Refill

Pour out the pitcher
Shake out the dregs
Give your mind peace
Give your dreams legs

Rinse out the residue
Scrub the sides clean
Live as a pauper
Live as a queen

Let the air enter
Let the drips dry
Find depth in each day
Find love in each eye

Refill your vessel
Drink deeply with friends
Don't wait 'til tomorrow
Don't wait 'til the end

Swallowed

Swallowed up by the world
with a suck and a swirl
and a deluge that carries you down

You float through each day
drifting farther away
and your feet miss the give of the ground

Grabbing tight with your hand
what can help you to stand
and pretend you can feel the rich soil

Still those buzzes and beeps
take your time and your sleep
and your days seem to reek with the spoil

Swimming upstream is tough
but enough is enough
so you thrash 'til you break through the surface

On the shore you collapse
and your weary hand grasps
what you sought all along, your true purpose

When We Began to Roar

The idea of her was whispers
told in boxy chambers
The conclusion unavoidable
and who could really blame her

Once power killed compassion
and the weak were left to languish
and towering bleached statues
smirked upon their anguish

She rose from scalding fires
she brushed away the ash
refusing mere perceptions
such as apron, gown or sash

Her heart gave her the bravery
but her mind gave her a sword
No more could she allow
the future we were moving toward

So the fight was started quietly
and grew into a din
For only those who led with love
could ever hope to win

The Love Within

In the name of love and charity
in rising solidarity
I wish now for the clarity
to see beyond disparity

In the name of sisters and of brothers
with the strength of fathers and of mothers
remove the hate that wants to smother
the joy of loving one another

In the name of wishes and of dreams
and the kindness sewing up the seams
we must listen to the haunting screams
if we wish to know what all this means

In the name of hands and hearts and heads
the laughs we've had and the tears we've shed
we must rebuke the lies we're fed
and seek the love within instead

Opening

The slightest of bending
the softness of mercy
a heart inching open
words uttered less tersely

Showing up now as human
be it ever so subtle
Listening with ears open
not just forming rebuttals

Not a pouring emotion
just a blossoming fairness
Choosing words with a purpose
not dismissive and careless

With the stiffness of hinges
that crackle with rust
We can open that fortress
and build a new trust

Though our differences stand
let our barrier be rended
for this battle is known
for the joy it has ended

The Rabid Pit

As my thoughts go sinking
into that rabid pit
that replays the occasions
of the worst sins I've commit
I see the twisted faces
of those whose hearts I've broken
I see the devastation caused
by careless words I've spoken
I long to do these differently
I yearn to take it back
I find that hitting bottom
is the opposite of black
These moments make me grimace
and cause a bitter pain
My mind has saved these moments
so I may see them again
But realization cometh
like a flood straight from the sea
How selfish when I see this
that I still just dwell on me

Perfect

You are not perfect and why should you be
but more importantly why would you be
who was it that told you that it was expected
Someone you know whose shortcomings projected
A movie you saw, or a hot TV show
do they decide or do they just know
Life is more fun when we are unique
it adds something more charisma, mystique
Be bold in your differences, show them with pride
Let all the hidden things in you outside
Leave people gasping, let their mouths hang
Try not to tiptoe, come in with a bang
Redefine beauty with your joyful spirit
Sing your song loud so everyone hears it

Release

Crawl deep into those crevices
that hide the poison thorns
Excavate the premises
that leave you so forlorn
Burn that twisted effigy
you created of your self
Shun the sloth and lethargy
that placed you in this hell
Sacrifice austerities
that bar you from mankind
Break now with impunity
the molds that crush your mind
Venture out among the flesh
they are not all your foe
You'll see how different souls can mesh
if you could just let go

History

The aged hand hath writ
a history restarted
full of goons and twits
who exploit the brokenhearted

The paper turns to dust
but the watchful ones remember
when our justice set to rust
and our quiet meant surrender

So spill forth with your words
Wail them if it warrants
so that change can now be culled
from these innundating torrents

Warrior Woman

The warrior woman emerges each day
stepping her toes to the line
armed with a heart that is open and free
and a wisdom that reaches through time
She never attacks but stonelike she stands
advancing with boldly made steps
She leaves her impression in day dreams and smiles
fueled by the tears she has wept
She loves unabashedly, helps with abandon
and heals with uncowering spirit
Her words work like magic on souls once thought lost
with a truth for those willing to hear it
Queen, witch, or sorceress she pays no mind
to the names that so many have called her
She knows who she is and what she must do
no matter what fate may befall her

In The Deep Woods

In the deep woods
she hatches and cries
and crawls for the very first time
In the deep woods
she is honed from the dirt
she is wrapped in the leaves and the vines
In the deep woods
her voice how it bellows
her spine, how it seems to unbend
In the deep woods
she is cleansed by the rainfall
her fear blows away in the wind
In the deep woods
her words grow the flowers
her spirit runs wild as the wolves
In the deep woods
her will is the oak
and her heart is the pounding of hooves
In the deep woods
she is rooted so deeply
she flies to the tops of the trees
In the deep woods
her soul is reborn
she is beautiful, mighty and free

I Am She

I am she who wields the sword
to fight the rut
to cut the cord
to dominate my universe
to carve the path
I shall traverse

I am she who casts the spell
to turn my mind
away from hell
to find joy in the tiny places
and see the love
that hides in faces

I am she who bears the load
who likes to choose
the untread road
life's lessons guide me ever farther
when life gets hard
I get harder

I am she who roots in love
who digs in deep
removes the gloves
I shed the cage that holds my heart
I'll risk the chance
it's torn apart

The Work of Art

A head holds words as can a page
Of any color and any age
A galaxy or grain of sand
A cannon or a shaky hand
But with these worlds come other thoughts
of times we blushed and times we fought
When devastation was our flavor
be it choked upon or swished and savored
So then blue skies become monsoons
and manors become tiny rooms
much like the dust upon our shelves
the walls that stand we built ourselves
Time now to lay askew the stones
that snare our souls and bind our bones
Our minds are meant to drift and soar
not fester chained to others bore
We've suffered sin and forged our follies
Faked our smiles through others jollies
but now we heal through reckoning
the truth in you is beckoning
so find the art that lives inside
and tell us why you've smiled or cried
it's not a burden you must hold
release and let your wings unfold

The Waking Day

As the sky glows a light blue from its bottom
a new day comes
Not promised and yet it comes gloriously
The darkness dissipates inch by inch
A lone star shines proudly, still open for wishes
I realize there is no dread or worry in this moment
A once rare gift this feeling
Hope, as bright as that star
Happiness, as rich as the blue transitioning the night to dawn
It brandishes itself on the precipice of the day
Dancing on the wire that connects fleeting time and new purpose
Pushing me to make new promises
the ones I could never keep before

Broken open

I once thought I was broken but the truth is I'm broken open,
That nerve that screams from the slightest breeze,
The skinned knee that means adventure,
That succulent orange freed from it's rough skin ready to be devoured,
That snake that now shows a new skin, more vibrant then before,
That boring rock that hides earths lustrous treasures,
That sentence or sound that you could never let slip,
the one that could end everything or begin the healing,
That present that you never knew you wanted and now it is the best one you have ever received,
I am unwrapped, I am exposed, I am naked, I am raw,
The useless discarded,
the substance within ready to be tasted

Growth in Darkness

I grow in the darkness, I bloom in the black fed by my shortcomings, nourished by lack Rooted in dead earth, under the night Sustained not by love but the need to still fight Perhaps sunlights better the blindness it brings but the songs of the owls sound more like my spring The chill in the winter grows my stem that much stronger My buds could not hold out one season longer In darkness there is comfort, in the cold there is calm The snow and the ice to my wounds is a balm So give me the blustery magic of fall and the core chilling winter will help me grow tall