Hour 8
The stars so bright
Shimmering like they know my inner dreams
Waiting to burst open and explode for the world to see
Hour 7
Barefoot and sun kissed
Swinging with the sunflowers
Hair blowing and birds chirping
Is where my heart belongs
Hour 5
The single chair in the middle of the room
Colorful flowers lay atop
A room unused for years
Abandoned and unloved
Yet someone chooses to feel it’s warm embrace
Summer in Mississippi – Hour 9
Out back of the carport the bayou quivered with mayflies
and June bugs and mosquitoes looking for love.
A normal summer night in the south.
A bare yellow lightbulb sputtered on the porch.
We bet our meager allowances
on how much longer it would last.
We hoped it would go out.
Night is better.
It wasn’t chilly, but you put your jacket around me,
and blushed with the tremor that went through me.
The smell of your skin enveloped me.
I put my hand on your arm and
Your elbow bumped my breast.
I felt you gasp, and I looked down quickly to smile.
There were cinnamon candies in your jacket pocket.
We took two, knowing it wouldn’t be long
before we would be breathing each other’s breath.
We knew where to go, and there was still plenty of time.
Prompt #9
They felt the tremor all the way
to the bayou, where folks turned
beet red at the thought of impropriety and even
the elk head in the dining room was embarrassed
by the way you elbowed your way into their lives,
only to kick the bucket without even
a howdy-do, sending another tremor all the way
back to St. Louis.
Butterfly Dance
They danced above
and around me,
blissfully unaware
of the harsh brevity of our lives,
the most beautiful duet
I’ve ever seen
Time and Space
Time mistakes us for caring beings
We are uncaring of time
Space mistakes us for caring beings
We are uncaring of space
Nature mistakes us for caring beings
We are uncaring of nature
Time will destroy us
Space will crush us
Nature will suffocate us
MY COCOON
Never the pretty one,
Or the popular one,
I was made fun of often.
Teased for how I looked,
How I talked.
I became extremely self-conscious,
More aware of my appearance than I should have been.
At all times,
My hair was done,
Make-up on and nails freshly painted.
Yet,
I still always felt like that ugly, unpopular girl.
I didn’t notice the guys paying attention to me,
The girls who wanted to hang out.
I was the caterpillar who had transformed into a beautiful butterfly.