Author: Ink Smith Publishing

Belong by Bella Larsen

Early in the morning
Before alarms or the sun
I hide from my anxiety
Content with feeling none
Once I go about my day I start to feel it creep inside
But for now, I feel peace
Anxiety is at low tide
I’m with the love of my life
Cuddling in bed
He’s laying into my chest
While i rub his hair and head
We listen to songs
Or simply just be
Here, in our little cocoon,
I don’t ever want to leave.
He tells me he dreamt of our future
Where we have both a son and a daughter
“She was beautiful and had your eyes,” he says
I can’t wait to see him as a father
This life I am living
Feels as though it’s from my dreams
Sometimes it feels too good to be true
And it’ll be ripped from me at the seams.
So when these thoughts sneak in
And scare away my calm
I take a deep breath and cuddle into my love
Content with knowing this is where I belong.

About Bella

Bella Larsen is a writer, poet, pisces, dreamer, empath, and overthinker. You can find her work on her blog, My Soul Told Me To and on Instagram @mysouldtoldmeto.

Untitled, Too by Bella Larsen

I’ve taken my expectations
I have for myself
And dropped them down
Down
Down
D
O
W
N
From where I kept them held high
And now they’re on the ground.
Maybe now I’ll stop feeling like I am
Not enough, not doing enough
If I let the air out
I mean
The pressure
If I take away the pressure I put on myself
Maybe I’ll learn again how to let
Just being
Be More
Than enough

About Bella

Bella Larsen is a writer, poet, pisces, dreamer, empath, and overthinker. You can find her work on her blog, My Soul Told Me To and on Instagram @mysouldtoldmeto.

Untitled by Bella Larsen

There’s a small light
A very tiny flame
Growing inside
That is the fire
Pushing me to
Demand respect.
But just one thought
Of uncertainty
Blows the flame out
Like the last stubborn candle on a birthday cake
And
I am very insecure.

About Bella

Bella Larsen is a writer, poet, pisces, dreamer, empath, and overthinker. You can find her work on her blog, My Soul Told Me To and on Instagram @mysouldtoldmeto.

Surrendering by Bella Larsen

Sometimes I fight
Against my demons
I fight for control
Of my mind
So I do not lose myself
To their darkness
But other times
Like tonight
I am so very tired
I take a long, deep breath
And I let them win.

About Bella

Bella Larsen is a writer, poet, pisces, dreamer, empath, and overthinker. You can find her work on her blog, My Soul Told Me To and on Instagram @mysouldtoldmeto.

Poetry on Instagram

Over the last few years, poetry’s presence on Instagram has been growing. The ability to mesh two mediums, imagery and beautiful words, has been around for centuries. But today, the accessibility to quickly put together a lovely phrase and an even lovelier image is so easy that it has taken Instagram by storm. Mashable did an article, titled The radical, democratising power of Instagram poetry, in October 2018 about the rise of interest in poetry via mediums like Instagram. Interest has exploded in millennials particularly, per the article. Millennials, who are the leaders in social media trends have spurred this revolution, and revival of poetry interest . Mashable noted that while literary leaders have scoffed at the Instagram poetry movement; young readers are loving it.

If you’ve never considered purchasing a book of poetry, I encourage you to check out some of the poets below. You can view snippets of their work on their Instagram accounts and whet your appetite. Take a poetic tour of the internet and enjoy this artistic medium wherever you are! And while you’re at it, check out @poetryfoundation to meet even more authors and writers during National Poetry Month.

These are some of the top Instagram poets that we follow.

Do you have a talented Instapoet that you follow? Make sure to share their information in the comments so other readers can discover their craft.

Independence Day (1996) by Greg Lehman

Name something good
about a place where nobody dies,
some endless beach of a world,
temperate, well-lit, so calm
the ennui has room to grow solid
on the air,

and the people you’re with
will never go anywhere else, every
bit of them, inelegant,
prone to bumbling
the weight of balance I need
to be who I am, their pact
against composure
unbreakable, keeping peace
from ever hovering down
to find you again.

I can’t see it either.
The way things are
there just isn’t a way
around moving from one spigot
to another, draining worlds
into our hands and the hands
of our young. Come on. You
do it, too.

Still, like anyone,
we could be mistaken,
so if you can do better
we’ll hear you out.

But do not expect us
to not be proactive
in the meantime.

About Greg Lehman

Greg Lehman earned an MFA in creative writing from Lindenwood University and a BA in journalism from California State University at Fullerton. He has published and edited as a professional journalist, and continues to pursue the field through his website loudowl.org. He also enjoys writing short fiction and novels, as well as poetry, sometimes

Ghosted by Greg Lehman

I never saw the poet again,
leaving things hanging
is far from silent, quiet
like a needle’s pain

around a sound
that must be there
between skin
and the finest of points, I

can’t name its pitch, maybe
she heard it, but would not
lend her volume, unwilling
to lend a clear medium

as this puncture sank, pulling
a knot that caught nothing, not
one word, graceless or the limit
she put on grace,

but what better reply
than the one that tells you
which timbre
lacks credence?

What is more graceful
than the clarity of pain
as explicit as skin
and a needle? Poise

is a gift, a plunge,
a finely cut form for knowing
where rhythms will land
before the first stanza
can end.

About Greg Lehman

Submissions Open for April 2019 Poetry Takeover

National Poetry Month is Coming!

In honor of Poetry Month this year, Ink Smith Publishing will be accepting poetry submissions to feature on our blog! All genres are being accepted, no restrictions on length, and there is no need to be a previously published author. If you would like to participate in our takeover please follow the guidelines below.

Submission Guidelines:

Poems should be formatted in .doc, .rxt, or .pdf format.
Submissions should be emailed to: editorinksmithpublishing@gmail.com. APRIL POETRY SUBMISSION should be utilized in the subject line of the email.
Please include a short bio (no more than 200 words) about yourself and where to find your poetry. You may include social media handles as well, we’d love to be able to link to you when we post!
You may also include a head shot, but it is not required. Please make sure if you do include a head shot it is in .jpeg or .png format, and is a business professional photo.
While there are no restrictions on length, topic, or content, we do ask that the poetry be tasteful and tactful.
Ink Smith plans to post as many poems as possible, but do not promise that your submission will be posted on the site.
There is no fee associated with this takeover and poets are encouraged to submit multiple works.

Deadline to submit poetry is March 15th.

Enter The ISP 2015 Book Awards… Form Fixed!

It has recently been brought to my attention that there had been an issue with the payment form.

That has now been resolved! There should be no more issues when participants go to complete their submission to the awards. If there is, please contact us and we will get it fixed as soon as possible.

There was unfortunately another issue that, thankfully, I have found and fixed as well. Before, our entry form would allow submissions under 1MB.

So with that being said, Enter the ISP 2015 Book Awards!

There are great prizes and awards for the top three books in each genre.

To find out more information:

Click here!

Join Our Book Tour Today!

Do you have a blog?

We are looking for bloggers to post/write/interview/feature our two upcoming book releases and the authors. Signing up is easy. Just fill out the form by clicking the links below. We will promote the interview to all our thousands of followers several time over the next few weeks! Your participation is greatly appreciated.