Best Spines Poems
I'm beginning to learn that sometimes
The strongest things in life are quiet...
My boyfriend is both-
He has a spine like an oak tree;
He knows how to sway with the wind,
Yet never lets himself be bent nor broken-
He always knows which way is up.
I, on the other hand, have a spine
That tends to bend- more like a
Young sapling under pressure than
anything Else; sometimes I just
Don't know which way is up-
When the hurricane gales come,
Relentless as the Jews marching
To make fall the walls of Jericho;-
When the rain pounds like feet;-
When the full weight of the wind
Presses down on my back like
It's curious to see how much
Pressure it'll take before
My vertebre disalign and I
Splinter apart in a shriek of
Cracking wood like the wall that
Finally came down...
I don't know how to figure out
Which direction is up anymore...
Sometimes, I am nothing more
Than a seedling still learning
How to find sunlight, or
At least something that shines
Bright enough to feel like hope-
My spine is nothing more than
A thin tendril of green trying
To learn what upright means...
On these days, my boyfriend is the
Pillar that shields me from the wind;
He doesn't ask what happened,
Just holds me close-
His hands are scarred like branches
That have seen too many storms,
But they are gentle enough
To feel like home; warm enough
To feel like sun-warmed earth,
So in his hands I am comfortable
Enough to be a seedling still
Learning which direction is up...
He teaches me that if I reach for God,
I will always know how to grow straight...
I'll know which way to reach because
It'll feel like reaching for warmth.
Leaving your family at home,
Having no sleep…. you roam!
Know your speed and signs;
Invaluable are people’s spines!
Be attentive at turns and stops;
Avoid needless entry of cops!
Crooked Spines
By Kevin Robey
November 23, 2013
Useless waste of space
These tainted dreams of mine
Burning in this place
These crooked spines of mine
I used my sleeve for make believe
Wore it proud to show you how
Deceive your mind so you can see
These broken dreams I’m breathing now
Believe me please I’m so strung out
Replay these words when I am gone
I want to shout and end this drought
Famine of smiles, this is the dawn
Sweet release don’t fail me now
Take me from this blinding rain
Give me resolve only faith allows
To hold the reigns of runaway trains
Can’t bow down to the blinding force
Of my demise on this lonely trail
Where self-defeat’s the ending source
Of misplaced love sown in my sails
Dead end roads are found here every day
My troubled mind; a study of extremes
Fake a laugh when the skies are grey
I’ll close my eyes, and dream another dream
Pages turn thin, thin as the plot thickens
Thinning knowledge as ignorance quickens
Spines crack from hunger, hunger for minds
Cracking under pressure of different kinds
Books starve for attention, attention spans wane
Starving for readers in this digital rain
Covers collect dust, the dust of neglect
Collecting cobwebs, respect they collect
Words go stale, stale on forgotten shelves
Staling wisdom as society delves
Into shallow feeds, feeding on quick bites
Feeding frenzy of memes and soundbites
Chapters close, close before they open
Closing doors to worlds unspoken
Stories wither, wither on the vine
Withering away, leaving no sign
Libraries fast, fast from funding feast
Fasting resources as budgets decrease
Volumes shrink, shrink from public view
Shrinking access to both old and new
Bindings loosen, loosen their hold
Loosening grip on tales untold
Leaves fall, fall from tomes of yore
Falling silent, voices we ignore
Ink fades, fades like memories lost
Fading faster at literacy's cost
Margins narrow, narrow like our scope
Narrowing pathways of reason and hope
Bookmarks slip, slip from neglected pages
Slipping away, the wisdom of ages
Fonts grow small, small in our esteem
Smaller still as we lose the dream
Endings hunger, hunger for new readers
Hungering for minds to be thought leaders
Bibliophiles crave, crave the written word
Craving stories waiting to be heard
So let's feed these books, feed them our time
Feeding our souls with rhythm and rhyme
For books may go hungry, hungry for touch
But starved of books, we lose so much
Digest these words, words ripe with meaning
Digesting slowly, our minds reconvening
With pages that yearn, yearn to impart
Yearning to nourish both mind and heart
Let's feast on books, feast like they're our last
Feasting on futures, presents, and pasts
For in this banquet of bound delights
We satiate our appetite for heights
So don't let books starve, starve in the dark
Starving for chances to leave their mark
Feed your mind, mind the feeding call
Minding that books nourish us all
Blood of gems
crosses the tides
a fractured tremor
of a weary river
fog of marrow
diluted by tremors
spines chained
to the edges of a coral
sinking deep
stones upon a shore
that quivers
and the body hears
only
a wave
mute
that carves.