Five Poems by Debbie Tunstall

 

Spaghetti Strands, Broken Glass

Fibres of my skin.

Blood discharging, yawning

out of follicles- tiny wombs.

And after the scab:

Growth-

Spaghetti strands that spurt

Like broken glass overlapping

It's woven inside me, matted and patched

chequered blanket, all the pieces of me.

Published in the fireflies anthology.

Laugh it off

Isn't it funny how everyone lies?

Parents, magazines, the news.

The biggest liar is you.

Masking your insecurities like a clown.

That persona you carry daily like a trolley full of junk food.

You want to be happy?

Repeat after me.

I'm me.

I'm me.

Thank God, I'm me.

Published in the fireflies anthology.

Never good enough

I'll sit in the cracks of my reflection,

An image of pure disgust

Self hatred swept away

By stonewashed colours.

Stroke after stroke, a smile conceals 

bulging pores.

I venture out

My skin caked in science fiction;

Everything you want me to be.

Maybe tomorrow 

I'll awaken to fresh skin...

Finally, good enough.

Prime

I'll lay among the sumptuous bunch

Picking and pulling at it,

asking myself if it's seasoned  

under swollen layers.

Peel it back

How does it taste, ripe or bittersweet?

Enough for all your senses?

I'll yearn for you to devour it

Savour the flavours between your teeth.

People pass me by

Browsing for supple and new-

And I'll wonder 

If left out

It will decay into mush,

destroying everything else.

If I were a poem

If I were a poem,

Metaphoric words would dance in

synchronicity

Similes would waltz the frown 

from off my face.

If I were a poem

I'd wrap Sonnets around you,

Like tourniquet stanzas 

healing chapters in verse.

If I were a poem,

Cliches would clash with

unwritten rules,

Words would not rhyme and dear diary would not exist.

If I were a poem

gone would be the day

that I smudged my own ink,

threw you in the bin and said

" I'm done with all this. "

Oh, 

If I were a poem

My legacy would remain,

like a great prophet who once was

and always is-

If I were a poem.

Debbie Tunstall is a writer from Merseyside, United Kingdom. She has recently discovered writing and has finally found her sense of balance in life.

She is featured in the anthology ' Fireflies.' Her hobbies include, reading and writing, inspiring others and a general interest in bettering others and her own mental health.

She enjoys writing about moments that are uplifting even if they're unseen in the present, finally being able to see glimpses of photosynthesis beneath the dullness of life.