Poetry Wednesday...

A million ways to fail

Sometimes just opening my eyes makes me cringe,

Rudely awakened from the relief of sleep,

Back in the middle of a story I feel overwhelmed to write.

Starting the day in the dead of night, 

I count with both hands the mistakes I made,

The harsh words I said,

The unjust thoughts that flitted through,

The better ways I could have acted yesterday.

I slog through the day, trying to meet expectations,

With flashes of inspiration and motivation

Through the fog.

It is those days that accomplishments feel like failures,

Like no task will get me to the promised land,

Like rocks hurled in front of a path that is dark

I will trip and fall and fail,

And laughter will echo.

I must hold to the light,

Keep going, though I can only see two steps in front,

Trust in the path I can dimly see,

And use every failure to get stronger,

To gain resilience,

Win.

Poetry Friday....

The Meeting

The door shuts.

I shaking with anger, incredulous

About the verbal attack,

The dismissal of my sweat and elbow, so

Flippantly, caught up in loud anger,

Blustery nonsense.  

And the thought buries in,

Is this the lens everyone sees me through?

The steady visits of others who witnessed say

No.  

But the seed of doubt persists.

My leaky eyes betrayed me, mirrored back

with pity, or so I think.  

So I pick up my ambition, my drive, my focus, 

To glue back together.

I think I'll hide

Until the raw wounds smooth over.

Poetry Wednesday 2/3/2016

Moments

Before my feet hit the floor, I see it:

The slow pumping of adrenaline a second before my legs go from heavy to flying;

The smell of early spring and its promise to refresh my life.

Before I sit down at my desk, I see it:

The jolt of happiness before opening a fresh page, blank to receive my ramblings;

The excitement of discovering my next big project.

Before I hug my daughter, I see it:

Baby soft hair nuzzling in my arm, almost speaking of her happy thought of the day;

The sweet taste of wine on my lips, the signal of  the weeks' close, a chance to pause.

Before I get ready for bed, I see it:

The rush of pleasure as hot water cascades the day away;

Crisp linen sheets, just laundered, white and new, ready to envelope me and let go.

My day in anticipation. 

Poetry Wednesday 2/10/2016

Hard Case

I started with nothing, 

Blank page,

Blank head,
No map.

Research, read,

Talk, ask, 

pen to paper a dozen times.

Drafts thrown out,

Ideas discarded, 

circling square one over and over.

Still, I kept going,

Writing,

Asking,

Talking.

And something clicked.

Inching forward,

Gathering snippets of thought into 

arguments, paragraphs,

pages.

Through scathing review, 

Finally, my solution 

Sees the light of day.

The decision is made, 

Analysis revealed,

At last.