#midwest poetry

[earlgaylatte]

My Stepbrother Quit Last Month so Who's Going on the Cousin Walk With Me?-

Blink and it's December, and the evergreens

Are covered in a thin layer of frost, ice

Caked on each needle like the cold

Sticks the mess of snot and salt you call

Grief to your face. Blink and

All your childhood pets have died. But the

Goosedown blanket on your bed

Still smells like your Dog's fur.

You scattered her ashes in the

Creek eons ago, but here she is. Imbedded

In the very fibers of your house.

And the creek's frozen over by now,

Minnows suspended in the ice mid stroke. Winter makes everything listless; The empty

Nests and broken branches littering

The driveway, to the old firepit you

Used to tell ghost stories around.

These days, you're bracing the usual

Midwestern smoke and storms to chase after

A pipe dream of an education. And any

Whimsy you used to have got left in

The snow angels decorating the front yard.

You're not a kid anymore, you've got

To remember that. You hold your braid

Like it's tethering you to Earth and

Your body relaxes.

Blink and it's December, and the black ice

Covers every road like insulation.

The plows aren't paid enough to ever reach

Your township. You know you're home

When it smells like smoked fish and

Blue salt always spread too thin to thaw.

Your Grandma isn't in the hospital yet.

And you haven't transitioned so she still

Remembers you. But blink and

It'll be over.

[semipoet]

An Ode to the Midwest

My mom often declares she hates midwesterners.

Sometimes, she says: At least in Cali they'll curse you straight your face.

I have a feeling she forgets she raised a midwesterner.

I share a smile with a stranger, I don't ever correct my coffee order, I stay friends with people I don't really like.

The midwest shoves a finger in your chest and laughs: What a fool you'll make of yourself, being emotional and angry and loud. Stay silent.

And we all shut our mouths into a smile with no teeth, zip up our jackets,

and freeze.

[s0larize]

[boycritter]

i dont have a title for this one. but its okay.

[dearhearted111]

[hiddenjane]

Photography and text by hiddenjane

[cult9]

blood crush out on spotify

[waanderlussttt]

visited this beautiful house today

[becomingvecna]

Photographed by briscoepark

[funsizedshark]

💖✨️🎶 i know you wanted me to stay

but i can't ignore the crazy visions of me dying under the walls of troy 💖✨️🎶

💖🎶✨️please let me go die under the walls of troy i wanna go die under the walls of troy so bad 🎶✨️💖

[trashraccoongirl]

[balletscary]

Census Designated (2023) - Jane Remover, Dir. Quadeca

[s0larize]

poetry scan from my journal + found images, layered and printed on lined paper

[towerreverse]

for what doesn't have credits already: the big collector by haley hendrickx, unknown photographer, poem i write myself, unknown photographer

[masculinepeacock]

[hiddenjane]

Poetry and picture by hiddenjane