My October Poetry Contest Entry

Starting last month (September), I began entering into the monthly poetry contests over at ThoughtsInc.net. Each month Thoughts Inc has a theme and contest guidelines. Last months theme was 'Afterlife'. Here was my entry: Forsaken. I was ecstatic to find that for the month of September, I won first place! I received a $25 Amazon gift card, tons of congrats, a 1st place banner and this spiffy chipper feeling in my heart that I had accomplished something. :)

I am definitely an amateur writer. I do it because I love to express my thoughts and emotions on paper. Throughout my childhood when I was afraid or upset, writing helped me to release those emotions or to see clarity in the darkest places. I still write because of that... because of the clarity. Sometimes I feel like my own emotions are so strong that I cannot hear the desires of my heart. I believe if I write, I can calm the storm and hear myself again. 

I realize that my punctuation may not be perfect nor is my grammar always at its' best, but for me none of those things really matter. What really matters is expressing myself. So when you lay eyes upon my writes, try not to read too deeply into a misplaced comma or occasional misspelling. Please try to look beyond the words. Let yourself escape into each word, immerse yourself in the emotion and for a moment... imagine you are someone else. 

This months theme is 'Memories' and it must be 20 words or less. You can become a member at Thoughts Inc for free and join us each month in the poetry contests too! I have already sent in my poem for this month and the voting has already begun (voting starts on the 15th of each month), but I wanted to share it here with you all. 

My memories are jaded.

Shards; cutting deep like an echo.

My past is yelling out to me.

"Let me go!"

About my short little poem: Jaded Memories

Memories are not perfection. Over time, they can become distorted and foggy. They are sometimes painful and cut away at us until inside we feel like we are nothing. We hide bits of things we have done that we are ashamed of; bits of who we once were in our memories to keep them away from the world we love. 

Sometimes we forget our past choices and make the very same mistakes although there are tiny voices screaming in our heads saying, "Don't do this!" 

To me, this short poem is symbolic of how loudly our memories and past choices can scream in our heads as well as reflect back into our souls as if we were looking into a broken mirror. An echo is something that is repetitive, something we hear over and over again. Sometimes our memories haunt us that way and they are not always happy moments so they cut us deeply, leaving scars that only we can feel. I am reminded of a Picasso painting when I think of our memories and how they effect our inner beings as we grow. We are imperfection. We are art that isn't finished yet. Every decision we make is a moment or a memory and each one helps to define us, alter us or shape us. Upon looking at ourselves and reflecting on who we once were or are becoming, we may find that we look a bit broken or skewed as well some of us may see that we have begun to paint more of a more eloquent picture. 

It is the choices we make today that become the memories that will haunt us tomorrow. Make sure they're good ones.