Pavement

You see

the sharp delineation

of the narrow path

we are expected to take.

I see

the barrier

that crumbles

from the force of will

of a dandelion

demanding its place in the sun.

Photo by Nikola Johnny Mirkovic on Unsplash

Song Choice: Crumbling Down by John Mellencamp

This poem was created for the prompt given at Poetry and Storytellers United's Weekly Scribblings: Pavement.

Even When You Know

For an acolyte of Cassandra

very little is unexpected.

I am used to shouting into fields,

where the only acknowledgement

comes from the nodding of distracted flowers

moved by the whims of the wind.

What is unexpected

is that even when you know

what the weight of tired is

down to the ounce,

and are intimately acquainted

with how it grows

and compounds over time,

the physical dividends

still manage to bring unwilling gasps of pain

even when you know it’s coming.

Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash

Song Choice: Unwell covered by Jimmie Allen

This poem was created for the Weekly Scribblings prompt at Poets and Storytellers United: Well, That Was Unexpected. 

When All Else Fails

I’ve been cut by light

as brittle as shards of sugar glass

(twice as cloying,

masking none of the bitter)

that left me

with inflamed doubts

trying to spread to every cell,

until I am more doubt than woman.

I cannot survive under the glare

of this illusion of light

and its false promises,

so I take my doubts

into the loving darkness

where true starlight's touch

waits for me

to breathe,

to release,

to heal,

every last taint

of doubt.

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Song Choice: In Your Eyes (New Blood Version) by Peter Gabriel

This poem was created for Poets and Storyteller United's Weekly Scribblings prompt, When All Else Fails.