VJ – Page 26 – One Woman's Quest

Residual

War forgets
the accoutrements of peace –
in one quick blast
tranquility is banished

And if it is ever to return
it will be adorned
in the somber vestments
of displaced lives.

(Tuesdays, I borrow from the app formerly called Twitter. Image my own)

Alice Knows

Betrayal hugs with enthusiasm
public displays of warmth
so charming

Betrayal clutches vials
and pockets the laundry money
and gives a cheeky wink

Betrayal taps the shoulder
and ducks before the reveal
grins like the Cheshire cat

Plays me like a top
spinning, spinning,
and toppling hard

till I’m bent over
head between my legs
glancing backward

Sure that I just saw
the white rabbit,
out of breath

Each word a pill
making me bigger
or smaller

Then off with my head
Betrayal has made me a pawn
till it tires of me and moves on….

(Image my own.)

Hope, Momentarily

Hope exists
in seafoam edges
in tides of emotion

Hope exists
in heartbeats
in silent touch

It is easy to believe
hope exists in this moment
just can’t grasp everlasting

(Image mine)

Scold

Skyward I cast
this melancholy,
hook a cloud
and drift…

A dalliance
with the sun –
his irrepressible
optimism scolds

I let go the tether
retreat to sombre soil
re-commit to
gloom’s scold

(Image my own. Scold first appeared on Twitter)

Domestic Madness

The pot simmering on the stove
really should be boiling, but
baby needs changing, and
He-who-is-charged-
with-watching-the-children
is asleep in his chair…

Where to lay the infant –
her soiled and sodden diaper
threatening its own release –
when her siblings
have dragged all the bedding –
fort-intended, now abandoned
under foot?

Turkey is in the oven
legs trussed, flesh
buttered and salted…
Baby’s skin is red
her squirming legs
noncompliant

Dog offers his presence
curious nose intervening…
I leave the wriggling bundle
to dispose of offending nappy –
images of dog mouthing contents
beyond current capacity

Children’s giggles signal
misadventure, as bath water
spills into the room,
husband stirring,
“Smells good!” says he
pushing buttons
on the TV remote

Ankle deep in water
contents of pot now burning,
awareness dawns –
the forgotten baby
is now missing…
madness achieved.

(Another dream inspired nonsensical poem. Image my own)

Love’s Waters

Love’s waters rise
defy the impossibility
of our sedentary walls –
tides and emotions
like sculptors
reshaping the contours
of opposition, softening
the places where hearts meet.

(Art my own)

Hysterical

Crevices fragrant
with rot of genetics –
this path is a minefield

Father’s legacy
has scarred any sense
of valour – tried running

But history is tricky,
catches us winded,
regurgitates tragedy

(Originally appeared on Twitter. Image my own)

Paralysis

Paralysis desecrates floorboards
leaves me suspended…
the skeletons of lost dreams
sprawled out beneath me…
disordered

I am powerless
against the nightly haunts:
a dispirited youth
a righteous mother,
that lonesome child…

Judgment has a long shadow
and slits for eyes…
I don blinders –
tunnelled between
guilt and loathing

This onslaught,
this psychic terrorism
mocks my immobility
forces me to mine
forgotten pith

Survival, instinctual,
steels against the assault
raises prayer
as antidote

An armless attempt
to assert will over fear –
hoping strength restores
vulnerability’s war cry.

(Image mine)

Red Shoes

Mama says wear red shoes
Gives a woman power

But I wobble and stumble
six inches makes me tower

So I trade in my stilettos
for a crimson pair of docs
and much to Ma’s dismay
some days I don crocs

It’s not the shoes that determine might
I tell her, but the soul in the fight.

(Photo: Mom and red accessories – shoes no doubt match. She is posing with her baby brother.)

Avoidance

so seldom
do we address
the issue
frightened, perhaps
by the shadows,
the underlying
darkness –

or is ignorance
a more comfortable
state: a numbing
defiance?

(I once wrote poems for Twitter, but it seems to have lost its charm. Image my own.)