Love

Dare

I am the good girl,

The play by the rules girl

Obey, abide, stay on the right side

And I’m told, everything’s going to be alright.

But inside I’m divining that new stars might be aligning,

Shapes I’ve never seen before, they make me feel like molten gold.

Daring to begin, performing roles I’ve never seen,

Before a friend tells me over lunch that it’s a sin,

I brushed it off   but it’s sunk in.

I didn’t know that my exploring was corroding years of doting

On the notions, those outmoded, that then goaded, questions pouring,

I was soaring then came floating,

Down into the gloaming,

And everything looked different,

And like I’d never known it.

You learn to masquerade, to hide,

Become a master of disguise.

It’s strange to conjure up a past

Where you hoped that you would not be asked

To hold that adoration clasped

Like water running through your hands.

The right direction is emerging

And still my thirst needs quenching.

When a book explains beyond hers and his

To inform teachers and their school kids

The usual rags smear their grease all over it.

Or when schools have the freedom

To erase us from the curriculum,

Is the path to relationships

Not even more treacherous to manage

when your fumbles loves and kisses

Are completely missing?

As if you’re non-existent.

Imagine what that absence does to a young mind over time…

When mirrors lose their shine,

Obscured reflections leave us all blind.

 

It’s the weekend and I’m caught up,

Tongue tripping to keep this form up

When sparks fizz,

And lips meet,

And we knock hips

And bump teeth.

But I’m in the bubble, I forget,

Take a step back, just check…

Can’t rest.

But I dare to trust,

That those who paved the paths before us,

We share the same stuff as they were made of:

Heart and strength and deep reserves,

Educating ignorance even when it hurts.

The love that dared not speaks its name has long been amplified,

Its ripples reaching far and wide

Decibels take on the tide,

And into these familiar waves we leap

Every time we dare to speak.

E.C.

First performed at ‘Dare to Speak’ for LGBT History Month. 

Photo by the author.

Back to Front

People can play it mean,

When trying to hide revealing feelings.

Wounds that go deep,

Create scars that rise steep,

A peaky trip,

The altitude makes you sick.

The toughest walls

Muffle the inner calls,

For love, acceptance, a hand to hold,

A cheek to kiss,

A person to miss.

Love involves an evolution,

Leave behind seeking retribution

For past hurts,

Be brave enough to trust.

Easier said than done, when your heart’s on the run.

It’s an inner fight,

A conflict of rights,

To protect your damaged heart,

Or be loved for every part, of you.

Arctic ice will flow wherever the gusts of fear blow.

A global warming means thinning ice,

Skating on the edge of a knife,

You risk falling in,

You’ve forgotten how to swim,

Muscle memory kicks in,

Let it give you fins, and swim.

EMC. 

Photo by the author. 

All I Want…

All I want for Christmas

Is to sleep till noon

Scoff chocolate, schlep about,

Blanket fort and pillow spoon.

 

All I want for Christmas

Is to shut the holly-wreathed door,

The blinds, and the curtains,

And dance around the tinsel strewn floor.

 

Grapes of a peaceful kind,

Spiced, mulled wine.

Bank balance zero,

Gift giving hero.

 

All I want for Christmas

Is to be around my folks and friends,

Made a lot easier when,

Their love translates to presence;

Presence, present… priceless.

 

Whether it’s spiritual or seasonal, winter or yule,

Don’t let those connections slide,

Baby it’s cold outside, keep it warm on the inside.

EMC

Photo by the author.