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Best Poems Written by Gail Beckstein

Below are the all-time best Gail Beckstein poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Becoming Kin

Before the first moonlight spilled down upon us like winged doves from the sky
we were fettered together like lovers were,
In passion not yet transmuted into devotion to one another.
Above us rose a virgin sky void of stars
of constellations that would map out our cosmic future.
You, son of Adonis in my wide eyes, me, an idol of Inanna,
Convincing the future to never let this die,
Not knowing as of yet that Amphitrite and Poseidon’s coercive alliance
would coax us down the coast where we would seek refuge
in the surf and away from the trappings of winter’s swirling snows
and snarling winds.
Many years into a union of rings of gold and diamonds,
tumultuous at times but mostly heaven falling with her
heaviness upon us.
We fight side by side for a peace that seems so easily bestowed
upon others
And yet, like the ashes of Kilauea we rise without choking
At night we listen for the songs of our children
Born and unborn
reminding us we are wrapped in the protection of cashmere Carolina twilight.

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Mother's Daughter

Mother’s Daughter

As they delivered you into the world upside-down, they wiped you clean
With steady hands that did not shake with the thunder of the firmament

Laying you upon my chest, each gazing into the other’s grey-blue irises full of
Wonderment, I believe we knew each other since the universe came to be with a bang
Of equal intensity

Your cries, ever moving me clumsily from my place in our house, singing of hunger and distress
Send me on a mission to quell your discomfort 

On a sleepless night, in the cold of autumn, I take you out wrapped in arms of woolen blankets
Knitted by an old woman’s gnarled hands whose name I have forgotten
I present you to the dulled light of the ancient stars of the universe understanding you will never belong to just me

You take your place amongst time and space and the pulse of the elements with
A howl not unlike that of the wild wolves of the mountains

And observe as you set yourself free to join your brethren of the shared galaxy.

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Winter

In a winter’s bed I sleep, a dreamless starless sky above
And though the daylight does not keep
The snow flies like an aimless dove.
The blood orange sun spreads ‘cross the sky like a painting on a wall
The artist keeps a watchful eye and wraps the hues in endless squalls.
The cardinal with its wings of red
Chirps its promises of signs
Of those of us who’ve gone ahead to speak of heaven’s unbounded shine.
My frozen bones begin to warm around the fire’s roaring blaze
Like brittle ice in a winter’s storm,
And blanket the horizon’s haze.
These sacred days of early moons and late sunrises wrapped in time,
For it won’t be long till springtime swoons
The tulips from the winter’s grime.

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Crashing Paper Airplanes

Circling me like a shark in open water,

I wave my arms so someone sees

And for so long you never bothered

To see the huntress I can be.


You said you’d always try to see eye to eye,

But your irises have turned to black

And in my own I stalked out every single lie

And your facade begins to fade and crack.


The runway lights are lit before you now

To alight your lying eyes with blame

And land your crashing paper airplane safely on the ground

But you choose to go down with the flames.


My body has become a vessel

To carry me back to the shore.

And when my feet touch the sand I begin to wrestle

With how to give you less when you want so much more.


Your body always craved something I couldn’t afford,

Some kind of gold I saved for me

And though I feel I’ve fallen on my own sword

I take that gold and begin to flee.


Far away I run with broken bones across the landscape

The desert sand catches up with me

Looking before me now I pull back the blackened drapes

And you are nowhere to be seen.


Are you hiding in my notebooks

To see again when I am drunk with rain

To kill the blinding blaze and drown out everything you took

And mend the burning merciless pain.


So go ahead and let your dirty wings give you lift

And after that grab onto drag

Because you will continue to crash your paper planes

Until you burn yourself out with your own jetlag.

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Words Unspoken

Words like those cut from the throat of the robin
Breast red with pride, the words cast out by the one I love.

There is no bravery in them; I have no shield to protect myself from them as they are thrown at me.

Those are the words that instantly turn lover to stranger 
Whose thin lips silently mouth a coward’s chicken- goodbye

Words have broken me
Words will heal me

All in good time.

Details | Gail Beckstein Poem

Seasons Bring Change

The season’s subtle winds bring change, from the skies 
	to the mountains, bearing an autumnal overcoat
	boasting gold, orange, and scarlet, gradually 
	hushing to a dying chestnut brown.

Soon, the warming of spring will throw back its head,
	laughing at crocuses and daffodils daring to 
	bloom above winter’s malingering snow.

The pulse of dawn captures me in its taciturn wake.
Above, the trees shed the last of their death and 
	blend in with the persistence of the evergreen.

I slowly bend and bleed with the horizon’s edge and 
	hold summer by the hand, laughing and
	giving autumn a nod, knowing he’d be back
	one day.