Last Dance

We have until the night is over
and words waste our last breaths.
First love never lingers long
it succumbs to an early death.
This ballad marks the future
that has committed theft.
Lights circle the walls
reminding us of minutes left.
Pull your body close to mine
feel the harmonic motion.
Hand on my back, lean in and
give your final devotions.
We have shared bruises
beaten by the sandman’s hands.
Why I had to go I’ll spend forever
trying to understand.
We have until the night is over
to do so as we wish.
So with seconds left
I plant a kiss
as my parting gift.

Goldeneye

Let go of what you’ve already lost.

Why is that so difficult for some of us?

I want to be mr. fahrenheit, invert the world and see it for what

it truly is. ecstasy won’t be your companion unless you let it.

I want to come alive but worry I’ll accidentally ignite the sky

and have no idea how to extinguish it. Perhaps that’s a

problem for another night.

A Prompt Struggle (H20)

I don’t wish to do what you ask
though I’m happy to do otherwise

I do not like to follow rules
even ones I make myself

Leave the door ajar and let me know I may enter
and long we’ll sit and talk or sit in silence – as you like.
But tell me to come in or ask to set a date
and surely I’ll be late if I come at all.

If you tell me what to write,
I won’t be able to write at all
If you invite me to explore,
I’ll run out of time before I run out of words.

2019 – Twenty – Prompt 23 – A Response to Prompt 1 – Things That I Am Not

I am not a man of constant sorrow.
I am not one who sees the forest. I see trees.
I am not much of one to see tomorrow.
Today is good enough for one who sees.
I am not a poet full of good intentions.
I am not a fan of words used as a lure.
I am not a writer craving voice in world dissensions.
Words aren’t always helpful, don’t always cure.
I am not where you will find no contradictions.
I am not where you will hear all answers spoke.
I am not immune to maledictions.
It’s possible to be both whole and broke.

I live in dreams, not always in real life,
in fantasies more real to me than you.
I am not a man whose sorrow’s like a knife,
that cuts, it’s true, still sorrows sometimes do.

True poetry is not always ‘I am’. That’s just a boast.
It’s often in ‘I’m not’, where it’s found most.

20 – Crow Secrets

Crows whispering in my ear, “Please don’t forget us when you go home… and don’t forget the trains out there in Wyoming. Remember how you loved the trains coming through every day, and the snow. Try to remember the snow, and our silhouettes across the fields.

We have cousins there where you call home, Jimmy, Jake, and Lilly. Try to go to the sanctuary up country to visit them. They will remember you. We crows know family, even if we haven’t met in person.

Please don’t forget us when you go home to Maui. Please come back this way soon. Wear the yellow ribbon, and that shiny, tinkling bobble we all love.

We’ll keep our eye out for you. Please, don’t be too long.”

20

And were I vain, the least bit wary, of donning, thus, my wig—

Of scarves fastened fashionably with haphazard pins,

I’d have Eliot write for me, a t-shirt, and this is how it would begin—

 

They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!

Under His Wings (Poem #20)

Hope

Faith

Two words that many people misunderstand

Yet because I know where my hope lies

And because I know where my faith lies

My life is good

I have faith that God will do as He says He will

He will fulfill His promises to me

When I am weak

He makes me strong

When I feel trapped

He wraps me in His arms

When I seek Him

He hides me in His secret place

I am safe hidden under His wings

He is my guardian angel

My protector

Lord spread your wings

And wrap me safe within them

Tropical Megacity

Tropical Megacity
Virginia Carraway Stark

Twin Spires pierce the sky
Of the tropical land
Where fountains spring
And the air is filled
With food from dozens of lands
It is a city of green
Birds fill THIS central park
A jungle that is left virgin
In a metropolis wonderland
A zone left for flying
Amidst the sky scrapers
Of a tropical metropolis
Multi-colored birds pierce
The sky with their screams
Their wings beat the air
One and all can agree on one thing:
There’s too much good food
Anyone could get fat!
In this modern mega city
That’s more garden and wonderland
Amidst the wonderland of tall buildings
One would swear are from a future land
Or another planet perhaps
Where people and nature live together
Memories of how close the jungles still is
To what was a primitive sprawl
A different sort of paradise
Not so long ago

After Today

After today, he thought

the world will never be quite the same

she swam across the pond

and danced like Amphritite onto the sand

he envied the water drops that caressed her lissome curves

the sun kissing her golden hair

and wind that stroked without shame

a virgin ripe and innocent

 

he would not pluck her guileless nature

destroy the naivety that held his sway

lest the harvest wring a momentary gratification

and a lifetime of regrets.

her innocent nature laid bare his soul

he would let love enter there

and in the ensuing pursuit and trade

of heart and soul and mind

eternal pleasure would ebb and flow

on the time and tides where fidelity endures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspired by the last line of the book Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. “After today, he thought, the world will never be quite the same.”

Prompt #19 Heightened Sensitivity – A Collaboration with Numb -Prompt #4

Prompt #4 Numb

Prompt #4 Numb

Posted on June 22, 2019 12:24pm EDT by janiceraquelamendonca

Dead from the inside 
I am numb.
A complete shut down
unresponsive to the external.
Immovable, life wasting away.
Tired eyes and hungry heart
all dead in a row.
No thirst to quench
no dreams to conquer
powerless in one way
powerful in another
- nothing affects me.

Nothing to lose,
no fear, no feelings, 
no attachment, no sorrow, 
Just the bottomless pit 
of nothingness -encroaching.

Overtaking... overcoming...
infectious and familiar

It feels comfortable, 

I am doomed anyway, 
Damned if I do,
Damned if I don't.

Hopelessness looms 
like a shadow. 
Wasted life, 
Wasted years,
The Pointlessness of the point,
at the edge of reason 
and lingering disappointment.

Far from any harm,
removed and isolated
detached and unemotional, 
I let that shit go. 

Only to dive deep
Head first into the chaos of living.
The madness of emotions.
The passage through life.

I am waking up,
Undoing these chains 
that have held me down 
for far too long.
I am becoming human.
I am living. 

I open the doors 
and let it surge.

-Janice Raquela Mendonca 




Heightened Sensitivity

Awakened

Aware
Alert
Alive 
The flood gates burst forth

Let them in

Life so consumed 
Overwhelmed 
Crowded by so many things
waiting to be felt, 
acknowledged. 
Waiting for some sort of response.

Smack dab in harms way
involved and participated.
So many emotions 
which should I feel
Indecisiveness takes over. 

I want to break free
I want to let go
but I can't escape.

I want to become invincible, 
I want to become powerful.

I am human, 
I am not perfect.

-Janice Raquela Mendonca