Fingers deftly dance Clicking across clacking keys Nothing comes to mind
The Dream
It’s scary in here. In this vessel I can’t move, can’t breathe. I’m hyperventilating. I can hear the sound but can’t feel the air.
Theres someone behind the curtain. Off to my right. There’s someone else, or maybe the same thing, at the foot of the bed.
The shadows of long bony fingers are reaching for the corner. Help!
In this vessel I can’t move.
Hour 4
The baby is asleep
Now is her time
To take a nap
Take a shower
Cook a meal
Do the laundry
Eat hot food
Read a book
Watch a show
Call a friend
Wash my hair
The list goes on
She can’t get up
She can’t choose
And time runs out
Baby needs her mommy
She doesn’t have the strength
Yet she will go
Feed, burp, change, soothe
As the cycle starts anew
Night will bring the suppressed tears
And day will just come and go
Tomato is a Fruit
Down a two lane road
In Southern Alabama
Thousands of seeds are sowed
Before long the vines break the ground
And the sun and rain goes to work
Soon tiny green fruit is all around
The little green fruit swells in the heat
And the vines droop with the weight
Of the finest summertime treat
When the growing stops the fruit turns deep red
And an army of workers will start picking
And across the state folks ready their bread
They drive from everywhere, from miles around.
The boxed tomatoes are lined up for sale
And the tiny town of Slocomb is where they are found
Cars leave loaded with boxes to take back home
Slather the bread in mayo and slice the tomato thin
With pile of potato chips on a plate of styrofoam
Summer doesn’t start without the southern treat
Of the first mater sandwich of the year
A southern delight that’s hard to beat
Prompt 2: places we cannot name
places we cannot name
I am taught
we are all one.
I read the wind with my fingers to soil –
could hear incantations of freedom
in the whisper of poplar dancing leaves forced into jigging
by gale-force Prairie winds
like those dancers in enchanted shoes forced to gyrate to death.
Everyday holds transformation
big and small
so that tincture
powder
or incantations
need not appear before breaking dawn
or remembrances of how to love in forgiveness:
people
lives
pieces of ourselves we have hated.
My Ancestors would have seen this as life;
now we long for it as something from the places we go we cannot name.
(c) r. l. elke
Morning stroll (Prompt 3/4)
the wind reminds me there is more
than self
more than what self consumes life with
the wind brushes against my skin fairly
undiscriminating,
freely,
softly,
lovingly
touching the parts of my flesh clothes don’t cover
My eyes fail while attempting to catch a glimpse
of something from this earth that freely
dresses me in ways fleshy bodies have not
wind proves to me, that I have feasted in darkness.
Front Door Nester
Front Door Nester
It sat upon the front door light well made
Needing to move the roost before the eggs arrived
The human carried the empty nest to the barn
Settling it down on a rough hewn beam
Instructing the mother-to-be kindly yet firmly
To find a more convenient place for the children
Overnight the nester built a new grand liar
Straw and mud anchored to the same black lamp
Resigned she was allowed to stay as the human
Studied robin gestation and maiden flight
The doorway remained dark four weeks
Using the old porch door an inconvenience
Respectfully observed the babies arrived
Fed by a proper mother working full time
Feathers filled in on popping heads
Exposed wide mouths lusted for food
It would be a Friday the human surprised
Grieved the empty nest
TobeTT #4
Syllables
You don’t know which words
to even dig for.
You’re paralyzed as rock
but at least that keeps you
from jumping off the cliff,
at least you recognize all the problems
lining up to take you even lower
past all the heaped-up piles
of useless syllables
that jumped.
J. Pratt-Walter
6/22/2019
He said
He’s said:
I desire you
Your time
Your affection
Love
Your deepest secrets
Your insecurities
Passion
I want to be right there
With you
I want to lay next to you
Hold you
I want to breathe you in
Feel you
Give you all the love
Within me
I want to talk to you about
Everything
I want to put a smile on your face
To brighten my day
Give you unconditionally love
You’re my world
I want to be in your dreams
To make them come true
I want to be your shoulder to cry on
Your pain is my pain
I want to be your safety net
Your protector
I want to be the one to help you
Overcome your obstacles
I want to be the one to make you happy
You’re my heart
Overall baby I want you all of you
Good/bad
You are my present and my future
Sunlight Hour 5
Walk into the sunlight
Feel it caress your neck
Allow it to seep into who you are
Brightening the darkness out
Stop trying to control the world
It doesn’t belong to you
Stop cleansing the deceit
Stop trying to fix the broken
Bask in the sunlight
Feel the light of All That Is
come to you, bathe you
Deliver you from the evil
Lurking in every corner these days
Love is the answer
To all the questions
Even these days
When the shadows run the world
Bask in the sunlight
Feel it caress your neck
Feel the joy
Only warmth can bring