Crushed Flowers

And these are my flaws
My vices.
Impatience, a tongue
sharp as a guillotine.
Caffeine. Chocolate.
Sarcasm on every occasion.
And unquenchable desire
to be loved.
A heart that is an
exhibitionist who
weeps upon
my sleeve
A fear of monochrome
colors, thunder,
the undone,
petty gossip
and letting go.
A hunger to be kissed
often and with fervor.
An awkward shyness
around new people.
A fascination with
the lure of a snowbound
life.
Not being Christian
enough to turn the
other cheek or Zen
enough to just be still.
The knowledge that my
life is unimportant
in a world with a noose
around its neck but
writing about it
anyway.
I often prefer the company
of books and my cat to
other human beings.
I live nside a cluttered
mind in a pristine house.
And not listening closely
to my Granny and her
treasury of wise words
Most which I have
forgotten, but
I do recall her saying
you must learn
to take what will
be with grace,
that our flaws
bind us
to humanity,
and to never forget
even broken crushed
flowers are beautiful
More fragrant for
their fall.
The infallible blossom
of dtrength and the will
to go

-Tosha Michelle

Next Year

wishing everyone only the best in 2017.

“Maybe someday,
You’ll be somewhere
Talking to me
As if you knew me,
Saying, I’ll be home for next year, darling.
I’ll be home for next year.
And maybe sometime,
In a long time,
You’ll remember
What I had said there.
I said, I’ll be home for next year, darling,
I’ll be home for next year.”

Interior Design

Sometimes I sing in incomplete rhymes.
I write in crayon and leave
my shoes beside the sandbox.
I sign my letters with x and o.
I ponder in doubt, the crisscross musings
speaking out loud.

Sometimes a woman needs
flowers out of season, homegrown vegetables, romance,
sex, and easy to read instructions.
Instead she meditates on ice cream
Jung and HGTV
Attempts to become enlightened.
Prays to paper and pen.
Looking for an all encompassing view.
Hoping for an all embracing embrace.
She offers herself to drumbeat and sage.
The rhythm under the air. She turns her heart
to some inferior door, finding something buried
in red. Hope for a moment sustained 

-Tosha Michelle

The Past

The past slips forward
under the door.
Slithering around on the
floor, tangled with our
muted perceptions and half
recalled facts. It’s dines
on our regrets, our annual
if only breakfast of crow.
We study it like math,
figures, we can’t quite grasp
We equate in retrospect.
under a ghost light
We ponder its multiplicity.
We survive on a broken
calculator and flashcards
that read don’t let go.

-Tosha Michelle 

Poetry

It feels safe to reside inside poetry. It’s my escape route.
Real and imagined.
Here I can live multiple lives
My feelings are diverse, if I tire of one emotion, there’s always another close as the ink on my hand.
Poetry holds my heart, and understands like water, I’m perpetually in transition. My words take on many forms. Some are steeped in reality. Others, solely fantasy, perhaps, live perceived in a parallel universe.

My soul never grows static in verse. My poet self, helps me gain confidence to live life as my real self, to have the courage to balance monotony and forgive the world its drudgery.

-Tosha Michelle 

Here I Go 

Hello lovely ones. Just a few random thoughts from a chaotic mind. Firstly, I’d like to say that, I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and follow this blog. It means the world to me. I’ve connected with some really wonderful and talented folks.  I’m grateful for those connections and I know that some of those friendships will carry-on for many years to come. Having said that, I will be cutting back on the amount of time I spend here. Life has taken on a very busy tone of late.  I will still be posting but the frequencies of my posts will be more sporadic and sparse.  My goal is to at least post once a week.

Secondly, I don’t want to get political but I will say that now more than ever, I am praying for our country.. It should be noted,  I’m not even a particularly religious person.  It is my hope that love and tolerance will always win out of over hate and bigotry. it’s up to us to hold our leaders to a higher standard and demand that they govern with dignity, integrity and compassion.

Steps off soap box and looks for cake. Hands you a piece.

All besr,

T.

The Ground’s Lament

image

The ground frozen,
giving winter it’s shoulder
not impressed with the cold
or its icy sword and brass
knuckles. It’s nothing the
ground hasn’t seen before.

Soon enough a warm rain
will come, and winter will
have no choice but to retreat.
Let the rain come and cover up
yards, tree trunks
Let the rivers overthrow bridges
We’ll make boats out of
billboards and give everyone
a ride.

The ground shrugs winter or
rain. It knows, when it all ends,
there’ll be nothing left but dust
No place to gather oxygen.
Soon enough there will be
nowhere to rest.

-Tosha Michelle 

October In View

I could live for the sky today.
so bright and vast
Spread a blanket on the ground
Open a basket of hope

Feast on the taste of an illuminated
world, green fields
with no fences, the sun rising
over the meadow.

Devour the middle of the white
chocolate colored clouds
No one to take note of me

Serenity in the stillness
My skin alive with the melody
of the breeze slow
dancing with the golden leaves.

I sway along with the stray wind
My face dusted by
sunlight. My worries dissolving
into sweet pitch of
a heavenly October day.

-Tosha Michelle