The View

featured in the poetry forum September 5, 2021  :: 0 comments

I’m looking at a blue sky
Dotted with white clouds.
I’m looking at birds
Gathering on the roof ledge.
I’m looking at the occasional helicopter.
I’m looking at four blue walls.
I’m going to be looking
Out this window
And at these four walls
For a long time.
Because
I’m looking at
Nine more weeks
In this hospital bed.
I’m looking away
From the comfort of the past
And I’m looking
To an uncertain future.

editors note:

Rather uncertainty than an uncomfortable past. Here’s looking at you! – mh clay

The Two of You

featured in the poetry forum June 11, 2021  :: 0 comments

You’ve really taken over,
Haven’t you?
My heart, my mind.
Every waking moment
Is dedicated to you
And often I dream of you.
I can’t write.
I can’t work.
My creativity has ground to a halt.
I feel angry about that, sometimes,
But never angry at you.
We call you our miracles.
Our looming, terrifying miracles.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
I feel like I shouldn’t be conflicted–
But I am.
You’re mommy’s little world-shakers.
And when the world quakes,
You hang onto what’s solid,
And you wait for what’s to come.

editors note:

And we wait, too, till takeover is complete. – mh clay

Of Itself

featured in the poetry forum March 22, 2021  :: 0 comments

There are verses about poetry
And stories about prose.
There are songs about music
And movies about film.
I think there is such a thing
As to live a life about living.
For one’s existence to be so
Exemplary of the human condition
That the act of breathing is
Art.

editors note:

What’s YOUR life about? – mh clay

On A Good Day

January 30, 2021  :: 0 comments

“It’s been a while,” she says quietly, her fingers running over the scars on my arm. Like she can see my past and future, like palm reading. I wonder, briefly, how that would sound: You have lived a hard life, the fortune teller might say. This one indicates you will lead a long life. And I would think, no, it …

No

featured in the poetry forum January 3, 2021  :: 0 comments

Do not text your ex.

Do not text your crush.

Do not check her twitter.

Do not check his facebook.

Do not cut your hair.

Do not paint your bathroom.

Do not eat that entire bag of chips.

And while we’re at it,

Do not get on the scale.

Do not Google “chest pains.”

Do not bite your nails.

Do not disassemble the vacuum.

Do not sleep all day.

Get out of bed.

Get off your phone.

Do not text them.

Do Not.

DO NOT.

editors note:

Make your best “yes!” for the New Year. – mh clay

Peace Lily

November 24, 2020  :: 0 comments

I lift my eyes from my work as a light moves across the living room—the sun glinting off her windshield as she approaches the house. My thoughts are drowned out by the muted crackle of tires slowing their roll against the road. Apprehension turns to dread, turns to defeat, as the garage door opens and the whole house hums. Her …

DUCK

featured in the poetry forum October 5, 2020  :: 0 comments

Ducking capitalists

Squeeze the life

From everything I hold

Dear

Duck the system

That oppresses

Relentlessly

And without remorse

Duck anti-maskers

Making it that much

Ducking harder

Not to catch the

Ducking plague

Duck my boss

For making me

Deal with all this ducking bullshit with

A smile

Duck autocorrect

editors note:

Duck, indeed! – mh clay

Lace and Paper

August 18, 2020  :: 0 comments

It feels like it should be raining. I can’t quite explain why. In novels and films, there would be a constant pattering against my windows. Shadows would be long and strange. Maybe the rain is a baptism, maybe it’s the tears the protagonist won’t cry. If it was an artsy film, there would be no musical score to emphasize how …

Bisexual

featured in the poetry forum July 8, 2020  :: 0 comments

“If you can hide it,
You don’t belong here.”
I feel adrift,
Unseen,
Rejected
For a love I can’t control.
I can’t control my
Love
Any more than you can control
Yours.
But I get it.
I look
“Normal.”
It’s the
Pain and Ostracization
That bind you.
My
Loneliness and Isolation
Don’t count.

editors note:

There’s a thought – what’s (who’s) behind those actions you claim to abhor? What is Empathy? – mh clay

But Never Again

featured in the poetry forum November 13, 2019  :: 0 comments

I loved you once.
I craved your laugh,
Your love,
Your touch, once.
I saved up for engagement rings.
I thought you were brilliant, once.
I thought you could light up any room.
I thought I was so lucky, once,
To have the honor of doing your
Laundry,
Dishes,
Floors,
Once.
I felt safe, once.
I felt chosen.
I felt seen.
I believed you were everything, once.
I believed you would never hurt me.
I believed we could be forever.
And, once we were done,
I even fell for your lies again.
I thought I was the bad guy.
I thought I owed you more.
I felt sick,
I felt dirty.
I believed that I’d ruined your life.
I believed that I was ugly,
A burden,
A traitor.
Once upon a time
I still loved you.
Once,
But never again.

editors note:

When once is too many (do for yourselves, dudes). – mh clay