24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Beat
Stop, ok now pump it up again
Beat
Drain the ventricle
Beat
Fill another chamber, repeat
Beat
Stomp your feet, clap hands, a little bit faster now
Beat-Beat
Pause, sorry, arrhythmia, c’mon give it to me…
Beat-beat-beat
And they wonder why bodies move when a good groove plays
Beat
Pump that body fluid through it, move to the rhythm of the
Beat
Arterial pipelines fuel the veins tell me can you feel the
Beat
Street walking to the
Beat
Stop talking and just listen to the…
Beat
I have a lump in my breast
And it hurts when I touch it
I experience needle-stabbing pains
And diaphragmatic breathing gives no relief
I lie awake at night and watch the moon
With negative thoughts gnawing at my mind
Deep inside my heart I do panic
I struggle to answer my own question
And the answer is deliberately vague…
I still do not believe in fate.
My life is changing
Each hour brings a new challenge
Some days are uplifting
But my smile is always missing
I am struggling in my battle with pain
The see-saws between hope and fear
I am just tired of depression…
In that corner of the room
I sit in my rocking chair
And I think about my future.
I am living one day after another
I have some unfulfilled dreams in my heart
Cancer does not define me
But chemotherapy seems never ending
It makes me feel feeble
It causes severe body aches
My hands shake all the time
And my heart sinks into my chest
I embrace the rosary in my bag
As I have not lost my faith in God.
Daffodils are blooming in my garden,
At this time of year
The countryside is so lush and green
I can see a butterfly with one wing
Leaning against the wall
But the butterfly doesn’t give up…
And this is when the feeling sinks in
I am ready to fight another battle
Tears rolling down my cheeks
I give myself a smile.
I am comfortable flaunting my bald head
And I welcome a new day in life
When negativity surrounds me
I keep my spirits high
When I am in pain
I find reasons to stay happy
I don’t feel beautiful anymore
And people do not notice me as well
But I am fighting breast cancer
And I will be a survivor.
Read More…
You Say the Heart is a Muscle
But I say it’s an eggplant, ready to soak up whatever
flavor you put it in, adding a chewiness necessary
for a good vegetarian dish. You say the heart is a jackfruit
difficult to prepare, but a delight if you get it right. I say
the heart is a spider bite that turns into a pus bubble
you have to scratch so it becomes a scab and the itching
stops. You say no, the heart is a chile ready for roasting
so the skin slips off and the meat is left to add a healthy
spiciness. I say the heart is a cigarette, a pleasure to inhale
but leaves a burn in the chest. You say the heart is a muscle
it’s made to recycle everything you touch because the blood
is right there, just below the surface.
Going to Winter Jam with My Fellowship Group Who Only Befriend Their Pasts & Everyone in Them
I press my spine into back porch, snow-snakes
spindling on dry avenue, a windscape. I try
to lock the door behind me to a house that is not mine.
Within there’s the stale mingling of fuck & cheap
light linen & friends I don’t want anymore. I cop out
the shakes until one,
where they all exit tailoring a stream of hugs & love & God blesses.
I tell them I went to a show over the winter in town
where kids bore the heavy mauve of knuckle & mosh
on their skin. They just go to their arena worship concert.
I stare at single tiles long enough that the vapid scuffs
look like rain swung by wiper blades. They praise air & light
the way I fight the air. Maybe my parents hate-fucking is
the only resurrection of myself I’ll ever know.
I’m trying to find joy without my cardinal senses,
& not taste words or & hear the tingle of jugdment
over my shoulder.
the hours are changing and it not going to be our time much longer, your going to see a shift in my words; just wait…
I love the way I can reach you in seconds
Even though oceans, seas, and land divide
I love the way I can hear you
Like you’re sitting right beside
However, it’s still sad that I can’t touch you
Innovation so profound
Yet still I’m not next to you
Holding you, Comforting you
Making love to you
I was fondly remembering…
When I was sixteen
The mango trees in my backyard
And the wonderful countryside was so lush and green;
The untouched beauty of nature,
The chorus of birds at dawn,
Beside a beautiful rocky waterfall
And a million shades of sky,
From spring to autumn – life was living all four seasons.
Low-growing wild flowers of spring
Provided a soothing visual aid,
The scorching hot sun in the month of May,
The birds sitting on my porch to quench their thirst,
The rainy weather and the cold winds,
And I still remember my slow walk in the snow,
Autumn leaves scattered all around…
I always enjoyed writing my name on them.
Look around now,
There are hardly any trees,
I listen to the slogan and I read it quite often,
Let us ‘Go Green’…
Trees are replaced by sky touching condominiums,
Kind gestures are acquired by spacious houses,
Then we wonder why climate is changing,
And we term it as ‘global warming’.
The tragedy of the farmer,
As it hardly ever rains,
Human innovations or technology advancements
Have conquered the beauty of nature.
We will never be able to tell our children
The excitement of climbing a banyan tree,
Or the divine ecstasy of a peacock dancing in the rain,
And the benefits of herbs to cure serious ailments,
Yesterday to today – gone are those days.
#Prompt 15
The cut was clean
The red liquid bright
A numbness settling
A decision so fast
Everything lost to world
The chain that bind me
They break slowly
As the blood seeps
Adrenaline pushed
Heart worked harder
Made my work easy
By sending blood faster
Through veins to arteries
Impure to pure
Drips away from the slit
It doesn’t matter any more
In a few minutes
It’all slow and stop
And I would take
The first breath of death.
I do not support suicide.
One young lady from perth,
Had decided to travel the earth,
But she did not have a car,
So she couldn’t get very far,
And had to stay on her own turf.
The Hidden Heart
I look around me every day and marvel at the thought
That everyone you’ve ever met is riding a thin line.
The big and small, the old and young, the ugly and the hot,
We all live out our human lives one heartbeat at a time.
A hundred thousand times each day, our hearts constrict with force,
An organic hydraulic pump designed in such a way,
That sixty thousand miles of tubes are laid out on it’s course
And blood is sent to each of them and ushered on its way.
An engineering marvel lives in every human breast,
yet sometimes we must help it out, for blood is tricky stuff.
Through history the heart attack has stilled many a chest,
But doctors with balloons and stents have helped to make us tough.
So be aware the pulse you feel or hear “lub-dub” away,
Is there because your sleepless heart’s on duty night and day.