I wash my face twice a day
Once vigorously
As if I am exercising demons
Residing in my pores
And once gently
In circular, sweeping movements
Like I am washing away the crust of tears
That have come to settle on my cheeks
Memories can feel like bodily extensions
Memories can haunt the very oxygen I breath
Memories carried around like a boat anchor
Memories that felt heavier than the present
Memories that gripped my slumber’s steering wheel
Memories that miraculously became ossified
Memories which mysteriously sunk into the ocean
Memories when grown transfer into learnings
Memories buried in the wavering wash of time
Memories buried with time’s ceremony
Hands like dirt
Cracking in sunlight
where weeping willows grow and glow
burning in the snow
freeze-dried
tied below and pulled into a flash fire
your art dies you write the words
"right before they kissed"
with the "i"s undotted
time unalloted
the crime has been spotted
your hands are covered in dirt
wash them in the fire
wash them dry
watch them die
with all your worst ideas
with your eyes
wash them dry
they're not worth your tears
watch them die
with your eyes
wash them dry
they're not worth my tears
watch them die
with all your worst ideas
watch them
but don't wash them
just throw them in the fire
watch them dry up
close your nose
and drown it in dirt
until the smoke can't fly
watch the smoke
eat it up and leave the dirt behind
wash them in the fire
wash them dry
watch them die
with all your worst ideas
with your eyes
wash them die
they're not worth your tears
close your eyes
so you can't see their cries
close your nose so your can't smell their lies
close your ears
so you won't hear them disappear
a sky wash of blue
forecasts the coming of spring
~ indigo crocus
It started when my ears began to itch.
Scratching did not reduce the twitch.
Rubbing seemed to help,
But smeared uck all over myself.
Momma said, "Wash behind your ears!
Growing goobers is what I fear."
Goobers? What are those?
Momma said," They're vines that start behind your ears.
Grow in your head,
Out your nose."
Momma said," You'd look like an urchin,
With vines all around.
Might trip yourself,
If you can't see the ground!"
I think my Momma is kidding me!
I've never seen a kid that looks like a tree.
Momma said," Thats because they listened.
Washed behind the ears,
Didn't have vines that appeared."
I don't want to be left behind.
I wash my ears all the time.
Perhaps I could cultivate a patch,
On the backside of my neck.
Make a vine covered shirt,
With the rest of the dirt.
All over Washington D.C.
He flies with pomp and pride
Donald Trump, President
Surveys the swamp overhead
Of wrath and promises bold
He vows to cleanse the deep
Swamp's dark waters
His axe to wield
America great again to keep
© daniel miltz
The wash
Rhythmic systems flow
Pulse and wind,
The wheel
Throws blows
Bustling in between the folds
Shedding skin and grim
A hidden layer molds
Tender hands and tiny footprints
Gather jasmine
Budding blooms beneath obsidian
Mosquitos sting
As too, jasmine
Marckincia Jean
08/05/2024
Free verse
i pivot between
the unknown, and i know not what
life has left me dangling
from my mind
uncertainty mocks
my every foothold
reality teases me
then shrugs off its own beliefs
I am disillusioned by wisdom,
made foolish by every thought
I cling to a arabesque
masquerading as a mystic dance
yet
let me spin on
for somewhere ahead
i hope
a stop sign
will slow this dream down
Wash your tootsies, your feathers, your toes
Wash your face, your tail, your beak nose.
Wash wash wash and cluck cluck cluck.
We will soon be cleaner than any duck!
The hens were happy, all chattering in line.
They loved the water, they were doing fine.
Wash wash wash and cluck cluck cluck.
Love the bubbles, but please don’t duck!
carte blanche waving
genocidal right of way
white flags waning
Every day she seemed to be the only one
using the clothes line in Mt. Druthers.
Maybe I am the only clean witch, she thought,
wondering about the others.
Other girls wash their clothes at night,
said Wizard Wayne, one of her observant brothers.
I have learned so much since I knew it all
Falling down has made me stand tall
I have cried an ocean of tears..
Some from heartache. Some from happiness
I have never had much money
But I've always been rich
I have never gone hungry.
I have always had a home.
Even when I was lost in the world...i never felt alone
I have experienced grief...more than my fair share
Even when I didn't understand...i knew God was there
When all I could see was devastation...losing everything by choice or circumstance
By the Grace of God...i got another chance
I picked myself up….
I washed my face…
I thanked the Lord for his Amazing Grace
Since that day I have taken steps forward...some big...some small
Good days or bad days…
I find blessings in them all
For the soul that still suffers…
If you are in the same place…
Pick yourself up…
Look yourself in the eye…
And wash your face
Written by Melissa branch
** Mother Nature Draws the Dawn **
Already,
Dawn sets off
This longitude’s waking,
Displaying nearby trees
Into their scribbled silhouettes
In shades
Of gray with blasts of black masses —
Points gathered
Fronting the quick brightening over
Yesterday’s leaving darkness,
And bringing forth this day’s white-glazed,
Cloud-faced sky —
Appearing before my sleepy eyes
Without any distinguishable color, and
Simply seen as an unfoldng background —
A lightening
That shows even before the blendings —
With the coming gifts to sight
Of the perception of dimensions
And the aspects of perspective,
To be seen in the expanse beyond my window
In this dawning moment ~
As the world appears quite like
A flattened Earth,
Like a doodled scene
Of blotches and specs — in
Mother Nature’s ink line & wash
Landscape
Created on her personal, unbordered paper.
———————————————————————
(c) sally young eslinger 8/17/2023
(For Jim. Happy 40th)
car wash
foolproof
rain dance
This ad came out before my day
But when I saw it I said “hey! hey! hey!”
I was about twelve or so, and it made me gay.
This wiener ad that was raunchy in every way.
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