

Not enough resources
Not enough time
Not enough support
Not enough me
-gws


Not enough resources
Not enough time
Not enough support
Not enough me
-gws


My name is: Woman Daughter Wife Mother Teacher Student Warrior Healer Friend Foe Philosopher Dreamer Writer Lover Artist Seer Goddess Spirit Light Gladys -gws


In another life I might have been A pirate queen A courtesan A poison-wielding spy A teacher's pet A protégé The apple of your eye A doe-eyed starlet A beatnik poet A comic, humor wry An astronaut A swimming star A mime who would not cry And yet I have this life to live One shot for this go 'round For all the mes that might have been I like the me I found -gws


Each time the house shook I knew A storm was brewing With unbridled rage Knew that pools of acrid magma Were rising to the surface Seeking release Each time the house shook I knew That nowhere was safe There was not enough time to escape The maelstrom was coming Wrathful and vicious Seeking release Each time the house shook I knew I would stand against the gale Diving deep into my power Drawing on an ancient strength Of ancestor, element, and divinity Seeking release -gws


Your love has me floating Like a helium balloon Tethered to the ground By a heartstring Your love caresses my senses Like the sharp, clean freshness of pine Endlessly stretching heavenward toward the azure sky Crowned in misty clouds and enduring Your love has me believing in forever Like the love found in bedtime stories and fairy tales Two hearts forged into an infinity loop As twin souls merged will do -gws


I often wonder if I'm missing something I keep seeming to make the same mistake Unable to avoid the pothole I know is there To avoid the nail that snags my sweaters Every time I walk past Always forgetting the indulgence that makes me ill Perhaps these continuous tragedies are the result of An education I have failed to get Or failed to learn from The ripping and tearing The tripping and falling The banging and bruising All from things I know will cause me harm Things I should know to avoid And yet I cannot seem to hold the lessons I cannot seem to employ the learning And I wonder what is wrong with me -gws

I think we are strangers I want to love you, but I don't know who you are Do you know? It's hard to love someone you don't know You don't seem to know who I am Do you really want to? We continue to dance in circles But never to the same tune All stomped on toes And elbows to the ribs Frustrated and blaming the other Our sketches of the other Horrific distortions Each of us unrecognizable In the images we hold up to each other Like a horrible collaboration of Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall We speak to each other in discordant tones Two different conversations occurring in the same time and space Cacophonous and dissonate Everything lost in translation -gws


You are a bad habit Like nail biting or tobacco Like loving the villain more than the hero Like being addicted to pain No matter how many times I reshelve your story in the bookshop of my life The familiar weight of it always ends up Going home with me in my bag Even though I know how the story ends No matter how often I quit No matter how much will power I employ It's never enough to break the habit of you And like the power inherent to so many bad habits You may well be my undoing -gws


"Disobedient children don't live half of their days." I can hear your voice reciting this sentiment Did you ever consider how scary that sounds to a child I know it was meant to scare But was it meant to scar This turn of phrase left me so confused So convinced that I’d never see adulthood I know you meant no harm You carried forward what you learned Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep brought no comfort For what does a child know of life and death The memory of that oft said phrase The memory of that terrible prayer Still haunt my inner child Rock-a-bye Baby always made me sad for the baby Why was the baby on a treetop A baby falling from a broken tree bough Is hardly a comforting lullaby I did not carry these things forward I staunchly refused I surrendered the nightmares of these things to the ether and to time And celebrate every day that this disobedient child is still here - gws


Abundant Beauty Celebrated Daring Effervescent Freedom Generous Humor Idiosyncratic Joy Kaleidoscopic Love Mindful Nurturing Orgasmic Pleasure Quintessential Respect Shameless Tender-heartedness Unparalleled Validation Wholehearted Xeanaciousness Youthful Zeal -gws