The Abstract Art Gallery
A writing gallery created by writers from around the world. From poetry to song lyrics, from essays to entire novels and short stories.
…I went to drama school
without my face, they’d
have laughed me out
of the…
By Sarah Henry
Managing adversity by avoiding it.
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…doesn’t want to
address a…
By Sarah Henry
…first explored by Spanish Army troops
From the mission at San Juan Baptista,
Led by Jose de Guadalupe…
By Stephen Barile
“We consider the new mines…
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…was worthless,
Getting to the mines was everything.
Three-thousand dollars was raised…
By Stephen Barile
To venture inside
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…and grief pursued him,
Not unlike his needing a shave,
when he turned…
By Stephen Barile
Where the buttress of concrete Stands…
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…the freeway came, there were
Small houses, in neat, squared off rows,
On San Benito Street. Tiny front yards…
By Stephen Barile
…party of Mexican deer hunters
In the New Idria Mining District,
On the eastern edge of the…
By Stephen Barile
Tulare Lake mostly disappeared
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…Lake mostly disappeared
It’s life ended, the lakebed sold
To agricultural…
By Stephen Barile
…is a death sentence to which there is no repentance… damaged so deep it’s surpasses the vein and rests within my…
By Becca Hulen
…words to unlock the cage containing your pain
I wish I could walk into the cell and absorb all the heavy
To make you weightless while my…
By Becca Hulen
…so much rage at the injustice
Rage at the love I’ve never felt
Rage at the love I thought was real
Rage at my…
By Becca Hulen
…reason all of my poems about you are sad
They say you can’t miss something you’ve never had
That’s a lie I can attest
You made promises and oaths that were never…
By Becca Hulen
…click of the light turning on
Someone has found me
How long this time was I…
By Becca Hulen
Growth reveals what's next.
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…might that be? We may imagine we know. We don’t. Nonetheless, many look forward to every new thing with happy anticipation. I can understand such expectation in children for…
By K. L. Shipley
I’m not sure, but such…
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…you know what you know is true. You don’t. You can’t. No one can. The reality is that we can never know that anything is absolutely, no doubt about it, 100% true. That does not stop us from…
By K. L. Shipley
Meaning is important, but so too is insinuation and association.
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…many say, "in the gloaming", these days. Too bad. Gloaming is a fine old Scottish word for twilight, with a poetically mystical cadence in its very pronunciation. Glowing and gloaming are linguistic…
By K. L. Shipley
Move down, move…
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….felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet…
By K. L. Shipley
Aunt Maxine never heard…
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…Aunt Maxine has lived her whole life in the simple straightforward manner of children, animals and saints. She is without guile or artifice. She says what she thinks, and she means what…
By K. L. Shipley
It was almost too good to be true.
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In 1894 a mysterious collection of erotic poems was published in Paris. They were presented as work…
By K. L. Shipley
We often feel helpless, knowing…
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…she watches each event unfold,
knowing her hands are tied,
feelings of despair take…
By Brenda Arledge
"Recuperating" is a poem…
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…down the days
waiting for a clean bill of health,
hoping to get…
By Brenda Arledge
God's Children Weep is a…
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…fueled protests
fills the streets,
destructive violence…
By Brenda Arledge
"Make the Day Bright" is…
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…only takes a moment
to turn someone’s world around,
so, take the time to…
By Brenda Arledge
"That's Life" is a short…
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…I’ve already faced
my darkest day,
but I doubt that…
By Brenda Arledge
"Wait...
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…rose
delicate and beautiful,
a softness like it might…
By Brenda Arledge
The narrator confesses…
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…was about to start. Everyone had either piles of paper neatly assembled on the table or a laptop that was on and chugging away. I was a new member of the group. I had nothing with me except what was stored in my head. The leader of the group cleared…
By Anita G. Gorman
…liked her name. She didn't feel particularly joyful most of the time. On the other hand, for part of the time on most days she felt pretty good. She had two small children, a husband with a decent job, and she herself worked part-time in retail. She was thirty years…
By Anita G. Gorman
Carlina apologizes for…
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…was always apologizing. In the grocery store, when she was staring at cans of soups and another customer joined her, she would say, "Sorry," and move away to another aisle. The cans of soups would…
By Anita G. Gorman
She enters an antiques store and wants to buy a painting of a clown. The old proprietor reveals why she can't buy it.
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…started looking at the walls. She had enough furniture, but she needed something on the walls of her apartment in downtown Ashleyville, Ohio. She walked to the rear of the small, crowded store and…
By Anita G. Gorman
Magdalena has always been ignored…
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…was not sure when she realized that no one paid much attention to her. Was it in elementary school, when she would raise her hand constantly to answer the teacher's questions? Her arm would ache from shaking it, but Mrs. Alexander, her third grade teacher, would rarely call…
By Anita G. Gorman
Irene's mother issues a…
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…Irene's mother was dying, she established some rules. "Irene, when I die, you will of course bury me in the Ashleyville Cemetery. You will visit every day. I know you will. You're a good daughter, though I can't say you always have been very good. Why you married that guy, I have no idea. At least the two of you produced a cute…
By Anita G. Gorman
No birds will nest in…
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…that I shall never see
a beard that looks half good on me,
whose chin, when hungry…
By Ken Gosse
The weekend after a chat…
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…midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over wafting scent of pizza permeating through my door—
My appetite whet by this mocking…
By Ken Gosse
A reversing Fibonacci poem.
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…where it last set,
but wisdom’s not dawned on us yet.
I’d like to surmise…
By Ken Gosse
This is not the 1953 Doris Day,,,
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…secret love will rarely go unknown—
their secrets are not meant for them to own—
for rumors spread much faster…
By Ken Gosse
The title is a parody of Gilbert…
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…time I gave up rent for lent
without obtaining signed consent,
the landlord proved to be…
By Ken Gosse
An epitaffy for two.
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…hands were crossed upon his vest—
next to my wife, both laid to rest.
Upon great pains, when put to…
By Ken Gosse
…window shut her eyes,
The night elongates its time forcing the Sun to skive off,
The stars does not vanish from the bosom of the sky,
The wall clock doesn't…
By Monalisa Parida
…Spring of eternal love,
Sparrow, pigeons on her eave.
A booming tone, a boisterous laugh,
Embrace the light with the…
By Monalisa Parida
…is raining day and night,
Your name is written in raindrops,
On a moonlit window,
Longing eats me…
By Monalisa Parida
…the sands of time,
Many things have left
So much has lost
A lot of hope to be…
By Monalisa Parida
…alarm began to play softly, Jill reached for her cell phone. While turning the alarm off, she sat up in the bed wishing she could finish her dream, but knowing it would repeat. For some reason the…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
Sometimes we associate different kinds of things with love.
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…Elsa filled the small pan with water at the sink, she looked out the kitchen window, and her mind wandered back to her childhood. (How many times had she done this same routine early in the morning of a hot summer day?) When she had filled the pan with just the right amount of…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
A mirror can reflect the beginning and ending
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…the courthouse, Dale walked down the steps behind Sue. He wanted to say something to her, but he knew Sue did not want to talk to him, plus she was on the arm of another man. Once Dale got into his vehicle and started driving down the road, he felt lost in his hurt, anger, and…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
Words put together that give the mind a picture.
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…fluffy clouds, blue skies
Night, full moon, bright stars
Tree, brown branches, green…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
…walked into her bedroom, then sat down on the stool in front of her antique dressing table. She loved the dressing table with an attached mirror which had been her Grandma’s. It was her favorite place to brush her hair. As Grace looked at her image in the mirror, she remembered her Grandmother’s reflection in that same mirror. She had often sat in her Grandmother’s lap while her Grandma had…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
Waiting in line can be soul searching
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…line of people stretched ahead of Jess. The people in front of her seemed not to be moving, but she did not care because her mind was busy remembering her journey to get here. Had she done enough, and was she ready? Should she get out of the line and go…
By Nancy Lou Henderson
…helpless dreamer
Day and night she dreams about
All kinds of misty and fluffy…
By Shih-Fang Wang
…in the desert land
Poppies with their golden color
Push away the winter
As they welcome…
By Shih-Fang Wang
…the golden poppy field
Together they wandered
She daydreamed of a future
When every season…
By Shih-Fang Wang
…ancient Chinese philosophy
Nature has opposite energies
The yin and the yang co-exist
Their…
By Shih-Fang Wang
Have you researched…
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…to our realm of “Predator’s vs Prey,” where the hyena’s laugh, dragging our cubs away, cunningly tricking the most diligent family protectors into sacrificing the weak, in a “Free Will” display, by not…
By Tracey Ross
…currently has paid advertisement programming advice echoing out through the elderly and teens, warning that low sodium and non-processed food cooked from home and exercising through their lifetime…
By Tracey Ross
It ends when WE end...
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…I know and do not say, than I am complicit in the sway added to the play, that manipulates the trajectory…
By Tracey Ross
If we open our eyes…
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…know that we are the enemy in a covert war game, dressed up as a theatrical puppet show, deflecting attention with the spew of a medical array, to disguise the intention of the worldwide…
By Tracey Ross
Begin before the end...
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…are beings of limitless potential, experiencing a blending of emotions together, choosing the weight of rock or feather, to add to the records of history...
By Tracey Ross
Positive Intention Intervention
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…push comes to shove, I find it is best to step to the side and let the “Wolf” hit the brick wall...
If you shove back, it creates resistance, that may dam up life’s flow, stagnating and extending a stall...
Removing the urge to patch up…
By Tracey Ross
…issues seem to change per day.
Open your eyes - Plague, War, to be Famine, not today.
Climate change is seasons or the galactic cycle in days.
In one ear out the other every…
By Clinton Siegle
Latest speed of Earth
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…years into a pass change to Cylons.
Eternity is watching me.
Silence, silently I watch and wonder in awe…
By Clinton Siegle
…would mean justice
Quality of justice
Until justice is real equality is a term thrown out to pacify.
All equality represents is…
By Clinton Siegle
…my eyes to the beauty.
Dreams of God are beautiful too.
I realize an attribute of God is beauty.
Seriously, to dream of beauty of…
By Clinton Siegle
…my current state of affairs, I wonder about compassion. I lost my sight, regained it. Lost in one eye regains partial in another. I wonder if I am compassionate to those with fewer opportunities in my time of…
By Clinton Siegle
…am no longer sure who I am anymore. I knew I was. I was a hard worker. I did things that other people dream about doing in my reality. People laugh and say like what? The secrets I carried once upon a time did things that only a few will ever…
By Clinton Siegle
…wonderful it would be
If only I narrated ‒
The fragrance of cloying jasmine,
Hanging in…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
Dedicated to all who lost…
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…vessels of joy, the euphoria
Boarded in the ship of his dome
Have sunk into the…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
…and alone,
he is free to go to school,
free to work,
free to roam around…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
…holding its root,
Incites you to ink your emotions with blood
Like a woodpecker pecking the wood ignoring its woes
Until the mission is…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
…men are paying for
nightly trip with nude maidens,
slaves at the hotel and lodge
wonder what sunrays look…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
…savage world, save me, is celebrating.
The gorgeous hills at their lush vegetation,
The graceful rhododendrons at their crimson attire,
The valiant lion at its power to…
By Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa
…is a prince's sworn vow,
to defend his city, child, and lady-lover.
What beauty is, is the King, who can show
Paris forgiveness…
By Ngoc Nguyen
…color of love will prevail: we, white,
black, yellow, red, shall pacify the clash
between good folks and ignorant, white trash,
haters who oppress others…
By Ngoc Nguyen
…sun burns mercilessly bright and hot, and the desiccated earth below is dry and desolate from its searing radiation—a vast desert, a wide and open wasteland. It is utterly dead and…
By Ngoc Nguyen
* “second derivative”: In the branch…
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…manic, listless, bipolar, mad souls,
the rate of solitude increases…
By Ngoc Nguyen
…harass me nevermore!
Depart from me! For Easter Sunday's here,
a comfort which transforms this time of year,
and cuts you like an…
By Ngoc Nguyen
…join in godly intercourse,
love's so divine (and never like black bane)!
Invite another in like a Trojan horse,
and the experience will cause…
By Ngoc Nguyen
As he had done countless times…
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…back to the worst day of his life, January 21, 1970. He was 100 yards away from the ammunition truck when it blew up, killing 12 of his Army buddies. He would never forget the gruesome scene, the dismembered and burning bodies. As he had done countless times, he touched the names…
By Pete Black
Tabitha was emptying the wastebasket...
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…when she found Stephen’s three wadded-up typewritten pages. After knocking off the cigarette ashes and smoothing out the pages, she began to read. It was good, and she wondered how the story ended. Tabitha was keenly aware that her…
By Pete Black
More than 300 people filled…
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…than 300 people filled the large auction hall at Sotheby’s Auction House. They had come for a huge sports memorabilia auction. Babe Ruth’s home run bat, which christened a brand new Yankee stadium in 1923, was the auction’s…
By Pete Black
When Laura started across…
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“You are to pay special attention to those who by accident of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with…
By Pete Black
When Moses Carver got word...
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…slave traders from Arkansas raided Moses Carver’s plantation at night. They burned the fields and the barn. And they kidnapped Mary, a slave who had lived and worked on the Carver farm for a decade, and her one-week-old…
By Pete Black
Scottish Commander Ernest Gordon lay dying…
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…lay dying in the infamous Japanese prison camp in a Thailand jungle on the bank of the Kwai River. He had been placed next to fellow prisoners of war on the muddy ground next to several corpses in the…
By Pete Black
…unfamiliar keys to let himself into his grandmother’s house. Her funeral had been a week ago. It was time to make a start on clearing out the terraced house she had lived…
By Chris Platt
…I listen to the Beatles
I see my dad’s old record player
And going through his LP collection
My seven year old self...
By Chris Platt
…crowded round Derek’s desk
On the day we was retiring.
The office manager said ‘a few words’
Thanking him for everything…
By Chris Platt
…doctor’s receptionist for just over ten years. It was a job she enjoyed, the doctors and the other staff were just lovely. The only thing she found annoying was dealing with the…
By Chris Platt
…was on his way to work one Monday morning, dreading the day ahead at the office. The job was really grinding him down. There just wasn’t enough hours in the day. He could feel the headache coming on..
By Chris Platt
…the day they came to take me from my family. I was very young at the time and didn’t know what was happening. I can still remember that afternoon. I was at home with my family…
By Chris Platt
All of us have felt stuck at some point in our lives. The same forgiveness and compassion that we need to show for ourselves in our personal lives can be shown to a world that is hurting and looking for a solution.
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…all have a different reason for being stuck. There may be financial blocks. Maybe it is a consequence from our past. There may be self-esteem issues that have us believe we can’t do…
You're a gift to the world. Breathe that in. Feel it. Embrace it. Admit it
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…a bold stance to ask the universe to affirm your greatness. It’s a daring move to tell others that you’re…
By John C. Davis
I invite you to embrace your isolation as a time of self-exploration. Use this time to do something you have…
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…sitting on my back porch two days ago watching the ducks swimming on our pond. I was reminded about how nature takes care of itself. I was reminded that the ducks don’t need to worry about…
By John C. Davis
You have a right to be who you are. Your unique talents have a place in this world. If you have not found your place yet, please keep seeking. There is a place for you.
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…out who we are is a process that takes a lifetime. Even the person who is lying on their death bed, doesn't fully realize who they are…
By John Davis
When you are willing to engage with the struggle of letting go while being empowered to change what you can, you will find a peace that no illusion of control will ever bring you.
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…question came to my mind this morning. I’m sure it has come to yours.
When will our lives get back to…
By John Davis
…can be very challenging. When you decide to take on a new challenge, you are going to feel discomfort. It’s this way for many people. It’s a normal part of the process. I invite you today to take on that new challenge…
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…a male. I know nothing of the pain of childbirth. To pretend I do would be extremely dismissive to the women in the world who have. I will not go…
By John C. Davis
…humble being from inside, wants to listen a lot. Listening is the passive form of talking, but I guess it is where we absorb the world. To understand and share our personality, one…
By Sushant Thapa
…not an interpretation for everything. There is no reason why I am typing what I write or do not like. In an inner awakening, I have disliked life from what it is. I am an optimistic from definition. I wish good things to happen. All the time. It is a relief, but this showmanship is like an…
By Sushant Thapa
…air stopped blowing fiercely. Onlookers gathered in Frank’s room. He knew not. Those eyes of his neighbors were restless. They wanted Frank to stand on his feet, he had always been a carefree curious wanderer…
By Sushant Thapa
…home after talking with Paul and Leo that day, I couldn't stop thinking about human bodies. The exhibit of human body as a sight was my concern. The pleasure it drove to the watchers. The show that was thriving in my neighbourhood. I could remember my first view from…
By Sushant Thapa
The childhood experience when a few…
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…I wrote poetry in my room, I was born in a hospital bed three decades ago and I had wailed baby tears. In memories the past…
By Sushant Thapa
…distance
Conversation got wrong
Lies growing in a flower vase
Grows to touch the…
By Sushant Thapa
…was praying to her most illustrious ancestress.
The Fire-Breather was afield and not just harrowing the upland villages.
Luenza intoned her propitiations to Launesis:
“Forgive me for my…
By Alexander Zoltai
…was struck down to worthlessness.
His body would barely function.
His mind was thin and brittle.
Calefas felt he had been cursed and thought he knew…
By Alexander Zoltai
…World was in trouble.
At least according to Maslestes.
He walked out of his hut and gazed at the heavens.
He walked back in and adjusted the spheres…
By Alexander Zoltai
… people hoped Wurm was still asleep but they could feel the mountain tremble from his movements.
Do dragons dream?
The people feared his waking and interrupting over a thousand years of peace…
They all knew Wurm was dangerous—legends told of his fire-breathing, not to mention what…
By Alexander Zoltai
…was the same old story—Good against Evil…
The mountain was a majestic upthrust seeming to touch the highest clouds.
They said Titan worshiped the sun, living at the peak of the mountain.
They said Minotaur lived in the shadows, inside the…
By Alexander Zoltai
…called me a Minotaur, but that is only because I had the head and tail of a bull…
I was really nothing like the Myth—well, not really…
I will share what Lie Swallower has written of it…
By Alexander Zoltai
Young boy and family fend off Valentine's Vampires
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…is here again at the old Comet Mall. Hey, howdy, chill to see y’all again for the returning Comet Mall shoppers. And welcome to all those who pulled off the interstate for lunch or that damn car light that needs a new bulb. Remember a Comet Shopper never…
By Alex Almeida
Animals and dating drama
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…a thin film of snow covering the meadow and every inch on the farm. Almost everyone was outside playing in the snow. The calves were, spending some of their last moments on the farm, rolling around in the snow covered hill. The temperature was just right for these activities. Soon these youngins would be…
By Alex Almeida
Girl Scouts go camping.
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…I was ten my girl scout troop, all decked in green and satchels, waved to our clustered parents. I remember the smiles, and what appeared to be tears as our long yellow school bus drove away. We were leaving for the whole weekend. Our homework from school was finished or put off indefinitely. We sang…
By Alex Almeida
Animals on the menu
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…Goose had ended up on the menu is anyone's guess. Everything was going great. The trip down came off without a hitch. They made it to Miami in time for their cousins White party (When all the swans gather together to hook-up by the ocean). The city was beautiful all decorated for the holidays. And the weather…
By Alex Almeida
Young female starting on a journey to find her place in the world
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…walked along the outdoor mall of stores that included her personal favourites, Starbucks
and The Gap. She wore her usual beat up jeans and a NASA tee shirt from Target. She
remembered splurging on the tee shirt because she loved NASA. Typically, she would have…
By Alex Almeida
Short Relationship begins PRIDE weekend
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…day I woke up and she was gone. She had packed what she had at my apartment while I lay sleeping. I'm a heavy sleeper, and I tend to sprawl out. I just like a lot of space. She left sometime after an evening of intense sex. She likes to be in bed by ten on school nights. I even thought things were going o.k., while…
By Alex Almeida
Grey Thoughts is a place for a multitude of creators in numerous different mediums to display their creative projects for the world to see.