Showing posts with label Despair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Despair. Show all posts

Monday, April 24, 2023

Life Lessons for a Poet

 

Read one good poem a day.

Look up.

For every negative thought, think three positives. Because this life hurts too much already.

Duct tape your ugly mouth.  You are amazing and stop saying otherwise.

When all else fails, pray.

Everything will fail.  Pray.

Think of the children.

Talk a walk in nature.  Breathe it in.  Don’t forget what you learned there.

Remember: someone needs you.

Remember: you need, too.

Write, damn it.  That’s how you know what you need to know.  It’s your gift.  To yourself.

 

© 2023 Jennifer Wagner

 

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Emily (Hope Kicks)


hope
kicks
you
when you need it

if you must
cry
scream (it’s unfair)
swear (every word you can think of)
snot running,
mascara flowing
down your chin
allow it
for one hour
or one day
eat chocolate
eat the cake
the whole damn thing
pity party
like there’s no tomorrow
if that’s what it takes
and then
you get up       

Get      

Up

big girl
get off the floor

it won’t let you stay there

hope
kicks
you
when you need it

reminds you
it is the thing
with feathers

and wings that sing
your truth to you
when you’ve forgotten
how to fly        



Copyright 2013 Jennifer Wagner

Inspired by my all time favorite poem by Emily Dickinson, “Hope” is the thing with feathers.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Slough


i wish to
shed this skin
of pain
of discontent

like a clinging, wrinkled
dress
crumpled
rolled around in
and pulled—
s  c  r  a  p  e  d
o  f  f

w
  i
g
  g
l
  e
d

out of

twisted
at my ankles

and dropped
like my
eyelids—

to drool into
the hair
of your chest

the pads
of your fingers
in that place
in the groove
of my back

hearing
no voices
and feeling
only
the breath
of your hungry mouth
satisfied


Copyright 2013 Jennifer Wagner

I'll be linking to dVerse with the amazing poets who gather there for OpenLinkNight.  

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Gloom



cobwebs thick upon your hands
dirt underneath your nails
embedded deep

buried
            alive

you feel the crust
of tears and dirt
stuck to your lashes
            your nostrils

choking
you make shallow breaths
repeat your name

you are

not                   dead                 yet

remind yourself
to come back
to the living

keep scratching and clawing

out
of
the
dark

someone will need

your survival story one day



Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner