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Category: Free Verse

Long-Lost Keys for Secret Gates

A lifetime of tiny burials 
For lost keys to a damaged mind
And an overpowering heart
Smothered and destroyed
Or simply denied their conception
Lacking ceremony
Are resurrecting now
Zombies or ghosts
Under a new moon
Slowly clawing their way up
From soil once fallow
Now richly seeded with my fears
But fertilized by my need

These tiny deaths all
Rise from their graves today
To haunt me or save me

I can’t tell the difference 

December 19 2024 – January 2, 2025

2024, you thought you had me, didn’t you?

Dear 2024:
You tried to end me
You tried so hard, repeatedly
To drag me down
You severed some ties
But you didn’t expect a stronger one
To form in the wake of your destruction
You never meant to hand me
A powerful new weapon
You didn’t expect what I gained
You didn’t expect my defenses to grow
You didn’t expect how others would love me
You didn’t account for what I already had
You were sure I’d buckle under your furious onslaught
But in the end, you were caught off guard
And in the arms of those who love me
I prevailed

Dear 2025:
See above.
You’ve been warned.

December 30-31, 2024

Here’s to Those Who Anchor My Feet

To those who keep me afloat over waves
Who hold me close under caring watchful eyes
Who anchor my feet to soil 
When all I want is to flee 
But all I need is calm love 
You keep my earth turning
You keep my sun rising 
You keep my moon glowing
Even in the darkest pitches of nights
So here’s to you, you wonderful ones 
May I grow to be even half as good 
As you deserve from me

December 29–30, 2024

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