Rowena Velasco Poet Free verse

Fragmented Light

2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 22
Contest Judged:  10/22/2025 8:59:00 AM
Sponsored by: Mark Toney 
( 1st Place )

Written: October 16, 2025


I gather the pieces of myself
glass scattered at twilight,
each shard reflecting a version of you,
I never got to keep.

You move through me
as second nature,
love only a mirror
of your own desire.

I bleed silently…
my veins a quiet maps of memories,
my heart a church with broken pews,
its pews empty, save for echoes
of hymns we never sang.

If love is communion:
I am the wafer-
torn, chewed,
passed along,
never whole again.

The wind drags your absence
through the hollows of my ribs
and yet I stretch,
toward the warmth of a hand that stays,
toward a voice
gentle enough to hold me whole,
not one that tears
or leaves me scattered on cold stone.

I walk alongside the pieces of myself,
letting the light find their edges,
to see within the fractures
a quiet strength returning shape.

If someone looks my way…
these scattered shards will gleam,
exposing the self,
reborn from what lingers.

And if I fall again,
I will rise—
step by jagged step,
piece by fragile piece,
until the horizon is mine to claim,
until my heart learns to be a home
again,
a cathedral of light.

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Kim Rodrigues November 1, 2025 at 2:25 PM Well done! Congrats!

I Am Anaya October 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM Rowena, love your vivid imagination & pristine use of light & incomparable spirit of invincibility ! Congratulations on a well deserved win~ October blessings

Susan Ashley October 25, 2025 at 10:50 AM Dear Rowena, congratulations for your trophy win in Mark's contest with your exceptional emotive poem. What doesn't break us makes us stronger. What a coincidence, in my poem posted a year ago, The Calling Gull Of Aquinnah, my last line is "My pulse a psalm as I emerge; a cathedral lit by sunrise". I guess poetic minds think alike :) Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

John Loving Iii October 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM A broken relationship maybe That made your body a temple. Yes that's it. Rowena Velasco October 23, 2025 at 6:18 AM Sometimes pain becomes the place where faith and strength are rebuilt!(-:

Mark Toney October 22, 2025 at 9:28 AM Rowena, love your vivid imagery of broken glass, reflection, and light. “ If someone looks my way… these scattered shards will gleam, exposing the self, reborn from what lingers.” Congratulations on your first place win on Mile 22 of my 2025 Poetry Marathon Contest. Keep your running shoes on, because Mile 23 has already started. Only 4 more miles to go before the Qualifiers’ Final Placement contest! Rowena Velasco October 23, 2025 at 6:17 AM Thank you so much! I’m truly grateful for the win and your kind words. The poem came from a place of healing and hope. Excited to keep running toward Mile 23!