24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
There is a crack in your head
A hole in your mind
Your heart is still well locked though
Nothing can show through
What are your real feelings now?
There is a crack in your head
Nothing can stay in
And nothing can reach out
From your heart deep down
From the bottom of your heart
Nothing comes through
Nothing comes out
That’s why it’s swollen
Like a ripe fruit
There is a crack in your head
A hole in your mind
‘I doubt it’ should be my middle name,
And if doubt was a game
I’d be on the leader board
For every decade since the eighties,
When all of the world’s issues
Became weighty on my shoulders
Gaining at least a metric tonne for each year I got older,
And I should have been bolder
And done really brave things –
I don’t mean joining CND and blocking a road,
Hacking computers and cracking a code,
Hitch-hiking round the country alone –
I did all of those.
I mean acts of true bravery
That might just have saved me
From not ever feeling good enough
And never really being half as tough
As I seem.
I live on the old farm where I grew up with my parents and which I worked with my father. Often, he’d walk up the road to check on the cattle that were out in nearby fields and I’d sit on the wall in front of the farm and watch him walk back down to me. I knew, even when I was young, that I’d have to store those memories away, for one day the road would be empty.
I watch my father as he walks the road
And memorise each step he takes,
I need to remember how he strode.
I watch my father as he walks the road.
Later as we walk, his pace is slowed;
I help him then: we share the load.
I watch my father as he walks the road
And memorise each step he takes.
(c) Anne McMaster 2015
The church lock-in
Was from seven to seven
Games, snacks and movies
And a lesson on heaven
We played volleyball
And bowling with plastic pins
Pizza at 9:00
And passing TP with chins
The counselors
Were tracking pairs
Herding them back
For truth or dare
I made the awful mistake
Of falling asleep
Woke up covered in toothpaste
Dental floss around by feet
As I recall
I felt about the same
As I do right now
With little sleep, to blame
Who can see how this will end?
In pink-skinned babies,
with dark hair,
caramel eyes and leaden
hearts, like ours?
Or in two loveless graves –
full of all that could have been.
We must choose one or another,
we’ve seen there’s no third.
What I have not tried by way
of destruction;
you have tried thrice over.
Together we’ve seen an
ancient truth –
It’s love.
Or it is loss.
We cannot have both ways.
I will not be held in resignation –
not even (not even) by you.
Instead give me your strong arm
that knows its direction
and points the way that warms you.
You choose with the steel in your spine,
and I will choose with the fire in mine,
and let us stand in that grace
for at least one full moment
before we perish.
Everyone has a reason
To celebrate the season
Any way is all right
It is part of your life
If you don’t have a season
Revive traditions
Bring back memories
Enjoy what you have
Celebrate life
That is the reason
To celebrate the season
The essence
Is in your heart
The reason
Comes from above
Is tough to perceive
It’s time to find the reason
Not in the wrapping
Or in the store
Nor the food
Neither the place
To celebrate the season
May find the reason
Under a tree
Around the table
Inside a church
Close to families or dear friends
It’s time to find the reason
Or in the street
Make Merry
This season
Have hope
For a new tomorrow
To celebrate the season
It’s time to find the reason
To celebrate the season
Let’s celebrate
We Need
A world of smiling children
We need
A place to call home
We need
A time to call our own
We need
Friends to share our joy
We need
A world where a child can run into the street
And not be knocked down by cars
snatched by strangers
bombed by drones
shot by crazy gun yielding kid
We need…
Sometimes I think you do not know.
Sometimes, I think… You do.
Sometimes I think I have to tell.
Sometimes, I think… You, too.
To my daughter I write to say how I feel, I love you so much and that’s a big deal
Your dad is here to help you grow and teach you things like don’t hurt people and never steal
Your soft flowing hair to those cute little eyes you are my life you are my prize
I get upset when you dont listen but I tell you things so to the top one day you will rise
I will protect you and guide you I must show you the way
But for now let’s just cuddle and save that for another day
You are the inner happiness that without I can’t do
Oh my sweet daughter I hope that you know how much daddy loves you
I get asked all the time, “Why are you so quiet?”
At parties, I walk around and listen,
unsure of when to join a conversation or, worse,
when to let go and walk away.
I have taught myself strategies, ways to get along.
Those I share the problem with
react in different ways. Some don’t believe me,
others say, “It can’t be that bad.”
But they don’t know about the nights I hid,
choosing to stay inside,
rather than go out and deal with how different
I communicate and try
to relate to strangers that can’t see the loneliness
of not “getting it” or getting it all wrong.