She left town in the early morning
Of a cold midwinter day
Carrying an old, used suitcase
And wearing her small sapphire ring
And a thin gold chain with a crown pendant.
Surely, she thought this town cannot be my destiny,
Not a town filled with greed, manipulation and lies.
Somewhere there must still be places
Filled with comfort and joy
Like in the places where I used to live.
Somewhere.
SOMEWHERE IN THE DISTANCE
Somewhere in the distance, way out where
You are there, forever wondering and wondering
Somewhere in the vast distance, critters wander
And your hopes are reoccurring dreams which
Persistently keep coming to you
You’ll eventually find the one for whom you seek
So, despite your wonderment don’t give up so easy,
But let go of your worries and discouragement
I watch the birds glide way up in the sky
And think what freedom to never be limited
To any one place
Someday we’ll throw coins in a fountain,
And meet our special some ones but until then,
Life need not be in despair
I remember
Puddles
Skippin' along the curb, puddle ahead
Shallow or deep, maybe probe with a stick
After a torrential rain
Sticks leaves & assorted debris
Blocking the city storm-drain
From sending water to the nearby Mississippi like most Minneapolis
Effluent systems, why we were told
By our elders never to fish from
The riverbank below the cities!
The city never cleaned up the gutter
After Jimmy B's head was crushed under
His dad's rear truck tire
Walked past the red-splattered curb
For weeks on the way to school
Walked down the opposite side every day
Nobody talked about the accident
Jimmy & his elaborate basement
Train metropolis were neighborhood
Legends, even written about in
Local fish-wraps in the early 60's
Ponder on it now, some 60+
Years later
Have to go look if the house
Address iron-numbers, embedded
Half-way in the giant Elm on Jimmy's
Boulevard have remained disappeared
Don't know why I want to go look
They were swallowed by the tree
Last time I checked 30years ago
I guess time
Swallows
Everything
Somewhere at the early dawn
Sparrows chirping on the lawn
And I’m lying in my bed
Halfway through the dream I had
Curtains flutter in the breeze
So are leaves of the elm trees
Scattered clouds of dirty white
Run too fast to stop the sight
Come tomorrow or today
Take me back, and by the way
Tell me what the reason for
You’re not coming anymore..
still chasing what doesn’t feel real
something’s in me nobody can heal
trying to hold what isn’t mine
i’ll grow up somewhere, sometime
getting sick of messing around
maybe one day it’ll be found
they say it makes you lose your mind
i’ll meet love somewhere, sometime
i’m coming down, i’m losing steam
breathing in can be so mean
nothing to hear but my very own cry
i’ll break up somewhere, sometime
hate doing anything that i’ve been told
these blue days are getting old
shot down for a petty crime
i’ll bite the dust somewhere, sometime
Your imagination is your ship
to mermaids and eagles
I saw infinite space
in-between the suggestions
of ‘Wonderland’
This short column
I call a poem
Your head is resting
by another column
of books
to keep you company
Alice, all the irascible characters
are scattered about you
Nothing to learn from them
but to be nothing like them
Go outside
There are real adventures there
You won’t be offered tea
by the mad hatter
You will get
something better
reading Lewis Carroll
it is five o’clock somewhere said the blue parrot staring at me
I had accidentally looked up on my way to the Indian Sea
Pardon, I said, asking him if he was talking to me or whoever
I’m not talking to the rain, the clouds or this horrible weather.
He was a snippy one, this parrot with feathers of blue
Slurring his words a bit, I noted, and staring me through.
Come up here and have some rum if you’re not chicken said the bird.
I climbed the tree and had a drink, which may have been a bit absurd.
Across distant cities I wander and roam
Dreaming of you and longing for home
Each night without you I hear it in a song's refrain
And as the band plays the ballad I think of you again
Wherever I go to your love I'm devoted
Baby to you it's my heart I have quoted
Through distant cities my heart travels alone
So I reach out through the telephone
Your love’s always near and dear to me
Reaching far across land and sea
Soon I'll return to your irresistible touch
Because where you begin is where I find love
There is no cure
For what’s festering inside of me
The beast i know so well
Crawled into bed with me, and i let it happen.
I sewed my own mouth shut
And resorted to mutilating my own thoughts
They come back in the most inconvenient moments
When i brush my teeth or toss in restless sleep.
Isn’t it embarrassing?
I’m not six anymore
That version of me never existed before, and never will exist again.
Hey black friend, why hate on your brother
He is your brother not an enemy
When you all strife for a befitting life
How then is it a sin for another to strife
Kojo was a sweet soul with ambition
That would break a brick to hustle aright
Struggled to keep his sister’s dream alive
He milked his hustle so much that it blossomed
But upon his rise, came a blightful malice
From colleagues, all to deprive is worth
And seize his reward
Somewhere in Kumasi
A beautiful dream lost its spark
Kojo,his mother’s lover
Called in joy to say mama I will be home with bounty harvest
But there in Kumasi
Gruesome clan of debtors ganged up to dim his light
Poised to withhold his harvest
Somewhere in Kumasi,Kojo breathed his last
Right in the hands of his oppressors
The joy of motherhood, stripped in day light
Somewhere in Kumasi
Hate defeated humanity
As Kojo’s grieving mother, still awaits her son’s return.
In between somewhere I lost -
Myself while trying to fulfill the vacuum-
Caused during chaos of my loved ones-
Or so my innocent soul thought they were .
In between somewhere I felt-
Need of a shoulder to lean on and to-
Share my feelings for which I tried hard to fit in-
Others world and hoped they would see me.
In between somewhere I just-
Realised that the best company for one is-
Themselves and there is no need for trying-
To fit in someone else’s world where we have our own.
At some time somewhere where we've been
Our presence is left there, unknown, known
In so so many ways we've left our stay
Unknown, beknown, we've left our say
Being that writer, your thoughts, said
Be it poetry, scribed, blessed and read
Even when we were young, so cumbersome
Skin scraping walls part of growing up fun
Playing sports of sorts, losing and winning
As our characters grow, learning beginnings
From classroom capers to graduating University
Throwing our growing into accepting diversity
At some time, somewhere where we've been
Our presence is left there, seeing sincerity seen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January wears a coat of salted sidewalks,
breathes in slow, deliberate clouds.
The sun—a pale coin dropped through frozen fingers~
counts its hours like spare change.
Bare trees scratch their questions
into the indifferent sky.
Somewhere beneath the snow,
the earth dreams in green.
You were in my dream
A passerby in slow motion
And just like real life
You were here for a second
And then you were gone
You left an empty ache in my chest
That slowly faded out
Along with your beautiful silhouette
From the back of my mind
And I know you’ll return
I just don’t know when
But I’ll keep reaching out for you
Waving my hand through the darkness
Hoping you’ll hold it
One more time
Somewhere in the dead of night
when you seem so very far,
I’ll look up and see your name
written in the stars.
Somewhere in the dead of night
when you had gone too soon,
I’ll look up and see your face
reflected in the moon.
Somewhere in the dead of night
when everyone’s asleep,
I’ll look up and search for you
although we cannot speak.
Somewhere in the dead of night
when nocturnal creatures prowl,
I hear an owl screech, the crackle of a witch
and a lone wolf, howl.
Somewhere in the dead of night
as my powers grow,
I’ll ask the wind to tell me things
that only you could know.
Somewhere on a starry night
when life had just begun,
The big bang split us apart,
and I began my journey round the sun.
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