There is your name
on the attendance list.
Absent: excused
Parents called in.
Poem- choking December 1, 2020
Tonight amid the Christmas decorations
grief is hanging on our tree;
loss pummels
hopefulness.
Sadness hollows out my chest,
crushes my shoulders,
lodges in my throat.
Longing overwhelms.
There is no comfort
here, only more memories
of what is gone
who is gone
when is gone
where is gone.
Tonight is too much to bear,
so I’ll climb into bed and
trust tomorrow brings
solace and that much lauded
peace of the season.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
poem- cracks June 9, 2019
I’m slipping apart
Deep gut groaning,
inviserating split.
Your knife is sharp
and oh so subtle
No one sees the slicing
as pieces of me fall:
blood, tears and confusion.
Devotion’s greatest trick.
Betrayal by the longed for hope,
tenderly nurtured,
joyfully gathered to the heart.
Once before, protection pushed you out.
You said your sorries, cried for communication
and here we are again.
Cruelty masquerading as the heart I carried.
Pain pretending to be love.
No one else would be allowed in, after all this anguish.
Broken pieces of how I used to feel.
Wondering where the sweet creature disappeared to.
Mothers earn merit badges from the torture
of their children.
poem- acceptance May 30, 2019
Sometimes
there is no why
there simply is.
Your body
came into the world
like this.
The cancer in your family line.
The inclination to heart disease.
That birth defect.
Desperate fear
brings joy to snake oil salesmen
who’ll tell you whatever you need to hear.
Fake healers with degrees from schools of blarney.
Double blind research shows it’s no different that a placebo.
You don’t need an expensive sugar pill;
Just accept the hope
without the hype.
Believe you will get better,
and your body will believe you,
without sharing fake cures that might kill you,
without wasted dollars in fake cures flushed
away, and if your body doesn’t accept cure,
live today.
poem-thinking of you September 3, 2017
Today, I’m thinking of you,
new friend, met for a weekend,
those intense moments of stretching
ourselves into expectation,
birthing pains.
I find your words here,
between the pages,
and hear the anguish of your loss.
I remember our late night conversation,
the smile you fought for as you shared.
I’m thinking of you,
and wishing you lightness,
today.
poem-pain May 23, 2016
Take that moment of your greatest pain
and channel it into power.
Stare down the darkness and bend it to your will.
Use it to transform words
into a hydro station of energy
that transforms worlds.
Sienna dreams April 11, 2016
I dream sienna
Sunsets drippppppping
Onto rocks
Carving red rivers
That slice down
…………….down
…………….down
…………….down
…………….down
Like blood bathed tears
Slice flesh.
It is a Grand Canyon of pain
River winding edge to edge
Touching grief upon grief
From the top
Black trees silhouette
Against a flaming sky
scorched earth burning
in the beauty of pain.
Shawn L. Bird 