Childhood Poems
I Am
by John Clare
I am: yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost;
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;
And yet I am! and live with shadows tost
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,
......
Cartoon Landmine
by CK Wendell
A monster of cookies and a man of spiders
Lie in a stilted plastic embrace
On the floor of my shower
Waiting for my sleepy naked foot
Like a soapy cartoon landmine
In the semi darkness
Where I don’t expect to face my mortality
By way of a crushed skull
From a forgotten toy
Regardless of how well it would fit
......
75. Surviving
by Kea Campbell
Dinners should be a luxury in concerted cultivation households,
But it was the worst part of each day because of your praise-seeking tolls.
Sure, you fed my stomach and sought to found generations of culinary tradition,
But little do you realize that you fostered my appetite's detrimental addictions.
The dining room was a reformatory and I dreaded the table's restraints.
They left scars all over my psyche as you told me I couldn't leave until I finished my plate.
The taste began to dull but you commanded me not to be wasteful.
The culture of gluttony is under-stigmatized, and the conditioning of over-satiety is disgraceful.
......
Duino Elegies: The Fourth Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
O trees of life, oh, what when winter comes?
We are not of one mind. Are not like birds
in unison migrating. And overtaken,
overdue, we thrust ourselves into the wind
and fall to earth into indifferent ponds.
Blossoming and withering we comprehend as one.
And somewhere lions roam, quite unaware,
in their magnificence, of any weaknesss.
But we, while wholly concentrating on one thing,
......
Fun Under Sparkly Stars
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Raven black evenings
waiting for the ice cream truck
on the starlit stairs
Crowds of blossoming children
eager for a Tastee Freez
Smoky summer nights
the fun day's heat lingering
'til the daily treat
A favorite memory
......
77. ADHD
by Kea Campbell
I turn on the shower and my thoughts quiet to a whisper.
I start to undress as I ease my brain's exert.
My eyes avoid the mirror and I step into the tub.
My mind starts to wonder while reality falls out of touch.
I try to clear my head and focus on being present.
I re-feel shame for granting permission after his ceaseless exhortation.
My musings recall his unwanted hands on my skin.
My body stiffens in distress and the trauma floods right back in.
......
Winter Girl
by CK Wendell
My winter girl
Forever filled with light on darker days
And my mind sees your hand in mine
Before we cross a parking lot
In the mud and the snow
With a constant sense of purpose
To always do the thing
That needs to be done
Before we lose the day
And that look that always knows me
......
75. Surviving
by Kea Campbell
Dinners should be a luxury in concerted cultivation households,
But it was the worst part of each day because of your praise-seeking tolls.
Sure, you fed my stomach and sought to found generations of culinary tradition,
But little do you realize that you fostered my appetite's detrimental addictions.
The dining room was a reformatory and I dreaded the table's restraints.
They left scars all over my psyche as you told me I couldn't leave until I finished my plate.
The taste began to dull but you commanded me not to be wasteful.
The culture of gluttony is under-stigmatized, and the conditioning of over-satiety is disgraceful.
......
73. Homecoming
by Kea Campbell
I'm back at my childhood's residence,
Except I was forced to be a child of adult-like essence.
I'm back in my chambers full of material blessings,
Except it was a trade off for lack of my handlers' emotionally mature presence.
Home has always been a location, not a feeling,
Because in this house, I must stay quiet to omit the mental beatings.
Home will always be known to mistreat me,
Because unless I am perfect, I'm subject to apathetic briefings.
......
Cartoon Landmine
by CK Wendell
A monster of cookies and a man of spiders
Lie in a stilted plastic embrace
On the floor of my shower
Waiting for my sleepy naked foot
Like a soapy cartoon landmine
In the semi darkness
Where I don’t expect to face my mortality
By way of a crushed skull
From a forgotten toy
Regardless of how well it would fit
......
