24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Selkie
He stole my skin, my face
Don’t romanticize my situation
He has my soul
On a shelf
In a dry corner of the house
Let me go back to the sea’s hush
To the cool blanket of fog
Under a dock
At dawn
He swears his love is
Concrete
But I am damn raw
On a moonbeam clock
I count the nights until
I kill him for the key
The dock at the lake
home of grandparents
was my summer hangout
Monument of sturdy
simplicity
fir one-by-four planks
nailed to two-by-four
stud framing
with number eight nails
anchored on
galvanized steel pipes
fifty-feet from my
bedroom window it would
hide in morning fog
refract moonbeams on
cloudless nights
lull me to sleep
clapped by gentle waves
in harmony with
deepening hush of
the Northwoods on a
summer’s night
painted blueish-gray
sometimes at dusk it would
dissolve into the water
just as it all dissolved
into me
– Mark L. Lucker
© 2019
http://lrd.to/sxh9jntSbd
my constant companion
he is every shape
new to full
waxing and waning
a brilliant white
rarely
a vibrant red suit
“Goodnight, Moon.”
no photos, please
his good side is ethereal
and cameras can’t feel
“I love you to the moon and back.”
baby blue days
velvet black nights
bordered by puffy clouds
mirroring distant stars
“When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky”
never lonely
never lost
strength to command seas
gentle glow, never glaring
“Hey, Moon, please forget to fall down.”
every car ride
mommy, daddy, look!
it’s my friend, the moon!
“I sit by myself, talking to the moon.”
AT THE END OF DAY
A hush falls over the city streets
As the fog rolls in from the fishing bay.
A stray moonbeam spotlights a lonely old man
Still casting his line, still dreaming away.
In his left hand he clenches a silver canteen
Filled with coffee or liquor, nobody can say.
Maybe he’s taken his hopes off the shelf
And in that canteen, he’s stored them away.
He shivers with cold as the fir that he wore
Slips down to the dock in decay.
That concrete, the scaffold he mounts every night
Is a damned horrid place of dismay.
In my right hand
a pen, a passport,
a sheaf of stories to fly me round the world
In my left hand
a photo, messages, promises
maybe, maybe this time, maybe he will.
In the center, a fool who can’t choose which hand to let go.
We sat upon the bench,
Upon the rise of hill;
So quiet was the hush
Of morning, very still.
A sip of coffee, hot,
Helping rid the chill
Of foggy morning air;
A peaceful time, until…
A boat that moved too fast
Hit hard the wooden dock,
Upsetting several fishermen
With tackle gear, unlocked.
Their screams were heard so loud
As they began to see
The fish they’d laid upon the shelf–
A floating feast, to be!
I prefer a London fog
She takes her coffee black
There are windows on the street front
We hole up in the back
The sight of all the concrete
It’s too much for us to bear
We come from green fir forests
And wish we were still there
In the dark, woodpaneled corner
Of the neighborhood cafe
We remember hush of mornings
When moonbeams met the day
A desert sunrise is a heavenly event
The clouds part and the moonbeams fade away
The fog recedes into the concrete
A hush takes hold as the sun nears the sandy docks
The motel manager stirs the coffee
And opens a jar of jam for the oven burnt toast
The sun floats above the dune shelves
And strikes the man’s brow with a fiery hiss
“Damn, it’s gonna be a hot day”
Huddled inside a shelter
of my own thoughts,
doubt the stakes in the ground,
self-loathing poles stretched tight
as fear created the covering above.
Hope waited outside the door,
patiently looking for entry,
and love sneaked in
through the cracks.
Any storms outside
were nothing
compared to the tempest
that raged within.
The demons and shadows
were slowly torn apart
as the wind of fortitude
and squall of resolve
blew apart the darkness,
and opened up to
the light of realization
and the beauty of inner strength.
Unusual sized rats and six fingered men
Fire swamps and dreaded pirates
A love stronger than steel
And a wicked prince planning to kill his bride
A wild story full of small magic and deep love
Wit and strength throughout
A tale that will last through time
A tale that will always be in my heart
Running a little behind now. But I’m still here!!