2019 Bloodlines Archive

A Little Push, Somehow Through

by Ariella Watson

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A little right, a little wrong: silence ringing like a gong

A little warm, a little cold: another breath becoming old

A little slow, a little fast: a single thought in sharp contrast

A little far, a little near: a paralyzing shot of fear

A little young, a little old: here a story never told

 

A little wrong, a little right: here a choice, it’s fight or flight

A little soft, a little loud: standing separate from the crowd

A little then, a little now: no-one knows just when or how

A little hope, a little doubt: weaving in, around, and out

A little sun, a little cloud: isolation like a shroud

 

A little right, a little wrong: feeling not so very strong

A little covered, somewhat bare: filling lungs with coldest air

A little big, a little small: stopping short still freely fall

A little dark, a little light: candle’s flame in blackest night

A little here, a little there: place a foot upon the stair

 

A little wrong, a little right: setting sights upon the height

A little heart, a little mind: knock and seek and you will find

A little water, some of fire: feet are sucked into the mire

A little meek, a little bold: keeping hope in tightest hold

A little cruel, a little kind: life won’t leave us far behind

 

A little right, a little wrong: grief is breaking into song

A little lost, a little found: slipping out of chains, unbound

A little thick, a little thin: raindrops falling on warm skin

A little loose, a little tight: I won’t leave you alone to fight

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To Be A Wise Woman

by Beth Wise

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To be a wise woman means:

To be knowledgeable

To be old

To be bold

To be gentle

To be kind

To radiate love

To show compassion

To be respected

 

To be a wise woman means:

To guide

To be followed

To have learned

To question

And to grow

 

The Virgin Mary

Mother Theresa

Rosa Parks

 

Wise woman who:

Stands up for herself

Stands up for her community

Stands up for her values

 

Wise woman who:

Cares for herself

Cares for others

 

Wise woman who:

Is aware

Is present

Is connected

Who stands up

Who shows up

Who hurts

And comforts

And weeps

Who stands up

And shows up

And dances

And sings

Who laughs with joy

And toils not in vain

 

A wise woman is ordinary

Extraordinary

 

Wise woman oh wise woman

Who are you?

 

Does a wise woman:

Recoil in shame?

Hide and blame?

Make excuses

And run from pain?

 

Does a wise woman:

Stay quiet and small?

 

Does a wise woman:

Drive herself crazy

Holding onto the past

And worrying about the future?

 

Does a wise woman:

Avoid hard work?

Call herself names?

Pick herself apart

Body part by body part?

 

Does a wise woman:

Zone out?

Check out?

Try to be perfect

And fall apart when she fails?

 

Does a wise woman:

Feel insecure of her worth?

Search for approval

Get jealous when others receive it

 

Does a wise woman:

Sabotage herself

To prove she’s not worthy?

 

To be a wise woman means:

To be courageous

To greet pain with kindness

To find acceptance within

 

To be a wise woman means:

To balance fierceness

With gentleness

 

To be a wise woman means:

To use her intelligence

And her strength

To accomplish her dreams

To love herself deeply

And let that love carry her

To where she needs to go.

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Puppet Master, October, Clowning Around, White Lie, Us, I Hope You Rest in Peace, Being Queen, Stuff

by Jessica Bellar

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Puppet Master

It is warm inside of you

Though the softest part is on the outside

I like to make you smile

I like to make you talk

I like to move you

You do what I want

I take my hand out of you and you die

 

October

There is a chill in the air

Leaves begin to change

The coat has gotten thicker on the mare

Wood gets arranged

Time to wear a sweater

I can smell smoke

Soon the snow will be weather

Time to be in doors and joke

 

 

Clowning Around

I am your friend

I was at your 10th birthday party

I wear the mask that scares

I am no longer in your nightmares

 

 

White Lie

Sliding through lips like satin ribbon

Beautiful

Departs lips as natural as easily as exhaling

Easy

Rolling in the space between two people

Contorting

Enters my ear like an earwig

Reassuring

Wraps around a body like a warm blanket

Deceit

Disintegrates like sand granules through fingers

Fake

Traveling through the body like a virus

Infecting

Building upon its self

Growing

One upon another

Bigger

Hurting everyone

Untrue

 

 

Us

You gave me so much comfort

You are the color of my choosing

We use to match

We are different colors

When you were around

Where have you gone?

You are not around anymore

I like the toe stitch

Lost in the abyss

I often think of you being with a troll

 

 

I can’t see you inside

How is this possible anyway

I know you are there

 

 

I Hope You Rest in Peace

This day shall be the best day the sun will shine

For today you are able to tell your loved ones you love them

This day will be the worst day and the sun will not shine

For today you cannot tell your loved ones you love them

For you may be as me

Sleeping with worms

 

 

 

Being Queen

I am the queen

All you girls work for me

Working from sun up to sun down

You girls tend to your brothers and sisters

I need food for energy

Hurry

Make food for your brothers and sisters

Get food to make more food

Work storing food

 

 

Stuff

To the roof

High, low, left, right

You own me

Buy

I spend time making money

To buy stuff

I feel good for a while

Until I get tired of looking at you

Sell

Losing money

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The Oxygen of Love

by Katherine Park Woolbert

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Not just the words, but the compass they offer…

That’s what I want, what I need. The ability

To keep balanced as humans wobble the earth

on her axis, insanity inflames, and demagogues

spin their lies in a thick and sticky web, ensnaring

true vision, feeding on ignorance and fear, offering

easy answers all tied up in a pretty bow.

 

The drumhead tautens, threatens to tear

while the drummer sets a rhythm too fast,

too tight to hold, and the beat dizzies, erratic,

out of control. How do we stop feeding the madness,

prune the shallow roots and suckers that seek out

sustenance where there’s none to be found—

that can’t be sustained—

that can never really satisfy.

 

How do we sink down our taproots beyond

the hard and rocky layers, the ones

that seem hopeless and impenetrable,

the ones that make us face our loneliness

and longing, the ones that actually require work,

until we break through the deep into fecundity,

the moist underworld of la tierra sagrada.

 

Only there can the taproot marry the rich earth,

entwine and intermingle, inter-depend,

each feeding the other. Only then can

the trees of our bodies spiral upward,

our arms extend into the heavens,

beautiful, balanced, belonging. Only then

can we breathe in the madness, transform

the poison within the universe of our cells,

breathe out the oxygen of love.

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Haiku, Kafka Poem, Work Heartily in Progress

by Max Moll

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“Haiku”

Wow look at this view

Mountains close to this classroom

Loving this life too

 

 

“Kafka Poem”

We all need some inspiration

It’s the seed of all great things

I can’t seem to go anywhere

Without the spirit there

 

Inspiration powers everything

From chefs to those who sing

Do we all think the world could be

Without inspiration to see

 

We all need something to look up to

Cooks need a way to cook

Writers need a way to write

And inspiration fixes everything

 

Inspiration runs the world

We have so many everyday things

Because of that inspiration

Which makes us all feel like kings

 

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“Work Heartily In Progress”

This

Right triangle figure

Is such an enjoyable shape

Which involves so much of using the mind

Of math and science equations such as the cosine

What a shape this is which fascinates everyone in classes

Many Scientists study this everyday too with all the equations

There are sines, cosines, tangents, secants, cosecants, cotangents

We all have to love this figure which takes up so many high school classes

What a unique, amazing, mind blowing, complex, confusing, puzzling shape this is

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The Month of May

by Michael Moll

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My goodness I hate the winter

Which marks the fate of my joy

My mind slowly becomes irate

This damn sun comes out so late

 

This season is bad at being a season

Making my mind sad to be a mind

 

The world turns to gray

My heart hurts today

I want to escape my feelings in some way

But this shape I’m in won’t let me do a thing

 

I miss this sunlight

No bliss anywhere

My moods are a fight

And this stupid season is a fright

 

I don’t want to wake up these mornings

There’s no will to get up

The joy of seeing the seasons change is so fake

With that ugly frozen lake

 

Just let the longer days come their way

I can’t wait for the month of May

I can’t stand the darkness today

Just let it be the month of May

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