The Poetry Marathon

Picture a field of blooming lavender
Your hair shifting in the slight cool breeze
Take in the smell of warm green summer
At last my heart is at ease

To linger upon a face of beauty
To listen to the silence around me
To long deeply for some company

When all the layers of social expectation are stripped off me
What’s left is a person with simple needs
Like every other

They gave me their hearts
Piece by piece
They unwound
Unravelled their defences
Confided their secrets
Hopes and dreams
Provided their company
Even spent some money
They loved me unconditionally
My friends gave me their hearts
And so too did I give them mine.

She wove the strings of time
Left, right, left, right
She wove them tight
Not a strand out of place
Each fate she was able to trace
With every loop
She fulfilled our hopes
She wove the strings of time.

These streets are mine
The waste, graffiti and grime
The city I call home
These streets are mine
Till the end of time.

I long for a sense of direction
Navigating this never-ending haze
Too often faced with the misconception
That I know my way out of this maze
Who I am supposed to be
They say it is up to me
Yet it doesn’t seem to be my choice
When they hardly listen to my voice
A deep sense of fear of misdirection
Perhaps will be my life-long affliction
I long for a sense of purpose
To the right path it will guide us.

I find myself awake in the dark
Something is not right
I must brave the journey outside
But there can be no light
No noise
My steps must be soft and poised
I twist the door handles painfully cautiously
And as I pull it open there is no response
I have taken the first step, then another
I might actually make it this time
Just as I thought I had made it
I hear a jingle, a high-pitched voice
A flash of glowing orbs appear in the dark
My cat’s eyes
I have failed and woken up the monster
Now he must be fed.

Maybe it’s joining a demonstration
Setting aside some money
Signing a petition
Sharing a post
Writing and essay
Or even a poem

It’s when the little acts come together as one
That’s how you build a movement
That’s how you break the boundaries between us
That’s how you communicate across languages
When challenges seem too great
My community as one we shall conquer it.

I left the party early
I had eaten, danced, and laughed
Stolen enough glances and broken into enough smiles
I was spent
It was time to escape the noise
So I walked into the darkness outside
Laid back against the grass
And with the music and laughter fading into the distance
I stared up into space
The stars here are unlike anywhere I had ever seen
It was the first thing I noticed when I first arrived here in the night
I promised myself I would find some time
Make a date with the night sky
It blinked and sparkled back at me
My eyes ate up all it could see
Perhaps the others thought I went to sleep
But here I was under the night sky
A moment to remember
My sense of wonder
And marvel at the universe
Just me and the night sky.

I wonder what it was like
On the day we replaced swords with guns
Did we expect the number of deaths that would result
When murder was made possible with the pull of a trigger
The push of a button
Did we expect the fighting to end quicker
Or perhaps wreak less destruction
I doubt it’d be much different
If we hadn’t invented guns.

Each one a sense of hope and promise
Each one a blissful fantasy
How many petals must be plucked before it lasts?
This rose is starting to look skinny

One brought me assurance of my self
One gave me company
One showed me a world of possibilities
One pushed me to aim for the stars
Each boy an intense epiphany
I cherish our friendship, however brief

But alas, the selection process is harsh
By one way or another it wasn’t meant to be
So I leave each one of you my poetry
The words I left unsaid
When they could’ve mattered
Words thought best kept unread
Till I finally was free
Of the crushing grasp you held over me

If it takes all my petals
I must go on
And find the one.