[x]

Dreams Like Smoke        I'm a burnt-out boy with a broken guitar and three wishes to spare. I sleep with them under my pillow and try to dream of happiness. But I know that you'll disappear if I open my eyes. So I told you I thought I loved you but you just looked at me with those eyes and said
                        This isn't a fairytale, lover boy.

        We both know I'm too young to recognize the taste of tears.

Victim of Love        I guess we knew this would happen,
                somewhere deep down inside,
        things I wish I'd never told you,
all the thoughts I had to hide.

It might have been inevitable,
        something faded in your heart,
I never thought to fill the silence,
        and we're drifting apart.

        Another starry-eyed romantic,
   &#

ResilienceWhen I was young, I loved to watch my father work. I used to think sparks were dangerous, so I would sit far enough away that the fire could not reach me. But I could still feel the heat, watching sparks rise high into the smoky air.

I was terrified of darkness. I would sleep with a candle burning to protect me, but shadows invaded my dreams. I pretended I was a dragon, filled with flames. Fearless.

Defiant.

No one believes in dragons anymore. No one believes in fire, either. I've grown up into the age of electricity, where fire is too hot and too wild to touch. Why risk burning yourself when light and heat are ready at the flip of a switc

Injection        She gripped my arm tightly and looked at me with eyes as black as sin. "This won't hurt."
        I nodded, not meeting her gaze. "I know."
        "I promise."

        I wasn't looking, but I still felt the needle. She held my hand and ripped my skin apart, whispering lovely burning pain. I felt the cold in my veins as my pulse quickened and I forgot how to breathe.
        I can't even describe the agony she gave me. I felt fire in

Fighting for Love        Isn't it funny how a girl can mean so much to a boy? They call it romantic. Not age thirteen, at age thirteen, it's not love, it's biology; let someone test their blood and tell them they're fine. But these are just kids: they know little about biology and less about love. That's the way it always is. You learn a lot and lose even more, but don't tell that to the boys in this story. They don't know that.
        Yet.

        Anyone would have noticed how the two boys' gazes lingered on the girl; she was the one th

Le vent du coeurI pretend
the pulse of rain
is a lullaby —

when I say your name
it feels like
thunder in my lungs

— and the howling wind,
sometimes,
sings me to sleep.

Sleepless NightsMy bloodshot eyes are stained with black, circled by dark rings of sleepless nights and smudged ink. I have a permanent headache, my mind singing bloody hymns with battered rhythm and broken voice; my failing vision clouded by smoke and cracked glass.

Words leak out of my skull, seeping like black tar; they burn my skin like the sting of elusive flames. I have broken promises tattooed on my chest.
And this is how it feels to have your imagination chained to your heart.

I lower my ink-stained hand to ravaged paper, and words trickle out of my veins.

The man looks up through shadow-filled lash

just another desperationheartbeat(en)
- bruises cover his skin like trophies of failure, the dull pain throbbing to the rhythm of his pulse. his veins are hot, too hot, and his heart beats violently in his aching chest, burning with adrenaline.her gaze makes him feel so weak.
- his cheekbones are lined with scars that blind his eyes and make him afraid. choked with rage and helplessness, he screams with fear, his voice soaked with blood and sweat,
- you're breaking me.but she looks away and tigerboy slams him to pieces.
- poor little beaten boy, crying doesn't help.

- he presses his face against the asphalt to h

ErsatzHe has danger painted on his lips
and a terrifying truth hidden under his bed.

And I'm the only one who knows
he got a tattoo for his thirteenth birthday
that makes his skin look like it's
on fire.

You know,
girls say he's the hottest boy in ninth grade.
He's burning up.

But he doesn't care for them

because he's secretly in love with Sam
[who, obviously, doesn't have a clue].
No one does.

But how long can you keep your secrets, pseudo-boy,
before you lose yourself?

He takes a look around him
and destroys as many people as he can
so he won't be hurt

again.

Pseudo-love-- [we are hiding from pain.]

        For the first time she notices his hands are covered in scars. He follows her gaze and his eyes grow worried.
        "What —" she starts to say, but her voice trails off.
        Eventually he answers her unspoken question. "When I was three my dad got smashed and gave me a knife to play with.
My mom came home and found me covered in blood and crying."
        She's shocked. "Didn't it hurt?"

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One Last Time"I don't love her," I protest.
But I'm not even fooling myself.

[—rose,
I keep waiting to feel your thorns.]

"I love you," she whispers.
Lies taste so sweet on her lips.

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Submitted: October 15, 2011
Image Size: 6.7 MB
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Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Shutter Speed:1/512 second
Aperture:F/1.8
Focal Length:50 mm
ISO Speed:100
Date Taken:Oct 14, 2011, 2:34:07 PM
Software:Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh
Sensor Size:22mm

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Pretending to be freeby =jonathoncomfortreed

Photography / People & Portraits / Emotive Portraits

Project 52, week 28
^{[my theme]}
The song: Do You Really Like Being Alone (listen to it on YouTube here)
The lyrics:

So I'll dig a hole in my room
from Birmingham and back again for you.
In the end they say we’ll see the truth,
what a shocking beauty we can both abuse.

So I folded my hands into a bird.
The shadows made you laugh,
they made you sunburned.

And I stitched my faith into your shirt
to make sure nobody but me was getting hurt.
And you love being cast as the fool
in a movie no one ever pays to sit through.

Just calm down it will be over soon,
and God I wonder what it is I’d do without you.

Do you really like being alone?
Do you really like being alone?
La di da da da da

And the lord made me confront my past,
we asked each other to explain the mess.
I believed with enough good I’d mend,
but any good I had was always simply tempered.

And I tried hard to sing like they did,
with my arms raised in the air I was praising.
You said that when we died it would send,
but maybe even Jesus knew that I was faking.

Do you really like being alone?
Goddamn of course you don’t.
Do you really like being alone?

Do you really like being alone?
Wouldn’t blame you if you went back home
and got an actual job,
and you kissed your wife and your two daughters
like I wished I could.
And I think that we’d be free,
oh my God I think you finally feel free.

I don’t really like being alone.
God of course I don’t.
I don’t really like being alone.

I don’t really like being alone.
I think I might just go back home
and get an actual job.
Stop selling my soul to the devil,
he buys so much merch from us
And I think he’d set us free.
Yeah, I think he’d cut the chains,
and set you and me free.

Do you really like being alone?
'Cause I don’t really like being alone.

Do you really like being alone?
I think I might just go back home
and get an actual job,
and tell both my redneck neighbors
to bring their dogs inside.
And I could get some sleep,
'cause I think all I need.
Is a decent night sleep.

The inspiration: And of course you don't, who would? Let's dance across the city and drink whiskey in the sky. I'll smile as hard as I can before you run away.
(Godspeed my lonely angel.)
The technique: Beautiful model, beautiful architecture and autumn leaves. Set to go, aye?
The only hard part of this photoshoot was that my camera battery was on the verge of death. I snapped the photo about ten seconds before the camera died. Oh, and there was a parking sign just above her head. I edited it without with supreme skill. ;]

> View all of my Project 52 submissions.

© 2011 Jonathon Reed
deviantART | Society6 | Tumblr
portfolio.jonathonreed.com

The Artist has requested Critique on this Artwork

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~Solarune Feb 19, 2012 Writer

Interesting, I like how busy the background is – the girl almost blends into it, but stands out as well. I like the city/fashion aspect to her outfit contrasted with the nature in the background (and that in itself contrasted with the wall, nature burrowing into human-made structures).

It almost looks like she's waiting for someone.

I like the title, a lot.

=jonathoncomfortreed Jun 16, 2012 Student Photographer

Thanks a lot, Sol!

~Solarune Jun 17, 2012 Writer

Welcome.

=HtBlack Oct 17, 2011

The girl's pose isn't so natural, so the "pretending" works. I loove the background, as usually Autumn is beautiful.

=jonathoncomfortreed Jun 16, 2012 Student Photographer

~WanderingHere Oct 15, 2011

_{her stance is really defiant, and it matches her expression. look at her face - it's half mocking, and half sad. and okay, the coloring in my favorite part of this. her lips, shirt match the leaves, and the dark brown of her hair, belt and boots connect her entire body. it's really quite lovely. i also like that she's offcentre in the photo - it would be an excellent use of empty space except the space isn't really empty, which is also interesting.

right.

i've gotten better at this whole critiquing business, i think. (maybe i'm wrong? do tell.) but i still don't really know what to tell you you can do better.
maybe - okay, i don't know what it's called, but the effect you used in this picture - if you made this photo lighter around her but darker on the outside edges?

maybe - okay, i don't know what it's called. the effect you used in this}

=jonathoncomfortreed Jun 16, 2012 Student Photographer

Definitely gotten better at that critiquing business (it's called a vignette).

Thanks for the comment, dear.

~marikob-k Oct 15, 2011 Hobbyist General Artist

I love the tone of this piece. The colour of her shirt is perfect and I love how well it matches with the colours of the leaves.

To be completely honest when I saw the thumbnail in my messages I thought it was me, then I realized that that wasn't possible.

=jonathoncomfortreed Jun 16, 2012 Student Photographer

Niiice.

!KikSter11XxKikixX Oct 15, 2011 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

I see a girl standing outside a tangle of more than just a bunch of autumn leaves, meaning she technically is is free, but she still has a really long way to go to get to total freedom.

I also like the warm colors and that antique and retro feeling you get from the picture.

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> View all of my Project 52 submissions.

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