These words
are echoes of all
the words you’ve said before
and they still
hurt my ears.
These words
are echoes of all
the words you’ve said before
and they still
hurt my ears.
Her words
weren’t heard
His dreams
were empty screams
Her wishes
were lost in riches
His sight
was bathed in light
Her trials
left her reviled
His loneliness
was his holiness
Their relationship
let sensations slip
They tightly gripped
their well-worn scripts.
Some days
I can’t get close enough
to you.
I want to wrap
your skin around me
and hear our hearts
beat, blood bound,
against each other.
Three thirty-three in the morning
I awaken, drenched in sweat.
I turn on the fan,
waiting for sleep to return
wishing that you were beside me.
If you think
the new guy
loves you for you
perhaps it’s just that
he hasn’t noticed yet,
who you really are?
Have you sliced him yet
with those word daggers,
eviscerating his affections,
hacking out his heart,
and bleeding out
years of devotion?
Have you belittled him
in front of family,
friends, and children,
torn him into pieces,
crushed his spirit,
and pushed him to despair?
Not yet?
We’ll give it time.
Eventually
he’ll know you
for the daggers
in your smile.
.
.
.
.
“Where we are, There’s daggers in men’s smiles: the near in blood, The nearer bloody.”
MacBeth II.iii.
What I learned about you:
What I learned about us:
I wait
in the hollow place
for you
You happily celebrate
the concavities
but appreciate
the complexities
of the convexities.
In hollow places
grace erases traces
of solemnity and
embraces totality,
while
I wait
for you.
G r e e n e y e s,
h o l d m y h e a r t
t i g h t l y a g a i n s t y o u r s ;
l e t t h e i r c o m b i n e d r h y t h m
~ s y n c o p a t e d m e m o r i e s ~
d a n c e i n o u r
e m b r a c e .
.
.
.
Happy Anniversary, handsome. Sam Heughan has nothing on you.
He pays the toll
peck east
peck west
She’s the vehicle for
this journey
over-heavy for the road
burdened by billboards
Her engine rattles,
clanks,
thuds
down the road.
The convoy carries on
taking
a toll.
She wouldn’t dance.
But still
he spun her in circles
twisted her arms
flipped her over
spun her again
’til she was dizzy.
And yet
she wouldn’t dance.

Shawn Bird is an author, poet, and educator in the beautiful Shuswap region of British Columbia, Canada. She is a proud member of Rotary.