Category: poetry

Grey and Blue

I lied:

I'm never done with you

Never finished, 
Never lost, 
Never not yours

Did I lie,
Or tell the truth,
A truth beyond my comprehension?

Because
We've changed

I'm never not yours,
Yet, I belong to myself alone

You're never not mine,
Yet, you do as you wish, too

The complexity of truth is maddening:
Worlds beyond "true" and beyond "lies"

Paired mirrors, we are, 
Face-to-face:

Ever-ongoing,
Ever-lost,
Ever-abandoned

Ever grey
And
Ever blue

The Beast in Me

Come to me, you wild beast,
You whirling storm of beauty
Battered, scarred, bruised and teased
You grew beyond majesty

Wide, cold skies weep for you
In pain, relief and sorrow
Rage rumbles, deep and true
No gods will reign tomorrow

Nor hold you trapped in caves
Where man’s faithless, dank pride grips
Where the ceaseless lie staves
Off a small apocalypse

Come, fly free, fly stronger
You’ve broken stone and cruel fate
Breed your courage longer
Your kind, for you, yet await


Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 - 2020
Prompt 6 - 2pm EST

Prompt #6: Picture Prompt

No Pressure

Relaxation
(i remind myself)
is the key to Beauty

timed tests
and pressures
might create infinite
diamonds
(but only over time)

fissures
cracks
flaws

(We must realize)
are the inevitable
result
of

TOO MUCH
TOO FAST
TOO SOON

There are bromides
for everything

Fences sat upon
in great uncertainty

As winds or breezes,
ice or snow
rain or sunshine fall

As the sense 
of infinite plausibility
wends round-and-round

A fence to guard
A carousel
A barrier for safety
or for holding back wishes?

Draw strength from
your uncertainty
embrace the miasmic

Nonsense
that wakes you
stalls you
shields you

and realize
that

in the exchange -
in the embrace -
in the reverse lifestyle
(from all you’ve been urged)

YOU DEVOTE
YOUR LIFE
TO BEAUTY


Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 - 2020
Prompt 5 - 1pm EST

Prompt #5: Use at least 8 (or all) of the following words in your poem:
fence, uncertainty, devote, ice, draw, reverse, nonsense, exchange, infinite, relaxation, wind, bathtub, lifestyle, guitar, realize

Blue-and-Red


Blue sand underfoot
Chilled children’s drinks drain away
Boiling crabs blush bright red


Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 - 2020
Prompt 4 - 12pm EST

Prompt #4: Write a poem about blue sand and red crabs
**This prompt came from Writerswrite.com

Silver Linings

There were so many moments shared with you
Long walks through Montreal, Toronto, too
Night drives on cobbled streets in Buffalo
And never, then, did others know of you

I shirk to show the bruises, faded, old
And gone from view; so much I never told
‘A silver lining,’ ‘True Love Conquers’ - so
I lived, trusted your eyes of em’rald-gold

I trusted in your reason and your mind,
Expected love - but never love maligned
The whirlwind I became to remain free
Upheld, punished - still, through all, I was blind

A silver lining brightened every day
But not from you and that tumult’ous play
The brightness, love existed but in me
Your bitter words spawned with me dark affray

We should have parted, been no more than friends
If but we wished to find harmon’ous ends
Yet, all I have now is a memory
Devoid of hopes to, one day, make amends

With no way back, with truth, I move ahead
Peek back proves I, that silver lining led
And I, my own responsibility
Free from the man I wish I’d never wed


Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 - 2020
Prompt 3 - 11am EST
Music Prompt - Response to 
My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit

Photo credit: Pexels Free Photos

A Sonnet in Pink

’Tis true, I never thought to think, to dream,
To find the words while crafting this, midstream;
And yet, t’was but one color that did seem
To reach, inspire, set my mind agleam:

Soft, cotton-candy clouds in summer skies;
The bright, exotic skin that dragons prize;
The flesh that lovers yearn to tantalize;
A sweet explosion calls to butterflies -

All wild, soft or misty gleam is theirs.
How can one dare to own, when the world shares,
When all of femininity are heirs,
When cyan, tangerine burst fiercer flares?

And still, I find I cannot double-think
The myriad, effluent hue of pink.
Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 - August 15, 2020
Prompt 2 - 10am EST 
Write a Sonnet

Photo credit: Pexels Free Photos

numbers divided

five days ago
i wrote to you
wishing I’d hear from you

three weeks ago
you wrote to me
but, one word will never do

nine years ago
we scened but once
i fell so hard for you

eight years age-difference
seemed zero
there was none one could do

in all that time
and all these years
i never wished from you to part

and i will say
this honestly:
i couldn’t muster a fresh start

t'was hardly fair
to you or me -
what rules a lover’s heart?

when memories,
day-terrors shook,
took hold, our mind and lives we thwart

and dismay now
is lasting grief
so little left, have we to show

from years of love
of dreams dreamt well
shoved into corners, urged to grow

this madness left
of why we split
of i insisting that you’d go

was spawned of love
for, split we were
now, negative is all i know

Quarter Crazy Marathon
Quarter 3 – Saturday, August 15, 2020
Prompt 1 – 9am EST

Photo credit: Pexels Free Photos

Rush

Yes,
It came and went so quickly:

A storm that passed between,
Swept us up in a dream --
And, in a climactic scream,

Emptied
Us
Both.

Beautiful perfection
Existed for a moment,
Faltered into an abyss.

What a pity.

There's a mirror somewhere around,
When you want to look into it.

Daydreams

And the world is blue without your arms
And grey, without your mind;
It’s red, without your kisses, fine,
Refined by stalwart art

My mind creates a land of charms
With vibrant greens and gold
Despite the chill of winter’s cold,
Brown swallows dash and dart

Amidst white clouds and shining things,
A rainbow hangs above;
And sing a bird’s song, bright, of love,
Into this brand-new start

Come hither, where the church bell rings
With every passing hour
And bring to me a springtime flower,
And in my life, take part

And the world is blue without your arms
And grey, without your mind;
It’s red, without your kisses, fine,
Refined by stalwart art

My mind creates a land of charms
With vibrant greens and gold
Despite the chill of winter’s cold,
Brown swallows dash and dart

Amidst white clouds and shining things,
A rainbow hangs above;
And sing a bird’s song, bright, of love,
Into this brand-new start

Come hither, where the church bell rings
With every passing hour
And bring to me a springtime flower,
And in my life, take part

Into My World, A Shadow Falls

Into my world, anew, a darkness drew —
Fell, near burning fires, a shadow’s gaze
Upon my weary count'nance; and I knew:
This shadow's grip would claim me, all my days

And stole into my mind and heart, it's true;
Gave up to me the secrets of its ways;
And promised shining things: the morning's dew
Could never shine so bright, nor yield such praise

And still, my mind and heart were warmed anew,
A wav'ring shadow wandered in its plays
Until a darker threat ran its soul through:
Pure jealousy chilled the shadow to such craze

And madness, took the shadow's mind and blew
A word of banishment to me, did itself faze
When love eternal, promised I to you;
Retreated beyond life, into its haze —

But, what, pray tell, are gentle souls to do
When anger only turns a soul to blaze,
For shadows grow in strength and number too...
Obscure, oblique... This life is but a maze...

And I am lost, and all the shadows, too
Should I find on my skin thine sharpened blades
And I would find my skin turn tanned to blue
'Fore I would e'er journey to dark malaise

...Though shadow distantly, coldly withdrew,
Though shining heart is mine, my soul ablaze,
I find neither shadow nor I can yet undo
What binding tied our souls, those fateful days

Mine Is the Life and the Love

You all know it.

You all fear it.

You all want it.

You all can have it

In a moment
In a madness
In a sadness

Stilled by memories
Stilled by thoughts
Stilled by dreams

Yours is the life and the love of things
Lost to all but love of dreams
Realizing dreams of dreams of things

Open up your hands and see
Open up your hearts and dreams
Open up to everything

Fingers chilled on autumn nights
Deer and stars stand, silent, by
Life, intensity lives in mine

Ode to White

Tucked into nearly-nothingness
The fall of snow, I must profess -
Aside from chill that does repress
My eager heart and mind -

May be of Nature's best success
The purity does quite impress
With wafting swirls in great excess
Despite those quarantined

The color, fine, in evening dress
Is perfect as love's faithfulness,
Blended light made to coalesce
As none others less refined

For white, alone, cannot oppress
A canvas on which to express
Each step of life's minute progress -
With white, I am aligned.

Cascades of My Heart

Why ache, my heart
when love is come so quick?
Why fever's pitch?
Or are we both homesick?

And yet, the fire's heat melts
all this pain to shades
Of rainbowed beauty flooding
o'er the world, cascades

Of my heart, pulsing
with the long passage of time
And all I hope is:
I am yours, and you forever mine

All

It has been said that
Cigarettes
Are a way to hold
Fire
In a human's hand

It has been said that
Wine
Is the source of
Life

I say that
You
And I
Are yet the depth of
Love

And love
Is
Life
Is
Fire
Is all of
Faith
Is
Truth
Is
All

Is
All

Is
All

Kindness Brings What Kindness Does

Within a measured caste, am I,
yet treasured by the skies above
or so it seems, when, like a dove,
my soul has wings, has learned to fly

And freedom is a treasured thing
I find in dusky days and nights
alit by stars and firelights,
though open heart is all I bring

And I, though humble cast-away,
am rescued by an unknown Queen,
removed from all the pain that’s been,
may find a home where I may stay

So, for the kindness She bestows
upon my weary heart and mind,
I, too, must give my heart in kind
and treasure my life, highs and lows

No longer dirty, beaten-down;
no longer tiresome, parched and faint,
I lend my soul without complaint
to She, the bearer of that Crown

For kindness brings what kindness does,
as proven throughout history,
as proven, yet, if but by me
in all I am, and all that was

written for the doll, Sofya, in the Skotos world of Castle Marrach, in honor of Queen Vivienne

So-and-So

So,
you don't want the words I spill,
pouring from this surging swell,
cresting lips you've known so well
from depths of me you've helped to fill

'Why bother with men,' an old man said
one chilly night, when the leaves were dead,
after up his walk my feet did tread;
and, quickened, my mind and my heart then sped

"I love because I must," said I,
and gazed into that darkened sky
remembering how many had said 'Goodbye,'
loving each one anew to verify

So,
you don't want words uttered now, do you?
Don't want my heart, though undoubtedly true.
Don't want to delve into all we've been through,
Can't walk away to a fresh morning dew

And that's still your trouble, my favorite dear:
That the past remains:  insurmountable fear,
You'd sooner look on us with distasteful sneer,
Sooner leave your past lonely and shed not a tear

I'll cry for us both, as I've cried times before
And I'll keep true to us, as I've kept true our lore
While you hold yourself stifled, and life, you ignore -
But I'll not forsake you; you're one I adore

Open Letter to a Lost Love

Let me tell you a little bit about love, from my view

Let me tell you a little bit about love, from my view:

Remember my fingers, trailing on your chest after I unbuttoned your shirt, slipping through the curls of hair that perhaps no one ever loved like I do? Remember what it felt like to look into my eyes?

Maybe you don’t remember. But I do.

Yes, darling; you’re right. I do deserve to be loved as magnanimously as I love you. I understand that you’re intimidated, that you feel you’ll never match the soulful gazes I give you.

Yes, love; I understand your fear, and all of the trepidation you have when you consider me, when you think of the possibility of loving as much as you did, of having it simply vanish into a black depth, into an empty death that seems to pull you, too.

Yes, angel. I know you.

My heart has been broken many times before you. I’ve cried so many tears, I’ve thought I would choke on the pain. I’ve wondered how I’ll ever breathe again, how I’ll ever step from my bed. I’ve felt a mind full of vice-like pain so great, I swear, I’ve wished I’d die.

But, of all the things I’ve ever felt, the greatest horrors were the realizations of the numbness I’ve felt, the vast tracts of memories stolen by pain, by fear, and held far from me, held silently from me, truths I never at those times knew.

Love breaks.

Love breaks, my love. Love breaks your heart and makes you feel; love breaks your mind and makes you aware; love breaks all boundaries and sets you free; love breaks all rules and suddenly…

What will you do?

You’re a flowing mass of energy.

You have no words.

You have no rules.

You have no understanding.

You look in the eyes of someone who’s learned to harness love, who’s learned to sail in love, and you think, you think she’s got it together. You think you’ll never learn to be with her, nor with anyone, because here you are, a mass of unbidden feelings – and with those feelings come insecurities…!

You look, you feel; you’re lost.

And you can see those feelings you pushed away, all of those feelings you don’t want to feel of painful pasts, of insecurities…

And you deny love. You don’t want to feel love, because it will break down all of those walls. It will tear down all of your defenses. It will leave you vulnerable, and you will feel sometimes empty.

How, tell me, how can you feel empty when you are in love?

Because, my angel love:

Love breaks down and lifts away, and sweeps away, and cleanses all of those corners where pain existed…

And love does not feel like pain. Love does not leave traces of ache. Love is like light: it shines upon you and on all of your spaces, and shows you every little thing; love is like water, as strong and as full, but flowing and washing everything away, given enough time.

And what is left, my love, feels empty – as it is not sticking so terribly to the corners of your mind, to the bulk of your mind, demanding your entire energy.

So, you ask me to take my love and go away because you do not feel as I do.

My darling, did you expect to?

Do you expect your heart will swell with joy when the light of my heart shines upon all of the pain you hold closely?

Did you expect to surge with love when you’ve cut off and dammed up the very source of your love, when you swell only and exclusively for children, born of your pure love and innocence?

Did you expect you’d have less of an effect upon me, when you slip your arms around me, unbeknownst to you, giving still more than my parched heart has felt in so many years?

Did you decide you don’t want to listen anymore, to feel any more simply because love is so new to you, again?

Don’t You Know?

Don't you know it?

I long to feel the skin upon your face,
The brush of whiskers nettled on your chin
And when I reach to touch, you to embrace
I find that I am forced to reach within

For - don't you know?

I tremble all the day and all night long
My body eager, vibrating as you strum
The heartstrings of such a familiar song
Fingers not yet on flesh, yet I you thrum

The depths between us bide in another place,
Entwined and dancing lovers, 'round we spin,
In happy dreams and love, ethereally encased,
Far from the heat and noise of this life's din

And I cannot foresee another way
Than dancing deeply in a world unknown
So I will live and love another day
That one day, maybe soon, depths will be shown

That, maybe one day soon, I will be yours
And you'll be mine, in body too;
That one day soon, we'll dance through doors
And ethereal worlds we'll live, both I and you

So, don't you know?

My heart is bound to yours, and lost to me
It's yet my mind you kiss, that you must woo
And I, lost in this fantasy
Somehow made real, this life, by your love true

And - you must know!

Forever, in this time
That you are yours, and also I am thine;
That I belong to me, and you are mine!
That we are ours, forever-love sublime

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Only You

Only you
Defied reality
Defiled my mind
Withstood my sea
Came back to me

Not only you
Resisted reality
Withheld your mind
Shrank from my sea
Came back to me

Only you
(And only they)
Could claim my mind
Shift what you say
With meanings play

Not only you
(Nor only they)
Left me, my mind
And heard me say
"Love is not a game I play,"

But only you
Are only you
I keep my mind
My heart is true
I still have room for "I love you"

If You Ever Wonder Why You Lost Me

If you ever wonder why you lost me
All you have to do is remember
The countless words I spilled for you
Swept aside like autumn leaves
Blown away like apple blossoms
Discarded like old newspapers
Every word a drop of blood
A ray of sunlight
A breath of sea spray
Ignored
Unwanted
Every word, a piece of me
Relinquished wisdom
Burned in the bonfire
Of your bitter life

Photo ©2017 MLM