24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
I’d rake my words across her skin
spit gum in her hair
and forgive myself because she
did the same and worse to me
when you’re a child, logic
is the enemy of pleasure
and age changes only the word
from “just” to “cruel”
this is the wheel I’m helpless
to break even when I know
to do better, be better, think better
even when time keeps turning
because in the end the pattern just repeats
My Grandpa loved three things:
Wading boots, fishing,
And Catalpa worms for bait.
He hated Grandchildren running through his garden,
Being told he couldn’t have ice cream for breakfast,
And Stepping on slippery stones.
—-It is not wise to fish in the Eel River Alone!
The woman made it to the mines in an unknown haste,
She carried on with her everyday scraping of the lichen growing on buildings
She quickly realized how she could harm someone with her tool,
She waited until the day dwindled from the sky
And the soldiers grew lazier,
She watched as one of them left the group walking along the outer rim of the mine’s ravine
In the blink of an eye, the blade met the soldier’s neck,
And she kept puncturing his neck as her energy allowed her
As he fell bloodied and dead, the woman took apart his armor and attached it to herself,
The woman believed that she could walk amongst the others as she wore the armor
But she forgot about the blood soaked into the polyester and cotton garments,
She did everything she could, from hiding the body to wiping off some of the grey blood
But as she walked towards the elevator towards the lower levels, she heard someone call out to her,
A guard had yelled at the woman but she didn’t understand what he was saying
It was only mumbling to her,
Fear clung to her chest, something she hadn’t felt in a long time
The woman inched her hand towards the pistol in the holster.
She unbuckled the holster, uncocked the pistol and fired at the incoming soldier,
In one fell swoop she had killed another one
More were coming her way and she had no time to waste,
Without hesitation the woman ran with determination and caution in her feet
Without thinking, she jumped off of the rim and into the grey waters below.
Caught my eyes from across the room and left me transfixed
Heart skipped, soul sucked into your presence for a nanosecond, then released
Gave me a hint of the depths beyond those curious brown irises,
A lingering taste of those mysteries beneath
It left me insatiable,
Barely able to breathe, palms sweaty
Completely disarmed by a glance, a smile, Batted your eyes and brought me to my knees
Everything I need contained within that moment
That held gaze across a room the only necessary component for my existence, everything else now inconsequential and mundane…
Until you wave to the guy standing behind me and call his name
What a shame
MICHAEL
A home is a place
Of love, acceptance,
Peace, and security.
Your arms are
My home, my solace
My peace, and my life.
I can’t live without you.
A cold in olden times
Rests easy with Vicks VapoRub,
Mirinda and SkyFlakes.
In this, the present,
A cold demands a drop of blood,
Cold steel on your skin, a drug.
And she sleeps, it’s winter.
Wide and wild
Untamable and unfathomable
Waves crashing
Riptides pulling
When you enter me
I enter you
Taking you in
And being taken with you
As you sink into my depths
I sink into yours
Swirling around you
My presence taking oxygen’s place
My absence the effervescence that rises to the surface
I dance in your hair delighted
Twisting through it
Like kelp, it moves with me
I ease into your chest
When you breath it is only me
I lay my body over and around yours
There are no hard places here
I hold you and am held within you
I flow into your shape
Softly contained and containing
She her hair was always a mess
As told by her only pet crow
When she was startled by a boom
By her laid a locked chest
Inside it her secrets she’d stow
And return behind her loom
…But she had long been laid to rest
Our planet is a miracle:
dramatic waterfalls, soaring mountains,
brilliantly colored birds.
Our planet is in peril:
whales and dolphins washing up on our shores,
starving polar bears, the collapse of ecosystems.
The time is now.
There was a time, special
where summer days, nights
found me alone, content
I found solitude underrated
warmth of sun, cool evenings
some saw me standoffish
I am sure some still do.
– Mark L. Lucker
© 2019
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