The Best Kind of Foreplay

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Sit with me
Speak to me of
Philosophy
Art
Spirituality
Poetry
Sexuality

Share with me the
Beauty of your experience
The intricacies of your dreams
Tell me how lemons taste to you
Describe to me the complexity of scent and flavor
Of your whiskey
Invite my deepest curiosities
My darkest dreams and desires
To sit at your table
As you dine upon every thought
Savoring each exchange
Like a finely crafted meal
And I will do the same

Join me in unguarded honesty
Lose yourself in focused curiosity
Paint my soul with meaningful words
Excite me by challenging my beliefs
Without burning them in shame
Or drowning them in judgement

Stay here with me
Suspended in the silken web
We have woven between
Infinite synchronized heartbeats
We have crafted a spell from
Two souls orbiting each other
Do not let it end
Until the sun greets the world anew

Watch my lips as I speak
With your eyes burning with hunger
I will meet you on that threshold
Captivated by your mouth
As you share your inner self
In a verbal strip tease
I drop the last of my pretense
At your feet and wonder if you noticed
Now the little distance between us feels too far
I am all too aware of my body's pull toward yours
It feels inevitable and I know you feel it too
The spark of radiant connection that captures us

Words slow then stop
Only body language remains
Plump lips
Flushed skin
Fluttering lashes
Subtle smiles
Unbreakable eye contact
Goosebumps
And all from a conversation
The best kind of foreplay

-gws


Heroes and Villains

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I am not the author of your story
As much as that saddens me to admit
You are the wordsmith of your tale
You write yourself as the hero of your own journey
Despite being so often the villain of mine
But understanding how you see your world
Understanding that you can be none other
Than the hero of your pages
Helps me gain perspective into why
You write me as the arch-villain of your narrative

There is no mirror in your story
You cannot see yourself
And as if bespelled
You see only monsters and
Enemies in every shadow
My pages would describe the cause
As a self-afflicted curse
Yours would imply the question
Are villains born or made?
For you would say you are
The result of what others made you
Be you hero or villain
You are forever alone
Shadowboxing every perceived threat
And drawing blood from everyone
Who gets too close for too long
Blinded by pain and unable to
See that the one causing
The most pain for you is you
Like a manifested destiny
It becomes so

As our books sit side by side on the shelf
Yours a story of never ending rage, war, and loss
Mine becomes a story of surrender, retreat, and release
For I am removing myself from your story
It is time to make myself the hero of my own
And write the closing of this chapter
For I can feel the peace and love I deserve
Waiting for me in the next chapters of my life
I am ready to transform my story
Into the self-love story I have long deserved
I hope you find your happy ending
I write a magic wish for that
Into my final paragraph
Of our chapter in my book
Then turn the page to my tabula rasa
Full of potential and possibilities
And the freedom to write my future
As rich and joyful as I can imagine it

-gws

Words Have Power

A rewrite of a 2015 poem
Words have power
They are thoughts made manifest
And loosed into the world

They are fragile crepe paper ghosts
Spoken softly to breathe thoughts to life

They are shining lights
Spoken with bold love and given as gifts

They are a clarion bell call
Spoken with volume, power, and purpose

They are truth and belief
And love made real

Words have power
They are thought made manifest
And loosed into the world

They are knife edges
Spoken to cut the soul

They are blunt force
Spoken to crush and wind

They are daggers
Spoken to pierce the heart

They are lashing whips
Spoken to welt and sting and scar

They are hurt and anger
And resentment made real

Words have power
They are thought made manifest
And loosed into the world

Beware how you manifest your
Intentions into the world
The heat of passionate anger
Can turn language into fists that leave bruises
That cannot be seen and may never heal

Beware how you manifest your
Intentions into the world
Regret is a bitter friend
For what is said cannot be unsaid or unheard

Beware how you manifest your
Intentions into the world
Think before you speak and
Hold your tongue until you possess
A calmer mind and kinder words

Words have power
They are thought made manifest
And loosed into the world

-gws

Daughter of Darkness and Fire

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This is my season
The season Persephone returns to the underworld
To take up her night-sky crown
A season where darkness rules
And pomegranate seeds glisten
Like ruby drops of blood
Across a dark and mossy earth
A season where candlelight entwines with shadow
And long nights lay steeped in vivid dreaming

In this season I embrace my own darkness
Unafraid of the cold and the quiet
For this is where magic lives
Where the mythical and mystical thrive
Weaving spells amongst the silence
I remember my power just like Persephone
For this is a season where the resolute thrive

I submerge into my own deep waters
My dark reflection staring back at me
As I descend into my true self
Into the rejuvenation that exists
At the heart of midnight
I greet each version of myself
Forgiving myself for every unkindness
Every neglectful moment
In this stillness where I am
Safe and whole inside my power
For this is the season I return to self
Where I remember who I am
A daughter of darkness and fire

-gws

My Nervous System Knows

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When vibrant joy sparks bitter tears
It means that too many years
Have been spent in emotional blight
That no jubilation can put to right

Like a cloud crossing the sun
Or a dissonant chord rung
When my heart swells and glows
My nervous system knows

That this joy will lead to grieving
My chest begins its heaving
Turning smiles into frowns
As the cortisol lets down

How long has this been so
I will not pretend to know
Like a candle smothered 
I unconsciously keep covered

That which makes me take up space
Before I can feel the grace
Of real joy in my blood
I dump it in the mud

I avoid the disappointment
Like a fly stuck in the ointment
I abandon my true will
When he sets on me that chill

And so I am now trained
That joy will end in pain
I know that I must mend
So the sun can shine again

-gws

50 Minutes

50 minutes ticking by
50 minutes to find out why
The tears will or will not come
I so struggle to find the one
Reason that keeps me coming back 
Spilling emotions when words lack
50 minutes of probing questions 
50 minutes of new suggestions 
And strategies and considerations 
To uncover buried machinations 
The central program in my belief system 
Manifest in all my symptoms 
50 minutes focused on me 
50 minutes of talk therapy 

-gws

Mechanical Wings

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He spoke to me of mechanical wings
They appeared within a broken dream
Born of fractured thoughts and roughened pieces
And so these wings become his thesis

Of chrome and shadow
His masterpiece risen
His body lay fallow
Both betrayer and prison

However he envisions that he flies
As he dreams of untethered skies
Let hope be the power to help him heal
Born of pain transformed to magic and steel

-gws