Storms comfort me.
The sound of the wind rushing,
tree branches bending under its’ power.
Heavy rain on a roof,
accompanied by striking flashes of light
and deep, rattling booms.
The display of Mother Nature’s power
is a sovereignty in its own right—
a welcome reminder
of how small I am
in the vastness of life.
And in that smallness,
I can breathe again.
I never liked hope
before;
it was just another thing
I had to learn to survive.
Now I find myself
yearning to embrace
hope’s comforting warmth,
and I am scared
to welcome it in.
But I think that finally
I am ready
to say goodbye
to the walls and the fences,
the isolation and the armor,
and crack the gate
open.
My heart weighed heavy,
a pressure like
the weight of the sky
against Atlas’s shoulders,
pulling me down
behind my rib cage.
A crushing force—
I watched it
sink me beneath
the dirt and ashes
spreading around me.
I burned with such
intensity and heat
I thought that there would be
nothing left of me.
A spiritual calling
disguised as death,
I walked through
the fires of hell
until I clawed my way
out of the underworld.
I was yours
once upon a nightmare—
because all nightmares
start as dreams.
And for a time,
I did not mind.
I fell in love with
the dream you created,
and before I knew better
I got caught up
doing what I could
to keep it
from ending.
I’m not sure
when the dreamscape
you painted
grew so dark,
only that I noticed
too late.
And upon awakening—
I do not recognize the world.
growth is not what I anticipated.
for everything lost, something better
was gained—
and my soul feels pulled in two directions:
my old ways,
and the ones I am stepping into.
I never knew nostalgia could hurt
so much,
or that freedom could be found
in forms of loss.
the sunrise I never thought would come
is finally dawning,
and I am scared
of what it means
to leave the darkness behind.
Dear Omaha,
Your ghost still haunts me like a protruding scar on my heart that may never fade. In quiet moments, your ghost and its echos come to me, stalking the darker halls of my mind.
I know that I am not innocent in these affairs. With my heart and mind in a state of dilapidation, I chose complicity every time to claim a place by your side, and the sides of those to come. I gave everything, and it was never enough.
But there was a time when you and your echos did bring some light into my darkness, and for a while, that light was enough to keep going. I never thanked you for that. And even now, your ghost and its echos are a source of power for my healing.
I do not regret everything we did and everything we shared and everything we said. In a strange twist that I never saw coming, I am grateful for the experience of you. For because of you, I am wiser and I am stronger and I am becoming the person I am meant to be. I hope your soul can find that too.
So thank you, and farewell,
JPM
I made you my sun
when I was an Icarus.
Addicted to your warmth,
and disregarding
the destruction of fire,
I flew too close
and I stayed too long
until you melted my wings
and I entered a free fall.
something shifts,
something changes,
the silence is louder,
the view rearranges.
time passes,
things click,
the veil lifts:
it’s more arsenic.
your hands lingering on my body
erotic conversations in a car
winks given across the room
say you want me to bloom
my body aflame where you touch
my knee, my thigh, my arm
a hand on my breast
breath caught in my chest
your hands in my hair
voice low in my ear
heat blooming in my core
my body begging for more
Older Woman and Younger Girl,
a History of My Life.
She has me spellbound
wondering if I am confounded.
Phoenix Marie Poetry 