Poverty Ride

The train was poverty ridden.

Everything about it said ‘worn out shoe.’

The only difference between the conductor and the railroad bum

Was one extra rumple 

On the conductor’s muffle ruff,

A place to hang his gold watch and chain,

If he ever might manage to survive til retirement.

My sister and I traveled by train.

She, always much more worldly than I,

A look in her eye that knew.

While I was pie-eyed.

I surveyed clouds to see what pictures they drew 

Across the sky for me to interpret 

In my ignorant, innocent way.

And her boobs were bigger.

Well she chose the conductor, 

And as for me,

The railroad bum was all that remained,

But I jumped off the train instead.

I bumped my head

And landed in a sturdy rut,

Worked my way up the Pizza Hut ladder,

And only have a pizza gut to show for it.

But what’s the matter with you?

You don’t like me.

You think I’m the railroad bum in this equation?

Then jump the train,

The other one heading in the other direction.

Or don’t.

But, life is moving,

And the truth goes with it,

And a thousand galloping horses can’t catch it

If you miss it.

I’ve even come

To miss that railroad bum.

And you?

Maybe you will even see

Your way back to missing me?

Unless we all find that somewhere in time

We all have a second try

At loving one another.

Unless we all find

A way to see

That the richness of life

May be entwined

All the way through the nights and days,

And may be sensed

Even while riding

A poverty-ridden train.

-jenn

 Someone Else’s Dream 

I didn’t come here 

To live someone else’s dream.

I’ll take my adventure 

To any extremes

I deem necessary,

To know what I need to know.

Seeing is not believing.

Believing can be arranged,

But life is strange,

And strangely beautiful.

And dreams can take strangerous turns.

Dangerous curves ahead.

But flying off the handlebars,

And derailing the trains that are imbedded

In my mind is a far far kinder

And gentler thing I do.

Because I didn’t come here

To live someone else’s dream.

Did you?

-jenn

 Tell me now, or forever hold your peace 

Tell me now, or forever hold your peace.

Will you ever get too much of me?

Will you ever get enough?

When times get rough and choppy seas prevail

And your rudder starts going to hell in a handbasket,

Will it be me you see?

Will it be me you reach for

So that I can tell you one more time

That I’m forever yours,

And I want you over and over?

Tell me now, or forever hold your peace.

Dis-moi maintenant ou tais-toi pour toujours

Auras-tu jamais trop de moi

En aurez-vous jamais assez

Quand les temps deviennent agités et que la mer agitée prévaut

Et votre gouvernail commence à aller en enfer dans un panier à main

Est-ce que ce sera moi que tu verras

Est-ce que ce sera moi que tu atteindras

Pour que je puisse te dire une fois de plus

Que je suis à toi pour toujours

Et je te veux encore et encore

Dis-moi maintenant ou tais-toi pour toujours

 Spider 

I come from terrifying people 

With terrifying ways.

If I scare the hell out of you,

It’s in my DNA to do so.

Do you like spiders?

Do you like snakes?

Otherwise,

Stay away from me.

Don’t mess with me.

There are five stages of grief, you say?

My people know three:

Anger, anger, and revenge.

(Though, truly, the grief has no end.)

The men are warriors,

The women, slaves

Who were forced into treachery

And deceit as the only ways 

They found to survive.

I’m alive today

Because I learned 

From a very early age 

How to fight.

And don’t think I haven’t  seen.

Don’t think I don’t know

That he, or she, who lives by the sword

Dies by it, also.

But also don’t think

That I won’t go down swinging.

-jenn