open space
-
the form of a poem
Have you written your saddest story,
or are you living it now?
Do you keep track of days in a diary?
Does the ink run like rain, entries full
of temptation or pain that upsets the
balance of this so-called life?
When you reread the words, can you
recall emotions that cut like a knife
through the bullshit and bafflegab
you have continually endured.
Does it still hurt?
Does it settle on the page in the
form of a poem, will it forever remain
a secret never to be known to those
who inspired feelings you simply
cannot forget?
Can you wear the scars with pride,
or will you always regret?04/21/2024 j.g.l.
April is Poetry Month
it is all about emotion -
despair
Who will write the eulogies
for those taken far too early? Too
young, unsuspecting, trusting
it was just another day.
Cheeks flush with joyous youth
never again revealed. At seventeen
you never know what lays ahead;
still once they had a chance.How will we write the eulogies
for those now reported dead?
Where will we find the words
lost in prayer, ignored in protest,
or excuses plentiful as guns;
empty as a classroom desk.
We know, only, we never know
when we will last inhale.Who will write the eulogies
for those left behind. Will they
remember the despair of that day,
or will it be forgotten as we deal
with yet another tragedy, another
unscripted war on a world long ago
stripped of its innocence, grasping
now to any shred of benevolence.© 2018 j.g. lewis
-
sense of soon
Any day now the leaves will return, colour
bound to fill our lives, relieve our eyes of
all we have been forced to take in as winter
has, and does, dull our vistas.The ugliness of it all, or most of it, may seem
less degrading. Spring anon, warmth of the sun
and seasonal refrain, time and again, our lives
may appear more normal.As it should be, any day now, overly familiar
bleak terrains that encompass our soul will
speak differently in the sense of soon and
silence of transformation.04/19/2024 j.g.l.
-
easier than it seems
Hypothetically, yet ironically,
intellectually constructing a poem or
patch of prose should be far easier
than it seems.
Even those known to craft delicious,
heartwarming verse have surely faced
the dreaded fear of an unscathed page.
Yet, those bards who have risen to the
challenge, or occasion, with steely
mind, fortitude, and passionate
persuasion have found the strength.
So many any of us struggle with
ambient thought, perpetual notions,
recycled emotions barely blatantly
disguised by foolish promotions
ending up with feeble attempts at
stanza, scansion, muted meter
metronomically fashioning words
far from adequate.
Still, we try daily to find even a
slight modicum of a successful poem,
whatever that might well be. Each
line an effort, every day an opportunity
for more than we bargain for.
04/14/2024 j.g.l.April is Poetry Month
