What I believe. And the proof that backs it up.

There were so many lists for this Read Write Poem prompt that I never even finished the list for what I don't believe in! More than half counts though...right? To get the full details on the prompt and to get in on some of the awesome list action go here. My belief: You never completely get over someone.

I have the proof

It’s in the way my heart stops
And struggles to start again
When he enters the room

It’s in the lump that grows
In my throat mid-conversation
And keeps me from forming
Complex words

Words like I and You and Us

It’s in the way my mind races
Back to thoughts of him
At its own will

I’m forced to remember
Every part of his body I’ve had
The good fortune of touching

(The misfortune of touching)

It’s in the chills I get
When his name comes up

And if all of that isn’t enough
It’s in the love

Today was an interesting day. One day I'll have to tell you about it.

Until then, there's this:

I don’t ever remember
Wanting to be a wife
But I can remember
Wanting to be your wife

Life is funny that way
Our needs are basic
Our wants, genetic
And endless

Churches
Steeples
Cathedral ceilings

Somewhere along the way
Our wants become our needs
And I need you to love me

F
O
R
E
V
E
R

I want you to love me

F
O
R
E
V
E
R

But I know that will never happen

To navigate and pass through...

Poem #3 for the Read Write Poem Poetry Mini-Challenge. Inspired by the poems of Elizabeth Alexander.

Traverse

Snow floods the city, covering
Everything we created
Breathing slows down
Comes out in flimsy clouds

Now out of breath
We are contagious
Victims of time wasted
My hands are like islands

I use them to tempt men
And would-be business associates
I’m almost certain I garnered this talent
From my grandmother

Who never went anywhere without
Putting on her face
If only mine were as sweet and subtle
Mine is ridden with disease

And must be covered up at all times
So as not to scare the children
Everyone has an opinion, I have a theory
There is no remedy

The toxins on the inside are working
Their way out through my pores
I’m on a boat in the water
Tattered and writhing with scars

I cannot tell you what I lost
Not because I don’t remember
But because you wouldn’t understand
And there’s no use in dwelling on the past

If I can’t get it back, then I must let it go
Let the crows carry it off to Hell
And pray the angels carry me home
When I have sufficed on suffering

Vanished Skyscrapers to continue the challenge.

My day two contribution to the February Poetry Mini-Challenge for Read Write Poem, since the real day two was...well...days ago. I'm still kicking myself for missing the prompt, but it was too tempting to pass up.

Lines from this poem have been taken from Elizabeth Alexander's Ars Poetica #100: I Believe, Autum Passage, Peccant, End, At the Beach, Island Number Four, Neonatology, and Fugue. I like the way this poem turned out.

Vanished Skyscrapers

I.
It only happens once.
In the days before you smile at me
I’m on a train, thinking about my friends.
Recalling every misbegotten everything, lamenting, repenting.
Though I do not know what I took, I know I took something
In the details, the only way
To get from here to there.

II.
The city burns. We have to stay at home
where all I will see is the circus
as it dims, as it shrinks,
but nonetheless burns
as it turns to something else.
Emptying the proverbial pocketbook,
then everything dries and disappears

III.
You tell me knees are important, you kiss
the air that dries the mouth.
What looks to be perfect is not perfect.
I must remind you that the earth is round.
To be perfect is handmade, disturbed.
Even as it falls apart, the body
Is where we are ourselves

IV.
In my head I search for understanding,
screen for the virus, which I imagine
is not all love, love, love.
Its greens and purples
in the dirt in the corner
of the body that operates
on suffering, which is real

Better late than never right? Falling in love with Elizabeth and circling the universe with Aphrodite.

I'm a little late on this Read Write Poem Mini-Poetry Challenge. I don't know how I missed it! This poem is made up of lines taken from The Venus Hottentot by Elizabeth Alexander, a.k.a. my muse for the duration of this challenge. For five days I will emerse myself in her poetry and try to come up with writings that are somewhat worthy by comparison. I don't think somewhat is too much to ask for. LOL!

Observations and Aphrodite

Small things in this world are mine
A drop of water swirls

Blown beneath my glass
There are singing mice here

So the whole world could see
Everything is beautiful

In my silence I possess
National character

Woven through my hair and diamonds
Between my legs, poking, prodding

I have made other parts private
In this newspaper lithograph

There is unexpected sun today
And I am moving closer