Josh Stone

Excited to have three poems in this anthology. Currently sitting at #3 on Amazon’s best selling poetry collection, just behind Matthew McConaughey’s new book 😎

when my faith runs dry
like ink, like sand
I lay my head on your chest
and your heartbeat retells the story
again and again and again

#poetry #KYpoet #love

when all I had was a pen
and everything looked like a page
you held out your hand and let me
write love on your arm

the pressed black ink
now pulses under your skin
your veins filled with
words I could not speak

#poetry #KYpoet #love

the yard feels larger now without you
wildflowers have laid down in the grass,
branches hang heavier with silence
I’ve put the feeders away

with each departure
wings and words fold into the air
I stand in the ache you left
slowly learning to let go
without calling back

#poetry #KYPoet #grief

at least losing you
has helped me understand
why the songbirds scatter
when I get too close
though I’ve only ever fed them
and shared dreams of taking flight

they do not see my open hand
only the shadow that falls before it
and though I walk as softly as I know how
the earth still trembles
#poetry

Tonight, I almost told her. I almost whispered it into the dark, into the space where we usually laid down the small truths of our lives. The words pressed against my teeth like glass— sharp. But I swallowed them.
She stirred. “Are you okay? You seem tired.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just tired.”
#Poetry

there’s thunder
brewing on her tongue
her bones are beating
drum, drum, drum
all their training’s
come undone
there’s rage
in her ribcage
and lightning
in her lungs

#poetry

Just signed my first author contract.
👏 Clap for me! 👏

forms.gle/VUpKfM84dUJcDzYH8

Yesterday, I almost said what was on my mind.

♥️

when the world erupts
and ash-black skies spew flame and fury
remember, your skin
was never meant to swallow it whole
hold your pain with open hands
and fill your pockets
with the promise of dawn

#poetry #KYpoet

Which news channel does your father watch?

Not what kind of books does he read
Not who is his favorite poet
Not who or what inspires him
Not whether he prefers Monet or O’Keeffe
Not Rock n roll or Jazz or Classical top 10s
Not his thoughts on existentialism
Not his wildflower garden
#poetry #KYpoet

♥️

don’t talk to me about expectations
just tell me how deep the water is before I dive in
is this love going to break me in half
or plunge me
into the most beautiful unknown

#poetry #KYpoet

❤️

being wanted as I am
unravels the north wind:
first cracks, then rivers,
then marigolds again
from puddles
I hoped were frozen forever.
freezing and thawing
never leaving winter
never finding spring

#poetry #KYpoet

winter arrives too soon,
and glacial air fills my lungs
I start the car
and drive away
shaking
too cold to speak,
too cold to shape sound into a plea.

#poetry #KYpoet

I’ve never been enough—
your uncharted mind,
your body, your wild spirit
keep me dismantling myself,
chipping at the ice,
stacking blocks
carving a figure from frost,
praying it would breathe,
and resemble someone
you could hold
even if for a fleeting moment

#poetry #KYpoet

♥️

I freeze
tongue-tied,
like a boy rehearsing your name
until sound collapses into breath,
throat filled with snow,
a silence only the winter knows.

#poetry #KYpoet #winter

I wish I knew how to
steady myself
for the moment you could love me,
but you arrived like an early frost,
marigolds burning in their own mouths,
petals whispering heat,
the worst parts of me
refusing to surrender
to a tumbledown season.

#Poetry

roots stitching
seeds splitting
petals unfolding
branches bending with fruit
rain pooling in the leaves’ cupped hands
damp moss breathing forgiveness
all of it trembling
with the quiet insistence of life

and in the center
the sun rises
over this broken earth
washing the world
in deep
green

#poetry

This is not a poem-
it might be a surrender
a tired voice
a white flag
weeping and waving
a midnight walk
to the end of the road

or it might be a choice
our broken swords wiped clean
hammered into tools
for a daybreak garden

and in the center
the sun rises
washing the world
in deep
green

#poetry

@malformed-poetry.bsky.social #mpprompt #poetry

I keep
piling my
sacrifices
at
your feet,
keep
giving
every ounce
of me to
you
still
you
want
more-

Empty

oh, love
the tides
are turning

their salt
is a benediction
we ache to believe

all we know how
to breathe now
is the sea

#poetry

there is no map, no X, no north star
only the cracked compass in his chest
he climbs back in the window
folds into the dream
spinning wild and restless until sleep
night rewrites the script
where nothing here
ever happened

#poetry #KYpoet