The school bell is ringing but nobody moves yet
Trapped in the hallway between classes and years
My childhood is packed up inside my locker
While high school is waiting past the heavy doors
We split up the cafeteria tables like borders
Choosing our sides by the clothes that we wear
I stand in the middle with my lunch tray shaking
Halfway between who I was and who I will be
My old best friend passes and looks through my shoulder
Like I am a ghost from a grade she forgot
How fast does a memory turn into a stranger
Leaving you lonely in an overcrowded room?
If we spent our whole lives just cutting things smaller
To figure out where we belong in the math
What is left of the person we started out being
And who pays the price for the pieces we lost?
.
my first girlfriend'z name
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th reason we split up
1st reason
i tell'yuh
can
yet I won't
']>
In a parallel universe everything might be different.
I wonder what would happen if I wasn't the oldest sibling.
Or maybe if my parents didn't split up.
Would my life be completely different if I grew up in another state?
Or maybe, if I would've just asked you out and didn't wait?
In another world, did you say yes? And if so, how long did we last?
I'd like to know, because if it wasn't long then maybe I can stop dwelling on the past.
But without knowing, I can't.
I still think of you everyday, and I text you all the time.
I think of the shimmer in your eyes or how the way that you laugh is like a melody to my ears.
Would you notice those things about me in another world?
Do you in this one?
I keep wondering, but all I'm left with are unanswered questions.
I'm stuck wondering if you would ever say yes to someone like me.
Is that a possibility even in a parallel universe?
Am I as annoying and loud as I think I am in every possible place?
I can't help but wonder, only thoughts of you fill my head space.
I've been up all night, stuck on the thought of you.
Would we ever work out anyway?
Even in a parallel universe?
MULTIVERSE ME*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What if I've lived the exact present I’m living now before,
doesn't it make sense to think of it as though...
there is another part of me in another universe,
going through the same thing?
Should I believe in the multiverse theory,
for I cannot prove that we are not alone.
Should I believe there is a reason why
just because I feel the skies talking to me every night?
Should I believe someone's message is reaching me
through the beams of the moon every night?
My skin soaks in the possibility
like a flower blooming, drawn to the light.
Do you ever think of a time difference
between one universe and the other?
What if I am born here on Earth and after I die,
my soul travels to another universe
and relives the same story?
What if...
I am a piece of my own soul
which is split up and placed
in different universes?
Is this the stuff of science fiction,
or is it non-fictional, a reality waiting to be explored?
*this poem (originally titled "Alterverses") was published in Sci-Fi Stir Fry Anthology, William Mays editor/publisher July 2025.
At the end of the meal we shared,
my participle principles split my jeans,
when you called me to split the bill!
What about the banana-split you had for dessert?
You split-up spilled friend?
Or the soggy split pea soup you
asked me to boldly forgo,
for the aperitif?
The tiff began and ended
with the present and past-principles
of split personalities,
listening to their inner voices
with split-end infinitives.
A little sunbeam and a raindrop
came together one day
and developed some feelings
that would not wash away.
They danced through the Heavens
and hid behind clouds
for the feelings they had
would not be allowed.
Discovery came faster
then they wanted it to
and forces behind them
disrupted the two.
The sun and the raincloud
met and agreed .
They must split up,
this never could be.
The sunbeam and raindrop
both disagreed
and snuck back together
when both were set free.
But, all was forgiven
by the sun and the cloud,
when they saw the beauty
of what both had endowed.
The sunbeam and raindrop
could now join as one
and their love of each other
showed everyone.
Whenever it's rainy
and the sun peaks through.
The power of their love
is plainly in view.
A beautiful rainbow
appears in the sky,
with glorious colors
that catch everyone's eye.
Because of a Love
that could not be denied
a radiant rainbow
embraces the sky!
What kind of jaded, jackass jerk'll
ask smugly with a smile and smirkle,
diagonals to think upon,
and an inscribed polygon,
while gazing on a split-up circle.
Our grandkids have something
Our kids never had –
Two grands on the side of
Both mother and dad.
Our son is their daddy.
We’re urban and vote
For the Democrats and
Of the arts we take note.
The others (that’s Grandma
And Pop-Pop) watch Fox.
Their life in the suburbs
Avoids city blocks.
Yet we all love the grandkids;
They see us and smile,
Despite how we watch them,
In unalike style.
With parents away, we have
Split up the week.
We’ve just passed the baton,
Our turn done, so to speak.
Our children are lucky,
(They don’t know how much)
With two fit sets of grands
To come through in the clutch.
The Beatles split up so subtly and suddenly,
They branded Yoko with the blame.
But it's still a mystery.
Outside the Dakota, Lennon was slain.
He would have said love is still the answer
but hate prevailed that day.
Decades later, the assassin is still in jail.
Mother Mary whispered to me
Let it be, let it be, let it be, but to no avail.
Edit on line 7
There he was – my first boyfriend ever -
leaning against the sports car of a friend who drove him
over to my town to see me before I left for college
even though we had broken up a few years back.
I had met him at church camp several years earlier -
John, with that cute elfin face,
legs like matchsticks that seemed half as wide as mine
and the sweet sensitive nature
of a kid who worried so much about his parents’ marriage
he’d already developed ulcers at age 14.
He was looking kind of cool, wearing silver tinted shades
that didn’t allow me to see his baby blues beneath them
as he leaned against that sweet ride, smiled and said so little.
I later learned his parents had split up,
but not one friend of his whom I asked
could tell me where John ended up.
I google him; I search on Facebook; still I can’t find him.
That unexpected visit – not so important then -
has become one more of the many ephemera
in the sum total of my long-traveled life.
Don't we miss the joy of holding each other?
We won't stare in anybody's pretty eyes
and say sweet things to mask our fear?
There are no promised rewards when one lies!
Don't we miss the joy to hold each other?
We miss the harmony that's gone, so is hope;
we dreamt of the most serene sky over us...
was there a fearful revelation hidden from us,
to prevent a sudden split-up to even cope?
Don't we miss the joy of holding each other?
Our urge is not desire, it's the ultimate task...
to embrace and fall for bigger pleasures;
the truest love is hard to build: it's a fortress
to be watched and be protected from attack!
Don't we miss the joy of holding each other?
Happiness never lasts, it's the shallowest delusion...
if trust is not seen as a moral thing for a solution;
anger broke us apart, leaving inside a deep scar...
we were charmed by a sweetness turned so sour!
Don't we miss the joy of holding each other?
Shouldn't love will be with us until we die
tenderly embraced or apart for a silly lie?
To be one soul and be truly inseparable,
trust in each other must be irrevocable!
Let no secrets or passions
interfere with your feelings,
with your prized happiness:
they are only passing winds!
Shouldn't love revolve around sincerity,
what happens if there's no total fidelity?
Affair is the only reason for breaking up,
never betray your darling and split up!
Defend what's sanctified and honorable,
no small betrayal is worth any trouble;
what was sworn before God is eternal:
faithfulness is sacred, lust is carnal!
Shouldn't love resist any temptation
and prove itself to be an unbreakable vow?
Words meant to deceive aren't too mellow:
don't fail and fall hard, avoid isolation!
When I go to school I want a double pink desk.
This is what his girl talked about, her name was Tess.
Jack wondered what double pink meant, but never knew.
Tess never explained, and disappeared in nineteen seventy-two.
The neighborhood searched, the whole city too.
Only thing recovered was possibly a red tennis shoe.
Jack and his wife split up, both blaming the missing on each other.
He moved in with his siblings, and his sad little mother.
What do you think she meant by double pink desk?
They discussed this statement, which was often made by Tess.
Jack fell in love with Marge on a fine spring day.
They got married, and moved far far away.
They have a daughter now, they call her Curly May.
She is unlike the other, but here is what she’ll say,
“When I go to school I want a double pink desk like my sis.”
Curious talk from this five-year-old miss.
Your Soul is the most beautiful thing
By Michelle Morris
29/02/2024
I see you standing there
The stars are a backdrop to your visage
Everything about you is magical
You're made in the Universe's image
Yes, you're made from starlight and stardust
Your Soul is the most beautiful thing
You are my Heart and Soul
You are my Everything
I remember when we were created
One Soul split up into two
To pursue each other through lifetimes
To become whole when we found our Truth
And now that we're together
We spin round and round with joy
Our Love and Light is profound
We're blessed beyond this World
How serendipitous for our Souls
How marvellous for the Universe
Each Soul that becomes whole again
Creates a magical firework burst
I see you standing there
Your Soul is connected with mine
Forever we will walk in Light
A Love to stand the test of Time
© Michelle Morris, 2024
She is a Merida in real life, he told his mother.
She had no idea what that was, so she watched Disney’s movie Brave.
The heroine had a few flaws, but she was spunky and fun-loving.
In the end she did the right thing, and she was super confident.
His mother did not know if she could open her house to a woman like that.
Did not think she had the self-confidence to sustain her as a daughter-in-law.
“I am your daughter now,” Merida told her the second she met her.
They became close, and the mother was charmed and excited.
Merida built her up as she had never been built before.
Her son and Merida split up, but Mom retained a relationship with this dynamo.
Loving Merida as a daughter until the end of her life.
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