FEATURE FRIDAY!!

CHILD OF THE OCEAN

By Julie Songok

All she ever wanted was to stretch her bones and her tired body

A place to lengthen her smiles and spread her hair

A place where her legs could walk without the cutting and bruising

A place unchained

A place unknown

She was born out of the ocean breath

I reminded her

‘Stop pouring so much of yourself into hearts that have no room for themselves

Do not thin yourself

Be vast

You do not bring the ocean to a river.

     YOUR PIECE

By Teddy Mathenge

thepotatopoet.blogspot.com

I wish I could dim her inside of me,
When the broken pieces from long ago suddenly shift beneath my skin,
Threading pieces of a dream through the eye of a storm,
I am a broken, battered soul,
Living an unfulfilled life of loneliness & depression,
Of missed chances & humiliation,
I sit on the front porch of my sanity,
For upon a thread’s tip hangs my vanity,
Please do not judge me,
Even though everybody can find love but me,
See, I am a lonely soul,
Crawling through the ends of the Earth,
Looking, searching, longing for inner peace,
As I search for my missing piece,
The piece that completes the puzzle that is I,
She shines, not like a diamond, but brighter than the sun in the sky,
She’d be mad & I’d find a way to make her start smiling,
& sometimes she’d look into my eyes as if she could see what I’m hiding,
For her being is like mine,
We shall fight & argue, but our life together will be just fine,
For our purpose shall be solely divine,
Soiling the path of time with seeds of mine,
Bringing up a generation of us,
To build our future, but not neglecting our past,
They shall thrive-
By pen & ink, mighty nations will sink,
Through words so humble, great kingdoms will crumble,
For their power will be obsolete,
Neither physical nor emotional,
They shall have the power of a poet,
& they shall make the face of heaven so fine,
That all the world will be in love with the night
& pay no worship to the garish sun..

Though these words may be read by many, it is you I am writing to,
Painting landscapes with my words,
Colouring my world,
In views of abstract colour,
With hues like no other I have ever seen,
A poet sketching an impressionist scene,
Phrase & verse with a palette of words,
You paint my world in colours vivid & bold,
This view never grows old,
This landscape of your soul,
So come, then-
Mother of my children to-be,
Let me father the future fathers & mothers of the night,
Fill the universe with our psychological might,
Let me take care of you,
Winter sits inside your chest & I long to be the sun that warms you,
Is it not enough that I wrote my poetry in pen on my skin for you read clearly??
When I read, I project my emotions for you to hear me,
I long to be yours, not a knight in shining armour,
But take as I am,
The potato that I am,
You could be my yam,
These are cheesy pick-up lines, I know,
But you shall laugh & love them for our hearts are one,
& even though I have nothing to show,
I promise you a lifetime of silent fun, & at the midst of my silence is you,
So come, let me find you,
Look deep into my soul & see a darkness so bright it will blind you,
In the piercing light, let your sensitive eyes seek solace in the comfort of my shade,
She will be as swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon,
With all the strength of a raging fire, & as mysterious as the dark side of the moon,
In a world without touch, I feel too much,
Feed my brain your words of lust,
Create beauty from the dark of night,
Or the dark of Destiny’s ink dripping from chestnut veins born of pain,
Through which escapes a broken soul, flowing through a heart in verse..

Gaze into my eyes like you can see every tomorrow & forever in them,
I can see pieces of me mirrored in your words,
As though the thoughts I never spoke are the ones that you heard,
I long to be trapped in the euphoric rush of your exquisite touch,
As you chase every bit of emotion with delicate care & madness,
Clear out the sadness that remains from my old heart,
When the oceans in me are restless,
You are the lighthouse in my heart & the anchor for my soul,
Fill me with fragments of you,
Dancing softly through my darkness like a shadowy beam,
Making me ache in places that I have never dreamed,
& in the serenity of your touch, your love, your kiss,
I’m grateful, for the refuge of you,
In the midst of the chaos that is my life, I thank you,
Give me your heart, that I may be renewed,
So that finally have a new start,
A new chance at happiness, a restoration of faith,
A new beginning, a new eternity, a new forever in your arms,
I can only hope that these words find you,
Kiss your beautiful soul,
Awaken you from your slumber & bring you home…