Anthology Plan

Theme-Lies and Despair
Poems-

"Shall I wasting in despair"

by George Wither

George Wither

Shall I wasting in despair

Die because a woman's fair?

Or make pale my cheeks with care

'Cause another's rosy are?

Be she fairer than the day,

Or the flow'ry meads in May—

If she be not so to me,

What care I how fair she be?

Shall my foolish heart be pined

'Cause I see a woman kind?

Or a well-disposed nature

Joinèd with a lovely feature?

Be she meeker, kinder, than

Turtle dove or pelican,

If she be not so to me,

What care I how kind she be?

Shall a woman's virtues move

Me to perish for her love?

Or her merits' value known

Make me quite forget mine own?

Be she with that goodness blest

Which may gain her name of Best;

If she seem not such to me,

What care I how good she be?

'Cause her fortune seems too high

Shall I play the fool and die?

Those that bear a noble mind

Where they want of riches find,

Think what with them they would do

That without them dare to woo;

And unless that mind I see,

What care I how great she be?

Great or good, or kind or fair,

I will ne'er the more despair:

If she love me, this believe,

I will die ere she shall grieve;

If she slight me when I woo,

I can scorn and let her go;

For if she be not for me,

What care I for whom she be?

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174779

The Lie

by Anne Waldman

Anne Waldman

Art begins with a lie

The separation is you plus me plus what we make
Look into lightbulb, blink, sun’s in your eye

I want a rare sky

vantage point free from misconception

Art begins with a lie

Nothing to lose, spontaneous rise

of reflection, paint the picture

of a lightbulb, or eye the sun

How to fuel the world, then die

Distance yourself from artfulness

How? Art begins with a lie

The audience wants to cry

when the actors are real & passionate
Look into footlight, then feed back to eye

You fluctuate in an artful body

You try to imitate the world’s glory

Art begins with a lie

That’s the story, sharp speck in the eye.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171776

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine
http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/pablo_neruda/poems/15705

True Love's Lies

The moments fade as quickly as a dream
The whispers drift as echoes cry
Reality blends with fictional scenes
Fooled by the mouth of true love's lies

So heavy this stone heart beats
It's warmth lingers as my blood runs dry
Games are played with tricks and cheats
The rules are set by true love's lies

The crooked nature of the words you've spoken
High above the truth your deception flies
Here I am with my eyes wide open
To see you crumble beneath true love's lies

I will not surrender to these mistakes
I fall to hope and the pain it takes
Long before the hour which true love dies
Fall not to the power of true love's lies

by onebrokenman

http://allpoetry.com/poem/6595645

I Know

I know the secrets that are told.
I've heard all the lies in your book.
I know what you're doing with that single look.

I know what I'm being sold.
I've listened to the form and structure.
I know you're messing with another.

I know you won't leave.
I've always known that much.
I know that I'm not enough.

I know you won't tell me how to be better.
I've waited and waited for you to spill.
I know it's me that you're trying to kill.

I know that these words are useless.
I've just got to say it's just a poem.
I know I'll say its about no one.

by Lizz is Maehem

http://allpoetry.com/poem/6577725

Why I choose this theme-

Lies and despair is a part of everyone’s life, but the why we each choose to over come them is what makes each one of us unique.
When it comes to my life and my experiences with lies from whom ever it was, I choose to deal with them in a more negative way. I was hurt and in deep despair felling alone, feeling as though I had no one to turn to. I let out all the pain I had bubbled up inside me in a negative way. I never knew there was a more positive way of calming down and letting go of all the lies I was told, until I looked up poetry on the internet and found there were hundreds and thousands of poems out there saying exactly the way I was feeling! When I would read these poems I found myself reading my own life problems in them.
A lie is a lie. There are little white lies that are told to us as children to keep us innocent and then there are the lies that shake our souls. When I read poetry that are written because of a lie that was told to them and hurt them so deeply, I feel as though I am reading a poem that was written just me for me.
Lies are always hard to overcome, especially when they came from the one(s) you love and trust more than any other person. I know they continue to be obstacles in my life that I continue to struggle with and I’m sure I will until the day I’m gone. What better way of helping someone else cheer up his or her lives whether it is for a minute or forever!
Poems could be your best friend, there to comfort you, get you through some of the hardest times of life. They are there to make you smile, cry or laugh. They will never lie or betray you. They are there to help you.

Goals-

With this anthology, I hope that someone who is feeling alone, as though they have not a soul who understands them they can look at these poems by authors who went through the exact feeling they are going through now. They can take these poems and interpret them any way they take it.
When someone reads this anthology hope they can connect to each and every poem, whether they disagree or are one hundred percent in agree with the poems. I hope they come back to read these poems over and over again until they can recite all of them in their heads. When someone is in their darkest hours they need to someone or something there and that is what these poems are put here for to act as your best friend.