If
if you think you are beaten, you are.
if you think you dare not, you don't
if you like to win, but think you can't,
it's almost certain you won't
if you think you'll lose, you've lost
for out of this world we find success
it's all in the state of mind
if you think you're out classed, you are
you've got to think high to rise
you've got to be sure of yourself
before you can ever win a prize
life's battles don't always go to the stronger
or faster person
but sooner or later, the person who wins is
the one who thinks they can!
Not Present
Unexpected downtime, I thought that we might play
Instead you pace and want to flee
Why can you not just stay?
I thought this was a good place to be…
Nowhere to go on this rainy day
Here with me
Yet I can feel your love decay
And sense your longing to be free
Why can you not just stay?
But other places you long to see
And your nerves, they seem to fray
Here with me
“Out there” seems to always outweigh
Time only spent with me
Why can you not just stay?
I wonder how long you’ve felt this way
A rainy day-- the truth exposed, I only have this plea:
Why can you not just stay
Here with me?
ditzy old Sally
the victim in a horror movie
is always the girl
pretty
long brown hair
perfect body
boyfriend who is crazy about her
but she's always a little dumb
and it comes back around to get her
in the form of a knife
or a guy
who just can't control himself
can he?
her pretty blue eyes
pierced with the white and red
of a gory death
yet i sit back and laugh at her
i wonder why
i never root for the good guys
Carolina
As Aaron and Carolina lay there, her head on his chest, gazing endlessly into the starry sky, listening to the rush of cars on the interstate, he realized he was falling in love with her. He yearned to tell her how he felt: that he didn’t need anything but her. That he loved her. Because he did, he did love Carolina Peterson, and he always would. But he just stared into the night. She looked lost in her own thoughts. He wondered if she somehow knew that he could not stop thinking of how perfect they could have been together.
The familiar
The bed in the guest room was comfortable, but wasn’t the same as home. Lying on her back, she willed herself to sleep.
A cat jumped onto the bed near her feet.
Oh, she thought, hello bedmate...
She felt the cat walk over her legs, felt its feline weight as it draped its body over her abdomen.
Friendly...
She soon drifted off to sleep hoping it wouldn’t begin that kneading thing cats sometimes do and wake her.
In the morning, she poured herself coffee and commented, “I didn’t know you had a cat.”
Her host’s face grew pale, “I don’t.”
The Weight of Truth
The details were laid out on the gurney
for his kids to sift through, like
pieces of glass
in his hair, the note
in his pocket
He took too many pills
then tried to gas himself
and our family dog
Lucky lived.
Dad dialed for help, but
died having his stomach pumped
Half-truths like this are told
to spare children the details.
The full weight was broken
into bits I could lift
once I tore grief and anger
into smaller pieces still
Your Dad
jumped out
of an ambulance
on the high way
en route to be convicted.
I have worn my heart out
wrestling with this
I drop it
Feels right to release these ashes
like all the apologies, the excuses,
the verdict that need not burden us...
Sometimes pain
weighs less than the justice
we inflict upon ourselves
Sometimes...the right choice is the heaviest
Photo by Egor Ivlev on Unsplash
#Suicide #Justice #Trauma #poetry #truth #grief
Hear the Chimes
Heavy snow struck the first toll
A cross continent storm
Paradise lost to sleet
Please stay home
Yes, feels good. Our king has come
No, we can't complain
Even if
We run out of alms
Yes, we can dig deeper
Earth is only frozen over
And we are only
Rolling in our graves
Photo by Tom Wheatley on Unsplash