Words of a Poet

Tired of Dreaming
written June 16th, 2009

Subconciously I am afraid to go to sleep
Thinking about what I will dream of next
I don’t want to wake up in tears
Going back to sleep facing more fears.

Do I have to see you even though you aren’t real?
Tricking myself into believing you are still alive
In a half sleep, remembering the true story
That I won’t see you when I awake.

I don’t want to dream that I am burying you
Even though you’re still alive
…Even though…
You may be dead in my heart.

by Matthew Henrickson

You may also like My Soul Is Tired. When do I ever get to sleep? …

My Angelic Demon
written June 13th, 2009

Drinking is my Angelic Demon
The alcohol puts out the flames
The fire that engulfs my heart
Numbing the pain
That surrounds my life.

It stills my shaky hands
Clots my open wounds
Focuses my wandering mind
Calms my worried soul

To Quit
or Try To Forget
Is not a fair exchange
The impossible choice to make.

Each day is a battle
Only losing to win
The losing battle…
Again Tomorrow, it will begin.

by Matthew Henrickson

Every Night
written June 14th, 2009

Do you know how you got to bed last night?

I made your bed
Fluffed your pillows
Carried you across the room,
And tucked you in.

I’d tuck you in
Make you comfortable
Sing a son
For the rest of my life

Just so you’d sleep well
To ward off bad dreams
To keep you safe
From the darkness

Sometimes I wonder,
Why am I never tucked in?

The only thing missing for you…
Is a mint on your pillow.

By Matthew Henrickson

I didn’t know that Taking Back Sunday had a new CD out (New Again
) until I was watching music videos today. This is their newest single out. The music video is pretty weird, but interesting.

Sink Into Me by Taking Back Sunday

Hey! [x6]

C’mon tell me that you’re better
And you rather just forget
That things have gone so far
Yeah, tell me that you’re better
And you rather just forget
That things have gone too far, oh

You’re all I see
Sink into me
Sharpen your teeth
Sink into me
(Sink into me)
Sink in, sink in

Well I’d like to see our roles reversed
To watch you hang on every word
I’d like to see you have your way…
I keep my grammar well rehearsed
Correct each stutter, every slur
C’mon and have your way with me…

Now tell me that you’re better
And you rather just forget
Yeah things have gone so far
You tell me that you’re better
And you rather just forget
Yeah, things have gone too far, hey!

Hey! [x12]

You’re all I see
Sink into me
Sharpen your teeth
Sink into me
(Sink into me)
Sink in, sink in

Well I’d like to see our roles reversed
To watch you hang on every word
I’d like to see you have your way…
I keep my grammar well rehearsed
Correct each stutter, every slur
C’mon and have your way with me
C’mon and have your way with me…

I’d like to be a note, the kind
You could sing but don’t because you’re shy
That way I live inside your throat
And hang from every word you…spoke

HEY!

Hey! [x12]

You’re all I see
Sink into me
Sharpen your teeth
Sink into me
(Sink into me)
Sink in, sink in

I’d like to see you have your way
Come have your way with me
(And hang from every word you spoke)
I’d like to see you have your way
Come have your way with me
(Sink into me)

This is definitely my favorite poem from Mary Oliver’s book Thirst. The lies we tell to those that have hurt us, just to show them, that they can’t hurt us.

Letter to ___________.

You have broken my heart.
Just as well. Now
I am learning to rise
above all that, learning

the thin life, waking up
simply to praise
everything in this world that is
strong and beautiful

always – the trees, the rocks,
the fields, the news
from heaven, the laughter
that comes back

all the same. Just as well. Time
to read books, rake the lawn
in peace, sweep the floor, scour
the faces of the pans,

anything. And I have been so
diligent it is almost
over, I am growing myself
as strong as rock, as a tree

which, if I put my arms around it, does not
lean away. It is a
wonderful life. Comfortable.
I read the papers. Maybe

I will go on a cruise, maybe I will
cross the entire ocean, more than once.
Whatever you think, I have scarcely
thought of you. Whatever you imagine,

it never really happened. Only a few
evenings of nonsense. Whatever you believe –
dear one, dear one –
do not believe this letter.

by Mary Oliver

After reading Billy Collin’s book, it wasn’t really my style of poetry. However I did find one that I liked.

The Trouble With Poetry

The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night–
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky–

the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.

And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,

and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.

Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.

And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.

And what an unmerry band of thieves we are,
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Ferlinghetti–
to be perfectly honest for a moment–

the bicycling poet of San Francisco
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.

by Billy Collins

What A Shame

What A Shame
To be alive but never live, What A Shame!

To be blessed with everything, yet enjoy nothing; What A Shame,
To have the gift of knowledge and not help someone else to learn,
What A Shame!
To be full with greatness an ideas and share with know one but yourself,
What A Shame!

To refuse to give of yourself
What A Shame!

To have eyes but refuse to see,
Ears but refuse to hear,
Hands but refuse to reach out to others,
Feet but refuse to go that extra mile;
What A Shame, What A Shame, What A Shame!!!

Written by Brenda G. Partridge-Brown
Stone Mountain, Georgia

This is one of my favorite Rumi poems from his book the Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing.

The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.

by Maulana Jalalu’ddin Rumi

Alone

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don’t believe I’m wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can’t use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They’ve got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I’ll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
‘Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

by Maya Angelou

Today is my 23rd birthday. I woke up to a wonderful surprise and received one of the best cards ever. Along with this card was a dozen roses.

My One And Only

“My one-and-only”
is an old-fashioned phrase
that people used to use
in old songs and movies.

But it perfectly describes
the treasure that dropped
into my life
the day I met you.

Since then,
our love has grown
deeper and stronger,
into a trusting bond.

Sure, we have challenges
like any couple,
but we work
through them together.

And although life may not be perfect,
the love I feel for you is.

So on your birthday,
I say with all my heart
that you’ve made me
unspeakably happy.

And althought it might sound
old-fashioned to say-\
you are
and always will be
“my one-and-only”.

Written by Emily Larkin

Even thought we’re not going out partying, I still hope you have an Amazing Day!

Love Emma.