Kash Baloch — Poetry on Identity, Love, and Survival

I vowed to avoid the ones my mother warned me all about, the ones she said I could do without. I chose to ignore her advice, jumped in head first instead, and now I pay the price. Your lies were not enough to make me steer clear of your eyes. I wanted to taste your sin and let it course throughout my veins, injected for the perfect high, sending waves of dopamine throughout my brain. You were my demise, we could have ruled the world. Your throne remains empty now, you should have been my earl. Contrary to the thoughts you expressed full of sorrow, covered in doubt; I would have given you my heart, been the rain that cured your drought. I held your hands in mine for the shortest moment in time, sublime yet insecure, I felt so unsure right from the start. I wanted to be whimsical, and pretend that it could work. But instead you reached into my chest and tore out my love, with the iciest smirk. My ups and downs were no match for your stagnation; like I was stuck in cement, the s...

If it were easier to let go, I would run and never look back. Allow my train to derail, leaving life's tracks. I would start anew in a country unknown, just to feel my heart beat again, to know that it is not made of stone. But you make it so hard to leave your pretty eyes, the thought of life without you, makes me want to cry. I would sob for days, trying to atone for my mistake. I always run back into your arms that never fail to shelter me from harm. I might be called a coward, weaker than most because I stay with you. But the ones that call me names, have lived their lives in glass houses, decorated in shades of blue. I cannot express how lonely it feels to be depressed, how you ignited the spark that set fire to my heart. You are the summer breeze that cools my skin in the scorching heat, the missing piece that makes life's puzzle complete. The water that hydrates when I am slaked with thirst, and the number one that always strives to come first. We may not match or be ali...

Sorrowful and sadly sailing through a sea of my own despair, melancholy misery makes me miserable beyond repair. On display, caged for the world's unkind scrutiny, all the world is a stage, its actors changing as I challenge its hypocrisy. Like a sideshow freak, exiled from a life of being weak, I was the brightest and most vibrant bird of paradise in life's bountiful boutique. Don't speak, listen with your heart and with your eyes, to the tremors terrorizing this territory and tearing it apart. The show starts, as I am caught in the sky's rapturous downpour, stinging my heart, as the rain forces me to wait in vain. I have been castrated, an emasculated man that is now a mouse, you realize that this house was built on lies as you douse me in gasoline. No longer thirteen, I must fend for myself in a world illuminated by secrecy. Everywhere I look, hope burns discerning concern that is never returned, like the impoverished that plead to be fed but are misled by corruption...

I anxiously awaited the return of the trust my inconsiderate acts had dissipated. Jaded, I fell from the sky like the most pathetic shooting star. You were the most noble king by far, like a majestic butterfly, I clipped your wings and caged you in a jar labeled by my deceit. I was your Idi Amin, as I robbed you of your civil rights, and made you shiver through all the sleepless nights. I was the thorn that pricked your finger when all you wanted was to kiss a rose. In the throes of love, you were blind to the venom I hid from you, like the meaning of words left undefined. I protected my own heart and kept you confined. I cheated and then resigned, played the victim as I insecurely proclaimed that I refused to remain a pawn in your wicked game of Chess. I should confess that I watched you undress, naively removing your layers of mistrust. I am ashamed to admit my undeniable ability to commit, even though it was you all along that brought beauty to my life. You painted with vibrancy on ...