I know the bars.
I know the ceiling.
I know the walls stitched from rules I did not write.
Still—
I reach.
Still—
I dig nails into stone,
not because I believe it will yield,
but because if I stop,
the cage will have claimed me completely.
I am chained but not surrendered.
Broken, but not bowed.
There is no winning here.
There is only choosing:
to push anyway.
to burn anyway.
In that raw and ragged insistence to reach
I remain free.
Secure is my heart
As I travel in the dark
I am well aware of the darkness that's despairs
I am not afraid
For the light within my chest shines
Shines through my soul out my eyes
And I know in my mind I am blessed
I perish the thought
of being just a witness I go on and I trust
As I am insistent
11/21/21
Written by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
Desperate Wish
Dreaming of clouds watching frigid rain enfold arid ground
Disjointed thoughts embraced soothing translucent fingers
Lightning unveils upheaval within brewing without a sound
Eyes search for meaning demanding answers that matters
My mind bathes in a quagmire of a premeditated reminder
I was not the hero I pondered I might have been eons ago
The more the heart races toward that impregnable frontier
The lesser the value of such a desperate wish to not forego
Edited: 10/31/2021
Penned on:
10/20/2021
5:40 p.m.
Lake Worth, Florida
USA
The key to success
Ability
Patience
Endurance
Insistence
consistence
And actions
All, but not any exceptions
In the present tense
In the continuous tense
And in the future tense
I waited about six minutes but the person who was
going to show me did not come back fast enough
so I did it myself.
impatience is my first, middle and last name,
and often points out my laziness and swiftness
to depend on someone else to read the instructions.
I know better.
I do better.
I am better than that.
The Route Of Frozen Insistence
My life's path always leads me onto frozen lakes
Stepping with cat paws checking for weak spots in the ice
looking for crevices listening for crackles
Fearing the next step I take may end in a frigid plunge
I asked fate why my destiny can't be a route on solid ground.
Now after all these years I've discovered the reason
On many an occasion it attempted to tell me.
I had the Damn map upside down.
Guilt’s Insistence
by Odin Roark
One’s perception
Often lingers amidst stench and flames
Where personal battles fought
Leave only wounds unhealed
Unsettling dust
And billowing spirits
Weave through porous walls
Embedded with crustaceous regret
Such battered pasts
Remain painful
Awaiting our will to cast aside
Our self-imposed eclipse
And often…
Duration too can tire
Rendering time’s horizon
To drift from consciousness
Becoming but faded memory
Leaving one shackled
With guilt’s insistence
Toy in the shape,
of a figurine,
Boy saw it,
and began to whine,
he had seen possibilities,
of frolic and fun,
he began insistence,
full throttle and gun,
he had an agenda,
different from parents,
knowing that,
he deepened his laments,
scared now for sure,
both became full aware,
that they had to quieten the guy,
so they simply bought the toy ware.