There's a few that I really don't like. XD

Here's a list of all of my poems ranked from my proudest to my worst - not including After the Rainstorm, One, or the tanka poem compilation.

.

Coat of Red
This poem was based on a dream, as well as a scarring experience in my past regarding a certain relationship and a decline of my mental health. This was also the second full-length poem I had ever written.
The poem is not directly what I saw in my dream. I once lost a close friend of mine who loved a band called Cage the Elephant, which I quickly became a fan of after talking to them about it. There is a song by that band called "Black Widow" where the first line says, "Standing there with your red coat on." In the dream, I saw this person again wearing a red coat, like in the song. The song also talks about how the "black widow girl" is moving. In the dream, this person looked angry at first, but then quickly started laughing and offered to dance with me. This is why the fire is red instead of orange. I got the idea of making the person as a fire from another song by the same band, called "Too Late to Say Goodbye," where a person falls in love with a fire before realizing that the fire was hurting them. This reflected the experience I'd had with the said person, so it fit perfectly in the metaphor of this poem.
I can't deny how proud I am of this poem. I have gone back a few times and added stanzas to it, but no matter how excited I get about some of my newer poems, this poem remains my most well-written (and most popular) poem. The symbolism was the best I'd ever come up with and I don't know if I'm ever going to top it.

We're Flying
This poem was inspired by both a dream and a song my friend wrote titled "Man on a Mission." This poem took me only four hours to complete, which is really good timing compared to most of my others.
I am so proud of this poem because (disregarding the first two stanzas) it came out so naturally. The poem is supposed to be about the people in my life that I trust or have trusted in the past with all my heart and everything they've done to help me. It's a recap of all of those blissful experiences in my past that I've had with people I love. The majority of the poem is based on the dream I had (I'm pretty sure the song was stuck in my head before I went to sleep that night), but it came out so smoothly because I kept thinking of the portion of the song that I was inspired by (I can't quote it but it was saying to take his hand and to not stop running with no consequences).
This is by far my favorite poem that I have written and it's one of my less depressing ones, as well. This is usually the first I recommend, no matter who I'm talking to (next to Coat of Red). I'm really proud of it, and it's one that's near and dear to my heart.

Hand on a Window
I was so proud of this poem when it was finished. After a while, I started to think that I might've exaggerated its quality, but reading it again after a few months proved me wrong. The symbolism in this one is also great, and it's a metaphor that I've used quite often in my daily life.
This poem is based off an experience I had in a mental hospital back in May of 2017. The room in the poem is just how I described it, especially the window in the corner.
The thing about that particular institution: you spent six hours a day locked in your room. I counted. Unless it was visitor's hour, lunch, free time at night, or time for therapy, you were not allowed to leave your room. So most of us sat at the window. There was an area outside that was heavily fenced, but we were still never allowed outside. Keep in mind that I had a friend that stayed there for about nine or 10 months. Can you imagine never being able to go outside? It may not seem that bad to some of you, but for us, it was a living hell. I specifically remember pressing my hand to the glass, crying because I just wanted to be free - to stand outside and feel the sun on my face. I wanted to feel the wind - something natural - other than the manmade air conditioning units that we were locked inside. Now, I can't be expected to stay locked up for a long period of time. I took the PSAT my sophomore year, and when I was done, I walked out and sat on the grass listening to music for the entirety of my break. I may sound over-dramatic, but you really don't know how precious your freedom is until you lose it.

Petals
I was really proud of this poem, as well, when it was finished. I read it back again and realized it needed quite a bit of revising, but it doesn't change how I feel.
This poem is also very dear to my heart. As explained, this poem was about the first time I ever fell in love. Yes, some may say it wasn't really love - just my 14-year-old hormones working - but it's the closest I've felt since. It's quite a long story, and I explain it in details in the author's note of this poem.

Climb Back On
(WIP)

Escape
This poem is very similar to Hand on a Window, but the message is very different. Hand on a Window addressed a memory of the past that I cannot escape and am trying to deal with. Escape addressed the fear that I have about moving.
The parking lot in the poem was a real location from my past. After losing the friend I had talked about in Coat of Red, I spent most of my time after school during my freshman year pacing that parking lot, singing, and often crying. The video included was filmed at that same parking lot.
Unlike Hand on a Window, instead of learning to deal with a memory I can't escape, Escape is about learning to move on from the past. I was not at all happy where I was living before, and there were so many new opportunities with the move, but I was scared to leave because I was attending the first school in eight years that I hadn't had problems with bullying. I didn't have a lot of friends, but I had a lot of acquaintances that I didn't want to say goodbye to - not to mention the marching band family that I'd started my musical journey with.
As I stated at the end of the video, the guy playing guitar (and the writer of the song featured in the poem) is an internet friend of mine. Though we haven't met in person yet, I've grown pretty close to him. This is the reason behind the last line: "I know there's a chance that I'll find someone else/Who cares and wants me around." It was the knowledge that there was someone far away that cared about me and wanted to be my friend, so there's bound to be at least one other person in my new area that I can be close to.

A Future Untitled
This was my first full-length poem. I was always into writing poetry when I was little, but I kind of forgot about it until after I lost the friend that I mentioned in Coat of Red. I was carrying two trombones and my backpack barefoot from the band room to the gym (which were on opposite corners of the campus and not on the same side of the street) when I got to the bridge that allowed students to cross the road for PE. I literally stopped, looked up, and then sighed before trudging up the hill. Those cases are heavier than they look - it's like carrying a missile - and that floor is really rough. Keep in mind that this was a round-trip. I was barefoot! I would not recommend it. But as I was walking up, fors some reason I thought, "I should write a poem about this." So I did. And look where we are now.

Oil, Wax, and Matches
This poem was a challenge from my young women's leaders. In my religion, each year we have a movement to do an act of service daily in the month of December called "Light the World." In church one day, we were asked to create a piece of art based on how we can "light the world."
I'm not too proud of this poem, but I don't dislike it. It's sweet, and I know a lot of people really enjoy it, even if it's not my best.

Arbitrium
Arbitrium: a Latin term meaning "choice" or "judgment." My favorite book series is Artemis Fowl, and the main character's motto is a Latin term. I've always been fascinated with the language. It's mysterious, and because it's a forgotten language, it adds to the metaphor of this poem. It was initially going to be titled Vita et Virtus, another Latin term meaning "life or power," but I wanted a simpler title to reflect the nature of the poem.
This poem is based on the song, "Cigarette Daydreams," by Cage the Elephant. I had always interpreted the song as someone contemplating suicide, so I decided to write a poem mirroring that interpretation. The path to the left was similar to the path the narrator had already been traveling and had an unknown future - this was the path of life. The path to the right was short and your future was clear - this was the path of death.
I used to be really proud of this poem, but it really needs some revising. It went too fast and I didn't really explain why the path to the right was so scary. It was my third full-length poem, though, so you have to cut me some slack. My first was great, my second was the best I've ever written, and at this point I was kind of struggling for ideas, but it kept me going with writing poetry. I guess, in a way, there was a reason this involved a crossroads. It kind of reflects where I reached a stop in ideas.

Eclipse
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against this poem whatsoever. It's a cute little poem that was made for my tenth-grade English class when we were writing two-voice poems. I ended up not turning it in because I realized after it was finished that it didn't meet the guidelines.
The two voices in the poem are actually my two cats: Winifred and Cataline. Winifred, the black one, is the moon, and Cataline, the gray one, is the sun. It's funny to hear other people's interpretations of the two voices are, so I didn't explain in the author's note.
The only reason why this poem is at the end of the list is that, compared to my other poems, this one just doesn't stack up based on symbolism. Also, some of the similes are a bit cheesy. I do love this one, though, and I'm still proud of it to this day.

He
I don't have much to say about this. It's just simple. Good idea though.

Bury Me Alive
My friend wrote a song about Faul so I wrote a song to counter it. He loved it, but I think it was just rushed. I want to see if I can write a melody sometime.

Fade
This is without a doubt my worst poem. It was inspired by the Sanders Sides YouTube videos and meant as an outline for the character of Shadow in my novel, Daze, but it did not turn out well at all. It doesn't really flow well and it was rushed. Don't read this poem, please. XD