#vss365 I lie here lay here exist Between open bottle and dirty blender emotions squeezed #pulp clinging to pith My zest still green tinged with naivety ah, I am a sticky mess but not your counter to clean I only want to be to gather fruit flies, gnats, ants who sip my sadness until it is gone.

#vss365 Storm season came with a thunderous downpour. Emotions spilled, and everyone sought refuge. The abandoned left to find an #oasis— a place to wait out the torrent. But this season was worse than the last. This season brought irreparable damage.

#vss365 Without photos, we try and recall our childhood. A scrapped book— sharp-edged, tear-faded, half-written. Our abandoned lore. Fragmented memories #blur as we blend our experiences into something... something we can bear. And with time, we learn to live with our truth.

#vss365 What a #conundrum! A life lived— happily? well… married, nearly 20 years. They don’t speak, can’t share a space; A son voices wishes in the ruins of disgrace. A family weighed in hands by a civil servant paper mountain of demands. Paper dolls glued together ripped apart— changed forever.

#vss365 1 of 2 In chambers of #caprice judge a young man faced his fate. A #sonorous truth he spoke— he prayed his words held weight. Under judge’s #scrutiny, his #escutcheon cracked apart— a family shield now fractured, exposing his guarded heart.

#vss365 My #eventuality became reality. My future, my potential, still my choice— for a limited time.

#vss365 The #bellwether of morality is missing— nowhere to be found. Humanity is scattered; lost, we listen for a sound. Wooly-eyes flock to social media, graze blind in mirrored fields, of choice, feed on psychopathy, #reinvigorate a discordant voice. Where have the shepherds gone?

#vss365 Your hand slips from mine, you turn away, blending into a clique of friends. Shame’s blush fades as you fade from sight. #Perhaps this is a stage we all pass through before our parent becomes a person. By instinct, I touch my gold cross, think of Mama's sacrifices for an ungrateful me.

#vss365 Everything feels #catastrophe. Even good isn’t as good as could be. But when it’s bad, it spins way worse. This is the fabric of my anxious universe.

#vss365 A wife and mother took oath to be true But when she testified her life turned askew. Her words came out bitter, an #extrusion, sharp, amiss. Judge gave ruling— socially relabeled “Mrs.” to plain “Miss.” No longer mother no longer wife sons went with their father freed from her toxic life.

#vss365 The night is long, this winter harsh. My reserve low. Each awakening, I reach for what is gone. My #stock dwindles, my panic rises— but never the sun. I fear I do not have the fortitude to see me through these, my darkest days. And yet I know... this indifferent planet turns.

#vss365 Two dissonant notes— one chord. #Synthesis births a melody; a song is born. A song, on refrain, in time, out of tune an earworm, Two discordant notes, straining to be heard, are rearranged— until only harmony remains.

#vss365 I was fraught, searching faces—desperate for an ally. But there were none who'd #conspire with me. Not now. Not in this wasteland of ash and ember bridges. At the stand, hand on the Bible, I felt hell’s flames lick my palm. ‘Do you swear…’ were the last words before everything went black.

#vss365 BANG! Peg watched the man she once loved release his #rein. BANG! 2nd shot. He went slack. The pistol fell with a thump. Swoosh, it was lost beneath her skirts. “Oh Peg o' my heart,” he gasped, dying at her feet. Peg kicked gun and dust to his hand, screaming, “My husband’s shot! Help!”

#vss365 Tom is quite fetch, this is true. His #style, smart—vintage GQ. With a penchant for pinching, He thrills at the #flinching, Imaginging derrieres in a plum-colored hue.

#vss365 It is never too early to worry; lines of worry are easy to trace. I carry the weight of my worries in my fists, my shoulders, my face. My worry for others consumes me; I’m #exhausted by problems I hear. I worry, I worry too much— it’s the #potential outcomes I fear.

#vss365 Hershey bar on dash Crawdaddy-red Datsun picking up speed picking up boys We hold on— Baby oil tan Wind tangled hair FM #power ballads AC busted, gas tank low We hold on— melted chocolate torn #wrappers fingers sticky Lip Smacker kisses We hold on— nothing is #bearable when summer's gone.

#vss365 #Chance is a key— It opens the #doorway to possibility. Taken by the bold. Given to those deemed worthy.

#vss365 I was there to help sort Mama’s things. Daddy, nervous with grief, fidgeted his rings. Her bedside table, a source of distress, held unmentionables— her #articles of congress. Daddy’s face twisted, a sheepish wolf’s grin— Mama’d been an angel, ’til Daddy taught her sin.

#vss365 She was not #conscious, she did not know— the words she chose did hurt him so. She wiped his tears. She apologized. But nothing changed. More harm. More lies. She was not conscious, she remained unaware— how her choice of words taught him how not to care.

#vss365 A parent's love is #unconditional, beginning at birth. A child's love is arbitrary, tantrums, tears, and mirth. Cut apron strings, unclip your wings, try to tame your wild. Watch you fly away, hope one day you become a parent— with your own child.

#vss365 I sense tension think & think MY transgressions #elude me still— I apologize for what I did, & didn’t, say, do, know I reflect on #past memories search, pray, hope To understand still— I walk on pins & needles, trip over your silence and I try I try, try to clean up obstacles between us

#vss365 Some folks #yearn, others burn, Still, many just exist.

#vss365 A #constellation of two, lonely Dog Stars, burning bright— together, forever apart.

#vss365 A gumbo of scents, #Pungent and enticing escape the breakroom. A wafting over cubicle walls. My stomach growls reminding me it’s time for lunch, and friends. I join the chatter, with lasagna and laughter everyone is welcome— unless their dish is fish.

#vss365 Was it murder? Or sickness? this—character assassination? Innuendos, a #malignant malice, an infectious disease. A hardened heart, a silent killer, unnoticed, 'til the damage was done. We are left, to suffer and lament, in ambiguous abandonment, the memories of us.

#vss365 We enter court, mournful, uncertain, souls bared in judgment, praying angels intervene. Freedom comes at a cost. We leave with papers— a divorce decree. We join a #jovial second line, like a jazz funeral, friends rallying to lift us into a new chapter of life.

#vss365 His Promethean father passed down his flame, confidence, compassion, a family name. An insentient mother, with clanker heart, could break both their spirit with one cutting remark. Yet he grew #sentient, able to see, to think, to love, to choose, to be.

#vss365 Pity the #audacious, I watched her demise, in Galveston harbor, ’round eleven-oh-five. She wore white satin— a slip splattered red, dancing and singing, “my true love is dead.” Caught him with another; shot them on sight. Now love walks the plank, in ghostly moonlight.

#vss365 With his hook, he dropped a line, and caught a bass.🎣 With a bass, he dropped a line, and caught a hook.🎶

#vss365 Along the river I walk through time, visiting family who used to be mine. A weeping of willow I’ve come to see, roots twisted, limbs crooked, all broken — like me. I try to remember, the beautiful and rotten in my family tree, #malformed, misshapen, but never forgotten.

#vss365 Eventide to eventide awash with worry— imagining whereabouts, fearing the worst. Waiting for a storm-eyed girl, in all her exasperation, to roll in like thunder, tripping on lies in the dark. The #reek of yesterday’s sin clings to her— like dog shit on the bottom of a shoe.

#vss365 Oh, #mundane Monday, After rebellious Saturday and Sunday, my recalibration— I begin, again and again, my eight to five, my daily comfort drive, my knowing where I begin and end.

#vss365 In silent support I hold #vigil I hold my breath I wait— for a weight to lift for a resolution I meditate; they mediate— the have, the have not I pray for the prey— for the children My pain is nothing compared to a father struggling to free himself & his sons from a crocodile's teary lies

#vss365 my tongue is tender from years of bite marks, thick with unspoken words. was she his choice, or he hers? she was never mine. yet she is, in law, until she isn’t we all bend to her mood. i #seethe at her wake, the weathered wreckage the remnants of my family.

#vss365 I asked AI how to make a "brilliant sage tonic." The result tasted fishy and now my brain is #bionic. The side effects are profound; I can’t move or make a sound. I'm Catatonic, but my thoughts are iconic.

#vss365 Nightfall, I fall quietly into my cosy bed. my eyes closed, thoughts exposed, #pummel my brain with #abject dread. Whys, and what-ifs, and maybes, of words spoken and left unsaid, buzz around, intrusively, inside my weary head.

#vss365 "We're here to discuss your disregard for our #rules." I eye the plate across the table. "Is this a bribe?" I pull it closer. "I really shouldn’t." Pinching off a bite of the brownie, I add, "You know you’re on thin ice?"

#vss365 Over the summer, Anna got her ears pierced, her first phone, and by fall she was more than ready to win fourth grade. She walked into orientation all spitfire and #sass, a coveted Lemonade LaBuBu swinging from her backpack, and a fierce confidence born of summer piano lessons.

#vss365 I’ve memorized every constellation on this horizon, but tonight the waves wail like sirens. Midnight's tide delivers a mermaid’s coin at my feet. I snap it open; five #angels burst free, diving back into the inky black sea. “Go,” I plead, "find him. Bring him home.”

#vss365 #Charms minted from humble metal, each a pocketable prayer. Saint Rita, meant to protect in impossible times, A modest medal I carry her everywhere.

#vss365 She wears a growl, a #scrowl, a frown Her features turn her upside down and inside out, for deep inside She is but a wave, an ebbing tide, A pull that drags at sand on shore And leaves behind a flotsam swirl— of broken glass, hollow shell, and luminescent pearl.

#vss365 Crawdaddy stinking, garden hose drinking, blackberry briars, muddy bare feet. Bubblegum kissing, dandelion wishing, breathless #mischief, racing twilight. Tree house fighting, Bonfire lighting, Crackerjack prizes, lightning bug rings. Polaroids fast fading.

#vss365 Melody of contentment, #humdrum tempo: home work home measured in breaks. Daily rhythm— “Morning.” Day after day. Smile after smile. “How's it going?” “See ya tomorrow.” Dissonant sound! Discontent. “Ya hear?” “What?” “Don’t you know?” Hearts race beats syncopate to familiar humdrum.

If I enter and the sky does not open, if the floor does not hum— check the wards. Check the sea. My coming should call thunder from the bones of the deep, low and god-made. Old as salt. Heavy as prophecy. If it is quiet, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. #VSS365 - Hum #Poetry #Poem

#vss365 Mama didn’t hear the news of my brother’s death—she saw it on Daddy’s face. Ash-colored, he buckled like a sorrowful #elm. She wailed like wind before a tornado. The air was sucked from our home. Neighbors came with casseroles and comfort, but grief is a hunger that starves itself.

#vss365 A #sapphire night, A glowing neon sign Free room & drinks A #happenstance— a gambler’s goldmine Siren slots sing of sin Fluttering #sparrows gathered near Curious of the loser Wagering all that's dear Free room & drinks cost everything But, next time I'll win big with a lucky charm I bring

#vss365 Texas Hill Country Westward rolling— burial mounds. Bluebonnet settlers, #together with Indian paint renegades, lie beneath a patchwork blanket of #crimson clover— massacre. Yet every Spring families flock, shooting photos, fighting bees— Curating memories.

#vss365 A dew drop of #violet hue, on a grey day, washed from view. Rising waters raging stream muddy gasp roaring scream. Nature’s fury sent waves of pain. The dew drop was changed: to tear—to blood—to rain. The storm did pass, and the sun broke through. The lost dew drop found its rainbow hue.

#vss365 My eyes? They are sparkling wells effervescent memories bubbling to the surface shiny copper wishes, turning green, as light touches water. My smile? It’s a safety vest inflated at will to keep me from sinking into a pool of self-pity, to keep me from drowning in a sea of my own #tears.