Tortured Ideals

Misinterpreted

Mislead

Perverted words

And tortured ideals

But who to trust

When they all disagree

On what’s a must

Some say “More freedom!”

Unless you are gay

Or a woman

Or black

Or brown

Others say

“Get out of the Middle East!”

“It’s not our fight!”

But what about that

Disastrous plane flight

And the towers ablaze

Am I in a dream

Or do we really have two sides

With no in between?

That’s my future your playing with,

By the way

My voice is drowned

In the volatile crowd

I don’t have money for a Super PAC

How are those legal anyway?

The concept is simply whack

I’m too young to vote

But old enough to know

This is a bad direction to go

Why don’t you all shut up

And look around

Before this all-out boxing match

Starts another round

 

Love at the Beach

-For JS

Sandy toes and sunburned cheeks

Salty laughs and seaweed hair

Sunset walks and laced fingertips

Love for a week, love at the beach

More for convenience than anything

Just because you can

No strings attached

Merely for fun

For the sake of touching someone

Those rolls in the sand

Not exactly lust

But something close

Just because we can

Freedom to tease and kiss

Knowing love at the beach

Is the sort that lasts a week

The silent sneak off the balcony

And the giggles muffled not too well

Sea oat hide-and-go seek

And midnight sandcastles

Love at the beach

The purest you’ll find

No “If only”s

Or ‘But wait”s

At the closing goodbye

You’re suddenly shy

But then you grin

You kiss and shake hands

No sad parting

Just a halved cockle shell

“Twas nice and I wish you well

You walk away with one last kiss

Knowing that love at the beach

Will expire after a week

Revolution of Justice

I wrote this after watching the KONY 2012 video.

                     Voices, voices to be heard

                     Listener, listener spread the word

Raise, raise, raise your hands

Today, today we the lambs

Bare our teeth and shake the land

Growing, growing are the small

Tremble, tremble if you are tall

Brick by brick and stone by stone

We tear down a wall so overgrown

Oh hear it, hear it creak and moan

As it tumbles to the ground

Resonating with freedom’s sound

Together we all can surpass

The few who hold the cards

They have power but we have voices

Voices loud and not ashamed

Voices speaking of those to blame

Voices so many they have no name

Too long we stood aside

Til’ hope had all but died

Today is the day fate is defied

With joined hands

And a billion footfalls

We answer the desperate calls

Of the oppressed and the ignored

We’re shaking the world straight to its core

Today, today and forever more

We take our stand

Because justice is worth fighting for

Choking For Words

There is a Chinese girl in my history class whom I have become friends with.  She has only lived here in the states for a few years and all things considered is quite fluent. Today we had to read aloud in class and when it got the person before her, it hit me: What would she do? Her accent is rather heavy and she is very soft-spoken.  She started to read and I cringed as the other students snickered. It was all I could do to not slam their cruel faces with my textbook. For a country that encourages immigration, we are so mean to the immigrants once they arrive.

In my recent endeavors to learn Spanish, I have realized how hard it is to learn a new language, particularly one as irregular as English.  I have a new-found respect for the bilingual.

To me it seems like choking

Air supply beneath that of mere survival

Knowing so well what you want to say

Only once translated, it’s all twisted

The words don’t properly form

A new language has turned you forlorn

You cannot fit in

When you can hardly talk

And at your oddly said words they balk

Going out of their way to make it harder

Not even realizing that you are smarter

Because they can’t hear over their own laughter

That’s what it looks like to me as I watch

Her face says she knows she can’t belong

When the language she does know is all wrong

 

 

I’m Falling

My ledge crumbled

And took me with it

My hands are torn and bleeding

My heart hangs heavy with a needing

For your warm hands and arms

I am weak and I am falling

Please come help me climb

Hold out your hand and be my lifeline

I know I caused you so much pain

I can’t do anything now but shout your name

I’m so sorry, your heart was not mine to shatter

My life was bleak and then you came

I took you for granted

I was such a fool

I’m so sorry, you don’t need to forgive

Just hold out your hand and I’ll be on my way

I’m not asking you to stay

Just to save me from myself

Slippery Truth

Whisper, whisper in the dark

Poison arrows hit their mark

Shredding me up inside

Soul debris in constant collide

The chance to know starts to entice

Thirst for knowledge, such a vice

That slippery gray truth it will

My soul and sanity slowly kill

Like an addicted cat I want to know

That thing that taunts my eyes to and fro

Don’t tempt me, damn curiosity

The end to this torture I cannot see

It’s pure masochism, I suppose

This desire for a truth that nobody knows

What Is Shown Versus the Hidden Unknown

I hate you

I just want to talk

You killed my heart

Once upon a time you made it grow

You made a fool of me

I fell hard for you

The heart-tears you put me through

The smiles you put on my face

You cheated on me

I still want you

I hope you’re damn happy

I’m not

You don’t deserve me

I’m the only one who understands you

You’ll never hear from me again

If I call, will you answer?

It was all your fault

And mine too

You’ll never find another like me

No one makes me laugh like you

Good riddance

I weep for us

I wrote this because we so often put on that angry face and hide how we truly feel because we don’t want to be considered pathetic.

Many of my love poems have been in existence for several weeks, I have to wait to publish those because I have to get over the feelings.

Andrea Z.