The Poetry Marathon

How I speak…

“Assured and sure” but confused,

At your failure to

Read the inner meaning of

My ways…

 

Don’t want to speak my heart;

Better read from my deeds.

 

Don’t want to beg for care;

Better care before I dare.

 

Don’t want to wag for your attention;

Better attend before you lose.

 

I don’t utter a word,

Still…..

Believe in my heart’s noblest effort,

And my straight thought…

Never have I

Proclaimed and Asserted,

Somethings for you to know.

But trust me

This is how I speak…..

…………………………………

…………………………………

 

A Sickness Not to be Witnessed – Hour Two

If banged my soul against a brick wall

Time and time again

Waiting for this all to end –

The hellfire drawing me like a moth to the light

The passions I wish to deny

But they dance across my indulgent smile

The too eager readiness to go the extra mile

The fleeting moments regularly recalled

The heart and mind both enthralled

And in your habit of staying too long

And the lyrics of your unscheduled song

Our unflinching psychic radar

Trained on each other no matter how far

Our need to touch base

Our too happy face

The cryptic clues we weave through the years

Our tug-of-war with desire and fears

And despite the unwritten sacrifice

None of it has sufficed

To make us grow sick of this sickness

Never to be witnessed

Cannot Tell

I cannot tell you how I miss you.

Cannot explain how my heart quickens

at the thought of your voice; how

my stomach clenches with anticipation

at the thought of your gaze.

I cannot tell you how you made

me laugh. Bright days of summers

past are now too far to recall.

I cannot tell you how I love you.

Hidden Heart

Vulnerable emotions

Unspoken

Spill onto vast white

Stained by my hand

Kept in secret places

Rarely shared

 

Hidden in journals

Bound by rejection

And unworthyness

 

Concealed tears

Pain and joy

Blurring lines

In between

Words that echo

Forever captured

On page

Is my heart

how i would sing longing – #2

i would sing
its myriad moods
a choppy conglomerate
neither soft nor raucous
measured nor clipped
with open mouth and searching eyes
above a rolling continuo
of ocean surf

its full-throated harmonies a dance,
beat, bursts of symphonic grandeur
and quiet string trios, a gentle burbling brook
and sun seeping into cool rock
most reverent hush of whispered prayer

a crescendo speeding up
a flight of notes,
not quite a trill
yet building, rising
to a sudden stop –
a     long        drawn     out       silence ….

a grateful exhale.

swb

prompt 2

 

Hour two How do we share yearnings when we cannot speak of them?

Times of No speech

by Joan Leotta

When words are not enough

My hand clenches

My mouth goes dry

Words are the essence of my being

 

If I cannot speak, how do I know

What I feel, let alone share it

With you?

 

This, I suppose, is when we

Walk to the window,

Watch moon rise in the sky

Ripple in the creek behind the house

And let our kisses speak for us.

Making a Difference

I want to make a difference in this world
To speak of it, well, there are no sounds
I want to make a life that is well lived
Improving the lives of those around me,
                      someone whose love abounds.

I want to make a difference in this world
To make those around me smile
In all my actions, every day
To be one who is thought positive,
                      an optimist who would go the extra mile.

I want to make a difference in this world
Take the sorrow and the pain
Change the way people act and think
Towards those whose lives can be a struggle,
                      who know how to smile in the rain.

I want to make a difference in this world
Yes, the words are something not said aloud
To make this world a better place
More positive, joyful, and loving,
                      expressed in every thought and sound.

Hour Two

How do we share yearnings when we cannot speak of them?

Yearnings

By Patricia Harris

Tongue tied,

Frustration cried.

No words to say a tired mind,

To speak the desire,

The dreams behind.

 

Reaching out,

Soul to soul,

Hoping that though the

Words will not come,

That still the desire will flow.

That somehow you will see

The desire within me.

Apology

 

Your generation must Save the World.

It’s your turn. We tried.

Did we?

Climate change.

Famine.

Racism.

Nuclear weapons.

We marched, rioted,

Spoke truth to power,

For ourselves.

 

I’m sorry.

 

You can’t afford

Greed, selfishness, bigotry.

Elect leaders with foresight.

Put children first.

You must Save the World

Not for yourselves,

But for the next generations.

 

2017 – Hour Two

Profess satisfaction.
Dissimulate the heart.
Espouse altruism.
Iveigle the spirit.