The Poetry Marathon

Mushrooms made me see
Clearly now, the small details
Making up our world.

Details of beauty,
Unmatched, yet so overlooked.
Our life moves too fast –

Slow down and relax.
Stand in awe of the lush Earth.
Breathe in time with Her.

Love lost was worth it,
Because it let me find you.

My soul finally understood
Why I had to go through
What I did to get here – 

My past had to make me strong enough
To fight for our future.

My aunt’s house was the heart
Of my whole childhood.

Playdates and birthdays,
Arts and crafts,
Playful, happy, creative. 

Most of all, I remember
Warm and cozy holidays spent
With a full house, full family, and
The best casseroles you’ve ever had.

We always had a movie night
After the big feast, whatever
The newest big thing was.
Us kids could hardly sit through dinner.

My heart aches now for
The puppy piles of cousins and siblings,
Tired after the meal, but
Fighting our heavy eyelids so
We didn’t miss the ending. 

Now, the heart of my childhood
Is all but shattered, with
All those times a fading memory.

If only we could’ve worked it out,
Before it all crumbled. 

The vibration in my ribcage is a swarm of bees,
Stinging sorrow cleansing the shame to give me back the keys.

To my own body, I am no longer a stranger.
This tattoo needle’s ink giving me back my power,
You have no longer seen my body as it now looks.

My body, always a topic of conversation
For everyone who thinks they know better than me.

Another comes along to try to knock me down,
Turn the dial on self esteem all the way left

But to my own body, I am no longer a stranger.
The vibration in my ribcage is a swarm of bees,

My body, always a topic of conversation,
But this time there is no stinging sorrow.
Even with anger buzzing through me, I decide:

My kindness, my trust, is not a weakness.
I forgive those who so clearly need it. 

Here is what I hope for us:
We’re 70 years old, sitting
On a park bench that overlooks
Where you first proposed to me.
Reflecting.

We’ve made it through so much
Pain and strife, struggled and
Fought through demons and grief.

We faced battles so fierce, we
Sit there and laugh looking back,
Because how did we do it? 

But we did make it.
The kids, the house, the careers.
All of it together, and here
We sit after all this time,
In love as we’ve ever been.

We’re happy. Lives full to the brim.
We made it through, and we won.

I always wished I had told Mrs. T and Ms. P
Exactyly what they did for me. 

Taking a shy, withdrawn kid with
Her nose perpetually stuck in a book
And giving her purpose.

They were the first people who told me,
“You could really be a writer,”
And I was never even able to thank them.

All I can hope is that this thank you letter
Finds them wherever they are,
Wildflower fields in deep forests
Somewhere in the clouds. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sunshiney days spent outside
Unlearning all the rules I made for myself that were
Never needed, never wanted
Finding myself in freedom
Learning to love myself again, knowing I
Owe it to myself to be the type of
Woman I’ve always dreamed of being,
Ever confident, giving to myself what I’ve always given away
Radiant in my new superpower, I turn upwards to the sun, and breathe.

How is my generation supposed to survive and

Thrive in the country we’ve created here?

When every conversation is me versus you,

When all the things we have built are

Teetering on the edge of a cliff, we’re living

Our lives waiting for the other shoe to drop despite

Being told our lives were so easily mapped out, it 

Should be easy if we weren’t lazy, right? Burn it all.

Romanticize your life. 

Get up in the morning to watch the sunrise.

Drink your coffee and read on the porch. 

Make videos of having fun with your friends. 

Take 30 pictures of your sleeping dog.

Make good food and dance.

Watch a movie and cuddle with your partner.

Throw on some fairy lights for good measure. 

I don’t care how cliche this is.

How silly it feels for a while. 

Romanticize your life,

Because we are not made 

To hustle through everything and

Not enjoy peace and happiness.

These little moments snowball

Into the big moments.

Stop living life just trying to

Make it through this week,

To the next vacation or event. 

Those normal days that we let slip away 

We won’t ever get back. 

It’s not a cliche to find joy in the mundane.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But how many secrets can they keep? 

They are filled to the brim with a

Dark magic, ethereal beauty mixed

With fear of the unknown.

I walk the path between giants,

Escaping to this other world,

A world away from all the 

Pressure.

Find a meadow surrounded by friends

And lay staring to the sky,

Clouds slipping by into this 

Framed wooded window.

Breathe.

Still.

Quiet. 

Peace.

First line inspired by Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening