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.

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

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.

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.

  

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.

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.

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..

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) .

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.

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?

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.

.

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.

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.

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.

                                       

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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"

Evening Song

Evening Song


Here on Earth-
tender is the Night

The Moonstone
housekeeping
the Sheltering Sky.



Posted for deverse pub- " Spine Poetry"

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.

"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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.