Wake them
Dress them
Feed them
Then it's off to school
Pick them up
And bring them home
Provide a snack or two
Help them with their homework
Hold them when they're sad
Help them learn to regulate
Themselves when they are mad
Attempt to feed them dinner
Then it's time for bed
Pick out a book or two
From favorites we have read
Bandage up their owies
Make sure they brushed their teeth
Check beneath their beds to prove
There's nothing underneath
One last kiss for comfort
And then to tuck them in
Then off to sleep for mommy
To begin it all again
-gws
Dear Book Boyfriend,
I missed you.
I can't wait to spend time with you.
Who will you be this time?
Are you tall and dark with a brooding manner,
Or are you dapper, dashing, daring, and dangerous?
Will we play games of will,
Or will you lure me with chivalry?
I'm ready to match wits with you.
Ready to be
Incensed,
Worshiped,
Betrayed,
Persuaded,
Enthralled,
Rescued by you.
I am ready to despise,
Entreat,
Crave,
Trust,
Betray,
Rescue,
Surrender to you.
Are we friends this time?
Lovers?
Strangers?
Enemies?
Will we live a fairy tale,
Or a war?
Will there be a cliffhanger?
Don't tell me how our story will unfold.
I'd hate to spoil the journey.
I will join you soon,
Amongst our wood of dead trees.
My kettle is on, and my blanket is ready.
I cannot wait to fall in love with you again.
-gws
The most sensitive area of my body is my mind
Exchange thoughts with me
Stimulate me from the inside out
Engage me in metaphysical intercourse
Lead me down your roads of contemplation
Let me chase you through the field of your philosophies
Make my pulse quicken by describing your deepest passions
Touch me with your dreams
Your secrets
The intricacies of your core beliefs
Take me on a private tour of your sacred spaces
Turn me on with your vulnerability
Make me crave your speculations
Let me ache for the details of your considerations
Expand my mind to bursting with our conversations
Until I stop your mouth with the heat of mine
-gws
Today I chose to stay present
I chose to stay in sync with my breath
I chose to stay with the rhythm of my resting heartbeat
Today I chose to just listen
I chose to release my assumptions
I chose to keep my defenses sheathed
Today I chose to show up curious
I chose to leave my assumptions aside
I chose to suppress my desire to make judgements
Today I shed the skin of old behaviors
I chose to make conscious choices in the face of old fears
I chose to prove to myself that I can evolve
-gws
You are everything and your words are but an opportunity to climb a tower of knowing to get to you.
Those who do not rise to the challenge to make handholds of your lyrics and footholds of your prose are the ones whose lives lack the enrichment of your visions and the music of your descriptions
They are the ones who hold nothing in their hands while you hold the world
-gws
How do I stay away from you
When your shadow fits so well with mine
How do I wipe you from my thoughts
When I can't seem to wipe the memory of your lips from my skin
How do I give you up when all I want to do when you speak
Is stop your words with my mouth
When all I want is to feel your hands on my hips
How do I walk away when I see the way
Your eyes drink me in when you think I'm not looking
I crave you with every pulse in my veins
And the way you bite your lower lip says you crave me too
But we have so many reasons
Reasons
Rationalizations
Justifications
And the truth is
I don't care
I am not strong enough
I don't want to deny this draw
It's like gravity
Keeping us in orbit of each other
I don't want to deny this chemistry
That no alchemy can seem to alter
So fuck it
Let's burn together until dawn
-gws
Grief smothers It slows minutes to seconds Linear experience is arrested And time becomes one, disconnected moment Followed by another disconnected moment Like a damaged film reel Jumping from one stepping stone to the next Each leap a gaping chasm Light too bright Sound too loud Words have no meaning Colors leeched of their vibrance The body feels both weighted down and untethered Feelings resonate acutely beneath numbness Does life still make sense when it feels senseless? Is it possible to live when one cannot seem to draw breath? Grief feels like drowning Tumultuous and savage Full of ache, helplessness, desperation Roiling and hollow Swinging like a pendulum from feeling too much To nothing at all
What a glorious idea
What an inspired place
How great it is to have a place that is full of art so bad that it becomes collectively good
I imagine this is where all prestigious macaroni art dwells
Where macrame goes to retire
I imagine walls covered in construction paper turkeys and Christmas trees made from hand shapes
Cases of scout lanyards
Shelves covered in lopsided ceramics
And so many Bob Ross paint-along landscapes
I imagine pedestals exalting junkyard sculptures inspired by Degas
Portrait galleries more closely resembling the work of Dali and Picasso than might have been intended
What a wonderful concept to celebrate the underwhelming
The failed attempt
The work that only a parent could love (from the back of the closet)
Let the awkward and unwieldy
The uncomfortable and misunderstood
Be transformed into other people's treasure
-gws
Words take up room in my mouth
Coarse and bitter
Smooth and sweet
Complex and spicy
Allowing me to experience the complex flavors of
Emotion and experience
Desire and dreams
Hunger and horror
Sometimes voracious
Eager to be made manifest
Sometimes savored
Taking time to tumble onto the page
When the words combine just right
They produce seven course meals
Ready for the soul to consume
Every color, flavor, texture
Providing nourishment for the spirit
That only poetry can provide
- gws
Happy NaPoWriMo eve!
The rock stood stalwart over the sea
Strong
Silent
Resolute
Ever watching
Ever present
The sea praised the rock
Recognizing its reliability
Extolling its resilience
Of the rock's ability to weather the elements
Alongside the sea
But the rock wasn't resilient
The rock suffered
The rain mellowed the rock
Smoothing down its defined edges
At first the rock did not mind
Because aren't smoothed edges
A testament to its steadfast partnership with the sea
Showing proof of its loyalty
But water was also an insidious lover
The mist with the help of the wind found every crack
And forced its way deep within the stone
Expanding fissures and causing fractures
The rock without realizing lost itself to time
The relentlessness of water
Slowly broke down the rock
Until it one day crumbled into the sea
It was not mourned or missed
Its absence sparked no shadow of memory
For the sea still lapped and lashed and sprayed and claimed
All who sat upon its shore
One drop of salted water at a time
-gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 