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Autumn Ehrhardt Jun 2021
Television commercials in the background
The whirl in my middle is a despondent stranger
Stranger because it is there: Here: Fear
A liar for the inner despot is my hand holder
A better future could house all strangers
The sticky feelings allowed to be seen and held
We are not despots or liars, we are the whirl
Vulnerability waivers for the old and the weak
The measured and the meek/Me we seek
So to show the feeling among the organs
To find ears for soundless noises hidden
In human realities of roles golden and rusted
I don't want to be my outward female appearance
And I hate that you have to pretend to be invincible
You only need a couple of actual hand holders
To not feel strange in the shame of fearing movement
Dancing without limits to stumble and beautifully panic
I am not enough to ask, but we are enough to each other
I haven posted for awhile on this site, so I wonder if my style has changed. This one is a bit abstract, but inspired form the work of Brene Brown.
Autumn Ehrhardt Feb 2021
Could words be winds of change
Are there enough souls to look
Would my letters be a river of hope
Are there enough pennies for a book
Should I get this stanza to populate
Are there enough likes to cook
May my words be a breeze at least
There are enough to care
May my thoughts become modest feast
There are enough thoughts to share
May our world have room for all
There are enough writers to glare
And stare into the internet soup
And say our words are a hurricane
This poem is written as a call to action
Autumn Ehrhardt Jul 2020
A girl starts with a love
For a stuffed dog not a boy
And carries with her
An innocent charm
For daydream hope
Not alarm

But then the shock
Of feminine worth
You are not much
Just because of your birth

Then you realize
You will fall in love
Not with a toy
Or sky above

And the first is scary
It feels like a snake
Why am I worried
About what he thinks

And as experience grows
You try to act sly
Pretend you don’t see
The look in his eye

And of course you give in
To a kiss or maybe more
Then watch as he leaves
Out the window not the door

But you’re not his first love
And never shall you be
He shares in the field
In honest reverie

And you go through
The world of romance
And the like
And find that you are
Never the first
Not the light

The glow of one
Who carried
Each boy’s heart
Are the lies of a man
Who leers in the dark

And you try to be safe
With being yourself
Why did he tell me
Destroying my wealth

I am women now
I feel the refrain
You will never be the first
It burns through my brain.
Autumn Ehrhardt Jul 2020
What do I see after
The dream is done
Either the still night
Or the morning sun

What do I want
From my daily life
A happy partner
To be a good wife

What do I wish
For the sky above
A clean earth vision
Built with love

What do I need
For the children I teach
To be a priority
Not a dream out of reach

What can I do
For the world so cruel
Write congress letters
Not elect fools

What is the reason
For humanity
To honor each other
Plant a new seed
A poem pretty close after the shut down due to the virus.
Autumn Ehrhardt Jun 2020
Once the karmic sand
Has poured through the hourglass
We will have to meet in another life
Autumn Ehrhardt Jun 2020
Small beads on the bottom
Of a wooden jewelry box
The one with lacquered birds
The broken necklace
Your father’s gift
The beads live in the corners
Because we treasure people
Autumn Ehrhardt Jun 2020
I don’t think I am writing
Anything of consequence
So is it worth it, emit

I watch the news I hear
That millions are without work
What can I do with this, misfit

I sit in my little ivory tower
Worried about my little bit
I don’t know how to, unfit

Is the world about to fall
Will the leaders stand up tall
I hope that good comes, sunlit

Fortunate I feel still in awe
I am living through a pandemic
I never thought I’d be, submit

I will manage to keep calm
And try to reach a bit
Writing is all I can do, *******
This poem is one of a series responding to the time and the pandemic
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