my poetry

Gemstages

Cracked ruby
baby
operated on
sliced
no anesthesia
perhaps I swallowed
the ruby
my stomach
swelled red
with rage

Aquamarine
teen
blue ice
cool hard
I’d slice
the razor along my skin
for wasn’t my arm
made of stone?

Emerald
twenties
opening
growing
grass
the tender
blade
rose
somehow
I was able
to love
at least
to try

Obsidian
thirties
black, firm
tumbled
smooth and edgeless
comforting to hold
in one’s palm

Amber
now
catching ancient light
a mosquito¬–
that blood-hungry one–
suspended in sweetness
the juicy fire
flame
of love

©Wendy Patrice Williams

If anyone has a star

If anyone has a star

come place it here on my forehead

If anyone has silent dark branches

come lay them over my chest

If anyone has golden pine needles

spread them under my body

If anyone has fragrant balsa wood

let me use it to float

It’s not that I can’t on my own.

It’s not like I always haven’t.

But once, just once

let me fall into arms

that catch me in any direction.

If anyone has some moss

lay it here against my cheeks

If anyone has warm, wet sand

press it firmly to my chest

If anyone has the quiet of forests

come cup it to my ears

If anyone has a waterfall

fill me with its cool, fresh mist

It’s not that I can’t on my own

It’s not like I always haven’t

But once, just once

let me fall into arms

that catch me without my asking

©Wendy Patrice Williams

What Calls

Castle Fear is folding,

turrets crumbling, crenellated

walls falling. The moat drained, Trust

gallops over and climbs the bank.

At the tower window, a damsel. Horse’s

hooves have called her to the opening.

Come, the empty saddle beckons. Ride

into the green expanse

of everywhere—the places you’ve

never allowed yourself.

Can she leave this fortress, its embattled rooms?

The castle floor gives way as her hands

let go of the sill, reach for reins.

©Wendy Patrice Williams

How Beautiful You Are

Do you love your soul?

Have you talked to it lately?

What does it say?

Do you love your inner voice?

How does it sound, and what feeling

does it convey?

Have you felt joy in re-union?

Are you walking as one now?

Are you an undivided self?

Are you a tree of many branches and roots

receiving from the world of light and air

and the world of dark and damp?

Did you finally turn on your lamp

to see how beautiful you are?

© Wendy Patrice Williams