Poem Gallery
Every poem is a homecoming — a return to self, to memory, to family, to pain.
The Poem Gallery is a collection of unfinished products: poems, fragments, and phrases that won’t let us go. It holds the thoughts we can’t forget and the feelings burned into the rib cage.
This is where rawness lives. This is where Redrafts begin.
✍️ First Drafts
“The Letter I Never Received”
There stood a bridge, a place we wondered. Twigs and leaves over the ridges, our feet close together. The nest was built with care—twigs gathered every day since we met. Under the Douglas Fir’s branches, I swore to you. I swore you’d never fall, never falter. Like
Karen Smith
“To Share A Dance”
It was with you that I danced and the field that laid bare was graced with dandelion seeds that flew from your heart. The sun raised from beneath our feet, it drew closer until our hands met, faintly at first, but with time, clasping. I imagined leaning further into your
Karen Smith
“A Daughter Who Spoke”
Content Warning: emotional abuse, alcoholism, suicidal imagery. Like cigarettes fermented in coffee
he poured me out onto the gravel.
He swung his lucky lager like a bat
until he passed out, drunk on the toilet. He poured me out onto the gravel,
and spat lies of loving words
until he
Karen Smith
“Stapled Shut”
Your eyes were stapled shut,
by the thoughts you harbored —
I was a puppet to your heart,
you wanted me to follow along
as you jammed the stapler on my lips,
holding my words together. However, the jagged turns
broke the letters as I swallowed.
I am hallowed out
from
Karen Smith
“Diving Into The Wreck”
“Diving into the Wreck”[1] You love not me,[2] For you come to Him with your hunger,[3] And shrunk, half scorn and half disgust,[4] With his venom[5] I can see that dream is done.[6] I don’t love you.[7] (I think I made you
Karen Smith
🔁 Redrafts & Variations
🧵 One-Line Contributions