A bed of roses
by any other name would
still have hidden thorns
#129
Category: A New Poem Every Morning #2
The Pain in my Neck
Winter, winter
like a splinter
that I can’t reach to remove
Fester, fester,
cold nor’ wester
like a kiss from reindeer hooves.
#128
It Works for Me
I am so organized
that I never procrastinate
because why put off till tomorrow
what I can ignore today?
#127
Angels in the Snow
I went outside at night to catch a snowflake on my tongue
the way I always used to do when I was very young.
Eyes closed, I opened up my mouth and tilted back my head
when much to my surprise I caught a falling star instead.
It tasted just like moonlight did fifty years ago.
and as it melted on my tongue it took my heart back home.
It shone the whole way down my throat and I felt a wonder
growing from my middle and rumbling like thunder
until it just exploded in to gales of childish glee.
I spun ‘til I was dizzy then I dropped down to my knees
and fell far back in time into snows of yesteryear
and when I opened up my eyes the sky was hard and clear
as though seen through the filters of innocence and joy
where wheeling stars and northern lights sing but make no noise.
I swept my legs and arms back and forth and to and fro
and made a splendid angel print beneath me in the snow.
When I awoke next morning I thought it just a dream
I stood at my back window and I wiped away the steam.
and there it was, moonlit and clear beneath the flickering stars
a perfect little angel in the centre of my yard.
#126
The Power of Words
Antithetical beliefs can divide even friends.
Gain hope in justice, kindness, love…
Mankind needs optimistic poetry.
Quiet reason silences the untenable violence
when xenophobes yell zealotry.
#125
Dark Thoughts
Sitting in the dark,
dotted with little red, yellow, blue, and green lights
from small appliances, computers, rechargers,
and the digital clock on the stove.
Sitting in the dark,
in the glow of the computer screen.
So, technically, not really in the dark at all.
In the semi-dark, quasi-dark, pseudo-dark;
the dark that’s too dark to do anything
but type but too bright to sleep.
So I sit and I type about the almost dark and wonder
why I’m awake at four in the morning.
Sitting in the dark.
#124
First Rule
There are so many rules
where one would do
so pick up the cards you’re dealt
and do your own thing
as long as that thing
doesn’t hurt someone else.
The trick here is knowing
the true definition
of words like ‘someone’ and ‘hurt’
‘cause plenty of hurts
don’t show at first glance
and are easily incurred.
And that ‘someone’ could be
a person, a dog,
a tree, or the earth ‘neath your feet.
That ‘someone’ could be
yourself so some care,
and empathy is needed.
And the one rule that seemed
self centred evolves
into an awareness of all
and how we’re connected
for better or worse
on a spinning, blue and green ball.
#123
12 Months in 8 lines
Muddy mess
Bird nest
Long days
Heat haze
Brown leaves
Frost heaves
Long nights
Wind bites
#122
Ear Worm
My brain is like a two year old
who’s learned a brand new trick
and the song that it’s repeating
is going to make me sick.
It’s not that it’s a bad song
or one that’s not deserving
of airplay, but three days straight
is getting quite unnerving.
Every time I stop to think
my brain’s new song is playing,
my health’s begun to suffer
and my sanity is fraying.
It seems the only chance of peace
is taking drastic action
and teaching brain another song
as some form of distraction.
And though I know my one track brain
will just switch songs, at best.
At this point I believe a change
is as good as a rest.
#121
Stand Up
Stand up for the ones who have served.
Stand up for the ones who have fallen.
Not just for a minute one day of the year,
when the piper or bugler is calling.
For as they fought for us, now it is time
that we fight for them in return
to make sure they get the care and the help
that they so selflessly earned.
Let your remembrance be constant;
a pledge, not just a token.
Honour the dead by helping the ones
who came home battered and broken.
#120
Linda Studley 