For Those Who Care

By Devon D. Eaton

"For Those Who Care" is an anthology of collected poems from writer Devon Eaton. It is his second published work. The included poems span a wide range of subject-matter, with an interwoven theme of empathy tying them all together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387898855

Book preview

For Those Who Care

For Those Who Care

Copyright:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

This book is dedicated to those whose hearts are full of empathy, but whose tongues lack the means to give their feelings form. Let these pages be your segue into deeper conversations.

Image result for heart balloon

I've sifted through the ashes of burned bridges

Raided the eggshell remnants of broken hearts

I've followed tear tracks for miles to find their meanings

And pried secrets from beneath the whitest scars

I've spent hours as nothing but my ears

Then days as nothing but my hands

Bleeding pen after pen onto paper

In a vain attempt to understand

With words, I've sought to empathize

I've tried to feel beyond my skin

To encapsulate in poetry

What privilege spared me first hand ken

It's a humbling sort of enlightenment

And though I treasure its presence most dear

It's the sharing of this insight

That keeps me growing through the years

−For Those Who Care

I have been the daughter of

More men than I can count

They do not care that I am hurt

Lest they too hurt to some amount

Like an animal personified

I have not an identity

Unless it can be likened to

Man’s foremost female family

What about my suffering

Does my pain matter not

It shouldn’t require simile

For empathy to reach your heart

I am a woman

I matter because I am

I am not your daughter

I hurt because I can

−I Am Not Your Daughter

If words are my weapons

Then my tongue is a forge

But I’m a lover, not a fighter

So take a guess what I use it for

−Make Love, Not War

Being alone is a waiting game

And I have no patience for misery

I need the touch of tender hands

Upon my flesh like livery

A garment of adoring embrace

To warm my aching bones

As winter digs its heels

And my naked heart bemoans

−Coat of Arms

I cannot stand the thought of spending one more night

On sheets that never touched your skin

I shiver at the memories of days gone by

And moments that we’ll never share again

I know that life is full of change

And I must learn to change as well

But I cannot adapt to life

If life is just a living hell

The miles lose their meaning

When I cannot walk them in a day

And the days have lost their meaning too

Now all these miles bar our way

We used to be as close

As two beating hearts can get

Holding conversations

Between ribs and flesh and sweat

But no matter how strong we were bonded

No matter how hot our love burned

A fickle fire starved of fuel

No embers stoked, nor ashes churned

Will fade away just as you did

And so the cold and dark returned

−Hello Darkness

I want to be inside you

Deep inside you

With a passionate thrust

I want to spread your flesh

And slide between ribs

Until I open your heart

And make it my home

−Deepest Desire

You loved me like your last cigarette

Savored then tossed aside

Crushed beneath your heel

I was just an addiction successfully kicked

A bad habit forgotten

But it will take time to heal

I know you still taste me

In the back of your throat

I know you still crave me

In the back of your mind

I linger in the little things

Like the way your fingers grasp

For any familiar thing they find

As a substitute for mine

I never wanted to be your vice

I just wanted to be your crutch

To ease your mind and bear the load

When your own shoulders weren’t enough

But there’s a fine line

Between support and dependence

And you wanted to stand on your own

So you loved me like your last cigarette

A remnant of ash and refuse

Forgotten and alone

−Smoke and Tears

We have carried conversations across oceans

Blown kisses over borders and seas

Every mesmerizing moment has been captured

To be relived in darker days than these

We’ve stayed up later than the stars

Swapping stories about our days

Synchronizing watches and counting back

The months since last we parted ways

No distance can divide us

No squabble can compare

No rainy day will stack up

To the weather we have faired

And when we meet again at last

Like continents connecting shores

We will build mountains from our melding

And the floodwaters will threaten no more

We will survive

We will persist

We will endure the drought

This modern romance will persevere

And outlast all the doubt

−Modern Romance

If you must judge by color

Then use my eyes and not my skin

For they are blue, as is my mood

To think you cannot gaze within

This bag of bones, that holds my soul

Is not how I’m defined

And if that is all you see of me

Then you are surely blind

−Color-blinded

The only mouth Mary ever nuzzled

Was the muzzle of a gun

She lost her best years to loneliness

And thought she was the only one

But if she had only spent

A little less time inside her head

Entertaining anxiety and multiplying dread

She might have seen the other faces

Mirroring her own

And found a better place to go

Than six feet under freshly worried loam

Read between the lines

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Walk in someone else’s shoes

Before you ever judge another

There is more to the story

So try to hold in all the hate

And try a little love instead

Before it’s too late

Kimberly was angry

She raged at a broken world

Red-faced, she displaced

And took it out on other girls

Blunt words, sharp tongue

Always cutting others down

Trying not to think about

The father who had let her down

She bullied, she badgered

She pushed, and she shoved

Making everyone as miserable

As she was unloved

Until one day, one victim

Pushed a little too far

Decided to push back

And ran her over with her car

Read between the lines

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Walk in someone else’s shoes

Before you ever judge another

There is more to the story

So try to hold in all the hate

And try a little love instead

Before it’s too late

Jonathan was miserable

But he always looked happy

Smile plastered on his face

He was a leader, not a lackey

Always popular at school

Self-styled class fool

He made sure everyone was laughing

To hide the thread unwinding from the spool

He was fraying at the edges

Tearing at the seams

And one night he made a noose of them

And hung himself from a crossbeam

Read between the lines

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Walk in someone else’s shoes

Before you ever judge another

There is more to the story

So try to hold in all the hate

And try a little love instead

Before it’s too late

Jenny was Jacob

But not to anyone he knew

He hid his identity

Fearing no one would accept the truth

He wore bows in his hair

To distract from the short cut

Dresses in the sunlight

Slacks with the doors shut

He cut on his breasts

As a way to vent frustration

Red drops beading

Bleeding out exasperation

And when they found his body

Broken bones on the concrete

Underneath the overpass

All the paperwork said she

Read between the lines

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Walk in someone else’s shoes

Before you ever judge another

There is more to the story

So try to hold in all the hate

And try a little love instead

Before it’s too late

−Behind the Curtains

Today is the final nail in the