Sleeping In

At night while laying in my bed
I think about the day ahead,
And plan each thing I have to do
Before the coming day is through.
I set my clock to sound at eight
Sleep comes quickly and it feels great.
And in the night I often dream
Then sleep right through the first sun-beam.
And then my alarm clock will sing;
I hate to hear that sudden ring
And so it seems, I turn it off
Without a blink, or pause, or cough.
And when I finally awake
I catch my breath with sharp intake.
I’ve stayed in bed till half past ten,
It seems I’ve done it once again.
I think of last night’s to-do list
And items that I’ll have to miss,
A schedule can be hard to keep
When you spend all your time asleep.

In Flight

Independence comes with age
Children leave the nest as birds
no longer under parent’s words
freed from prison, and iron cage
With wings finally unfurled
Each turn of their new flight
Takes them to unreached height
In exploration of the world.

Yet youthful birds grow weak
Against strong winds they fight
Then they seek shelter in the nest
And when the world looks bleak
Children too will leave their heights
And in their parent’s shelter rest

Reflection

Placid, smooth at the surface
For a second before exploding
Into waves, crashing in the wind
Raindrops fall, at times soft
Or pounding, ripping tree leaves
Turning to hail that stings the skin
Or gentle snowflakes children
Catch on tongues and eyelashes

Something about water draws me
Holds my attention motionless
Watch, smell, listen. My senses
Constantly tuned-in to water’s station
Dancing rain thrills my soul
Joy wraps around me like
Water I immerse myself in
Substantial as life-saving air

Mirror like, it holds an image
Of emotions, of my soul
At times calm, lapping at the shores
Before the winds come turning
With an upheaval of waves
Moving quickly like the rainstorm
At times frightening, yet after,
The world is calm again, and clean

Fishing

Below the surface it comes closer
To turn away and flee
Or take the bait and bite.
Watch, waiting for the decision
Hopeful, fingers crossed
This could be the first bite.
Hours of waiting pay off
Finally it follows closer and bites.
Reel in quickly, it struggles
To free itself, and wins
Slips away, another lost
The next will struggle too
Plucked from the water
Finally escaping from hands
Struggling to keep hold
Few and far between
Those that don’t slip away
Become more precious
A meal worth the waiting

A poet understands the patience
Of the fisherman on a lake
Thoughts and ideas
Swim closer to the surface
Or disappear forever
Too often like the fish
Thoughts turn away from
Poems offered as bait
Before words can grasp them
Or slip away just as the poet
Puts pen to the paper
Then, after waiting long
Instead of tantalizing minds
Before wondering away,
One brilliant idea
Stays to become precious
In the hands of the poet
As the fish becomes a meal
The thought becomes a poem.

Turning the Tide

On a beach
The tide comes and goes
Cannot be stopped
The cause is known
No questions, no attempts
To stop the turning tide

Relationships
Are not like that
Unpredictable at times
The tide keeps coming in
Love simply grows
Stronger, creating tides
That will never turn

Other times
Without a warning
Love slips away
Perhaps to return
Or gone forever
A force you cannot fight
No chance to stop
The turning tide

Or maybe
Emotion comes back
Too much to handle
Not as love, as hate
Ripping at the shores
A hurricane, a tsunami
Impossible to fight
The overwhelming tide

Once before
Our tide turned
I tried with all my strength
To stop the turning, yet
Accomplished nothing
Now I fear the hurricane
And turn my back to run
From our turning tide

Garden Shed

Paint peels, reveals old layers
Inside, dark and dank
Smells of dead leaves,
Dust, dirt, and gasoline
Cobwebs hang over
Worn wooden handles
Rakes and garden spades
Holes in glove fingers

Past the dirty decay
Flowers bloom beautifully
In a garden that gives
Corn, tomatoes, squash
Watermelon, Cantaloupe
Meaning to life for
The old, tired gardener

Summer Rose

Our friendship had once blossomed fair.
A summer rose whose petals shone.
More beauty that the world has known
Was hidden in the wonders there.
Our shaky roots had taken care
To brake through soil and stone
And on the majesty unknown
My eyes would rest as I would stare

But with the summer roses leave
Their petals fall and die
Till all you find is prickly thorns
That cut through skin and sleeve
I realized with a tear and sigh
My heart and hands were torn.

Unnamed

What is this feeling? When I look
Into your dark eyes and feel myself
Drowning in something unknown.
Like a swimmer caught in the
Undertow, what pulls me is
Unseen yet it is there.
I cannot ignore the way my
Insides quiver when you smile,
Or that my eyes light up when
You look my way in a crowd.
It’s more than the butterflies
In my stomach when your
Arms lift me off the ground,
Or the emotional rollercoaster
Thoughts of you send me on.
It’s something unrecognizable,
Unnamed. I do not know if it is love.
I only know I have no
Ability or wish to control it.

Beneath the Bed

The space under my bed has a dry feel.
Smells of dust you can taste in the air
Prickles at my nose and eyes
Items accumulated over the years,
Reaching back I find a box,
Old and worn, I once bought the shoes in it.
The lid covered in dust bulges a little,
The contents near to overflowing.
I blow at dust, open, and look.

Inside are envelopes with edges
Worn and tearing open.
Full of letters, cards, or little notes.
Some tattered, some quite recent.
A twelfth birthday card, a sister’s apology
Letters from my cousins written at age ten
Hearts on American Girl stationary.
Yearly girl’s camp letters from parents, leaders.
I read them sitting on the floor.
Remember the love I felt
The first time I read the worn papers.

The box back in the darkness
Clean lid still bulging
But I can’t clean it out.
The space under my bed is full
Of moments, laughter, tears, and faces.
Faces of people who loved and still love me.
In the dust I can take on the world.

Sleep

The teacher talks in class
I’m hoping that I’ll pass
My eyes begin to ache
Can’t seem to stay awake
I think I need more sleep

I’m sitting on my bed
With half my homework read
My head begins to nod
I feel a little odd
I think I need more sleep

When exiting the shower
I find it’s been an hour
I must have caught a wink
At least I will not stink
I think I need more sleep


Last week I caught a cold
It’s gotten kind of old
I cough and sneeze and cough
Can’t seem to turn them off
I think I need more sleep

There seems to be a trend
That doesn’t have an end
It’s something that I lack
I think I’ll hit the sack
And finally get more sleep

For Aussie

When I visit home I still half expect
You to come uncontrollably, your tail whipping
Around the corner.
But I don’t hear your running.
You don’t keep my company
In your corner by the door,
Your head propped on the step, watching me.

I had once watched you that way,
Leaning against the fencing
That surrounded you, sleeping
On top of your brothers,
You were the runt of the group
Yet, even then the patch of white
Under your chin, made a grandpa of you.

Those first weeks, so tiny you
Would curl up in the box in our kitchen,
Or attack my hair with youthful zeal,
Or roll on the grass
After we forced you to the bathtub
Where your tail hid between your shaky legs.

Part of our family you sat
Patiently as I sang loudly to the house
When only you and I were there.
Or comforted me with your warmth
Leaning against me
As I sat on the back porch.
Or tried to lick my face
As I brushed your black hair.

Dad taught you to sit, rollover,
Beg, play dead, and stay.
But this time you didn’t stay

Dad decided it wasn’t fair
To let you remain in pain.
He considered not telling me,
Knowing that as the youngest
I would miss you the most.
Mom told him no.
And so I found myself saying
Goodbye to my dear childhood friend
Recalling how you would surprise me
When I read on the lawn
Or tried to make snow angels

I had always been less busy
Than the rest of the family
But you had been there and I wasn’t alone.
Home and you were inseparably
Connected in my mind
And in my heart.

Then you grew old and I grew up
Now home is half college apartment,
Half house where we played catch.
But something is missing.
I don’t hear you running anymore.

You Never Knew

You had something to tell me
When you got back.
I didn’t understand
Why you should need to wait,
But you felt I would hate you.
It was something I needed to hear
Face-to-face, from you.

Your plans changed though
And you weren’t going to come back.
You still wouldn’t tell me, but
Somehow I had my suspicion
And it was correct.

I didn’t hear it from you.
She had to tell me instead.
From someone else I had to learn
Your secret. You were too scared.
Scared to admit it?
Scared of how I would react?
That I would no longer be your friend?
Scared of my hate?

That was years ago.
It still haunts me that it wasn’t
You that told me that day.
That I had to confront you
With my knowledge
Though you knew I had been told.

You couldn’t tell me
Over e-mail, and not
Face-to face. Not you.
You were afraid of my hate
If you were here, I would tell you.
You can’t hate someone
You never knew.

My View

My view of the world
is a little bit skewed
You can say it,
I don’t disagree.
But
my slightly sheltered,
somewhat skewed
world that I see
is a big part of
what has made me.

I like who I am
and I like what I do
with the life that
has been handed me.
I don’t think
that my choices
have been bad
or wrong
just because people
don’t see what I see.

Sometimes I
hold back,
and sometimes I
give more
then you would
if you were in my shoes.

But the eyebrows that raise
and the comments that drip
from your sarcastically sweet
smiling lips
won’t change who I am
or the choices I choose
For my slightly skewed
glimpses of truth
is the view that was
chosen by me.

To My Older Brother(Dear David)

Do you remember the time
When we’d run around half crazy
With our bicycles and match box cars
When our days were never lazy?

Do you remember ninja turtles
How we’d play with each other?
Building tunnels in the snow
You were the best older brother.

Do you recall our many fights
Over stupid little things,
When we were teenagers
Spreading wider our wings?

Do you recall the years
When we didn’t like each other
And I thought I couldn’t have
A more lousy older brother?

Do you know how much I wish
I could take back hurtful words?
How easily I’d anger
I see now it was absurd.

D you know how much I care now?
How I think you’re like no other
And how I really couldn’t wish
For a better older brother?

My Heart

There’s a lot to look at
Hidden deep within my soul.
There is a lot going on
No one else will ever know.
There’s a lot of held in joy,
And a lot of hidden pain,
Because I’m not sure that by sharing it
There’s anything to gain

There may have been a time
I didn’t hold my heart so close,
Before heartache was given
To me in a healthy dose.
Before I had my heart broken
By someone I once could trust,
Before they took my feelings
And grinded them to dust

It’s said that time can heal
Any wound within your heart,
But I’m not quite sure that’s true
Because mine’s still in broken parts.
I’ve tried to patch it up
So I can take if off the shelf,
But I’ve started to fear
I can’t do this by myself.

But how am I supposed to place
My heart in someone’s hands?
I’ve kept it to myself so long,
I don’t know if I can.
I’m asking you to help me
Find a way to trust again.
I’m begging you to prove
That I can still believe in friends.

I’m showing you a window
To my broken heart and soul,
And hoping you can care enough
To help me make it whole.
And if you can I’ll trust in you
And you can count on me
Anytime you need a loyal friend,
Just look, and there I’ll be.

Ode to Sara K. G.

I love the way you put up
With my silly little quirks
Pretending that you hate them
Giving me your dirty looks
I love our endless inside jokes
And how you make me laugh
Sometimes I worry ‘bout my brain
I think you’ve stolen half
I love the way you listen
When things are going wrong
That you always have me listen
To your new favorite love song
I love how you can tell me
When I’ve really passed the limit
You point out the logical world
And help me get back in it
I love our memories
That we’ve made in the past year
That I remember I am loved
Whenever you are near
I love the fact I know
That you’ll always be my friend
Even when you say you hate me
You’ll be there till the end

Grandma B

I watch your aged movements
As you sit there in your chair
I hate to see pain and confusion
Old age has made you bare
Once you were a sign of strength
Giving so much loving care
The difference from my memories
Can hardly seem quite fair

We frequently came visiting
Perhaps at night, or day
And ran around your house and yard
You’d watch us in our play
Down your hill we’d slide in winter
In summer the stairs did okay
And we’d climb among the cherries
In the warm weather of May

As though on a safari
In your garden I’d hunt snails
And you would let me place them
In your used strawberry pails
I’d play with them until tired,
On the waterbed I fell
But first you had to read a book
I knew it’s pages well

And sometimes we would take a drive
And play at Rocket park
Later we would watch movies
As the world outside grew dark
You would have us draw from straws
And to the winner we would hark
And have to watch the movie
That their chosen vote would mark

As bedtime crept closer
We’d bathe with the soap that could float
And have just as much fun with it
As we could with a toy boat
Then maybe we’d present you
With a letter that we wrote
For we’d use grandpa’s typewriter
To write you a loving note

Perhaps we’d end the day
By eating your freezer ice
But eating food at your house
Was always something nice
For breakfast we’d have poached eggs
Or cereal of crispy rice
And at lunch perhaps Totino’s
Over our favorite plate we’d fight

I have so many memories
I’ve made as I have grown
Just like your lovely roses
And other flowers once unknown
But time goes by, the years run on
I couldn’t tell you how they’ve flown
Yet over all the passing time
My memories have shone

I spent so many days with you
When I was just a child
I’ve watched your vibrant love of life
Grow to something mild
As slowly time and age
Difficulties on you piled
My love for you has never ceased
To grow like a flower wild

So as I watch your movements aged
I look into your eyes
I understand your frustration
Revealed by hidden sighs
I thank you for the love you gave
For I’ve learned as time flies
My Grandma B was just the best
For she’s always been loving and wise

He Guards His Heart

His heart was given once before
And done so willingly
But beaten, broken, still its sore
He guards it carefully

He lends it every now and then
But never fully lets it go
To someone he has deemed a friend
For they may turn a foe

The bruises seem to linger
On his lonely half-healed heart
And he needs to find the finger
Capable of healer’s art

But so busily he tends
To his worn and tattered heart
He can't recognize the friend
That may give his life new start

So patiently she waits
Till he learns to lift his eyes
And discovers sincere love
She has no wish to disguise

I Write, To Free My Soul

Each time something significant
Takes place and changes me
My soul is placed in shackles
Or so it seems to be

It seems it cannot stand
The brightest white or darkest coal
But I have found a secret key
I write, to free my soul

ENGL 314 poems

So, I have this class that is nearly impossible for me to stay fully awake in through the entire class. Yesterday I actually did it! By writing poetry for a good part of the class, so here are three of the results, hope you enjoy:

The Faded Farewell

I look upon the letters
Worn and faded
Like chalk drawings after rain
When the sky is cerulean blue

Written to reveal secrets hidden behind
Eyes that strive to be
Truthful without letting tears
Run down the cheeks

Faulty are the stumbling words that
Whisper into the silence the
Reason for the goodbye
To someone once a friend




Escape to Tickle-Me-Pink

A shadow
Tries to overcome my joy
Immersing me
In a blustery wind
That houses worries
Language cannot describe

Done with the fight
I modestly
Give into the wild
Music I hear
And dance, like tickle-me-pink
Escaping my own crankiness




ENGL 314

Your voice drones on in even tone
About things I don’t need to know
The girl behind me starts to speak
And I admit, I’m close to sleep

This class it seems to span the days
My brain turns off, eyes start to glaze
My neck it soon begins to hurt
From many painful nods and jerks

I strive to keep open my eyes
I’m asking you, please sympathize
I want to learn, its true, I vow
But my eyes want sleep, my stomach growls

So as the girl behind me speaks
And you wonder why I’m asleep
I promise I don’t mean to snore
But this class is long, and your voice a bore

Lines in memory of time spent in the WindRivers

I wrote this for my English 292 class:

Windrivers

I wandered through your mountain hills
Sat peacefully in your meadow
Near beauty that can bring such thrills
And streams that never cease to flow
I listened to the gentle breeze
Your sounds did put my mind to ease

I looked upon your views with awe
And love for everything I saw
I found in you great majesty
And also such simplicity
Your peaks still touched with snowy white
And flowers soaking up sunlight

I placed you in my memory
The smells, the views, the sounds
When I need peaceful times I see
Your beauty all around
Within my mind I feel the breeze
And let it put my mind at ease

I Tried My Best

I tried to explain
I was doing my best
I had not promised more,
and had not promised less.

But I guess that you missed
The part where I said
I can’t promise perfection
It’s a skill I don’t have.
And you wanted more
Than I found I could give.

And so once again
You told me I’d done wrong
But this time I couldn’t
Just stand there and take
Your anger in telling me
My friendship was fake

I’d stood there before
And taken the blow
I’d said I was sorry
More times than I know
I’d said I’d do better
Never blamed you at all
And each time it happened
I couldn’t stand tall

I didn’t tell you
How often it hurt
When we’d talk of the things
That meant so much to me
And you’d turn around
And treat them like dirt

I never said how I felt
That a friendship should be
Support at all times
Not only when the world
Has you down on your knees

You always expected
Me to be right there
But when one person
Gives more
Is it really that fair?
I’d give and you’d take
And I’d never get back
So often I felt
Belittled
So you could have a laugh

So this last time around
When you turned on me
I said I was done
That was it, I was free.
No more saying I’m sorry
When you’re half at fault
No more fearing the next time
You’d open that vault
And pull out your grievances
All in a line
And list them against me
That was the last time.

And yet though I know
That I made the right choice
I can’t say how it hurts
To be letting you go
For despite all the pain
That you’ve brought recently
There were also good times
Had between you and me

I tried for so long
To hold on to those times
And I thought I could live
On those long-lost weekends
When all that we shared
Were some smiles and laughs
I though that those memories
Could make us last
That they would pull me through
And keep our ties strong
In spite of the times
That you made me cry

But sometimes its plain
That things have to end
That something is wrong
When you’re hurt by a friend.

There was nothing more to do
Nothing more I could try
And so with all my love
I’m saying goodbye
I won’t regret the fact
That I ever knew you
And our friendship is something
I’d never undo
But today you’ve gone your way
And I have gone mine
But I wish you the best
On the trails you may find.