Ode to a Gummy Bear Graveyard

Submitted into Contest #74 in response to: Write a story in the form of a top-ten list.... view prompt

78 comments

Drama Fiction Romance

  1. to my pillow 

Free verse poetry 

Floating like dead feet against the shore 

Wraps seaweed around your legs 

Pushes you deeper into your bed 

And you wish you had thicker blankets 

Thicker pillows 

Thicker skin. 

Your friends 

Love you 

They 

Put no one above you 

But sometimes you wonder if they’d love if they knew

That you killed your betta fish when you were nine 

Choked your hamster at age five 

Dropped lemon drops in your cat’s food bowl 

And still don’t know what the word arsenic has to do with the word lace. 


2. to my skeleton in the closet 

You think you have your mistakes behind you until they whack you over the head and make 

Every single shadow you know seem like the brightest of summer days.

Why do you think your playlists are filled with songs about ghosts 

You have enough skeletons in your closet to fill a graveyard 

And then have guests enough to throw a party…

I wonder if you’d drink the green tea 

Or the gray 

And I wonder if you’d use the good plates your mom keeps above the cupboard 

Or just opt for the plastic ones your sister plays with; 

Uses as cafe cups when she gets water from the toilet bowl. 


3. to my mango’s flesh 

I wonder if you remember me as a good person 

And then I remember you don’t know that word either. 

Maybe 

Your dictionary 

Like the ones Mrs. O'Fishel handed out in third grade English 

Was just missing the most important words 

Or maybe you skipped class when we went over the ACT practice words

Because after all, you did have those graveyard parties to attend. 

Who do you take when you go?

Your teeth are the only part of your inner bones that you wash 

But imagine one day that the skin on your fingers peels away like a mango’s flesh 

And that you use your toothbrush to make sure the calcium structures shine bright white. 

One day when we were younger and you still hadn’t gotten that first tattoo 

-You know, the one 

on the inside of you wrist that says 

Something generic and in Latin or Greek or one of the other languages that people use when they want to translate something or sound like they know the world better than you ever 

Possibly could.-

Yeah well, one of those days we were both sitting 

Up by that trampoline that's been shot through 

So riddled with bullets that not even the Great Sphinx could decipher the question presented 

And you had eaten the last slice of watermelon 

But you forgot that I still had a full glass of lemonade 

So you laughed and cackled like an inebriated hyena 

And I dumped the contents of my glass down the front of your shirt. 

The ice 

Melted quite quickly. 

That could be a reason 

To why you’re so coldhearted now. 


4. to my deleted draft  

Typewriter eyes 

That click through my body 

Your hands used to type 

The best written novels 

That ever traced a body 

The bestseller’s list 

That no one ever knew. 

Now your nails are strong 

Where mine bend in the middle 

but 

what can i do about 

that? 

There’s no use bringing back 

What’s been buried 

You to me 

And I to you 

Secrets of days gone by 

Memories buried in the gummy bear gas station behind the movie theater 

That we went to when we didn’t want to buy snacks for overpriced dollars 

And that was always 

So that gummy bear gas station is in my recently deleted photos too. 


5. to my thunder 

If you think of me on your wedding day 

I think that you’ll think of me a storm you had to weather 

But I’ll remind you kindly 

That I was the lighthouse all along. 


6. to my not stargazing partner

I wonder if your friends know that when you were seven you thought you were Spider-Man 

Or that you still have glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to your ceiling. 

The first time I went to your house I asked you about them

And you just handed me another cookie 

Because I guess you thought that would throw me off track 

But I asked again when I swallowed the last crumbs 

And you said, “let’s watch a movie under the stars” 

So we didn’t because that’s not what you meant. 


7. to my dishes hater 

Pretentious as you are 

You’ll be writing about me too 

But you write songs where 

my words aren’t meant to be sung 

Rather they are meant to be digested 

Eaten off the paper with your eyes or hands 

And swallowed whole to stick in your heart like the spit-balls they are. 

It’s like when I used to listen to podcasts about sharks while you did the dishes 

Even though I really hate sharks 

And you don’t care one iota for the dishes. 


8. to my ripper 

I know you more than you know you 

Because I watched you but more than that because I loved you 

And how do you stop loving altogether 

Even when you know that love is a futile word 

One that was included in your dictionary 

Beside a ripped in ha*lf picture of you and I

Burned at the edges 

Torn at the seams 

Realizing what we had 

Was never- maybe?- what it seemed. 


9. to my reflectively yours 

You liked my house best because 

Of all the mirrors that lined the walls 

And I liked your house best 

Because your mom stocked the pantry with the best garbage 

She could find at the grocery store. 

A sick stomach wasn’t all I left your kitchen with 

Because you could have taken a spoon 

And poked it through my ribs 

And it would have hurt less 

Than you saying you were thankful 

For what a beautiful friendship we had 

Yeah, I thought you were beautiful 

But not as a friend 

I thought you’d be in my wedding 

Not just there as a buddy or pal. 

You liked my house best 

Because you could look at yourself all day 

I thought it might be because I was with you 

But it seems to me you were your own best soul mate. 

I wish you happiness 

To you and yourself. 


10. to the next 


 I hope there’s room left for you in my scrapbooks. 











December 30, 2020 19:13

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78 comments

Jubilee Forbess
19:19 Dec 30, 2020

Hi. What's the New Year without a little melodrama, right? :) PSA: this is FICTION. I don't think I've even talked to ten whole romantic interests in my life. Maybe like four. Anyway, hope it was cool and that you have some good feedback for me. <3 tell me what your favorite number on the list was, though.

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Amany Sayed
19:33 Dec 30, 2020

I'll read in one sec, but ohmygosh I was so worried, you haven't been on here! Thank goodness you're here!

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Yes Rhonda!! New story!!! Yay!! I love it so much! Plus, my favorite number on here was...all of them! But the most favorite one was number 4! :)

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Jubilee Forbess
04:49 Dec 31, 2020

Oh I liked five and seven but four is definitely a close favorite! Thank you for reading! <3

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No problem! Also, I too liked 5 and 7, but my favorite was 4. =)

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Hello Rhonda!! I just read your bio, and based on that, I read you were working on a poetry collection? If you don't mind that is, I can help you! I love reading and writing poetry! :)

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N. N.
06:31 Dec 31, 2020

Ahh, I simply adore your poetry and creativity skills, Rhondalise, I hope you know that. This one was a great way to use the list format, and I guess the vagueness of the prompts this time helped a lot in igniting the creativity. As for my favourites, it would be seven, nine and ten. (The tenth one was a great way to end the whole poem by the way; a good chuckle after a morose and narcissistic description, is always enjoyable.) Oh, and in the line, "That we went to when we didn’t to buy snacks . . ." I think you've got a "want" missing a...

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Jubilee Forbess
17:13 Dec 31, 2020

Hi! I just fixed the lil typo there. Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you liked the way I used the prompt. It was actually an idea that another friend gave me. Her name is Maya W. and she's number #81 on the leaderboard right now so please do check out all her stories, but the one that gave me the idea for this one is called "wilted flower" It's super awesome, you'll love it.

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N. N.
18:00 Dec 31, 2020

Of course! Ahh, we follow each other, Maya W. I mean, and I've read a few of her stories. I think I've read "Wilted" already, and I agree — it is pretty lovely. However, I don't think I'd gotten the time to comment on it; I'd been on a sort of hiatus from writing, and returned just this week, so I was in a bit of hurry. Maya, in case your reading this: I really loved wilted and it is, just as Rhondalise said, pretty awesome. :)

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Maya W.
14:15 Jan 05, 2021

Ah, sorry I came here so late! But yes, I am pretty awesome. :)

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Orenda .
05:19 Dec 31, 2020

I like that this submission is plotless, it's a little different, so I like it. My favourite number on the list has to be number 1, for it's a lil dark haha and you know how much I love it. Grreat job! 😚

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Jubilee Forbess
17:16 Dec 31, 2020

Oh you're the first one to like number one!

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Orenda .
17:33 Dec 31, 2020

figured that out too!

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23:32 Dec 30, 2020

Eep! You’re such a freakin’ amazin’ poet! Amazinggggg like alwaysssss! Oh, and one more thing! I just talked to Orenda about this, so here’s the message I sent her: OREO! OREO! ALERT! We’re in a major crisis here! I’m revising the acknowledgments of Color Quest and YOU ARE NOT IN THERE!!!! Back in August, when I was writing the acknowledgments, I thanked a couple Reedsy friends for, like, being supportive and awesome and whatnot. But we weren’t that close then, so YOU’RE NOT IN THERE EEEK! (Neither is Rhonda so I’m about to leave her a mes...

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Jubilee Forbess
23:47 Dec 30, 2020

Oh you can totally use my real name (do you know it?) I think that would be cool.

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00:10 Dec 31, 2020

Oh cool, I will! (And yea, I know it.) thx!

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Amaya .
19:57 Dec 30, 2020

read my bio? please? just rly quick

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Jubilee Forbess
04:50 Dec 31, 2020

I checked it and will sign ASAP! Thank you for sharing, Amaya!

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Amaya .
17:06 Dec 31, 2020

thank you!!!!!

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14:39 Jan 13, 2021

This is beautiful. I enjoyed reading this a lot--got drawn in and couldn't stop. No critiques. Great work. Loved the writing style and the diversity displayed in the narrator's love interests. I can't imagine having ten romantic interests either!

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Jubilee Forbess
16:20 Jan 13, 2021

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it, it was different from things I typically write. If you have time and would want to, I'm putting together a poetry collection and could use help weeding out some poems to make the book more compact. :) how've you been?

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20:09 Jan 13, 2021

I'm in to help. Sounds fun! Been pretty good--mostly hanging out and writing, but we're in Florida right now, so also a fair bit of swimming in the cold ocean.

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Katie Moyes
18:42 Jan 07, 2021

I really liked how you managed to keep a consistent tone and flow through all 10 points. Whenever I try my hand at longer poetry, it feels more like a collage of poems, but this flowed beautifully!

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Amany Sayed
19:39 Dec 30, 2020

Ok I read it. Sorta confusing at first, but the comment helped. Seven and one are my favorites for sure. Leave it to you to make a prompt into poetry. I enjoyed it, but it was plotless(gosh I sound so mean sorry!). I honestly felt this prompt was mostly going to get plotless things anyway. Happy almost 2021!

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Jubilee Forbess
04:55 Dec 31, 2020

You don't sound mean, don't worry! Thank you for reading and I liked seven and five. :)

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Amany Sayed
04:58 Dec 31, 2020

Alright, phew. No prob, my pleasure.

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Blue Origin
08:00 Mar 22, 2021

Damn, that was fun reading :D

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B. W.
06:34 Jan 23, 2021

how are ya?

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22:57 Jan 21, 2021

Oh noooo Rhonnie have you read Ren’s bio yet? 😢

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Jubilee Forbess
02:17 Jan 22, 2021

Yeah, :( I'm very sad about it but I don't know what else to say.

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Emma Rose
04:07 Jan 21, 2021

They were all so beautiful..... but 3, 5, 8, 9, and 10 were absolutely incredible. ❤️ 5 is my probably very favoritest favorite though. Wistful but almost.... smug? It perfectly captures the feelings I have in my heart for certain people that no longer have any room in their heart for me. *cue tragic backstory music, lol* Your poetry is beautiful, it hits on such a deep and personal level my heart is actually a little achy right now. Fantastic job. ❤️

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Amaya .
04:47 Jan 17, 2021

heyy do you have any tips for not going over the 3000 word limit? and cutting stuff out?

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Jubilee Forbess
17:40 Jan 18, 2021

I am the queen of going over the word limit, but my best advice is to read it out loud and see what doesn't sound right, and take that out.

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Amaya .
02:38 Jan 19, 2021

okay! thanks Alise ;)

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19:49 Jan 11, 2021

o.O OMG THIS WAS SO COOL! I’m a terrible poet myself but you certainly aren’t! I liked 4 best, but they were all so awesome omg!!! Have you ever won a contest? I wouldn’t be surprised if you have. I’ve got one story and I wrote it back in 2020, the year of horrors. I saw the seven-day trial of 2021 and I don’t think I’m all that interested. Writing Prompt: Write about a character whose thoughts sometimes blend into poetry.

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18:13 Jan 09, 2021

Hi, Rhondalise! I'm going to write a story like Maya Emerson's new one, or Litlover's marshmallow pride ones, want to be in it? Just tell me your character's: Hair color Eye color Skin color (it's fantasy so it could even be, like, silver or blue if you want to) Age Height Magic power/element Talent Spirit animal Thanks!

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Jubilee Forbess
18:34 Jan 09, 2021

Hey! I'd love to be in your story. Character: hair- brown eye color- gray skin color- yeah I'll do blue age- 4250 height- 7'11" magic power- random facts no one cares about talent- makes really good tortillas and horchata spirit animal- rabbit

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18:36 Jan 09, 2021

Thanks! She's good!

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19:03 Jan 09, 2021

Can I make you an elf?

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18:10 Jan 09, 2021

I love this! I also wrote a poem collection kind of thing for one of the prompts. :)

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Niyyah R. Haqq
15:31 Jan 08, 2021

I loved this. Well done!

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22:57 Jan 06, 2021

Your title was the first thing that captured me. I loved the drama, makes you feel like you are aware of everything.

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