Poem from September 2011

Newest poem. I shared it with my dear friend Casey who I so I wish I lived closer too. We'd have a much deeper friendship if we did I'm sure...he's one of those buddies who you can shoot the wind with but then have profoundly deep conversations with at the same time. He gave me some thoughts/suggestions for this poem so it's likely to grow and morph. This is version 1.2

Find the rest in your pain

I'm finding my rest in the pain.
With no cares but for the grace of springtime trees
With tussles of hair in the face of eastern winds
Just kids on the mind, their running and screeches
I'll take you to find a nook to share and crowd
With sweat and tears, breasts and ears.
I'm finding my rest in pain.

I'm holding the calm in the torment.
With no fear but for the little glory of a dark night
With roots of resolve steeped in the story of joy
Just youth on the mind, with its drums and cymbals
I'll take you to the window to kiss and swoon
With skin and hair, smiles and stares.
I'm taking my calm in my torment.

Pressure

First, a poem I wrote sometime between May and Jun 2011. I hadn't written poetry in a long time.

Homegrown Burdens

Enough with the allegories

the music calls me out, upside down.

The ringing rhymes with hard drumming,

and they breaks me up, rips me around.

Black and blue, bruises surround me

when I close my eyes. I'm a half jig

mourner, a side step sojourner

and I can never quite steer this rig.

Out of tune and all short of breath

can't jump a shit to save our lame leg.

I'm native blues, a drifter's cruise

just waiting a waste before I beg.

I'm feeling a lot of pressure. There's a considerable amount of under-the-surface stress that's popping up so much so that I don't know how to deal with it. I'm hoping that God will have mercy on me, and help me push through it...though I'm finding myself more exhausted by problems I can't distance myself from (because they are apart of who I am, physically)...and I'm also finding that life is a journey, a continual process that you don't ever get a real break from or ever really win or lose or finish until life ends. Sure is tiring, let me tell you.