Maggie Elwell: Favorites

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

call me //

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

wounded

call me in the empty of night
call me in the selective mutism of light
call me in the secrets of locked rooms
call me

call me in the candlelight of long soaks
call me in the freeze of your greatest scare
call me in the grace of your effortless achievement
call me

call me what you like, what you want to, need to
call me in the full stops of the dead ends that meet you
call me

call me in the eyes of a close friend
call me when you think you see the end
call me when you're ready to begin again
call me

call me in the woods of love's mystery
call me in the darkness of the wondering
call me from the cliff edge, blind to the sea
call me

call me in the eulogy of your youth
call me in the last words you're holding back; the truth
call me

call me in your favourite dress
call me unclothed
call me in the mirror
when the world looks over your shoulder
call me

call me in the photographs you left me
call me in the dream figures waiting to embrace
call me in the first line you wrote to me
call me

call me in the aching of the distance
call me in the bird short by starting pistols, raining feathers
call me in the ****** hands of trying
the frothing mouth of drowning
if you call me
always
i will listen

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Blind Hate

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Theia Gwen

Blind Hate

They say that love is blind
But unfortunately hate can make you blind
To a love that's right in front of you
Darling, untie the blindfold,
Open the curtains,
You're drowning so deep in your self loathing
You can't see how many people are jumping in after
Trying to save you from yourself

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Love poem (3)

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Clifford Griffin

Love poem (3)

When I am without her, the sun doesn’t shine as brightly.
When I am without her, the clouds are dark and foreboding.
When I am without her, the birds don’t sing as sweetly.
When I am without her, the walls close in on me.
When I am without her, in the depths of my hell, whispering her name sustains me.
But, when I am with her, she lifts me up.
When I am with her, I have the strength to move mountains.
When I am with her, I can withstand anything.
When I am with her, her smile warms my very soul.
When I am with her, the angels sing her name.
When I am with her, I fall in love all over again.

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

My love, if I die and you don't--,

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Pablo Neruda

My love, if I die and you don't--,

My love, if you die and I don't--,
let's not give grief an even greater field.
No expanse is greater than where we live.

Dust in the wheat, sand in the deserts,
time, wandering water, the vague wind
swept us like sailing seeds.
We might not have found one another in time.

This meadow where we find ourselves,
O little infinity! we give it back.
But Love, this love has not ended:

just as it never had a birth, it has
no death: it is like a long river,
only changing lands, and changing lips.

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

What About Tomorrow

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

A B Perales

What About Tomorrow

My days ago
are piled
with excess.

My days ahead,
clouded
with letting
go.

This day today,
empty
as the bottle
laying next
to me.

And there's
no way
to grow
young
again.

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

The Countdown

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Seth Connor Jackson

The Countdown

Just ten minutes after I'd revved the engine
I was only nine miles away from the love of my life
Day dreaming of when we’d met just eight short months ago
Soaring at seventy down that country road
Only six more miles until she’d be in my arms again
Five years ago thoughts of love would have seemed so far out of sight
Yet four times I've already proposed, “too soon,” she’d always say
Amazing how in three seconds your entire life can change
With just two tires there’s little room for error
When one blew out I hit the asphalt, hard
In a wreck like that there’s zero chance I’d survive
One hour later the ambulance arrived at last
EMTs pressed two paddles against my chest
Shocks were delivered three times
At the hospital doctors performed four operations
Five months I spent in a coma
Followed by six months of physical therapy relearning to walk
In time all seventeen broken bones had set and healed
It cost me eight grand to buy a new bike
Now nine years later I’m still riding, fearless, wife on the back
The tenth time I asked, she finally said yes

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

You Are Not

Feb 2014 Maggie Elwell

Kirsten Lovely

You Are Not

You are not condemned
To the confines of life
Nor the sounds of being locked in
And hit by dirt
You do not belong
To the flowers they send
The wishes they write
Or the tree they plant in your name
You are not prisoner
To a shallow grave
And a shallower gravestone
Not even to the duties you left behind
You have not been claimed
By the years you will not see
The tears you cannot dry
Or the hugs you cannot return
You are not captive
To the sounds and words
That defined you
Or the way people shaped you
Because you are free from condemnation
From the clutch of sickness
Free to leave and wipe the tears
And hug the ones that hesitate
To throw the dirt over the years
You are free from prison,
From proclamation,
From captivity and condemnation
To help and to inspire
And to free others from a prison
Of grief.

To Christopher Carney and family. May a battle as hard as this never touch your lives again.
Rest in peace, Mr. Carney.
Beloved teacher and friend
1968 (I'm unsure of the date- February 20th, 2014