Author: poetryfest

A shattered grave
Left stand still
Vulnerable to wind
Yet impervious to time

Forever it remains
A reminder it contains
Of a mistake long forgotten
Heeding a misled sign

The bountiful soul
Walked the edge of night and day
Why be joyful
When affected by the fray?

The same grave
The same lesson
The same soul
All inward aggression

Mercurial pretending and
Unsatisfying endings
Surround wells of
Depression who
Many deem ‘natural’

Not a seeking light
May shine so bright
To rid of the broken decay
Forever the pieces will lay

Allowing such tomfoolery to pass
Would be quite the sin
If we stopped to think through
The thick and thin

A shattered grave

You are ocean of love ,
And I am a thirsty bird !
You never end ,
And I am going to drink !!

You filled with salty water ,
And I sinking like a boat !
You never refuse ,
And I am going to live !!

You remain silent ,
And I can not live !
You make the waves Sharp ,
And now I can’t even drown !!

I am a thirsty bird ,
And you are the ocean of love !
I am going to drink ,
And you never end !!

Please forgive me for this fight, which we are about to have. Please understand that fighting sometimes is just what we do. No need to get all upset cause this to shall pass. Pass away like every one of our other fights. No good and no fun is all of this. In fact, it’s terrible that we work ourselves all up and things come to this. I love you very much and I love you too just the same. Why raise your voice and get all nasty sounding? Why do a lot of things that we do? Does all this make any bit of sense or are we simply used to this routine. Come and listen to a fight between two people that really truly do love each other but can’t seem to get it right. Get it right this time, get it right maybe the next time after that. To get it right because we are two people who really do truly love each other until the end or until this fights kills us. Leaving nothing left but two people who truly did once love each other but the fight killed them.

Please don’t take the commercials off T.V. Yeah, 9-11 scared the hell out of me, so did January 6, 2021 with all those crazy white people from Wyoming and Alabama in their red baseball caps. But don’t take away my commercials. The potato chips, the very soft toilet paper, the new insurance companies, the wonderfully named drugs with their rare yet freakish side effects, please, please, don’t take them away from me. It would be more than I can bear. After all, I’m an American and the commercials, well, they are America.

little mountain peeking high
‘bove the clouds we see at night.
how long have you been up high,
will you grow up past the sky?

when you peak do you get to peek
at what the future has in store?
will i always ask my own life
to give me days with so much more?

there was a time i felt alive
but now i float, anxious heaving
with the sorrows of goodbye.
each moment holds unsteady breathing.

things released from my own grip
will i ever touch a new lip
i was once everything i wanted to be
now the world feels crashing under me.

little mountain peeking high
did you see how much i’d cry?
the peak has peaked i don’t know why
the moments i flew i was so spry.

time keeps passing
i wanted to change it
i think maybe now
i no longer can blame it.

for a moment everything was falling
avalanche was my name for calling
seeing my reflection clear
i don’t think i want to dance with fear.

seeing right and being loved
makes the days feel far more scrubbed.
if i see myself through cloud
maybe mountain won’t seem so loud.

goals and trophies seemed so fleeting,
now i’m focused on my eating.
i think i knew who i wanted to be,
but now my soul’s in front of me.

little mountain stretching by
god it’s nice to say goodbye.
the peak i’ve peeked seems not so high,
a taller one is rising nigh.

swirling buzzing flies in head
smack them twice
i think i’m dead

no i still hear
hearts are thumping
is that mine?
i feel like jumping.

stop and breathe,
no more focus
thoughts like these
can feel like locusts.

sometimes breathing is
all you can ask for.
with myself is the
only safe rapport.

i don’t need peace,
i’ll deal with sorrow.
i’m seeking stillness
let me be hollow.

The day is languid
The heat is great
The dust intense
The thorn tree waits…

Silent it stands
And,
waits
A child laughs
A baby gurgles
A mother sings
Listen, oh listen,
To the voices ring

There is light and joy
Peace and happiness
In the village today
The heat is great
The dust intense
The thorn tree waits…

A scream rips
Through the African Sky
The sky darkens
The thunder rolls
The light turns to red
Red?
Red blood
As the child’s laughter
Is stilled forever

What?
Oh no… The mother is dead
The baby at her breast
The true warrior is dead

The father comes home
He beats his chest and cries
There is no joy
No happiness
He sighs with sorrow,
How many more must die
Beneath our African sky?

© Sharmaine Anna Dobson

While in the bath a thought occurs
Of something I should write
I scurry to not lose the words
No matter how contrite

So in my towel, still dripping wet
I boot up my writing tool
And await my slate to show itself
While my back is getting cool

The words begin to flow on screen
With sentences somewhat
Some are cherished works of art
With others that I cut

Now I dress; grab the shampoo
And begin to wash my hair
When other words creep in so fast–
My adrenaline is there

Hair dripping now, instead of me
I complete my work on screen
To find my thoughts however full
Are incomplete and lean

I try to find the way to devalue what I see in you,
in nonexistent “us” that nevertheless to me seemed true

It was there, the vast well of possibility but when uttered…
Whoosh, gossamer nothing ephemeral neverthere just…scattered

“How easily I let you let me down”, a death cab quipped
This potential, it’s buagged, beaten and zipped

You devise the insignificance of my feeling with every breath
I draw a picture I erase, debase and chase with each space more closer to death
The little things die out and die out and die out until –
What is this I hold?
No frame, no color, no light, no reality or form, a very near absolute nil.

So what was it that I saw?
Too blurred and denied to be called a future.
Too saturated, contrasted and meshed with adoration to be a mere past.
Still too broken for kind words to form a suture
Still too raw to be heartlessly waiting in a cast
And I still feel this Jolt Twitch Pang Glitch let me go fast fast fast!

Just hand me the saw
So I can cut and withdraw.

I had so much for you, just you, that now I have to drain from me
Squeeze, slash, ooze and splatter
Wheeze, bash, loose and shatter

No, not enough, not yet, not there, not quite, not still, not ready
Never never never never I swear

Shall be your insignificant other

I will shake you, fake you, break you till you give me some peace
Because I won’t find it in being your favorite mantelpiece.
So don’t hang me about, I will bite.
Don’t lean on me, I will smite

And most of all, don’t be smiling or loving because I will fight fight fight but won’t
be able to see nothing
I will choke myself in doubt and shout so I can hear notihng, no one, nobody,
nothing nothing nothing.

There, how do you like me now?
Now that I see white where I saw rose, hear hollow where I heard rose, touch air
where I felt rose.

Now I can be with you,
but then, why do I wanted to be near you in the first place?

You are not significant at all to me anymore. Just another code in the ether.

So let’s say hello and say no more, let’s just not be there for each other. And I
hope wish pray that’s quite clear and alright to you, oh my insignificant other.

Somethings wrong
Somethings right
It’s a waste of your time
Nothing real
Nothing pleasant or nice
Not today
Not tonight
It’s just another cheap fight

They’re crying out for help
Like someone’s gonna come along
But no one is coming
No one is gonna say us
There’s no one but none and dust blood and rust
To carry our spirits to another door to close
Another window to pain in front of looking down on a world that offered everything to anyone who dare to take it

Shine your light
So there will be a shadow
To hide and cover in
Shine your beautiful
So I can stare you down in the dark
Shine your light
So we can tell the difference
Shine your light
And I will play my part

Six strings and none are attached
Empty drums and broken sticks
Black keys that partner with an out of tune white sign
Tripping over heat and skipping beats
Trying to live on the street and the rocks get in your feet
The smoke always leads the way