Words of a Poet

Flowered

My heart like a flower
Wilting as its been picked
The petals falling off
Losing these petals
As my mind is lost
Crumbling into nothing
Like my soul has become

Once beautiful in a happy home
Smelling of sweetness
Blowing in the wind
Watered daily showered with rain
Healthy in a perfect world

The water has run dry
Beginning to die
Falling apart at the stem
Not feeling the love
In its garden
With its friends

Wilted
Petal less
There is nothing left,
But to crumble

by Matthew Henrickson

“All For One”

And now I’ll watch you leave again
This time I’m waving
I’m tired of not being good enough
I’m sick of being second and third to them
My ears are shut and I won’t listen
It started to hurt too much
Your words like needles
Piercing my heart
Now I know it wasn’t me you cared about
It was only yourself
You chose not to risk us
You chose to save you
And left me
To fend for myself

by Matthew Henrickson

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The contest is pretty easy with a little twist. To get started, subscribe to their RSS feed. Sometime before the end of August they will post a secret word in their RSS feed. When you see the word you email it to contest@invesp.com. One entry will be picked at random, that person will win 300$.

If the winner is a member of their mybloglog community that total goes up to 400$

 “Barren Wasteland”

Life is like a valley.
A valley from which
carries shadows.
A land from uncertinty
and of the dead.
The smell of fear,
from the far.
A given time to
someone’s end.
Like a waterfall
of dry crusty sand.
Nothing can stand,
the wasted heat.
From this barren wasteland,
nothing can be heard,
except the moans of the dead.
The bones are laid in
a pattern for whom to
come and see.
Life has becomed a desert,
for nothing to live.

-Lukas G. 

“My poems aren’t like usual poems…I like to make people think about what they do and what they can see if the future doesn’t come out like we think it might be like. I know this one is kind of dark and I wrote it when I was living in a RV because Hurricane Wilma had destroyed our house…”

“Goodbye to Hello”

I guess this is goodbye
Not for always
Just for now
Until… you’re ready
Until you need me
Now is the time we need to part ways
But I know we will be reunited again
We have to…
For my sake
For our sake
I wish you the best
While we are apart
But I had to let you go for now
I know you will come back
Because I’ll always be here
Waiting for you…
Waiting… for the bad to pass
And the good to reign once again
For us to once again
Exceed all expectations
And be happy
Until then I will miss you
Just secretly
Until then I will want to be with you
But I won’t tell you anymore

So this is my goodbye
Until… its hello again.

by Matthew Henrickson

Real Fake

The images so clear
So real
Yet… so fake
I see it
But it doesn’t mean its here
I hear it
But it doesn’t mean its here
Because I can’t feel it
I know it isn’t real
Because I want it
I know it isn’t there
Because I need it
I know it never will be

by Matthew Henrickson 

“Too Late”

It’s too late
Can’t go back and change it
It’s too late
Got to live with it
It’s too late
Like always your timing was off
It’s too late
Don’t know how to go on without you
It’s too late
Wanting you back here with me
It’s too late
Can’t have you now
It’s too late

by Matthew Henrickson 

This is one of my most recent poems I wrote. I had been thinking of something to write about him for a little while, and before going to the funeral it came to me. It seems like we talk about him everyday, almost like he’s not even gone.

Lawrence
May 22, 2007

My first memories of you
Are around the dinner table
As you said a prayer for me and my family…
And now I am praying for yours

You left them with one simple question “why?”
Why you chose to leave them
Now those who love you
Are wishing you were here
And you would come back to them…
Everything would be the same.

Your broken heart can no longer break
As you lay to rest
Your four angels surround you
Just as you are with them
Now they can be with you too.

Your big and loveable heart
Gave hope to others
They would turn to you for answers
For comfort
For support
I’m sorry…
That no one could do that for you.

You will be missed by all that knew you

by Matthew Henrickson 

This poem was written by Jimmy Santiago Baca who I really admire. I definitely recommend reading his biography, it is really powerful and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book. I hope you enjoy his poem.

Who Understands Me But Me

They turn the water off, so I live without water,
they build walls higher, so I live without treetops,
they paint the windows black, so I live without sunshine,
they lock my cage, so I live without going anywhere,
they take each last tear I have, I live without tears,
they take my heart and rip it open, I live without heart,
they take my life and crush it, so I live without a future,
they say I am beastly and fiendish, so I have no friends,
they stop up each hope, so I have no passage out of hell,
they give me pain, so I live with pain,
they give me hate, so I live with my hate,
they have changed me, and I am not the same man,
they give me no shower, so I live with my smell,
they separate me from my brothers, so I live without brothers,
who understands me when I say this is beautiful?
who understands me when I say I have found other freedoms?

I cannot fly or make something appear in my hand,
I cannot make the heavens open or the earth tremble,
I can live with myself, and I am amazed at myself, my love, my beauty,
I am taken by my failures, astounded by my fears,
I am stubborn and childish,
in the midst of this wreckage of life they incurred,
I practice being myself,
and I have found parts of myself never dreamed of by me,
they were goaded out from under rocks in my heart
when the walls were built higher,
when the water was turned off and the windows painted black.
I followed these signs
like an old tracker and followed the tracks deep into myself
followed the blood-spotted path,
deeper into dangerous regions, and found so many parts of myself,
who taught me water is not everything,
and gave me new eyes to see through walls,
and when they spoke, sunlight came out of their mouths,
and I was laughing at me with them,
we laughed like children and made pacts to always be loyal,
who understands me when I say this is beautiful?

By Jimmy Santiago Baca

“Sorry…”

I’m sorry for everything I should have said
For what I didn’t say
For what I shouldn’t have said
And I did
I didn’t know how to handle us

So I made mistakes
And I can only tell you that I’m sorry

I’m sorry for leaving you when I shouldn’t have
Sorry for being there when you wanted to be alone
Sorry for it all
Sorry for the fights you always won
Sorry for not fighting when I should have

I’m sorry for forgetting when you wanted me to remember
Sorry for remembering when I should have forgotten
Sorry for buying you the wrong gifts
And not buying the right ones
I’m sorry

I’m sorry for being wrong when I should of been right
And sorry for being right when I was supposed to be wrong
I’m sorry for never letting you have your way

I’m sorry for drinking when I shouldn’t have
For not being sober like you wanted
You always knew best
I’m sorry for not listening

I’m sorry for loving you so much that I made these mistakes
Blinded by love… I’m sorry
I’m sorry for loving you when you didn’t want me to…
I’m sorry for not loving you right…
I’m sorry for not knowing how to love….

I’m sorry… for being sorry