The Poetry Marathon

Hello Handsome

I hope this is real, handsome man,
and not just another cruelty.
The darkness I’ve drawn in is so adept at it.

I’ve had enough of cruelty in this life.

Oh, but haven’t we both?
I saw her push you away that day
dressed in bizarre white.

You deserve love, as do I. Yes, and don’t we all?

So, I made a promise to God,
as instructed by the song
my child sang under her breath.

“How will I know if he really loves me?”

“Don’t trust the feeling” a parenthetic.
For years, I have not hoped, having forgotten
the sweetness of holding hands.

Your essence has inspired me to hope for love.

You. This. Whatever is going on now,
whether cosmic intervention or human interaction,
has inspired me to be the best version of myself.

I had forgotten, somehow, to enjoy being.

That you know I exist or not is a moot point.
We are so much alike in so many ways.
If we are to cross paths naturally, I hope to be my best self.

Until then, love. Until then, I will simply hope for the best.

Hour22

You know nothing,

but winter is coming anyway!

Embrace your nightmares while

looking for summer’s warmth…

Hour Twenty-four: Hoped For

Is that bright light bursting through the dark forest

The light I prayed for to lead me out of my morass

Or

Is it the light at the end of a dark tunnel,

The proverbial train rushing to end my suffering forever

 

Are its beams burning down the darkness

Leaving me trapped inside to be consumed by

Smoke and flames

Or

Are they a stairway to the light source

A way out and a way to enter

Paradise

 

Do I get to choose or have I

Been chosen

Hour 24 – In which I replace the word “hopes” with the word “feet”

In which I replace the word “hopes” with the word “feet”
after Nico Wilkinson

My feet move me toward a future I am quite unsure of.
But while I ask so much of my feet,
with all these dreams of forward motion,
they cannot answer.
Sometimes, though, simply having feet is
the best answer you can ask for.

Sometimes, I move at more of a crawl.
My feet, forgotten somewhere behind me,
cannot do the work I’ve asked of them.
I must drag myself back to the start,
find my feet again, wipe away the grime
and stand again, bolstered by renewed foundation.

Even so, my feet are complicated things.
Turning numb, stinging, collapsing at their joinings,
Occasionally, I turn my hatred toward them,
wonder at their use. All before I remember
there is cruelty in forcing anything
to act solely at my will.

So, I will be gentle to my feet now,
care for them, give them room to breathe,
accommodate the way they swell
on days I believe in them more fiercely.
Forgive them for being as unpredictable
as this body they are bound to.

I think there is a commonality
in how we treat our feet and ourselves,
how we treat that which is foundational.
Even when we find our feet
cannot be used in the way we wish
should we not answer with grace?

Hour 22 : Catch 22 Slice

The toppings,

The slices,

The watery dice,

The earth isn’t flat, but pizza it,

Why don’t we end conversations by being weird-doughs?

All I got is room & mushrooms for you.

Come over for a dinner.

Where we argue about the crusts.

2023 Poem Twenty Three

I’m glad I can’t change

the past or tell myself the

future without her

Hour 21

Que sera sera…

You know that old song?

The message is not that old actually!

Hour 24: Hope

Life is an interplay of shadows and light
A lot of times the black clouds seem to overwhelm the sun
But a tiny, silvery ray called hope shines through,
Guiding our lost souls back in to the action ring
Rekindling the embers of dying dreams in our breast
In the canvas of our setting sun, glimmering hope paints the image of a new dawn
Every step that hope inspires you to take, you rise above your fears,
Finding strength and love

2024 Poem Twenty Two

Little, Gay Awakenings

– Tasting her cherry chapstick for the first time

– Shego in afternoon cartoons

– My first short, short haircut

– The realization that humans could never be put into a box, let alone Box A or Box B only

– Liquid courage fueled telling her “I like you” and being the only one who knows the true depth of that tiny statement

– The beat of my heart as I knock on her dorm room door

To Make Brownies

Step one:

Open the box

Read the instructions on the box

Without spilling the contents of the box

 

Step two:

Spill contents of the box

Curse

Sigh with relief

That the contents are separately packaged

 

Step three:

Look for eggs in the fridge

Discover there are none

 

Step four:

Go to the store

Get wine, cereal, bananas

Pain killers

 

Step five:

Get home

Realize you forgot the eggs

Curse again

 

Step six:

Go to bakery

Buy brownies

 

Step seven:

Watch favorite movie

Eat brownies

Try to forget about bad day