The Poetry Marathon

White blinds drawn across
My window. It’s 5 o’clock.
So yeah, it is dark.

I didn’t get to say goodbye.
Not officially anyway.
I was stuck in a whole other city,
While you and Daryl sat alone in the waiting room.
But my heart shattered when I heard the news.
I knew that your time here was winding down,
I couldn’t see or think of you without beimg reminded of that.
But there’s a huge difference between knowing somerhint is going to happen, and actually having it happen.
Your body was refusing to work, but I still had the selfish thought to keep you around for just a couple more days, just so I could see you again.
I couldn’t help it.
I didn’t want to let you go.
But I pushed away that selfish thought,
Because I knew that it was best for you.
You lived long enough for your body to start falling apart on you,
But I have to think that it was worth it.
All the times I saw that little pig tail of yours wiggle,
Or heard you fake-grumble when I cuddled you.
Each time you did the ear-dance after a bath,
Or chased birds.
With all of that, I have to believe you enjoyed your time here on earth,
And your time here with us.
I know that I enjoyed every last moment of your company and presence.
And I know that when you left,
You took a piece of my heart with you.
I don’t care about never getting it back.
I don’t want it.”
I can be happy with my broken heart
Because the missing piece is with you.
And I know you’ll keep it with you always.
I love you Emmit. I will see you again.

With skin of faded ivory,
The lady awaits her Lover’s arrival.
Her brown hair pinned up in a tidy fashion atop her head, reveals the soft curve of her neck, awaiting a soft kiss.
The ladies dress stands out starkly against her skin,
A deep Shadow collecting at her tiny waist, before falling in the thick curtain at her feet.
It is held Aloft by fine jeweled thread, one across each shoulder,
Allowing the highest amount of skin to show.
A site that will surely excite her lover, when he comes.
She stands alone in the dreariest room in the house,
Knowing that she will practically glow and it’s dim, poor lighting.
It will attract her lover all the more.

” okay, so everyone else is busy with their own stuff right now, because of… Well everything, and I’m stuck having no one else to talk to.
So if you don’t mind not flying away and pretending to listen, I would really appreciate it.”
The baby Raven cocked its head to the side for a moment, as if considering.
Then with a single little hop,
Landed on pennies leg and sat there, with Wings relaxed and curled around her feet, and her eyes focused up on her face.
” all right then, you seem comfortable, so I’ll start.
I thought I was a completely normal girl before all of this.
Now, I’ve got a sister who’s an elf,
Group of crazy assassin’s won’t stop showing up everywhere and trying to kill me,
And apparently my dad is also somehow evil and involved in the plan to destroy all the elves other than us.
I mean, how am I supposed to react all of this?
I’m supposed to be worrying about my first boyfriend in grades, not all of this!
How am I supposed to do anything about this either?
Everybody else apparently grew up with crazy awesome fighting training, except for I guess Jesse…
But I only know how to run away from fights, and some basic first aid.”
She sighed, dropping her head into her hands,
She stared at the baby Raven, who’d now stood up again.
It reached up and very lightly pressed it speak to pennies chin, like a little kiss of encouragement.
With one finger, Penny pet the top of the tiny bird’s head.
“Thanks for listening. It really helped.”

It was her job to watch, keep record of the destruction, but not interfere without an explicit ordered to do so.
That was why she was asked out and not something else.
She’s at the Dozen feet off the ground, settled into a fork of a tree branch, blending in with the Shadows.
Her Keen eyes watched as only Paces away, the humans used with their shrieking, noxious machines to tear down tree after tree, chewing through the Trunks and sending debris clattering to the Earth.
They did this from sunrise to sunset, for days at a time.
She could still not understand the reason why.
The proud trunks were blocking no Road, harming no traveler, and not even interrupting of you for the humans.
Their settlements were still Beyond sight from the tree line.
And yet, they still tour plants from the roots and dragged their corpses from their home.
4 months, she had watched the slow progress of Destruction as the humans heartlessly continued onward cutting swathes through the forest.
Today, she was through simply watching everything unfold.
She didn’t care what the consequences would be.
Only that she no longer only watched the destruction.
She was going to cause some of her own.
When the sun disappeared behind the tree line, the humans left their vehicles, shutting off their loud cries and leaving them in their positions for the next day.
Instead of leaving her post and heading back to Terez,
She waited for the sun to fully set, and the Darkness to creep forward, before she climbed down and explored the camp.
There were three monstrous machines among the ruin the land.
Each had their openings covered with glass, probably for security and safety.
But by hurling a large enough Stone enough times, that glass shattered, gaining her entry.
Taking her time, she tore at the insides, smashing with The Rock and slicing with her short blade.
4 hours she worked, relishing the feeling that the destruction of the land would cease.
When she was finally done, she was covered with black vehicle blood,
But she walked home feeling every ounce of hero.

Space is ever-expanding, always holding more and more mysteries to explore and analyze.
But there might be areas of that endless expanse where Mortals were never meant to trod.
Places whose very existence or site would burn through their souls,
Corrupting their very existence,
And transforming them into unnatural beings that strayed from an evolutionary path that had been specified in genomes and DNA.
Darkness from that cold vacuum of space would seep in and infect beings that were never made to stray too far from their sun,
Who thrive on warmth and Light,
Kline its way into them and altering them to be unrecognizable and horrific.
So maybe the gimmick of exploration and Discovery past the eye, and telescopes, and space shuttles can see was never meant to extend so far.
Maybe Darkness shouldn’t be left alone, to hold its own dominion, over its own patch of space.

I had this dream as a kid.
It stemmed from practically growing up in a theater,
Watching my dad, grandma, and other various family members up on stage, with the lights shining on them and the audience cheering.
I couldn’t help imagining myself up there too.
I present my lines or sing Everything flawlessly, enough to make those watching cry, laugh, or both.
The costuming and staging always seems so entertaining and extravagant.
I’d help them rehearse lines and block out their movements,
All the while wanting to do it myself.
I even tried out for bit Parts as a kid, being turned down for every single opportunity.
I knew that was part of the deal, so that didn’t deter me.
What finally did show me how misplaced my dream of stagecraft was,
When my Studdard hit, and then my stage-fright trampled me with full force, flattening me into the dirt below its feet.
I could barely talk to one person at a time without tripping and stumbling over my words,
Let alone perform memorize lines in front of crowds fixated on my every movement and tone.
When all that happened, I let my dream of being an actor run away as fast as its little legs would carry it.
I’m sure it’s scuttled off into some far-off dark corner now.
Sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly introspective, all imagine trying to chase after it again.
Those moods never last long.

All I see day after day are these same white walls,
Or I escape from that room for a mere moment,
Then I get to run down the same halls,
Before being caught, dragged back, and served punishment.
I get to sit here, feeding my memories fade, while my mind runs wild and fragments.
When will the price for my one mistake finally be paid?
Maybe when my mind finally crumbles and collapses into its final madness-filled descent.

Beware the deep waters,
We’re untold creatures roam and wait patiently for unwary human prey.
Placing upon themselves glamour’s and enchantments.
And when they decide that your flesh or soul is the one they’re craving,
Let’s go of any hope to survive.
The dark waters will swallow you whole and leave your bones as an example.
Beware the deep dark waters.

That evening closed with the flocks of children tramping through the light drizzle in their yellow raincoats.
Their breath escaped with every word in clouds of steam,
As they spoke in hushed voices, discussing the secrets of the frogs croaking in the ground growing dark around them.
They each reached their homes, flowing towards the doors with windows that glowed like fireflies trapped in glass jars.
It was a quiet night, but that’s who did everyone just fine.