Place Holder

You grabbed me in the airport souvenir shop and took me home
You needed me because you were leaving her behind 
Leaving her to her new life
New adventure in a
New state
Without you
The distance was large and though I am small
I am a place holder for a love that is larger than time and space
You need my fluff to represent her hugs
You knew she wasn't really leaving you
It was just time for her to start a new chapter in her life
You were used to being the one to go adventuring knowing she was
Always there to return to
She was always home
Both a person and a place
And now the place was changing
And you could no longer just show up on her door when you need her
When you are sad or missing her, you have me
I am the recipient of her hugs and her love
When you need more than her voice on the telephone
You imbued me with magic that flows from your love for her
And her unconditional love for you
I am the quiet but cuddly representation of the love 
Shared by a mother and daughter
Separated by distance
But not by heart
-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Place Holder written and read by GWS #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writer
♬ original sound – GWS

The Noise!

Little boys!

What is with all of the noise?!

I don’t understand how people so small can sound like a herd of elephants in the hall?

The thumping and bumping!

The hooting and hollering!

How do you not tire yourselves out with your efforts?

Cacophonous giggles and laughs…

Oh gosh! What was that crash?!

Your clothes are tearing as your adventures are wearing…

me out!

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
The Noise! read by gws #poetry #poetrytok #wordswishesandwisdom #writer #poet #poem #momlife #boymom #motherhood
♬ original sound – GWS

Ghosts

Driving down the roads of my past

I see your ghost everywhere

The halls where I met you

The neighborhood where you lived where we first kissed

The theater where we saw that awful movie on our first date

Years have passed

The place we both once called home is nearly unrecognizable now

So much has changed but the memories of you and me are still

Alive in the footprints of buildings and businesses long gone

Bringing a bittersweet smile to my face as I see muted-color memories

Of what we were and what we never became

We live different lives in different worlds

Practically strangers though still linked inextricably and inexplicably

By threads of fate we never were able to understand

But could only accept without question or comment

Permanent tattoos upon each other's hearts

Placed there by a power who knew that we needed each other once

And who seems to know that we need the memories of that connection as they were yesterday

I hope you see my ghost, too

She's waiting with a hug that has only ever been for you

And may our ghosts continue to share what we no longer do

In a time and place that no longer is

Except in faded photographs and our souls

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Ghosts read by gws #poetry #poetrytok #wordswishesandwisdom #writer #poet
♬ original sound – GWS

The New Notebook

I am invited by these blank pages

to bear into the light

the secrets of my soul

my night visions and wild imaginings

fantastical whimsies

and deepest truths

born onto these waiting lines

magic erupting from my soul’s well

each babbling bubble brimming

with something eager to be fixed to paper

transfigured from infinite potential

into eternalized reality

a golem of ink and words

let loose to walk unknown paths along others’ souls

leaving quiet footsteps which will fade

like water on concrete after a rain

my eyes follow the pen strokes

they are rhythmic like the rising

and falling of meditative breath made manifest

casting a spell of freedom and release

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
The New Notebook written and read by gws #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writervssinger
♬ original sound – GWS

Word Therapy

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Poetry is my word therapy

It is where I take the overwhelming abstractness of my emotions

And mold it into something comprehensible

Taking the feelings inside

And creating a scaffolding made of words on which to hang

Stanzas containing descriptions, analogies, and written visualizations

I am able to take what is chaotic and undefined

And give it structure and meaning

Like a potter transforms a formless lump of clay

Into a beautiful piece of finished pottery

A manipulation born of skill, practice, and talent

Which creates a piece that describes, conveys, and evokes

The essence of the soul on fire

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Word Therapy read by gws #poetry #poetrytok #wordswishesandwisdom #writer #poet #poem
♬ original sound – GWS

Small Spaces

The Divine is grand, vast, expansive

But, that is not the most wonderful part

The Divine is also the small things

The small spaces

The moment between inhalation and exhalation

The quiet between heartbeats

The magical place between waking and dreaming

The extra squeeze of an embrace

The snuggling in of a small child

The flicker of a precious memory

The holding of a hand

And the quiet company of another life

The Divine is macro and micro

It is present in the moments of weightless anticipation

And the moments of great emotional release

If we’re mindful and present

We can spot both the large and small moments of

Divinity in the world and our own lives

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Small Spaces written and read by GWS. Repost since my original upload glitched. #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writer
♬ soft background music with piano string bells(1283463) – earbrojp

Silenced

Words stolen from my throat before my mouth gives them shape and purpose

Volumptous thoughts sucked dry of all of their sweet volume like withered grapes on the vine

Black storm clouds ripple my calm waters, sending me reeling with frustration

Being asked to be less

Say less

Need less

Take less space

I am twisted, muted, and bound inside myself

Trying to survive loving you

With your barbed wire, landmines, arrows, blades, and poisons

Maybe one day you’ll stop listening to your own voice long enough to hear mine

Or all you will hear is the silence that signifies my absence

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Silenced written and read by GWS #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writer
♬ Melancholy – Alexey Kosenko & KoSSen

Wildness

Run unabashed though the tall grass

The wind tossing your wild hair in all directions

And brambles tearing at your hems

Laugh from deep in your belly

With your mouth wide open

And your head thrown back

Let starlight be the catchlights of your eyes

While the moon kisses your skin with dew

And soft, turned soil the carpet under your feet

Rage like a bolt of lightening from a black sky

And let your fury be quenched in the soft, summer rain of your tears

Love so deeply and completely that fingerprints are left on your soul

Dance to the drumbeat of your heart

Sing the song you have been carrying within you your whole life

And don’t give a single damn who hears you

Write your story with its angsty-teen-superhero, rom-com, horror film moments,

Coming of ages and chapter endings

Paint your canvas in all the vivid colors of your joy

And all of the pastels of your sorrows

Close your eyes and hum your gratitude for being who you are

And exactly who you are supposed to be

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Wildness – Be unapologetically who you are.#poetry #poetrytok #wordswishesandwisdom #writer #poet
♬ original sound – GWS

When I Feel Small

When I feel small and vulnerable, I turn to that which is wondrous and vast, and remember I am Her daughter and in Her care.

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
When I Feel Small written and read by GWS #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writer
♬ In The Forest (Acoustic Indie No Copyright) – Instrumental – Lesfm & Olexy

California Christmas: a weird love poem

It's a California Christmas
Where it's 70 degrees
And the palm trees are a swayin'
In the California breeze

The desert winds are blowin'
And the state is burning down
But we take some comfort knowin'
Santa's still comin' to town

The mountain tops are barren
Of familiar Sierra snow
'Cause climate change is ragin'
Changin' the world we know

So on this Cali Christmas
Hold your loved ones tight
Remember what's important
As you live your Cali life

The fog is ever faithful
The sequoias still stand tall
On this California Christmas
Prayin' "Bless us one and all."

gws