I'm not trying to say sorry
I'm just pointing out my moat.

I have three hands for anchors
When I'm trying hard to float.
I wish someone would kiss me
And lead me to their boat.

written by [pelv13]

---

Chthonic Shore
He comes on the wind, day or night
To embrace you, blood and dark,
With all love, joy, sly and might
For all kin who speak and hark
The will and wants of chaos.
A perfect cloudless night sky
A pound of flesh and seance,
Then whispers of the wicked cry.
Daylight smolders and brings down
The fates wished upon others.
Saved not by a scarf nor crown
Upon your head, nor brothers
Who share your blood or pay more...
All float to the Chthonic shore....

written by [wicked fae mage]

---

Ode to ET

Hello again, old friend - old friends,
Still a quiet delight to find
We can reach into each others' minds.
And though they be not young, not new,
Neither have they aged between
Lines of code and poetry.

Ode to Elftown, where spirits began
To crawl from flesh and ink and pen
Across the wild internet - and then
To home to rest again.

Old friend - old friends - I dream of thee,
I sleep and find rest fitfully,
Green screen of vine and text and leaves,
Upon it left our memories
To be collected digitally

Here, somewhere, the sun is setting
Here, someone finds peace in resting
Here, we grieve, we love, hate, create
Ode to Elftown, our dear friend and friends,
Ode to Elfwood, none to ends,
Here, our fate, cacophony silence,
Against the grain of social violence

Here, we gather, here we stay,
Between the trees and Wikipage,
In inboxes and comment sections,
In forum:junk for useless digression,
And of course not to forget, endless wiki invitations
From our heathen Mort the Penguin

written by [Rainbow Dragonflies]

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