Half-Hearted

source

I tried to get you off my mind

You came to me in dreams instead

Awakened with you in my head

Convinced that I was not that kind

I told myself that I'd forget

Despite the years, I haven't yet

Afraid of feelings I might find

Avoided what I knew I knew

As I grew older, they grew too

Too far along to push rewind

A silly crush that wouldn't last

was relegated to the past

I wonder what I left behind

The passion I could never show

The part of me I'll never know.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Play It Again Toads #5, Kerry's Sunday Form Challenge, Constanza

Dance With Me

Dance with me

Hear that jazz play

We will be

redeemed in the sway

Let the others make way

I deem this night ours

These few hours

In your affection

Do not be remiss

I long for the perfection

of your kiss

Let the others see our bliss

Don't miss the chance

Hold me and dance.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Get Listed for Feb.: Absent
and Play It Again Toads, Rhyme Royal

Nature Bestows Strength

source

Nature bestows strength on her children

Sometimes, we listen to the quietest voice

and the delicate flower is the most tenacious

Every living thing strives toward growth

Struggles to survive even the unsurvivable

Nature bestows strength on her children

Within the grinding chaos and nattering chatter

A breeze whispers through spring grasses 

Sometimes, we listen to the quietest voice

Storms bring down the grandest oak

A lone blossom pushes through a littered sidewalk toward the sun

The delicate flower is the most tenacious.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Play It Again Toads #13, Hedgewitch's Cascade Challenge

Mother

You always called me

your little tsouris

I thought it was a term of endearment
Like a lost word,

[it comes] back unbidden *

with your memory

You said you knew

the dark spirits would follow me

because my name was uttered

in your eighth month
 You tried

to love me but

when you looked at me,

you saw the dybbuk

and recoiled

You accused me 

of trying to turn you into a ghost

when I named my doll after you

I didn't know

I was only ten

On your grave today

I placed a stone

I'm still trying, Mother.

* For Ella's prompt, we were instructed to include a line from a ghost poem. I chose "Unbidden" by Rae Armantrout

Poet's Notes: I've made mention of several Jewish words superstitions in this poem:

• tsouris = heartbreak, worry
• uttering baby's name during pregnancy will alert evil spirits
• dybbuk = an evil spirit that possesses the living
• naming a baby after someone still alive is akin to wishing them dead
• instead of flowers, Jews place a stone when visiting a grave

submitted for Magpie Tales, Mag 242
and Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Play It Again, Toads #10, Hallows Edge