The sands of time
          Slip through our hands
                 Each grain a moment planned
Dropping endless to the floor
         One final grain the final door

butterflies and moths display their dust proudly and without apology
each speck of the stuff adds new facets of light and color
new dimensions of growth and repose
unlike the snail, these creatures do not carry their homes on their backs,
but rather their stories
a tear in the left wing in memory of rebirthing,
a blur of deep red for all the times that they bled,
and a streak of blue for each time they stayed true
such a short lifespan for a creature that reminds us humans
of the fragility, beauty, and fleeting nature of the life we are given
wearing scars like blue ribbons
and silently departing before we ever get the chance
to appreciate them and their elegant dance

I hit rock bottom and I
Didn't know where to start
To mend these feelings of
My achy breaky heart,
Life took a turn for worse
And all that I could see
Was pain and misery in
An empty shell of me

My outer shell had cracked
And out had seeped my yolk,
I was causing such a mess
I'd never felt as broke...
Then from out my scrambled mess
Popped a friend for me to see,
You came, scooped me up and
Pieced me back so carefully

You tried your very best 
Not to lose much of my yolk,
Said my shell had cracked
But I wasn't fully broke;
See, what I came to realise
It's ok to need a cup,
To rest your little egg in
When you fear it's boiled too much.

© Karen L Hamilton, 2012

I was an infant sounding out
vowels on labels fixated with
complexions not hearts.
Sermons spoken spilled salt

on wounds shaped from moments
when the sword was mightier than the pen.
I was mute as black blood
streamed letters the mature read

and dismissed as chicken scratch.
Pleas to unlock the chains noosed
around my heart, never heard,
until my ears opened to self acceptance—

the song hearts dance to without shame,
the vernacular spoken without stutter.
The key frees my soul from shackles
and dissolves the branded lesions borne.

They were just words.

I know your name well.
Like It's embedded in my brain.
I know your name well.
It is a bit complicated to explain
I know your name well
I believe it keeps me sane.
I know your name well.
You are the essence of love.
A lovely presence from above.
I could address you by name
but I'd rather call you Beautiful.

I call you beautiful.
Yeah, that's right.
Id rather call you beautiful.  
It seems so suitable for you.
The way you do what you do.
That's why I call you beautiful.

I know your name well.
It feels so unusual.
Like I met you
In a past life but
I could be delusional.
I know your name well.
If what I feel is mutual
then I am meant
to be with you
In physical and spiritual.
I know your name well.
Baby can't you tell?
I'm a nervous ****** wreck
but when I'm around you.
I come out of my shell
and off my minds carousel.
To bask in your presence
and hope that we
don't say farewell.  
God, I know your name well
but I'd rather call you beautiful.

I call you beautiful.
Yeah, that's right.
Id rather call you beautiful.  
It seems so suitable for you.
The way you do what you do.
That's why I call you beautiful.

Sometimes I think
That I might love you.
Maybe it's because
I can see through you
the way that you
can see through me.
Your beauty
is not only skin deep
but it's also on the bone.
So when beauty fades away
I am left with what
made me feel
at home.

That is why
I call you beautiful.

Slice me...
I don't bleed nothin'
Less than real.

Gasoline in my
Veins, and a throat full of
Pills.

Come to terms with my life,
Giving death a great deal.

Feeling nothing but pain,
Or pain is nothing I
Feel?

I am the poem, the naked poem
Feel the poetic tone. From the moment
you laid eyes on me.
The break lines and the awkward feeling,
you get throughout each stanza,
represent my beautiful nakedness

Then comes the unprovoked aggression of my actions,
Never blanket my words,
let my audience feel the power of my strength
I am the poem that can never be ban
I rather you wouldn’t strip my words from the truth,
but embrace it with an open mind