Tag: life

Even Ghosts Yearn

Natural light preferable
to artificial – not the harsh
fullness of noonday sun
but softly filtered rays –
luxurious…
inviting

Love too, should be subdued,
gentle as a zephyr –
not mythical, but yielding…
mindful
not worshipful nor boastful
but comforting…
warm

I am waning light
the mistral wind wafting
no longer a force of nature
but smoke, spiralling
vanishing into non-existence

And yet,
even as shadows spread
I yearn – heart
beating true
not lost,
not forgotten,
but withdrawn…
humbled

passion mellowed
by years of constructing walls –
grit and tar –
scar’s long buried
save the limping gait
of a ghost.

(Even Ghosts Yearn first appeared here in July, 2018. Image my own.)

Ebb and Flow

Shore knows repetition
tides thrust, withdraw –
natural rhythm

Why then should I question
strife’s return – is it not just
tide returning my load?

Not as stalwart as the shore
misery bleeds onto page
tainting my ocean.

(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson.
This poem edited. Image my own.)

Contemplating Slopes


Daunting
the looming
mountainside
or the oceanside
cliffs whose ascent
mocks my limitations

Fragile,
the glint of
spidery thread,
whose expanse, though
delicate, stretches without fear

The way our income curves
downward, while
our needs
mount

Life’s slopes
precarious, demanding
inevitable, and yet we find ourselves
ill-prepared when forced to navigate them.







Dreaming Oceans

Ingrained in me
this flight
eye on the future
the periphery
closing in.

Husband urges me
forward, but where
this road leads
I do not know

Connected to self
open, escaping into
the vast expanse
becoming fluid
alive, nurtured

I have been spit out
by life so often,
taught to be taut,
it’s hard to plunge,
let go of the past
and just swim.

(Submitting for my weekly challenge: peripheral. Image my own.)

The Wind and I

Followed the wind –
a child without boundaries –

Experience, especially hardship
clipped those wings

Lost faith in the wind,
pushed against her flow

Till nothing was left of me
fight diminished by final blow

The wind, though, she persisted
picked up my diminished spirit

tossed me in her whimsical way
rekindled the child.

(Image my own.)

Relocate. Reset

Mom said sh’e leaving Dad
can’t take it anymore
we move.

Relocate. Reset.

Bullying at school out of control
can’t take it anymore
we move.

Relocate. Reset.

Truancy a problem
then the rape
school says I have to go.

Relocate. Reset.

Sister move back home
one unhinged, the other battered
Moms says it’d be better if I leave.

Relocate. Reset.

Shuffle boxes from relationship
to relationship, change careers
like hairstyles – is this boredom?

Relocate. Reset.

Never did grow roots
too good at packing up
trouble comes…

Relocate. Reset.

Tell you more, but we’re about
to pull out, the road is calling…
you know how it goes…

(Relocate. Reset. first appeared here in December, 2017. I am submitting it here, edited, for my weekly challenge: I’m bored. All welcome to join in. Image my own.)

Love Cycles

Who instigated the abandonment?
It’s an ugly question
manifests pretensions
both sides righteous…
blinded

When the rage subsides
faith will intervene
and acceptance –
a milestone
will springboard

recover, victims’
voices gaining clarity
intent amended
launching into love
once again.

(Love Cycles first appeared here May, 2018. Resubmitting it for Reena’s Xploration Challenge: milestones. Image my own.)