Awaken
Night unfades to dawn
as I will my body,
mind,
soul,
and spirit
to rally and fight another day.
1 // transparent wood
we twist spaces between cells into windows
pull out pigments and lignin
remove wood from wood
until we have glass
or the closest thing we can get
xylem lets light in through soft spaces
green architecture without colour–
perhaps we will build a house
out of transparent wood
call it the greengreenhouse and laugh
secretly delighted at its name
at what we have built
HEY WRITE
As I read through my old poems for sweet inspiration, I only grow in upsetting irritation.
play the goodies through the headphones, sing along in screeching tones.
and yet, NOTHING.
I can write about the life of a daycare assistant, juggling diapers and babies while i listen to the parents “what if’s” who is “who’s” and gaping “maybe’s”
OR
scribble about how being 20 is like a Pandora soundtrack, you can only listen to what that station gives you and there’s no playback. (damn, I really love that song.)
…NAH.
thumbs up? thumbs down? toss in the the trash.
burn the thought but keep the ash.
I’ll figure out something. I’m a writer goddammit!
…hey, I can write about…oh, forget it.
damn writer’s block..
Fighting this Feeling
I’ve been fighting this feeling
This feeling I have for you
A feeling I love and hate at the same time
I’ve been fighting day in and day out
How could it be this feeling is of need
A need to have you
A need to love you
I feeling that I can’t fight anymore
Life’s Like That
One day you rule, fly high
The next day you fall, deep
When you’re high, enjoy the ride
When you fall, get up quick
Don’t wallow in the highs or the lows
Nothing lasts forever
It shouldn’t
When the end comes and it will
What counts is the ride
And how much you’re remembered when you’re gone
It’s not not fair, it just is
You know, life’s like that
The Spirit Summons
The gong summons
at twilight
It pounds the heart
of village Masters
It is a call to the palace
The crown walks
It walks to spits from spirit
That,
Ears
Shall tingle to vigilance
The tiger roars in vain
The ant
Captures the earth
with fear
Children
Thirst insane.
EVERGREENS IN JANUARY
As I push back the curtains,
the shrubbery below the frosty window,
in it’s evergreen style –
with it’s small prickly green foliage,
home to bagworms during summer,
nestling pockets of snow now,
in the glimmering cold sunshine
of a mid January day in central Indiana,
home,
a place in my memory so relevant,
that I can feel the wintery blast
take my breath when I walk outside
past the shrubs lining the sidewalk.
Michellia D. Wilson 8/13/16
ONE
If I were cement and shadows
I could not know enough
to be ready for such news —
the letter in her loopy script
her cheer and sweet affection
sliced through by death —
where-were-you-when, we ask,
the moment’s film a looping strip,
that heartbeat of grief’s lesson —
language immersion — without
banter or books — left to imagine,
to wonder at inarticulate despair —
antelope calf left to negotiate
with lions, memory flayed,
cicatrix of sorrow.
© j.i. kleinberg
the first hour, a marathon
tell me a story,
yours
I want to tell you mine
let’s start at the beginnings
that point where we are indistinguishable from each other
that point, one
where we begin to untangle
unravel
like a braid
someone’s laundry clothesline
someone’s fishing line
a long telephone wire stretching from the past
a vessel’s standard rigging
a kite string
a guitar string
the ribbon in her hair
a shoelace that no one has learned to tie yet
the thread in a quilt
the stitches in a soccer ball
a yo-yo, down and up again
down
and up again
tell me a story,
yours
I want to tell you mine
Take Another Pill
Wake up . . .
Reset iPhone alarm;
What’s ten more minutes?
Snuggle in . . .
Can’t sleep!
Of course…
What’s new?
Take another pill.
Middle-age . .
Reach for the pill box;
Safely by the bed.
Morning, noon, evening and bed;
One or two each time;
Seven days equals . . .
Seven pills a day.
Take another pill.
One for depleting Vitamin D . .
Aw, to be a menopausal woman!
Take another pill.
The one for the reflux, of course.
Was that with food or after?
Take another pill.
There is the blood pressure…
Must always be aware;
Do not miss a day . . .
You can stroke out . . .
or heart will attack.
Take another pill.
Anxiety in these changing times;
Take another pill . . .
To calm you . . .
To ease the panic,
lying inside your adrenals;
or is it serotonin?
No, wait . . .
that’s a different pill!
Take another pill.
Important pills . .
never miss . . .
or take more.
Now, what to do about the aches?
Take another pill!