STRANGE

Lately I've been feeling strange

As though I should say good-bye

Like I should tell my story

Before it's too late to try.

And I should show as much love

As my heart has strength to give,

And I should spend each moment

Remembering moments lived.

I see so much that's ending

Like innocence, love and peace

Yet things like fear and hatred

Continue to be released.

Lately I've been feeling strange,

Like I'm running out of time;

Things to see, people to meet,

Mountains I want to climb.

Things are coming to an end

Don't know how, or even when

Just a feeling that I have

That I won't be back again.

It's eating me up inside

Gnawing at me day and night,

And nobody will miss me

When I'm gone and out of sight.

Caren E. Salas

AprPAD Day 22 Prompt: quirk

THE COST

It was just a twitch, a quirk,  

A stutter once in a while

He wasn't really worried.

He figured it was the cost,

Of falling madly in love

With someone so wonderful

Caren E. Salas

AprPAD Day 21 prompt: love/anti-love

BY HEART

There's no love like family
It's unique, crazy, sometimes
Difficult,but always true.
Not just your blood family
But those you've adopted too
Family chosen by heart.


Caren E.Salas

AprPAD Day 19 Prompt: Use these 6 words: Embrace, bump, resolve, lonely, fixture, howl

CREATURE OF THE NIGHT

He woke up in a cold sweat
Startled by the light fixture
Mistaking it for the moon
The full moon he so dreaded
Life is lonely when you are
One who goes bump in the night.

How he longed for her embrace
But their love could never be
With resolve, he vowed to leave
Else fill her life with peril
Broken-hearted, packed his bags
And with a howl, departed.


Caren E. Salas

AprPAD Day #17 Prompt: Exotic

ANCIENT STREETS                                      


As I walked the ancient streets
A strange combination of
Auto exhaust and spices
Filled the air, Distant music
Danced through my mind and voices
Whispered unfamiliar sounds.

The sky was growing darker
As I reached the upward path
And lush green grass hid crickets:
My welcoming committee;
But as I reached the entrance
The gate was shut and locked up.

Hundreds of miles I'd traveled
For rocks and stones translated
Thousands of years in the past;
Still I was happy to be
Where goddesses had wandered
As I walked the ancient streets.


Caren E. Salas

LUCKY ME (#11 an "unlucky" poem)

Apparently, I'm special,

One of ninety, out of one

Hundred thousand, lucky me.

Plus, being that I'm female,

Two or three times as likely

As a man to get this...gift.

Although most cases are found

In northern states and colder 

Climates, I live in So Cal.

The age bracket is between

Twenty and forty, but me...

Diagnosed at twenty three.

There's no cure, but it can be

Slowed down a bit, with a shot

Three times a week, oh goody!

Feeling better already. 

Thank God for good insurance. 

Shots are seven thousand bucks.

Still, I'm luckier than some

I have friends and family

And a wonderful husband.

I have four beautiful kids

And if that wasn't enough

Now I'm even a grandma.

I have a lot of bad days,

I have really good ones too

And although those tend to be 

Fewer, I know that I must

Make them count, and knowing that

Makes me luckier than most.

Caren E. Salas

A really good day "Muck Fest" 2014 

For more information on Multiple Sclerosis, check out https://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS

GOING DOWN (#10 a "going somewhere" poem)

Yes, that's me!

The airplane circles higher
And higher, until it's time
To step out: Ready, Set, Go!
At first tumbling, no knowing
Which way is up then...free fall.
Straight down, no changing my mind.

Surprisingly, I felt safe
Attached to my instructor;
The world so small beneath me.
A tug, a jolt and then...peace.
Floating quietly dream-like,
Landing on the beach below.




Caren E. Salas





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ENOUGH LOVE (#6 a praise poem)

My parents have been married 

For sixty-four years and if

That's not enough, they had eight 

Children who all got married

And had children who had more

Children...so great grand-children.

And no matter if you are

An in-law or an out-law,

One of their own, or a friend

They'll greet you with open arms

Because there's always enough

Love and hugs to go around. 

Caren E. Salas

Just a few of us

EVERYTHING

It doesn't always feel like

Everything will turn out well

But let me just assure you

That it will. Just look at us

Together we can make it

Everything will be okay.

Everything will be okay.

Caren E. Salas

HANG ON

His eyes cry out, but no words
Come from his lips. I refuse
To listen. It hurts, I know.
Don't give up, she wouldn't want
You to say good-bye just yet.
Hang on just a while longer.

I try to tell him without
Speaking. Things will get better
You have a new great grandson
On the way that you should meet
And all of us who love you.
Hang on just a while longer.


Caren E. Salas