After three long years at this url, I have decided to give Nothing Rhymes with Orange an upgrade and its own address.

You can now find me at the link below. My old poems are on the new website and I will continue posting 3X a week.

Thank you!!!

Riley Welch

This blog has moved to arhymeaday.com or rrrileywwwelch.com

Disappeared

Things disappear sometimes and
not for reasons you
think but probably
just because the going gets tough sometimes.
So they have to move on.

11/17/2017
Riley Welch

PM

I forgot how to write

and I don't know why

how hard is it 

to spend all day

teaching kids to sound out words

but then you get home

to put a pen to paper

and fall asleep instead. 

I know "a" sounds like apple

and "k" needs to sound real short (snip snip)

and I know that pretend words can sound real, 

but the spelling is usually hit or miss. 

Then I sit down at home, 

and get ready to write

and forget all the letters I've ever heard. 

I think about how hard it would be to learn another language.

And learn all the sounds, and the ones that break the rules. Maybe I'm too old. 

Or maybe I'm not stubborn enough. 

Writing always felt like my nightly diary entry. 

My fresh breath of relief, 

but lately things haven't been coming together, 

maybe that's why I sometimes feel I can't breath. 

11/29/2017

Riley Welch

It's a Monday

I think I prefer a Tuesday to a Monday.
I'm back in the swing of it.
I'm not too exhausted.
It doesn't feel like a crushing end of the weekend.
It's working my way back through the week.
Slowly, slowly.
Digging my way there.

11/27/2017
Riley Welch

11/23

The rain clouds brought down wet memories,
of family gatherings that had passed.
I felt such a sadness in the pit of my stomach,
that I could not lift out and remove,
whether through old recipes
or silver jewelry
or old prada perfume.

11/23/2017
Riley Welch

6 Keys

The fog settle over the stadium lights,
in a way that made me miss high school football,
but not in a way that made me miss high school,
because,
adult life is more stressful,
but generally better.

This is mostly due to being able to eat whatever I want.

But the way the fog settled that night
reminded me of being 14,
and walking out onto the field for the first time.

"Are you nervous?"

"Yes"

"Good, you'll play better"

11/5/2017
Riley Welch

Hungry

My stomach is full of caffeinated coffee and anxiety,
and I get that one of those things,
I didn't consume.

But let me guarantee,
it is still there.

Lunch waits around the corner,
and my forgotten breakfast
was not enough.

11/1/2017
Riley Welch

Monday Blues

Today I had the Monday blues,

different than the one that comes on a Sunday. 

This one felt long and trudging. 

This one felt cold and stagnant. 

Tuesday’s aren’t meant to be better. 

But maybe this one will. 

Riley Welch

1005

I just couldn’t sleep.
Everything seemed incorrect.
But light would come soon.

10/27/2017
Riley Welch

Sleepy Wednesday

usually the sleepiness comes on a monday
but
today
it comes
slow and steady
as sleep does
catching me while i work
and while i write
and while i cook
hoping tomorrow
maybe
maybe
i could have five more minutes

Riley Welch
10/25/2017

mstms

This sleepy Monday came to soon.
Both stressed and underprepared.
Thursdays seem so much nicer.
They are close to the end.

But I've made sure not to wish my weeks away,
they are still valuable for now.

10/23/2017
Riley Welch

Fall

The air was still when I left my house,
but 15 minutes later,
the leaves threatened my ankles.
I think this meant it was fall,
though I did not yet feel ready to let go of summer.
Something about bundling up wasn't what I wanted just yet.
Would this mean I would gain a thick layer of winter fat?
That wasn't really what I wanted.
Do hot beverages even keep you warm?
I don't have a fireplace. 

10/15/2017
Riley Welch

After a long week of feeling both mentally and physically exhausted, I will resume poetry posting on Saturday. 

The last few days I've been attending a conference for all AmeriCorps members in the state of Colorado. I greatly enjoyed the content of my two days in Denver, but often left the presentations feeling tired and unable to turn off the thoughts in my head. Usually this is good for my writing, but I found this time it was not. There are many benefits to the non-profit sector -- mainly that you get to participate in meaningful work. But occasionally, thinking of all the need present within our communities, outside of our communities and in the world leaves me depleted.

When you look at the big picture, it can sometimes feel like there is always more that can be done, and never enough people to do it. And that just you as one person can only have so much impact. 

---

Even with that, this week sparked many productive conversations with my friends, my fellow AmeriCorps members and my loved ones about ways we can better our own small piece of this world. Whether it is through direct service and action, difficult conversations, education or just being a little bit nicer, bettering your slice of the pie will sometimes be all you can do. 

I know this isn't poetic, but I felt I needed to express this feeling, and because I have had a few days without content, I thought this would be the best place for it. 

I know that everyone makes an impact on their world in some way and I don't need reassurance that I do, I simply had to turn thoughts into something more tangible. 

Have

Have you seen the mail today?
I couldn't find it.
I think I was waiting on a check.
Yesterday or the day before,
I created all I could.
I was left exhausted.
So I forgot what I was doing.
Man,
everything seems lost.

10/9/2017
Riley Welch

2 Miles

It was late at night,
when the sun first spoke to me.
I heard she might be coming back,
but this felt like a cruel tale.
I missed her warmth, but will admit,
I felt the dark sky held a certain comfort.
Not knowing who to believe,
I waited until dawn.

Riley Welch
10/9/2017

DR

A rainy day

brought the biggest laziness

and I couldn't hold

it in, as you chuckled

through the strained

pages of "Anne".

9/28/2017
Riley Welch

1818

Today's the first day
and I'll try to do "better".
The mountain air has
dried me out
and I miss the
warm sweet
kiss of a Texas summer.
The wind blew cold tonight,
and I finally remembered
my home.
She felt the same
and maybe I felt
a bit changed.

9/19/2017
Riley Welch

SA

Sometimes I can't think straight.
Or I can, but it's too rapid fire to make sense of --
usually this is when it is
hurt or
angry or
especially sad
and sometimes when it is incredibly confused.

And all of that is what washes over me.

Riley Welch
10/2/2017

tx

I drove down Colorado, over New Mexico,
and into the top of Texas.
And back.
In 12 short hours.
I rested my hands on my soft stomach
and let the glasses shield my eyes
waved at every cow
saw the pink-lit mountains at sunrise
I missed a lot of things,
and was content with much.
I spent most of my time tired,
but tried to also see it as fulfilled.

9/30/2017
Riley Welch

Sleepy

It's a sleepy Wednesday,
and boy am I so tired.
I can't seem to keep the sand away,
I'll lie outside for hours.

9/27/2017
Riley Welch

A Monday Haiku

This is the morning.
Do you see the dawn's sun yet?
I miss it's orange glow.

9/24/2017
Riley Welch

Sensitive

I feel a great divide.
Like cold and hot,
and maybe it's something I can taste,
but more possibly it's something I can feel.
I haven't really decided yet.

9/23/2017
Riley Welch

Sunrise

In a certain way it felt like no one maybe understand.

9/9/2017
Riley Welch

Blue

Enviable consciousness

I wished for days where I tried to be my best person

Sometimes I left behind thought I had

most of the time,

though,

I didn’t

I spent too much time searching for something to reveal itself to me.

9/9/2017

Riley Welch

7747

Sometimes when I was bored I climbed to the top third of a tree in my front yard,

I got scared climbing that high,

and knew I would be well hidden if I stayed in the center.

But something about the pride made me want to be seen.

I couldn’t find a direct link between anything else in my life and pride, but I let it rest on this regardless.

9/9/2017

Riley Welch

MM Part 3

Bubbles collected at the rim of the glass

and I watched them surge from the bottom foaming the top.

9/9/2017

Riley Welch

Happy Saturday

Happy Saturday.
I threw a birthday party last week.
I forgot the invitation list.
But not the chips and dip.
But the cake.
And the ice cream.
It was a disheartening party to say the least.

What do actual people do when they throw a party?
I've made assumptions in my life that now prove to be incorrect.
The amount of time it takes to make lists.
Perhaps, it takes others less time.

And I have an odd anxiety linked to using the internet,
because,
it feels like if it were to disappear I would lose,
plenty
plenty
plenty.

9/9/2017
Riley Welch

A short haiku

Here's a short haiku,
because I don't have much time.
I'll be better soon.

9/6/2017
Riley Welch

21 - again

21,
again. With the same
sad,
type of.


I've lost my train of thought.

9/2/2017
Riley Welch

Littlefield

I biked 26 miles summer of 2016,
mostly to prove to myself I could.
I wanted to be strong.
I wasn't sore the next day, though,
I never did it again,
but it hasn't even been a year.
So, that doesn't mean I won't.
I think 100 miles will be my next.
I'll remember sunscreen this time.
I didn't even bring anything to fix my bike if it had broken.
How risky I let myself be.
I listened to billions of podcasts.
I think I'd do any audio book next time.
Maybe my legs would ache. And be sore.
Or, perhaps they wouldn't burn the soft pink they did the last ride.
I felt truly victorious.
Maybe even safe.
Like I did the most and best I could.
If I walked my legs turned to jelly.
Could I really do 100? We'll see.

6/1/2017
Riley Welch

Normalcy

I have a reoccurring fear
that
possibly
this isn't a great   .

This is just normal, but I have never known it before.

Though, I suppose I could feel like that about any random section of my life.


4/21/2017
Riley Welch

Overcast

There was a metaphor about a hand,
but I forgot it.
Clutching softly
maybe --
who has the time for all that, though.
I wanted hard words to spill from my fingertips,
the way they fell from my chattering teeth on nights when I had too much.
Or the way tears fell from my eyes on the last night of my college career,
when I realized I was growing up and out.

5/8/2017
Riley Welch

FYEO

For your eyes only,

Days with worry,
they slip out of my hands
the same way sand falls
and I'm not proud of that.

But, I do have some days,
when I stoop below them
and count each grain as it falls.

Which makes me feel less bad about the loss.

4/26/2017
Riley Welch

CLM 2

The sky was grey and I lost myself at a stoplight.
The car in front of me had mesmerizing brake lights.
I was glad the sky was the same color as me.
Until I peaked over the rim of my sunglasses, and realized it shone a bright blue,
and I had been deceived.
Left to wallow, knowing it was not like me.

4/26/2017
Riley Welch

Green

Been awake so long, 

but my brain never clicks off.

Only keeps going. 

4/21/2017

Riley Welch

Main Room

I let salt water hush me to sleep.
Although, actually,
it was just chlorine.
I slept in the same room a ghost made its home.
She tapped me on the shoulder
and told me it was morning while I sang her lullaby to babies.

5/27/2017
Riley Welch

This hiatus lasted longer than expected, but I was tired and the rest felt good. Without the pressure the write three poems a week, I found myself wanting to write more than I have in the past few months. Here's a short haiku, and Monday I will resume normal posting - one original poem on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. 


I guess I felt a bit lost
or maybe confused
but, oh, it feels much better.

8/1/2017
Riley Welch

I am on vacation for a few weeks and then moving across a few states. 

Poetry will resume once my life has settled. 

Three Galaxies

I waited to long for the postman
because he lost my letter.
I forgot to stamp the corner
the second time around.
When it came back to my
I couldn't stand it
and threw it off the edge.

7/14/2017
Riley Welch

AM

Another Wednesday went by and I lost my mind

on the corner of two streets I forgot. 

I hadn't gotten enough slee in weeks, and my brain reached the edge. 

I fell asleep behind the wheel and switched in and out of traffic. 

Before I flew off the side of the road. 

Submerged in the water. 

Sinking. 

7/11/2017

Riley Welch

1911

green eyed sparkle
green eyed demons
stopped writing
started typing
bags grew
until faces shrunk
gold and purple
used to be royal
what happened
nothing remember
leaves were large
the sun was small
the demons danced,
like they do
never seen one walk

have you?

Riley Welch
7/7/2017

NorthEast

I found a baby somewhere deep in the woods.
Hidden in the crannies of a tree while my brain slept.
Everything shut off except the sun rising through the trunks.
I saw it and tried to run.
I knew I couldn't close my eyes,
because I let the words back up inside me for too long.
Pen to paper.
Paper to pencil.
Where are the notes in the margins of my books?
I lost them.
But I don't think I've lost it.
How do I make time for the important things....
I found a baby somewhere deep in the woods and cried to forget him.
I felt I couldn't remember how ink spread anymore.
What's gone is gone anyway.

7/4/2017
Riley Welch

HR

Heart racing. 

Ankle swelling. 

Mind beating. 

Seeing cloth. 

Patterned ripped. 

Oh. I have such doubts. 

Riley Welch 

7/3/207

X

I don't have time for anything. 

I am falling asleep. 

I miss soft pillows.  

And blankets that way me down. 

7/1/2017

Riley Welch

328

The week came a day too late,
with empty bubbling in the pit of my stomach.
Although, I began to think the bubbling actually came from the tips of my toes,
and all I felt was it slowly working it's way up.
I didn't think there was a way to avoid it.
This feeling.
Thoughts clouded my more important thoughts,
my mind was busy and tangled up.
In:
lists,
lists,
lists,
In one month I may be settled then.

Riley Welch
6/27/2017

Written Down

Scrawled in the corner of my notebook,
there left a date I had seemed to forget.
I wrote it there for it's memory.
But now, can't find it.
No where, anywhere.

I'm sorry to this day, where I was in a frozen moment of time.

That I cannot, cannot, cannot recall.

Riley Welch
6/24/2017

Fresh Red.

Stomach turned into battery acid.
I melted metal in it's pit.
Hissed and spit.
Maybe others sang.
Moved like a robot.
Like an animal.
Like the devil.
Hit a pitch so high only dogs heard it.
Howled back that they didn't know what I meant.
Can you repeat it?
One more time maybe?
Got lost in the woods or a jungle or a forest.
But it wasn't very wet.
Feet got stuck in quicksand.
Rolled over on my belly.
Beetles walked out over it.
Hovering on top without sinking in.
They said it was their feet.
Spread like plates or leaves.
Held them up on top.
Wrote eight bars of music, only knew 4/4.
Easiest thing to rhyme to, rhyme in, write on.
Easy quarter notes kept my honest.
Everyone else in the bar lied.
Drained clear cups.
Everything smelled like limes.

And when I woke up, my stomach settled.

6/18/2017
Riley Welch

Old Tile

The slanting wall turned from blue to gray as the sun hit it lower and lower.
I felt sweat drip off the tip of my nose.
And water fell in circles like rituals around me.
Legs bent ready to,
hit the pavement.
Water smacking,
dropping,
dripping,
I slid my feet back.
Knowing I would lose teeth if they skidded.
Smack right through the front one.
White a bold no more.

Riley Welch
6/18/2017
Riley Welch

Split Checks

And someone preached to me in the backyard.
I surely could not stand it.
The splintering cadence of his voice echoed
almost comfortably with my annoyance.
The grass blades outside the window
They bounced with the weight of raindrops and bending pressure of the wind.
The sky held grey all for me.
I couldn't break hypnosis with this point in time.

3/11/2017
Riley Welch

June

The clouds hung so, very, low
but I knew when I left for the day
they would be cleared.

That thought brought a tear to the corner of my right eye,
because this was something I could not change.

It was hit and sticky. And my only protectors, were the low hung clouds.


6/12/2017
Riley Welch

not well

This is not a good
Haiku. But it's the best I
Could seem to  do now.

6/7/2017
Riley Welch

With

With.
Lazy.
Working hard to write with emotion.
Lazy.
Or working hard to be an emotional writer.
I work on telling,
though I sometimes ponder this advice.
And how to do it.
My computer shown red, light coming through a large umbrella over head.
Keeping the hot sun off my part.
Avoiding a sunburnt scalp.
Thinking on it, that would also shine red.
Curious.

6/6/2017
Riley Welch

Not a Saturday

Everything added up felt so reflective.
He was just a small dog.
He didn't know how big the world was.
All the roads looked the same.
Everything with four legs was just another him.
Everything with two was just another Mary.
Trying to imagine the world with his small truth.
Was just too much.
It could not be done.

6/4/2017
Riley Welch

Food

Wind echoed around me in a way I had forgot about.
There were no free seconds anymore.
A certain disappointment made its way from the coffee I drank to the depths of my stomach.
And the tartness of a blueberry gave me cross crossed goosebumps.
I missed all the days I thought about this more.
Or thought about anything more, really.

5/2/2017
Riley Welch

WW

I lost my thoughts down a wishing well
and didn't how to get them back.
The bucket's string was worn to thin,
and when I sent it down,
it never came back.

I went mad pacing around a garden.
All I could do
was wish for them to come back.

5/31/2017
Riley Welch

Coffee Shop Car Wreck

Coffee shopping
parking lot
wreck.
Woops.

Oh, I backed right into you there, didn't I.
My mistake.

Do you have your license? Insurance?
You scuffed me there.

Yes, but it's just a scuff, do you really need my information?

Yeah, ya know. I think I do. Who are you anyway? Thinking you can get off here?

I don't think I can get out of here, I'm just saying, if you had knocked a stone off a ledge or something, it would have had the same effect.

Okay dude, but I didn't hit a f____ stone off a well trimmed garden's edge. Are you for real?

Woah, wow, no need to get so aggressive. What is up here?

God, for REAL. You are a piece dude. A piece.

3/8/2017
Riley Welch

TME

We circled the block
over and over again.
I felt like
My phone floated over my fingers and slipped away.
I saw lights on in the doorway, but no one was there.
To me it felt hopeless, I couldn't face them,
or anyone else.
The coffee didn't perk me up and
I drowned in shower under the weight of the air.

3/3/2017
Riley Welch

Brownie

I had a dream about everyone in the world.
That everyone reborn is just everyone else.
And I felt overwhelmingly lonely.
The thought of being surrounded
by so many, but really,
just me
is too alone for me to handle.

3/3/2017
Riley Welch

12

I guess writing,
well.
Everyone seems to.
I wonder who listens to these thoughts I leave.
Especially when they have no direction.

2/27/2017
Riley Welch

6 Pills

I hate that best
and chest rhyme.
I always want to find the cliche in it.

Maybe.

I wish you the best, with a pain in my chest.
Don't walk away now, no I can't see you frown.

Gagged. Saliva.

No, really, I just can't listen to that.

Too dramatic?

I don't know.

5/4/2017
Riley Welch

I'm currently in the last week of my undergraduate degree. I've also been thrown off with a nasty case of contact dermatitis. Between this, and finals rapidly approaching, I will be postponing posts for the next two weeks. 

Expect to hear from me May 20th, (the day of my graduation (!!!)), when I will resume my regular posting schedule. 

For anyone who's missed it in the past, this will mean Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, as I've been doing for the last three years. 

Room 200

I knew what was coming,
I predicted it in a dream,
where the ceiling shattered,
and crystals fell around me.

5/3/2017
Riley Welch

Zombies

I had a nightmare about zombies,
and all my friends had turned,
and I was alone,
and pretty scared,

and then I got up early,
because as soon as my eyes opened,
and realized it was fake,
there was no way I would close my eyes again.

1/5/2017
Riley Welch

ZZZ

Slept too long

day drawn on

brain melting

or frozen in time. 

Slept too long

hours tick off

one at a time

I couldn't think of a rhyme. 

Slept too long

made mistakes but now they're gone

said goodbye, 

but I was wrong. 

Where's tonight? 

4/28/2017

Riley Welch

All Across a Campus

I liked the days best
when the clouds hung low
touching the top branches of the trees.
I pictured the dew,
start there, and then move down the trunk
hopping leaf to leaf
slowing sprinkling the grass
when it reached it
below.
The sun filtered through
soft and light
all at the same time.
The air was heavy,
padded with water drops I though I'd missed.
It was my favorite kind of morning.

4/25/2017
Riley Welch

Too Tall

A wave
came over me
like it always does
and I tried to shake it off
but I felt this pull,
so.

4/20/2017
Riley Welch

3100

The font flowed

wellllll

I kept thinking of weird repeats. 

Bloody, maybe. 

Everything felt hard lately. 

Not difficult. 

But this a certain toughness. 

I couldn't chew threw and regretted that. 

4/21/2017

Riley Welch

R.O.N.

I could feel my cheeks split open
blood poured into my mouth
and
I thought it would be warm
but it felt cold.
I spit up mouthful after
mouthful of crude red
mixed with saliva,
it didn't turn pink, pooled in
my cheeks, holding it like
nuts for the winter.
My teeth gleamed so white
in the contrast.
My gums acting as grey
space
between the red and white.
I didn't know I had it in me.
Cheeks suck in like dimples,
popped like biting into a grape.

4/18/2017
Riley Welch

Empty

I coughed up everything I'd forgotten about.
I remembered them when my throat itched the next day,
vomited up what I felt I could muster.
Cold like the day before.
Ice from my center
that my stomach couldn't warm.
The bite of acid wasn't there
and snow fell from my mouth,
crystallized individuality in each flake.
Jaw clenched, tension, and locked.
I forgot to hold my tongue
and swallowed it down
choking as it went.

4/17/2017
Riley Welch

5

Getting harder and harder to be on time.
I need a lazy productive morning.
Things can be both, you know.

Or at least.
I can try.

4/12/2017
Riley Welch

3 3 Line Friday Thoughts

Too much caffeine was a bad idea
and I knew it
but I really, really couldn't stop.

Here I'm shaking
nodding really subtle
but I know it's not.

Hot walks
this sweater is too thin
but it's shape is so lovely.

3/10/2017
Riley Welch

Later

So it's late on a Monday.

Later than usual.

The sound of the wind lacks the comfort it has when I am not scurrying across keyboards to finish my work.

I feel a sharp pinch of loss,
I felt it more strongly when the sun set.

I miss the light that I know will come back tomorrow.

I think I loved you.

I cannot wait.

4/10/2017
Riley Welch

2:25 PM

The walls are made of salt.
And the ground was salt.
And the ceiling was salt.
And the air was wet.
And all the linings of your body.
Leaked water.
Because of osmosis.
Sucking it outward.
How long can you hold your breath?
Would it even make a difference if you could?
Is it blood, life, Earth?
Could you drown your body in water?

4/5/2017
Riley Welch

Wandering

Surely I've posted
about the way words wound before.
I'm mesmerized at how you learn words.
Follow letters.
How do you picture letters and words.
I don't know.
I wish I did.

4/5/2017
Riley Welch

NP

The color teal pressed itself into my eyelids and I saw a firework sprawl.
Explode behind what was left.
I pictured giggling women.
Beach frolicking.
Filling dark bathtubs
in awe.
Surprised by the way corsets laced up
and left intricate marks
on the ones I've loved.
My entrancement is like worship
until I've run out of water.
Oh. Please.

4/2/2017
Riley Welch

5

Wishing well lost my coins
I feel like I'm out of luck
I wonder if they'll drown
or
just sink.

4/29/2017
Riley Welch

Wished

My eyelids can barely stay open.
I blame myself for this, though.
I really -
well.
Maybe not everything has to go onto paper.
No matter it's relief.

3/28/2017
Riley Welch

Curious

I need to get more ambitious.
Like the plateau of weight loss
I wonder what will come of me writing three poems a week
over and over and over,
until it becomes second nature.
Will my learning reach a halt?
How do I push myself further,
and continue supporting my other aspects of life.
I have this worry,
that by furthering some parts of my life,
I'm pushing myself back in others.
It's as though I can't decide where I want to go and what I want to be.
I'm just doing my best.
Writing three poems a week.

3/26/2017
Riley Welch

Peak

Days turned into weeks
the way they do.
I didn't miss them,
but I felt the same way I do at the end of each day.
As the sun turns gold and sends shadows across my room.
A bit sad that there is ending, because no one likes an end,
but mixed with happiness
for the night that lies ahead.
And the fresh morning even farther,
before the sun, once more, sets.

3/22/2017
Riley Welch

1302

The doves had returned above my house,
constantly cooing.

"I hear you, I hear you!"

I try to relay.

But it continues until I am driven mad by the repeating.
Repeating.
Repeating.

Just please, don't shit on my car today.

3/17/2017

17

This is a haiku.
It is not a good haiku.
But I am sleepy.

3/20/2017
Riley Welch

Underneath

Creep crawling sudden stares
wrapped up like linen, I don't think I care.
Wooden boards hang down,
so low,
high up?
I'm watching out.

3/17/2017
Riley Welch

New

Something felt wrong or missed
so my stomach dropped.
As it always does.
Thank god it doesn't literally,
it would touch my toes by now.
Dropping out the bottom and running along.
So sweet and sad.

3/12/2017
Riley Welch

Free

Sing song,
lyrics so loud,
I lost myself
in the clouds
your arms
felt strong
It felt
at least
like something,
with more gravity.

No, no.
That's not the correct word.

I think I've lost it.
I felt the mist spray,
or I heard it.
Well,
Now I can't remember.
Maybe it was something else.

The espresso machine pressing grounds?
Why can't I recall.

I feel like I love you,
so does that mean I do?
I hope so.
So easy.
In a good way.
For, really, anything.

2/27/2017
Riley Welch

301

Lightning struck in an 'X' like the curves of a woman's body.
Where they met,
her waist sucked in.
And in a flash the thunder called
and she was gone.

2/20/2017
Riley Welch

14

Notes for days
stress for
hour?
Maybe it's days too.
I don't know.
I wanted to write a beautiful poem.
But I could not force the words out.

2/14/2017
Riley Welch

183

I saw lights about to break at the horizon.

But cars never came over the other side.

2/14/2017
Riley Welch

2.

You should remember you are beautiful.

And even if it isn’t all there is. It’s still nice to think about it sometimes.

And that’s alright

2/7/2017
Riley Welch

LFE

Maybe you
should focus
on being sad
or being right
or being wrong
about all the chores
I've ever had.

2/7/2017
Riley Welch

Too high up

The clouds filtered over the moon.
Sung songs so sweet I cried tears straight to God.
Do you hear me now?
What is left unanswered when the wind blows over and out like this?
God, the air is so cold.

2/6/2017
Riley Welch

UQT (Unworldly Things)

I think all could be solved with a shot of caffeine.

A perk.
Suppress some sleepiness.

Or other unworldly things.

2/2/2017
Riley Welch

Almost There

Weight is so
so
great today.
I feel heavy
but
no
confident in the
weight holding me down.

2/2/2017
Riley Welch

W.R.

Reckless
Wreckless?
Red curve
curls slopping.
I cannot lose
anything I've created.
I hope.

1/14/2017
Riley Welch

2:34

My hands aren't even
and I feel like
there's an art
piece
in all my outstretched
fingertips.
Listen to me.

1/14/2017
Riley Welch

[ ]

My attention span has
begun to affect all
corners of my tiny, tiny
life.

12/27/2016
Riley Welch

1

Sometimes when I can’t sleep I write aimless poetry

afterwards I’m always exhausted

I think words back up inside me and my brain can’t turn off until they’re gone

I think it’s a blessing

it could be a curse

it’s probably only worth while if what I’m writing is something people want

but it’s what I want

so there’s that

sometimes I think about my voice

about how I come across in every poem I’ve written

I think maybe I can keep it

I think maybe I won’t have to change it to something different

maybe if I send my work out to enough people

someone eventually will take it and decide it’s good enough

I’m not against editing

or corrections

or anything like that

but I don’t want to alter what I am and who I am

so that I have pretty metaphors

illustrating the way your body is a comet

instead of the comet’s actually circling outside your window

I just want to feel like I have something

deep down inside me that’s worth something and does something

instead of this inescapable vomit that I can’t stop from coming up

even if it’s no good at all.

2/7/2017

Riley Welch

Fabric

This tiny notebook
has so many pages
I worry
I will never
fill it up.

12/27/2016

Sunsets

Two years ago, almost
to the day I wrote out a lovely piece that captivated,
I don't know,
probably someone,
definitely me.
I haven't been able to recreate a poem in the same burst.
Oh. Oh. Oh,

I miss it.

12/27/2016
Riley Welch

Reach

Rounded out.
God I missed her.
She felt soft.
Which is a bad
metaphor.
Because they're always soft.


But not like her.

12/27/2016
Riley Welch

CLM

All feeling.
I drove through darkness
and felt lost.
Words come to me in a quick second. but.
For reasons I cannot explain.
I let them come and leave. The pressure
of not having a job with them.
Calmed me.

12/27/2016
Riley Welch

The Wolverine Farms Collection

If you regularly read my blog (do I have regulars? That would be super cool, thanks y'all) you know when I finish a notebook I write a poem to it. They aren't particularly fancy, but they help me finalize the notebooks end. This notebook was bought in Fort Collins and took me much too long to fill up. 

So stretched out and long.
I was told it wasn't plot.
I was building character,
long and hard.

All, so, drawn, out.

I became exhausted.
And I slumped.
But
just somehow.

You let me write through it.

I'm not sure how.
But thank you.

I am so full of gratitude.

12/15/2016
Riley Welch

Circular

Comets outside my window
seem to circle and then connect.
I have hopes
to connect back at
you know
where time ends
and circle back.
I wish
in some ways
that I didn't get it
or
that I got it absolutely.
No in-betweens.

12/15/2016
Riley Welch

Quiche

Quick little
short
now
I think
no
I don't know
sorry, don't forget me.
Or, they. Not.
Thing and slow and swirly.

There's spinach stuck between my back two teeth.

12/15/2016
Riley Welch

Whatever

I had some idea
for a great piece of
writing
but, I lost it
or forgot it
or
whatever.

12/15/2016
Riley Welch

FHS2

A part, so centered
so well, split
torn up the valley
or down the middle.

12/15/2016
Riley Welch

Sing-Song

How do I lay it all out.

Like lyrics on a page.

The chorus is always what catches me.

How to repeat it

over and over

in rhythm anyone could sing.

12/13/2016
Riley Welch

Screwed Up

A scab healed over
my burned knuckle.
This brought both
relief from the tenderness
and a slight itch.
The latter was quite uncomfortable
but,
it meant that it was not infected
which I was thankful for.
It was a careless injury.
A knuckle pressed to a hot pan
a slip.
My brain couldn't react fast enough.
Too, too bad.

12/13/2016
Riley Welch

Hopeful, just yet

The 13th,
I'm thinking of it
with some fondness
the morning is fresh
so I have all the hours
to do with it
what I want.


12/13/2016
Riley Welch

Blank

I feel much better
which might be shitty
but I don't think I care.

12/12/2016
Riley Welch

Champion

When you move place to place
you stay light and quick
get rid of what you don't need
keep what you do.

Everything I own fits in my car.

I can sleep anywhere if I need to.

The longer you stay,
the heavier you get.
Your things sink into the ground your house grows on
and the roots lock in as deep as they can hold.

18 years seems so long to then rip the bandaid.
I have friends who have lived in the same house their whole life.

I've got a few constants.
They feel like comfort.

I can never find light switches in unfamiliar bathrooms.
I find myself zombie walking in the dark.

I wonder if some day I'll let the sand settle down into cracks.
Grow heavy, sink.

I can't imagine keeping myself in one place for more than 6 years.

But I'm sure I'll lose track of time eventually.

1/9/2017

Wow.

Wow
love bubbles
it always bubbles
I think of emotion
as a pot heats up.
I wonder what a boil over signifies.

12/12/2016
Riley Welch

12:02 am

I decided I was done.
So I am.
Finish up.

12/11/2016
Riley Welch

Room 1302

Motivation is easy for,
date at night
my brain is a tank
and I am an idiot

held full

submarine is a word
that makes perfect sense

I love the overlap of language.

I've got blisters and dreams

catch me, but I don't think you can.

12/11/2016
Riley Welch

Up

I'm sorry
because you're a good notebook
but I feel sort of
stuck in you

I need to write
again and again

to get over it.

Out of it

Move to
another

a new.

Something fresh and

soon.

12/10/16
Riley Welch