Sunday, December 29, 2013

Kindness (Mindlovemisery prompt 36 Virtue)




Kindness

Thin skinned-
in your storm

Pelted by words
stone heavy

Hoping you don’t see
the damage

I cover the wounds
they're easy to hide
from your eyes.

A smile wipes away
your anger, yet mine
stirs in a disquieted soul,


 wishing for a thicker armor
 but who would that be
 mirrored in such a cold reflection?

Not me,
and so I bleed.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Stories (for deverse, Hearth, Home and Common Speech)



  Stories

 I would love to hear-

 The rawness
 of your hurt, why you
 strive to rise above
 human pain and how
 the struggle taught you
 to mourn and feel
 compassion for even
 the coldest stranger.

  Tell me your story
  I will tell you mine.
  We will invent
  happy endings and look back
  without regret.

  For life is a great teacher
  its purpose, to make us
  one with our heaven
  where we will one day rest,

  breathing in gentle living,
  forsaking pain for pleasure,
  its lesson burned in our brow

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Moments (for deverse 12/10/13)



Time-

Strange
how you follow me.


Memories
I often reach for, so I can feel
all those things which make up
my life.


All those moments
I knew would become
memories before I could
catch my breath.

This will not be a year
I will mourn, I did not
wear it well but as a new
beginning will soon arrive,

I will cast aside this heaviness
and embrace all I do not know.


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Running



 What do you run from?

 Heart hidden in the shadow
 of years-

 Masquerading
 time worn worries
 in your bones-

 How you feared
 they would break


  and you would no longer
  feel the sun take the
  chill of loneliness from
  your aching arms.
  

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Take Me Back (Mindlovemisery prompt 31)



Take me back
to the ocean as
wave upon wave
washed away the bad years

when you were only nine
and I had found hope again
that life could be normal.

Take me back before death
separated us and laughter
filled our afternoons in the
tiny apartment as she and I shared
our stories over hot tea amidst
the laughter of our children.

Take me back before he became
ill from a livelihood which riddled
his bones with warring cells.

Take me back before the isolation
and rage of loss filled our hearts
in that lonely cabin in the woods.


Take me back to that time
when I could look in the mirror
and know who I was.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Time (for deverse Calendar 11/23/13)



Time



If it had slowed
to the rhythm
of my heart-

Do you think
I would have worn
it better, felt its closeness
between each breath
treasured every tiny grain
as fate etched itself into each line?


I was following a destined path
without guide, only intuition
born of evolution
disguised as doubt-

Fragile as a falling flake of snow
descending to earth, time melts away
and leaves me cold with questions.


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

I Will Remember



 I Will Remember


 I will remember a world
 lost to the masses,
 lonely in its material guise
 and shallow soul.

I will take hold
in my heart
the memories when justice
was a worthy passion
and kindness fed the emptiness.

 I will remember
 the youth I left behind
 with  remorse for it fed
 me lies and left me hungry.

I will remember
all those things
I fought for,
some I attained,
many I lost-

But most of all
I will remember
that being here-

Brought me the joy
of knowing there was love..


Saturday, November 16, 2013

The I of We (Inspired by Anthem, Ayn Rand)



The I of We
(Inspired by Anthem, Ayn Rand)


 Black future-
 World without love

  To shed the plural skin,
  taste forbidden fruit   
  in  barren dystopia
  where no one dare stand alone

  Hunger grows in lands
  scorched by the consuming
  flames of the great “we”.


 The dying of self
 stands without shadow
 extinguished by iniquitous skies,
 ashen without a heaven.

(For deverse sci-fi poetry 11/16/13) .

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Savage Heart



 The Savage Heart

 Constricted
  Unyielding

 How the body remembers
 the longing in cold bones.

 Listen to its faint beat
 as it dies a little more
 each day until all is still
 and the silence screams
 for holding.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Anger (for deverse open link 11/12/13)



 Anger

 I wonder
 what drives you?

 Rage, an unforgiving heart
 which trembles even
 at the thought of “weakness”.

So much easier to wage
a war on the world
as if strangers even know
what tragedy you’ve tasted
and was it really anymore bitter
than theirs’?


I cringe at the sound
of hate, between each
word you roar in your
isolation.

Still,
I wonder what your story is,
if it bleeds more than others?

Isn’t anger an anemic suture
for your wounds?

Aren't you cold
lonely, tired
wearing this crimson cloak?

Monday, November 11, 2013

I Never Wanted



 I Never Wanted

I never wanted to watch
you leave broken and lost-

In your man-made “happiness”
disintegrating in the mist
of rising discontent and fear.

I never wanted to see your
body crumble, unable to bear
the weight fate cast.

Your martyrdom-
travels through
the darkest parts of me. 

.
 Turning my gaze away
 I still see my own reflection,
 in those tears which
 seep into the marrow,
 eroding stone set hearts
 which cannot help but weep.

.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Change



Change



Underneath
our thoughts-

Waves break
the current changes
we remain steadfast
dropping anchor
foolish in thinking

we won’t be swept away
to some unknown island

where all is new and unforgiving
earth remembers the past and from
its depth haunts our loneliness.

Still we question “why”?
Sky is silent
Sea is still
Only the shifting sands tell 
we must change.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Voices (for deverse-what a difference one hour can make)



The Voices


The voices
no longer distracted
by long stretches of sunlight

I revel in the short days
so much to do before
nightfall.

Days slip away
in a whispered hush
I, soul inspired
reach into the dark
confines of twilight

Between the failing
light and dreaming

Words come softly
 in the silent hours

as I try to shape them
into ghosts who gently
whisper they have a reason.

Sunday, November 3, 2013



Saving

We put it away
 vault safe
 for some rainy day

which comes swiftly
swept up in a cloudy
darkened truth

As if it would save us
when our hearts break
as loved ones fail in
the struggle world
deems worthwhile.

Reality gnarls and grips
sharpened by the need
sorrow won’t succumb
to its bite.

 We store our “treasure”
 only to find poverty awaits
 in the shadows.

And when what matters
most is devoured
the notion we’re doing
what’s “ right” feels so empty.

Mi na Samhna (November) re-posted from 11/12


                                                                                


Mi na Samhna
(November)


She came,
cloaked in gray,
somber in her arrival
I sought the sun,
so well hidden
in her shadows
of  dying
vines,
sleepy in the  fruitless waiting 
for rebirth.

She promised resurrection
but faith is hard to come by
when hands clench
in the cold remembrance
of all that has perished.
I have tried to embrace her,
her touch is cold,
reminding
that all things end.







                                       




Thursday, October 31, 2013

Muse



Muse



Hold me
in angel wings-

Ethereal lightness
close to distant stars

lighting the path
I wore into my earth
space I shadowed.

Fate cries rhyme and reason
for all I tasted even the salt
of tears I hold-

in that place
pierced by the sword
called muse.

Vampire (for deverse- Wild Beasts)



Vampire



You promise me eternity
where there is no sun

No morning call echoing
in the breeze of a newborn day

You tempt me with
undying beauty-
armor against old age

Yet I hesitate and realize
 all I hold dear will die
 in the darkness

You belong to the night
And all its black secrets

Forever would never be enough
for the sacrifice.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Cinders (for deverse -anti bullying)



Cinders
By
Lisa A.Williams


Anointed-
unknowingly
by
brick or board.
Trash,
they were called
those tow-headed girls  
wanting to purge
this dry christening
 which scathed
skin and soul,
it’s adornment
crushing the child chant
“names will never hurt me”
Lingering lyrics-
notes carried high
by those who sang
of
castaways
smelling of smoke and cinder.
Undetected by thought or word,
somehow they knew
the fire
was always smoldering.
Trash-
to be discarded,
unworthy.
They were singed
yet somehow
rose from the flames,
bore their blistering-
purified.








Sunday, October 27, 2013

Boardwalk



Boardwalk


Ocean breeze
holding its breath

as it reaches
the man-made walk
assaulted by the civilized world.

Bright lights-
shock to the senses

blinding one to the beauty,
invasion of sea and sky.

One must look to the depths
to find God in such a place,

so obscured by neon and noise
most often, he goes unnoticed.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013



A Different Sky

I wish
I were beneath
a different sky
one not so gray

To think
I could lose you-
a shared heartbeat
more than I can bear

Baby born of you
I can’t hold alone
please don’t leave
we need you so.

If I could choose
a different sky
it would be blue
full of hope and promise-

One where we will both see him
grow and always have your
arms to hold us.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Old Man (Mindlovemisery prompt 26, What can change the nature of a man?)



Old Man

Old man
do you live your life
through the eyes
of the past?

How misery was your companion
your family didn’t last

Love couldn’t change you
no matter what guise it wore


Shredding its garments
time and time again
until you destroyed its core

The eyes of hope
closed and slept
dreaming came to an end

And in your loneliness
you wish you could try
once again

But the years are not forgiving
they wear too many scars

Saturday, October 19, 2013

I See the War



I See the War
                        

I see the war
in the pale blue
of your eyes

You’ve got a battle
you cannot win
no matter how hard
you try

Never seeing what lie
ahead all those years ago
left with all those lies
you can’t leave behind.

I see the war
in the pale blue
of your eyes

Still you reach
still you strive
riding the tide
of all those tears
you still cry.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Don't You Remember?



Don’t You Remember?

Don’t you remember
those days of careless growing?

Fields of wild
we ran through
chasing the wind

feeling the sun bathing
the quiet earth
as we sprouted wings
and grew in our dreams

Never touching the ground
fearing it would ensnare us
and we would become like them-

The stable caregivers, money makers
lost in the grown up guise of all we
thought we should be.

Now here we are and the
ache of lost wings
beats us down
and we no longer
dance to the sound of angels

We just remember the lull
of their sweet voices echoing
in the distant youth, we left behind.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Phyllis



Phyllis


We don’t speak of it-
the loss silencing
our world.
How arrogant of the sun
to rise
when we were facing
 the black hole emptiness
 beyond,
not enough breathing space
for our own grieving.
Some pain can’t be shared,
sometimes we are islands
surrounded by restless current
fearing if we were to plunge
we’d breathe in anothers tears
and drown.
It was good to love you,
but oh how the earth trembled
                                                          when we had to say goodbye.

For deverse 10/10/13 Friends

Saturday, October 5, 2013

How We Loved October



How We Loved October

You would have sworn
they were sisters-

Young mothers

Daughters trying on
homemade costumes

The smell of pumpkin pie
lulling into scents of fall
carved from our center-

Sweet harvest born of a vine
united in kinship.

Anticipating nightfall
glowing Jack O Lanterns
watching over the tired earth
as she prepared for the stillness
winter would bring.

Eyes gleaming, smiles rich
with hope on this dark night
as we adorned houses 
promising treats.

Watching
children who grew apart,
one young mother lost
forever in an illness
time never had an answer for.

For deverse- "I have an issue with Pumpkins"

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Evening Song




Evening Song


Here on Earth-
tender is the Night

The Moonstone
housekeeping
the Sheltering Sky.



Posted for deverse pub- " Spine Poetry"

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Dark Skin Dying



Dark Skin Dying


A miniscule of death,
 on fair skin-

It warned of goodbyes
and defied denial
tiny cells
waging war-

Sometimes mortality
                                                           whispers in such small things.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

"You Can Tell Which Girls Lack Mothers By The Look of Their Hair"



( Imaginary Garden With Real Toads Sunday Mini Challenge-
The Secret Life of Bees)

When I looked into the mirror
 I knew she wasn’t there

Lost in some distant place
where sanity, shipwrecked

lie buried in the sand-
Mother’s hallowed sanctuary
where daughters didn’t exist.

Girls-
with boy cropped hair
searching for beauty which wasn’t
there .

Seeking communion-
 
lost little girls
in grass stained jeans

Digging for China
in backyards

Not to be seen
much less heard

in her silent world
where we never tread.

We never reached China
that far off land
on the other side of the world

Still we dug, reaching and reaching….
 

Grounded



Grounded

Does not the flesh
weigh us down
like mermaids
without the sea
to bathe away the human
longing ?

Gravity centers us
forces us to stay-

Always seeking wings
or fins to carry us away

to some distant space
in time, we left behind                                                          

when the hand of God
made us human, knowing
it would be the suffering
which made us strong.

http://dversepoets.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/sky-fishing-by-catrin-welz-stein.jpg


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Not So Far Away



Not So Far Away


I don’t feel so
far away now-

Like I did all those years
living in your shadow
its darkness only filled
any filtering light I could
 glimpse from time to time.

Just beginning to embrace
all those parts of me
you devoured in your
never ending self-love
self-hatred,

 I could never
tell the difference, only
thing I was ever sure of was
that I was dying without the light.

I don’t feel so far away now
I occupy my own shadow
it embraces me and lets me
feel what you never would.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Fall



Fall


You arrive-
 with a different air

Your fiery hue
arrogantly reminds
that even in dying
there is beauty.

Time to put away
those soft floating dreams,
settle down into the warmth
of remembrance-

Knowing they will return
with a new season which
has aged the wisdom from
which they were born.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

It's Different Now



It’s Different Now
                   

It’s different now-

The breeze wakes us
with its autumn chill

Seeking warmth
we overlook each others gaze

Stealing an embrace which
leaves us empty


Still we seek those warm
summer days, long since gone

Too much labor to birth again

to go back and remember
the why of us-

For it leaves us lonely.

Monday, September 16, 2013

For Dad Who Loved Hank Williams



For Dad, Who loved Hank Williams


I feel you
when I listen-

To his old songs, remembering you
 lost in their timeless words of heartache
 in the lyrics of a man wiping away
 tears, “so lonesome" he "could cry"-

Empty in a place where love
never slept and wishing haunted
the halls with its dark pleas.

Letting Go



Only at times
will I confess-

The loss I am feeling
letting you go

to all those places
daughters must tread
to find themselves.

Some are dark
and frighten me.
Some are so close
but I must keep my distance

feeling your roots
breaking free from
all you know.

There is an emptiness
growing where I kept
your childhood.

I am left wondering
if that space will
remain vacant now that
those days are growing old?

I must cut back the limbs
I held you with, leaving
you just enough to always
feel at home.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Build Me a Castle



Build Me a Castle


Build me a castle
of sand and stone

fortress against raging
sea and sky.

Protector from the wrath
of the storm’s eye

Build me a castle
upon distant shores

Far away from those islands
I drifted to in my youth
where pain bled
but never healed

Build me a castle
from all I know
to be true.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Becoming More (Mindlovemisery prompt 20 Wordle)



Becoming More


Isn’t denial
vicious in its
so-called mercy?

Pharisaical-
as we wear its thorns
in our pursuit to humbly
accept tragedy as our lot,

fearing to acknowledge
our own self crucifixion.

If we were to discard
this facade, who would
we really be?

Not the self-proclaimed martyr
riding the stars to heaven
but just a simple human being
on the way to becoming more.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

I Remember (dverse prompt-Try to remember...)



I remember


I remember
the day you fell
from your own grace

 yielding to the world
and its dark wishes

swallowing each bitter pill
until the bottle was empty.

Lazy lids, fluttering as memories
fled, filling the room with their
quiet ghosts

I remember how empty
I felt when I realized I
would never see you again.

Saying goodbye is never easy
but that farewell is still
as bare as bone

even as the sun warms
the memory of you.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Twenty-seven



Twenty Seven
(Inspired by Amy Jade Winehouse)



Old soul aching-
Too much pain
for one voice to carry.


Notes played hard
Feel the tears behind
each lyric's sigh

as angels bow and break
beneath a silent sky.




Sunday, September 1, 2013

Fairytales (Mindlovemisery prompt 19 Food- deprivation;apathy)





Fairytales

Sweetness
to be savored
before the bitterness
came home in a heartbeat.

The steady rhythym
lulling into a sleepy surrender
purging the emptiness
with once upon a times
and happily ever afters.

Fed on fairytales-
still hungry.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The River (For Ella)



The River
(For Ella)



The sweet sound
of her sleeping
between white sheets
sun-scented from a noonday sky

She hung them to dry as the wind
whipped and lashed the fairness from her face.

She stared toward the river
feeling it pulling her back
to that day when all above
was blue and still-

Until her heart tore
when she heard his cry
knowing she couldn't save him
from something so deep.