24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Ghost Train
There is no schedule
When the train is a ghost.
How can I ride
When I can’t buy a ticket?
When the train is a ghost,
It never stops at the station.
When I can’t buy a ticket,
I get to walk home.
It never stops at the station.
I am invisible.
I get to walk home.
Nobody notices.
I am invisible.
There is no schedule.
Nobody notices.
How can I ride?
©Ardelle Hollis Ray
A trip away out west
Beyond the suburbs
To old town
Small town
Train tracks farm town
To dine with family.
Note: between basketball and other sports I didn’t really have time to do this properly, so I just winged it. Looking forward to revisiting the form when I do have the time!
Most importantly, breathe in and out.
Don’t panic, write down a few words,
that’s how you write a poem.
One line, two lines, almost a full stanza.
Don’t panic! Write down a few more words.
Your poem doesn’t have to rhyme.
One line, two lines, you have another stanza!
Repeat.
It really doesn’t have to rhyme.
Important, don’t forget: breathe in and out.
Repeat.
That’s how you write a poem!
Before Darkness
I don’t remember bottles, or rattles.
I remember crying,
the only words screaming.
Then suddenly it stops.
Warmth. Comfort. It’ll be alright.
I remember fireworks,
“Mama, look at the pretty lights!”
Scared of the thunder.
Hold me tighter,
closer to your heart.
Skinned elbows
and bruised knees,
but I don’t remember
how the ground felt.
Pick me up.
Hold me tighter,
closer to your heart.
My heart,
torn and mended
in a cycle that seemed endless,
until you.
Hold me tighter,
closer to your heart.
I don’t remember bottles.
I don’t remember rattles.
I remember thunder and fire works,
comfort miles away,
skinned knuckles and battles…
falling.
I don’t remember how the ground felt.
Pick me up.
Hold me tighter,
closer to your heart.
To cup a hand to an upturned ear
To hear what all there is to hear
Echo down the hall and up the stair
And keep my mind from turning fear.
To hear what all there is to hear
And keep my mind from turning fear
There must be brave good cheer
To fight the crowd’s scowly sneer.
To keep my mind from turning fear
And fight the crowd’s scowly sneers
I shall hold those I love to me near
And never let them harm my dears.
I’ll fight the crowd’s awful sneers
And never let them harm my dears
Lest their lies most insincere
Sway the tide to lesser cares.
I’ll never let them harm my dears
Nor sway the tide to lesser cares
Like hate and names no one dares. Framing targets in trigger hairs
Sway no tide to lesser cares
Frame no targets in trigger hairs
Come clean in consciences bared
For hate’s glare dies in love shared.
SUEÑOS
Dejé mis sueños para buscar nuevos horizontes
sin tomar en cuenta los peligros que enfrentaría.
Iba lleno de sencillas ilusiones, sueños de niño.
Cubría mis sueños con mi inocencia
sin pensar que algún día encontraría trabas
que pondrían mis sueños bajo tierra.
¿Qué sabía yo que los sueños son como hielo
que se derrite con el calor del sol?
Mis sueños se comenzaban a derretir con palabras
de bocas que emitían calor de odio.
Intenté poner un alto a esas palabras
que amenazaban destruir mis sueños.
Dreams are stronger when they’re born from need
and the desire to share once they come true.
Dream breakers may come and threaten
to destroy and bury them,
but they won’t succeed if you hold on.
Keep your eyes set on your planned horizons.
The sun’s rays will keep your dreams warm
till you’re ready to release them.
No words are stronger than the sun’s warmth;
sunsets will cool down hateful words
and turn them into words of support.
Keep your sueños alive and going!
Copyright@2016 Martina Gallegos 
Some
nights I
feel like top
dog. Others, I
feel like a mutt waiting in the alley
Warrior
I conquer worlds like it is my duty
Slipping into fantasy and fright
Standing outside the darkest night
Stowing adrift in sanity’s grip
Slipping into fantasy and fright
Howling moon stands at the ready
Stowing adrift in sanity’s grip
I cannot imagine a more hideous trip
Howling moon stands at the ready
I conquer worlds like it is my duty
I cannot imagine a more hideous trip
Standing outside the darkest night
Little can contain
Invasive species.
Once a stable, reproducing population has established,
Nothing can stop their proliferation. Continuous
Feeding and no natural predators,
It reproduces frequently and displaces native
Species, wreaking
Havoc on ecosystems.
I got dumped by three women in one day.
One in by phone
One in person
I was waiting for the passenger pigeon
But the third came UPS.
Neither I nor the British will be coming.