Winter Without Snow

The cold has set in

Without its accompanied beauty

The sky is uncomfortably blue

The yellow sun shines oddly down

But the grass has turned an ugly brown

And the pond reflects a gray-blue frown

I know -

- because I looked deeply into it

To find an answer that remains unfound

So I stand alone in the cold
To look up at a strange blue

And wonder – when and who

I will be between young and old.

You Said

You said you love me again

In your unsound sleep

A daytime secret you selfishly keep:

From me.

You said you love me again

In the spins of your desperation

Afraid of how it would happen:

My leaving.

You said you love me again

In a moment to keep me

Comfortably by your side:

Your lies.

Misnomer

Her name rolled off your tongue
Just as mine once did
Its noise had the same ring
Your voice, the same feeling

You said it like you know
Of how her cheeks glow
And how her eyes close
The moment she lets go

Her name spoke familiar
From the corners of your lips
As though you could love her
At least the movement of her hips

Her name rolled off your tongue
Just as mine once did
And there was none else to think -
- but: "Congratulations."

Tired in November of 2010

And the wrecking ball continues to swing

          Once again only the bluest birds sing

(their saddest songs)

               

WE 

ARE

TIRED:

o f   t h i s  tragedy thing

It is

taking a serious

                          toll on everything

A toll that's getting tougher to pay

With each one that passes away

Whether it's:

Sadly with INTENT

Or unexpectedly by ACCIDENT


It seems as though
The ever presence of the word go
Has us questioning:
? 
Will we ever grow
UP AND AWAY
From the DARKNESS we've come to know.

Atlantic Rain

I close my eyes:

To see, to feel, to hear,
To know intimately

The weight of the rain

The overwhelming screams,

The intensity of Atlantic dreams

I close my eyes to feel

Water needles sink into my skin
Playing on the specific strings that -
-remind me what the weight of water is

I close my eyes to hear
Liquid drums carefully beating
To a melody always worth repeating
But lost in moments that are painfully fleeting

I close my eyes to know
The intimate intrusion of the wind
Wet and heavy as it soaks my soul
And it reminds me of when...

...I closed my eyes mid-wave
And hid inside the Atlantic rain.

Recovering from the {f}all

September came too quickly

Opening doors so swiftly

And I found myself unready

For things that fell abruptly

September went too quickly

Opening doors uncomfortably

Into October, all too soon

As though we already knew...

(once recovered from this fall)

...that it has come be the truth:

When sadness finally escapes me

A piece will remain for you.

Calling Because

I'm calling to tell you not to call

And also to ask why you didn't fall

I'm calling to say I can't hear your voice

In the early hours when I'm left with no choice

But to answer when shaken from unsound sleep

When I've waited alone in untangled sheets.

I'm calling to hear the words you won't say

While you hold out your arm to keep me away

I'm calling to tell you not to call
So that maybe someday I'll recover from the Fall. 

Rained and Fell

I ran

From the hauntings yesterday 

It rained

As though to wash away pain

I cried

When the ghost of you remained

They fell

Bright pieces of things misplaced

I heard

Words in my head with no escape

It repeated

Confusing nostalgia of what's gone away

I rained

To cry your words away

I fell

From a lonely place

I screamed

To push the pain away

And hurt

When pieces remained.

Une Fois De Plus

“Just one more time” echoes in my head

And I'll wait impatiently

Tangled in words so carefully unsaid

Unraveled and empty in a shallow bed

“This will be the last” pushes me to your door

And I’ll trip ungracefully

Into the unwished dreams you silently hope for

To hear silent screams of the things I wish for

Unfinished Poetry

A pressing moment

Weighs on the poet

To finish her sentence

As she currently knows it

Urgency quietly calls

Through paper-made walls

In a form that makes sense

Of the daily rises and falls

If left unfinished, it never will be

For the way life unfolds so quickly. 

Fell

A slippery step on the ice is hard to take

When the weight of past seasons won't go away

Summer left swiftly and wordlessly

Every un-answer remains a mystery 

The bright shatterings of Fall are on the floor 

And there are skeletons knocking at the door

- not begging for tricks or sweets -

The ghosts are my own. They haunt relentlessly.

With the facade of holding on - 

- the reality of letting go

Their words talk, 

Their laughter echoes,

Their sadness cries -

Into my ears 

                 and out from my eyes.

Welcome Winter,

You're just in time.

To hear me say,

                Good-bye.

Blue Green

She tempts you with her blue green eyes
And reflects her beauty in changing skies
You feel a pull with the outgoing tide
That abruptly steals you from my side


She holds your gaze from seas away
You imagine you'll drown in unruly waves
Yet she makes you wonder if you'll stay
Or take this chance to run away


It's not just that you're overtaken by her beauty -
It's that you know the affair will end quickly
- that she'll most likely leave you lonely

Just as you left me
When I lost the battle against the sea.

Sails in Colorado

We could sail away

If your boat would reach me

But the mountain shores are dry

And I'm not waiting patiently.

A Questionable Portrait

Slumped over the bar

Sagging skin and a heart

Both his spine and his eyes

Were a question mark

His weathered face searched

For reasons behind the hurt

Of lyrics differently heard

By each of its interpreters

"This is the saddest song written"

(Words slurred from his frown)

His gaze turned to his drink

As though he might drown

I studied him, then looked to you

And wondered out loud, "What did he do?"

Understanding my question, 

You avoided the reflection

And silently wondered

                             if that would be you 

Slumped over the bar

Sagging heart and skin,

Questions in your eyes,

Longing for something.

Storm Intercepted

I saw lightning mimic the color of your eyes
I heard your voice whisper in a song
I felt your skin in the grass that grazed mine
I almost tasted you, sweet on my tongue

I recognized the electricity in my spine
My heart raced to the thundering skies
When lightning mimicked the color of your eyes

Music played where it shouldn't belong
I knew the sound well before it was gone
When I heard your voice whisper in a song

An almost kiss disappeared into the night

And our faces aligned eye to eye

An imagined moment was lost in time

When I felt your skin in the grass that grazed mine

I realized,

Your eyes were just a trick of the light

Your voice just the lyrics of another's song 

Your skin just an imagined brushing of the night

When I almost tasted you, sweet on my tongue

Fire Trucks and Fishy Kisses

"I'm hungry" wakes me up at seven
Then three more times before eleven

"I want..." this one and that one and more

"What will you get ME at the store?"

Green eyes with "black dots in the middle"

Peer through the white spots on the mirror

A furrowed little brow and a pouty mouth

Are revealed when it's time for lights out

But there's a smiley drawn with crayon

And "I love you" behind his smile

A big fishy kiss after PJ's are on

That make every hiccup worth while.

The Contents of a Promise

for Kaden.

I promise you the world -

- will ask you questions

To test what you thought you knew

Then teach you that more is less and

{the world}

Will subtly show you

How less can be more and

{the world}

Will surprise you to no end

And end with surprises

That teach you to be appreciative

{the world}

Will lie to make you feel better

And hurt you with the truth

Then mend you with the proof that

{I}

have loved you and always will

No matter what happens.

*

*Girl in Grey Dress Photography: MyKelle J Tieman
[http://missmykelle.blogspot.com/]

Wishes

I wish...

there

is an empty space

in a forgotten place

where

shadows are whispers

of unheard wishes

when

a ghost silently haunts

a heart that painfully wants

no one

is there to listen

...and wishing hurts

Grateful Remnants

Thank you.

For evoking the tumultuous poetry

That once laid dormant in hidden corners

Behind the locked doors of my heart
For unlocking those doors

For being just distant enough for me

To safely fall in love with you

And then recklessly, ungracefully out of love

Then back again at the slightest hue

Of the colors I saw when I met you

For being the mirrorrrorim to my past self

Showing me the outside view

Into the windows of a cowering heart's home

For giddy laughter, shy smiles, fiery anger,

For held back tears behind stone faces,

And unabashed emotion--

That cannot be accurately named

For making me happy enough,

Angry enough,

Sad enough,

In love enough

To utter words both shakily and eloquently.

For pushing me away and down

Scary, exciting, untraveled paths beyond the last

Of my remaining barricades.

For freeing me from you.

Please free me from you.

Thank you.

--

Kendra Lise

"El amor es alegria. No te convenzas que sufrir es parte de el." Paulo Coelho

Truth or Dare

[Are You]

brave enough to be raw and honest in each moment you live in?

Can you break free from the norms understanding you wont break even?

Can you love and let go, can you escape what you know -

To openly embrace all of the truths that you don't?

[I Dare You]

to be brave enough to be raw and honest in each moment you live in.

To break free from the norms - understand that you won't break even!

To Love and let go, to escape what you know-

To openly embrace all of the truths that you don't!

Silence Heard

What if we heard...

What is hidden inside reinforced walls
The lingering potential that silently calls
What if we heard the words that allow us to fall?

The words that desperately need and unabashedly desire

The words that fear the flames of our own fires

What if we heard the I love you's that shiver behind hello

And the I miss you's that cry from beneath the pillow

What if we heard the sounds that explain the unknown

What if we heard the words that tell us not to go?

The words that exist clearly in peaceful dreams

But never come out quite as loud or as clean

What if we heard the mumbles of a broken heart

Or the muffled sentences of a new start

The words that are whispered below fearful breaths

What if we heard the words that die muted deaths?

What if those words rested on our lips and not in our heads?

Whispers

In the dark, we knew it couldn't last

But there was something in the shadows we cast

And the whispers we heard

They told me, "Hold on until it's over"

So I dressed myself for a long, long fall

Then let go gracefully to leap from my walls

In the light, we saw things we could be

But something in shadows slowly creeped

And the whispers we heard

They told you, "Let go, before it's over"

So you looked to see how far I fell

And became overwhelmed by a storm of guilt

When we realized I landed by myself

In the remnants of everything I felt

The shadows whispered to you and they whispered to me

And in the same sentence, we heard the words differently

Unready

"I'm not ready to let go"

Of your hands, of your grip

Of your kiss on my lips

Of long silences and small talks

Of winter rides,

And summer walks

I'm not ready to let go

Of loving you

.

.

.

"I'm not ready to let go"

Of my past,

Of a belief that good doesn't last

Of the shadows I've cast

On the walls that I've built

Of walking on stilts

I'm not ready to let go

Enough to love you

Once in an Orange Moon

Once in an orange moon

I was taken from my dreams

Down tree-full roads we flew

To follow a whispering gleam

We drove to an open field

To see its beauty loom

A vision I could feel

An end that came too soon

Once in an orange moon

I was innocent and free

Until swallowed by the truth

When childhood went to sleep