Just a Little

Just A Little...

by dyvan

If I move
just a little
I can grab some warmth in this bed.

A bed that is
just a little
too large for only one.

Maybe if when adding the sugar
just a little
made the pies and cakes and home a little warmer.

Did I speak too often and too long
if I had been quieter
just a little
quieter between the moods.

Now the front door
is ajar
just a little

and this life
reshaped
just a little

and at night
inside I cry,
just a little.

Sitting on the steps
in the city in the sun
you, small bird, stood
watching me, alert
enjoying the sunshine as I did
white and black striping your small breast
holding your tail feathers up
little sentry
The sun slowed and stalled,
did you see me watching you?
I saw you dart to the other side
when others came too near
City dwellers in the sun.
You didn't fly away,
scooting quick as a chipmunk
small bird with bright eyes
I caught you basking from the corner of my eye
and then you sped away up the stairs.
You and the sun together.

Leaves

by Carrie Preston

I've turned over so many new leaves
That my tree is upside down.
My moon is so new
It is nowhere to be found.

Voices

by Deidre Abrahamsson

How much do you want?

Just a little.

How much do you want it?

Just a little.
Obviously.
Or else.

Or else what?

Or else I would
have done it already.

It's not too late.

Oh really?
How do I know?
I don't even know where to begin.

Where do you want to be?

I want to be finished.
I want to be at the
glass-littered fields
east of the Schuylkill.
I want to be walking
awkwardly
in my
white eyelet dress,
black lace-up shoes,
feeling paralyzed with
self-consciousness and fear.
I want to hear you
laughing when you
tell me what you
really did for Xmas,
my mind numbing
before the pain
sears my heart.

Is that what you really want?

No, not really.
But maybe.
Yes maybe,
just a little.

Rest A While

by dyvan

Lay your head and rest a while
close your eyes from crying
lie here in the warm sun
and gather fresh strength
I shall watch the door
and guard the ways to your side
I shall hold the lines
as from this sadness you slide.

Lay your head and rest a while
so long it seems since you did smile
all the tears and heartache full
a flood of woe you've been through
waterlogged now with sorrow
it is time to dry you out
with warm embrace give life's heat
with my lips revive your heart.

Lay your head and rest a while
seems cruelly life has dealt you
every card another bane
and every night darker colder
I shall warm you with my thoughts
address your woe with a smile
draw the sadness with compress of laughter
for all eternity or just a while.

Lay your head and rest a while
this day we can let slide
there shall be a tomorrow brighter
from which good fortune shall ride
these days past will fade and fall
remembrance of them be as shadows
scraped from self by cheerful light
diminished in sight by heart happiness tight
until then I guard and watch
as you, my love, rest a while.

Let's

by Carrie Preston

Go swing on the boughs
Of an evergreen tree
Fly off the branches
And land beside me

Then we'll prance
Through the forest
We'll dance
In the spring
Wherever we go
Flowers we'll bring

Scattering petals
As remnants to joy
All barriers to happiness
We'll attempt to destroy

With impish delight
And fairy-like song
We'll battle all evil
We'll undo all wrong

So come idealists
Come dreamers
Come join in our fun
Our giddy indulgence has only begun

Let's be free in our thinking
Let's be soft in our touch
Let's be tinkers off tinking
Doing magic and such

Let's always meander
Let's get lost on our way
Let's be children forever
In eternal play

Diatribe to Congress

by Kelly Sharp

You foul and heat the air I breathe
With dullard's voice, you rant and seeth
From none of you, one true wise word
As you shout to be overheard
None of you my friend or brother
And no good is it to choose another
For soon as new elect steps up
How power of office does corrupt
I loathe, despise your body politic
With barrelled pork, you make me sick.

How you clamor, how you rage
To see your name on black-white page
With false headline, you've glorified
And to our teeming masses, lied
Of noble effort, less taxation
"'Give to our young better education!"
But the best of schooling that I know
Field trip- Congressional sideshow
You think you are the main event?
The bigger picture's different.