Stars in the Sand

That’s right
I’m the sidekick
Riding the tailcoats
Of those braver than I

Too shy
Too scared
To bare my teeth
And so I smile

Push me around?
You can for a while
I promise, I won’t mind
Instead I smile

My knuckles are white
I grit my teeth
Composure like armour
“Yes,” I smile

My soul awakens
She tries to get out
Shh. No one cares
I falter…

Gently I push
Gently I prod
The cocoon opens wide
And I fly right out

I am bioluminescent
I’m ready.
Projecting my stars in the sand
For all to see

By Sarah ©2021

Photo by Kevin Wolf on Unsplash

Carrot Ranch, August 19: Flash Fiction Challenge, and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Take Weaver -19/8

Better

I am better than this.
But still, I slip.

A slip.
A spiral.

Ashamed.
Around in my head I go.

Torturing,
Self-eviscerating

Every. Moment.
Replayed and amplified.

A car crash of thoughts and feelings.

There’s a scrap heap in my mind.
A junk yard fire.

I am better than this.
But it’s got the best of me.

By Sarah ©2021

Dream a Little Dream

There’s a cacophony in my head.
And it won’t go away.
I’ve tried sleeping pills
But there’s no guarantee.

I drop some helium
To cull the birds
Coz the tweets are endless
A faithless dirge

And so I’m held
Too painfully aware.
Is it possible to hope?
Do I dare to care?

This fustian pair
Between my ears
See that decisions are made
for me in arrears

Wishes are portable
This I do know
Thoughts are transferable
Wherever I go.

So while there is still
a slit; a gleam
I have to believe I can
Dream a little dream

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Tale Weaver – 12.8.21 and Wordle #253; as well as, Carrot Ranch, August 12: Flash Fiction Challenge

Again

Here we go, a rollercoaster ride
Snap! just like that – we’re locked inside
Daily numbers on the rise
Contagion, multiplies
Just as we relax
COVID attacks.
Not again!
Here we
go…

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, Saturday 14 August

Glow

No longer hiding my bushel.
No longer willing to wait.
No longer content staying silent.

I step out.

Unashamed.
Unabashed.
Unabated.

It’s thoroughly unlike me.

Yes, I’m scared.
Yes, I’m worried.
Yes, I’m filled with trepidation.

But I can’t do it anymore.

I can’t hide.
I can’t pretend.
I can’t ignore who I am.

It’s gone far beyond that.

Inhale,
Exhale.
Just. Breathe.

I can do this.

I have to.
I want to.
I need to.

And so I do.

It’s time for me.
It’s time for more.
It’s time.

Time to glow.

By Sarah ©2021

Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt – #222 Glow

Lasso The Sun

Image courtesy of Pobble365

Lasso the sun?
If only I could
I’d make you stay
If only you would

You captured my heart
But not mine you
A one way river
A dried up slew

I wanted to trap you
Encase you in stone
Secret you away
As mine alone

But you shine brightly
As only I dare
My eyes avert yours
An imperfect pair

I”m left in a wasteland
Of my own making
Lessons learned from
Giving not taking

Now I turn my back
And let you be
You’re just too elusive
This I can see

I’ll admire from afar
Bask only in your light
Lasso the sun?
One day, I might…

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #377

Doorway

I dream of escape
Escape from in here
Here is my nightmare
Nightmare and fear

Spiralling down
Down to the black
Black prefers dark
Dark doesn’t talk back

It’s been a long time
Time has stood still
Still in my mind
Mind been through hell

But now dawn is rising
Rising to light
Light from a doorway
Doorway in sight

I cross the threshold
threshold anew
anew expectations
Expectations of you

Please hold my hand
hand trembling, I go
Go through the opening
Opening so slow

Guide me with love
Love me carefully
Carefully we’ll weave
Weave a journey

By Sarah ©2021

Photo by Filip Kominik via Unsplash

Carrot Ranch, August 5: Flash Fiction

Thwarted

why so perplexed?

don’t you know I’m off my rocker?

this is no palaver

I am indeed what you think:

that stunted shrub

the shadow that follows you

the inky depths of a fetid pool

the feeling that you are being watched

the disturbing coincidence

the sensation of being

off kilter

look – I am there!

and you will find

you have been

thwarted

By Sarah ©2021

Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt #221 – Thwart

Also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Same Same But Different. Synonyms substituted as follows:

1. chair – rocker
2. floor – perplex
3. tree – shrub
4. black- inky
5. talk – palaver

The World After

Adrian Swancar on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/72El6N0cmj4

We shake our heads in disbelief
With eyes wide open shut
Our mouths yet still have plenty to say
When will it be enough?

Conspiracy! It’s just fake news
And what about our rights?
Yet COVID hears no words of peace
Continuing its blight

The world after this so far away
Solutions many but none
Cities crumble, people lost
Survival’s the rule of thumb

We’re losing our humanity
Capacity to care
We need to work together
Because none of this is fair

We shake our heads in disbelief
With eyes wide open shut
Our mouths yet still have plenty to say
When will it be discussed?

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #376 and Tale Weaver, 5 August 2021

Villain

These villainous acts keep me up at night
My conscience cannot rest
Although I’ve done not one thing wrong
My intentions do contest

Infatuation blazes in
This yearning heart of mine
It’s criminal indeed to know
The secrets that I hide

Each wretched day, I live a lie
A smile pasted on my face
Eyes dart ‘round for just one glimpse
Yet oft, there is no trace

This cursed blight splintering
Dreams better to put to bed
The kicker is, none of it’s real
It’s all inside my head

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Tale Weaver – 29 July 2021

Oasis

You love me like rain.
In a downpour of affection.
Torrential.
Flooding.
Life-giving.
I am thirsty and you are my oasis.

Until you are not.

Now, I’m in drought.
Alone with a withered heart.
And I hate you for that…

By Sarah ©2021

Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt #220 – Oasis ; and Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Opposing Forces – 31 July 2021

Monster of Every Story

I am the monster of every story.
That’s right.
I am.

A catacomb mind.
A labyrinth.
I have.

With ghoulish glee.
A spectre.
I see.

Hateful stares
Catch you unawares
I smile.

Threatening vows
Suspicions roused
I laugh.

The pleasure’s mine
Twisting your twine.
I unravel.

Oh yes,
I am the monster of every story.

That is, every story
That’s mine.

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, First Line Friday – 2 Jul 2021

Pain

It was with a swath of nays,
I vocalised the strongest neigh
It’s like I never was in

P
A
I
N

It was nothing,
See me?

In the window pane?
It’s nothing.

That’s right…

Me.

I’m nothing.

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie , Saturday Mix – Double Take, 26 June 2021

Sky’s High

Unfolding. Night creeps.
Aglow, refresh bewitched minds
A piece of sky’s high

By Sarah ©2021

Ronovan Writes, Weekly Haiku Challenge #357 – high and refresh and Mindlovemisery’s Menageries, Photo Challenge #365

Apart

On greasy winds
they float.
Shirtless.

Shapes of
nonesuch, making
their return.

Easily obnubilating
My silent
screams.

The apartment of
my mind
Apart from man.

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Wordle 240

Beautiful Mistake

Line by line
I craft.
I dig into
The darkest parts
Of my mind.

Seeking a beautiful mistake.

Of my mind,
The darkest parts,
I dig into.
I craft.
Line by line.

By Sarah ©2021

Image credit Pobble365

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Sunday Writing Prompt – 9 May 2021

Solitudinarian

I am a solitudinarian.
I don’t need anyone.
I don’t need anything.
Away with you.
Be gone.

I am a solitudinarian.
Hear me when I say,
“I am perfectly fine.
I like things just the way they are.”
I do.

I am a solitudinarian.
I answer my own questions.
I interpret my replies.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
It is I.

I am a solitudinarian.
Yet emptiness is taking over.
Is this all there is?
I admit.
I’m lonely.

I am a solitudinarian.
But I need you.

By Sarah ©2021

Weekend Writing Prompt #208 – Solitudinarian

Melted

I put on a front.
But trying to freeze him out
I find, I am gone.
My heart – already melted.
Now, there is no looking back.

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Opposing Forces 8 May 2021

Boiling

cloak myself in white
hiding behind purest smiles
beneath, red blood boils

By Sarah ©2021

Ronovan Writes, Weekly Haiku – #356

Forever Chasing Fridays

A shadowed tree with
leaves hanging
like twisted crêpes
across the darkened park.

I’m insecure.
I’ll admit it.
Aren’t most girls in
this day and age?

The masculine presence
taints our safety,
like cherry blossoms
exhumed after the fall.

No piquant thoughts
allowed here.
How awful to be bittersweet –
forever chasing Fridays.

By Sarah ©2021

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Wordle #239

Clotted

We find ourselves in a spot
Whether we admit it or not

This pandemic has exposed the rot
Of our capitalist melting pot

Trying to gallop before we trot
Our economies a twisted knot

Hoping upon a vaccine’s our lot
Until then…stuck like a clot

By Sarah ©2020

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Rhyme Time, 22 August 2020

Rainy-day Tableau

Black birds dot the sky
A greyness sets in
Rain steadily falls
When did it begin?
I stare from the couch
And reach for the gin

By Sarah ©2020

 

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 8 August 2020 

Dear Heart

Dear heart
My life force
My essence
My core

Cursed heart
My traitor
My bastard
My whore

Pulse quickens
While head swims
Wondering how it ends
Before it begins

Daring to try
Taking a bet
This is the one
I hadn’t yet met

Dear heart
So hopeful
So believing
So open

Cursed heart
Too wanting
Too trusting

Now broken

©2020 By Sarah

Someday

Someday, this will
be over. Still
remembered ’til,
(like some) half-felt.

Fading nightmare.
Sorry affair.
Public declare
their hand’s been dealt.

True misery.
This malady,
a parody
of life withheld.

So many ’til,
the final kill.
Sad total bill,
its trophy pelt.

A lesson learned,
as tides are turned.
‘Til next time burned,
memories melt.

By Sarah ©2020

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, First Line Friday, May 22nd 2020; and also, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 16 May 2020

Author’s Note: This poem was inspired by the COVID-19 Pandemic, in hope we will never forget, and learn from this experience, in preparedness for next time. A warning we need to heed. The poetry form is one I have never used before – Rhupunt.

Rhupunt is a Welsh poetry form. Here are the guidelines:

▪ The form can be broken down into lines or stanzas
▪ Each line or stanza contains 3 to 5 sections
▪ Each section has 4 syllables
▪ All but the final section rhyme with each other
▪ The final section of each line or stanza rhymes with the final section of the other lines or stanzas

Prior

The situation is dire
We are walking a wire
Between life and a fire

May our efforts not tire
‘Though stuck in the mire
Community spirit soars higher

COVID-19 a qualifier
to be a lesson in the quire
The world changed from its prior

By Sarah ©️2020

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Rhyme Time, 4 April 2020

Wildflowers

Wrought when wildflowers whispered,

”Who, what, when, where, why?”

Whence without wisdom we

went wayward;

Wading.

Wandering.

Withering.

Weeping.

Wholeness withheld;

Wasted, wretched, whilst

witnesses watched.

We wait.

We waste.

We whimper.

We wake.

 

By Sarah ©2020

 

 

 

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Music Challenge – “You Don’t Know How It Feels”; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 22 February 2020

Tarot

I laid out the cards
in a familiar spread
Holding my breath
To see what they said.

Worn at the edges
From overuse
Am I reading them properly?
What can I deduce?

If I’m being honest
About what I see.
The message I hope for
Is not meant to be.

Relationships that break,
Seldom mend
I must face facts.
We have to end.

This hope must die between
midnight and noon.
Get on with my life,
Leave the mess I’ve strewn.

I won’t sit back now,
I will not wait.
Trust in the Tarot but
Pave your own fate.

By Sarah ©️2020

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Opposing Forces, 15 February 2020; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Sunday Writing Prompt “Tarot Reading”

Muted

I feel tears welling up
Cold and deep inside
With pride that’s battered
I turn to run and hide

A stab of loneliness
Just can’t be shaken
It’s sharp and it’s painful
My heartache has awakened

In silent screams
My soul fruitlessly yells
But my lips are tightly sealed
And I’ll never ever tell

How much you hurt me
Never once suspecting
That I was not alone in
The hearts you were collecting

The race is on
But the winner loses all
A fleeting moment, your belle
Your affection my shawl

Waking up each morning
Smelling your deceit
Finding that you’re gone now
Is all so bittersweet

And now that it’s over
In my dreams you dwell
Haunting muted memories
That I long to quell

By Sarah ©️2020

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Music Challenge – The Race Is On; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Rhyme Time, 8 February 2020

An Ugly Truth

An ugly truth it seems to be,
My harshest critic is but me.
Through cruelest lens I always see,
A captive’s plea. A captive’s plea.

“You’re fat, you’re foolish and you’re dumb,
Don’t dare to dream – they’ll never come.”
Her waspish voice begins to drum,
A constant hum. A constant hum.

Thoughts spiral quickly, filled with mirth.
Giving them air, just spreads their girth,
’til soon I feel of little worth –
An endless dearth, an endless dearth.

Pessimism grows; soon takes hold,
Wraps me in arms of bitter cold.
I am fearful – can’t break this mold.
Happiness sold. Happiness sold.

An ugly truth it seems to be,
My harshest critic is but me.
Through cruelest lens I always see.
Please set me free. Please set me free.

By Sarah ©2019

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 5 October 2019 and also; Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Sunday Writing Prompt “Ugly Words”

Monotetra structure:
Line 1: 8 syllables; A1
Line 2: 8 syllables; A2
Line 3: 8 syllables; A3
Line 4: 4 syllables, repeated; A4, A4

Charisma

The flowers were blooming, and the bees
kissed them every now and then. Their
charisma – alluring; so
irresistible. Not
able to choose just
one they loved them
all. Pollen;
lustful
drug.

By Sarah ©2019

Image credit Pixabay

Ragtag Daily Prompt, Saturday 24 August: Charisma; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Unique Personality, 24 August 2019