Naked on Cashmere: Recent Episodes
Atticus & Podcast Nation
"You feel right to me," she said. "Like naked on cashmere."
Atticus presents a daily poetry reading of all his poems you know and love, and some you have yet to discover.
This is a moment to pause. A space for self-reflection. A chance for you to rediscover the poetry in life. We hope it’s going to feel really good — like naked on cashmere.
She had an uncanny energy for life
thankful for every little miracle it bestowed—
and it made her
entirely impossible
to live without.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Leisure” by W. H. Davies
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She wasn’t happy or sad,
in love or out of love,
she was just there
existing
in the ebb and flow of life—
and that was a dangerous place to be
but her worst mistake
was forgetting to remember
there was more.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
In the mornings
she taught me French
and after breakfast she would paint
and I would write
and as the spring rain fell on the skylight
and the tea steamed from its mugs
my heart hummed
to the music
of the dream
we’d found.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"i carry your heart with me" by e e cummings
i carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go,my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate
(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart
(i carry it in my heart)
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Does the sun promise to shine?
No, but it will—
even behind the darkest clouds,
and no promise
will make it shine longer or brighter
for that is its fate,
to burn until it can burn no more.
To love you is not my promise
but my fate—
to burn for you
until I can burn no more
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
All life is a revolt against death
and all revolts are eventually quelled.
The question is:
in those moments
with a rock in your hand
and tear gas in your eyes
can you smile to the fates
stand tall
and
make your voice heard?
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
On those nights
when the thick snow drifts
through moonlight
and the sky looks like falling stars
close your eyes
look up
tongue out to the gods
and feel the cool ash burn you.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Out Here On This Very Day” by Prince Neptune (Cody Simpson)
Out here on this very day
We journey further into the illusion
Adrift in the great dream
Yearning for entry into the severed realm
Do you know that the death of earth soon come?
Do you know the progress of destruction?
Do you know the strange new topography of the coast?
Life closes in slowly around us
And we seek salvation in copulation
In drugs
And by sunset we ascend
Only to find that our minds
And our bodies
Weren't ours at all.
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoetand @codysimpson
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"I Have Fallen" by Christopher Poindexter
I have fallen
in love many times.
Have you ever sat in a bar
and watched a lonely man
or woman by themselves,
their tired eyes shaken,
fixed on nothing but
the glass in front of them?
Can't you taste their sadness
from across the room?
Those people.
I fall in love
with those people.
To me there are few things
more real.
Follow Christopher @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
that you’d pressed—
it was orange
and red
and yellow
and small.
And in all ways
it was our love
gone now
but beautiful still
as the memory of something more.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Keep your kingdoms
give me
the open road
the stars in the sky
the smell of a campfire
around the next bend
and I will be as rich as any king.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Tell me,
she said,
about our house
our children
our garden
about the lives we will have --
but he never could
and it wasn't until she was gone
that he understood
that she never needed the house
she only needed the dream.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Daughter of mine—
for your smiles,
for your tears,
for your skinned knees,
and your broken hearts,
for the love you give,
and the love you find.
For whatever you become,
or don’t,
it is far too late,
I love you already,
long before
we ever meet.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I took her hand,
and my heart beat fast
as her warmth swallowed me up.
A thousand times I’d run this trail
but not with her.
Her eyes were all that young love should be,
and they lit me up
in every look.
We lay in shooting skies
and freckled stars, and
promised our love would last forever—
and so in our forever
it would
there in a castle atop of Blueberry Hill,
with silver moon rivers
and sailing ships.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We aspire
only to live
our lives well,
to fall into the gentle to and fro of life,
and the refrains of seasons and tides
rocking us slowly & finally to sleep
as old and loved
as we can possibly be.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I woke before her
and she slept on as the sun rose
spilling light across our bed
she was an angel in my sheets
the girl I would draw
if given a thousand years
and only a promise
she might one day come to life.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
There is no excuse
I’ve heard
worthy
to decline
a request
by a lady of
reasonable
morals
and pleasant
company
for a skinny dip
under a warm
summer moon.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You and I
are stars
met once
in the breath of a universe
crossed only for a moment
as the ebb and flow
of dust and atoms.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
It rained in Rome
but when the sun came out
it seemed fresh
like a city made new
and the ruins glimmered
reminding me
that nothing lasts forever
not cities
not kingdoms
not rainstorms.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hidden away above two thin staircases
a bed, a desk, and bookshelf,
a writer’s paradise
the rain would fall and set
its cadence to my thoughts
the old radiator pumped hot breath
forcing my window to be cracked a pinch
and there each night I would fall asleep
in a melody of cold and hot—
wrapped up safe in all my ghosts.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We drowned out the voices in our hearts
that our love had run its course,
for this night at least
the old music played louder
than the truth that beat beneath our shirts,
and as the stars melted into morning
we smiled at the old stories
and left our love hanging in the air
as we embarked alone
on our tomorrows.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Have you ever had a feeling
there’s more to you
than the person
everybody else sees
a person hidden deep within
the very fabric of your soul—
you must pull that thread
unravel the truth of you
and wake within yourself
that great giant
you already know
you can be.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Go forth and conquer
for the world is small
and you are a giant
and every step
you take
will make the ground shake
as it rises
to meet you.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
To be honest
you scare me
I’m terrified of letting you in
of seeing myself
more clearly through your eyes
wondering if I’m good enough
or if one day I’ll lose you
but the truth is
not having you at all
scares me more
than all the other
truths of love
and that thought
makes me brave.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Her love came from deep within
a calm acceptance
of who she was in the world
a quiet respect
for the face she saw
in the mirror.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She flirted with life
and life flirted right back with her,
as if all the universe
came more alive
just for her
and everything felt her glow.
It was
in the dew
in the stars
and the colors of the sky—
they all shone
bright as they could
in the hopes
to catch her eye.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We ran from beach clubs
in rain showers
drinking champagne from bottles
jumping into pools in our clothes
and kissing under lightning,
we yelled promises in thunderclaps
to never grow old—
and I fell in love
with you
and the absolute certainty
it all would last forever.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I want to know every part of you,
every scar,
every bruise,
I want to trace the map of you,
my fingers a compass,
your freckles the constellations
which in my heart I will chart
so when I close my eyes
I’ll have you in my stars forever.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
There we were making rhythms
Jumping ahead of Earth’s own heartbeat
Setting new times to our universe
And we drank it in like warming wine
We the children
Running to deserts
Pockets full of magic
With whiskey spirits in our souls and our wings
Us few the bold
The brave trodden souls
Tobacco stinging bright our gypsie eyes
Kaleidoscopes reaching fingers through our minds
To stir our colored dreams
Our dusty hearts set aflame
By setting stars and shooting suns
And here the sparks become our loves
And so with them we danced up
Into airless skies and cloudless nights
To make ash angels on moons
And snowflakes of Milky Ways
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
Oh no,
I’ve had the slow murmur of a Paris thought,
the kind that won’t leave
until well after
a month-long-week
of rosé,
cafés,
and sunsets on the Seine.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Paris in Spring” by Sara Teasdale
The city's all a-shining
Beneath a fickle sun,
A gay young wind's a-blowing,
The little shower is done.
But the rain-drops still are clinging
And falling one by one --
Oh it's Paris, it's Paris,
And spring-time has begun.
I know the Bois is twinkling
In a sort of hazy sheen,
And down the Champs the gray old arch
Stands cold and still between.
But the walk is flecked with sunlight
Where the great acacias lean,
Oh it's Paris, it's Paris,
And the leaves are growing green.
The sun's gone in, the sparkle's dead,
There falls a dash of rain,
But who would care when such an air
Comes blowing up the Seine?
And still Ninette sits sewing
Beside her window-pane,
When it's Paris, it's Paris,
And spring-time's come again.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
There is no safer place I know
than tucked
in a corner
of a café in Paris
with a bottle of rosé
and an afternoon to spare.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
In the mornings
she taught me French
and after breakfast she would paint
and I would write
and as the spring rain fell on the skylight
and the tea steamed from its mugs
my heart hummed
to the music
of the dream
we’d found.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The way you flirt with Paris
I am forgotten
left in the spinning blossom
of your love—
and all I can do is
watch you both
and smile
as the gardens bloom.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Fourth Caprice in Montparnasse" by TS Eliot
We turn the corner of the street
And again
Here is a landscape grey with rain
On black umbrellas, waterproofs,
And dashing from the slated roofs
Into a mass of mud and sand.
Behind a row of blackened trees.
The dripping plastered houses stand
Like mendicants without regrets
For unpaid debts
Hand in pocket, undecided,
Indifferent if derided.
Among such scattered thoughts as these
We turn the corner of the street;
But why are we so hard to please?
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme PARIS and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. Xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today, we’re starting off with “Give Me A Room In Paris.”
Xx
Give me a room in Paris
the smaller, the better
and it must be winter
and it must be cold
so we can make it hot
too hot to sit still
and the window must be thin
so we can hear the bells
and the power must surge and bubble
so the lights flicker
and the records skip
let the water be weak
so our coffee is strong
so we can stay up late to dance.
Give me this Paris
and I will paint for you
all the truths I know
about magic.
Other Poem Read Today:
- "In Paris With You” by James Fenton
- “The Eiffel Tower” by Ronza Z
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Poetry
to me
is stumbling in the dark
searching for
the right words
to describe
the feeling
I get
when she smiles
while she sleeps.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The sunset raged
in its gentle fury
a four-horsed apocalypse
charging toward us
huddled on a beach
in woolen blankets
singing songs
on a ukulele
to the ever-riding doom of dark.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
On those nights
when the thick snow drifts
through moonlight
and the sky looks like falling stars
close your eyes
look up
tongue out to the gods
and feel the cool ash burn you.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I have seen your
darkest nights
and brightest days
and I want you to know
that I will be here
forever
loving you
in dusk.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme DARKNESS and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. Xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today, we’re starting off with “My Sweet Darling.”
Xx
My sweet darling,
all these tears,
this hurt,
the pain in your heart,
do not fight it anymore,
it is a gift, you see, to feel this much
and even though it’s hard
it means you’re alive
with each of these tearful breaths gasped
your soul awakens,
more alive in the pain
than you were in the numb,
you are coming back to me now, my love,
lucid in this darkness—
so cry aloud,
yell,
and fall,
and I will be here waiting
to catch you
when the waking up is done.
Other Poem Read Today:
- “Let’s Start With The Hard Part" by Kayil York
- “He Lit The Sky For Her...” by Theresa Lloyd
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I have noticed
through careful observation
that you look your best
soaked in champagne
under fireworks
dancing in the rain.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Sometimes I Sit” by Christopher Poindexter
sometimes i sit
alone beneath
the stars and think
of the galaxies
inside of my
heart and truly
wonder if anyone
will ever want
to make sense of
all that i am
Follow Christopher Poindexter @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Sometimes we
feed the hurt
inside us
like a wild bear on a chain
just to see
how angry we can make it
before letting it go.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Thunderstorms” by W. H. Davies
My mind has thunderstorms,
That brood for heavy hours:
Until they rain me words,
My thoughts are drooping flowers
And sulking, silent birds.
Yet come, dark thunderstorms,
And brood your heavy hours;
For when you rain me words,
My thoughts are dancing flowers
And joyful singing birds.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She was a storm
the kind of girl
you needed to lose
yourself to find
somewhere
up half a bottle of whiskey
and down half the moon of sky.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Do It All And Do It Now Baby” by Prince Neptune
O delicate young woman you
Listen here and listen close
Run into the balmy night
Singing with boisterous delight
For someday you will lay to rest
Beside your tired prince
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoet
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme WILD and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. Xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
What of the firefly,
the one I love to chase?
The old man smiled
Love her
he said
but leave her wild,
and the old oak tree I love to climb?
Love her, he said, but leave her wild
the bird that sings that song I love?
Love her, he said, but leave her wild
and the wolf that cries to the old joke moon?
Love her, he said, but leave her wild
and the horse that loves to run with storms?
Love her, he said, but leave her wild.
And what of her,
the one I love most?
And the old man smiled.
Yes, he said,
you must love her too
but love her wild
and she’ll love you.
Other Poem Read Today:
- “Bird on a Wire" by Leonard Cohen
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I would rather
have a body full of scars
and a head full of memories
than a life
of regrets
and perfect skin.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Let Me Kiss The Cracks” by Kayil York
Let me kiss the
cracks in your soul.
I can’t promise
I can make
them go away,
but I can at least try
to ease the pain.
Follow Kayil York @rose_thorns1921
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Let’s stop
pretending
to be so perfect
for the world
and get on
with finding out
if we can be
perfect
for each other.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Imperfection” by Dejan Stojanovic
Trying too hard to be too good,
Even when trying to be bad,
Is too good for the bad
Too bad for the good.
Perfection seems sterile;
It is final, no mystery in it;
It's a product of an assembly line.
To accomplish the perfect perfection,
A little imperfection helps.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You are worth your imperfections
you are worth your bad days
you are worth your good
you are worth your confusion
you are worth your insecurities
you are worth fighting for
and you are worth loving.
And that’s a fck’ing fact.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Underneath” by JmStorm
she wasn’t afraid of
my demons and i did
not fear her madness.
we saw beyond those
things that life
does to a person.
and underneath it all
there's a beautiful
soul that just wants
to be loved.
Follow JmStorm @jmstormquotes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme IMPERFECT and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today, we’re starting off with “When They Met.”
When they met
they were old already,
and so could skip
all the awkward parts of love,
realizing that neither was perfect
and never would be
instead they met as two old souls
worn well from a life of true moments
and together
they lingered
in each other’s last few shadows
soothing scars
from a life well lived.
Other Poems Read Today:
- “I love us" by Christopher Poindexter
- “Send me nudes” by Anonymous
Thank you to Native for sponsoring this week's episode. For 20% off your first purchase, visit nativedeodorant.com and use promo code ATTICUS during checkout.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
To me
she is
those final steps
the turn around the last bend
and a little house
with a light on
and a fire lit
with a faint laugh
floating on the warm wind—
she is
my always,
coming home.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"To All of the Lights” by Najwa Zebian
To all of the lights
who chose to dim
when I was in the darkness,
thank you for teaching me
that my own light
is all I need.
Follow Najwa Zebian @najwazebian
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
All of the light
all of the trees
all of time
all spinning throughout the darkened sky
as if
the whole world
was created
just to hold her—
asleep on the couch
in the morning sun.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“The Rain” by Kayil York
On days like this I feel as heavy as the rain.
I feel like I'm falling from the sky and crashing
hard on the ground.
Sometimes it takes the heavy days to cleanse us
so we can feel what it’s like to release and be
light again.
Follow Kayil York @rose_thorns1921
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The sunset seeped off the Seine
dripping down our shoulders and fingers
in the oranges of the Musée d’Orsay
cigarette smoke danced in the scattering light
as if in symphony
with the orchestra of some far-off conductor
to fall and rise and fall at once—
the light lilting to our laughs
splitting into a thousand pieces
and we were caught in the center of it
hung among the stars
suspended in the disco ball of space.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“New Life" by Prince Neptune
let me tell you about freedom
it cowers and shivers
as young women dance for you
suddenly
amidst a kaleidoscope of salutations
your eyes see the angel
with nothing but the senses to guide you
new life becomes as inevitable
as the milky coming of dawn
the stone tower arises
erect in her soft summer sky
warm and wet with rain
and as your thousand spirits soar
life explodes like roman candles across the night
and she welcomes you
into the iron gates
of eternity
to be born again
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoet
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme of LIGHT and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today, we’re starting off with “If I’d Met Her In A Cave.”
If I'd met her in a cave
in the dark
where no light ever lived
she would still be the brightest thing I'd ever seen
for it always was the way she was
never the way she looked
that made her so beautiful to me
and beautiful she was
though I never let it blind me
for it was only when I closed my eyes
and stood there in that darkest cave
that she truly blinded me
with beauty.
Other Poems Read Today:
- “Figs from Thistles: First Fig" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
- “Light breaks where no sun shines” by Dylan Thomas
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She stood there
bathing in the grand forests of his love
with only the quiet rustle
of the treetops against the sky
to remind her she was real at all.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"He Asks Me” by Najwa Zebian
He asks me:
“What do you want from me?”
I stare at him in silence
With tears fighting to stay
buried inside my eyes,
with thoughts swirling in my mind
like a hurricane.
“What do you want from me?” he asks
over and over.
I am confused because
I know and
I don’t know.
You were the one
who knocked on my door.
You were the one
who wouldn’t allow me to close my door.
Follow Najwa Zebian @najwazebian
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I like you
just the way you are—
in my baggy shirts
in my tangled sheets
eating popcorn in my bed
quietly
so I don’t hear you.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“In My Solitude” by Christopher Poindexter
in my solitude i hear
secrets about me
god only tells to
the flowers.
his voice whimpering
from stars to
dust,
from gates of
gold
to soil.
he says;
“you are a collection
of all the people
you have ever loved.”
Follow Christopher Poindexter @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I feel in every girl
there lives
a wild pixie,
that if let go,
would run and dance in grassy fields
until the end of the world—
and when that girl grows up,
that pixie hides,
but she’s always there,
peeking out behind old eyes
and reading glasses,
waiting
to one day dance again.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“The Cleansing” by JmStorm
she gets quiet sometimes
and i can feel that a
certain weight has got
her by the heart. and it
is in those times that i
want her to speak the most.
but i know she can’t.
because sometimes things
get grisly inside. they
get messy and she has to
cleanse all that.
and the last thing she wants
to do is dirty me with it.
i know all that. In my mind,
i know it. but it doesn’t
make it any easier to watch.
Follow JmStorm @jmstormquotes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme of SILENCE and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you. xx
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today, we’re starting off with “I Longed For Real Silence.”
Xx
I longed for real silence
the kind you can’t find
but stumble upon
in a cabin
somewhere
on a lake without a moon
where you hear the cigarette burn
and the candle flicker
and your thoughts
come alive
to dance in the
the symphonies
of your mind
Other Poems Read Today:
- “Tulips" by Sylvia Plath
- “Cool Summer Nights” by Prince Neptune (Cody Simpson)
Thank you to Native for sponsoring this week's episode. For 20% off your first purchase, visit nativedeodorant.com and use promo code ATTICUS during checkout.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
In this world of bits and pieces
she was whole
so entirely in front of me
the one honest gift
of my life
dripping there
in the rain.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"My Darling, Don’t Forget” by Kayil York
My darling, don’t forget your resilience.
You are so strong and so capable.
The only person who needs to understand
that, is you.
Bask in your strength.
Bask in your will power to be better.
Because you are a warrior.
You were built to win.
Follow Kayil York @rose_thorns1921
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
And,
out of her
great sorrow
and fear,
came one
exhilarating
seed of
thought
that consumed
her in a calming
wave of love and hope—
she was free.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Won't You Celebrate With Me” by Lucille Clifton
won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
When given a choice
between you and them
choose you.
It’s better to be whole and alone
than broken at their feet.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“How We Change” by JmStorm
you're not the same
person you were
10 years ago and
probably not the
person you thought
you'd be. but that
is the natural order
of life. it will
take you to places
you don’t want to
go and kill off
parts that aren’t
meant to stay.
Follow JmStorm @jmstormquotes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Hello, and welcome to another week of Naked on Cashmere. This week, Atticus explores the theme WHOLE and invites you to take a moment each day to reflect on what this means to you.
For those leaving reviews and ratings, please screenshot and DM us on Instagram at @AtticusPoetry so we can find winners! And to submit your poems, visit AtticusPoetry.com/podcast.
Today's reading:
Obsession is not love,
infatuation is not love,
when someone ignores you
or treats you poorly, carelessly,
or with indifference
that’s not love—
that’s a lack of love,
for yourself, for trying to fill
your missing pieces with theirs
but when someone is whole
and you are whole
and you act in kindness and benevolence, vulnerability
through strength,
love becomes an exchange
with another person—
and that is
its truest form.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats
- “Protect Your Circle” by Kayil York
- "Ferocious Independence, a Lion in the Sea” by Prince Neptune
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Keep your bustling cities,
give me only the moon,
some wine, and old friends
laughing in the desert,
and I will show you
what the
pagans
called god.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Here’s To The Ones” by Christopher Poindexter
here's to the ones
who give their love,
energy,
and essence
away for the pleasure
of others.
to the ones
who are so purely selfless
they would rather suffer
so that others do not have to.
here's to the empaths.
here's to the lost.
Follow Christopher Poindexter @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You will find
that most of life’s
toughest
and more existential
questions
can be solved
or indefinitely postponed
by spending more time
around the people you love.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Without this – there is nought –” by Emily Dickinson
Without this — there is nought —
All other Riches be
As is the Twitter of a Bird —
Heard opposite the Sea —
I could not care — to gain
A lesser than the Whole —
For did not this include themself —
As Seams — include the Ball?
I wished a way might be
My Heart to subdivide —
'Twould magnify — the Gratitude —
And not reduce — the Gold —
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She had an uncanny energy for life
thankful for every little miracle it bestowed—
and it made her
entirely impossible
to live without.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Mumbling Down The Streets of New York” by Prince Neptune
mumbling down the streets of new york I hear jazz
echoing up from manholes in the ground
subway musicians hoofing their daily brass ecstasies
and all is cool and calm and fine
like always
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoet
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I think sometimes
of the great stories lost
to old basements,
floods,
and fires,
it makes me sad
until
I think also
of all the stories
not yet made,
in young minds,
in full pens,
and on paper
not yet printed.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats
- “Love Story” by Marisa J
- "I am Endless for it all” by Kayil York
Thank you to Native for sponsoring this week's episode. For 20% off your first purchase, visit nativedeodorant.com and use promo code ATTICUS during checkout.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Learn to linger in the beauty of life,
every moment, every sunset, every smile—
soak in the magnificence
of everything that is already—
and you will find
what you’ve been searching for.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Leisure” by W. H. Davies
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Don’t give up now,
chances are
your best kiss
your hardest laugh
and your greatest day
are still yet to come.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Never Go By The Book" By Christopher Poindexter
never
go by the book.
they will want
you to,
but you mustn't.
if the lust
is too strong,
tear one page
from a hundred books
and make you
own way.
there is no formula
for life,
no equation
on how to be
a human being.
find your freedom
and breathe there.
drink there.
love there.
Follow Christopher Poindexter @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You stole pieces of me
in all the love I gave you
and never got back.
Keep it now
it is my gift to you
for you will not get more—
and that,
my love,
is my gift to me.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“You Are Good Enough” by JmStorm
you are good enough.
only you can set that
standard.
but realize that you
may have to walk alone
for a bit. because not
everyone will recognize
it.
we all see the night
sky, but only a few of
us actually see the stars.
Follow JmStorm @jmstormquotes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Put your hand on your heart
The old man said
in you
there is power
there are ideas
no one has ever thought of
there is the strength to love
purely and intensely
and to be loved back
there is the power to make people happy
and to make people laugh
the power to change lives
and futures
don’t ever forget that power
and don’t ever
give up on it.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou
- “I Taught Myself To Live Simply” by Anna Akhmatova
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She wasn’t happy or sad,
in love or out of love,
she was just there
existing
in the ebb and flow of life—
and that was a dangerous place to be
but her worst mistake
was forgetting to remember
there was more.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“The Death of Nature” by Prince Neptune
A gentleman crouches beside a young boy drawing waves on the
pavement, 100 years from now
‘Son, if you can possibly begin to imagine, I’ll share with you my
photographs of the earth’
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoet
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Don’t move an inch
in this morning light
should you smudge
the beautiful I see
I want to paint you
every curve with words
and place you
on the mantle of my soul
as the forever memory
of dawn.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"To Memory" by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
Strange Power, I know not what thou art,
Murderer or mistress of my heart.
I know I'd rather meet the blow
Of my most unrelenting foe
Than live---as now I live---to be
Slain twenty times a day by thee.
Yet, when I would command thee hence,
Thou mockest at the vain pretence,
Murmuring in mine ear a song
Once loved, alas! forgotten long;
And on my brow I feel a kiss
That I would rather die than miss.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Mon cœur
my heart
you are missing from me
as noticeably
as if I woke
without a leg
so far away
you beat
that I must hobble
through my day
missing you with
missing pieces.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Today
I found an old book
on my shelves
I opened the pages
and smelled the smells
and for a moment
my mind forgot its place and time
as I walked into a cabin
so many miles and years away—
there was a fire on
and the kettle played its tune.
The sun was shining
and my family was there
waving me down to the beach—
I can’t tell you
how incredible it is
to be there now
writing to you
from the cabin of my youth.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "I Remember, I Remember" by Thomas Hood
- “The Slow Room Of Decades” by Prince Neptune
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“If I Am Not Worth Your Apology” by Najwa Zebian
If I am not worth your apology,
you are not worth me carrying
the pain that you caused me.
So I will forgive you, not for you
but for me.
I deserve to let go.
I deserve to be free of your pain.
and if you
can’t admit your own mistakes,
I will not allow the ashes that your pain
turned me into
to hold me hostage.
Follow Najwa @najwazebian
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“To Jeanie” by Mark Twain
Good-bye! a kind good-bye,
I bid you now, my friend,
And though 'tis sad to speak the word,
To destiny I bend
And though it be decreed by Fate
That we ne'er meet again,
Your image, graven on my heart,
Forever shall remain.
Aye, in my heart thoult have a place,
Among the friends held dear,-
Nor shall the hand of Time efface
The memories written there.
Goodbye,
S.
L.
C.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
All life is a revolt against death
and all revolts are eventually quelled.
The question is:
in those moments
with a rock in your hand
and tear gas in your eyes
can you smile to the fates
stand tall
and
make your voice heard?
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Maps” by Christopher Poindexter
I am yours.
I am yours as the stars
belong to the sky
and I am yours as
the rivers belong
to the sea.
I am yours as your tears
belong to your eyes
and I am yours
as your lungs belong
to the pattern in which
you breathe.
Follow Christopher @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Does the sun promise to shine?
No, but it will—
even behind the darkest clouds,
and no promise
will make it shine longer or brighter
for that is its fate,
to burn until it can burn no more.
To love you is not my promise
but my fate—
to burn for you
until I can burn no more
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"i carry your heart with me" by e e cummings
i carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go,my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate
(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart
(i carry it in my heart)
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We collided by mistake
fate dancing
in the rafters
as I wandered
the room
until I saw you
laughing to a friend
and I
closed my eyes
so I could see
the white swing
the children laughing
a thousand moments
of happy
and sad
and old hands
in old hands
a life in a flash
and there,
in my open eyes—
was you.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The simplest truth
is that we
fall in love with the way someone
makes us feel or doesn’t
and that’s pretty well
the all of it.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“I Don’t Know When” by JmStorm
i don’t know when
i fell in love with
you because I cannot
point to a day or a
week and say “here
is it, this is when
it happened”.
i just can’t.
it feels like it has
always been in me
and I finally found
who it was for.
FollowJmStorm @jmstormquotes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"I Am Sensitive” by Najwa Zebian
I am sensitive.
It means that when I laugh,
I laugh my heart out.
And when I cry,
the birds in the sky
cry with me.
When I see pain in your eyes,
I feel it in my heart.
My sensitivity makes me
real.
If you want me,
know that I will not
leave my sensitivity
to be loved by
anyone.
Follow Najwa @najwazebian
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“I Am Not Yours” by Sarah Teasdale
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.
You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.
Oh plunge me deep in love - put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
When I first met you
I remembered you
from a hundred different dreams
and there you were
for me to love
all over again
for the very first time.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“We Laid In Bed” by Christopher Poindexter
We laid in bed
and watched the clocks
around us dance
until time to us,
was only the rise
and fall of our
ruptured heartbeats.
We kissed and we kissed
until we knew no other taste
and we no longer understood
the pattern of a day as
we fell in love with the
colors and the world
between each other’s
eyelids.
Follow Christopher @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We lost ourselves
eyes shut in a kiss
our lips the thread
that held us to the earth like a balloon
while we floated in the cosmic cotton of space
toes dipping in the pools of black
cooling our bodies—
until we awoke
in wet wool
in the rain of real
the mists of morning
soaking in a park
so cold but warm with you
and
only the rain
to remind us we
were there at all.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "I Wanna Be Yours" by John Cooper Clarke
- “Song" by Allen Ginsberg
Thank you to Native for sponsoring this week's episode. For 20% off your first purchase, visit nativedeodorant.com and use promo code ATTICUS during checkout.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
It’s not the fear of losing them
that scares us,
it’s that we have given them
so many of our pieces
that we fear losing
ourselves
when they are gone.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
“Remember” by Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Out Here On This Very Day” by Prince Neptune (Cody Simpson)
Out here on this very day
We journey further into the illusion
Adrift in the great dream
Yearning for entry into the severed realm
Do you know that the death of earth soon come?
Do you know the progress of destruction?
Do you know the strange new topography of the coast?
Life closes in slowly around us
And we seek salvation in copulation
In drugs
And by sunset we ascend
Only to find that our minds
And our bodies
Weren't ours at all.
Follow Prince Neptune @princeneptunepoet and @codysimpson
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Her Heart Sank Into Her Shoes” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Her heart sank into her shoes
as she realized at last how
much she wanted him.
No matter what his past was,
no matter what he had done.
Which was not to say that she
would ever let him know,
but only that he moved her
chemically more than anyone
she had ever met, that all
other men seemed pale beside him.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Today I opened a book
and found a flower
that you’d pressed—
it was orange
and red
and yellow
and small.
And in all ways
it was our love
gone now
but beautiful still
as the memory of something more.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She took stamps
from the drawer in the kitchen
her father saw but didn’t say
they drove
and she watched out the window
fingering them carefully
in her pocket
together they climbed the grassy hill
up to the acorn tree
stopping at a rock
perfectly carved
with a woman’s name—
for a long time
and a careful time
she looked and thought
but never cried.
“Papa?”
she finally said,
“How many stamps
does it take to reach heaven?”
“One will do,
my love—“
And so,
she put one stamp on
and placed one inside
and left the letter
by her mother’s side.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Other poems read today:
- “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “Love” by Pablo Neruda
- “When Great Trees Fall” by Maya Angelou
Tell me,
she said,
about our house
our children
our garden
about the lives we will have --
but he never could
and it wasn't until she was gone
that he understood
that she never needed the house
she only needed the dream.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"I dream’d in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the
attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth;
I dream’d that was the new City of Friends;
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust
love—it led the rest;
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of
that city,
And in all their looks and words."
- “I Dreamed a Dream” by Walt Whitman
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
He was a brother
I never had,
different than the others,
and he carried in his eyes
and on his arms
the tattoos
and scars
of being famous young,
he wore the face
of a star
but all I saw
was a poet
drowning
in someone else’s dreams
who wished only
to sink
into the quiet sea
or fade
into any painted wall of Brooklyn.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"I Have Fallen" by Christopher Poindexter
I have fallen
in love many times.
Have you ever sat in a bar
and watched a lonely man
or woman by themselves,
their tired eyes shaken,
fixed on nothing but
the glass in front of them?
Can't you taste their sadness
from across the room?
Those people.
I fall in love
with those people.
To me there are few things
more real.
Follow Christopher @christopherpoindexter
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Somewhere
sitting on a cloud
deep in the sky
there is a secret list
written by an angel
that holds
all the wonderful moments
your life
has yet to come.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold Fast to dream
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow."
- “Dreams” by Langston Hughes
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
There is an island I know
I shouldn’t even mention—
it’s a fairy tale, you see
where no one wears shoes
and no one needs to—
the houses are hobbit-like
with grass on the roofs
and the food is fresh from a nearby farm
every morning the tea sits steeping
on long wooden counters
with toast and jams from local berries—
the crickets always crick here
and the birds call, the kind
that make you stop and say,
“Now that is a beautiful song”—
the sun is hot
without a cloud in the sky
and the beach runs out for a mile
in silky white sand
so that when the tide flows back in the afternoon
it heats up, warm as a bath,
when it rains
you build puzzles, and paint, and read
and light fires that crackle
and smell like cedar saunas
and each night, rain or shine,
you drink wine
and listen to records
while you play games—
and sometimes
you’ll lay in long grass
and chase the stars around the sky
heads close together with the ones you love—
each day is the same
you do what brings you peace—
and the wildest part of it all
is the island is real
my toes are in its sand.
Other Poems Read Today:
- "If" by Rudyard Kipling
- "A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
She wanted to be rich
and she looked good on a yacht
but I wanted a girl
that looked good by a campfire
with freckles like sparks
to stain
the ashy sky.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Somewhere
in the great landscape of time
there is a garden growing
the most beautiful rose
that has ever been
and that will ever be -
you are that rose,
forever to me.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I have noticed
that all wine
regardless of the cost or vintage
tastes the same when sipped
directly out of the bottle
running naked to the beach
under a full
and summer moon.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Keep your kingdoms
give me
the open road
the stars in the sky
the smell of a campfire
around the next bend
and I will be as rich as any king.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You and I
are stars
met once
in the breath of a universe
crossed only for a moment
as the ebb and flow
of dust and atoms.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Today’s reading:
On those nights
when the thick snow drifts
through moonlight
and the sky looks like falling stars
close your eyes
look up
tongue out to the gods
and feel the cool ash burn you.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The trees seemed to breathe more at night.
There was a freshness in the air
like the world was being born again.
Steam billowed from the machine
and danced up
mixing with my breath.
I rode on into the black,
leaves scurrying from the tires,
startled by this strange one-eyed beast.
I always wanted to remember these moments,
alone on the road
the smell of wood-burning somewhere,
and wet cut grass covered with tomorrow’s dew.
Fast I’d ride,
deep into the ghostly night,
wind in my face,
eyes screaming tears,
blurring the sky into diamonds,
and my engine,
in its symphony,
became my silence,
a knife’s edge to the numb world
my blissful blurry road.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Daughter of mine—
for your smiles,
for your tears,
for your skinned knees,
and your broken hearts,
for the love you give,
and the love you find.
For whatever you become,
or don’t,
it is far too late,
I love you already,
long before
we ever meet.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Have you ever
smelled a smell
that brings you
instantly back
to a moment
from your youth?
I always loved that feeling.
I hope that’s what death is
just sitting on clouds
smelling old smells.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
If I’m honest,
very little in life
has compared
in immensity
or magnitude
before or since
to the electric
and wild feeling
of the first time
I kissed
a girl.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
You wore a smile and a scar
in the front seat
of an old Cadillac
we were two kids chasing sunsets
holding on to memories in moments—
all the ways you were
I wish I could’ve bottled it up
that feeling
drinking it now that
you are gone.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I woke before her
and she slept on as the sun rose
spilling light across our bed
she was an angel in my sheets
the girl I would draw
if given a thousand years
and only a promise
she might one day come to life.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I took her hand,
and my heart beat fast
as her warmth swallowed me up.
A thousand times I’d run this trail
but not with her.
Her eyes were all that young love should be,
and they lit me up
in every look.
We lay in shooting skies
and freckled stars, and
promised our love would last forever—
and so in our forever
it would
there in a castle atop of Blueberry Hill,
with silver moon rivers
and sailing ships.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
I wrote madly in youth.
I wrote because I had so much to see
and so much to say.
I had to share what I saw in the oranges of the desert nights,
the way the drugs made my mind sting,
and the pretty girls spun in the youth and dust --
this dream, everything we’d found,
it was ours,
and would be forever--
it was easy then,
the pen and the paper were two cans on a string to the stars,
and I wrote what they told me
in all the colors they said--
but it’s different now,
the purples aren’t as purple,
the drugs don’t sting,
and the girls dance far away
as if ghosts/shadows of some abandoned town
the string to the stars has worn loose,
and we the children
look at the stars less,
for they lied to us,
they broke their promise---
we did not live forever.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Other poems read today:
- "Indian summer" by Dorothy Parker
- "My Lost Youth" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I want to be with someone
who dreams of doing everything in life,
and nothing
on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
We aspire
only to live
our lives well,
to fall into the gentle to and fro of life,
and the refrains of seasons and tides
rocking us slowly & finally to sleep
as old and loved
as we can possibly be.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
There is no excuse
I've heard worthy
to decline
a request
by a lady of
reasonable
morals
and pleasant
company
for a skinny dip
under a warm
summer moon.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
In the mornings
she taught me French
and after breakfast she would paint
and I would write
and as the spring rain fell on the skylight
and the tea steamed from its mugs
my heart hummed
to the music
of the dream
we’d found.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
If I had all the treasure in the world,
I would follow my dreams,
play with my children,
and spend time with my wife.”
“No,”
said the old man.
“If you followed your dreams,
played with your children,
and spent time with your wife,
you would have all the treasure in the world.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
It took me a long time to realize
that I am happiest
not at the parties
or the dinners
or the shows
but at home with you
and just our books
our movies
and our tea.
And wherever we go
for now and forever
we will bring this happy with us
for home lives
inside us now
wherever
together
we go.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
The truth is—magic lives in all of us who choose to look for it.
It lives in the morning in the springtime in Paris, it’s in the smell of the world after the rain, or a stormy afternoon in bed on a Sunday, it’s in warm sweaters and a lovers’ nook, it’s in those sad days that never end, and the happy days that end too soon.
It’s in every spicy margarita or bathtub with rosé, it’s in good books and Spanish beaches, it’s the sun warming cheeks through the clouds, it’s in that quiet forest where the trees sway or the way the lake reflects the moon.
It’s in art; it’s in music, it’s in words. It’s in you and it’s in me and any of us that choose to find it. For the greatest truth about magic… is that it’s true.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Other poems read today:
- "Simplicity" by Emily Dickinson
- "This is Leisure" by William Henry Davies
- "This is Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas
She was all freckles and magic,
this girl that lived next door,
pebbles on her window,
and she was suddenly there,
she took my hand,
as the moon pinched at our skin
and my heart beat fast
as her warmth swallowed me up.
It was back through the garden
and the hole in the fence,
along the path I’d made as a boy —
knights in our stories —
a thousand times I’d run this trail
but not with her.
On we ran into the silver-spotted black,
quick-moving feet
along the picket-patched-paths of moon-light,
sprinkling and sparkling
along the mossy floor.
Her face was everything
that young love should be,
and it swallowed me
with every look.
The stars were alive for us
and we shared them
as only young love could.
We ran through moving vines,
into a painted silver meadow,
where we sailed
through the tall milky grass,
like a wooden boat,
through a silver sea.
And there we found our castle,
an old stone house,
where a moss covered chimney
stood alone to spill
the secrets of its life.
So on that sweeping grass we laid,
and spilled our dreams,
as only young love could,
And when we saw a shooting star,
we’d make a wish,
And her face would tumble close to mind,
a freckled nose as soft as snow.
We knew no world
passed what we saw,
for ours was in our eyes.
And so we lay
with shooting stars
and freckled skin,
and promised our love
would last forever,
and so in our forever it would,
there in a castle on top
of blueberry hill
with silver moon rivers
and sailing ships.
and we smiled
as we stared
at the world we made
in the stars
as only young love could.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Other reading today:
- "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda
Today's reading is from Atticus' now released third book of poetry, The Truth About Magic.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
Today's reading is from Atticus' now released third book of poetry, The Truth About Magic.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
Today's reading is from Atticus' now released third book of poetry, The Truth About Magic.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Got to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
We all wear masks,
some with makeup
some with smiles
some with wives or husbands
cars or clothes
we hide from the world
and from ourselves
we hide from our truths
behind our eyes
running always from our real
but somewhere there
where truth meets courage
we are waiting to be found
waiting to stand to the world
masks down
and say loudly and boldly
this is us
this is our truth
this is everything real about me
and when that day comes
if it is true
we will begin our lives again
the way they were intended
when the world first
saw our face.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
www.atticuspoetry.com
Other poems read today:
- "Invictus" by William Henley
- Excerpts from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman
Thank you to our sponsor Care/of for supporting Atticus and the production of this podcast. Go to www.takecareof.com and use promo code ATTICUS for 25% off your first order of customized vitamins.
I love those laughs
that come from deep within
the kind that are catching to anyone close
that make your stomach hurt
and cry with tears of joy
the kind that come
when you least expect
where the more you try to stop
the harder it becomes
and even when you think of them now
you smile—
For those are the laughs
of real old
human magic.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
There we were making rhythms
Jumping ahead of Earth’s own heartbeat
Setting new times to our universe
And we drank it in like warming wine
We the children
Running to deserts
Pockets full of magic
With whiskey spirits in our souls and our wings
Us few the bold
The brave trodden souls
Tobacco stinging bright our gypsie eyes
Kaleidoscopes reaching fingers through our minds
To stir our colored dreams
Our dusty hearts set aflame
By setting stars and shooting suns
And here the sparks become our loves
And so with them we danced up
Into airless skies and cloudless nights
To make ash angels on moons
And snowflakes of Milky Ways
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry
The boy ran
quick as rain
through grassy fields awake in dew
in moon dipped steps
a summers night
through fireflies
and sparkling stars
a glass jar in hand
little cloud breathes
up to the open sky
and there,
so there at once,
alone in that summer field, she flew
a fairy shone
bright as day
and the stars once bright, dimmed back in crimson
jealous of the way she shone
she, the brightest bright he’d ever seen
so bright she burned, for she loved him too
and he took her gently in his hands
and placed her in the jar
his love
Safe now within his coat —
and back to the town he ran
a thousand laughs caught in his throat
everything he loved so finally his---
and with all the people’s eyes around
he brought the jar out from his robes
and held it high above
his shining prize
His love
--but alas
she was dim
and though she tried
she could not shine so brightly
and his heart fell
and the people turned away—
“But I love her, he said
more than anything I could ever love
why can’t she shine for us?”
and the old man in the corner stood
and walked up close
to whisper something
in his ear
and the boy
looked at the fairy
dimming in the glass
and nodded at the old man’s words
and with the tears in his eyes,
sparkling as diamonds
he ran
faster than he’d even run
through the moonlight steps
through the darkened grass
through the fireflies
and the jealous stars
and there, so there at once,
in the summer field alone
he opened up the glass
and held it to the sky
And slowly and gently his fairy flickered out
And as she flew she burned again
even brighter than before---
and as he watched
and loved her so
the old man’s words
echoed on his lips--
“love her
he said
but leave her wild”.
xx Atticus
@atticuspoetry