STRANGER IN THE DARKNESS (Day #15 - "Stranger _____"

Stranger in the darkness
Goosebumps on my skin
Picking up the pace now
Checking my phone again.

One more block to get there
Should know better than to roam
Out in the dark all by myself
When I could be safe at home.

I'm sure the stranger is someone
Just out and about like me
But I'm not taking chances on
Someone that I can't see.

Pull my keys out of my pocket,
Quickly open up my door
Get in and shut it, lock it tight
Not worried any more.

Well...much.


Caren E. Salas

LABELED (#3 a Triangle poem)

Triangles! Yellow, pink or blue
So pretty until they label you
As a recusant, a gay or Jew.

And though you try to run and hide
You won't find many on your side
They'll turn their backs, and say "I tried".

But what if those who turned away
Have triangles of their own someday.
I wonder then, what they'll have to say.


Caren E. Salas



photo: https://www.ushmm.org (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

SOMETHING WRONG (#11 a "defensive poem")

There's something very wrong here
Something not quite right

When a bullied child in self defense
Is rebuked for "joining" the fight;

When a victim's life is opened wide
And instead of comforted, shamed,
Insulted atop the injury
Belittled, mocked and blamed.

How do we alter hundreds of years
Of Survival of the Cruel?
It's time to change some attitudes.
It's time to break some rules.

Apparently it's easy to say
"Toughen up, you'll be fine"
Rather than taking action,
To eliminate the crime.

There's something very wrong here;
Something so absurd.
But being a girl myself, it seems
I likely won't be heard.


Caren E. Salas




Photo: http://bullyingpreventionnow.com/bullying-assemblies/high-school-bullying-assemblies/
Also, check this out! http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/06/high_school_valedictorian_skip.html

Fade to Black - #2 He said/she said

Good night

Is all she said

Turned off the light

And went to bed.

I love you

He whispered back

Closed his eyes

Fade to black.

Caren E Salas

A Day Late and a Poem Short

Somehow, I completely lost track of April. Yes, pretty much the entire month has disappeared from memory. I did go on a cruise the first week of the month, but after that...it's all a blur. I sort of remember unpacking, and trying to catch up on the bills and housework, but other than that....things get fuzzy..And now, here it is: the end of May.

So unfortunately I missed Robert Lee Brewer's Poem a Day Challenge for National Poetry Month which was almost two months ago. At first I thought "Awe, man! I blew it!" But then I realized, that I can still look up Mr. Brewer's prompts and I can still write a poem every day for a month. Well, I can try anyway. So here I go. Hopefully you will join me for the ride. I'll try and keep up.

The first prompt was to write a "Foolish Poem". There's something about that word that sort of bothers me. I don't mind the occasional surprise that makes you jump, or a silly rubber spider in your cereal, but for a person to purposely set another person up to make them feel stupid, seems hurtful, and alienating.  So...here's my post for a "Foolish" poem:

THE FOOL

No one wants to play the fool

The butt of jokes, the target

In a dart game, the bullseye

Talked and laughed about by all

Who need to put down others

In order to raise themselves.

Caren E. Salas

All Too Familiar

Appointments

Procedures

It all seems

Familiar

But this time

It's not me

I wish though

It could be

I don't want 

To see her

...in pain.

More blood work

The needles

The waiting

For hours

The meds and

The diets

Won't know 'til

We try it

I don't want 

Her going

...insane.

It's all

Inconclusive

Frustrating

Confusing

More doctors

Re-testing

It's hard just

Digesting

The answers

Seem so hard

...to find.

So we go

On waiting

What seems like

Forever

I hope that

She makes it

I hope I 

Can take it

I feel like 

I'm losing

....my mind.

Caren E. Salas

Runaway Train

                               My eyes are wide open, my hair is a mess,                                 

My blankets are tangled; can't escape from my bed.  

But the worst part is knowing despite my distress,

And I can't stop the runaway train in my head.

I'm feeling hung over, but had nothing to drink.

I expect to find shrapnel of my brains all around,

Left behind when due to unexpected ignition

My head just exploded, without making a sound.

Still the train keeps on coming, increasing in speed.

Filled with freight cars heavy with worries and fears;

And I'm tied to the tracks like the Perils of Me

Damn Pauline didn't show up, yet the audience cheers.

Was it something I said, or forgot to include?

Did I remember to lock the front door late last night?

There's the long list of things I still have to do.

Did I mess something up? Can I still make it right?

My thoughts are as tangled as the blankets and sheets

That are holding me hostage, twisted up in my bed.

The whistle is blowing; with no rescue in sight

And I can't stop the runaway train in my head.

Caren E. Salas

Photo: "Little Phil and the Nightshadows" Perils of Pauline  youtube.com

EMPTY (Day 17 - swing)

There are no children to swing

On the swing-set; it just swings

In the wind. Ching...ching...the links

Ring as they sway, no more kids

Remain to play on the slide

Or ride on the red horses

Mounted on enormous springs.

Ching...ching...the links ring and sway

In the wind like strange music

Echoing in the empty

Playground where once the sweet sound

Of children's laughter was heard.

Caren E. Salas

A JOB THAT I HATED (Day 9 - Work)

Long ago, before

The beginning of the end

Every day I'd go

To a job that I hated

Waiting for the week to end.

Now each day I fight

Struggling just to stay alive

And I miss my life

And that job that I hated

Waiting for the world to end.

Caren E. Salas

DEARLY DEPARTED (Day 4 - departure)

If only death were the final end

With the hope of heaven around the bend
Instead of this horror we can't comprehend
When the nightmare begins, when the nightmare begins.

Our dearly departed are not gone at all
They've started decaying but still walk and crawl
You must aim for the head, or they never will fall
No matter how tall, no matter how small.


Caren E. Salas



(Sorry, but you knew there had to be zombies, right?)

Mask by Inferno Effects
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inferno-Effects/239408609599919?fref=ts

THEY (Day 2 - Secret)

We met in secret.
Somehow connecting online
On the street, in bars.
There are so few of us left;
We held tight to each other.

It was dangerous.
Looking over our shoulders;
The necessity
Had become a way of life,
Never knowing if they knew.


Caren E, Salas

GONE (Day 1 - Resistance)

The resistance had put up

A good fight, but in the end

There was no escape. Our world, 

Our home, belonged to them now:

Faceless, emotionless thugs.

The scourge of the universe.

Caren E. Salas

Sketch: Christian Salas
WNDRland Inc.
https://www.facebook.com/WndrlandincScreenPrinting

The Battle

The sand in the hourglass

Flows like a mighty waterfall.

It flips over and over, until it's spinning

Like a pinwheel in a hurricane.

I watch hopelessly without the strength 

To hold even a few grains of it's sand 

As they slip through my fingers like rain.

I scream. I cry in the night, clinching my fists;

Losing the battle against the relentless passing of time.

The darkness and cold embrace me;

No way to stoke the fire inside

That might save me. Sometimes I barely feel 

The glow of it's embers, as my will 

To struggle increasingly wanes. I'm falling,

Too intensely worn, to continue a battle

That I will not win.

I scream. I cry in the night, clinching my fists.

Losing the battle against impending eternal night.

But...I fight, yes fight I must,

Because the war isn't over just yet

I continue steadfast

And though the time flies, and life fades to black

I still dream. I will dream.

And I scream, and cry in the night, clinching my fists

Maybe losing the battle, but never surrendering to the war.

Caren E. Salas

photo: http://wall.alphacoders.com