24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
I’m not sure how I survived this state of being for so many years,
especially as a developing young woman,
drifting back and forth between the verge of sleep and being spoken at.
I didn’t allow myself naps until college, and by then I was so sleep depraved
I spent most of my free time catching up on all I’d missed
and now spend more time wandering the plots of my dreamlands
than fostering empty goals in the woken world.
(Hour 18)
Hour Eighteen – Text Prompt
Write a poem about a haunting, real, or imagined, detailed or abstract.
Image Prompt – Ravens and Crows
You always know, when you see a crow
Of the powers that they own
For those who die, are unable to fly
Up towards salvation, alone.
Their soul just flows, into our crows
Till they’re ready to leave this earth
Its not a haunting, not even daunting
They merely await rebirth.
This is a fact, not a made up pact
Hindus believe this to be true
The crows are fed, when our own are dead
So, we feed our own folk too.
For as long as it takes, no one breaks
This sacred circle of life
To ether they go, the humble crow
Carrying, parent and child, husband and wife
When you hear crow caws, please just pause
And say a silent prayer
For they’ll fly away, in the next few days
To deliver the soul to Universe’s next layer.
I’ve never understood …
How there are people who believe there are tiers
of people, with their own kind
at the top.
What qualities can they possibly
see in themselves that jump out and
shout their inherent worth?
Where lies the beauty?
The intrinsic value?
The enduring goodness?
I’ve never understood …
The arrogance is both
baffling and
maddening.
three ravens
somehow : out of the shadows : three black birds : hover : the first we have seen : if indeed they are even there : for they float : on air : without sound : almost without movement : & do not caw or cry out : at our approach
Milky is the first : to protest : with a gentle whine : then Ben : by stopping : then Priya : till we all stand still : no one knows why : but no one wants : to go closer : something about : those three ravens : screeches : silence
Stella shatters our spell : by croaking : although I see no crustaceans : i can think of better places : to picnic
& we wander on : away : wondering : what calamity occurred here : worse than elsewhere : to flaunt its : torment so brazenly
Ghosts are everywhere if you know where to look
and you’re willing to die
just enough to get their attention
tuning your ears to the extremely low frequencies
the government uses for weapons
ELF – machine elves – basic stuff
It’s where they live
I never believed in ghosts. But now,
I look out for them
inhabiting old spaces,
cold and dirty and
ready to make me believe
they exist.
Maybe afterwards
— when the haunting
becomes commonplace —
you will reach out to me and
tell me it’s alright to
be scared. To be wary,
even, of the dark places
so old that light has forgotten
about them.
You’ll tell me I’m right
about everything except
what makes you move
so deliberately, so discreetly, away
from me.
You’ll tell me that death
is inevitable, even as I
am cajoling you to wake up.
Wake up.
Wake up.
“Don’t You Know Me”
what will remembered
of me
will there be moments
where my spirit
will be called
a generation, maybe two
living
the rest is ancestry
our souls, when they return
will they still choose
to know me
my words, will they
live for eternity?
Running from the truth
Always ready to take flight
Vowing to look within
Eternally grateful for second chances
Never forgetting who I truly am
Lost in Oblivion
This digital age has become an undoing
Of communication and of common sense
Whole words whittled down to mete fragments of lingo
And at youthful minds own expense
The kids of today have lost their direction
Eyes deeply buried into their phones
To where many don’t know how to make conversation
Staying trapped in their tech all alone
I have heard of some that have walked into traffic
Without even batting an eye
Not aware of surroundings or risking tomorrow
With no clear answer as to why
The phone use may be a clear sign of addiction
A pandemic within its own right
For safety concerns are evermore apparent
In each downloaded gigabyte
There once was a time when a stream was where fish swam
And viruses were only the flu
Where smishing sounded but akin to a gurgle
And humanity still had a clue
Technology has brought us many an advantage
But each forward step is one back
And sadly, the youth of today are the victims
Of common sense’s great cyber attack
A twisty tube of a shock of colours
They swirl and bend; the mirrors and glass, partner in tandem
And at every turn
A new perspective, a new world
I shake the kaleidoscope again and again
Until I become fluid and I find my heart in the kaleidoscope…