JJ

I love hot cocoa, cats, and campfires. 22. I post my poems!

[jjcpoetry]

Rules of Belief

This poem is inspired by DDLC. It's Sayori talking to Monika. (It's also about me having depression & homophobic parents.)

Written: ~Late 2017 or Jan. 2018, at age 14

I’m still here.

Trapped somewhere in your thoughts,

I survived

The truth was near

Still, you denied me

Blinded by your beliefs,

You couldn’t see

I was in pain

Pain caused by you

And ignorance

And existence

You were following rules you thought were set,

And I died.

Even now, you believe it was justified

— JJ Cooper

I considered this poem to be "bad" for the longest time, up until now when I realized it could be applied to Sayori and Monika. I think reading it through that lens makes it better. Originally, it was just about me.

[jjcpoetry]

Clouds and Roads

by JJ Cooper

I know

That our minds

Would rather be

Clouds

Full of rain

I know

That the signs

Would rather point to

Roads

Of pain

Empty your mind of rain

Choose your path, ignore the signs

Written: ~Late 2017 or Jan. 2018 at age 14

I wrote this in just a minute to cheer up my best friend at the time. She was sad about her mind and life, I think. She really liked it. She asked something like "How did you do that? Write another one."

[jjcpoetry]

Thank you @gazing-faraway and everyone who got me to 10 reblogs!

[jjcpoetry]

Clouds and Roads

by JJ Cooper

I know

That our minds

Would rather be

Clouds

Full of rain

I know

That the signs

Would rather point to

Roads

Of pain

Empty your mind of rain

Choose your path, ignore the signs

Written: ~Late 2017 or Jan. 2018 at age 14

I wrote this in just a minute to cheer up my best friend at the time. She was sad about her mind and life, I think. She really liked it. She asked something like, "How did you do that? Write another one."

[jjcpoetry]

About Me

Hi! This is my new poetry blog. I first began writing poetry when I was 14 in late 2017 (apart from any one-off poems I did as a kid). 2018 to early 2020 was a significant period of time where I was able to write a lot of poems. I’ve struggled to write as much since then, and I wish I could write more.

Search my #My Poems tag to see only my poetry posts. I'm still getting caught up on posting all of my old poems. They USED to be posted on Amino back in 2018 and onward, but then Amino got nuked out of nowhere GRRRR

My Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/buddyjj.bsky.social

My poetry Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jaceypoetry/

DDLC

I was inspired by the video game Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC) which came out in September 2017. It is a psychological horror visual novel that features poetry. The girls in the game write poems, and they each have their own unique style. I really loved the writing! I thought being poet was so cool, and I wanted to be one too.

One girl in the game has depression, and I discovered I felt a similar way to her. It was impactful and somewhat comforting to me to feel understood and represented.

‘Make Myself a Shooting Star’ (2017)

This is one of my first poems. It was the first one I considered to be good and a success. I had attempted 2 or 3 poems before that one. They were not so good… But I was just warming up.

This poem is also significant because it marks the very beginning of my depression, which lasted a constant 2 years or so. It just kinda faded away some time in 2020, I think.

dodie

When I was 14, I discovered dodie! She was and is my favorite singer-songwriter. Her lyrics are an inspiration to me. My fave EP/album by her is ‘Human’ (2019). I had just gotten into vinyl, and I was able to get a signed record of that EP! She was also a YouTuber, so I loved watching her vlogs & covers.

A poetry book??

I really want to publish poetry books. Ever since I began, I imagined having one. In 2018, I had my first idea for one. I planned for it to be titled ‘Make Myself a Shooting Star,’ named after the poem. I thought it would be fitting, since all of my poems at the time centered around either depression or yearning. I still want to publish this book. The poems are still very important to me.

I would also want to publish a second book with my newer poems. I have a different style than I did back then.

My desktop profile: https://jjcpoetry.tumblr.com/

[jjcpoetry]

Love's Seasons

JJ Cooper

Flowers bloom in May and June,

and Flowers of Love grow

Flowers go when come the snow,

and Flowers of Love die

Written: ~Late 2017 or Jan. 2018, age 14

[jjcpoetry]

Night Embrace, Morning Knife

Written: ~Late 2017, at age 14

This is another one of my bad first attempts at poetry. At least it has a rhyme scheme going for it. I think this one was inspired by Sayori (DDLC) and her "Dear Sunshine" poem.

The night takes me in embrace 

As it invites me to leave.

The warm, heavy sheet makes

Me want to stay forever there

There’s no need to grieve

In this place where

Your dreams begin to weave

You mustn’t need to care

Then, the morning comes again

And brings you back to your life

Sunlight comes flooding in,

Cutting like a glowing knife

And now it begins;

A new day.

Though, in our conflict

I’ll wait for

The hour when I

Can go to bed.

[amina-asceric]

Happy late pride month❤💛💚💙💜🏳️‍🌈

[jjcpoetry]

IT'S STILL PRIDE MONTH!!! Yayyy <3 I love that this GIF was originally posted in 2019. My fave year I miss :')

[jjcpoetry]

The Clock Doesn't Care

The Clock looks down on me,

And tells me that I’m late.

I say, “What could I be late for?”

It doesn’t say

“What do you know that I can’t see?”

My worries become great.

The Clock continues to ignore.

“I’m gonna worry all day”

The Clock doesn’t care.

Written: ~Late 2017, at age 14

This is one of my BAD poems... And one of my first attempts when I started writing poetry. I did really bad for like the first four poems I wrote, but after that I got much better. I'm posting it mostly for archival purposes, with all of my poems in chronological order.

[jjcpoetry]

Candy Cane

one of my first attempts at writing poetry in 2017... i tried to describe the visual of a candy cane like it was a riddle. it was awful. it was something like "two parallel reds lines / swirling on a white stick." for now, it is lost media. there MIGHT be a cassette recording of me reading it, but i haven't listened through to see

in 2024, i tried to write it again but better. i liked the outcome. it's not an impressive masterpiece, but hopefully it's cute & nice for being there. i'll post it in the future

[heyjacey]

HAPPY (dodie) PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈

Growing up gay, I discovered dodie and Pride at basically the same time. Her pride posts and songs get me in the festive spirit! So here are a few screenshots I have of her posting about pride. (Please reblog with more examples if you have them! I luv them.)

dodie Pride Songs playlist:

- She

- Rainbow

- I'm bisexual - a coming out song!

- why the rainbow is ours!

(lemme know if i missed any)

🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

[jjcpoetry]

Post I made on my main! dodie is a MAJOR inspiration for my poems and poetic journey 🩷

[jjcpoetry]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!! 🌈🏳️‍🌈🌈🏳️‍🌈🌈

[jjcpoetry]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAYORI!!!

So cool to know what her birthday is (May 11)! Sayori is one of my biggest poetic inspirations! DDLC is reason I started writing poetry. Sayori was my fave poet too. Her "Bottles" poem was a masterpiece to me, and I wanted to write like that

My Bluesky: @ buddyjj.bsky.social 🦋

[jjcpoetry]

And Purrs

by JJ Cooper

He stalks

He leaps

He walks

He sleeps

He curls

Into a ball

And purrs

Written: ~Late 2017, age 14

This poem is inspired by Natsuki's "Eagles Can Fly" in DDLC, which I love.

The last line of this poem is meant to be a cute reveal of the mysterious creature I had been describing (a cat). Also, the cat is me. That's why the cat is a "he." Maybe that makes it a metaphor?

The original title is "And Purrs." It's cute and unique. But maybe I should change it to "He Sleeps" to avoid spoiling the end.

[jjcpoetry]

Nerdy over-explanation of my past writing habits

In my early poems, I cared a lot about patterns and consistency. I wanted the syllables per line to be about the same and/or in a pattern. Also, I almost always used rhyme schemes.

I would write out the syllable count and rhyme scheme on paper, like this:

2A He stalks,

2B He leaps,

2A He walks,

2B He sleeps,

2~C He curls

4~A Into a ball

2~C And purrs.

(~ = near rhyme)

I more often used perfect rhymes, but I liked near rhymes too.

For a very brief time, I strictly used proper/prose punctuation. In this case, I have revised it (in the OG post) to exclude the commas and period. That's because I now prefer cleaner/fewer punctuation marks in poems.

In Jan. 2018, I would use mostly proper punctuation, but I would usually drop the period on the last line of a stanza. I would sometimes drop excessive comma usage too. It just depended.

It was a gradual decline away from strict proper/prose punctuation over the years.

[jjcpoetry]

And Purrs

by JJ Cooper

He stalks

He leaps

He walks

He sleeps

He curls

Into a ball

And purrs

Written: ~Late 2017, age 14

This poem is inspired by Natsuki's "Eagles Can Fly" in DDLC, which I love.

The last line of this poem is meant to be a cute reveal of the mysterious creature I had been describing (a cat). Also, the cat is me. That's why the cat is a "he." Maybe that makes it a metaphor?

The original title is "And Purrs." It's cute and unique. But maybe I should change it to "He Sleeps" to avoid spoiling the end.

[jjcpoetry]

Make Myself a Shooting Star

JJ Cooper

I look up to the sky

And wish that I could fly

Oh– so how, shooting star

Can you shoot out so far?

How can you leave away

And keep sorrow at bay?

I think I know how to

I know what I should do

Sorrow will go away

When I'm a shooting star

I will make myself fly

Written: ~Dec. 2017

This poem was inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club and how I related to Sayori at the time.

[jjcpoetry]

@monitorkernelaccess

#op have you listened to Mitski's song 'last words of a shooting star' #this poem reminded me of that #ddlc #I thought maybe you'd like the song

Yes! I loved that song back then. I related to it. Mitski's poetic writing is super impressive & emotional

I only heard the song in 2018 after I had already written my poem. I remember realizing it had a similar concept to mine. I thought it was cool

I "wished" a lot during that time. I associate wishing with shooting stars, so I think that's where my idea came from when I wrote it

[jjcpoetry]

Make Myself a Shooting Star

JJ Cooper

I look up to the sky

And wish that I could fly

Oh– so how, shooting star

Can you shoot out so far?

How can you leave away

And keep sorrow at bay?

I think I know how to

I know what I should do

Sorrow will go away

When I'm a shooting star

I will make myself fly

Written: ~Dec. 2017

This poem was inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club and how I related to Sayori at the time.