I walk the beach alone
I draw the contour of your face
~ it simply gets washed away
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 1st place 2025
Everything changes; life rearranges
The way that, for years, things would be.
We go with the flow, for what we used to know
Is no longer the world we can see.
It isn’t just age, for when people engage
With each other, the way that they act
Seems more crude and imbued with a mean attitude
That is lacking in manners and tact.
Such negative views, like I read in the news,
Filters down from the leader in charge
And the toadies, like sheep, scared of making a peep,
Think their boot-licking helps them loom large.
While we wait and debate, all this free-floating hate
Forms a coating that makes us all numb.
Though I won’t be around, maybe hope will abound
In the years and elections to come.
I no longer praise it, no I don’t,
I no longer call it, the Nation’s pride,
Nor do I raise it anymore, it lost value.
No, it doesn’t hold its meaning anymore.
Unity became just a word, in political rhetoric,
The thread of ubuntu isn’t strong enough to-
Hold together the colors, my flag needs sewing,
Gold, green, blue, black and white no longer wave.
The rainbow isn’t a rainbow in the absence of one color,
Bishop, for now I fold and put away your dream,
No, I will not burn it, for I still believe in the dream,
The rainbow nation is a phoenix t’will rise again and wave the colors.
Perhaps one day, the flag will mend,
And the thread of unity will unite the flag
The colors will wave, vibrant and bright,
Just like Bishop D. Tutu envisioned it.
Until then, I will hold on to the hope,
That ubuntu spirit will kick the coffin open,
The rainbow’s promise will be fulfilled,
Then that will be when I wave the flag again.
They said,
"just live."
But they never spoke of the ache
that lingers in the marrow—
of the fog that swallows names,
moments,
whole years.
I keep hoping the blurs
will soften into memory,
and the sharp things
will forget how to cut.
Nothing is easy.
Nothing is hard.
It's all just
weight,
wind,
waiting.
And I—
I just want to be
something
whole.
We talk in circles,
mourning versions of ourselves
who never made it out,
pulling sorrow like saltwater
from old wounds.
It’s exhausting.
This becoming.
Some days
I feel like a fish
on the tile floor—
eyes wide,
mouth open,
begging the air
to become water again.
Flat lines whisper
through my pulse.
The sky bruises
into dusk.
Still, I wait
for night to come
so I can wear dreams
like borrowed skin.
In those dreams,
I remember
how it felt to breathe
without trembling.
To laugh
without lying.
To be
without breaking.
And in the dark,
I look for the shadow
of the one I used to be—
hoping she might
still answer
when I call her name.
I have said so many prayers
that sometimes I feel they are no longer mine.
That I inherited them
like clothes too large.
I say them, but do not understand.
I utter them, but do not believe.
And yet, I cling to them
like the hand of a father who never held me.
Perhaps belief is not needed.
It is enough to keep hoping.
Even lost prayers
find their way to Heaven.
He is no longer in love with me.
His spoken words flesh caught like dull razors.
Churning pains toss me in raw seeped reelings.
I feel feather fragile as weighty aches
conflict and trip me upon foreign ground.
Heavy, my eyes are merely tear-weak slits.
God, in prayer I do ask, with mercy come
and ease my wrecked self with gift feels of numb.
My auntie, who was on vacation
Was lusting for fast fornication
She met a well-hung guy
But her foo-foo’s too dry
She blurted, “It needs lubrication!”
The fella, whose first name was Dick
Said, “Stay put. I’ll be back real quick
I’ll purchase sticky Jell-O
‘Twill turn your foof bright yellow
But ensures my entry is slick!"
The Jell-O lube worked really well
Dick satisfied my Auntie Mel
Next time she needs some lube
She’ll melt a Jell-O cube
Aunt’s shagged out. I think you can tell!
two dancing silhouettes,
lurking in the shadows
fireflies spark like static in the air
a dream that bloomed
from a far-fetched delusion,
a love that demands lifelong care.
i trip on the train of her white-laced dress,
hoping some man might catch my fall.
how typical of me, to make a mess,
then run away
before time can take it all.
i envy the love i always crave.
i wish it was me
but the brick wall in my mind
won’t let me stay.
wine glasses, once sweet with cake and cheer,
lie shattered on the floor.
a dream dissolved
by the one thing I feared
so they all slammed the door.
it’s clear i’m scared of a lifelong vow
my trust is frayed,
and my heart’s not in it now.
so why do i still long for what i push away?
there’s no more icing on the cake.
i dropped the bouquet.
I
forget—
like how leaves forget their tree
once autumn called them free.
Moments slip and leave
an unsettling void
for dreams to flourish.
Uninvited, wearing
the mask of memory.
A fiction sung in earnest,
stitched in gray hours—
where dreams blend into truth.
A hushed whisper:
“Beauty is truth,”—but
I wouldn’t know
if the echoes I call "mine"
ever rang—
I am built
of broken facts,
soft edits,
and pills that patch up
what my mind kindly discards—
So I wonder, if beauty is truth—
am I still beautiful
when the scars I wear were never real.
I no longer walk barefoot through this garden of forgotten time,
where the grass, once the silk of summer, now scratches my soles with memories,
here, in this enchanted soil, bloomed a flower that stole my soul,
an earthbound spell transformed into petals that sang to the touch.
Perhaps someone, a faceless traveler, came and stole it away,
leaving only the echo of their footsteps in the corners of my silent garden,
and I, left as a guardian of the waters, hold in my hands springs of longing,
that were meant to nourish its life, to lift its song to the sky.
Now, however, I no longer walk barefoot through this sanctuary of lost dreams,
the grass, once a caress of the wind, now cuts deep like the blade of a past,
and every corner of the garden bears the weight of an unspoken mystery,
a murmur left from times when the flowers were my confidants.
In this silence, I weave my thoughts with the threads of the grass,
seeking answers in the shadow of footsteps that vanished at dawn,
and I wonder if I will ever find that enchanted flower again,
or if I will remain just a keeper of water and bygone tales.
Realizing the pain of your heart deep inside,
Seeing through the subtle lies,
No longer speechless when intimidations rise,
Seeing the assumptions are their justifications to hide,
When the truth comes out, the pretend defend,
The accuser attacks the heart on the mend,
And so it tries to reverse the healing and just reignites and proves,
It's just more confirmation that God has shown them the truth,
And denying it won't change it, it just sweeps it under the rug,
And so then how can they mourn it and pray out of love,
He said in the end what is right would be wrong, and what is wrong would be right,
What is hidden in the dark room will come to light,
Seeing the deception, the avoidance of the truth,
Knowing that you must face these things in order to heal you,
I no longer need you to do all I had liked to do with you,
I no longer need you 'cause now I have a better point of view,
I no longer need you in ways I thought I needed you.
Forced to give up everything when you died
I was no longer welcome at home
Barely ate, not a penny set aside
Forced to give up everything when you died
Had to leave all my belongings behind
Nowhere to go, from motel to shelter I roamed
Forced to give up everything when you died
I was no longer welcome at home
This Dame no longer believes in luck
even my existence doesn’t make it real
I’m the spitting image of prosperity
still she doesn’t believe.. not at all
sitting here wishing for another time
another day another melancholy face
what turned your brandy bitter
what turned all those dreams sober
eyes that would always roll the dice
that inner light has become so dim
an ace card thrown one too many times
whenever you recite a hard luck rhyme
but you gotta feel it in your bones
As Sinatra said ‘Luck be a lady tonight.’
the crumbling stardust
caged nightingale does not sing -
tomorrow's tombstones
Related Poems