I cannot carry
The weight of this world while I
Also shoulder grief
-me
Sculpture by Celeste Roberge
I Cannot, Yet
•January 22, 2018 • Leave a CommentThe Show
•December 29, 2017 • Leave a CommentWhat is it that keeps me pinned
While holding back the rain and wind
Ropes tethering my tent to earth
Pull straight this tugging tarpaulin
What is it that keeps me tame
Performing every show the same
Dressed and dazzling under lights
My wild then shoved back in its cage
What is it that keeps me trapped
My face made up, my body wrapped
Twisting tumbling towards the ground
Feigning faith that ropes don’t snap
What is it that keeps me on
Directing rings, attention drawn
Announcing all the names and games
But pulling stakes before the dawn
What is it that brings us back
And keeps us traveling down the tracks
From this tiny town to next
The world we build during our act
-a.r.
Painting: The Circus by George Seurat
A repost after seeing “The Greatest Showman,” and after the joy I felt while watching it.
Transit
•December 18, 2017 • Leave a CommentOn the train I feel
Like I am nobody yet
Could be anyone
-me
Painting: Train Girl by Thomas Saliot
(This was written during my travels this weekend, before the tragic derailment this morning. My heart and thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, and with those who are injured.)
Rise
•December 15, 2017 • Leave a CommentGrief reached out
And grabbed my throat
It crushed the spot
That housed my voice
Like a cardboard box
In a giant’s fist
Pain reached out
And yanked my feet
It buckled my knees
And felled me fast
My legs like a fawn’s
In a sawtooth trap
Loss reached out
And stole my soul
It sucked me clean
Took all old fight
Left bare my bones
A sterile me
Release seeped in
And shored my spine
It meated my middle
Infused ash skin
So from this corpse
A beast shall rise
-me
Image A Cold Resurrection by iNeedChemicalX on deviantart.com
The Moment
•December 5, 2017 • Leave a CommentThe atmosphere falls
Suddenly still around me
Soft cotton silence
-me
Painting by Joan Fullerton
Present
•December 2, 2017 • Leave a CommentHeartaches and holly berries
Blood-red bows and stars of blue
Waning rays and winds of change
Gift-wrapping dreams in hues of you
-me
Painting by Patti Mollica
Journeyman
•November 25, 2017 • Leave a CommentA few degrees
Makes all the difference
In temperature or math
To architect and traveler
Detailed attention
Squares the path
-me
Painting: Architect’s Dream by Thomas Cole
Still Mountain
•November 19, 2017 • 1 CommentI am mountain
Tunneled through
And standing
All manner of mobile
Automatic machines
Using and viewing fast
My stony middle
Just to travel
A to B without
The timely struggle
Of knowing my nature
Risky wild
And teaching
I remember history’s days
Of rope and boot
And photo shoot
Humans finding foothold
Me providing peak
My pieces picked
For summit’s peace
Tandem plateau and travel
Those days are gone
Time has ticked on
I am still mountain
Tunneled through
And waiting
-me
Abject
•November 8, 2017 • Leave a CommentI am no beauty
Sleeping but a wild thing clipped
And darkly waking
-me
Artwork: Maleficent by Umika-Sayoji on deviantart.com
A Lifetime
•October 26, 2017 • Leave a CommentThe blue sky above begs, “forever”
My body below cries, “a moment”
Between us we meet at this lifetime
Neither sure what we leave in the going
-a.r.
sometimesihatemycat 