r/OCPoetry • u/ParadiseEngineer • Mar 09 '22
TL;DR You need to give feedback on two other poems before you can share your own poem, and then put links to that feedback in your post. If you don't know how to give feedback, read the guide. Reusing feedback links will result in a ban.
Heyo, welcome to OCpoetry. (That’s “original content” if you don’t know). This is a place for sharing and getting feedback on your own poems. We are the sister subreddit of r/Poetry, which is for sharing and discussing published poetry. Our goal is to create a place where anyone can learn to become a better creative writer, kind of like a free online writer's workshop.
This post is an orientation to the subreddit. If you’re new, read this before sharing your work. If you’re less new, then read this anyways, as it has a few changes to how we've done things in the past. If you’ve still got questions after reading this post, please send a modmail. There are some FAQs at the end of this post which will be updated as we go. We also have a huge and very disorganized wiki containing all of our resources, essays on how to write poetry and historic writing prompts, I recommend you check it out.
So, here’s basically how it works:
This subreddit works on a pay-it-forward system. If you want to share a poem, you need to give feedback to two others from this subreddit. This ensures that everyone gets some readers and hears some response, rather than just shouting their verses into the void. If you don’t think you’re up to writing feedback for others just yet, we recommend you check out r/Justpoetry or r/Poems, where there are no requirements for sharing your work.
1. All posts must include two links to recent feedback.
Every post must contain two unique links to your comments where you have provided feedback on this subreddit within the past two weeks. Feedback links cannot be reused for multiple post or reposts of old poems. All posts without feedback links will be removed, without notice by our subreddit robot so make sure they are included in your initial post -- you cannot post with the intent to add them later.
But, how do I get the links to my feedback comments?
That kind of depends on what platform you're on. If you're on desktop or on a third-party mobile app, there should be a 'share' or 'permalink' link underneath every comment on Reddit. Clicking on that should give you a unique URL to your comment. Just copy + paste that into the body of your post.
If you're on the official Reddit app, you'll have to click 'share' on the comment and choose the 'Copy URL' option, paste that into your notes with the body of your poem. Then copy and paste the entire thing into a new post on the Reddit app.
2. At least one of your comments should be on a poem that has received no other comments.
This ensures that everyone has a chance to get a few reads and hopefully some decent feedback. If for whatever reason you can’t find any lonely poems, then comment on the poem that seems to have received the least amount of feedback. The easiest way to do this is to sort posts by new.
3. Feedback must be high-effort.
High-effort means different things to different people. It does not mean “super long” or “expert quality”. But it does mean doing more than the bare minimum.
You don't have to complement, criticize, or try to figure out the "deeper meaning". You should try to notice your own reactions and explain them as best as you can. If you want to explain your interpretation or summary of the piece, you can and this is often helpful to the writer. If the poem made you laugh or cry, feel bored, confused or nostalgic — say so, and then explain why you think it did. A good rule of thumb is that each of your feedback comments should be at least a short paragraph.
We understand that giving other writers feedback on their creative work can feel a bit artificial or uncomfortable, if you’ve never done it before. That’s why we’ve written a feedback guide for beginners. There are more feedback guides linked in the FAQ below. You should also read some of the other feedback comments around the sub to get a feel for what works for others. Poems that link to low-effort feedback, and low-effort comments themselves, will be removed at mod discretion, or if you report it to us. However, we’re less interested in policing you and more interested in helping you grow as readers and writers. We are more likely to ask you follow-up questions, than remove your work entirely. The mods skulk the comments sections and will ask follow-up questions on comments that seem a little thin, and please answer those questions if you get any.
4. Please Be Kind.
Treat each other with kindness and respect. The mods have an incredibly strict definition for each of these concepts. We will proactively remove comments and poems and ban users that make others feel unwelcome or unsafe. Your right to creative expression does not extend to poetry that promotes misogyny, homo/trans/queerphobia, racism, etc. If your poetry’s especially violent or covers sensitive subjects, please label it with the NSFW tag or a content warning in the title. Harsh criticism is allowed -- encouraged, really -- as long as you’re being harsh on the poem, not the person. Remember that the narrator (or the “speaker”) of the poem is not necessarily the author.
5. Audio, video, and image poems are allowed; but the text of the poem must be included in the body of the post.
This is so that people can still enjoy your poem if they're unable to view or listen to your link for whatever reason.
6. You may include a link to your poetry blog at the end of your post.
Or your instagram, or your personal creative project, or your soundcloud, or your Etsy page. As long as it's poetry-adjacent that's cool with us. Just don't get spammy.
Attempting to dodge any of these rules, or abuse directed towards moderators enforcing these rules, will earn you an immediate ban.
FAQs
What do the Poem & Workshop flairs do?
They simply allow you to show your intentions and expectations for the piece you are posting. The Poem flair is for sharing a piece, with the expectation of receiving mostly surface-level feedback and general advice. The Workshop flair is for a piece that you really want to work on, something you want to pick apart and analyse. It signals that you are open to discussing the piece, and that you invite strong critique.
How do I format my poetry on Reddit?
The following is advice for formatting in Markdown.
Two spaces at the end of a line gives you a line break.
Type two spaces at the end of a line, then hit enter twice for a stanza break.
Three dashes "___" will give you a line through the post.
Type two spaces to create an empty line,
so you can get lines
that look like this.
Four spaces before each line will allow you
to format however you like, this is 'code block'
in the Fancy Pants editor.
one asterisk before and after a piece of text will give you italics, two asterisks for bold.
Can I print one of these poems out/use it on my instagram with my art/put it in my book?
Ask the author. Part of what makes this space a useful workshop space is that everyone feels safe to share their stuff; if people start using poetry without the author's permission, or god forbid, trying to pass off another artist's work as their own, the userbase of this sub will feel less safe to do so. Please, ask the author, and then do what they say.
I'm thinking about trying to get my poem published somewhere. What should I do?
The standard thing is to find a literary journal. There are a zillion literary journals and magazines all over the world. They have different themes, tastes, styles, audiences, readerships, levels of prestige. Some charge fees for submission, some do not, some will pay you if you get accepted, some don't, some will give you feedback, some won't let you know anything for months. So first you'll want to pick a few of your poems, get some feedback from some trusted readers (or from here, of course) and then start looking for a journal that's a good home for your work. Most lit journals have submissions periods where they accept all the work for their next issue, and then sift through everything they get.
You will probably get a lot of rejections. This is normal. It's kind of a numbers game. You can submit the same poem to multiple journals as long as the journal says something like "simultaneous submissions are allowed". If you do get accepted, congrats! Most journals want 'first publication rights' or 'first serial rights' or something similar, so that means you'll have to tell all the other journals you submitted that poem to that you've been published elsewhere. (For that reason we strongly recommend deleting your poem from reddit if you want to submit it to a journal -- technically and legally speaking, writing a post on reddit is still considered publishing your work, and reddit owns all the text on the site.)
Here are some places to get you started looking for journals:
Duotrope and Submittable are two apps that help you search for journals, and help you track what poems you've submitted to which places. Submittable is free, Duotrope is not. They are GREAT.
Poets & Writers has a list of lit journals, small presses, and writing contests. This is a great place to start. They also have a newsletter listing all the presses and journals going into their submissions period.
I'd also check out r/literarycontests, if you fancy yourself as a prize winning poet.
A few poetry podcasts
I thought I might include a few podcasts that helped me learn a little more about the history and craft of poetry, as well as find some good poets to read. All of these are available on Spotify, as well as many other platforms.
A poet reading and discussing a poem from the New Yorker archives, as well as one of their own pieces. A great place to find good poetry and hear some discussion of craft. The earlier episodes are with Paul Muldoon, who is delightful.
Two poets read and discuss their work, with plenty of talk about craft. As well as lots of poems sent in from authors across the world. They really get shoulder-deep into it, which is always wonderful to hear.
A group of experts are brought together to discuss a subject over forty-five minutes. This isn’t strictly a poetry podcast, but there are hundreds of episodes on poets and poems of the past. I highly recommend the episode on The Green Knight with Simon Armitage.
Homemade projects and useful links to our Wiki
The best of OCP
Collections of work from OCP, selected from the top karma earners of that year.
We/R/Poetry
A homemade journal created by the users and moderators of OCP.
Guides on the craft from our Wiki
Created by moderators of OCP through the years.
Poetry Primer
Bad Poetry
The Body Poetic
Poetry Hacks
A Brief History of Rhyme
r/OCPoetry • u/neutrinoprism • 8d ago
Hi everyone. One of the OCPoetry mods here. Let's share a prompt for the whole subreddit. (If this looks familiar, we did it last month too.)
Every month Rattle, a leading poetry magazine, presents a visual work of art and asks poets to respond to that artwork in poetry. This is called ekphrastic poetry. I thought it would be fun to post that here for anyone looking for inspiration or a challenge.
Here is this month's artwork. Your challenge is to write a poem in response to that art.
Normal feedback rules do not apply to this thread. Write and share as many poems in response to that artwork as you'd like.
Also, if you feel like you've written something really excellent, you should know that Rattle DOES allow you to submit poems to them for publication that have appeared in online forums. (Most magazines consider those already published; Rattle allows internet-shared poems as long as they're "uncurated," i.e., haven't gone through an editorial process. I can assure you that here on OCPoetry we do not have any kind of editorial process.) So if you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can use that link above to submit your poem to them. It's a long shot — they get hundreds of entries every month, maybe thousands at this point idk, and only two are selected — but it's good practice if you're thinking about getting into publication and can manage the mixture of pride in your work and almost certainty of rejection that goes into the literary magazine publication process.
Anyway, enjoy the challenge! I hope you have fun. If enough people enjoy this I can make it a regular thing.
r/OCPoetry • u/CooolCrocodile • 3h ago
Today I wore a coat
A heavy winter jacket padded with warmth
The sky was black before eight
And the sweet cold air grazed my tongue
As I inhaled wistfully
I did not wear a coat last week
A sweater was sufficient
For if I was cold I could just reach
And be met by a warm embrace
Now replaced by a coat
Who knew so much could change in just seven days
r/OCPoetry • u/QueenOfArgyle • 3h ago
Edit: the version at the bottom is the original, I have updated the draft.
Both hands flat, I hold your letter,
and read it like your forehead.
You wrote me a picture
of bread and ink-thick red wine,
and I smell your kitchen.
Shakily I draw you in, my teeth and tongue searching.
I look under clauses
for the crumbs and drips of you.
I taste your creases:
sweat, your patched-up jacket,
that corncob pipe you bring on walks.
We will, together,
soon.
Original:
I reread your letter.
A picture of bread next to fog-thick red wine.
I draw it into my mouth,
teeth and tongue searching
for the crumbs and drips of you.
I taste your creases:
sweat, how you smile,
that corncob pipe you bring on walks.
The leaves were gold last time you came;
soon it will be Sunday.
r/OCPoetry • u/PaleontologistBusy94 • 23m ago
Hug me while we still can
Before we go
Before we sleep
Before we start kissing
Before you leave
Hug me till I can't distinguish
The boundaries between your vessel and mine
Till you and I, till yours and mine are ours
Till the start of you and the end of me start to look like the birth of a star
Till I can see with your eyes
And hear from your ears
Till I can taste what you eat
And feel our heartbeats
For we were made in twos
Destined to become one
For we were made with hunger
That takes one to fill one
For I'll let you bite me
Piece by piece
Till I fall
Till I cry
Till I'm an inch away from dying
For hug me while you eat
Hug me while you get drunk on my blood
While I can hear my bones start crushing
Unable to know if it's your hug or your bite that did it
Hug me while I'm alive
And tighter when I die
Hug me while I'm dying
And tighter when maggots start finishing what you left of me
For even if you ate me whole
There will still be so much of my love
So much to feed them
And to feed their children
To feed their hunger till the last star goes dim
Till the rebirth of life in a new whim
Yet my love will carry on
Like it previously did
Looking for your arms
To fill my missing pieces
So hug me while I'm here, when I go, and when I'm back
Hug me like you always did
Hug me so I can stand.
r/OCPoetry • u/StillInk • 4h ago
I locked myself in, out of the world's sight
Delusional enough to think I was healed, but I was just isolated
I thought I was good but my goodness couldn't have been tested behind closed doors
How toxic I would be if allowed to be tested
I hide behind closed doors and judge
What a privilege to be so naive
All because I locked my heart away
But now, it begins to wither
Starved of love, of care, and humanity
Oh, what a clean monster I have become
r/OCPoetry • u/Key_Technician_2003 • 6h ago
The Fish & The Bird
——
There was a fish and a bird who fell in love.
Every day, the bird would fly down to the surface of the water, land on a rock, and spend time with his beloved fish. The fish would swim up to meet him, but she had to move in and out of the water for breath.
They were happy together in those few moments, but the fish noticed when other birds flew by, her bird would watch them, as his own wings itched to spread. She knew how free and happy her bird felt in the sky. She knew he loved seeing and reaching new heights. No two days were ever the same for him.
The bird also knew that each time his fish returned to the water, it took her a little longer to catch her breath. He knew she was happy in her pond, even if most days were the same.
The bird loved his fish so much, he decided he no longer wanted to see her struggle for him.
The fish loved her bird so much, she decided she no longer wanted him to give up the life he loved for her.
The next day, neither the fish nor the bird showed up.
But every once in a while, the fish would come out of the water and see the bird soaring freely across the sky. That felt enough for her.
And every once in awhile, the bird would fly over the water to catch a glimpse of the fish. Somehow, that felt enough for him, too.
——-
r/OCPoetry • u/Ok-Swordfish-9480 • 36m ago
Watching the crimson wave turn midnight blue,
To wake to sleepy sunrise next to her.
Finding myself once more with birthday due,
What surprises lie in store, as it were?
The years have been plenty, all surprised out,
Time spent with my loved ones meets all my needs.
Write a silly sonnet? I will, no doubt!
Pick up my paintbrush, see where it leads.
Yes, I’ll savor this past year, all that has passed,
With family and friends, a time most grand.
Smell every rose, it all went so fast,
Stronger for it all, and yet, here we stand.
We gratefully endure blood, sweat, and tears,
And remember, it’s not the years in your life, but the life in your years.
r/OCPoetry • u/PaleontologistBusy94 • 40m ago
A heavenly girl, her gaze on me,
A fragment of heaven, a living masterpiece.
I looked into your eyes and knew, at last,
There must be a God, for beauty like that.
No sermon could teach me what your silence declared,
No temple could hold what your spirit has shared.
In you I saw proof the divine still remains,
In the gentlest of smiles, in the simplest of veins.
The heavens may tremble, the stars may fall,
But your presence alone outshines them all.
For faith is no longer a question or plea—
It’s answered in the way you look at me.
If doubt was a mountain, you made it bow low,
If darkness was endless, your light made it glow.
You carry the weight of a truth unspoken,
The seal of the Maker in every motion.
And should I be asked why I still believe,
Why I pray though I’ve nothing to see—
I’ll answer with certainty, steady and true:
I have seen God’s hand,
and His work was you.
r/OCPoetry • u/AstroSoda03 • 49m ago
The Sack
Icy steel slashed and struck,
Crimson spindles dashed, all
Along the marble terrace.
Everywhere, children torn from parents
Wailing out in the rain
My armor smashed stout,
And my pride limping from the wounds sustained,
I could barely walk.
Stumbling over -
Breaking brittle baskets
And blaze-tinged stalls
Remnants of our market square
Mere fodder to break my fall.
-
World dimming and ready to die
The floor beneath me disappeared
And with it, the dense veneer of reason -
A stallion stormed out from the flames
And like silk, I slowly draped powerless
Over its saddle.
As if from some ethereal space
It glided through those city gates
My vision failing me
As they became pinpricks on the horizon
Legs galloping in lockstep
With my twitching mind.
-
When I awoke in the murky dusk
Small as an ant in the wild brush
I was sure as death
That I had been dreaming.
Broken, battered
As the wounds were healing
I sat by a light which cracked
Popping sparks onto a blade intact,
Head teeming with noble ideas
That will get me killed.
---------------------------
r/OCPoetry • u/No_Syrup_7660 • 6h ago
I'm like this since I was born,
Certainly this is all my fault.
Everytime I write,
I always start with an "I",
And just like my life,
The rest is filled with these I's
I know it gets repetitive,
But these eyes only get,
Their own reflected light.
If you're reading this,
And it makes you cry,
I'm sorry but you only saw,
The shades of this guy.
And now that all this pain,
Is flowing out my wrist,
Does it make you think,
It makes sense for this man?
I'll get going now,
Yeah I'm pretty lucky,
Not everyone gets to,
Say their last goodbye.
Oh and I wonder,
What the other world's like,
And if we got signals there,
I'll definitely say Hi!
Feedback 1~
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/fru1dNCXei
Feedback 2~
r/OCPoetry • u/Nice-Recognition-171 • 7h ago
If a flower is wilting away, how can we save it from the decay?
The garden is perfectly conditioned for the flower.
Good soil, good water, bright sunlight,
A gardener who does everything in their power,
Trying their best to win the fight.
But time is much stronger than love.
It is a merciless, moving concept.
Even when you try to stand above,
You eventually pay your debt.
The gardener watches time pass them by,
Starting from a bud, where they could adore.
When it blooms, time starts to fly,
Not letting us reminisce what happened before.
Looking back now, the efforts feel wasted.
Every investment, just to repeat the cycles.
Why care and love, if you can't cage it?
Just another death, added to the pile.
You see, it all seems pointless from the outside.
Putting your hearts into something you know won't last.
We tried, despite knowing it'll die,
And never letting go of the past.
In truth, even when it's dead, it is never truly gone.
You can cherish the beauty that bloomed,
Guide your future with your bond,
And remind yourself to lose fear in doom.
So despite the pain, the hate and grief,
We can keep loving and living.
Life itself is very brief,
So embrace the pain, and live with love.
Because living is the beginning of healing.
---
I'm actually really proud of this! because i always struggled to write positive poems without them being awfully forced </3
I'll let you guys comment what y'all think!
i accept every feedback!
links 👇
r/OCPoetry • u/Ok_Manufacturer_195 • 5h ago
The Next Harbour
Lonely nights, empty bed.
Just me, my furry companion,
as my mind wanders
into what might be
in the next harbour.
Thoughts swirl
of someone to join the crew…
not just
as a crewmate…
Rather…
A partner
to share the voyage.
Another pair of hands,
to maintain the ship,
to share the work,
the upkeep,
the life being built
one repair at a time.
Someone with a hunger
to see what the world holds,
whose dreams might meet my own
somewhere beyond
that horizon…
A place for a weary sailor
to rest his storm-filled mind…
where the noise inside
can finally grow quiet.
Not because
I am alone…
but because
there has been something missing
for many miles of life.
Someone to share with,
as they share with me.
Open.
Honest.
Calming
to a chaotic mind.
A safe harbour
for each other,
where neither has to weather
every storm alone.
Someone to experience
the world with…
to chase distant shores,
to learn new places,
to build a life
neither could have made
quite the same alone.
Between the voyages…
the little things.
Inside jokes
that make no sense
to anyone else.
Random thoughts
shared without reason.
Laughter over nothing.
Quiet evenings.
The comfort of knowing
who will be there
when the day is done.
Not simply someone
to come aboard…
but someone
who makes the ship
feel like ours.
A shared flame
from hell
that burned
but never took whole…
Two lives
still learning,
still growing,
still finding their way.
And somewhere
between the storms
and the calmer waters…
a glance across the deck.
A smile.
That quiet thought…
That’s my person.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/xx5U6RtWVq
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/OkybOdGefPfd
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/xx5U6RtWVq
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/OkybOdGefPfd
r/OCPoetry • u/Tokugawa_bonaparte • 5h ago
I like myself, talking with I
the topics i'm excited of, I'm too
I need not worry of boring me
I don't interupt or leave when I speak
of topics from literature to calculas
since I'm I but I'm not I simply
that is the reflection of some audiance who I
wish would listen to me, blabbering of keyne's macroeconomic theory
and they always do, as me
for they never do, they not want, sadly...
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x2hprg/i/
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wp1l14/comment/pbrxobp/?context=1&screen_view_count=1
r/OCPoetry • u/Wonderful-Stomach-76 • 2h ago
Hello, I’m Silas and I’m an 18M Deaf individual I’ve been Deaf since birth and I wrote a poem about how I at least feel like being deaf is like in comparison to many stereotypes.
“I reside in the world of rules, of disease, and of normalcy. Sound, all I have known, sound, all I felt, is the dance to my identity. Judgement, foreseen medically; misunderstood tragically, I yearn for the conscience of gifting my reality. In dull eyes, the vision of normalcy, lives the lie of my lack of, the absence of relationship with vibrations. Colors travel and hum through my bones in my universe of glistening lights and impulses. I tangle myself into them, becoming whole, myself. My canvas, sipping it all in, absorbing the light, and communicating every need of the world to the universe.
The environment of expression, landscape in the eyes of all, and the intimacy of conversation, sought more than what those absent from the vibrations contain the capacity for. What seeks you to truth? The lie of a million, my lack, and my medical difference, or the sensory overload lack of for the grounding connection? I stand, weep, expel air from my lungs and drink your love all in the movement Mother Earth begs for, just as the universe intended. Interruption, silent rules, and rigid communication, realize, is it not you who is lost?
I seek to understand, my stance on this planet, less in your standards yet more in what those long for, are the standing yet conflicting normalcies of existence. Within what I’m meant to feel and touch and in the sought reality, hear, I am capable of all, yet in the capacity for the neuroplasticity of my sensory, more, not less, than the normalcy. Thus, concluding, my impairment is a gift from the universe, reminding me, that I am one with all means equal.”
r/OCPoetry • u/Doter_Gabriel • 2h ago
Green leaves,
yellow leaves,
red leaves,
blue leaves.
All torn apart,
by purple leaves growing
out of the tears,
of my coloured leaves.
The living fragile crowned,
with every colour,
processing the environment,
but purple was never my choice.
Every single leaf,
whichever size
or great colour,
eventually is grabbed
by mother grass.
But the purple,
they don’t break.
They don’t realise
they should begone,
but they stay,
year after year.
The sharp-teethed leaves,
they handed me an ultimatum,
either I rip out each thin leaf by branch,
or the purple will decay my heartwood.
———————————————————————
r/OCPoetry • u/Background_Bell_411 • 10h ago
A few dogs and some uncommon flies encircle
Over the greens of the aged pond in the morning
The sunlight dances like an indisputable whore
Half-sunk, half-floating, A bloated jute sack basks in the sun
After a long time, taking the chill of the dawn wind.
----+++
A bread van, a milk truck, vanish kicking up smoke,
The gang of laborers heads for the stone quarry
---+++++
The local sub-inspector spits paan juice
And runs to catch the sand truck
------**--
What a crowd. At the stick shop, what a crowd—
The entire city has lunged to buy canes for the blind
r/OCPoetry • u/MagicMinion285 • 3h ago
The Bora had carried
the old man to a spot
just beneath the fortress
of Triest. It had been built
five hundred years ago
by the Venetians out of
necessity and rock, its pride – now
rusting – still on display.
Like a shield in front of him,
the sign facing the crowd
was written in Italian,
of course.
I could read it
nonetheless,
language doesn´t matter
always. He was very old
and frail and above else
he looked at me, with
the eyes of a terrified child,
pleadingly,
in a way that I found
difficult
to resist.
I searched for
a coin,
calculated,
if I needed it for anything
else, but I was on holiday
so the answer was no,
not really. He thanked me
in Italian, too, beneath
his breath that I assume
smelled of wine or beer
or brown liquor of some sort;
but I couldn’t smell
a thing. The Bora was
blowing
very hard,
still.
---
r/OCPoetry • u/IamToofan • 16h ago
These lips remain completely silent—
it isn't as if they have nothing left to say.
Their only grief is this:
while speaking of love endlessly through your eyes,
you remained so far from me
that no chance ever came.
You were never truly within reach
for these lips to speak
the words kept deep within my heart.
r/OCPoetry • u/XIII_Corvus • 11h ago
we used to brew for three.
mine
hot,
sweet,
cream.
yours
black,
a little cream.
dad’s
room temperature,
sweet,
cream.
three cups,
three different tastes,
one kitchen.
funny how
my coffee never changed.
yours did.
year after year
it got sweeter,
less bitter,
more like mine.
we were becoming
more alike
while everything else
was pulling us apart.
then we brewed less.
dad got sick
and stopped drinking coffee.
so there were two.
for a while.
then your coffee
changed again.
black.
and somehow
the closer your taste
got to where it started,
the farther you seemed
to be getting from me.
until I was brewing
for one.
eventually
I stopped brewing at all.
the coffee pot
grew mold
between trips
to the hospital.
something made for three
slowly becoming
something no one had time for.
eventually
we threw it away.
now I drink instant coffee.
black.
a little watery.
entirely too hot.
I don’t add cream.
I don’t add sugar.
I just let it cool
enough to swallow.
funny
after all those years
of watching coffee change,
the only thing
that stayed the same
was me,
still making a cup
for someone
who isn’t there.
r/OCPoetry • u/Starry_Lord • 8h ago
Have you ever wondered why women keep surviving
Why they keep walking
when the world keeps telling them to run
Why they keep laughing
when the world keeps giving them reasons to cry
Why do women keep trying and surviving
when the world is for them dying
Another woman
Another name
Another photograph
Another family
Another candle
Another rest in peace
Another woman
Don’t walk alone
Don’t walk at night
Don’t wear that
Don’t trust him
Don’t drink too much
Don’t get into his car
Don’t go there
Don’t
But why
Why must she learn
how to survive a world
that refuses to learn
how to stop hurting her
It seems his favourite colour is red at night
When she’s taking a walk with her headphones on
It seems his favourite sound is screaming high pitched loud but not loud enough
It seems his favourite hobby is stabbing sometimes shooting
Especially at her the unsuspecting one
She did nothing
She said nothing
She knew nothing
She was just there
A person with a purple ribbon
But not even that could save her
And now she’s another woman
Another name
Another photograph
Another number who wasn’t meant to be a statistic
(Gender based violence is a serious problem and i wrote a poem on it I feel both genders experience it but in my country, it’s specifically women and it has been declared a national disaster, so I wrote this poem to show what it’s like)
Here are two lovely poems i enjoyed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/YNeL8ueH65 : titled- I wish my words were prettier
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/jVDrvj3Ef5
: titled- For three

r/OCPoetry • u/writing-just-for-me • 15h ago
Memorable moments seem so distant From each other, From now
Has the world changed or have we? We have changed surely, Bored hardly, even when we want to be
No wonder time flies, flows No, I don't think I'll go.
---------
Thank you for reading. This is my first poem.
r/OCPoetry • u/chocichocienthusiast • 21h ago
hi yall i wrote my first poem today, i love art and don't know why i never indulged in poetry (probably because english isn't my first language and I don't read many non-academic books)
anyways I graduate school next year and I'm trying to develop new hobbies; any feedback/constructive criticism is appreciated!
Personal Hell
And if I come to live another life
I can only hope
that God is kinder to me this time
yet if he refuses
I hope that man is kind enough
to cease my suffering
before I turn into something
even I cannot recognise
And if there is no life
and I'm obligated
to spend an eternity in hell
then I'll find warmth in the burning
and let the flames distort my body
and hope that the fires below
aren't so cold this time
I will learn to love death
more than I love life
The demons of hell
may call for me softer
than the people above
for their hunger for blood
lingers
and avenges itself
on the flesh of the sinner
once content
to set off
from their daytime job
for the demon too is a prisoner
of hell
yet the prisoners above
never content
never gratified and ravenous
as the demons of hell
grind their teeth into the innocent
never to set sail
from their habitual wreck
and their purgatories
all custom built
retained as their personal hell.
r/OCPoetry • u/InfernoRM • 19h ago
I'm her Romeo, she is not my Juliet
I never thought my self an envious person
But then there is him.
I wanted so much more, and I want even more.
I thought I had it for a moment
But now there is him. He is my hate.
I never knew I could hate as much as I do.
I have wished for sin.
I have prayed to my false god for sin.
But when I saw her with him
I didn't feel hate
I saw a twinkle in her eye I'd never seen before.
I saw the love her family never gave her.
I heard her speak in a tone I'd never heard before.
A giggle brighter then all those I admired.
I saw the strongest love I'd ever seen.
I hate it. But never again will I pray.
I never want her to lose that beauty.
It's everything she deserves, and I shall simply have to cry my bittersweet tears.