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 May 2014 Mary R Short
Mikaila
Dear you,
There is something nobody ever told me
That I think
A lot of people need to hear.
It's okay to need things.
Your soul is not toxic.
Your craving for love
Is not freakish
Or wrong
Or shameful.
Your loneliness
Does not make you pathetic.
Seeking help
Or advice
Or comfort
Does not make you weak.
Loving someone who doesn't love you
Doesn't make you a fool.
Your best
Is good enough.
You don't have to try
To need less.
This world
Is not
A church
And you
Are not Christ-
You don't need to sacrifice
For the rest of them.
And if
You are starving for connection
Nobody should ever make you ashamed of that.
People
Will leave you
People
Will be angry at you
For the staggering depth of your need.
But people
Are not always right
When they tell you
You are wrong.
You are not wrong.
You are not a freak.
You are not an abomination.
You are not needy.
You are not foolish.
You are not weak.
You are not pathetic.
You are not
Crazy.
You are just
Human
And humans need
And you don't have to ask permission
To admit you have feelings.
I wish someone had told me that
A long time ago.
Time, is right now
Blink, you'll miss her

She's spreading her wings

She's ready

Mesmerising, beautiful
Colourful, light

She's spreading her wings
She's taking flight

In awe

she flys
Growing up way back
when life was simple.
There were wringer wash machines.
On Monday morning I remember my mom
fill the wash machine with hot water.
Add soap powder, but watch or it will clump.
Then she added fels naptha soap
Which was a bar, and you sliced off
pieces for the extra ***** clothes.

SIMPLE?

Now she added the clothes
While they are agitating
You wait...
You have a second tub filled with hot water.
to transfer those clothes into, for rinsing.
You always used the same water over.
You started with white clothes,
then eventually by the time the
dark clothes  came around
the water looked pretty gross..

SIMPLE?

After rinsing you use that magical wringer.
Which is two rollers that sqeeze all the water out.
Time...it all takes time..
Then into the wash basket.

Laundry back when life was simple...

By then your basket if full of wet heavy clothes.
Out to the clothes line.
But first you had to run a dry cloth to wipe
the dirt off the clothes line.
Hanging up all that laundry
with those cute wooden clothes pins.
Not even clip ones were invented back then.
But the bag which held all the clothes pins
was real cute, it looked like a dress...

SIMPLE?

Socks, ******, shirts, slacks, towels,
oh those heavy towels
and my favorite the sheets.
Time, it takes time to dry those clothes.

Laundry back when life was simple.

Back then everything was ironed.
Starched and there was no spray starch,
or steam iron.
Mom would dip the collars of the shirts
into a bowl of starch,
and roll it up,
it was ready to be ironed.

Laundry back when life was simple...
How can that be a simple time.
I watched my mom and grandma
do this every Monday.
Starting early and it would be evening
when she would finally have
the clothes folded and put away...
The next day was for ironing.

~~~
SIMPLE?
We have the simple life
for now we can throw in a load, have it washed,
thrown in the dryer, and hung up
in a couple of hours.
Taking a coffee break in between
the washing and drying...

by ~ judy
Do our kids know how easy they have it...this was not
my experience, but I watched my mom and grandma
do this every week...never giving it a second thought.
God Bless you moms and grandmas whose work
was never done....
 May 2014 Mary R Short
Jack
~

Silent sentence

The silence is deafening
pounding this cartoon anvil
lodged somewhere in my head
echoing through empty chambers

A loud dose of nothing
calls to me in voiced undertones
resonating with the volume
of butterfly wings pinned to a board

My clouded eyes look,
hoping my ears are mistaken
wishing for only a sound
vibrating in this vast glass hallway

Wave lengths in shorter shadows
collect on mesh grilles
protecting weathered speakers
cracked and taped…yellowed

Tiny dots felt of faulting fingers
braile’d emotions screaming
along a page of discomfort…blistering,
dog eared for no reason at all

Stillness…that is all…stillness
no wind, no color, no movement,
as I wait for this that shall not come
alone…perhaps unheard by others

This it seems shall be my existence,
written in quiet ink…invisible to most
no lemon juice tricks this time
as I serve my sentence…in silence
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