24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Not down and not out
Mingus bass thumping heartbeat
Never underdog
Liberation soup
Spicy sax and a fight on
Your hands Mingus style
Tried to keep you poor
I’ll be a Haitian with you
Your fight is my fight
Bum bump a doo dah
Bum bump a doo dah
Bum bump a DOO dah
DOO dah DOO dah
Heading Home
By: LuvMiFreely
Outside waiting
As I check my watch
Tapping my foot on the pavement
It’s running late again
Just when I feel myself losing patience
I see the headlights in the distance
It pulls to my stop
I step on and place my fare in
As I head to my seat
I pay attention to all blank looks on people’s faces
As they’re heading to their destinations
I wonder what awaits them at these places
I slip my earbuds in
Staring out the window as the world passes by
Every stop brings new strangers
Some quiet, some loud
I turn my music up to tune out the sound
Lost in my own world
I’m home bound
What a long day it has been
To the most disruptive girl in class
The one who had to be separated
From her friends to pay attention
And then became sad and shut down
Rather than bright and engaged
I see you finally fulfilling that potential
We spoke about so many times
I know I was never your favorite
And I appreciated the letter you wrote me
Long after you’d graduated and gone and
Just know that
Although I’m not sure what it would mean to you,
you’ve
made
me
proud.
I’m sorry that you felt the way
You told me that you did
Sorry I’m a terrible mother
I don’t know why you say
You were a miserable kid
Or why you speak so badly of your brother
I always did the best I could
And still you want to blame me
Why are you always so defensive?
We should focus on the good
I love you more than anything
I don’t know why you find me so offensive
If I really did those things
Don’t you think I would remember?
You’re basically calling me a liar
You used to be so pretty
Before you cut your hair like a pretender
And covered with tattoos, you’re destined for the fire
P.S.
Please accept
This apology in earnest
At the very least
I know you know
I truly deserve it
Friendship Lost
I dreamed that I was at your home
Some time with you to share
But though through each room I did roam
I did not see you there
In distant rooms I heard your voice
And so I aimed to trace you
But, ah! I could not then rejoice
I could not seem to place you
Our friendship gone, much like this dream,
Only lingering in my mind
A vagrant thought, so it would seem
So much to have been left behind
Untitled
My favorite time to go to the ocean
is December.
No tourists clogging up the streets,
RVs parked in the accessible parking spots.
There is finally enough room
to lay out a blanket for me and my thoughts.
Spend the day under a grey sun.
I meet the sand
meets the ocean
meets the snow
meets the sea grass
meets the rocks.
It’s warmer here than it is at home even though it’s winter.
It’s calmer here too.
The waves rolling in
keep time with the moon.
I’ll make sure to take take my sweatpants off
to wade into the ocean in shorts.
Feel the ocean meeting land
and feel the whole universe move beneath my feet.
Bask in how small I truly am then
walk back to the car, shoes in my hand.
Taking the snow and ice covered stone steps
reminding myself
I am here.
I am alive.
‘My dear fairy child’
Read my grandmother’s letter,
‘My dear, pay heed
This comes to you, all the way from the kingdom of the sun
Where the sun never sets, where there are no dreams
For they are all realized
We know neither thirst nor hunger
We care for neither happiness nor sorrow
Contentment shines through every pore of our existence
And yet, today, from nowhere, flew a shard of a memory
From another world, from another time
And lodged itself in my being, refusing to leave
Till I collected all the sunbeams from my kingdom
Weaved them together in to words, imprisoning them in this letter
And leaving them at your doorstep
My child, when you read this, take heed,
I will always remember you
As a gift from the angels,
With a smile rivalling the sun’s grandeur
And a heart, as soft as down
Yet as strong as a diamond
That smile can crumble any fortress, any enemy’s evil designs
While that heart can house love for the entire universe
Decimating it too, if it turns against humanity
Remember, balance is the key to a good, fulfilling life
You already know, this be the only letter ever required from me
Live well, child
I will sleep well tonight…
I still have the first letter I wrote to my Oregon grandparents:
I want to see you. The leaves are falling.
My grandmother, Dana, noted on my letter the date it was received: Oct. 13, 1971. And the she replied on a card postmarked the next day, Oct. 14, 1971:
Dearest Dee … Granddad and I were so very happy to get your lovely letter yesterday. Your handwriting is really beautiful, honey, and we’ll always treasure this “first letter.”
If I were writing to her today, I would say the same thing: I want to see you.
Honest, heartfelt: I want to see you.
And because she was magical and had ESP, I think she would write back the very next day.
Dearest Dee …. I want to see you too … Imagine we are walking at Smith Rock in Central Oregon and it is a beautiful spring day and we are talking about books and dreams and hopes for the future. And after a wonderful hike with family and the schnauzers, we will go to Juniper Junction for huckleberry ice cream…
Oh how wonderful it is to see you again!
Steady thrumming
hums with a throbbing beat.
Speed up,
slow down,
constant rhythm
makes its own music,
a dance in tune
with the ebbs and flows
of life.
Always been someone who stays in the moment,
My friends grounding me to the present if I stray too far.
Preparing for the next battle that comes my way and not,
Think too far in time and tire of controlling.
But sometimes it’s a pleasure to dream of a land,
In a faraway queen-dom that I would one day arrive at,
A future worth all the hard work put in the path.
So hold my hand and I’ll take you there…
It’s a cold morning with the sun hiding behind clouds,
A calm blue colouring the space we call the sky,
Birds chirping calmly as they go about their business,
The smell of petrichor signalling the looming rains.
Your feet hit the ground with a sense of purpose,
As you walk around trying to tie all loose ends,
The soft smell of the sea wafting up to where you’re sitting,
As you hear the patter of paws of the dog you call yours.
You bend down to their height not caring of the sand down,
And they launch themselves at you with all that they’ve got,
You wonder if it’s the strength of the love that you share,
Because, oh, you love them so much and you know they love you too.
Soft music, the kind you like, is playing in the background,
And the smell of your favourite dish reaches you,
There’s laughter pouring in from all the sides,
And you’ve achieved everything you could possibly want.
As another year with your dog goes by,
You sit down to do some reminiscing of the good old days,
That was today, Of the memories that were only yesterday,
For you’ve lived through everything every day has to offer you…