Category: Poems

Stairway to Somewhere?

Published on by Tosha Michelle45 Comments

Here under the tent, we say
our final goodbye. Soon your
coffin will be lowered into the ground.
The crowd folds like fall foliage,
with promises that it will get better
and death is not the end.
What will they remember of you?
Your smile? The broach you always wore?
The photo of you on the beach
in your Sunday best, with sunglasses
as stylish as Jackie O’s.
Please send me a sign,
a popcorn kernel of hope
that your spirit lives on.
That your soul is in a peaceful
place. That days and years
from now, we’ll find you again.
I question the sky. It reflects
back light then dark. No
definitive answers there.
Yet still I search eternity,
for you. This depth of feeling
keeps me pondering infinity.
This anguish spurs me on.

-Tosha Michelle

Grace 

Published on by Tosha Michelle67 Comments


I’ve inhaled tbe spell of honeysuckles
I’ve invented my own fortune,
spinning them into the fabric of my skin.
I leave poems behind for you to read
I sing you songs made of
moonshine and starlight.
The keening of my heart
in every note.
I no longer believe in stories with no endings
but I do believe we create
our own beginnings.

-Tosha Michelle 

Steady 

Published on by Tosha Michelle41 Comments

Last night I dreamed I was 

a blackbird and you didn’t get 

my song 

I was a wild flower but you

couldn’t see my beauty, only

the  cracks in the sidewalk

I tried to shimmer, to show you 

my grace 

But you see through me 

dissolving my bones

Again and again I come back

to you in some form

You look at me but 

do not know me

I keep hoping that one day

you’ll remember my name

An Introvert Goes to a Party.

Published on by Tosha Michelle87 Comments

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Tonight, I’d rather be home
getting lost in antique spines.
Craving the casual, yoga pants
and T-shirt. .Ditching this party
and dress. I can’t relate to
razzle dazzle, hoity toity
The desire for loud. My
symphony has always
been quiet.

These people
are a splinter in my isolated
hope chest for one. They
are a complex Allegory of
celebratory nothingness
Outward they glimmer
Inward, just a flicker.

I’m my own mistress of
distraction, mapping out
a poem in my head,
as some fool
in a too tight corset
tells me stories
about her latest boyfriend
who has a love for the
voluptuous and shallow.
The latter is just
an assumption on my
part.

As the clock ticks
inside my head,
sounding more
like bedtime, bedtime,
than tick tock. I note
the exit, I must reach
it before I’m tempted
to try hemlock.

I escape into wallpaper
border and sit down by
a napping cat. I stencil
my name on a gravestone
of banality and toss my
party dress off a bridge

I dissolve into particles
of light and reemerge in
bathwater of blessed
tranquility. I find kismet
with my bath mate, the
one I love-Solitude

We celebrate lavender and
quiet things. Afterwards,
I put on a night gown
of silence and
climb under a blue
comforter, under the
bluest of moon.
Finding serenity
in the stillness

-Tosha Michelle

Framing the Scene 

Published on by Tosha Michelle54 Comments

You’re always fluttering around.

I watch you, scared you might fall.

I want to lead you to the right song, to the right flowerbed.

Instead I spin in the air. My form lost among the pines. 

The light I had to lead us home, long since gone.

Should we follow the glow of the moon?

Sing to the wind?  Give it a few days to answer. 

Perhaps I should leave my heart in a wicker basket.

Cover myself in morning dew.

Abandon the very thought of you.
-Tosha Michelle 

Hands of Gold

Published on by Tosha Michelle39 Comments

Spring whispers when you are near.

Breathe your name into my ear.

Tell me your stories,

 especially the ones

written on ancient tapestry.

Give me flower seeds I can plant.

I’ve stumbled through the bramble 

to find you.

I was not seeking this knotty retreat,

but look how my leaves

have taken to the light.

Carry me to the highest treetop.

Fly with me on the wind. 

Watch  over me when my mind

plays peekaboo with the dark.

When  I can’t locate myself on any map,

and I’m lost a land wishing to destroy me.

Give me the gold of your heart.

The stream of your resolve.

The pixie dust of your hands.

For me, at least, your magic is enough. 

-Tosha Michelle


A Scholarly Gentleman

Published on by Tosha Michelle70 Comments

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One of my best friends is celebrating his birthday soon and I wanted to do something special for him. Niles and I go way back and we’ve been seen some (insert curse word here) Twelve years of friendship and our bond just grows stronger.

This is my tribute to a gentleman with a lovely creative soul. Niles, thanks for being you and always getting me. Love, respect and snark always.

“The Gentleman Writer”

Seemingly readable and uncomplicated 
Underneath he burns like the red sun. 

Unruly ghosts tapdance in his head 
He orders them in poetic verse

Laying claim to a writer’s vocation 
Here his imploded dreams come to fruition 

He spins his hope into a July moon 
Ink becomes his salvation.
as he basks in the white heat
moments of no sound.

Knowing words are a gift
His fingers loosen the bow.

-Tosha Michelle

Listen to For Good by Tosha Michelle 2020 #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/tosha-michelle2020/for-good

Happy birthday, sir

May the
image
be plentiful.

image
always win

And
image

find her way to your door.

Love Me

Published on by Tosha Michelle64 Comments

download

Love me like we’re
lost in the woods on
a moonless night,
being serenaded by
the wind, and the
ominous sounds of
a chainsaw and
maniacal laugher.

Love me like a pole
crashing into the yard,
live wires leaving their
streaks on the lush green
grass.

Love me without thought,
without asking, without
wondering if you paid
the light bill, or if you
should wear your grey
trousers tomorrow or
your black.

Love me when you’re
stuck in rush hour
traffic with a
headache, and the
jerk in the car
next to
you is blasting
hip hop
so loud, you can
feel your seat
vibrating.

Love me in a back
alley, up against a
brick wall, your mouth
on my throat, while
we move in rhythm
to the sound of
sirens and street noise.
Do it when
no one looking, and
there’s a citywide power
outage, and the looting
has begun, and a truck
jumps a curve and almost
sideswipe a bus, while
someone throws a brick
through a window.

Love me like the first
taste of bourbon, like
a blessing, like a flood,
like a barrage of light
filling a blind man’s
eyes, like eros and
agape love mating.

Love me when we’re
both too tired to make
love, when you are
lonely, when you
hate everyone and
you’ve lost your
faith.

Come lie down beside
me, close your beautiful
eyes, take my hand as
I sing you a lullaby of
longing, and I’ll
never stop as long
as you love me, as
long as you keep
loving me, just like
that.