a pressure system of words scratches at my cells. an irritable trajectory fragments through what feels like hemispheres of my body. the bus is 6 minutes late. there’s a guy getting on behind me. stop-playing-with-your-pu•sy. he tells my back. the crack of provocation. my heckles retort. I’ll call it accidental. I’ll call it universal. I slipstream myself into a seat. the guy mutters past. his last word on the matter is the word c•nt. as if I am (am I though) a not-quite-there person.
I note the conditions of hope: I can paint. plant seedlings. shuffle around the block at dusk. covet stones & rocks laid in dirt. l can type II shitty poems. endure III alcohol-free days. I can dress myself. leave the house. fold my legs like an envelope on the floor of the book exchange. I can scrape together something that feels like safety. a broken tv can displace me. Polarities. I’m a warzone
Thanks for the fun prompts. Fairwell SPM
Thank YOU so mch for being here throughout dear Dionne. Farewelling SPM with you! :')
Dark night of the soul…
Into the next decan
We step gracefully
Goodbye number 5
Hail generosity
Onto 6 of Disks
Fill the plates heartily
Be warned it’s a trap
Venus paints hungrily
Snack are delicious
Try to see past your plate
And crawl from soft couches
Use this time to create
Based on where others are at in this week of prompts, I may have missed a piece or 2😸
At dusk…
Flying foxes fill the sky
Their very presence makes me cry
Marvel at their tiny feet
Dangling from a frond
I want to hug their furry bods
Shaped like alien bean pods
It’s ill advised scientists say
Rabies is unpleasant
Let them unfold & flap away
Shimmy past the moon
Shiny eyes, black nose, brown wings
In awe I am of living things
Sky grows dark & with it brings
A fabulous display
A dark night of the soul...
When shames buries you
deep in its linens,
when loneliness tastes
bitter as orange peel
left in a dark room,
when horror comes
banging at your door,
there I am.
When you’re awake
all night with fretful fits
of memory like presents
un-wrapped and re-made
offered to the tree
of wretchedness and woe,
there I am.
When the demons of
doubt claw your
hard-beaten chest of air,
when you show
your body no mercy,
When time eats herself whole,
There I am.
I have studied the devotion
of Sappho, of Cohen, of
extraordinary women branded
immoderate by swine,
and I know how cold it gets.
And I won’t leave you.
When the body speaks…
Aries Martian forces
Fire outward from the head
Taurus is a hungry bull
Just calmly chewing bread
Gemini talks with their hands
Sends breath into long arms
Cancer nurtures at the breast
While moonlight cools & charms
Leo glows beyond the heart
The lion’s back is strong
Virgo maintains the belly
A Mercurial work-song
Libra holds the kidneys
To balance as a pair
So Scorpio can lick the bowl
Hearth warms the derrière
Attached to muscles runners’ thighs
The Centaur making moves
Straight up the hill climbs Capricorn
With sturdy knees & hooves
Ankles bound Aquarian
Wields electricity
Pouring through the matrix
Rests Pisces swollen feet
Modeled after cosmic plan
Vertically represent
Map points toward the stars’ homes
We’re all incandescent
why apologize
why apologize
when it’s for you
you want to make amends
but it has, Nothing
to do with me
your heavy heart needs absolution
it needs more room
more light maybe
more space
for all the other sparks and sparkles
something in me is moved by that
i can feel it, i want you to have it
but what about my heart?
left out of it?
you want to take the weight from yours and ask mine to hold it?
After it’s already holding so much?
from you?
this space that you took up,
this ache
you caused
you’re asking me to hold more??
i’ve apologized to my heart
not about this
but for not listening to her
not hearing her
not holding her
She’s very sure
there is no space for you anymore
so please,
Leave us out of it
The part about- your heavy heart needs absolution…
💪❤️ this too hits hard. It’s like, who is this for?
wow y’alls poems are hitting hard! thank you for sharing!!
They really are aren't they? Thank you for your encouragement Shelby! <3
Aliveness is like…
Awake again
Another day
Existence Earthly plain
Speak & laugh
Consume cry out
A bulging purple vein
Restricted access influence
Mysterious to bleak
Imbalance, shady needs more light
Messed up to say the least
Systems cast a sticky net
Manipulate belie
Massive bloat while many starve
How does this big bird fly
<333 !
An old museum…
Peep this stolen swag
Darkened by donor directives
Lure the eye from bigger pictures
Grave robbers delight
In time forgiven
Backdoor deals with collector scum
Institutional lighting
Hides a greasy detail
On cut glass boxes
No photos please
Excuse me sir
Can you put that down?
Your final lines are always breathtaking!
An old museum…
Ancient icons
of a Goddess old
as the first sunrise.
A bronze likeness
of Bastet
is officially named after
the Mayor who
painted her green.
Her wedjat eye will meet
the glassy gaze of six million
voyeurs this year.
And the year after that.
Shitty poetry
Tuesday.
a pressure system of words scratches at my cells. an irritable trajectory fragments through what feels like hemispheres of my body. the bus is 6 minutes late. there’s a guy getting on behind me. stop-playing-with-your-pu•sy. he tells my back. the crack of provocation. my heckles retort. I’ll call it accidental. I’ll call it universal. I slipstream myself into a seat. the guy mutters past. his last word on the matter is the word c•nt. as if I am (am I though) a not-quite-there person.
I note the conditions of hope: I can paint. plant seedlings. shuffle around the block at dusk. covet stones & rocks laid in dirt. l can type II shitty poems. endure III alcohol-free days. I can dress myself. leave the house. fold my legs like an envelope on the floor of the book exchange. I can scrape together something that feels like safety. a broken tv can displace me. Polarities. I’m a warzone
I love the phrase to note the "conditions of hope". And what a kicker <3