The Poetry Marathon

A recipe for lovers

• 1 part passion
• 1 part patience
• 1 part compassion
• 1 part empathy
• 2 parts silliness

Start with passion. Add in the first part of silliness. As you go, slowly stir in patience, compassion, and empathy.

Add the remaining silliness. Top with a kiss!

Fame and heroism, two different coins, rarely the same.

Freckled skin, golden bracelets, a loving touch.

Always my hero, but your fame lay hidden.
When one soul left, hundreds came forth.

A hero is never hidden for long,

in the stories we tell,

in the stories we hear,

your soul is discovered.

Forever, my hero.

Erasure

“A modern mama, you must lose”

Prepare the baby
With a cot —
Lay sleeping you must.

“You’re a mamma!”
You need.
So ignore your body?

Go!
Processed  milk designed for man.

“You’re a modern mamma!”
So when little boy turns one
why does he cry like that?

You’ve actually got it backwards.

Your advice is pretty rotten.

“Modern” humans are mammals
That mothers curled with nursing.

2006.

A simple question:

“Do you love me?”

A simple answer.

Learn to let it go.

A bigger gift awaits you yet.

Travel the seas,

Climb the mountains.

Reach the one who says,

“I do.”

Moonbeam illuminate the worn path from the cabin to the lake.

Coffee brewing on the fire, steam rising in swirls.

“Hush,” he said as his arms embraced her.

The morning fog creates a curtain as sip from the canteen of love.

Damn the morning and what the concrete cities bring.

Fir trees line the path, shelve the doubt until tomorrow.

Love waits on the dock.

Secrets

define us.

What we tell

and what we don’t

binds us or loosens us.

Secrets

empower is.

What we tell

shapes who we are.

But what if your secret is another?

Hour 7

Secret meetings, arranged in hushed whispers,

Windows creak and our bodies slide through

into the night

into the secret illumined by the midnight sun.

Secret meetings created our path

in the night

in the shadows.

Hour 6

You held the golden keys of eternity,

I didn’t beg you not to go.

Instead I said to use those keys.

You held the golden keys of eternity,

and I wondered why you picked them up.

They glistened in your hands,

and I knew you’d use them.

Hour 5

Fiery sunset, piercing the sky

A Roman prince, a demigod

just waiting for my arrival.

I knew it was you,

Inciting the fires within.

Smoldering flames,

A fiery love.

Hour 4 – butterfly

Step two into the garden

barefoot feet upon the stone

missing you amongst the phlox

— a quick stop —

a butterfly in the path

a kiss from above

a gentle hello from between the words

a kiss from the wings

hello, mama.