Three poems by Jessica Cathcart

Jessica Cathcart is an arts student and self proclaimed instapoet. She is passionate about social issues and writes about everything from mental illness, to the environment, to sexuality. She has two dogs, a cat, a boyfriend, two rats, and a steadily dying array of flowers. You can find more of her work on instagram.

empty forests

behold the empty forests
of bent and broken trees
a home for death and sorrow
where creatures once roamed free

observe the silent cities
where the grandest structures bow
collapsed beneath an endless sea
of people swarming round

and see the thirsty ocean
bearing heartache on its waves
for a world once full and flowing
that has seen the end of days

excavation

I pick at imperfections
and wish them not to be
staring at my failings
my nightmare stares at me
but as I grow the terror fades
and truth stands in its place
that beauty grows within me
it lives not on my face

what i wish i knew

I spent years
covered in paint and glue
putting together my perfect world.
a blue sky here
a white picket fence
wide smiles on the faces
of my many, many friends
a big cardboard house
and majestic cardboard dreams
always surrounded
by crunchy, autumn trees
but I hadn’t made a chimney
so at first the smoke surprised me
and the fire moved so quickly
all was gone before I blinked.

I wish someone had told me
cardboard can’t withstand the flame