24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
A Word of Advice
Dear Janis,
Don’t let the needle slide into ragged veins,
we still need a piece of your heart.
Dear Jim,
Stay out of the club,
no more roadhouse blues.
Dear Jimi,
You were born under a good sign,
so sleep on your side.
Dear Robert,
Stay clear of the crossroads,
and away from the bar.
Dear Amy,
You’ve got to go to rehab,
we say yes, yes, yes.
Dear Kurt,
Remember your daughter,
because it’s all about a girl.
Tracy Plath
the moon looks
into the lake
checking
something
I also check
in a ladies’ room
at parties
a morning glory
climbs the fence
in a panic
someone has a spare
tire
to give me
Flat nose
Phallic hose
Cat hair caught like pubes ‘tween bristled teeth
Unsightly hulk
Unwieldy bulk
Keening like a ghost on Halloween
Dust busted
Dirt encrusted
Asthmatic wheeze and whistle coughing
Built tough
Handled rough
Inhale the dust to dust filled coffin
Flood survivor
Wretched skiver
Called to arms a scavenger awry
Pull the plug
Fart and chug
Your battle cry is eat shit and die.
You told me you were a traveller
alone on your road
from time to time
from gig to gig
you’d make new friends
then lose them
then make others
I wished I coul accompany you
but I had some other life
held back by it
I wanted you here
to give you a home
you just wouldn’t settle in one place
Love comes down to choices
Much like the choice of being in the rain.
Rain – can seem soothing or threatening. It’s always important, a force to be acknowledged.
When it comes you never know how intense it will be, no matter what you’ve heard, until you experience it.
You look out and suddenly you’re faced with choices. You can’t stop the rain but you can choose how it affects you.
You may choose to stay inside and miss it altogether. Live where it’s safe and never get wet.
You may choose to adorn a cover. Go in put stay protected from all that it can do to you.
You may choose to just go out into the rain. Fully experience the torrents and just get wet.
If you choose to get wet you again have choices. How did it feel?
You can choose to be overwhelmed by the wet and cold that you have to live through.
You can choose to be embraced by each drop, taking joy in the nourishment that it gives everywhere it falls.
And if you embraced the rain, you may then choose to go out in the rain again and again
Until it fulfills the promise to make you grow
Dear Zachary,
I promised I wouldn’t make a poem like this, after Hailey made her’s,
but I feel like I kind of have to?
I owe you these words.
Zachary, I started hormones recently.
Only about two months ago now.
We had no idea that someone could feel this good about themselves.
And oddly, I still hurt.
Though, it isn’t surprising.
There’s still a lot I have to do.
Zachary, I kept your middle name until I started hormones.
I was unwilling to give up the middle initial, but
I couldn’t keep the name forever.
And, unfortunately, like Theroux, Mira didn’t fit.
It’s Jade now, though.
I hope you like it.
Zachary, Mom accepts us now, though it took a while.
I know you never thought it would happen, but
we can talk about being sick openly with her.
She is starting to respect me, I think.
I wish she knew how to respect you.
Maybe you wouldn’t have been as fucked up.
Zachary, you starved to death.
What killed you is what gave birth to me, and
I still have trouble with it sometimes.
Often, you pop into my mind when my throat
tightens too much to swallow.
I wish you could give me any kind of strength.
Zachary, I came out to Gramma and Grandpa.
Though, I can never tell them we’re pansexual
(or demiromantic – that’s a thing now, by the way).
It went a lot better than we ever could have imagined.
Though, it sure helps that I didn’t need to pack
just in case I got kicked out.
Zachary, the world can be beautiful.
There’s beautiful people in it that you never got to meet.
It’s bittersweet.
You should have taken your meds instead of hiding it
under your tongue.
You never loved yourself, so you didn’t live long enough
to meet all the wonderful people that love me now.
I have a friend that let me stay in her house for three weeks!
Zachary, I wish that people loved you.
I wish that they didn’t take advantage of a scared boy,
I wish they didn’t convince you that you were only worth something
when they got you in bed and I wish they didn’t tell you
that you weren’t supposed to be me, because I love you
more than they ever did.
Guess who left them?
I did.
Zachary, part of me wishes you were here.
I’m glad you’re gone, though.
Because part of me is still an echo of you
that resonates with how painfully you thought of yourself.
That echo tells me I would be less valid with you here.
Dear Zachary, I am saying good-bye to you.
No one says your name anymore.
Love,
Zephie
Dear Stranger,
I am about to disclose all my secrets
and put your heart at danger
turn your nights sleepless
I will spill my heart and all its stories
and I trust you will listen intently
will listen to my fall and glories
and smile at my foolishness gently
I will pour it out till I am empty inside
so that I can begin anew
and you can leave with new stories and pride
that you relieved me of a past and I thank you.
The Moon is my Mistress.
Breastbone in a Panic.
The Lake in my Jeep.
Canopy of Trees
Spare the Glory
Of my Torn Panties
From Prying Eyes…
