iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I had a basic idea for the opening line of this poem and just went from there. I will say it's more surreal them my usual stuff (which I guess is saying something) and I kinda dig it, tbh. #poetry #vss365 #headwind #writer #writers #writing

"Happy Shrug"

The bubblegum grass rises
and entwines with the heart.
These children play
as memories metamorphose
into goal posts,
headwinds be damned.
Relaxed lips recite prayers
to whatever god
finds shelter in the fog

and if She answers,
we shall heap praise
onto Her whisper

and if She is silent,
we shall move on

and let the dented moon dim
so we can see.

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I haven't written a memory or slice-of-life poem in quite awhile. I forgot how much I enjoy them! #poetry #vss365 #depart #writer #writing #writers

"A Scream Where The Future Should Have Been"

We departed from the party
where we were the only patrons
and drove into a metropolis
where rising intonations dwelled
in every alley way.
Our clothes reeked
of natural combustion

and our breath
gave the world something
we could never take back.

There was a scream
where the future should have been.

but our throats were sated
so we blamed a metal song

and it's one to which
I still hum along

without your harmony
or my cracks.

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Some people (myself included) tend to romanticize their mental illness. I feel it's extremely unhealthy and can prevent coping. We deserve the world! #poetry #vss365 #patient #writing #writer #writers

"Handcuffs and the Absurd"

I've seen so many people
try to put melancholy
on a pedestal.

There is nothing romantic
about depression;
it is toxic
as the bile in the guts
of those who feel they need
to eat themselves
to stave off starvation
for a day or two.

There are indentations
on my wrists
from handcuffs and the absurd;

I am not consistent.

I am an infinite amount
of heroes,
villains,
and bystanders

that are just trying to be patient
with one another

before the world they share
decides to ride itself of them
in self-preservation.

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This is about the health issues I've been facing, both physically and mentally. I'm not looking for sympathy or advice. Only catharsis. Thank you ❤️ #poetry #vss365 #unabashed

"Roadside Distraction"

I'm broken down
on the side of a dirt road
with fingers caked in crimson oil

and a flare ready to light
on a lifetime of gasoline.
The heat sprints in place
next to me, shouting
bad news and misdiagnoses

but all I hear
are the static dirges that play
from my AM radio.

I wish I still smoked

so I could at least relax
on the hood of this vessel,

unabashed
for the apathy
I wish would hurry

so I could faint
at its feet.

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I'm trying to learn to #embrace myself and life as a whole so neither will destroy me. #poetry #vss365 #writing #writers #writer

$"Chewing on Concrete" Can I learn to embrace the fractured glass instead of grinding it into the shivering earth? My blood is the color of rebellion and I'm smearing it onto every indifferent day. I feel my lips curve into shapes with infinite sides and the concrete on which I chew tastes sweeter if only for today. The odium that crowds my every scar seems more like a colony of ants and I chose to rock them to dream instead of forcing them to suffocate.$

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

To #frolic in waves, the mind blurs into static then clears to a creek. #vss365 #poetry #senryu #haiku #writers

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Igor Namus @igornamus.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

#defiance in words quite pliable in actions nut shell of the now #vss365 #haiku

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Tracy Shawn @tracyshawn.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Be here daily, I remind myself A defiant command amongst scattered shards of the past #vss365 #Defiant #Anxiety

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PS Conway @psconway.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

- after green, there was only gray. clouds pressed birds from the sky to collect and die among the cinder fields, songless and dry. trees stripped bare, all blanched branch and brokenness, save for the small defiance of one leaf, seeking the light once more. - #poetry #vss365

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

www.poetryformentalhealth.org/my-mental-he...

I'm a few days late to the party but I am beyond honored to be featured in the anthology My Mental Health! It is a collection of poets and writers sharing their mental health stories. I highly recommend checking it out! This is NOT a poem that I have featured; it is a raw flash memoir about my lifelong struggle with mental illness. Special thanks to Robin for putting this together!

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Anesthestized words veil a void deep as the cracks in a thinning heart. #poetry #haiku #senryu

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Tish Bouvier @tishbouvier.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A cold empty chair Holds more stories than the room Ever dared to tell #dailyhaikuprompt (cold) #5amwritersclub #writingcommunity #haiku

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I was hating this poem as I was writing it lol. But as I edited it and finished it, I grew to like it. I think the message is important, anyway. Hope you like it and have a wonderful day! #vss365 #supercilous #poetry

"Unsolicited Advice From A Mentally Ill Man"

Supercilious meat
is stuffed inside
pristine suits
and muddied tank tops.

Only the dust
is infallible.

So many people
have grafted gavels
onto their beating hearts

while screaming "peace"
into meditation halls

thinking that it will save the world

but the only thing
that can rescue us

is to shake hands
with every dirty window

and open our minds
to welcome
the eye of the storm.

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Raymh @rayhourigan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Coated in pollen Velvet, sleepy bee stumbles Into winged action. #BSPP55 #PollenVelvet #haiku #senryu #poem #writing #writingcommunity @blueskypoetry.bsky.social

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Sands @revsodhi.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

“Redemption” I have seen evil in a temple preach of doom, a devout kneeling in Satan’s cove. Don’t lose yourself so deep within that you end up ghosting your own soul. Redemption is a brutal road, but atonement, sometimes, rides another road. ~rev #writingcommunity #dark #poetry #motorcycles

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

no worthy words today my mind is full of #moths blurred and furred, chaotic coherency is lost all thoughts flail aflutter and falter in the waning light like fragile wings singed by flame unable to take flight. #Thingstowriteabout #poem #poetry #writing #brain_fog

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Elvis Dylan @elvisdylan.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

#vss365 a moth circling a candle, trembling with #appraisal, sensing the thin border between light and disaster

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Sunlit @sunblissful.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I placed the pen behind my right ear mid-poem and was reminded of my Dad who also placed his own pen behind his right ear when he was alive mid DIY death seems a cold business until you realise it's also release #poetry

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IrishLisa 🌈 @irishlisa.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

pasture after storms every blade stands back up green hope has many legs #dailyhaikuprompt #Pasture #Senryu #Haiku #Poetry #Micropoetry #JustWrite #WritingCommunity #BlueskyPoets

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Jenny Gaitskell @jennygaitskell.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

green velvet hilltop crow tells me the old wildwoods reached up to the sky #DailyHaikuPrompt (pasture) #ThingsToWriteAbout (reach)

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

(I was challenged by a friend on Substack to write a 7-5-7 poem!) I force the void from my eyes and finally see the puddles for the rain drops. #poetry

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⛳ 🎭 Edward Rinaldi 🐐 🍉 @blindedbeatpoet.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

when Saint George said a poet in love is a dangerous thing a wonderful thing did he appraise one such as a slayer of dragons wind rider of rain bride and broom groom to earth berserk fires unquenchable pocketed ashes and posies circles drawn down triangles squared around #vss365 #emoetry

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

"Bear Trap" Depression is a bear trap and I am the wounded animal trapped in its callous teeth, lashing out at the hands that try to set me free because I perceive they're trying to pet my fur despite the blood in my mouth and the rusted nails in my eyes. #poetry

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I take another gulp of anhedonia on the rocks but it's drinking me under the moon. The world will spin on regardless of how my jaw may clench, regardless of the way my fist pounds against the florid afterbirth and comes away riddled with purple excuses but no reason. #vss365 #poetry

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Jane @jcm444.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

anguished, defiant, resilient unwavering, unapologetic weaponizing pain turning life’s traumas into bold #florid masterpiece a shattered body an indomitable spirit her deepest vulnerabilities turned into enduring symbolic expressions of inner poetry of feminine strength the essential Frida #vss365

Frida Kahlo portrait - turquoise background with colorful flowers in her hair and all around her

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PS Conway @psconway.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

- we used to dress our wounds with wildflowers i thought it was healing when injuries could look so pretty you coaxed me to breathe deeper, trust the fragrance, but by morning, infection had set in scented and dank the bandages had bloomed too florid to ignore - #poetry #vss365

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Tracy Shawn @tracyshawn.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The Reality of a Mermaid She took refuge in the cool sway of ocean Away from his heated lies and florid excuses Swam so far out that she was able to sing again #vss365

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I didn't want to write a poem this bleak this afternoon. I wanted to work on one of my projects. But I'm dealing with some intense feelings and had to get them out in a productive way. It will be okay. #emoetry #poetry

"Hungry Night"

I'm twitching
on the edge of a world

that I forgot
when I remembered
how to give eulogies
instead of sighs

and I'm shedding the rainbows
that formed after storms
of wrinkled rain
and sour snow;
I replace them
with the gray matter that falls
from my eyes and tongue

after another morning
wishing the night

would devour
every umbilical cord
and the happy songs
to which they are attached.

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I'm not the greatest at veiling my emotions, especially when things are rough. #vss365 #emoetry #poetry

"Stolen Blood"

I'm not able
to tape a cardboard sun
to a drowning midnight
and claim it's a "nice day."
I wear my maladies
like fleas
on the coat of a shivering stray

and though I try
to douse myself
in kind words
and the laughter
of decades-old children,
my blood is always stolen

but is it the insects
or the broken glass
in my rumination
that incriminate themselves
by leaving this life
shaken

in a dirty stein
for the universe to binge?

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Alexandra Williams @alexandrawilliams.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

flea on verdict’s lip black spark on white flame jumps from the yellow heart of an oleander sun a speck of rebellion against the furniture of air landing on the moon’s pale cheek to whisper wake up the night is still young and full of small hungers #vss365 #photography #nature

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Gréachán @greachan.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

As the flea contains within its ink-drop gut the whole red testament of borrowed blood, so did that boy receive the world unedited; each sparrow-note# unlaced to fifty silks, the rain arriving in its forty faces, the moth’s wing signing secrets through the dark, ... #vss365

greachan.com

The world

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Elvis Dylan @elvisdylan.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

#vss365 #PulpFictionCabbie This city breeds desperation the way a stray dog breeds #fleas, and that desperation hangs in the air, thick enough to choke on.

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Elvis Dylan @elvisdylan.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

#vss365 Love dies. Love is the victim Who is the #villain? “Not me.” “Not me!“

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I play the reluctant hero in this fragmented story and I cannot tell if the villain is made of glass or wallpaper. All I can do is persist because life is dependent on the fissures inside itself. #emoetry #reluctant #vss365 #villain #poetry #mentalhealth

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⛳ 🎭 Edward Rinaldi 🐐 🍉 @blindedbeatpoet.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

what eyes never need what ears do without nose knows true scents do bind us thread spun fibers reaches, aches and awe stars fall every night as we turn towards morning turn towards what story we can birth without reluctance Life loves festivals of sacrifices our roots and reaches #emoetry

a wall mask of a satyr
bathed in rose gold light

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Stabby Jo McDaggers (Anna J Worthy) @okaypoet.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Even trees speak, if you know their language. Withering leaves means I need rain. Bent branches say I've craned my neck for a speck of your sun light. But some only see the browning, the broken, a new #villain in your garden of eden. #vss365

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

A rare political-esque write from me. I didn't intend for it to be political when I started on it but I suppose the muse works in mysterious ways lol. #vss365 #pull #poetry #writing #creativewriting

"Vacuum of Propaganda"

From the depths
of fog and grease,
the halos tightened
around their necks
resemble charms
made from the good
they were forced to mime
out of desperation
to be liked

and it pulls us in
like a vacuum
of propaganda.

When those halos inevitably crack
and their blinding lights collapse,
I hope we can truly see
the rust on the swingsets

and we can fix them
without dwelling in the potential tetanus,

soaring into the air
like the children
we deserve to be.

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Samantha Carr @samc4rr.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Well, I find myself in another jail cell. When will they learn that confinement leads to inspiration? As they #pull the door shut, the ghosts of the meanest streets compete for space on my blank sheet. My pencil etching a way through darkness into maginary light for the long night. #vss365

A cell in an underground prison where a poet was once held

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I grieve for who I could have been if the intestines from a nameless martyr didn't wrap around my neck before I had the chance to discover my voice in the playground's lurch towards a vague will and testament. #vss365 #lurch #poetry

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Robert J. W. @robertjw4688.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I think this one could be about digging deep and discovering the why behind our neuroses. #vss365 #defenestrate #poetry #mentalhealth #writing

"The Defenestration of Crumbs"

Itching daymares nestle
into my heart line.
I scratch at these creations

when I should be defenestrating them
to the sidewalk outside my apartment.
Fractured glass is a symptom
of the will to live

but the question is

do I pick up each shard
and examine them
until they resemble a DIY prison

or do I walk across
these fragments
on bared life

and bleed
until I understand?

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Dylan Kussman @dylankussman.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

. this oak in full flush will like me in winter stand defenestrated #vss365 #haiku

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Stabby Jo McDaggers (Anna J Worthy) @okaypoet.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The iconoclastic urge to break everything that aches of you, throw away the sunrise, #defenestrate the stars, rip the water from my eyes, make me blind, make me blind, & I'd only read you in braille. #vss365

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