24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Your words cut
I lay awake with the moon
Replaying the reel over
Are you conscious of me?
A mind wrestle
Wanting you to hear the silence
Realize. Hold me tight
Wipe my tears
You now sleep
Forgive and forget, now rest
You’re here. That matters
The morning fresh start
Awaken with kisses
A loving look shared between
Your world and mine. Let go
Of small, silly things
Deep gladness, great hunger –
having wondered if I would ever get beyond,
I wonder no more.
The green is perfect –
I’m enamoured of the variation in each continent’s pines,
I know that now.
I inherited black clothes, the color blue –
embracing them as my mother before me,
I wonder no more.
The Spider King
There is an attic full of creaks and darkness
I often wonder if the spiders fear
What’s beyond the attic door
As I do looking there
I guess we can never know
What each other sees
My eyes are only two
And in darkness they tend to freeze
But spiders they are different
Having a thousand eyes and legs
Fancy a darkness home
A web for those who stray
This web they weave
Feeds the beast
Last night’s misstep
Now a meal for the king
All these creaks I lend my ear
Can only be eight legs crashing
Through the attic through the door
Into my room so safe before
My fear has now taken me
Not in the floor creaking
But in the web of misfortune
Where the Spider King is reaching
Set adrift
Where are we going
Somewhere together
Will it take long
It does not matter
Drifting away
But it does matter
How can it matter
What if we get lost
Still drifting
And what if we do
I don’t want to be lost
We aren’t lost if we are here
Drifting away
If we are here
Of course here
With each other
Set adrift
I find myself wondering
about the people on the street
the ones who bang on heartbeat drums
and dance on hummingbird feet.
Do they travel road to road,
the country in their wake?
Or live on one streetcorner,
clutching at the brake?
I wonder all the time:
What will become of me?
What does my future hold?
What woman will I be?
If she is a street performer
I hope that she will roam.
Countrysides to cityscapes,
taxicabs to ocean foam.
She’ll dance her way across the earth,
see all the people pass.
She’ll thank the Lord she does not have
a mansion made of glass.
A nomad’s home is stronger;
It will not fall by stones.
I’ll make my home the woman
that dances in my bones.
Scared and fearsome
Confident trepidation
Hesitant reactionary
Full speed procrastination
Gentle rain
Soft and cool
Overtake me
Flood the pool
Take away
All assumptions
Misconceptions
And presumptions
A haiku/ senryu sequence
music concert
the room abuzz
with mosquitoes
an exquisite phrase
not even one clap
is for the artiste
keeping the tala
an offbeat catches
my ear
This dog won’t leave me alone
Typing one-handed
as she begs me for a bone.
Or attention, whichever works for me.
This little monster is so excited
Just to be here
She’s so happy to have been invited!
She climbs up on my keyboard
Then backs up without typing a word.
Expecting belly-rubs just for existing
She’s so cute, unstoppable and persisting.
So I give in and the fun truly begins.
Writing has never been better.
That’s all I really can say.
I don’t remember
the whiskey rage
that propelled me to slosh
my drink and yell
“Fuck you”
to anyone who would listen.
But, they didn’t listen.
Instead, they just shook
their heads, looking at me
through the plexi-glass that separated
me from the pill bottle
that whispered “take another”
in a milky voice.
I spilled my drink.
I looked over at you,
learing at me,
and I wanted to kiss you
but I couldn’t move,
couldn’t lift my hands
to scratch your face.
It wasn’t supposed
to be sloppy or awkward.
You inserted
yourself
into my life.
The needle you kept so close
to you dulled with time, and my fingers
smelled like menthol cigarettes.
The lights of passion
finding its way to me
an effect of my search
or a premise to me conscious.
How did you come trailing
looking for me?
when I have been
in search of you for years.
Where you not listening
to my silent prayers
wishes in dejection?
where every blood oozed out
in sweat and cry,
where you not mellowed
to lend me a solace.
When I needed you the most.
Now that you are here
I want to embrace you
cover you from the unseen
to protect and keep all that I can
not just as a handful treasure
but my lifelong earnings
a part of me.
Copyright © Snigdha
