Linda M. Crate- Three Poems

limited 

 

the knowing smile

of broken bones

greets him with a jolt,

i look on at the grotesquery

an intrigue in my eye

for i've never broken any

i want to know what it's like to

be disjointed or snapped

without feeling it; 

he doesn't needle or snarl at my gaze

inquisitive as it is, he just accepts it

as something that is —

once i was a star hanging in heaven

now i am this fragile beast

with only claws of words to defend me against

the worst enemies of this world,

i wonder if one day

brittle bones won't greet me with fractures

and i hope not;

it sounds painful i've always had a high threshold

but patience fails me, i don't know if i could

stand not being able to move that arm or leg or wrist

i've never stood in one place for long,

limitations were never something i learned to accept.

fossil 

 

i'm trying to reconstruct myself

from remains of memories

bones long since past,

fractured beyond repair and yet i reach for

them as i once wished to catch the sun

burning away all sense of reality;

defined stone greeted

by the white light of morning, washed upon

rude erosion of the sea —

your hatred created medusa

those heads of snakes

listing all the mistakes of every bone you misjudged

of mankind; you steal me away in moments of moon silver

until nothing makes sense anymore,

absurdity embraces me with his wide arms

i try to shake him off,

but common sense isn't so common anymore

not all that glitters is gold

some of it is silver,

but that is just as well i never intended to be a rich fogey

i only ever wanted someone to remember my name

to be a bone stuck in someone's skull,

twisting it's imprint to become

a fossil they could never forget or leave behind

because i never wanted to be alone. 

celebration 

 

deep and wide is my longing

i am an ocean

swallowing pride has

never been one of my strengths 

i am good at washing people

away, but i pray that i never drive you

from my shores; that i am the

waters you need to erode away your sorrow

as i slowly decimate rocks —

the past is always clawing at us,

we are not good at letting things go

one day all these troubles

will fall off us as dirty rags until then, my love,

it's time to close our eyes and read between the 

lines of our future; because all these things

we're so focused on won't matter

all that matters is our love

it will ascend even higher than the clouds

or stars —

you know the scars of stars

better than i do, the flames have burnt you more

than me; 

you are the moon tethering me back,

keeping me under control

sometimes my hurricanes of emotions take over me

but you're good at making me laugh again

the topography of a smile graces my

face simply because you are amazing enough to

drive away all my fears and doubts

with a few reassuring words —

drown your despondency in my waters, let the sharks

pick them apart until nothing remains but blossoms

of coral red lunacy;

maybe there is no tomorrow all this thinking does me no good

i am waiting for a sign to leave this place behind,

so we can go to a better height

away from the apathy stings of the world

celebrating one another

instead of falling to pieces yet again.