24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
She looks into his eyes …
Hoping to find warmth and peace.
She gets nothing but fright …
Nothing but a freezing coldness.
How many souls will be gone astray …
How many sad eyes there will be …
How many hearts will be broken …
In this game called Love
With its “forever” fantasy.
Galactic collapse into supernova prismatic
Inverse sunburst of gold-tinged purple
Fades to velvet blackness save a single photon
The last remnant of a galaxy
Traversing Void in search of purpose
In search of something other than empty space
Travelling a trail through space unblazed
Leaving tiny twinkles in it’s wake
Tiny wrinkles in time created , ripples in the stillness
Providing glimpses into the galactic past
Opening wormholes through time to travel back
Before the grand collapse
In Which I Remove My Eyes From the Sky that Looks Like Boiled Water, Above Downtown Grand Rapids Last Year Before a Hardcore Punk Show in the Attic of a Church
A wanted poster is a blood flyer. There’s
one tucked into every street. We walk
in a stranger sway along Jefferson Ave. & the
locals can tell we ain’t local. Bend eyes to bleach pallor
of sidewalk, roasted and cracked like teenage summer seclusion
finally thrust into sun. Words summon our eyes up, and the words
weren’t even meant for our ears but we can taste the stale spit of fear
salivating an unwanted swallow.
The swallow is the giving in or up or out. The swallow
is the casual stride to Vertigo Records where we know
we’re safe and all we hear is happy. The swallow
is the thump of a breakdown beginning or hip-hop
back beat holding its own. The swallow
is us finding that one punk record no one else would have
and no one else wanted. The swallow
is us designating purchase and departure.
Funny how we swallow more when we pass the churches
or the 24-hour diners. The swallow
is a sigh we can’t allow ourselves
until we out of downtown.
CLOUDS IN JUNE
a funny dark cloud
followed little June down her street
one day,
as if to say, “I’d like to make
good use of your time.”
Naturally she scurried away,
closed the door of wood behind her,
only to hear rain thunder.
Running up the stairs to her green bedroom then
she saw out her window
the strange-looking grin on
the cloud that now watched her,
from her bedside,
each night,
awaiting her moment to water June’s sot.
The battle began as a chase
down her street,
but soon turned to war when June saw the
cloud’s feet drawing near as she tried
to make green the flowers close by but,
she lacked something.
The grass would grow dry and June
did not understand
what she did wrong as she bathed
them so carefully. and watered them
in sunlight.
And then would come the
strange cloud once again
she hated her so, and did not want her
near but for some reason,
when that dark cloud was there,
June’s garden could bear much
more color.
Persists made no difference,
June was meant to be friends with
the strange little cloud that
came by and smiled.
Eventually she would not
mind this bond so much but
until then she still scurries from state
to state hoping somehow to dodge the
cloud’s silly face.
1- The bells rang free on Stephen’s night, yet,
2- after the snow fell, their sound was muted.
3- Attendees had long since escaped
4- the oaken, wooden pews of Saint Bethel
5- and returned to hearth and home, relieved.
6- The service had children, rosy cheeked,
7- extolling the virtues of virtue in song
8- and elders smiling the remembrances of ago.
9- Stephen was there in his wedding suit,
0- held closely by Annalee and her wandering tears.
1- The bells rang free on Stephen’s night, yet,
2- after the snow fell, their sound was muted.
2a– Flattened tones rolled above the hills,
2b- alerting beast and man to his event.
3- Attendees had long since escaped
4- the oaken, wooden pews of Saint Bethel,
4a- they shook hands, exchanged nods,
4b- whispered the words of human bonds,
5- and returned to hearth and home, relieved.
6- The service had children, rosy cheeked,
7- extolling the virtues of virtue in song
7a- not knowing the meaning nor caring
7b- but understanding their importance to others
8- and elders smiling the remembrances of ago,
8a- when live was more than simply the next breath.
9- Stephen was there in his wedding suit,
9a- black tuxedo with satin stripes down the legs,
0- held closely by Annaleee and her wandering tears,
0a- as he lay grandly in the white pearl coffin,
0b- bearing the smile she swore she would never forget.
1- The bells rang free on Stephen’s night, yet,
2- after the snow fell, their sound was muted.
2a– Flattened tones rolled above the hills,
3- Attendees had long since escaped
4- the oaken, wooden pews of Saint Bethel,
6- The service had children, rosy cheeked,
7- extolling the virtues of virtue in song
8- and elders smiling the remembrances of ago,
8a- when live was more than simply the next breath.
9- Stephen was there in his wedding suit,
9a- black tuxedo with satin stripes down the legs,
0a- as he lay grandly in the white pearl coffin,
Ghazal: Of the Garden
I passed through that ancient garden.
Where I stepped, became a garden.
The sacred place must be enclosed
In order to be a garden.
How dared he place those others here?
By birthright, it was my garden.
They were banned by a fiery sword
And fled eastward from the garden.
Tiger is a river that flows
From the deep roots of the garden.
©Ardelle Hollis Ray
I searched for the puzzle pieces
it took me seventy years
wanting to learn more about me
and why I had so many tears
How did I get to be “this way”?
I always felt “crazy”, you see
We may have looked fine on the outside
but behind the scenes: misery
My mom had a critical spirit
she suffered with low self esteem
but now I can understand it
I was never part of her “dream”
it all began in the thirties
when she started dating my dad
two “Christian” kids got in trouble
the WORST they had ever had
they buried their shame and guilt
but from trouble they never were free
I have found that missing piece called “LOVE”
And I know in the end they loved ME
Yesterday
Or maybe the day before
That email from you
SHIFTED
What is important to me
To what is important to you.
I can see it in your face!
I can hear it in the words you use:
Poweless; helpless; hopeless; disgraced.
Unsolicited ranting
Viewing yourself through distorted perceptions.
Blaming others for your hurt.
Downshifts my mood
This happens every time there is a break – don’t you see that?
I know I’m emotional. That’s not the point!
I need someone else to say it for me and to have my back.
Dramatic ultimatums
When your circular thinking
I’m a victim; I’m not!
Becomes my own.
RIP
they buried Frances in her purse
brown leather with a strap
there were some cracks as it was old
though covered by the flap
Henry he’s been dead a year
now in the tackle box
cremated in his Sunday suit
blue tie and argyle socks
Charles and Mable two nice folks
died sadly in their car
now side by side for all of time
in the kitchen cookie jar
but it’s Billy Jones who won the day
for the Olympic race he led
now at rest and all stretched out
beneath his gold bobsled