What I thought

I thought that there was nothing left.

I was wrong.

I did not understand the depth of my feelings for you.

There is still no one

Who can make me rejoice

At a flash of your smile

Like you do.

And there is still no one

Who can uncover

My infinite loneliness.

 

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Equinox 050718

Your sun-drenched smile has thawed my winter walls

Ice, so thick, no one could enter.

The dark cave where I have hid myself

From all others,

No matter their intentions,

No longer cloaks me in my sorrow.

 

You have done

Nothing but bring your warmth

Nothing but smile completely

Melting, melting lonely frost

Like the sun passing its vernal equinox

Calling Inanna from the underworld.

 

I know this spring

Cannot, will not last

But it’s call,

It’s warm winds

Gently lifts my hopes.

And demands emergence

From my winter worries.

 

As I stand exposed

Willing to risk the pain of connecting,

Of connections.

I hope for a fleeting moment,

Bathed in gentle breezes

And soft scented kisses.

K.K.

 

Tired of being alone.

Tired of sleeping alone.

Writing empty words

On cluttered pages.

I didn’t feel this way

A day ago.

But now I do.

Because of you.

 

And then again 041718

I look down the street at night

Forced perspective in grey scale.

Sharp lines slicing my field of vision

Like the pains of broken glass

Clinging to a misremembered past,

Dividing me from happiness.

The shards eager to slice

And the distance remains distant

And my contentment contentious.

 

I look up into the night sky

The stars reflect pale colors of

Rose, blue, and gold

Blackened forms streak above

Destroying the silent beauty

Of the moon’s soft call

The dark spirits eager to

tear my hopes like

tissue paper on empty floors.

Dropped in distraction, abstractions.

 

I think of you

And then again

My shattered world

Is a reflection

Of multitudes

And multitudes

Of reflections

Of my shattered world

And then again

I think of you.

 

Thoughts on Gun Control

Time to stop

 You tell us that it is too soon to talk about it.

That we shouldn’t make this political.

That now is the time for us to pray for the victims and their families.

When is a good time to talk about it?

When will a mother stop mourning for her child?

When will a son stop missing his parent?

When will a friend stop thinking of the life cut short?

I still think of the neighborhood boy who was shot in an accidental shooting.

That was fifty years ago.

I still think of John and Martin and Robert.

I still think of a friend who took his own life on Christmas eve.

That was twenty years ago.

I still think of the Charleston Nine who died at the hands of a white supremacist as they sat in church.

There will never be a better time to talk about it then now.

Let us give the mourners comfort in the fact that this will never happen again.

That might give them some comfort.

It won’t bring their loved one back.

But it will stop others from mourning other loved ones.

 

Ireland in Black and White Excerpt #2

Killarney National Park

Water and trees.

Every view, a meditation.

Every leaf, a tale to be uncovered.

Every stone, a love song.

Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1978053266/

Ireland in Black & White Excerpt #1

From Ireland in Black and White

Photography Sam Beckett

Poetry by A.F. Winter

A tree so covered with vines
The tree disappears
But the tree remains.
I thought my love for you had gone
But love remains.

 

Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1978053266/