Love Is A Verb ~ SM

Love is a verb
It’s the hoping, the praying, and the waiting
For every day that’s a plus
I act these acts, and love a verb stays

Love is a verb
It’s the rolling of my eyes and smile lopsidedly placed
As I say “yes, you are a rockstar”
You smile back and love a verb stays

Love is a verb
Can I hold you a little closer? Envelope your strife between my thighs?
Your head finds its place on my chest
My heart beats and love a verb stays

Love is a verb
It’s the doing and misdoing, the action and inaction,
Head to head, step by step
Promises are made and love a verb stays

Love is a verb
It’s the buying of the schnapps, the payment of my price
Your knees don’t buckle. My hand holds still
Pen goes to paper and love a verb stays

God Theory ~ SM

What if I told you, you are God?
That the words in our holy books bear
common themes and threads because
we
heard the same message
in different languages and our
interpretations gave birth to the “stories” we study today?

Really, what if I told you God was you?
That giving in His house simply means
releasing your flesh from physical dependencies
thus strengthening your spirit man
– your Holy Spirit,
to put out energy into the world that
compels the energies around you to sync with you for your good?

I mean, what if I told you Jesus Christ was you
and you simply needed to believe
that you killed your physical self
and its need for material needs
and in doing so you were reborn
to meet your inner God
in a purity that transcends the things of this earth?

If I told you all this was true,
would you hold yourself in vain above others
or swell with pride at the understanding of the power you wield?
Would you forget the next person was God too?

It’s easier to tell you that God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are separate from you.
Yet I would rather tell you, all three are you.

Unreal ~ SM

I dream of being with you
Of meeting you at the point where hills heel and mountain tops touch the snow
I dream of waking next to you
At the hour past last light and the second between the sun’s rise and its highest crest
I dream of dancing with you
Under stars lit with sodium fire and doused in reflective coal
I dream of touching you, of being touched by you
Skin against the melting hues of all I dreamed and hoped you could be
If only you were real.

A Night Time Prayer ~ SM

I dream of you
Of touching your face and finding shelter in your embrace
I dream of sharing my stories with you
Each line from a book you wrote before the stars had their names
I dream of listening to your whys and how comes
Of the paths you carved for me and the pitfalls I never saw
I dream of feeling your completeness in me, straight through to my finger tips

I wish I didn’t have to dream
I wish you would walk with and talk to me everyday
I wish your presence would surround me everyday
I wish your love would follow me everyday

But I know I’m not worthy
I know I’ve sunk through the miry clay, my fingers slipping through your hands
I know I’ve turned away too many times but
Can we try one more time?

– SM

She Calls Me Mama ~ SM

I board the shutters and hiss at the cold winds that taunt the night air
On hands and knees I check for threats of nightmares living under bed springs
I kiss warm cheeks and wish sweet sleeps even as my ghosts surround me waist deep

The dawn’s light races with my consciousness and records its daily loss
For my unconscious beat stays ripping through the balm of desired comas hours before lids even open
Unseeing, unfeeling, this is the hour for the gnats and locusts
Gnawing through fields of bounty meant to be stored up for the waking hours
Waking, ours is a cheerful routine of good mornings filled with smiles as I ask
how are you? Did you sleep well?
Her responses ricochet off the walls of my heart speeding up the flow of heat through my very soul
All because she calls me mama

It is f’right that she calls me mama
I strap her heart to mine in a close knit entangled web of poinsettias and roses playing games of love me not
Knotting my throat in wait for the perilous ending that will surely come. Not.
I am half woman half child, no I am quarter woman 3-quarter child, no …
I am one child sawn in 4 bits and thrown to cardinal points that should have pointed me in the right direction yet threw air bombs at me and engulfed me in a triangle that shattered my adult in a quest to catch broken pieces of my child
But she’s mine – whole and complete and utterly loved

~ SM

Photo credit – Jayesh Mehta, as seen on http://desdelarepublicadominicana.blogspot.com/2013/04/madre-batalla-contra-hienas-mas-de-una.html

She ~ SM

She is she
She is he

She is the bough that catches a cradle rocked
Arms splayed and reaching, breaking falls from the highest mountain tops

She is the bridge over the Thames though never falling
Connecting, forgiving, carving paths over troubled waters from winter to spring

She is she
She is he

She is stars spread through blackest skies guiding lost travellers home
Eyes twinkling with the wisdom of known truths barely uttered loud

She sits on walls reaching high
And though she falls she never breaks, nor warrants the king’s mens galloping brigade

She is she
She is he

She builds spouts against tree trunks, hills and broken streets
What’s rain and shine to an eight limbed go-getter?

She leads her blind mice with no butchers knife in sight
Have you ever seen such a thing in your life as three winged mice?

She is she
and She is he

– SM

Wrote and read this at an earlier time for a friend’s mom’s birthday, taking inspiration from my own mother’s life and how she single-handedly raised my sister and me, and now we are both awesome mothers! 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to all the woman making life worth living for the kids; striving each day to better themselves in any situation they find themselves. Happy Mother’s Day even to the single men raising children and playing dual roles, gradually changing the negative stereotypes around male parenting.

Cross Journeys ~ SM

Walking through these pages
These writs that tell a story fairly unknown
Cutting through time zones and high plains
Landing on firm soil, gazing up at blue skies
Searching high for confirmation that angels do fly

In my dreams while traversing the seas
They would swoop down low on coloured wings
Cradling the children that fell through the night
They would erase the weariness the pain and their plight
Seeking to restore life after a lunatic’s vaulted blight

In wakeful hours as I scroll through the screens
I realise my dreams materialise, just not as I fantasise
These angels they look eerily like me with their absent wings
Suddenly a path is carved out wildly divergent to what’s passed
And the chills from my travels are wiped out at last

A Feminist’s Plea ~ SM

Why do you see me as strange
This thing you do, I do it too
Well, maybe not exactly as you
You see, my path has been different
We don’t wear the same size shoes
Or I’d ask you to step in mine
Feel the rhythm and take measured steps
And maybe recognise
That you and I
We’re two sides of the same coin
Our value is intertwined

So, don’t let them point fingers at me
And I’ll cover you with my law degrees
When you sit with chiefs on muted skins
Don’t let them think less of me
All because my tastes don’t smell of a hwentia seed
You and I, our joy is to clothe our babies’ backs
And as you carry yours on yours,
Judge me not for pushing a pram
Nor for choosing a line instead of a belt’s side
Stand with me, and I’ll stand with you
Together, our worth will soar
As all women’s were meant to.

~SM

Image source: The Washington Post

Cold Hands ~ SM

When cold hands wave and stretch outward
Will you be there waiting on the other side?
Each time the story is told,
I hear the voices that beg me bold
They say you’ve got too much to do
That I have nothing to lose if I care less about you
Sometimes I believe, I accept what they say to be true
Then I remember, cold hands won’t wait
When it’s time they’ll lay me straight
Hold me blind to the tears and numb to the pain
My soul will loom, my breathe will stop
These things I know but what I don’t
Will I see your stainless face?

~ SM

Raising The Bar ~ SM

When the goal seems further than you can see
When night drops its curtain at your window sill
When the crickets chirp in the distance signaling the silence all about
When you think it’s over
When you think it’s done

That’s when you start afresh with the sun on your mind
That’s when you light up candles, watch them wane through the night
That’s when you kick up two feet and lock both knees
That’s when you howl and scream through your teeth
That’s when you stand up and fight

And when you do you’ll find this truth
That it was inside you long before you knew you
Buried deep underneath years of tangled messy dreams
Yet still apt to burn hotter than the hells you’ve seen

It’s almost over, you must believe this to be true
Dig inside and it will seep through
And when it does don’t move the bar just yet
Take a minute to do a crazy dance first
Shout it out loud, “I’m reaching for my best”

Now, move it again.

~ SM