On a falling leaf comes seasonal change, in the forest that grows in my imagination lives creativity. Here sadness inspires growth.

A stroke in time is a drop of
paint slowly dripping down the
canvas in my mind.

Memories breathe upon the shimmer of paint, my mind soaks up the details like a sponge as my hands bare the grind and process.

I can write what I paint, I can
paint what I write. No paint drop is forbidden and no poem is forgotten.

I have a river of ideas flowing free from my mind, I am a dreamer with a pencil in one hand and ideas in the other.

Sad me drifts on the Sea of dreams, as ideas fall like leaf's landing on the black mirror Sea, reflecting my thoughts as twinkling stars the shimmer underneath my boat is magical.

In a moment of vivid clarity
my reflection bursts into billions
of ideas, shooting across the endless sky like stars.

I woke.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

I once stood like a tree,
my roots were free but grounded
at my feet.

My seasons changed, pain falling
like leafs fly from my life.

That like a seed, I bloomed
I grew and I shed my leafs
to release the ghosts
from the old me.

I then flew free, to the wind
I am smoke, a shadow of
my former self remained,
and under my shade
I protect my heart.

I once had a beaten heart,
bleeding on the floor
gasping for air under pressure.

Now I carry scars from
past battles and struggles.

My tree is rooted plotted deeply
and strong.

Life took me deep, it tried
to devour me in its dark
places. But I burned brighter
and hotter, being the beacon
for myself because no one else
can be my light.

My life is so much more than
shadows and scars.

Because God gave me the power
to burn like a star.

©️ 2024 By Amanda Shelton

As the sun rises over the
wild flowers my sorrows bloom
as Spring breaks the chill of winter's
frost and my tears melt into a flowing river.

Lay me down upon the sun
soaked earth where my tears
keep sorrows company until the night.

My sorrows float down the banks
of tearful mountains over and under
rocks until it becomes a raging
waterfall crashing to the bottom
of the mountains.

As spring kissed the earth it soaked
my tears into the soil drinking my sorrows.

And upon the coming morrow
dew gathers on the grass.

Lay me down upon the grass where
dew drops reflect my sorrow, as the
light slowly fades into darkness
my cries will echo through the night.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

He came with an axe to chop down
the tree's, only to be greeted
by a beautiful maiden
dancing through the trees.

With her song she seduced him,
come closer to me and be my lover
a whisper came from the weeping willow,
lay with me.

As she drew closer the weeping willow
bloomed, blooms fell as winter
came upon a frozen kiss.

He laid down upon the cold ground
at her feet, as the roots grew around
his frame, devouring him and
he lost his heart to the beautiful maiden
underneath the weeping willow.

Owed to the weeping willow,
her lover buried under winters
frost weeps no longer.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

You loved me like a leaf blowing
in the breeze, you left me and
I started falling.

You never rooted our love,
you never hydrated the roots,
you never planned a plot to secure
our future.

Every time I built a *** you broke it,
every time I built a foundation you
damaged it, every time I fed the soil
you starved it, every time I tried to
consul you you buried it.

Upon the ruins of us you left
love to freeze and die.

Like winters deepest touch
you turned love into ice.

You are a cold memory
of what we could have been
now you're a gray storm,
dangerous and frozen.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

Once upon a dream,
the stars fell like burning
embers bursting in the sky.

All my dreams flared like
a candles wick, my passion
sparked its whipping flame
to life.

These darker times bring
cold and hardness but
makes way for heated winds
and sunny fevers of summer.

Autumn never stays long,
winter seems to like it longer,
summer sits with spring
for awhile, before allowing
spring to turn everything
pink, green, and blue.

© 2018 By Amanda Shelton

Winds blow kisses,
flowers blow wishes,
while seasons bring change;
Meadows grow green.

**© By Amanda Shelton

The slow setting sun
shimmied off its fading
beams, as the night
creeped upon the
seasons change.

Shadows danced upon the
clouds as rain soaked
the hollow, hydrating
the roots of the trees.

Perfumed memories of
yesterday’s beams lost
on the cooling breeze
as the leafs of change
fall upon my dreams.

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

How can I become an autumn when my grief has yet to shed its leafs?

I suffer through the heated
summer of my pain,
eager for winter
to break the fever.

Oh life, how I strive to please you,
sadly you are not too pleased
with my lack of measure.

I am stuck in between
pain and stress,
being squeezed
slowly by its movement.

Don’t feel sorry for me,
instead enjoy what you have.

If anything you should
be motivated to do your best.

© 2018 By Amanda Shelton

I can see the sun slowly going down,
my curtains show green and brown
it the dimming light.

Makes me ponder upon
daydreams of the marrow.
I will miss this day until the next
settles in my mind, making way
for tomorrow.

The shadows lengthen,
as a cool breeze rushes through
reminding me to close the door.

Goodnight says the sun,
good evening says the moon and stars,
as my eyes get heavy with sleep;
they wave at me.

© 2018 By Amanda Shelton

I ponder, what it is like
to be my shadow.

To be shadow,
Its lonely, avoid of color,
no cold, no heat, dark, and
empty.

Even though I am always
beside you, I am ignored
by most.

The dark devours me,
the light gave birth to me.

I am your companion,
never invited but welcomed.

I have written many a poem,
alongside your lamps and
daytime wonderings,
I am your inspiration.

A muse.

We are one, never departed
but separated by darkness,
and the light brings us together.

Every step you make, I follow.
Every move you make, I follow.
Without your breath I can not
breathe for you are my breath.

I am Shadow.

©️ 2021 By Amanda Shelton

It is dark in my favorite dream,
where it's cold and rainy but
comfortable just for me.

Though there was once,
a shadow followed me.

It creeped upon my sleeping mind
like a vail sweeping across
my vision.

It tried to devour me
but my lucid mind was aware
and I ran and found safety.

I became a fellow shadow to
free myself from the shadow
beast, it became something
more than just a shadow,
it was a friend.

I faced my fear and learned how
to fly, with my shadow friend by
my side.

I learned that the brightest star
only shines brightest at night
and the dark is mysterious and
beautiful.

It's my mind that turns
ugly into ugly and shadows
into monsters.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Inside my mind I live
in a dimly lit room
full of lost dreams.

I am the only shadow
but my dreams follow.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

You came on a cloudy day,
blue eyes on the horizon
gaze.

The sky darkened with your
presence, peace shivers in your
wake, heaven cried the day
you arrived.

The light you devoured became
a warning to others.

Deeply black, covered in flies
you thought they would hide
your lying eyes.

Your ignorance is deep, your
heart is too but emptiness is
a void you can't fell with
promises unfulfilled.

You always leave behind ruins
of your crimes.

A heart is left bleeding, eyes
swollen from sorrowful tears
that drowned the love you
promised.

Like a zombie you returned
many times, before I decided
to run and hide, I built my walls
higher this time.

Shadows have wicked ways
to rise and ruin lives.

©️ 2024 By Amanda D Shelton

Here I am dancing with myself in the shadows, my future seems so shallow.

I settled down in a muddy spot,
now I'm stuck wiggling and
struggling upside down.

Sinking quick, depression grabbed
me from the paradise I built.

Meditation and coping skills are
no longer my savior, it's stabbing me
scratching and beating in my chest.

My heart wants to be set free again,
my mind is fighting against the beat.

Depression was never my friend,
it brings anxiety and panic attacks,
unwanted mimicry of heart attacks
and painful breath taking beats,
from behind my back it creeps
it's trying to strangle me.

Here I am dancing with myself in
the shadows, my future seems so
shallow.

I feel like a puppet to anxiety,
I'm on the shallow path of
depression it's full of holes and
mountains with thorns and
sharp rocks that cut my feet.

The shores of relief seem so far
away, the ocean of feelings keep
towing me under.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Upon the pieces of my
broken heart I shattered
into fragments of our love.

My wounds leave scars,
left in my jars of past
broken dreams you broke
with your passionate tongue,
you promised me forever,
I got thrown away and
tossed to the side instead.

Your words saturated my heart,
until it burst at the seems
releasing my broken dreams.

I might not be able to
fix the future of our
love but I am able to
move on and build
new dreams.

© 2020 By Amanda Shelton

It burst into millions of pieces,
shards flew to the deepest
depths of my life.

What once was my heart
is now ruins, shards of
memories you left behind.

Shattered!

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

I gazed upon its beauty,
like a star gazer watching
the night sky. I dripped upon
the earth soaking deep into its girth.
What once was barren is now
pregnant and fertil.

I wounded amongst the meadows,
laid between the roots and
melted into the black that is
velvet and deep.

I shed my sorrows to hydrate
its wormy bed.

With my tears I birthed the
blackest rose, its roots grow
where my soul weeps.

As I became overgrown and
that like stone my fountain
flows.

I wonder should I paint my
black rose red or leave it
as it grows, just like Alice
painted the white roses red?

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Upon a nation we built
our frustrations slowly
breaking its foundation.

Ignorance brings devastation,
regret, and damnation.

No longer a union
our ripples separate
farther than we anticipated
causing chaos, doom, and
loss.

It burns,
it quakes,
it grinds its Earth
moving mountains
faster and faster than
ever before.

A hot house,
a wave of chaotic messes,
eager to devour our dying
nation.

Such childish lies
from a governments chair
decay ate away at its
cushions and devices,
leaving dust in its place,
a skeleton crew.

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

I am burning, slowly every nerve began to fire they haven’t stopped since.

Silent needles ***** my skin,
leaving painful memories that
linger in my dreams.

Ashes of the five years of freedom
slowly become a distant memory.

I fought bravely,
honestly and strong
but life always wins.
Good grief, here I am again.

Burning pain, throbbing head,
skin tingling, spine shivers with
lighting pain down my legs
shooting to the floor.

Cellular nerve damage shook
my world.

© 2018 By Amanda Shelton

The wave is heavy,
my mind is going into
the deep.

The depths of the dark slowly
creep, as I close my eyes to
sleep.

The pills soaked my brain
with restful sud's of ocean
waves bringing bags of sand
to wisp me to sleep.

The chemical lullaby sings
me its song, soothing my
brain stimulating my body
to prepare me for bed.

Goodnight sleep tight,
its been too long.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Sorrow has come to visit me,
once it was like a sparrow flown
the nest but it came back on the morrow to pleck my heartstrings
with a reminder of it's passed heartache and distress.

My scar's are raw because you never allowed me to heal.

Love stabbed me in the back
my heart turned red and blue
while the black faded to gray,
in memory of you.

Upon the Ocean eyes of you
I slowly drowned while you
stole the boat and watched me
become pools of tears going under
tow for you.

My heart use to dance gaily and free, now it's caged in sorrow
and fear.

I'm lost in depression, in a sea of
abusive memories.

You left your wounds on my life,
deep and painful I am learning
how to breathe again.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Your kisses were sweet like
salt water taffy, they lingered
on my mind for awhile.

Sadly like seasons things change.

The fall came, love turned brown
and yellow, it's leafs dead and
blew away.

The sweatiness of your kisses went
sour, now it lingers for awhile.

Soured kisses are left behind.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Who understands the frustrations of using spell check on the phone?
Me I do.

My smart phone isn't very smart,
it types words that I would never use.

Some people are very rude,
they judge me because of a typo.
Hahaha!

I think that some people are just
too judgemental
to allow such a thing to go
without giving demeaning criticism.

It's not fair because it's not my fault the phone is programmed to work the way it does.

How I am the error or the stupid one
if I have tried to change the spelling yet the phone still types for me?

Sometimes it works and has a beautiful sway,
other times it choaks my poetic flow
goes the other way.  

But there's no call for rude comments,
what did I do to you?
It must be your personal issues,
has nothing to do with me.

There only typos,
they won't bite you
or cause you cancer.

You don't have to stop by my space and throw it in my face.

You are a childish person to think
it was okay.
Also I am disabled
and I have learned to love my mistakes.

Why don't you try being autistic and suffer from a movement disorder on top of muscle dystrophy?
You think it's easy for me? Hahaha

I am proud to say "yes I make spelling errors like everyone else does once in a awhile."

I bet you started out with horrible spelling,
you had to because you had to learn just like the rest of us.

You are no different than anyone else.
I hope you feel better about yourself someday.

I wish you the best.
Maybe you need a hug.*

*© By Amanda Shelton

The wind whisper's to me "never
forget me."

While I am dreaming dreading
to wake.

The possibilities are endless
in the Ocean of my dreams.

I fell in love with the rush and
heartbeat of my lucid state,
in my dreams I can sail the
deepest oceans in my ship
of possibilities.

The moon is my guide, the star's
my crew and the tip of the black
waters is my tow.

Onward I go, like a star zooming
through the galaxy, my dreams are
beyond the horizon, beyond the
moonbeams and starry night sky
I fly in my lucid mirror Sea of falling stars.

I open my eyes and the stars scatter
and fade, my ship is docked until the
next voyage.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Looking down the barrel of a telescope made of time, slipping through space.

Would you be brave,
turn around and stay?

You rose through the ashes of battle
as time creeps slowly upon your heals.

Slipping time, strips layer by layer;
beam’s of energy fly from your
fingertips.

Bursts of light stream from your eyes, memories casting out into
the vast spaces in between
the layers of heaven, that’s
where you are.

We collide multiple times.

Star’s are born from the pressure.

Rocket through space you’ve got
mud on your face.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Rushing through this moment on
a passing fraze, I fell along the way,
the rocks and dirt scraped my knees.
I bled poetry.

Running on a moment, got no time to sit
got no time to be falling on a dream.

I am running fast but times faster,
it's like being on the edge of possibilities
but never catching up to the dream.

The clouds gather here, a deep oppression
buried me in six feet of pain and suffering.

Rushing to the end, it seems deep but
there's only an inch of time to climb.

The walls slowly crumble, the house begins
to rumble, the ground shivers and the weather
quivers, life is one moment full of broken foundations and ruined walls that fell.

Only one remains, a 41 year old foundation
I've built from the ruins of my past.

These walls are built from pain,
the floor is made from my
broken heart pieces, the frame
is designed by emotions I've felt
alone the way. Love makes
the foundation strong and stable.

Life is not fragile and slow,
it survives many storms and
it is pathed with passion and strife,
the cold cuts like a knife, the heat
burns for a moment. But still I remain.

I rose from the ruins of my strife,
upon the broken ribs and grinding
pain I crawled. Picking up the pieces
from my broken heart.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

You are strong for
the strongest survive
the storm.

Once in a past great moon
my sphere dimmed down
too a sliver of ash,
the tiniest breeze would
blow my moon away.

Until poetry blew me a kiss
and our love affair has
gotten stronger over the years.

Expression is the best
way to release my fears
into the heavens above
where the stars chase
them away.

Upon my poetic breath
all is an exhale imagined
by my poetic mind.

I gather my tears upon
this page, leaving you
with a smile and
a gracious bow.

Remember, You are strong
for the strongest survive
the storm.

A lone you are not,
for other stars are falling too busting, growing, and expanding with you.

We are like a drop of water
in a large pond, our ripples effect reality as we grow.

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

Love is acceptance and success
because it helps build societies
so be kind to each other and
humanity will thrive.

Peace comes from the heart
and vibrates into the universe
by our personal struggles and
actions.

We are an example for each other
so be good and others will follow.

We can't stop abuse with silence
so be loud and proud to tell the truth.

Be brave and that like a stone,
and your strength will grow
upon the foundations you build.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

It’s sad to be judged
by the love of your life.

You wouldn’t think
that someone you love
could do anything like that.

Because love isn’t mean,
love isn’t boastful,
love isn’t a lie,
love isn’t a beautiful day,
love isn’t a fairy tale,
love isn’t a glass slipper.

Love is complicated,
love is hard,
love is painful,
love is gooy, oozing all the time,
love is scratchy,
love is wakey,
love is full of it,
love is pushy,
love is never changing.

It is the person who uses it,
who makes it,
forms it,
sculpt it into
a piece of art,
sometimes they use
the wrong glue
so it falls apart.

**© 2017 Amanda Shelton

The heat rises,
heat waves roll over the street,
car's rush by with engines
roaring, burning smog,
we choke upon.  

Summer is on the rise,
cooking the desert like
a pro chef cooks a good meal,
We fry.

Summer is on the rise!

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

Gentle winds blow through the trees,
as the golden light from the day
glint and shine.

A reminder of the cooler sessions
before the heat stole it's time.

The land becomes dry and hot,
as life pushes through its waves,
it survives.

The sun seems like a burning blaze,
and I am its burnt egg.

~Burning summer blazes away~

© 2018 By Amanda Shelton

Blue’s stained my mind
with its shady rolls of
ocean waves, tears flood
the shores of my dreams
as emotion’s move deeper
still fooling my vision
of calming tides.

I lost my mind alone the
road to the hole I dug
to bury my pain.

My heart overflows with
fog rain and wind, causing
a storm to beat at the bones
of my ribcage, leaving me
sore.

Sadness tripped me
before I could run.

I pull the strings of my life,
I draw the lines too, like a master
of my own design I created the
possibilities to survive.

©️ 2021 By Amanda Shelton

Let me help you step through
the looking glass so you can
see what's on the other side
of me.

I am a survivor!
I will not be silent any longer.

This is me pounding on the post
yelling at my ghost.

Leave me alone, why don't you take
what you came for?

Why don't you leave me and take
everything so I can start over?

I don't need this abuse,
you have nothing but excuses.

I am not the failure, you are the
damages that follow my every step.

I am a survivor! PTSD is my struggle.

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

Synesthesia tastes like
orange, pink, blue and fireworks streaming across the screen
with static noice changing
from intense to soothing,
sweet to better.

It’s like fireworks going off
in my brain, I can see my
neurons communicating
with each other like
lightning bolts shooting
across my vision
in different colors,
numbers,tastes, and shapes.

Sounds have texture of
painful needles and
stinging ****** that
bloom like a flowering
feeling of fluffy snow
that burns through
my body like cold
lava.

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

How can you breathe if life
tries to smother you?

Well, I breathe deeper
and slower, I learned
how to hold my breath longer,
I don’t panic at the disco,
I keep calm and collected.

Life is beautiful and fragile,
like a porcelain heart
its known to creak and
fall apart. But if you use
the best glues and thread
your life can be brilliant
and strong.

Mind you your no Superman
or some superhuman, but
you can be anything you
want to be.

The only thing holding you
back is your heavy self-esteem,
letting go of regret and
learning from it instead,
that is what will pave
your path to success.

Don’t let life smother
you, you jump higher,
you build your own wings,
you train yourself to
be better, you smother
the fire that burns
your bridge’s before
they collapse under pressure.

Fight for survival
be the best you can be.

You want to travel the world?
All you need is a plane ticket
and your things, make friends
and work hard, don’t forget
your destination.

Life’s a bucket of water,
it’s always running over
or running out, building a
motte might work better.

© 2019 By Amanda Shelton

The fabric of my life,
soft and cruel.

Some say I’m easy on the eyes
softness is in my voice,
my smile welcome’s you into
my life.

I have touched the souls
of many, I have adventured
within others reality to
bring them back to the real
world.

I am like a tender fire,
burning slowly with comfort
setting within my warmth.

I am comfort in the dark,
a reminder of the possibilities,
a breath after choking,
a bandaid for your wound’s.

I am here when you are lonely,
I am here when you are lost
in the hostile environment
of reality.

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Tinging and tapping on the window,
the rain collects on my pain
in small droplets rolling down
as they get bigger and heavy
on the glass.

Landing on my hand, the drop
came slowly in my mind from
my sorrow and my eye.

Like the rain of the window
sorrow gets heavy rolling like
a stone, tapping on the window
of my life.

The first teardrop stings,
the second is like a scar its
always in mid air as I gasp for
a breath. Forever it seems.

I am the teardrop...

©️ 2022 By Amanda Shelton

Is there anything that can be done?

My body lays here,
in shadow and time.

I like everything else,
I become dust.

The sun grows old,
slowly it’s going to grow cold.
Like a death star ready to burst,
someday the night will consume
everything we built and us.

In ruin the stars will remember us,
as we scatter about like lost souls.

This life,
this time,
this ruin,
this is dust
and ash
left behind.

A deadline beyond my control,
slowly reaching it’s cold hand
grabbing tightly too my soul.

This life,
this ruin,
this dusty disaster we call
living is always moving.

Without asking who’s in control,
who’s driving this beaten path
to ruin? All we see is dusty trails
leading nowhere fast.

These barren land’s reach out for miles, like God’s hand at the end of the mile it welcome’s all with open arms and smile.

If you could look me in the eye
and tell me I will never die,
I know that is a lie.

Life never promised me perfection
nor happiness and success,
no it’s taught me how to
work it out with
the best of my abilities.

This is ruin,
this is life,
this is time,
this is the end
of a new beginning.

© 2018 By Amanda D Shelton

Stand by me and
my convictions
of woes.

A memorial of depression
and disease, hopefully
that’s not how you will
remember me.

I rise above the suffering
of my humanity and discomfort.

I fight for contentment
and stability.

Remember me as a typhoon,
I caused change and
I healed my own wound’s
with the power of knowledge
and society.

God blessed me with
intelligence and will.

These are my written
testimonials of
my personal struggles.

I thank you for visiting,
may you take my blessings
and share them with the world.

© By Amanda Shelton