~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Midnight shakes frost
from his whiskers~
Chester the squirrel
slips into the chimney,
claws click on brick,
tail a question mark
in the soot.
Inside his sack:
acorns wrapped in tinfoil,
stolen sprigs of holly,
a walnut cracked open
to show its golden heart.
He leaves them
in boots,
on windowsills,
behind the dog’s water bowl
(just to watch him sniff).
Dawn finds Chester
back in his oak,
giddy
with sugarplum
theft,
dreaming of next year~
Maybe I’ll learn to drive a sleigh.
On the Warner set the Road Runner
had a bit of a tiff with Yul Brynner
They wrestled for the Golden Globe
threatening to send the loser aboard a space probe
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Road Runner
When speeding, he was a blur
Wile E. Coyote used many Acme devices to catch him
But the outcome for the Coyote was always grim
Running from the past,
Hoping you wont last ,
making me believe and lost,
holding this arms and my cross.
feeling so special,
killing all this vibes,
making it alright,
rising into this night.
sitting alone on these side,
kneeling before the high,
dealing with my troubled mind ,
with no arms on my side.
sleeping under this dusk,
Seeking those we ran from,
burying thoughts deep under ,
water running through this thunder.
shaking this wonder,
nurturing this runner,
running from this past,
hoping this present wont last.?
-d?
the road runner raced within the lucid dream
looking for something to satisfy its heart
goalposts shifted in the desire stream
shapeshifting fears did not depart
as time flowed on body aged
the exhausted soul chose to be still
recognising it had been by ego upstaged
invoking grace it surrendered to God its will
She runs like a horse, galloping in the night
She runs from relationships, quickly out of sight
She decides in her mind and away she goes
Running from what feels like a depth of throes
She runs before the loud gavel falls
that will bring her deep pain, breaking her walls
She runs to save herself and not burden another
She runs from actions with potential to smother
She knows it will still hurt, losing what has grown
A flowering companionship, loving affection shown
A runner, a fix, thinking she's protected by her armor
Someday she will learn, he was more than a charmer
Heidi Sands
5/1/25
(C)opyright
Placed 3rd
He runs, not to win,
But to escape the silence that haunts him,
A hum that's too loud
On the path that no one knows about.
He runs and goes
Without a globe.
People he left, they all mourn.
Yet still he goes through breaking dawn,
Running from the shadows that dwelled his lawn.
The line of time that cut his throat,
The same ones whom he loved the most.
What he thought was the candle of birth
Was a flame to burn his hut,
A promise wrapped in silent lies,
A dawn that dimmed in vacant skies.
He runs and runs
To the morning’s face,
A light that felt like grace.
He fixed his path,
A path unknown.
He runs through that path
To unveil the throne,
A throne that he once met,
A throne that loved him, but he never cared.
That path gets filled with echoes,
Echoes from the throne.
It calls him,
It summons him—
And though he's scared, he runs towards it,
Through smoke and ashes,
Through endless nights.
His eyes are fixed,
And so he runs with all his might.
“When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.”
- Quote by Will Rogers
----------------------------------------------------
Ever since a kid
I have learnt to run
Sensitive to what others say, feel, decide
When the say is crude rude hurting
When others feel I can be pushed over
When others decide how I should be
I run
Ever since a kid, I have learnt to run.
Sensitive to patterns on harm, hate, jealousy
When the harm is on sensible senses
When hatred is hissing between teeth
When jealousy manipulates paths
I run
Ever since a kid, I have learnt to run.
Joy touches heart, sorrow heats up soul
It takes courage to run away
Than to stay put sometimes.
They don’t even know I am long gone
Being with them all the time
I run
I keep refreshing the page,
a priest lighting candles,
holding my breath like the next
flick of wrist might mean something.
Her name is gone from my inbox,
but I still comb the comment fields,
archive tags, shaky alt accounts
we never talked about.
It’s stupid, this new religion:
hitting reload, rereading typos,
tugging old scabs just to feel the sting.
I can’t believe I keep doing this.
I swore I wouldn’t chase her.
Though I think she'd like that,
I meant it
the way a knife means
to stay in its drawer.
It was the right choice.
Somewhere she’s smiling, I think—
the kind of thin-lipped, smug faced
thing I always liked about her—
she wanted nothing more than someone
obsessed with her character.
So here I am running my hands
across the screen—
searching pixel-by-pixel in the static
for a shape that used to know me.
The V12 purred as the fireboat ran
easy outpaced the coastguard man
this time;
last time, bullets blazed
so what;
the price was raised
waiting on the rum line for a good tide
duty-free; it goes stateside.
They can’t catch us
we’re fast and sleek
who’s gonna bother at
30 bucks a week?
seven hundred k I made this year
1920, and running is the gear!
On path of life, Me the runner.
In heat or cold, in rain or sun
' Sporty Persona ' is my banner.
Holding Moral Values, I run.
Honouring Honesty to proceed.
On path of life, Me the runner.
Truth, love and compassion to guide.
Not bothered, loser or winner.
In failure I'm not mourner
Spirited in rue or rapture.
On path of life, Me the runner.
With devotion, goal to capture.
I must overcome every strife.
I will succeed late or sooner.
Confronting each challenge of life.
On path of life, me the runner.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return" ~ from the song Nature Boy, written by George McGrew, aka eden ahbez, and recorded by Nat King Cole and others
A child born, unloved, in the winter cold
might like a river, from affection, run;
but like brittle bones when they get old,
when colder still, might freeze, shrink from the sun.
Afraid that warmth might make him break and crack,
this sad, and lonely fragile entity,
may view love as a frightening attack,
and a threat to his timid identity.
To quote, "the greatest thing you'll ever learn
is just to love and be loved in return".
With each lunge, a shiver of fright,
Labored breaths as I drift through the night.
Uncertain paths, blood that boils,
No savior in sight, love's endless toils.
Runner, keep running, nowhere is safe,
Deep in the forest, a shadowed place.
The past looms close, pain unshaken,
Flee from myself, I am forsaken.
Isolation whispers, calling my name,
Deep down, I'm still afraid of the same.
Afraid to love, afraid to surrender,
Troubled to be, and troubled to render.
Flashbacks silent, sights seen by none,
Where shall I find a safe place to run?
10/20/2023
Those tanned, shapely legs of mine,
where have you gone?
No longer have I the ability to run!
Nor feel the glorious, salt water spray,
from my beloved, San Francisco Bay!
That kissed my sweating, dawn face.
Those foggy morns, the busy hands of
time have erased.
Some other body now, in its place?
This ghost of a runner,soulfully does state.
Who took away my youth in a dream?
If so, nobody heard a scream from me,
For now…left with joyful memories.
I am sitting here, composing soulful poetry.
Is this really how my life ends?
Stationary, on an internet device?
Prefer to be the woman on the run.
Than enduring ….no earthly fun,
Return me, please, to the “Bay to Breakers Run!”
little girl of about nine is running alone in the marathon
two or three older women decide to keep keen watch
protecting her as best they can without scaring her
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