The Poetry Marathon

I lined the street with empty mason jars
The heat of the whiskey steamed the cold of the street
My raincoat torn
The evening brought the dark to me
That woman, a mystery
Turn to the drink to understand

I walked with the shadows as the sun kissed the horizon
What we did not know spared us
For the last we would see the light
Held in those moments
No light
Consumed by the dark

Take me to New Hampshire
Where I left it on the water
dreams floating
on the mountain bay
Where the stars held my attention
Star North gave direction
I was in a moment
With nothing in my way
Take me back there
Follow signs to Echo
Find myself
the place I want to stay
Take me to New Hampshire
With stone lined pockets
Walk me to the water
When the stars consume the sky
Let the water take me
Last breath in that moment
Hold me close to everything
That has slipped away
All but the moments
All but the memories
All but that smile, she wears upon her face
I will let go now
Leave me in New Hampshire
Leave me on the water
Where dreams rest
Leave me on the mountain bay

She stood by the window
Confined to a cell she once chose
Dusk turning to dawn
she watched the frost fall off the daffodils
Hope, new life
She dropped her bottle in the sink
as the whiskey drank the drain
The screen door shuttered behind her
She carried herself toward the field
Opened her arms
As the wind played the telephone
lines like a fiddle
Whisking through the open field
Each step toward who she used to be
Away from the woman she lost
A prisoner unrecognized,
that shared her name
As the sunrise called her
She followed the horizon

Freedom

You are pieces of everything

Beauty amplified

The hue of the ocean

The pearl shade of billowing clouds

Stars piercing black canvas

It is where you are, everything is clear

You have never gone

“Perhaps the great revelation never did come.”-Virgina Woolf

Lost, perhaps
Perhaps I have left it behind, in the
woods so deep, so great
Found in that place, a revelation
An escape, to return once, or never
With all I did,
Have done, long time waiting for this to come

Every movement with grace
To survive, to shelter
Tirelessly painting with silk
Weaving art

“The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”

-Virginia Woolf

I have left it behind, in the
woods so deep, so great
Found in that place, a revelation
It had waited all this time, perhaps
An escape, to return soon, or never
With all I did,
Have done, long time waiting for this to come

Pulsing, throbbing
rushing, shaking
Fear of feeling
Fear of breaking
Oh, my soul
No rest, no ease
Walls, they crumble
with each beat

Up against it.
It moved, as I stood still.
I fight it-
It’s haunting hands
hold what it will.

Up against it.
Stronger, stronger than I.
My back rests-
It is holding me
like time.

Up against it.
A reflection, unrecognized.
Fight my demons-
Adversaries stronger than
brick and Father Time.