He polishes chrome
while she shuffles Tarot
Luck temporarily
suspended by edicts
Life in limbo highlights
the chasm – incommunicado
They maintain distance
choking on tension
Define this as home…
(Image mine)
Category: relationships
Crazy-Making
Happiness, he says,
is your responsibility
and then…
If you love me enough…
If you showed more appreciation…
If you lost a little weight…
and…
Clearly, not my problem.
Really?
Is it always just me?
(For Reena’s Exploration challenge #151: Is it always me? Image mine)
What Is Important?
Unity seems an apt response
Yet we pillow fight, toss
sinewy threads of notions…
Is righteousness really
more important than peace?
(Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)
Looking For Silver Linings
Shoulder to shoulder
we contemplate clouds, hunt for
silver, my brother
lost, then found, ponders what ifs –
clouds become threads, unite us.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Photo mine)
Is Optimism Enough?
Are you happy?
The question hits
my gut,
slingshots
down the hall
deadends
at optimism
Of course, I respond.
What else can I say…
Sure life needs tweaking…
I am learning to be better…
I can make this work…
Why? What do see?
Thoughts unspoken
but the bell has been rung…
(For Reena’s Exploration challenge: How far can optimism go? Image my own.)
Not Meant To Be
He was night dark,
ruminated over death
and loss and injustice
Don McLean on repeat
I was sunshine yellow
joy of living
optimism on steroids
Dancing Queen
If opposites attract
then we were magnets
lured by the mystery
One Way or Another
When night meets day
colours explode
light breaks black
Shame, Shame, Shame
(For Eugi’s Causerie weekly prompt: when night meets day. Image mine)
Parental Passages
Carefully we construct
security for offspring –
add luxuries to entertain
accommodate growth
play host to revolving-
door friends and dates.
And yet, we are graded
on performance – met
or unmet expectations –
held up against a stack
of other super parents,
silhouettes of perfection.
Still, we celebrate goals,
sprouting family, ignore
the slanders, and ease
into age with a tad of kook,
or wild inappropriateness –
all expressions of our love.
(First edition of this poem appeared Feb/’18. Image from personal collection. Submitted for Reena’s Exploration challenge, choosing the prompt: silhouette.)
Still Digging
Father, as immoveable
as a mountain
taught us to orchestrate
submontane routes
Circumnavigating
his rocky moods
bestowed upon us
a fear of masculinity
Resilience instilled
the necessity of mining
gold from darkness:
still digging.
(Sketch mine)
Disconnect
Hold my words
up to your lens –
exchange snippets
distracted lives
hold no audience
I seek a way home.
(Reena’s Exploration challenge invites us to write a cryptic poem. Image my own.)
Un-captivated
Bridging was his MO
caught me post divorce
when needs were slippery
Sapped my spirit
drained my love, then
latched onto new youth –
Most liberating gift
he ever gave me.
(Image from personal collection)
