Author: poetryfest

(inspired by my mother)

Ever think of lost friends and what they might be doing
Or remember dreams you had when you were young
If you’re like me you’ve often wondered
How did the years fly by and just what have I done

So many things I thought I would accomplish
The list endless, like waves rushing from the bay
All those things I put off until tomorrow
Would simply wait until another day

I never wrote that book I planned on writing
Spent too little time bouncing my children on my knee
I never told my father that I loved him
Thanked my mother for the things she’d done for me

I always thought I’d get to Europe
Maybe stroll along the river Seine
But in this life we don’t get a do over
Things missed rarely come our way again

So hug someone special and tell them you love them
That is always a good rule of thumb
For you see we can’t rely on tomorrow
Another day doesn’t always come

Children scribble on doors,
Chair, sofa, and floor.
They annoy their parents.
Markers quaff their savings
For rainy days beauty,
And comfort.
They go on forever
With crayons and pens.
Toddlers have fun.
And they wet and soil
Mattress, sofa,
Favorite chair.

Wind sweeps the air.
Hundreds of moons
Traverse the skies,
And the scene
They reverse.

What to do with
Those Old Guys of now?
They dump into chairs,
And sofas.

It is high time for
Past-grown-up kids
Anger the babies of yore
With odors of diapers,
Spurt and all.

But what about those stains
—some remain—
On that mattress,
And scratches on the teak floor
Babies had ruined?

Low and behold,
The old angels forgot.

What to do with parents now?
Old grown-up kids
That slumber on chairs and sofas?
And the bins of used diapers
With scents of gloom?
What can those sweetie grown-ups do?

They had their bags packed.
One-two-one-two-one-two,
And they file for
The eviction parade.

One-two-one-two-one-two,
Bed, lamp, jammies, and pillow,
Moan and yawn:
Miles and miles run by the car windows.
The tires screech at the entrance of a building.
It is the sterilized shelter for rambling strangers.

Leftover parents make their final stop before they sleep.

I want to run
to leave my ID.
my new identity
is only for me.

Morrison went to Paris
a poet was his gain.
maybe he was right,
but did he still have pain?

To be in the woods
no electrical or running water.
Living by the land
no doorman or porter.

who are you?
a deer looks at me.
come listen to my music,
and you will see.

my art too
is free to your eye,
for you understand
why I used to cry.

everything old left behind
no one here to put me thru the grind.
the stars look so bright
on my new hilltop at night.

© 2023 all rights reserved

I swim in the sea, fly in the sky, crawl over the Earth.
I seek other animals, invite them into my lair;
we dance together in fire: modeled Shadows of before.
The tide hisses in the snow, Bubbles on our hips swing out and die, Their rainbows stick
Cooking new air we breathe.
Phases, ever-changing Moons, breed sustenance.
Awake or in sleep, a song ricochets inside heads,
Sings, booting starlight.
We are the animals of the day. We bring the fear, the love, the path, thru the gate where we all can
travel,
Sharing or denying the others: allowing for mystery or demise of possibilities.
Retracting claws, eschewing blood,
I prefer to eat the flowers of suns and drink waters of gold rippling thru the Never-Ending.

Cat Mother – A Picture Book with a Magical Story

Stillness….

Drowning in the humidity of loneliness

Above water, dry breathing and can’t seem to catch my breath

While my lungs fill with collapsing thoughts of an aching heart

Water ripples like signs of a struggle while my hand is raised reaching for the surface in these tempestuous seas

Sinking feeling inside yet my body is grounded

I try to brush myself off but pieces of me fade away in the wind like dust off an old statue over the years

But expeditiously

Everyday is like a war and I’m an army of 1

As I walk the the valley of the shadow of death in darkness

Waiting for someone’s warm in embrace to help light the way with companionship

Suffocating in cold thoughts, claustrophobic and screaming into abyss

Immersing deeper into the void waiting to explode silently like the titanic submersible

—-

Genres- dark, loneliness,depression, sad, hurt, emotional

They placed a constraint upon her,
shackles now weighing down her wrists.
Tendrils slip past her cheek, drenched in blood and sweat
bits are dried, and others wet
As the bite of metal tears into the tender skin
She wonders how did she wind up here?
What was her sin?
Was it the beauty of her face, bronze and supple as sweet as a young doe’s
But why, then, would she carry such deep-felt woes?
Shouldn’t something so precious be allowed to flourish not be kept in silence, beaten, ridiculed, and forgotten
always wondering…
why was she forgotten?
Her voice was muffled with a loud slap
and stripped of her dignity, they beat her with everything..
whack.
whack.
whack.
Her cries were met with a roar of berating – words full of envy, cruelty…focused on hating.
Her spirit eventually wore completely down
and in time she was quieted…her voice no longer found.
Society branded her for speaking out her truth, and carried her through this new Age Inquisition – robbing her of her youth.
She is your daughter.
And she is mine.
Let’s hope we can change this
before we run out of time.

© 2020 Sai Marie Johnson

Six o’clock. The sun is setting.
Lying down, life is getting
Anxious, depressing, always forgetting

Then three pops. Pop pop pop
What was that?!
Then a scream. Aaaaahhhhhhhh!
From a woman

Stepped outside to investigate.
In a scared, cautious state.
Hey, hot shot, what happened?
Mexican said ehhh someone got shot
No big deal. Desensitized mate.
Shoulders shrugged up and out.

Walked back inside sighing
Started the stove for pan frying
Chicken or pork chops?
Chicken or pork chops?
Chicken or pork chops?

But someone got shot!
Here at Harvard Heights. It’s just
Ehhh…someone got shot.
With shoulders shrugged up and out.

I have lived many lives as the same person,family
I sound crazy because I have a genuine love for you
And I am a scholar
From the days of ferdinand and leonor
Here we are
What galacia gave us was forever
It even scared the Romans
But we’re not evil
Our last name means earth
We help we love we care we do we are
Don’t be affraid of whats behind you
It’s earth
Said a relative to me
Its all there is no end just sleep
Our relatives our family
The birds the dogs the fish
They are our family
The wind the ground the water
The fire that warms us also relatives
Africa Spain all the nation’s and people are relatives
Don’t be shy you belong
Earth

The bright lights, the music, the noise, and all the crowds of people.
She wants to win too.
She takes out a $20 bill to start
but not putting too much in at the beginning.
She hears people yelling and getting excited.
Don’t look too closely.
Some people have fear in their eyes,
the fear that they will lose too much.

More money is put into the machine, the machine of pure luck.
Buttons to press and a screen to watch.
Money to be made, she desperately hopes.

You don’t use coins anymore just dollars
or the amount of money you have on a card, which you insert into the machine that you pray will double.

Let me double, no triple my money.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner she says, copying what they said in the gambling movie “21.”

This will be her night.
The night is young and there is money to be made.
She could switch to one of a hundred different machines but she stays on the one that she is currently at.
Wishing, hoping, praying.
Following what is happening on the screen.
The screen that is attached to the machine that for her will pour out all that fabulous green money, but now in the form of a ticket due to new technology.
No more the old sound of coins making ching-ching, and she kind of misses that.

The lights are still very bright.
The music is still extremely loud
and the exciting noise coming from so many hopefuls who believe that tonight will be their night of winnings.
“Don’t stop, keep going,” a voice in her head tells her.
This could turn out very bad
or this could end where the man sitting next to her at another machine looks over and says “Very Lucky You!”

Don’t let anyone
Put you in your place,
Or else, you’ll become a slave.
To free yourself,
You must muster
All the energy you can save
Because fortune favors the brave.

So grab the flag of your country
And give it a patriotic wave.
You shall only surrender
To the Good Lord
Whom you truly have faith.
When faced with danger,
Don’t forget to pray.
Remember,
Fortune favors the brave.

There have been times of war,
And times of peace,
Times of madness
And times of ease.
There have been times of poverty
And times of wealth,
Times of sickness
And times of wealth.

I have seen lonely days
When we were apart.
Your voice on the phone
Warms my heart.
You don’t know
How much I love you
In millions of ways.
All I need is more confidence
Because fortune favors the brave.