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Best Poems Written by Marsha Hughes

Below are the all-time best Marsha Hughes poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Coronavirus - Covid-19

Born not from the sun
But from darkness,
You entered the world
A perfect, killing machine
Capable of mass destruction
With a touch, a breath, a trace
Your spikes, the keys 
To unlock our DNA
Replicating yourself
With lightning speed
Within ourselves
Dividing families
Destroying lives
Using our bodies 
To prey on the weak
The old, the vulnerable
What a coward you are
Hiding, invisible
Even in the light
No natural enemies
But making enemies
Of the best of friends
Unleashing suspicion
And greed 
The worst and best of humanity
The only way to defeat you
Contain you, snuff you out, 
Is an appeal to the spirits
Of your hosts
Self-detention and isolation
A small price to pay
Until you have burned yourself out
Like your namesake
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

People Like Us

People like us
Stalk the earth
Ordinarily extraordinary 
You will smell it, taste it
If you come close 
Desire and madness
Poignant, potent
Irrefutable

People like us
Cannot be constrained
By the cages of this world
Rules and restrictions 
Do not apply
We are restless, strong
Spirits of the wild
Pacing, hunting
Getting high off each other 

People like us 
Cry harder
Laugh louder
Sink deeper
Dance wilder
We need more, feel more
Than the others

People like us
Have flashes of brilliance
And bouts of darkness
Electricity off, yet power remaining
Dangerous, shocking
Potentially deadly  

People like us
In the right circumstances,
Are heroes, creators of beauty
Even the terrible kind
We are
Life giving, defibrillation paddles
Resuscitating the world
We are
The best kind of people 
People like us
You and I

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

True Friendship

True friendship is rare
It’s one in a million
A mirror image, a twinning
Mutual acknowledgement
In knowing
She’s the one 
Who pays attention
Listens with intention
Can read your thoughts
Before you think them
With whom you share
Truth
Respect
Consideration
Humour
Joy
Pain
Love
No conditions
Sometimes critical
Even reproachful
But always understanding
Who keeps you in line
Before you cross it
To the point of no return
Who puts you before herself
Because that’s just who she is
One in a million
A needle in a haystack 
To be treasured forever
That friend is you to me
And me to you

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Panthera Onca

A bloated river vomits its contents
Towards the sea
Debris and mud floating fast
Past boulders, jutting rocks, obstacles,
Creamy foam caps and whirlpools,
Deadly admission to the underworld below
Where the Jaguar King lives
 
There he sits, alone on his throne
Panthera onca, God of the night
He pretends to smile, licking his wounds
The ones that time never healed, 
From centuries of ancient battles
Playing on repeat
 
Absorbed in the pleasure of his pain
He is blind, for the moment
If he would stop for one second 
And take stock quietly, calmly,
“He who kills with one leap”,
Would admire his strength, his prowess
And see that his beauty, is not vain
That he has produced a kingdom
Of fierce warriors,
Rosettes distinct and unique
Who will carry his name proudly
And love him to the end of time
Flawed, wounded, whole, broken
Perfect
 
And the one who circles
Who cannot fully enter
Is filled with desire 
To provide a balm
For his wounds, and hers
Relief, even healing
And together the strength
To come to the surface
To break through the water
To swim as only jaguars can
And to embrace the living world 
In darkness and in light

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Broken

He told her he was broken
But she saw him differently
A priceless clock
That was slightly off 
A little complicated
Just needed timing, winding, 
Some small adjustment
She thought she could 
Do the necessary repairs, 
It should’ve been a cinch
It would’ve been worth it
But he turned out to be
Not a time-piece, but a time bomb
And she met him at the right (wrong) time
He blew up right next to her
She didn’t have time to take cover
And the force of the implosion
Created a black hole
That swallowed him up
Into the space inside 
Himself
While she was expelled 
To another universe
He was broken
And she could not fix him
He would have to fix himself

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Circus

In the circus of my mind
I see a tight rope
Perched high above the faceless people
I’m afraid of heights but there’s something
That draws me to you

I climb, with sweaty palms to the top
The view is magnificent but I’m dizzy
Considering the temptation 
To step out
It’s irresistible 

Slowly, carefully balancing
One false move
And it would be all over
No safety net
Only a quick drop to
The abyss of 
Broken bones and tears

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Click

Click, click, on the keyboard
Tick, tick I’m getting old 
It’s getting old,
This waiting for you

I call your name
You don’t hear me
I’m talking to myself 
Headphones, cellphone
Zoned in, tuned out
You still don’t see
That you are losing me
You love your work
More than my company

I need to be your joy
Or else someone’s gift to enjoy
So much love to give
No one here (or there) to receive it
Click, click
Tick, tick
Time is running out
For you and I

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Compass

He told her
She was a gift,
A timely offering
From the universe,
A universe 
Ruled by a sadistic god
Holding a compass 
In his cruel hand

The god pierced the center
Of the invisible circle of time
And pencil down, 
The compass began
Its predictable course

It began with two strangers
Magnets, too close together
A familiar dance, pushing, pulling
A pause, seduction,  
She traced the smile of Ares
With her soft finger tips
And watched desire 
Morph into
A promise

Delayed gratification 
Then a perfect kiss
Soft, light, hard, deep
So much electricity
It could’ve stopped a bus

He wanted more
Spoke of love
Got her high off his breath
She resisted, he persisted
Relentless

When finally she returned his love,
A bad moon rose
And one wolf 
Ate the other
Until there were not even bones left
Of the passion, friendship, twin-ship
They shared

She had not understood
When he warned her
About the two wolves
Living in his head, his heart, his soul
She had her own wolves to feed
She should have looked deeper
Been wiser

He now crouches in the dark
Tail between his legs
Still and quiet
A muzzled animal
Some comfort provided
By his lair
And the wolf mother he still worships
Who has smothered him
Never allowed him to become
The man he was meant to be

Meanwhile I wait, 
Hopeful and hopeless
While the compass completes
Its final pass
The end, and the beginning
When we were
Simply, separate
Two strangers, not even friends

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Blood Bath

Last night
I poured some memories into a glass 
They didn’t fill it, not at all
The bottle was almost empty 
When I started pouring
Someone else’s history
I sipped, gulped, finished it
I always drink too quickly
When I like the taste
Such a stupid thing to do
It makes me drunk too fast

The empty glass looked sad
It was my own fault
In my greed, my lust
I wanted more
I shook the nothingness out of the bottle
Until it splattered me like blood

Half-aware, I floated to my bathroom
And soundlessly undressed, 
Turned the lights down
Candle-lit shadows, danced
In the half-light
While the soft music of a piano 
Played somewhere
In my silly romantic head
I didn’t know how to turn it off

I filled my tub to the brim with tears, 
Submerged myself in their saltiness 
The water turned red
I cried until it overflowed
Not for myself, but for you, 
For you my dear,
My once darling
For your pain
Not mine

Details | Marsha Hughes Poem

Fortress

She was a fortress
Rock solid, determined
To stand strong 
Against any attack
But she turned the music up
While her king was in his counting house
It was far too loud
She danced on her walls
Flaunted herself, taunted
Received attention, even unwanted
Aware and unaware of her power

He was a fierce and beautiful warrior
Who appeared without warning
And from an unnatural height
Dropped word bombs
To explode her heart
And  with her head
He shot arrows of love in many tongues
Until her walls began to crack 
She let his fire seep in 
And penetrate her
It lit her up and reminded her
Of how cold and lonely it could be
Within her walls
She let herself burn out of control
And almost burned down her entire kingdom

Meanwhile
He was waging his own war
In his head
She, his conquest
Was a just a side attraction
A diversion to avert his attention
An escape from the anguish
Of losing his queen
His castle in ruins, his heart shattered

Winning her love, 
Was not enough
To reignite his soul

From the warmth of her walls
She felt him retreating
Taking with him his weapons, his army of words
His declarations of love 
She could no longer see his flames
Only darkness
Where his love once lived

Alone, abandoned, cold 
She calculated and assessed 
What remained from the rubble of his (brief) love
She saw it was not too late for her
She looked inside her heart
Saw her worth
And decided to save herself 
To recruit the troops, line them up, do the work,
Put Humpty Dumpty’s wall back together again
Re-build it wider, taller, reinforce it with steel
And turn the music down