December 12, 2016 by Catherine Joy

Going Crazy: A Poem

Just gonna first say…oops! I’ve missed FIVE weeks of poem posts! Because of that (and because of previous occasions of missing weeks), I will no longer falsely title my posts “a poem a week” because, well, it has not exactly been faithful to that timeframe. Anyway…have a poem!

Going Crazy

I pull the string and get off
Anywhere, and I walk, walk, walk.
Sit in front of a house I like
And close my eyes, pretend I live there.
Pretend, pretend.
Daydream until it breaks my heart.
Until I’m broken.
Then I get up and breathe,
Walk, walk, run.
My feet clop-clop on the sidewalk
Because I wore my heeled boots today.
And I breathe to that sound.
I breathe, and lose, and lose,
And can’t stop running.
Away, away,
Sit down and hold my breath.
I see another bus pass by.
Close my eyes again because
I can’t scream.
I tap my toe, bite my lip,
Bring my fingers to my scalp.
I look up to the leaves,
The shining orange leaves
That are beautiful and feel like forever.
They could stay forever, in my mind,
If I choose to let them.
There’s a house with a porch
And I almost take the steps,
Just so I can stand there and pretend
I could stand there forever.
And then I remember: nothing lasts forever.
There’s a bus stop three meters away,
And I walk, walk, walk.
I put headphones to my ears
And forget I was ever here.
And so to the end, the end of days
When I’ll remember this moment again,
And I’ll think to myself,
“Boy, was I crazy.”

Catherine Joy

February 8, 2016 by Catherine Joy

A Poem A Week #17

If there’s one thing I remember

If there’s one thing I remember,
It is your fire red hair.
How tossled it was,
Never combed,
And you’d brush your fingers
Through your bangs.
If there’s one thing I remember,
It is the heroes that you drew.
Superman, Aquaman,
Batman on every page.
How happy you were
To show everyone.
Most smiled and nodded
Out of courtesy.
But I loved it; I loved it all.
If there’s one thing I remember,
It is the last time you called,
And we were tired.
You wanted to go to church.
And I didn’t let you talk;
I snuck away from the phone.
All you wanted was to talk.
I loved your voice, I really did.
If I could but hear it now,
I’d let you talk forever.

Catherine Joy

March 20, 2015 by Catherine Joy

A Poem A Day #511

Something about Today

There’s something about today
That made my heart sing.
Perhaps the iridescent glow
Of a purity ring.
Perhaps the tremor of the hard drive,
A buzz that doesn’t cease,
Which I kick with my foot
To get just a little bit of peace.
Perhaps it’s the ache for a smile
Of a person I miss.
Sometimes I sit back in my chair
And I reminisce.
Perhaps it was the “Good morning, Beautiful”
That dinged on my phone.
I smiled like a fool,
But only when I was alone.
Perhaps I remembered
A sad dream from long ago.
I choked back a lump
That only seemed to grow.
Perhaps it was the scent
Of vanilla and lemonade,
Or the fact that instead of going,
I came back and stayed.
There’s something about today
That made my heart sing.
But it’s the type of song
That means everything.

By Catherine Joy

March 14, 2015 by Catherine Joy

A Poem A Day #510

When the Lights Faded In

What did I see when the lights faded in?
I saw me, exposed.
Everyone’s true colors, glaring straight at me.
Things as they should be,
And almost everything as it should not.
I saw all the stories of the past
Drift by like dust;
They hovered by the lights,
As if they were afraid to be seen in the dark.
On the walls
Shadows cowered back,
Clinging to the corners,
Trying to hide their shapes.
But I saw them, I saw it all.
When the lights faded in,
Sweet and gently and not too painful,
I saw light and darkness
And colors, many, many colors.
They sang to me, said hello.
And before the light faded away
I took stock of it all,
And I remembered it all,
And nothing was in darkness again.