The Poetry Marathon

We met at the beach and fell in love.
Unnoticed, sands of time removed the veneer of romance.
Now, beneath a hotel beach umbrella, we sit in our circle of shade, she with her guns and me with my amo.

I Watch Her Grow – Part 1

My child, it seems your journey’s now begun;
I pray your choices are better than mine.
You’re not alone, I’ll help you walk that line,
For in my dreary world you are the sun.

Sometimes in life you’ll need to walk, not run.
Slow down and look ahead to read the signs,
But never stop, keep moving all the time –
And never hesitate to have some fun.

I’ve tried, as you have grown, to teach you things
And always be a member of your team;
Believe in flight, then boldly spread your wings.

Your childhood’s gone by faster than it seems,
And though they’re cut, I’ll always keep the strings.
With faith, sweet child, go after all your dreams.

Coveted silence, coveted night, revelations flood like streams of light. 

When purpose ceases, when vision fails, when love is gone, 

I can hear every banshee’s wail. 

I see the wooden plots cresting on the water’s gentle waves. 

Archers with their flaming bows, aiming towards the floating graves,

Valhalla screams, “Come home!”, to those lost lingering souls. 

In their death, they are found, 

Divine hands sweeping back the unseen veil. 

A mere breath and all may fail, a mere breath and all might be well. 

Do not fear the darkness, for it cannot exist without the light. 

Do not despise the hard fall against the unforgiving ground,

for strength cannot be shown without rising to your feet.

Do not despair over the battles and wars that are lost,

for without conflict, love’s untested nectar couldn’t taste as sweet.

Do not rage against just and unjust death,

for they are fixed and inevitable points in time. 

In our darkest hours, in the vilest of nights,

in the midst of death’s cruel blow, 

the human soul is embraced and accepted, Love always taking us home.

2nd of 12

A man seeks to keep his love

under an arm’s distance

a gun shot’s trajectory

invisible line

across an isolating barren sea–

beauty–

as a man is wont to do

protect his own

by killing the barriers out there–

outside

without opening, closed bloom.

And the man that would capture me so,

would eat me bleeding

as he shot the waves away,

reaching our limits only he sees out there,

across the divide,

but I see between us,

passing over like summer

between us—

not knowing we’re gone

til the sun set.

I come to my work every day

So I can give time for some pay.

But as I sit stoic

My life as a poet

Is slowly just wasting away.

In silence we sit,
feeding off the energy of each other,
no words spoken,
no words needed,
words complicate things,
so many words to our relationship,
many descriptors,
“I don’t like labels,”
but other people do,
and same-sex love is labeled,
regulated as:

lesbian,
gay,
bisexual,
disgusting,
abomination,
deserving of death,
people say,
kill the fags,
rape the dykes,

and here we sit,
“I forget where we were” because of all the talking,

I yearn to hold your hand,
I’d risk it all to remember “where we were,”
I use one finger to trace yours,
your finger locks with mine,
a second finger,
all five lock,
a smile crosses your face,

I remember.

Shout a new slogan!
Shout loud for all to hear,
never forgetting its jingle and
being proud of its appeal.
Declare it everywhere,
shouting over and over loudly!
Yet, truth is constant, quiet, sober, and gentle.

we all walking
similar rocks
sitting on same
rocks

Moving through
space
hand in hand
Interdependently
we are not two