24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
You can keep your hookah
Turning away she confessed
There is nothing more to see
Wonderland has melted
Once such adventures beckoned
This land now squeals for help
She chooses to remain in bed
To read of how it had been
Even a puff cannot dress up
This relentlessly fading place
That had been so magnificent
Even for a caterpillar
Alice and Peter and Dorothy
Will fade in the distance
Fearing that a new adventure
Would leave them in tears
In a field full of sunflowers
stands an empty swing
browns and golden yellows
a seat not occupied
too desolate to be found
too delicate to be sat upon.
Summer draws closer and closer
to its end.
Children are “back to school” shopping
instead of running through sunflower fields.
Picking out backpack colors
instead of sunflowers.
Riding electric scooters
not crackling old wooden swings.
This field so full of floral life
empty, all but a memory now.
We Breathe Life
We breathe life
Into every intention
Every interaction
Every sense of promise
When we walk down the street
We breathe life
Into every smile, every wave
Every step, marching to our own beat
Each time we console a loved one
Hugging them or easing their fears
We breathe life
By simply sharing our cares and concerns
Each second or minute
Hour or day on the planet
And in every way, shape or form
We breathe life
When a poem speaks
It paints me as angry,
As something worth feeling,
Chases me into the parted lips of noon
My name etched in stone
When a poem speaks
The prophetic tongue,
Sands heavy with infinite footprints
Memories up and alive again,
Shadows lurking in the corners,
When a poem speaks
My tongue unfurls like a carpet
I am more than the clouds can contain,
The loose petals turn to flying insects,
Ants vomit sugar and recede
When a poem speaks
My heart was broken
when my trust
was taken advantage of
and torn to shreds
When I think about how
my heart was broken
it makes me sad that
it even happened
How do i make sure
time moves on from when
my heart was broken
it’s not east to do
Time heals all wounds
life follows a course and
suddenly I forget that
my heart was broken
Again
I did it again,
I pretended to
not miss you,
I pretended to
not think about you,
I pretended to
walk away,
I was the one
who say bye,
I am the one
who said
I am sorry,
I am the one
that says again,
we can try this again.
Reach for the skies
Climb higher, higher
Powering into the blue
Shake the earth as you
Reach for the skies
Achieving lift-off
Aiming for the moon
Begins with flying.
Reach for the skies!
A promising tennis career
Scholarship to the Ivy League
young women in a line fawning
Arson investigation
Student beaten unconscious
Teacher’s tires slashed
Smiling photos on the wall
father pleased always
giving us the play by play at dinner
No one believes her when she comes forward
the dead hanging dog is excused
a precedent is set
Continual allowances
constant excuses
Coming news stories might make us think twice.
But probably not.
Often when I write I do not write.
Nor do I speak or voice my thoughts.
I do. That’s who I am. In the face
Of all I hold true. I do.
So when the hurt hurts my heart
Often when I write I do not write
The knife twists deeper
Ever so slowly that I cannot weep.
Cry some tears to ease the pain
Cry a river to live again? I cannot.
Often when I write I do not write
Of all the times I slip, or fall.
I try to forget to ease this hurt
And fail. And flail at crutches
With no relief. How, then, can I heal,
When, often, I write but do not write?
The reality is
something I hear
all of the time
regarding the idea of truth
In arguing a concept
the reality is
becomes the final
undeniable statement
But do we really
know what
the reality is
and if is true
Given how we live our lives
just shows we don’t know
anything about what
the reality is.