"wavered" poems
When you plunged
The light of Tuscany wavered
And swung through the pool
From top to bottom.
I loved your wet head and smashing crawl,
Your fine swimmer's back and shoulders
Surfacing and surfacing again
This year and every year since.
I sat dry-throated on the warm stones.
You were beyond me.
The mellowed clarities, the grape-deep air
Thinned and disappointed.
Thank God for the slow loadening,
When I hold you now
We are close and deep
As the atmosphere on water.
My two hands are plumbed water.
You are my palpable, lithe
Otter of memory
In the pool of the moment,
Turning to swim on your back,
Each silent, thigh-shaking kick
Re-tilting the light,
Heaving the cool at your neck.
And suddenly you're out,
Back again, intent as ever,
Heavy and frisky in your freshened pelt,
Printing the stones.
25.6k
She was a prisoner,
Trapped in the shadows of the night,
Caged in the gloom of the world.
She sang songs of heart throbbing emotion,
And played melodies of continuous tragedies.
She wrapped herself in life's desolation
And felt the pull of never ending stress weighing her down.
But she stood under the relentless pressure,
And never wavered.
She heard tunes of everlasting joy and peace,
And never strayed.
She found her way through the darkness,
And never doubted.
A girl once born in clouded adversity,
Now blossomed in ceaseless exultation.
Jan 4, 2016
Jan 4, 2016 at 10:08 PM UTC
Like an alien in a spotlight
With her magnifying glasses on
My mother as she worked, up all night
Did invisible weaving till dawn
I would watch her when I couldn’t sleep
Honing in on that hole in the suit
Intently, her concentration deep
Weaving tiny threads enlarged like jute
In other-worldly light she labored
I was afraid she’d lose her eyesight
Watching her focus never wavered
Her face all aglow in the lamplight
Invisible weaving, I inquired
How tediously she plied her craft
Worked for the money that she required
Made the warp and weft of fabric last
Reconstruction, undetectable
No more burn, or tear, or fabric blight
Weaving magic so incredible
Its wound now perfect by morning’s light
She taught me much that I’m still making
From her life that now I’m grieving
Sewing, crocheting and great baking
But never invisible weaving
The picture of her life that mattered
I now see how she toiled so finely
And that the wrinkles in the fabric
Of my own life splayed out so blindly
The vision of my eyes, bedazzled
Incandescent, her face in the beam
Unaware how her mind unraveled
As Depression stole her ev’ry dream
The threads of DNA defining
Who I’ve become I’m now believing
My mother’s hand in that designing
Of my own Invisible Weaving*
*In honor of my mother, Edla Sylvia Fitzpatrick, on this International Women's Day
Mar 8, 2017
Mar 8, 2017 at 1:01 PM UTC
I bowled three games tonight.
Possible paths to victory skipped rocks in my mind,
Until the ball dropped.
I won and lost.
My face flushed.
My skills wavered,
Such a tragic player.
A strike, a ball doomed to the gutter.
What did it matter?
When the lanes burst with laughter?
Friends, arcades, night bowling.
Fingers contorting.
Strange shoes and watching feet behind the line.
No passing it, no crime.
All win in the end.
Bowling alleys- hidden gems.
Jul 12, 2014
Jul 12, 2014 at 2:36 AM UTC
I did not believe,
standing on the bank of a river
which was wide and swift,
that I would cross
that bridge plaited from thin,
fragile reeds fastened with bast.
I walked delicately,
as a butterfly
and heavily
as an elephant,
I walked surely
as a dancer
and wavered like a blind man.
I did not believe that I would cross that bridge,
and now that I am standing
on the other side,
I do not believe I crossed it.
Apr 19, 2022
Apr 19, 2022 at 11:23 AM UTC
you were just one man.
jailed for infinity.
you never bent.
stronger than steel.
oppressed from day one.
segregated by your skin.
you were never broken.
stronger than steel.
the odds were against you.
against your entire race.
your faith never wavered.
stronger than steel.
i walked where you laid.
where you eat, where you ran.
your land gave me strength.
stronger than steel.
your love was so unending.
your hate, no where to be found.
you saved a who nation.
stronger than steel.
Madiba. Madiba.
Nelson Mandela
the original superman.
Stronger then Steel.
Oct 30, 2014
Oct 30, 2014 at 1:06 AM UTC
Relax the formality
But hang onto legality
While spreading the reality
Of being lonesome and humility
Showcase your ability
It won’t last for infinity
But don’t join the infantry
Unless you’re accustomed to calamity
un-wavered by insanity
and have the bravery to protect humanity
4/5/09
Feb 13, 2010
Feb 13, 2010 at 7:22 PM UTC
We entered the holy city with palm branches to welcome
Parading in as they sang 'Hosanna!'
They honored Him as if He were their king
As if He had come to set them free
Oh how right they were, the Promised King, come to set His people free
We shared in communion with the Lord and the betrayer
On the eve of the darkest day in history
Hate brewed at one end of that table
While love stirred peacefully on the other
And all of us living in blissful ignorance in between
We celebrated the passover with our master
And we prayed that The Lord would not pass over us again
That instead He would stoop down to us and save us
But we denied Him in His hour of need
We slept soundly as He was betrayed by us
Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He gave His life for another
They beat Him within inches of His divine life
They cast lots for his garments, and spit on His bloodied face
No longer did they yell 'Hosanna!' to welcome their king,
But they yelled 'crucify him!' to condemn their Divine Lord
They drove nails into his frail hands
He cried out to heaven asking why The Lord had forsaken Him
He declared in defiance ‘It is finished’ and He passed on to death
They threw a sword into his swollen side
His holy blood and holy water spilled to sanctify the earth onto which it fell
So silly they were, they thought that they could **** God
That they really believed they could depose the Lord of all with mere nails
But the sky darkened, and heaven turned away as to not see her Lord die
The earth shook and the world changed
Suddenly all knew 'surely this man was the Son of God'
The once bright and beautiful sky turned suddenly dark
The earth shook violently in disapproval that her creator lay dead on her face
The warm humid air turned suddenly bitterly cold and dry
For the promised Messiah had been defeated
Death itself had victory over the world, and the world knew it was so
There, on the cross, lay the Life of the World, dead
The Light of the World had been snuffed out, and the world left in darkness
The hope of all mankind suddenly vanished
The steady hand holding the world wavered in mourning
And darkness covered the seemingly God-forsaken earth
Who are we at the foot of the cross that stood silently?
We stood by and watched the promised Messiah be taken away and killed
We reap what we sew, and will now live out our days in darkness
Without hope we shall suffer for all time, a punishment fit for our crime
We crucified the Messiah, we gave the Lord to death, we killed God
For three days the sun did not rise
For three days the world swayed unstable
The demons danced in the darkness
Hell was victorious
Because for three days, God lay dead in a tomb.
Apr 15, 2017
Apr 15, 2017 at 12:19 PM UTC
My heart was found guilty
Of witchcraft by my brain
He dragged her and beat her
Spewed his hatred for her
Tied her to a wooden stake
My brain couldn't comprehend
The magic of my heart
Why she never wavered
How she always loved
He started this persecution
Because he couldn't understand
I always felt her growing
Beautifully and powerfully
With every beat she won me over
All I did was want to protect her
But my brain called it heresy
My punishment was to watch
As he burned her alive
I heard the shrieks of hope die
The smell of her love stung
My nostrils and it haunts me still
I walk around pretending
As if nothing had ever happened
My brain condemned me to live
This life without my heart
Without the love and only
With the memory of that night
Every day I burn like she did
As every day I hate like he did
I was unable to convince him
That she just wanted to love
But my brain was too afraid
Of the powers of my heart
Feb 1, 2016
Feb 1, 2016 at 12:10 PM UTC
I treated my skin like a goddess
Legs shaved, hands moisturized,
Any spot of acne scrubbed away and covered over with pale sheets
But I hid from my spine, like a snake always a few inches behind me, waiting to strike
This skin there was a poorly applied veneer,
Exaggerating the flaws it was meant to hide
The snake is in constant motion, waving an S up the core of my being,
Displaying my instability
It's curved, like the ridges of the Grand Canyon
Only more unnatural,
Un beautiful,
More like a line you tried to draw straight
Only when it wavered just a little too much, you threw it away and started over
I cannot start over
My snake drags venom along its body, instead of drooling it into a bite
And he is always biting,
So the skin on my back has never been touched
Never been pampered, or savored.
Jan 7, 2018
Jan 7, 2018 at 10:48 PM UTC
~ ~ ~
*Affectionate was
your way
of letting my
worries disappear. . .
How you put your arms
tight around my shoulders. . .
How tender your voice is. . .
whispering words of comfort
into my right ticklish ear abalone.
Believing in me. Lovingly. . .
Your ocean of whispering
sounds. . .Wavered Deep,
deep love conection. Our
Free symbiosis
enhanced by French
parfume, evaporating
from my occiput fragility.*
~ ~ ~
Sep 21, 2015
Sep 21, 2015 at 1:35 PM UTC
this is the problem, you see. i hate orange flavoured things, but don't mind the fruit or the colour itself. i despise chocolate flavoured items as well, but will never complain if a whole bar fell into my lap. i cannot decide if it is the simple idea of disliking the watered down version of the original thing that irks me the most, or if it is something more. perhaps it is the very thought of a half truth - an illusion, if you may - that disgusts me, because these things will never be as good as the real, original item to me. you are the same, i have realised; years of sporadic vanishing and reappearing have not wavered my feelings for you, and all the people i have tried to replace you with pale in comparison.
i might be capable of lying to everyone around me, but i cannot do it to myself or you. the funny thing is that you know this, as much as i know it too. for we are vulnerable as we are broken, and somehow deep down in the darkness where we sink we are guided by the same light, which always brings me back to you, and you to me.
-
"how have you been?"
*i miss you in ways i cannot even begin to describe. i miss you the way sleep lingers in our eyes as the dawn breaks, and i miss you when our song comes on. i miss you the most when the storms arrive or when a joke is made and i turn around expecting to see your accompanying smile, but meet empty air.
the truth is, i'm lost. i miss you completely, terribly, unbelievably so, and it eats at me every single day.*
"just fine."
i put on the biggest smile i can muster and walk away.
(A.H.Z)
Nov 20, 2013
Nov 20, 2013 at 8:43 AM UTC
I want to be that girl in the photograph
The one where happiness is etched on her face
And her eyes are overflowing with joy
The one where her smile shows her passion
And how she’s so full of confidence
The one where her expression shows her courage
And how she uses it to set her ambitions high
The one where she’s so comfortable being who she is
And so at ease with doing what she loves
The one where there’s no sign of fear
Nor even a little hint of doubt
The one where trust comes naturally
And a fault isn’t to be found
But sometime between then and now
Life threw what it could at her
And her confidence wavered
Her courage was destroyed
Her ambitions thrown away
Her eyes left lifeless
Her smile was forced
And any love, trust or happiness was gone
And she was no longer the girl in the photograph,
The one where she was caught in the middle of a laugh
Then sometime a little after now
A realization hit her quite hard
The girl in the photograph came to see
That it wasn’t life that made her feel empty
She opened her eyes and was surprised at what she saw
It was her who’d taken herself down, with a mighty hard blow
And she was the reason she suffered such pain
So sick of it she became
That she stood up and braced herself
And made a decision that would change her life
She decided: She was going to be the girl in the photograph again.
Nov 1, 2014
Nov 1, 2014 at 1:43 PM UTC
My Journey
once young i believed of a world made of ice-cream and chocolates
i believed in air castles
i dreamed of the tooth fairy
friends was best friend forever for life
long hair was important, weight unimportant
dad and mum was super heroes
the world was at my feet waiting to be conquered
volcano's erupted
wars came and went
people died and were born
poverty came and went
governments changed
i grew up, the chocolate and ice cream melted
i woke up in a sticky mess
what happened
i forget the most important ingredient of all
god my father, my keeper, my salvation and joy
as it all came crashing down and storms whirled he held my hand
even when i questioned my creator and accused him of doing a bad job
his love and dedication never wavered
thank heaven for that mercy
i've searched my life time for unmovable inner peace and joy
though i was a bad made when i could not find it
now i know
money cant buy
only god the father can lead you to it
only the father can restore my air castles, my world of ice-cream, chocolates, cappuccino and balloons
i left he tooth fairy behind
i was blessed with new better friends
and my super hero's was re employed :)
i am truly living my dream without the crowd, competitiveness, chaos and speed of modern life
the future awaits
my captain is at the helm
what more can a girl ask for
Mar 12, 2013
Mar 12, 2013 at 5:38 AM UTC
I close my eyes for a minute,
In my mind I slowly revisit,
The memories of that house
And how I use to be in it
but we're coming to a finish
I'm saying, "I love you both",
And although I say it in English
To the both of you it's foreign,
Probably Spanish or Finnish.
I tell you 'I love you both',
Because you have both
Been part of my growth.
I tell you 'I love you',
even if I can't come around as much
My love hasn't wavered as such,
and when you two fight,
it feels like there's a tight clutch
As I grasp for air in my chest
Wondering
When the bickering
Will lay to rest.
I love you both mum and dad,
I love you the way you have loved me,
And even if we come from
A different family tree,
Share different facts of biology,
I love you no different
As if you were my biological
Parents,
and it's apparent,
that we share the same bond.
Apr 17, 2016
Apr 17, 2016 at 7:36 PM UTC
In Loving Honor of Joseph Wulf
R.I.P.
Christi Michaels 8-31-2015
☆●♡●☆
Tonight my friend could not breathe
Lungs ravaged from long ago
Served our country as a young man
Shoulders, hip and leg bones
broke by the jungles below
A Harley Man through and through
JFD's became his Corps
Never wavered in his allegiance
to his country or his force
One of the smartest men
I have ever known
Could recite passages from long ago
abreast of topics from far and wide
a history buff so knowlegable
A brother to many, a father to one
Devoted to all he loved
A truer friend could not be had
So very popular he was!!
Joe was my protector
as I was a wild young thing
Was my confidant and
chaperone starting at just 17
Accompanied the first date with
my husband 30 years ago
Gave his blessings that first night~
To my children he was Uncle Joe
The older brother I never had.
Blessed to love him 40 years
My whole being trembles at the
thought of losing him
I weave Love within these tears
☆●●♡●●♡●●☆
~Christi Michaels~April 2015~
Copyright © 2015 Christi Michaels.
All Rights Reserved.
♡●♡●♡●♡ Ode to Joe ♡●♡●♡●♡
This poem was written upon Joe entering
Hospice. His sisters provided
Constant Vigil and Loving Care.
Joe passed on 8-15-2015
This was read at Joes Military Burial
Fort Snelling National Cemetery
Fort Snelling, Minnesota
8-31-2015
Apr 11, 2015
Apr 11, 2015 at 9:35 PM UTC
Like an alien in a spotlight
With her magnifying glasses on
My mother as she worked, up all night
Did invisible weaving till dawn
I would watch her when I couldn’t sleep
Honing in on that hole in the suit
Intently, her concentration deep
Weaving tiny threads enlarged like jute
In other-worldly light she labored
I was afraid she’d lose her eyesight
Watching her focus never wavered
Her face all aglow in the lamplight
Invisible weaving, I inquired
How tediously she plied her craft
Worked for the money that she required
Made the warp and weft of fabric last
Reconstruction, undetectable
No more burn, or tear, or fabric blight
Weaving magic so incredible
Its wound now perfect by morning’s light
She taught me much that I'm still making
From her life that now I'm grieving
Sewing, crocheting and great baking
But never invisible weaving
The picture of her life that mattered
I now see how she toiled so finely
And that the wrinkles in the fabric
Of my own life splayed out so blindly
The vision of my eyes bedazzled
Incandescent, her face in the beam
Unaware how her mind unraveled
As depression stole her ev'ry dream
The threads of DNA defining
Who I’ve become I'm now believing
My mother’s hand in that designing
Of my own Invisible Weaving
Feb 25, 2016
Feb 25, 2016 at 12:24 PM UTC
She stands as pale as Parian statues stand;
Like Cleopatra when she turned at bay,
And felt her strength above the Roman sway,
And felt the aspic writhing in her hand.
Her face is steadfast toward the shadowy land,
For dim beyond it looms the light of day;
Her feet are steadfast; all the arduous way
That foot-track hath not wavered on the sand.
She stands there like a beacon thro' the night,
A pale clear beacon where the storm-drift is;
She stands alone, a wonder deathly white;
She stands there patient, nerved with inner might,
Indomitable in her feebleness,
Her face and will athirst against the light.
2.8k
One step behind the other,
I keep my eyes ahead.
I'll keep myself together
If I watch where I have tread.
I'm sure I'm being hunted
By monsters in the night.
Not sure if I've been stunted,
Or if this is their true height.
But if the shadows wavered,
Or gave way to my stare,
I'd sing instead of quaver
And stand with shoulders square.
No time to sit and panic
Or just wait for the dawn.
Until I leave the manic,
I must keep trudging on.
Wait until I'm with you,
And then I might break down.
Take comfort when it's through,
When at last pain makes a sound.
Just save me a seat in the closet
I'm fighting my fears now:
Fear was the one to cause it,
But I will answer how.
Aug 8, 2017
Aug 8, 2017 at 1:30 PM UTC
She is the sweetest
The loveliest
The warmest
The kindest
Person I'll ever know
Who never wavered
In the weirdest
In the craziest
In the wildest
Moods and rotten days
Who holds my hand
In the the darkest
In the scariest
In the toughest
Times I've ever faced.
She dives the deepest
She goes the furthest
She fights the fiercest
Holds out the longest
For her prince and princesses.
That's why she is
The angriest
And the maddest
And the saddest
When I keep settling
For less than best.
She cheers me on
With a smile that is the brightest
With a love so selfless
With support so endless
That never changes
In every rise and every fall
When everything is hopeless
Her faith is the biggest
Still so fearless
Points to the Greatest
Who is the Reason for it all
She cries the hardest
She hurts the deepest
She's the most imperfect
The most human person I know
Still I'm using all the superlatives
Because she deserves the best
She's my mom
And I love her so.
After all the years of service
Your mom deserves a rest
It's her turn to be the princess
And remind her that she's
The sweetest
The kindest
The loveliest
The warmest
The noblest
And that in all these years so tireless
Countless lives were touched and blessed.
Aug 17, 2015
Aug 17, 2015 at 3:54 PM UTC
Fountain of youth runs in his veins,
The man who lives in Sycamore Keep.
His circadian clock had come to a halt,
Rather than rejoice, he sullenly weeps.
You would think that immortality is
The pinnacle of human existence,
All the time in the world and not a
Single malady to be of any resistance.
Yet there he sulks, the ageless man,
Cauterized by the turn of each century,
As loved ones breathe their last and
Become a parcel of his fractured memory.
But that is just the shell of his woes,
For even with all knowledge amassed,
He’s utterly aghast with the state of the
World unwilling to learn from the past.
Every crook and cranny explored,
Every experience well savored,
Now monotony for millennia to come,
His longing to live has ebbed and wavered.
I was told by the man of Sycamore Keep
That immortality is a curse so alluring.
Indeed, a hundred cultivated years is
Much better than hollow eons securing.
But sir, think of all the riches you’ve accrued
And mastery of all science and philosophies.
Who wouldn’t want to have the time to mark
The world and purge it from all its atrocities.
Say no more, interrupted the ageless man,
I applaud your idealism and optimistic delusion,
But you’re missing one essential element --
Even as immortals, we’d still be only human.
And to be human, is to be fallible. Let’s just say
That immortal fallibility will engender no good.
It'd be best to truncate our lifespan for the
Sake of our survival, yes truncate we should.
And that’s all I heard from the man of Sycamore Keep,
Who went on his way to his millennial weep.
Mar 20, 2016
Mar 20, 2016 at 9:40 AM UTC
Elise
and
Romeo
got on the bus.
Elise carried a cake
with a thousand red
ribbons
dripping like
loose ***** lips,
or so they appeared to Romeo.
Romeo came on with
a hard-on
on his face,
or so it appeared to Elise.
"I don't want
any other man
over at my
house,
I don't care if he's your cousin,
you hear me?"
Elise let out a silver snarl.
"I'm not playing with you
woman."
Elise's whispers
wavered between razor-thin roses
and soft spikes.
"I love you
Romy,
but you're on some
other,
I ain't seen a man
in a while,"
The roses that break the skin,
the spikes
that blunt the pain.
"Oh that's how it is?"
"It has to be."
Elise
carried the cake off.
Romeo
got stuck with the cart
full of groceries,
and three wheels missing,
just dragging
the thing.
Elise strutted like fat *******
strut.
Romeo called after her
about other men,
other men,
other men
that had been in his house
without him knowing,
he hated and loved her,
dragging all the sustenance
in the world
behind him.
Elise loved him too,
loved him
even when she was with
other men,
and that's the thing
he couldn't figure
out.
Love is a hard thing
to deal with
for anybody.
Mar 20, 2012
Mar 20, 2012 at 9:52 PM UTC
*A trembling heart,
may also cause a calm heart,
staggered.
That's what I'm trying to avoid.
No.
Not because I don't care.
But I'm afraid,
I might wavered.
It makes me difficult,
to let go.*
Jan 20, 2015
Jan 20, 2015 at 9:09 PM UTC