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Best Poems Written by Laura E E Marsh

Below are the all-time best Laura E E Marsh poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Laura E E Marsh Poem

The Stranger

Stranger
I never really met him
But I know him
I know his face in profile
The furrows of his brow
I’ve seen it enough times
At Barnes & Noble browsing Asimov
I’ve seen him
Leaving the loft
Watched his hands
Holding the door
For his momma at the beauty parlor
He always tips the stylist who frosts his mamma’s grays
The other day I just missed him
Leaving the last row of the church pews
The handout he left behind was still warm
His pencil still on the floor beneath the ancient wooden bench
And on Tuesday, I watched him do a coffee run
for the guys at the office
I know it was him
I floated in on his Perry Ellis
He takes his coffee black with extra sugar
He goes running on Saturday mornings rain or shine
Always listening to Miles
I still hear the bass echo in the trees 
He has his board meeting 
Every third Thursday
I know ‘cause he always picks up his dolce suit
Every third Wednesday
Then stops for a fade
Spends an hour with his boys
If I time it just right
I might get lucky 
And bump into him
Accidentally of course
I betta’ do it this Sunday
‘Cause this Monday
Is his first date
With the chick who frosts his mamma’s grays

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Withered

WITHERED
Your withered hands, cradle my newborn
Beholding a strange beauty
Frail and aged
An in extreme contrast to my son’s tender, young angel flesh
I can’t help but reflect on the thought that my
Son has just begun his voyage
While you who loved me even before there
was knowledge of me
May very well leave this world forever
You, whose steady hands and patient words
Stayed many a conflict between fathers and
daughters, mothers and sons
Hands, which bonded our generations
The thought of your departure and my longing
For you to stay
Chokes me
And feigning an excuse to leave
I beat a retreat
to the hospital’s chapel
Where i must grapple
And struggle with the imminent
Loss of you
Now here i meditate
Trying to deliberate
On the best way
to prolong your stay
Gasping and grasping
Powerless with no solution
To the puzzle of how to get you to remain
For at least a few years more
And i drop my knees to the floor
Making all the promises that this time
I plan to keep
And as i reach for the good book
my fingers auto-pilot
to the prayers
We’ve said through the years
And after what seems a lifetime
My faith spent
I return to your bedside
And the moment I dread happens
And those frail hands
Those beautifully, withered brown hands
Reach Out
one last time
And clasp mine

Details | Laura E E Marsh Poem

I Will

I WILL  or WILL I??

It was me who was there, when they laid you bare
On your Mother’s cheek
I saw her weep, her bosom seep
As they spirited you away
while her teats suppurate
And her heart quaked

I witnessed the distress, when they opened Your chest
And striped your back, once they saw that you lacked
Fear, Dread and Fright 
And they tried to extinguish your light, diminish your Might
Tried to slash your eyes, and halve down your size
Out of despise-ing you
Thereby despise-ing 
Their-Selves

I had a front row seat 
Watched Her labor to defeat,
Stamp and Trample
The very heart of you
Because the sheer force of you
And very thought of you
Was an affront to her
And your Heart’s existence
Was her inconsistence
And your Subsistence

It was Me beseen
who cleansed your feet in the stream
who unbound your wrists, unfurled your fists
re-sheathed your dagger
uprighted your stagger
settled your fever
bewitched your foes 
scatter the crows
Nourished your dreams
reStitched your seams 
Cheered you in Earnest
Soothed your furnace
And when the Masses Demand
Who will bear the Pain of this Man
I shall raise my hand
and say
“I WILL”			[I, Magdalene]

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More Angel Than Man

MORE ANGEL THAN MAN
While you slept 
I checked for wings
Because you were more beautiful
Than a mortal man
Others looked at me
And saw my assets
You looked at me
And saw my ess-ence
Your presence 
Vanquished my demons
Your loving me
flooded me
And you let me crawl into you
when I was scared
When it got dark
I saw your light
It was you who
taught me to fly
And how to land
Your taught me to live and begin
when i wanted to end
And you were more angel than man

And then.....

You tattered your wings
And lost your ring 
You ate the fruit
Swallowed the pit

And then heaven and earth
they mingled
Because suddenly
you were

more man - than Angel

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Lest I Forget

LEST I FORGET
If I forget
What I need
I’ll come searching for you
Have the image of your sweet smile To Guide Me

When the clouds are too white
and the sky too bright
Drop the twines of your hair and I’ll climb them

Let your voice be my refuge
Your songs my deluge
And the memories of your music to bide me

If I lose all my senses
And I forget your scent
I’ll gather mountains of patchouli to remind me
I’ll Let the herbs of the ancients, the oils of the kings
Be the remnants of the history that defined us