24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Life is like a trip
Everlasting and filled
with sorrows and pleasantries.
You travel without grief
Till you reach your destiny;
There you linger.
Now you feel pain
And wish to go back again,
But your journey is over,
And there you stay forever.
It was yesterday we
Laughed away old memories,
For a minute I wanted to believe
You stepped away for a breeze,
Now I cry about you,
Wishing I could bring you back,
Normal doesn’t feel right,
My life is way off track.
I tried to find closure in this,
But nothing makes sense,
The more I hear the phone and the news, I battle with stress and be tense.
I have searched everywhere,
Hoping to find you by mistake,
I didn’t even have the heart
To celebrate your birthday with cake.
I can’t bear the thought of settling with you to never return,
The more I try to remember you,
My anger numbs me while my heart and emotions burn.
Some days I sit in silence,
Hoping I’d hear the sound of your voice,
My prayers still go unanswered,
If you walk through the door now,
Everything in me would rejoice!
I cry and I struggle to figure out what to do next,
Picking up my phone every hour,
Wishing you’d send me a text.
Right now my life should be perfect,
But not without you,
I am angry, I am hurt,
My child, I am truly missing you.
The unity of your oneness is maddeningly simple
The wonderful variety and splendor of everything, which is neither you nor i
Before everything was, and after nothing is
Before everywhen and after anyhow
Abstracts that aren’t, and constructs that are
The lies of life, the truth of death
The falling of love, and the rising of pain
The happiness of tears, the expectation of laughter
Your quarks are cheating wheres and whens
The nebulousness of your nebulaes amaze time
Merci
Have you seen me?
Curly hair, blonde, a gap in my teeth
Blue eyes, a sparkle in them, hope
A vision towards the future.
Have you seen me?
Brown eyes, black hair, perfect smile
Strait hair, straight shoulders
Intelligence glimmers behind posture
Have you seen me?
Glasses obscure green eyes,
Red hair down to the shoulder
Dreams left unfullfilled.
Have you seen me?
You never will,
Yet you know me,
My face on the wall
Or the milk box
Everywhere and nowhere.
And that’s all I’ll ever be.
Unless…
WRAPPED
I stole myself away.
They didn’t know how strangled I felt.
The umbilical chord still attached
wrapped tightly round my neck.
I didn’t mean to hurt anyone or put fear in their hearts.
I wanted freedom, I wanted a new start.
I said goodbye to only a few
not the ones that mattered.
I wrenched a heart, that was easy to claim.
He kept his promise, but cried all night.
I didn’t realize the pain I had caused
when setting my pain free.
I wanted freedom, an apartment and
of course my own key.
I was missing, no where to be found.
I was happy, delirious with joy, while
they were crying, worried and scared.
I had no idea, I didn’t care. I was free.
Was I alone? Well I’ll never tell.
I went missing, they were in hell.
Do I regret it? I guess in some ways.
I wish there had been, a better way
when once illegible scratches
emerged as readable text
i attached myself
to the library shelf
ecstatic for what came next
I lost myself between pages
in fantastic worlds was found
I’m a bibliophile
with an ear to ear smile
my love for books knows no bounds
Dancing with Felix
Frannie Z
Bailamos, sweet Felix!
Let’s build a wayback machine.
Take us to when you were fine
and tough as six inch nails
and when I was built
like the proverbial shithouse.
Mostly, to when we both
could dance the night away.
Vamos, Felix.
Take that shirt off.
Let the fine young men
See just how buff you are.
I will dance in my bikini top
And shorts,
The ones with black glitter.
Dance, Felix.
They are starting the drums
that quake across the room
and adding syncope
With that lazy tambourine.
Show them your moves, Felix.
They are craning their necks:
the ones from the islands,
the ones from East Harlem,
the Bronxitos,
the ones from Brooklyn,
even those from Westchester.
Swing those hips, roll them slooowwwly
like a python about to turn
but teasing until he pounces.
Hold your chest out
and nod half nod your head arrrrooouunnnd.
Make them want to beg.
Then half turn again so they can see
in back.
Hide again just slightly
until you see their tongues
waffling out.
Then break, break, spin
to the high woodwinds
to the flute that goes so light
that it stands your hair up.
Cap it off by showing them again
just a glimpse,
then swirling those hips faster,
slower,
faster, then slower again
until they sigh and gulp.
Oh, my Felix, you tease
better than a breath
of cool air
on a summer night.
You are a long summer night,
the longest,
one that heats the sky
red under summer stars
forever
As long as you dance.
Ed is an old man.
One hundred and seven years old
Number one hundred and seven on the list
Coincidence?
Long since dead.
The median missing person from Michigan
From Centerline, Michigan
Coincidence?
Argued with his wife
Front door should be open
No closed.
He wanted it open
Coincidence?
Dear Lord, I’ve had this argument.
I don’t want to drive out of life
Like Ed did
In the middle of the summer
In the middle of an argument
Coincidence?
Don’t look for him in Canada
You won’t find him
“As if it matters!” Lucy screamed.
Her sister in tears.
Her mother, dead.
Naturally dead.
“I’m here now.” She said.
Profoundly true.
A fait accompli
Not easily accepted.
“I’m not dead,” whispered she,
In a voice cracked,
Strained with decades
Of watching… and waiting.
