Featured Poet: Tyler Frederick
Welcome to another Feature Friday! Today's is Tyler Frederick! Tyler is an incredible poet, and all around amazing person. We've been friends since February, and he has been a huge inspiration with his work. He is also a big frequenter of the local open mics, and the Bloomington Poetry Slam. In July he released his first zine Retitled. Check out three of his poems below.
Freedom or Loneliness
Phantoms and Thanatos
I've seen a ghost
with your death mask
Painted cheeks - defeat -
It's the flavor of the week
and I've lost my taste
for that bitter bolete
Just gimme that fire, baby
Gimme that heat.
What are the secrets
that you keep?
It's killing me softly
I can't sleep it off
It's exhausting
If these walls could talk
they would scream out
your name
Guess I'm always to blame
cuz I come running
towards you
when I should
walk away
That pit in my stomach
a forbidden fruit
All the future I stole
from my youth
If you wanted the truth
I was like "gimme the loot"
But it's fool's gold
I know how this will go
It's the same old, same old
I always tell on myself
You never do what you're told
No, I will not name names
ain't nobody blameless
we're both playing games
Are you playing for keeps?
Are you playing to win?
Had my fill getting spun
You seem ready to spin
if I touch you
Maybe I'll always want you
But I forgo my needs
Does it haunt you
to know that my dreams
turn to nightmares and
when the world ends
I'll be right there
Stuck in your night terror
Waiting for light
just to blind me
and I'll lead the way
with the naked
behind me
You say it
You fake it
I know better
It's time I behave
Dig up outta this grave
I think our old song
Well it's been overplayed
Been here before
I can find my own way
If there's nothing to be said
I've got nothing to say
Wormholes
I knew you were a time traveler
that morning you awoke with laugh lines
You never smiled that much for me
The morning after the crow's feet appeared
I sensed the end was near
And wished I had read
between the lines sooner
A little over eager to appear
That nothing was wrong
When nothing was right
If I could go back in time
I'd travel to that last night hike
on the boardwalk
Your eyes always seemed to adjust
quicker than mine
but you'd take my hand
and I'd trust that even if I slipped
and plunged into the water
You'd never let me drown
Here now,
water in lung
Your last kiss
Still on the tip
Of my tongue
To say goodbye,
not as an act of revival.
Golden Repair
Send me love and light
Send me darkness in waves
You think I don't know
the difference between
everything you say
and what you really mean?
Stitches in time
ripped 'em out
at the seams
It ain't the first time
I've been made to bleed
Woke up from our nightmare
Living in my daydream
Stuck inside a rhyme scheme
It riddles me still
Break a pattern
Repair
Kintsugi style
I like me better this way
Your opinion is irrelevant
Tyler Frederick is a poet from Bloomington, IN. He regularly performs at the Bloomington Poetry Slam and at open mics around the state. Connect with him on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram @TheManTheBohemyth
