24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
My heart weakens every time I see her
its walls fall down
the very foundations crumble
and I am helpless against it
One by one
the layers are stripped down
until the beat is exposed
it’s slow
without rhythm
lacking the oxygen to breathe
The chambers of my heart are empty
they’re unoccupied with blood
the silent echo is deafening
it’s in desperate need of mending.
someday when we’re old
and the winters sway in
the wrinkles adorning our faces
would wrinkle more
thinking about this day
and plenty of them fragments
would flood in simultaneously
then, we’d realise
memories aren’t only beautiful
but equally cold.
A solo journey to clear my head
Has only left me with more and more
Could you see it if you were here?
Would you believe me if I told you?
I’ve stumbled across the end of the earth
It’s not flames of misery
Or floods of zombies
It’s flat
It’s hope
It’s a thought portal
All the flat earthers
All the round earthers
And everyone else in between
We all have a galaxy full of emotions and opinions
Displayed so perfectly in front of me
Creating a perfect blend of differences
That feel so right next to each other
You can see every hope and dream anyone has ever had
Every spark of love and desire and lust
Constellations connecting each thought pattern
None of it ever leading to anything but more and more beauty
What if we create our own problems
And downward spirals
By believing life is a circle
Meant to bring us down at some point
Why do we all wait for the other shoe to drop
When the first one never dropped in the first place?
Or when two shoes will help us get around easier?
Let yourself believe whatever you want
But please,
Let it be accompanied by hope
Paleolithic Era
I would guess it was a woman
who first discovered berries
growing wild outside their cave;
bunches of plump blueberries,
and red raspberries harvested
from prickly vines.
I would say it was that same woman,
an innovator born eons before her time
who crushed berries into a red compote
to pour over roasted glyptodon, a blue glaze
on spitted wooly mammoth, a semisweet
dressing poured over ferns and green leaves.
I can see her with her favorite stone,
the one that fit perfect in her palm
and the berries in wooden bowls
she carved herself, crushing them
with smooth, practiced movements,
keeping them divided.
And then hubby comes along,
sweaty from a hunt, looking for a bowl;
when her back is turned, he dumps
red berries into blueberries; she rails
at him to go dig up some roots and
legumes, just go away.
Exasperated, she’s tempted to dump
the mixture but stirs it, considers
the vibrant color, tastes it, smiles,
rugged hands on sturdy hips and viola!
Meet the Paleolithic Julia Child,
patent pending creating edible purple.
~ J R Turek Hour 6
Hour Six
Who are you, I know not who.
You’re not the person I once knew.
Funny compassionate, witty, and loving,
No longer the same you’re just somebody.
I believed in you and you in me or so I thought,
Together forever, until death we do part.
But something changed when I go sick,
You could not manage and we split.
The loving nature I thought was there,
Had disappeared as if you’d never cared.
Left alone to myself and scared to death,
You never looked back you couldn’t care less.
Eight years now gone, time has passed,
Don’t miss you now it’s like we didn’t exist.
The trials and tribulations I’ve endured,
Survived traumas, dramas, beyond your belief.
Become stronger, wiser, humbled by experience,
And outgrown your pettiness and ignorance.
Despite the challenges I have faced,
My life is calmer a happier place.
Looking back now on your selfishness,
I’m glad to have left your life of disgrace.
Farewell and goodbye, this is now and forever,
You’re the past, not present, not to be my future.
I’ll carry on without you, leaving you far behind,
I’m happier and freer without your kind.
Antiquarians saw art in two dimensions,without
perspective depth. Similarly the world around them.
The earth can only be flat, they said.
They sought confirmation in the Holy Word,
and even the church blessed this notion.
(Who were priests, after all, but men of only two dimensions?)
Nay-sayers set bravely out to find the edge,
the place where two dimensional maps cautioned there were dragons.
Human eyes are made to view in 3-D.
They sailed three dimensional ships and visited three dimensional lands,
and never came to the place where they actually fell off.
(Or if they did, they didn’t notice. We will never know.)
Today we perceive the earth and other celestial bodies
in 3-D and know that the universe has no ending
that can ever be reached. At least for human eyes.
Grasshoppers, beetles, fish, horses and deer might tell another story.
We can stare off into the universe as ancient astronomers did
And know our spherical earth is surrounded by other spheres.
If it were not, and someone unexpectedly discovered that
our world is flat, who wouldn’t drop everything and rush
out to the edge to look? We would still see stars and planets, but
as saucers floating out and under and over, becoming almost invisible
if they tilt on their sides. We could watch them slide in a cascade
into black holes, unsure if dragons or the lost third dimension would appear.
Possiblity
Flat is an either or.
Round is possibility.
Flat is boring, stilted.
Round invites discovery.
In the straight and narrow
I am only aware of the musts,
the have tos,
the only way.
But in the round
I see a belly bursting with life.
I circle back to employ what I learned.
I come back, acknowledge my mistakes
and apologize.
I eat lucious gatherings from the Earth.
I ride the universe
on an orb of wonder.
Making my way
as everyone says
walking the road that has been travelled
looking around and finding out what is.
Hoping to succeed
in everything that I need
Looking around and feeling the answers inside
I will not give in to something I do not believe
I will trust my judgement
I will trust my gut.
If I do not feel comfortable I will make a stand
We were so young,
little pups ready to begin the rest of their lives
huddled under a bridge for comfort.
Then one day, the hurricane came &
cast us all asunder,
something no one could have foreseen.
It took years to come to terms with the schism
but it made it all the more cathartic in the end.
I didn’t know how to live.
It just seemed so foreign
& then she came along & gave me
a refresher
& now I think I’m ready to get back to those
old blue jeans
wherever they make take me.