Lori McGaw: Favorites

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

A Thomas Hawkins

I love you; its a secret,
don't let anybody know.
That's why when we are speaking,
I try not to let it show.

I double check each word I say,
before it leaves my lips,
and try to shake this image,
of my hands upon your hips.

So tell me how'm I doing?
Do you even have a clue,
that every waking thought I have,
is always about you?

I wish I could just tell you,
and know you wouldn't run.
But I'm scared this revelation,
would leave us both undone.

I love you; its a secret,
which to myself I'll keep,
cos the last thing that I wanna do,
is come off like a creep.

So I sit here and say nothing,
not knowing what to do.
Praying one day you will say,
just what I am to you.

©A Thomas Hawkins 2010
http://poetryinprogress.com

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Quite Short.

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Caroline Little

Quite Short.

I fear my sense
Of right and wrong
Are skewed beyond
Repair.

For all I do
Is think of you
Regardless of if you're
There.

The way your body
Knows my own and
Matches it with
Heat.

Is quite enough
To make it tough
To focus or to
Speak.

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

The White House

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Claude McKay

The White House

Your door is shut against my tightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
But I possess the courage and the grace
To bear my anger proudly and unbent.
The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
A chafing savage, down the decent street;
And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful ***** sore and raw,
And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law!
Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
Against the potent poison of your hate.

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Pop Song #2

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Zach Gomes

Pop Song #2

And are you also frightened
Of the monsters with nighttime white faces
Of places lined ****** with traces
Of tiger-striped neighbors complacent
Are you all so frightened?

And are you also frightened
Of the German death-expert, that phantom
Of your mother turned raucously pantomime
Of a world-wide prisoners’ anthem
Are you all so frightened?

And are you also frightened
Of the nuclear holocaust schemers
Of the cannibals’ preying on dreamers
Of the new World
Are you all so frightened?

And are you also frightened
Of poetry written in free verse
Of burning alive you foolish young convert
Of the chorus of underground screams in the desert
Are you all so frightened?

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Dark in my room

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Claire Spencer

Dark in my room

i hate this part
he rolls to his feet
slowly seeking and finding
in the dark his clothes
shoes, that pretty watch, the **** phone

he's going home
when he just made a nest
inside of me
when he just laid down
and rested for just a small **** while

why not longer, why not daybreak
sun coming up over your toes and into your nose
you warming your hands on my back
loving the feel of my legs brushing up
against your yawning form

why not ******
as you move toward the door
keys in hand
don't pull me in to kiss you
stay instead, play awhile longer

with me

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

Inspiration

Aug 2010 Lori McGaw

KM Jones

Inspiration

Inspiration is a fickle flirt. He comes and goes, leaving my notebooks full of erratic bursts of passion. Sometimes I almost wish we had never met. I remember the first day; my thoughts were a collision of naivety and girlish impropriety. It was pen to paper and I lost myself in discovering the "inner" me.

Inspiration guided me blindly through heartbreaks and near self-destructions, preserving the sanity my mind so desperately clung to. But then there were other nights when I blared my music and lit some candles, but inspiration never came. I just sat in the dark, wide awake with hands of stone and a restless mind. Of course, inspiration always called the next morning, making sure I had survived the night, begging me to take him back.

Published in Feb 2009 edition of Teen Ink.