Silent chatter
clattering through her mind,
shouting thoughts,
whispered shrieks,
speaking do
don’t
do
don’t.
Can it be?
Will it be?
Should it be?
Yes.
No.
Make it so.
Stuttering possibility
silently.
poem-journey July 31, 2016
This is not where I expected to be,
but they were right when they said
if you don’t plan where you’re going
you may not like where you end up.
So I am not staying.
The view is crushing.
The map is out, and every step of this journey
is planned. Tour guide at the ready,
ready to keep me going in the right direction.
I know the next destination, and I’m setting off
on a pilgrimage of sacrifice,
to atone for foolish wanderings,
and find the self I lost along the way.
poem-gulf April 1, 2016
You open up before me
a gulf of possibility
things I never considered
complications I did not foresee.
You open up before me
a black hole of opportunity
devouring expectations
creating alternative realities
of what my future might be.
.
.
(“Thanks, Des,” she says
dripping with irony.)
poem-moment January 9, 2016
That was it.
You felt it, hovering,
the possibility of change.
You knew you only had to take a step
and life would never be the same.
You felt the moment filled with possibility
and stepped back urgently,
to familiar
mediocrity.
poem-today August 11, 2015
Today I will make the choices
that lead to met goals.
Today I will choose
not to procrastinate.
Today I will accept responsibility
and do what must be done.
Today I will be a grown-up.
Tomorrow?
We’ll see.
poem-doing March 11, 2015
You are amazing.
You are worthy of love.
You are valuable.
You have something to offer.
What are you doing?
poem-Elizabeth October 31, 2014
Today
Your Snow White beauty
Is cut with a sharp edge of
Street smarts.
You’ve seen
Too much.
Tomorrow
Will the visions
Scar your face with darkness,
Cigarette creases
And add black anger to your eyes,
Aging you with
Exponential bitterness?
Or will your words
Poured out upon a page
Erase the stresses
And sculpt your beauty
Into timelessness?
poem-spun October 22, 2014
They can not see beyond the fog
that is all they seek.
Escape.
They fall altered into pharmaceutical
reality.
Mist like creeping mustard gas
poisons their future
stealing their hopes
ruining their dreams.
They fill their days
seeking nebulous security
altered beyond
recognition.
.
.
For those kids and their families battling with addiction who most need education and school supports to develop health and security.
poem-what if October 16, 2014
What if
just for today
you dared to do
that thing you fear?
What if
just for today
whenever you
wanted to say no,
you opened yourself
to yes?
What if
today was the day
when everything
changed?
Shawn L. Bird 