Relationships

Secret No More

lillian14 Comments

Like a bruise on peach skin
her flushed face was mottled
from too much handling.

He stood across from her
tapping his spit polished
wing tip shoes.

Quiet, festering
until his fist slammed
into the glass table top.

Cornucopia upended
plastic fruits
clattered to the floor

as she stood, silent
eyes cast down
waiting for the barrage

she knew
would come.

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WP Writing 201 Prompt for Day Four: Limerick, Imperfection and Enjambment (poetic device where grammatical sentences spill into next verse. It seems I’ve slipped to the “dark side” with this poem, using the idea of imperfection and enjambment. Obviously, this is not a limerick – for that, go to the Humor Category and see the G-tarian poem. 

Street People: Man One

lillian22 Comments

He was a thick-skinned old coot. And no one knew his history.
He just seemed to appear one day. On the park bench. He sat there
with the pigeons, newspapers crumpled in his lap. Never talked,
never flinched when the kids hit baseballs close or when the rain fell.
I’d rush by and he just stared. At the newspapers, in his lap. All that summer,
he sat like that. And then he was gone. Like the summer’s warmth. Just gone.

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WP Writing 201 prompts: Prose poem, skin, internal rhyme.

Cool Waters

lillian5 Comments

I lie perfectly still, face to sky
on a clear plastic air mattress
plumped with my breath.

Sea breeze ruffles tendrils,
flutter-touch my forehead
warmed by afternoon sun.

Softly bobbing near the shore
fingers trail in cool waters
while ocean croons its song.

I drift, eyes closed
through barriers of time
afloat in my mother’s womb.

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This was a challenging prompt in my September 21 Day Challenge course: Use description but notice the difference between language that shows the reader a world, and language that tells a reader what you (or your speaker) think about it or feel about. 

Time Descending

lillian9 Comments

I flung my arms out wide
to feel the wind
that sun baked day
danced, skirt billowing

cool sand between my toes

I stretched my arms out wide
to erase the fear
eyes locked on yours
step by first step, second, third

you chortled, giggling towards me

I curved my arms out wide
to envelop your leaving self
joyful sad, then turned and watched
the airport swallow you

emptiness descending

I raise these arms
tissue thin sagging skin
eyes search yours

name descending

shawl droops down legs
dancing somewhere
a thin filament

within this brain

disappearing into mist

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You Are Me or Am I You?

lillian2 Comments

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The glass is clean today
and we are quiet on either side.
One hand at rest,
age lines etched in black skin
fingers curled.

Mom sits closely by, always watching.
Her babe with impish chatter,
swings away
quickly scampers home
safely tucked inside those long warm arms.

You sit, eyes not meeting mine,
lips pursed, a sadness to your face.
Which of us, in this family,
is behind the glass,
and which of us in front?

Where does this zoo begin,
and where does it really end?

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Photos from our visit last year to San Diego Zoo.  Post in response to Daily Post Photo Challenge: Connected.

Spent

lillian3 Comments

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She sat with the counselor
and tried to explain
to divulge in words
what had not been said
for too many years.

Over-size
dime-store dark glasses
hid the terror trail
as she sat, tense
alert, waiting.

Hands clasped in lap
hid fingernails
chewed to nothingness
feet pressed on floor, heels together
knees together too.

A posture learned
to pull in, retreat
be small
in the smallest
amount of space.

She flinched
as he leaned in
and so he adjusted
settled back in the chair
to listen with his eyes.

And finally
she answered
slowly
each word mumbled
yet distinct.

 I feel like
a sandwich cookie
pryed open
pulled apart
licked raw
and gnawed upon
crumb by crumb
and now
I am totally consumed.