Summer 2017 Poetry 3

One after another, the summer continued and ended with more poems.

Where Love Belongs

I take a knee But it does not seem enough So I follow with my head And on the ground I feel the earth spinning It’s upside down Top heavy with headlines of hate Flooded with indifference Cowered on its axis Covering .png

America, America

The blue sky looked so big And all that the rays of the sun touched Turned golden And no one was hungry America the Beautiful I saw mouths move around me And heard the gentle words we sang about purple mountains Wher.png

Finding Our Way

Until I do in the middle of my lifeWhen she comes knocking at my door on a cold winter dayI hear her gentle voice and her wordsI see her vibrant tomboy self clutching her Curious GeorgeI feel her fear and lonelinessI.png

Nothing To Say

I wonder if I have anything to say My words are no longer chasing my loneliness away Sweat does not fall from my fingers on hot summer days And the late night storms that poured onto a page Are replaced by sleepy rai.png

When I Write 

A video poem

I Had No Idea

Background is fabric created by my friend and Nashville artist, Liz Hodder

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She Wore Overalls

Back To The Years

Craving burgers he proudly grilled on summer evenings And long, hot family days at the pool I saw his faded tattoos and pale white skin in the water Wearing that same old bathing suit from Target year after year afte.png

Eclipse In Nashville

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I Breathe So Deep

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Save The Trees

I think we should use less paper and cut our love stories into tall trees Me + You = Us That is a happily ever after I would love to pass onto my kids-9.jpg

Wish Upon A Star

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Homemade Words

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My Lane

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What I Was Too Young To Learn In Kindergarten

A Junebug twist on a well-known favorite by Robert Fulgum, "All I Really Needed To Know, I Learned in Kindergarten." His version is below it.

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.” 
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

SUMMER 2017 POETRY 1

I am finally updating my website with new poetry. It's been a summer of poetry as you can see below!  I hope to be adding more soon.

 

Sliver

Finding Strong

Crossword Puzzle

Saltwater Kisses

Rising Sun & Turquoise Mountains

Shiny Penny

A Better Job Tomorrow

Above Walls That Echo

Harry Styles & Fruit Loops

Scenic Route

Your Voice

Winking Like a Badass

Feeling Pink

I believe in Pink*
Pink looks good on everyone
I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner
and the goodness in People
I believe in kissing
kissing a lot.

I believe in seasons of Pain that come and go
Popsicles on a hot summer day
the smell of Pinecones in the fall
Popcorn in front of a fire on a snowy day
Paul Simon's "Late In the Evening" 
on a summer night in Central Park.


I believe in being strong even when everything
seems to be going wrong
and that Popularity is fleeting and the Present is always here
I believe that KIND people are the prettiest
and saying Please is Polite
I believe that tomorrow is another day
and we should always do our best to keep our Promises
I believe in miracles
and I believe it’s OK to Pretend you are strong
because sometimes that is how we find it.

*Bold italic lines are from Audrey Hepburn's "I Believe In Pink" 

 

This poem is dedicated to my daughther, Zoe, who sang with a friend in front of teachers, students and classmates at her 8th grade breakfast today. She teaches me how to be strong in many ways. 

Late in the Evening by Paul Simon

The Mouse Hole

Today my thoughts are running through our first house

They pitter patter like tiny feet running out the front door

Free from the fenced in backyard 

Spilling into the open grass and down the sidewalk

To the driveway where she ran to her Daddy’s car

“I went to the mouse hole,” he said on special days 

Spilling a few sweet treats into her open little hands

Memories like this are fenced in the backyard of my mind

And today chase me out the front door

Where we wait for Daddy to come home

Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Streetlights

I remember driving with my mom to the grocery store at night

And looking out the window at the moon

I watched it follow us to the grocery store

And on the way back, the long beam of each streetlight would find its way to our car and pull us towards home

One light after another after another, I would watch

As one greeted and stayed until the next arrived

Until we turned onto the smaller streets with no lights

And then we found our own way home

 

Wind by Cat Stevens

Let's Make America Beautiful Again

I woke up to the color of angry red in early November and the loud words of the debates were still ringing in my ears.  I wanted to stay in bed but my teenage daughter is rushing me to get out the door, and my son is eating a bowl of Cheerios in the kitchen and people in our country want change and my kids don't have another ride to school.

Although I drove my kids to school the morning after, it was my kids who I followed as they pulled me out of the fog into the light of day as they have every day since losing their dad. With every day we put one foot in front of the other, I know it is in the moments I am brave enough to explore the darkness that I begin to put together the strewn bits and pieces and see tiny shimmers of my new world. 

Later that evening on the drive home with my kids, I imagined our headlights guided us past our home and beyond. We drove through the broken landscapes calling for change on the interstates and highways and city streets and alleyways and backroads and backyards from sea to shining sea because we want to understand.

We pass purple mountains and as we look upwards to their majesty, we bow to the soul of our country that I know has to be somewhere. It too is strewn in bits and pieces, but I am not giving up my dream that somehow we can move towards united where we will begin to see tiny shimmers of America the Beautiful again.

 

I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sandcastles

In my tiger boy's swimsuit on a Miami beach

I built my sandcastle in the sand

I used my small hands to dig deep and scoop the sand

I packed it and built it high

And adorned it in tiny pretty pink and white seashells

While a kite flew over my head

My dad always told me I was pretty

 

It washed away one night

And the kite fell from the starry sky

As I lay frozen in bed

Hearing the loud wave crashing onto my shore

The wave was silent this time

It was an unanswered phone

It was blowing a kiss on the front porch goodbye

It was confetti frozen in mid-air before it fell into the New Year

It was an old kite washed up on the shore

 

My dad flying a kite on beach, Look Out Mama by Hurray for the Riff Raff 

 

 

 

Jaybird Feather

The truth is I am finding my way

I found my way to put up Hanuakah lights this week

Even though I felt so covered up in the dark

I have to make my own fucking light, I said

As I strung the colored stars

I have to find my way, I said

As my angry broom swept the dust away from a hard week

I have to find my way, I said

As I looked down to a Jaybird feather in the morning

I have to find my way, I said

As I walked out of the store with my new gray boots that made me feel taller

I have to find my way, I said

As I greeted and hugged and sat and saw

The stone where his body was resting

I have to find my way, I said

As I looked up to the sun peeking it's way through the clouds

As if it was pardoning the grief that divided us all

I have to find my way, I said

As I walked into my home

Where the lights of the season welcomed us 

And where a Jaybird on a cold December day

Left a feather on my way

Blind Melon, Change. Jaybird feather next to frame.

 

 

Rising Sun & Turquoise Mountains

Beyond the Rising Sun & Turquoise Mountains

I ask him if we can meet again

One more dance

We won’t miss a beat this time

One more walk on the beach

Barefeet covered in sand

One more glass of wine

Drunk and falling in love

Here where the sun is setting and the mountains are in the distance

Beyond feels so far away

I never have been a good dancer

And the waves on the beach crash over me

While I toast to you from night to night

Sober and wide awake

I feel lost on the way to beyond