Poems – Poetry Soup

Race

What we must walk through.
What life has asked of us.
Challenged every day.
Asked to stand and lead in the midst of controversy and danger.

Shot in her home, there is no excuse.
A knee on your neck, mama called out, deceased on the street.
Racially profiled in your own neighborhood, violence steps in.
Lead in the city’s water, generations left out and unprotected.

The hidden facts of a world secretly unchanged, camoflauged.
Suddenly, here to rear it’s ugly head again.

Color, redeamed and free.
Look deeper than the cover.
As we are determined and decided for by a society.
Racism encouraged to be let loose and falsely set free.

Judged today because “we” are too dark, too light, too brown, not brown enough,
The encompassing fear,
The anxiety to be,
Just me.

Today

Peace, I saw you today.
We were together.
Our sisters and brothers were there.
We were one.

There was no difference to be seen.
We were comfortable.
Our lives entwined, our hearts adjusted to a new reality.

The old and the young.
The sighted and the blind.
Our countries diversity, without divide,
was seen and celebrated.
We thrived.

It is reflected in our eyes, solidarity prevails.
Divided we fail, together we’re strong, our flag represents freedom for all.

Masks

Sexy, sultry, mysterious and hidden.
Previously marked as a villain, “the masked man.”
The daring, the invaders and the hero.

Today the mainstay, the protection, the fabric / the guard interfacing as our life depends on it.
Our control!
Waiting for this universal catastrophe to end.

Tomorrow unknown.
Even then, like the eucalyptus aiding the exhale, inhaling deeply healing the wounds of a year.
Can we let go?

Our destiny?
The possibility of more pandemics?
People dependent on how well we supersede the molecules and seasonal vigilance.
Masks in the future?

Prayers

Oh Great Spirit,
Teach us to hear thy voice 
In this turbulent time.
Listen to the trees
As they bend and flow.
Let the calm on a summer's day, 
Guide us in our decisions.
Made in the generosity
And extension of our hand 
And of a world at peace.
Lead with compassion and understanding.
God our Father, 
We are told on the left and to the right,
Mother and Son uphold. 
Intuition from the Spirit.
God the Father, God the Son, Holy spirit all in one.
Our Guides and Angels
Answer our prayers and bring us peace.
Guiding Deities offering light,
To illuminate our life.
Oh my Buddha, I pray.

Pandemic

Disbelief and lies carry us on the wind of change. Continents are ravaged with this unseen phantom.

The hidden pathogens carried unknowingly by everyday people. A pandemic of disbelief, burying the truth, misrepresented action and failed emergency.

Mask’s worn, business’s lost, people without food, hiding inside, thinking anew, when will this end?
Quarantined!

That fateful breath, the accidental brush, the distance between us, the fear to touch. Life in the distance, we love so much.

Sobered by the souls that have passed, healing our future, protecting our children, walking within change and new boundries.

Frustrated

The pit in the bottom of my stomach, the heat on the back of my neck.
If life was easy, we would be stress free.

Driving down the road, rushing here and there. Late or put upon, challenged in some way, pressured by loved ones, work or play.

Our paths are cluttered by obstacles to set free.
The best case scenario is who we can become to be.
Learning to breathe.

Mestizo

Of mixed culture, not fitting in one or the other.
The core of a culture, the abandoned of parents.

People making their own outspoken decisions. Grabbing what isn’t theirs, denying what is, as if it was theirs to make.

Add mix-ture, add salt,
add acceptance and doubt, add variety, add strength, add hope and love, add peace.
A double-edged sword.

Disappearing

Fading to the back, stepping aside, giving up power, not understanding why. Devastatingly sad!

Fighting to hold on. Resentful and angry. Hours of normalcy, a day of perfection…slipping again into less than.

I can’t breathe, watching my husband, my partner, my person change.
Terror fills my heart, the horror, the fear, the pain.
I can’t breathe!

He steps into the doorway, this beautiful man of mine. He is standing upright, not crooked, his eyes are wide open, the pain is gone, there’s no fatigue, depression has vanished.

Will it remain mine?
The peace, the partnership, the joy, the calm, the love.
The future, our future.

Adoptee

A strength from within, a knowledge from before.

A parallel universe, one where I longed to be part of, but never fit in.
Another that I lived in, but never was apart of, like a stranger looking in.

Cold in this freezing weather, longing for the burning sun.

Is a childhood always like this, waiting for the future?
Secrets held within, waiting for the moment?

The cultures are two, that I have been lucky enough to know.
My daughter has the pride of always belonging, yet with cautious steps… it is her legacy of love.

You Just Never Know

We are young, eyes wide open and hopeful. Our future lies before us, full of promise and excitement.

We must move forward, it is my dream. The signs go unheeded, my desire is too strong.

Suddenly things change, I am caught off guard, my world turns sideways, it can’t be true… apologies abound, the incident forgiven. It will never happen again.

Even a short time becomes too long “but how do I leave”. Ignorant in this life’s education, petrified, a hostage in my own home.