The Poetry Marathon

Phrase Florist 2016 marathon Poem #4: Church Examined

Church Examined

What is church?

A place or an ideology, a set of rules or the story of humanity? Can church be little and rural, expensive and expansive or somewhere in-between?

What is church?

Church revels in monument, mythos and method. Church deals with death, hope and eternal resurrection. How can one entity be all of these?

What is church?

No one has the right to tell me what church is, not even a pastor or reverend or sister or priest. My church is heart-felt connections and spiritual longing. My church is where God lives, loves and offers retreat.

Infamous blue

Infamous blue

Is the color that lights up

Downturned laughter

Upraised eyebrows

Two noses, almost touching

Two teardrops, oceans apart

 

 

 

The Dropped Match

The air thickens

miasma

Blood orange sun touches mountain

scorches

Vapours curl on eddies

pungent

Flames creep over parched ground

crackle

Building momentum rising

hugging

Trees stand defiant shrubs wither

crisp

Creatures scurry frantic directionless

screams

Fire-fighters scramble water flows

hiss

Steam rises heat dissipates sun sets.

calm

 

Let Me

You don’t know how it feels to have a heart beating so fast with just the simple sight of your back
Or even just a quick glance at your shoes.
You don’t know what it’s like to have your pulse throbbing when you walked by and make me stop at my tracks,
Believe me, you don’t have a single clue.
Like when the moment you walked in the door of our class,
You already captured a piece of my heart.
And the moment you walked out the same door and left,
You already have it all, completely, its every single part.
You don’t know how the sound of your name brings a familiar rhythm in my soul,
And how your mysterious stare could swallow me like it’s as if I’m falling in a black hole.
You don’t know how your laughter could bring me back to my senses,
You don’t know how your smile could bind up my shattered and broken pieces.
The genuine reality of your beauty, is something you cannot fully grasp.
Because you haven’t really seen yourself aside from looking at mirrors and photographs,
But believe me that if you do,
You’d understand why I fell for you.
You’d understand why I’m doing this,
Why I’m sacrificing things just so you would notice.
Notice how you’ve turn my world up side down,
And how you took me out from being drowned.
Drowned in the sea of hate I am so ready to plunge myself in.
But then everything changed when I saw you. And how your heart light up from within.
It’s so sad that it’s hard for you to love yourself.
That you cannot feel what I just felt.
But it’s okay, let me be the one to show that love to you.
Let me be the one to make you feel the love that is filled with truth.
Let me be the one to hold you when you feel sad,
Let me be the one to hug you when you feel mad,
Let me be the pin, for when you’re about to explode like a grenade,
Let me be the one who will stay with you when everything else fades.
Though, I understand if you wouldn’t want me.
It’s okay if you think that we’re not made for each other perfectly.
I know it’s hard to find the things you want that I lack,
And that it’s even harder to force the person to love you back.
But if you need me, whenever you need me, I’m here.
I’m just here, waiting for the day you’ll let me hold you dear.

Offline

For a second lets go offline
And observe the slight wrinkle on our granny’s face for awarded growing another year older
For a second lets go offline
And observe the anexiety on our dad’s face who want his children to be safe
For a second lets go offline
And see the panic on our mothers face who dont want us to go away from her
For a second lets go offline
And see the four pawed love of our lives wagging his tale as he sees us
For just a second lets go offline

Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand

How the world marvels at the world handheld
So much knowledge flooding towards us at a mere flick
How quickly the technology of years past remain forgotten
Steam engine, spinning Jenny, printing press
But most of all the humble pipe that flows,
Water to refresh and grow,
Waste to drain away.

All of the world’s knowledge possible by aqueduct and sewer.

Looking in the Dark

Sometimes looking in the dark,

A doubt occurs in the heart.

Will this happen?

Am I ready?

Do i deserve it?

 

Sometimes while looking at the night sky

I dream about spreading my wings to fly

again a voice whispers in the ear

Will you be able to conquer all your fears?

 

Sometimes when feeling lost

I yearn for happiness at any cost

And then the courage born

Giving me power to move on!

Hot Dog Pursuit

in search of her next meal

she pan handles her way through the streets

asking for change

pennies off the ground

nickels, quarters, dimes

pan handling is her life’s domain

she approaches my car

at first glance is my rejection

as she disembarks from my path

i drive away

my consciousness rules me and I surrender

i circle the block

reach inside my car’s console

and become a part of her hunt for treasure

like a scavenger I find 3 quarters

2 dimes and a nickel

i dare not insult her with pennies

as she reaches inside to take what I have given

her nails graze the palm of my hand ever so slightly

“you got any dollars, baby?” “i’m just trying to buy a hotdog.”

 

~ism

 

 

Hour 5: Winkle

No stick nor stone has

Ever broken any bone of mine

Bruises come and go

 

But a word can cut right through me

The pen is mightier than the sword

The tongue is sharp as steel

No deeper wound I’ve felt

 

Here I go again

Retreating into the shell

My own private hell

 

Perhaps a word could coax me out

It would help to have a friend here

But no one calls my name

Outside there is silence

A Narrative Poem Dissected and Redirected

1. 1. Once upon a time there was a stone born blue as the darkest night.
   2.  He went by the name of Lapis Lazuli.
   3.  He was treasured for his purity and likeness to the deepest ocean and darkest sky.
   4. He never once saw his reflection.
   5. He dreamed of seeing other minerals such as he, yet always he was surrounded by homogeneity.
   6. He was shy, but curious.
   7. He stared into the sky nightly and fell in love with the beguiling moon thinking her silver hue was nothing like he had ever seen.
   8. He deemed her exotic, due to her difference, and he found her intoxicating; her silver hue became his love kryptonite.
   9. When the stars lit up the night sky he glowed with adoration in honor of the net of stars they weaved each evening anew, a stunning veil embroidered by their brilliance, highlighting his glorious moon in all her finery.
   10. He was a rough stone admired equally by the people of the village who pulled him from the earth, and mistakenly left him near the shore line.
   11. Day and night he loved the moon as she teased him winking, waxing, and waning all without shame.
   12. He was mesmerized by her presence.
   13. He was a peaceful stone, yet he had few friends,but for the elements.
   14. His heart beamed with pleasure as he was warmed by the sun daily, refreshed by the rain, soothed by the breeze that came off the coast, and tumbled happily by the raucous and playful wind.
   15. He always curious listening  to the birds and people that were near.
   16. One day a tumultuous storm arose and sent him tumbling uncontrollably into a lake of sorts, perhaps an ocean, no one really knows.
   17. He plummeted to the sea and saw himself for the first time in an instant …the reflection revealed with just a glimpse that he was not alone, he saw he was flecked with gold, fool’s gold, pyrite I think it’s called.
   18. In this self-revelation he had no idea that he was enveloped in a love from another mineral, descended from too many to name at the moment, and beyond her golden hue he saw himself beneath, betwixt, and in between.
   19. Her honey golden complexion was equal in exquisiteness, but different from his beloved silver adoration in the sky.
   20. He learned to love himself and appreciate she that had loved him all along, a silent partner who deserved a love far greater than the love he gave away unreciprocated by the silver moon high in the sky who he had tried to impress time and time again without knowing that her love this new love was not so new-she was closer than he had ever known, more deeply entwined in the golden veins that ran through the matrix of his being.