Elizabeth

Elizabeth Apr 2014

facade

are you who you say you are?
or is it just a mask?
if I wished you’d show me truth,
would I be sorry that I asked?

(2012)
so many emotions have been swelling up inside of me lately, but I can't find the right words to say. perhaps lacking inspiration? I suppose. I was reading an old journal of mine and found this poem today.

Elizabeth Apr 2014

art

she liked to weave his words into her thoughts
he liked to stitch her smile into his memories

golden sunlight afternoons turned to a silver-dusted visage
the ephemeral, interlaced with each spool of thread

tapestry can be unwoven, stitches can be unfastened
thoughts and memories, though, not so easily undone

Elizabeth Apr 2014

I dare you

you rub your tired eyes and run your fingers through your frazzled hair
you try not to worry, stumble forward into the sunrise
wanting, wandering, absent, unheeding, bemused, a million miles away

you put on your favorite shoes and drink a sip of vitality
you think less of yourself and more of the day
calloused, obdurate, no room for thoughts, try not to daydream, I dare you

a ghost inside a robot. a drifting soul chained to an anchor.
your body has awoken to do what your mind cannot
and you stumble forward and you keep moving into the sunset
today, today, today, and everyday

Elizabeth Apr 2014

left, right

tonight I'm tiptoeing the weather-worn railing of an old city bridge
rusted, deep reds, its tarnished downbeat complexion, carefully
ten thousand feet away from the luxury of the ground, balancing
to the left, a canyon, to the right, a waterfall
to the left, a promise, to the right, a dream

Elizabeth Apr 2014

deception

the sweetest, most sugar-coated, ponder,
in a jar full of worries and cares.
to that ponder I regard and grow fonder.
pick it out and throw it away.

Elizabeth Mar 2014

a bohemian princess

of mosaic sea gem trinkets shimmering in the
colors of coral and gypsy travels
she always found herself on the ocean's shore
between the jubilance of the tide
and the constant of the sand
drinking in the sun's rays as they
sliced through the salt winds
she kept those beams, tucked them away
to give to others with every coming laugh
dreaming in paintbrush strokes and vivid imagination
don't you ever lose that essence of who you are
never stop asking the toughest questions
never stop saying what everyone else is too afraid to voice

~ for my sister ~

Elizabeth Mar 2014

1 a.m.

one a.m. thoughts tossing me around in the surging turmoil of
my cluttered brainwaves, surfing them like elastic
waves in the ocean's tide, bobbing up and down
up and down

one a.m. is lonely tonight, wishing the clock would
stop and give me the gift of time
so I can drink in the darkness and become
numb to these thoughts
thoughts of you, thoughts of leaving, thoughts of leaving you

one a.m. thoughts leave me craving something I can never hope to find
searching through the dark for a light
that only morning can bring
why do I keep searching here in the dark?
here, at one a.m.
when sleep slips out from between my fingers and buries itself beneath these crashing waves