Wake
move
smile
reach for you,
remember
tighten bolts, and
steel myself
harden
just enough
breath hisses
through the rusted valves
gears turn, too worn
to reach
they say that I’m
built well, that I am
strong, that I am
healing
but they don’t see
the wires, they cannot
hear
the engines screaming
I am a thing
discarded, just a frame
to hold your absence
and the world prefers its damaged
clean
and quiet
Back to Stories
Poetry
Relic
Reviews (3)
J
Jessica C. Wheeler
7/3/2026
So nice to see you, Tim! Thank you for this beautiful review. Your ability to see beyond words is remarkable, as always. Thank you, my friend!
Tim Margetts
7/3/2026
My pleasure, Jessica. I hope to read a lot more of your work here. Inspiring as always.
Rachelle Allen
7/3/2026
Annnnnnd THIS is why I've missed your writing SOO very much!! I could not be more delighted that you're here. Thank you for being so patient with our getting that issue fixed. I love the way this - sorry for the pun - switches gears. It develops seamlessly from raw human emotions to the cold mechanical nothingness left in the wake of the fallout. Clever, indeed. And spot-on.
J
Jessica C. Wheeler
7/5/2026
Hi beautiful!! Your words (and puns) always make my day. Thank you ❤️ I’m loving this space, and can't wait to contribute more to it! Xoxo
Rachelle Allen
7/6/2026
That is music to my musician's ears!! xoxox
R
Rachel Gosling
7/8/2026
The Words That Got to Me
'reach for you, remember tighten bolts, and steel myself' I thought this was about a lost relationship at first.
This took me a few reads to understand. I loved the sparseness of your writing and the vivid descriptions, such as breath hisses through the rusted valves gears turn, too worn to reach. Beautifully expressed.
7/2/2026
The Words That Got to Me
"Wake move smile" The way you move from these simple human actions into the increasingly mechanical is masterfully done. "and the world prefers its damaged clean and quiet" Those final words carry the whole weight of the poem and turn it from the personal into a commentary on humanity itself.
This poem uses its very brevity to reinforce its mechanical metaphor, making society's dehumanisation of the broken its central theme. The way you strip away emotion reduces the protagonist to little more than an object cast onto the refuse heap of life, robbed of their very essence. Powerful and memorable.