Author: poetryfest

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

I thought I needed it
I thought that I needed
A light that pierced me
It reached my soul
That light
Set with intention
Intent of destiny
Destiny with dismay
Through my life remains
A light that pierced me
That I always needed to be

I pull myself out of their indifference
God is laughing at their missing conscience…
They’ll pray and speak their good intentions
They’ll eat your soul with their knife and vengeance
And we need a miracle to get out of this war
His conscience gone and they called him soldier
He pushed them out beyond their borders
He gave his love for lustful murder
He won their lives saved his confessions
And we need a miracle to get out of this one
He spoke to devils in tall buildings
They praised him high for all his winnings
Their lives had drained into his laughter
His graves are foolish for his collection
There is no miracle to get out of this one
On their graves lies their discretion
Their souls are chained and lost direction
He collects their bones with good intention
And he lives on without detection
And he trusts a miracle will get him out of this one
He’ll dig your grave if it makes a difference….

One more shallow, endless hour, that I’ve been livin’,,
Just the mention of your name, brings chagrin.
I’ve gotta share the thoughts,
that I’ve been thinkin’,
‘Cause each day I realize,..the mess I’m in.

Every new discovery, goes by unnoticed,
All the right words seem so wrong, at least for now.
Why should love be such a pain?
now I wander through the rain,
Can this youthful heart sustain?

Temporary love,.. temporary romance,..
Is it worthwhile to continue hangin’ on?
Temporary love,.. temporary heartache,..
lost in moments just begun,..

Stolen moments linger on, within my memory,
Of this love that fell apart, ‘cause we weren’t strong!
But alas I’m not surprised,
that the love has left your eyes,
It was evil in disguise,..

Temporary love,.. temporary romance,..
Is it worthwhile to continue hangin’ on?
Temporary love,.. temporary heartache,..
lost in moments just begun,..
all those moments just begun,..

Lost in moments,..

Gazing over rolling fields all green
Height of every blade perfect as seen
Breathing in every molecule it exudes
Imperfections this site eludes

Oh what a perfect life, so it seems
Work, house, money, boat-I lived my dreams
Like my friends and what I was told
The perfect life I was sold

Suddenly something beautiful like a tower
One long stem dandelion flower
All alone but taking stage
Perhaps my life lived in a cage

Every part of me now torn
A powerful desire to be re-born
To live my life as a tower
Different and beautiful like that dandelion flower.

I forgot to do the beautiful things;
Instead my mind hid them in darkness;
It told me those things were not for me;
Those things were for others;
It told me I wasn’t good enough to do those things;
It told me I wasn’t worthy;
It told me that I had more work to do;
And all along, I sadly listened:
I forgot to do the beautiful things;
My mind simply would not let me;
Then my mind went blank;
and all I wished was that I had done the beautiful things.

(c) 2021 Marjorie DeHey

Have you ever felt like thanking those people

Who entered your life as a part of a riddle?

Some through a mystical, glorious mission

With or without your own permission.

First, made you smile, then made you go vicious.

Those who controlled and tried to imprison

Without a word or a particular reason.

All those who judged, and the ones who supported,

Stood by your side through the good and the dirty.

Some are long gone, some are still near

All of them were a part of a deal.

All contributed: showed anger, love, tears.

Some straight to your face, others behind and slightly unclear.

Rumors, endeavors with jealousy featured

Groomed you and shaped you into a beautiful creature.

Thank you to all who contributed!

By Alexa Bondar

We were on our honeymoon
a cruise to the Caribbean away from the January cold.
We did what new couples do, only Fred got stuck
in the bathroom from a door that refused to budge.

Sitting one dinner with a couple from Queens, N.Y.,
they were delighted with my fluency in Hebrew.
Having purchased a 30 year old parrot from Israelis
who decided to return before another war,
a parrot who spoke non-stop.

He’d shake his head, squawk and talk, ruffle his
bright blue feathers and jump from perch to perch.
He was frustrated no one answered him.
Polly, want a cracker, was not in his repertoire.

He spoke Hebrew with a perfect Sabra accent,
showing off his years-in-training speaking skills.
The wife reached in her ship-acquired tote bag
unfolding a crumpled up sheet of legal paper.

I looked at the transliterated letters, horribly misspelled,
and laughed so hard and long I nearly fell off the proverbial chair.
I couldn’t stop and feared I was making a scene in the plush
too-fancy-for-me dining room. What’s so funny?

This highfalutin screechy bird had a potty mouth in Hebrew
and Arabic! Balls, balls, balls to you—you hear?
He scratched himself appropriately, pace back and forth,
raise his head and say the worst curses ever.

Fuck your mother, fuck your sister, he said in Arabic,
Go away you Arab, die!. We’ll get you, we’ll get you…
No one thought it funny (but me). All their friends
hounded them about what he kept repeating,
but then he sang Hava Nagila and all was forgiven.

sitting on the edge.
my breath shallow.
looking down at my destiny.
so close.
jump. be free.
my wings are tired and broken.
i’ve forgotten how to fly.
i scream into the web.
but no one hears me.

sitting on the edge.
my ears ring.
my heart pounds.
waves crash.
memories burn.
hsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
fire meets water and all i see is steam.
a world of grey.

sitting on the edge.
my feet dangle.
they’ve been running for too long.
darkness on the horizon.
it no longer scares me.
i am light.
a butterfly lands to rest on my knee.
delicate. bright. confident.
it flies gently into the vast beyond.

i get up.