Your lips are curled into a jack o’lantern smile
but there is no warmth in your face
because instead of flame behind your eyes,
there is a haunted house.
poem-choose strong May 26, 2015
You can not choose the circumstance
that fights to keep you down,
but you can choose how you respond;
you can choose to be strong.
Whatever trauma shatters you,
Whatever hurts you feel,
The weakness is just temporary;
You have the strength to heal.
.
.
.
A fitting conclusion to yesterday’s poem, today’s piece reflects the message of Robb Nash and his band who played for the high schools of Salmon Arm today. I’m glad to part of Shuswap Rotary which supported Robb’s visit. Read more about Nash’s astonishing life story and inspirational work here: http://www.robbnash.com
poem-shatter May 25, 2015
You are bound tightly by mirrors
Gazing at yourself through refracted light
Every flaw magnified infinitely
Every hurt reflected back
slashing
slashing
slashing
you into fragile glass: you
naked Royal Doulton figurine
bare
broken
morose multiplicity in a million pieces of silver.
.
.
.
I want this to have a hopeful spin, but perhaps that will be part two tomorrow? It feels complete in thought, so I’ll stop.
poem-lonely May 20, 2015
I do not know what to do
about your screams.
It seems you plunge
to unplumbable depths
and I do not know
how to swim.
The mists of melancholy
shroud the waters,
coat you in agony,
fog reason, and
I fear I am not lighthouse
enough to guide you home.
poem-lovable February 16, 2015
Her body next to him is not enough
For him to believe in love.
He must believe he is lovable,
in order to love someone else.
If she is worth romancing,
would she be with him?
He must believe he is lovable
in order to love someone else.
If he is unworthy of love, how can
he encourage her to love him
through hearts, flowers, and love letters?
He must believe he is lovable
in order to love someone else.
poem-flames February 7, 2015
She’s caught between the flames
of inferno and ice
Accusations of blame,
of who’s not playing nice.
She’s caught between the fury
of defeat and aggression,
For neither is sorry
and all leads to depression.
She’s caught between love
crushed between hate
a magician’s dove
that is stuffed then must wait.
She’s caught between threads
stuffed up their sleeves
’til she’s dangling her head
beneath the nearest trees.
poem-silhouette February 3, 2015
The light is behind you
and you are a glorious silhouette
You see only shadows,
but we see beauty.
poem-hard January 16, 2015
He relies on the strength
of her heart strings.
She winds them around him
to hold him together
when he might rattle apart
in the shaking, quaking times.
When she is weak and broken,
when she can not stretch her arms,
wide enough
to wrap heart strings around him,
he trembles and crumbles
apart.
When she is weak and broken,
he does not consider
that he could pretend
to be strong.
He could hold her heart strings,
and spin into her.
poem- dark January 15, 2015
“A man like Matthew never frees himself of the shadows completely, but perhaps it is necessary to embrace the darkness in order to love him.”
~Deb Harkness in Shadow of Night
.
.
He thinks that he is so hard to love
he polishes his prickles
scours his scowls
brushes those glowering brows
as if this gruff front will keep his heart whole,
and impervious to the heat of a warm embrace.
But she wears fireproof gloves,
confronts him with frankness,
and forces him to face his fears.
She wraps his arms around her and
shows him his image in the mirror of her love.
Shawn L. Bird 