The Poetry Marathon

It was a closet, but not just any closet

The wall at the back was fake

And you could push it to the side

If you knew the special way

Behind the wall were treasures

Stacked up decades high

Shelves and shelves of memories

Were stored there deep inside

It was also full of concrete dust

That covered every surface

From where my grandpa carved that room

During the Cuban missile crisis

It was meant to be a bomb shelter

To keep his family safe inside

If the worst ever happened

And bombs lit up the skies

But by the time that I was born

It was just a place to store stuff

And for a curious little girl

It was a place that dreams were made of

Grandma’s old jewelry cases

And boxes full of vinyl

Notebooks and letters and faded bills

With stamps like “PAID” and “FINAL”

I spent hours dreaming there

Writing stories of my own

Surrounded by the history

Of my family in the stone

That house was sold decades ago

And I’ve often sat and thought

If they know what’s behind

That closet’s faded wall.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

My pen is more than just a pen

It bleeds words from the soul

It’s connected to the universe

In ways most will never know

It holds a spark of the divine

It’s more than just a muse

At times the words it pours out

Are sent by my Goddess, too

It isn’t just a plastic Bic

It’s contents made in Taiwan

It contains the dust of galaxies

That many more will cry on

It bleeds the stories of my past

And sometimes the path before me

My pen is more than just a pen

It’s blessed and extraordinary

I’m just the humble servant

Who’s been blessed to write the words

Sent to me through my pen

From the cosmic universe.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

Love is a time I left behind

But cherish every day

It’s unicorns and magick wands

And the sound of falling rain

It’s a Token song from years long gone

Grilled cheese at 3am

It’s stickers from the Dollar Tree

And laughing in the bed

It’s promises that I still hear

Although they’ve long since died

It’s sketchbooks full of lettering

And a pair of ocean eyes

Love is what I carry with me

Each and every day

It’s there in every word I write

And the words that got away

It’s memories and melodies

Kerby and Hannah Lynn

It’s everything that I still am

But will never have again.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

It’s hour nine and this prompt just sucks

5 words out of ten?

But all ten words are made of meh

So I guess I’ll go my way again

I’ll ramble about nothing

Until a poem just appears

At least I’ll make the deadline

Before the deadline disappears

Beet, tremor, and jacket

Are three words that they list

And then there’s also elbow

That’s 4, what have I missed?

Oh, yes, let’s try the bayou

With cinnamon and elk

Where did they come up with this?!

It’s like mad libs from the shelf

None of it makes any sense

It’s a bucket full of holes

It’s like a maze without a start

Or a play without the roles

A carport with no canopy

A lightbulb without light

But look, I got all 10 words in

So I guess I won this fight.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

Milky ways of diamond dust

Across a desert sky

Flames that dance within the night

And carry wishes high

Upon the winds, up to the stars

Where the gods can hear

Smoke rings dancing in the dark

Before they disappear

Some say magick isn’t real

But some will never know

That magick’s only science

With different words aglow

Physics and astronomy

The wheel of time doth spin

And trust the gods are listening

To the chaos and the sin

We give them each and every day

In actions and in words

In wishes we send on the wind

In poetry and verse

It’s all one; it’s all the same

It’s energy; it’s love

And when you give hate to the stars

Trust They’re listening above

Three times three it all comes back

What you give to the sky

In smoky flames of diamond dust

Where fallen angels fly.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

There’s not many

Who could say

They saw me through

My darkest days

When times were bad

There’s not many

In fact, there really

Isn’t any

Who had the strength

To see me through

There’s not many

Not even you

So know I’ll be fine

Without any

With strength like mine, cuz

There’s not many.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

There’s nothing there; just emptiness

A void so deep and dark

That you could fall forever

And never make a mark

No stars to twinkle merrily

No moons to show the sun

Just a darkness made of black

With nowhere left to run

This is what I think I’d see

If the Earth were really flat

And I looked right off the edge

Just an endless sea of black

Like the deepest, darkest well

Without a wish to make

I’m so glad the Earth is round

And that’s not a chance I’d have to take.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

How did so much come to nothing

Leaving just an empty space

When everything was over

And there were no truths left to face

Just aching walls of silence

With a window to the past

Highlights where it all went wrong

And where we tried to make it last

It’s almost like a crime scene, now

Missing just a chalked-up outline

To represent the bodies

Who we were before the fault line

Came crashing down around us

Like a plane we couldn’t fly

Or an ocean bent on flooding

Every dream we held inside

I look around that empty room

Deep inside my soul

To remind myself of all I’ve lost

Before I turn to go

There’s nothing left in there for me

It’s time to lock the door

And leave behind the memories

Of who I was before

That one brief shining moment

Those too few wonderous years

That were only just a fairytale

There’s no happy ending, here.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

For fifteen years I did my best

To honor all those vows

We shared before Goddess and man

But I had to get out

He had a mistress those last few years

And I could not compete

When I tried to intervene

He’d knock me off my feet

Her name was Alcohol, and I

Had to make a choice

To survive or lay down and die

I had to find my voice

So I filed all the paperwork

That said this all ends here

And every vow that came before

Just had to disappear

Divorce became my saving grace

It’s how I did survive

And two years later I got the call

That I was the only one alive

I barely heard the coroner

When she told me he was gone

I just hoped he’d found some peace

Wherever he’d moved on

So, for me, those vows they preach

When they join two souls together

Were only hollow promises

That couldn’t last forever

And people rarely understand

The grief I carry with me

For the man he was before the bottle

Made us both so empty.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~

Twenty little poetry projects

Is the prompt for hour three

With images and metaphors

This prompt is not for me

Twenty lines that contradict

The lines that came before

One with “slang you’ve never heard of”

Another showing less is more

I sat and stared at every line

And thought “there’s just no way”

So instead I’ll flip it on its head

And do it all my way

My senses are much more than five

And because I’m deaf, one less

I can’t write as my future self

For she hasn’t got here, yet

But I can give you twenty lines

Oh, look, I’m almost there

I’ll take your prompt and make my own

With a little Mandy flair

Perhaps I’ll make it 32

Little poetry projects hence

And here I am at 24

Who’s taking all the bets?

I’ll bet on me, it’s what I do

I’ll make my pen just dance

Through all the lines until I’m done

I’ll always take that chance

C’est la vie, it’s just my life

The way I’ve always lived it

On the edge of some bloody knife

I’ll survive when someone twists it.

~Mandy Kocsis©2023~