Really

REALLY I ------JGL-------------- do solemnly swear to tell you of all that I see and I hear, invite you inside that dark space in my mind allow you ten minutes to see what you find. The errors of learning, childhood mistakes, the stumbles, the falls, the failed “buckboard brakes”. The cold teaching penguins, the hollowed out priests the making of bread with - and without – yeast. Fumbling of footballs and endless first dates running for freedom through open church gates, searching for meaning in life – or in death discovering reasons – rekindling breath. Disrobing a man - standing naked – and free discarding the concepts that kept me – from me, confronting the demons, denying the brutes by feeding the bastards their own lying truths. Standing atop bold towers of steel alive in a breeze that makes everything real, holding a love that awakened my passions cradled inside a life that she fashioned. Holding small hands, jellied and sweet dancing with them perched atop my big feet, Frisbee and soccer played in cold rains, drying their tears in failure and gains. Losing a step, no – the grandkids are quicker or maybe my gut is a little bit thicker, holding one hand as one left for battle remembering both when they held baby rattle. Embracing a soldier, a mother, my baby filled with the questions of “if, when, and maybe” Watching a brother and sister rejoice at announcement that soon there will be a new voice to carry the heart, the soul, and the wit of a name, and a family, and what goes with it. John G. Lawless 9/3/2014 For Skat A Keep It Real poetry contest