though the face in the mirror
has seen horrors
leaked tears

I am more
than those moments
I still can’t quite shake
though I’m not shaking anymore

I am walking forward
even when it’s a demoralizing procession
of eating pavement and picking myself up again

I am working on forgiving myself
for those egregious errors and casualties
strewn along my route
in and out of hell

I am listening
to the voice that shouts
that I need to dig up the dark things
to let the light inside me out

we carry so many things
overflowing with memories
begging to be buried
how can I walk on this heavy
how can I let go of these suitcases
stitched to my fingers

where is the seam ripper for this baggage
where is the end of errant beginnings
when does the scene cut to diamonds
white fences and entire weekends
without tears

when can I not be tethered
to this old steel toed boot
I take a few steps forward
and it kicks me back on my ***

the heart I crave, the love I yearn
the swears I’ve sworn tongue tie and lie
and I’m back again, in your arms
wondering what is salvageable
wondering how much of me
will get to the next round

when will I be a snail
and not the shell

It's okay if your skin feels electric,
if the walls shift like fractured mirrors,
and you stumble in the dark spaces of yourself.

It's okay if fear snarls at your feet,
if your heart drums too loud for quiet,
and the weight of everything presses
so hard you forget how to stand.

Let the storm rip through you.
Let it howl your doubts into the night.
These wounds are not final,
they are only birthmarks of a greater becoming.

It's okay.
Let the world bruise you.
Let the ache of it teach you
how to be soft where you've always been steel,
how to break where you've only been solid stone.

Feel the quake in your chest,
the shiver in your bones.
You are not fragile.
You are fire learning its own heat.

And when the darkness shifts
and you are left with your breath,
with the quiet after the storm,
you'll find,
you have always been more
than the breaking,
more than the fall.

It's okay.
The ground beneath you trembles
because you are rising.

i met a girl in the grocery store parking lot
i could tell she liked me an awful lot
i felt like a real winner
when she invited me for dinner
but now my toes are boiling in her ***

He's senile, incoherent,
Out of shape,
Out of date.
He tips forward
Cause he blows back wind,
And when he mugs
He waddles his chin.
He smiles and squints
Those beady swine eyes,
Above his lantern-like
Satanic grin.
And it's never about you,
When it's always about him.

Flies follow his brimstone smell,
Like sulphur leaked
From the gates of hell.
The vermin covet
His dependable fill
From a shart attack
While he's standing still.

He's a fake from the toe lifts,
That stop forward tipping;
As fake as orange highlights,
And his mental slippings,
He's glued a fake coif of  fluff,
And, if that's still not enough,
He spews lies,
Framed by his wee hands flailing,
His fetid breath exhaling,
Pouty lips wailing,
And his fat *** trailing
Far behind.

Graceful Suffering
By Ursula D. Jones
Palindrome Poetry (Mirror Poem)
November 6, 2023

Suffering gracefully is always giving in gentleness,
Smiling cheerfully in enduring pain and grief.
Learning wisdom in silence and loneliness,
Pensively guiding and directing frivolities composed of youthfulness.
Only healing for longing, wounded, and lonesome hearts,
Friendship offered and taken. Never returned companionship.
Suffering graceful, with happiness for all, never jealous, nor spiteful.
Peacefully—
spiteful, nor jealous. Never. All for happiness with graceful suffering,
Companionship returned never. Taken and offered friendship.
Hearts, lonesome and wounded, longing for healing only.
Youthfulness of composed frivolities; directing and guiding pensively.
Loneliness and silence in wisdom learning,
Greif and pain enduring in cheerfully smiling.
Gentleness in giving always is gracefully suffering.