To live peacefully
I must not be throwing stones
In this house of bone
The author and site owner can be reached at leeundercedartrees@gmail.com.
To live peacefully
I must not be throwing stones
In this house of bone
I have a roommate that I wish would move away. But it won’t, so I have to learn to coexist with it.
Coughs from my sickbed
I look around, read my past
And still find such joy
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
I’m above average height.
I’m a contrarian by nature.
I briefly considered a career as a long-haul truck driver.
I loved petting the cows when I would visit dairy farms with my father as a child.
I can be fiercely brave.
…
Someday it will all leave, either
slowly,
a little at a time;
Or all that remains will be gone
in one swoop,
with the last beat of your heart
November 2024 – January 1, 2025
This year was a bit of a fucking mess, honestly. Important but painful lessons were had.
2 a.m. fearful
Confused mind jumbling thoughts
Ask them why they’re here
Written upon waking in the middle of the night anxious and maybe a little confused.
Words queued for release
Fatigue conquers expression
Return underground
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