Tag: heartbreak

2010s · Conversations with Gravel · Poetry · The Unnamed Algorithm

Frost

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

When do we lay these sticks down?
Having been rubbed raw of revival
no sparks enough for flames—
I am too tired to promise I’ll wait
faithful for another dawn.
You are more in love with saving the fire
than actually keeping us
warm and free from that frost that hangs
on branches above our heads—
it’s been itching at us for years.
I’m going inside the house now,
I will leave the door unlocked
but I won’t leave it open.
I won’t call out to you again.
My words caught in cold breath
as I pull off wet feet,
hang them on wires
stretching for decades.
Say goodbye in white crystal
particles drifting into the black.

First published in The Rainbow Journal (November 2014)

2010s · Conversations with Gravel · Poetry

Last Thread

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

It’s the last thread
that’s so hard to cut

The chain’s long broken
the rope’s been unraveled

I’ve swum against the currents
I’ve surfaced near the shore

The thin line’s still tangled
through ocean tide hair

It pulls out slow and shining
like a timeline of a story

so I tie it in a bow
around my finger tight

to remember
where I’ve been

2017 · Publications

Snorted the Moon and Doused the Sun

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

 Three of my poems, “What To Do With Empty Hands”, “Your Dark Sunlight”, and “Somatic” are included in this gorgeous anthology, Snorted the Moon and Doused the Sun, on the topic of addiction. It includes work from many talented poets and is edited by Deanne Meeks Brown and Raundi Moore Kondo.

From the Amazon description, “Charles Bukowski once wrote, “Writing is the ultimate psychiatrist.”  Aristotle believed that writing poetry allowed people “to transform their problems into power and their sadness into strength.”  This is what we hope writing poems for this anthology did for the courageous individuals who submitted their work. Work that is raw, authentic, and deeply personal; giving voice not only to their pain, but delving into their dark side, or humorous side, or bright side, and presenting their beautiful imperfect selves to us all. Because only in this way—when we dare to share our most honest and vulnerable selves—can we transform our problems and find some semblance of self-love and acceptance.” Available for purchase through Amazon.

2010s · Poetry

Murrieta

Sarah Thursday2 Comments

When you rise early from your wide bed
pull on your long pants, brush your porcelain teeth,
do you also decide to fill your mouth with pebbles
stuff them into your cheeks for stoning small children?

When you gather the keys to your reliable car,
drink your coffee, eat your toast and eggs,
do you then grab your territorial pissing sign,
join others pushing buses full of babies off the road?

When you kiss your mop-haired children goodnight,
stroke their cool foreheads, wish them quiet dreams,
do you tell them of slashing plastic jugs of water,
pouring it out into sand like a narrow-eyed bully?

When you brush off the knees of your own fallen children,
teach them to be fair and kind, grow up strong,
do you tell them how you dream of kicking the skins
of skinny brown legs, barely able to stand?

First published in Gutters & Alleyways: Perspectives on Poverty and Struggle 2014
*On July 2, 2014, dozens of protesters in Murrieta, CA, blocked 3 buses of refugee women and children from being processed in their facilities. In 2012, the humanitarian group No More Deaths documented border patrol officers kicking, slashing, and pouring out jugs of water left for desert crossers.

1990s · All the Tiny Anchors · Poetry

Gummo (From a Dream)

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

I saw you on TV lastnight
tall and skinnyextra nervous
your off-set fashion
twelveyearoldface
you were talking with David Letterman
(who wouldn’t listen)
you kept looking away grimacing
you mention Ulysses and Snoop Dogg
I felt like calling or driving
to your apartment and no-talking
I just wanted you to know
he was trying to be nice
maybe you knew
he didn’t get you
but the likeness wasn’t perfect
maybe it wasn’t you
he displayed his hair and his face
you are much more socially adept
still there you were
sitting in your brownpantsuit
and redsweatervest
talking about taped bacon
I just thought you’d want to know
sometimes I see your handwriting in my stereo cabinet
sometimes I hear you standing with hands on your hips
sometimes I forget I can’t drink Kool-Aid anymore

10-18-97

2015 · Publications

Poet’s Haven Part 2

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

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Once again, two more of my poems are on The Poet’s Haven this week! “The Atmosphere I Miss” was included in All the Tiny Anchors, but I always hoped it would find an independent home. The second one, “Record Scratch” has never found a home and I’m very happy it finally has! Both poems are different perspectives of holding on and letting go. Still miss that atmosphere, still hoping the record will unskip itself.

2014 · Poetry · The Unnamed Algorithm

The First Him

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

It’s home movies on a reel-to-reel.
Light is always dim, pouring in
from thin covered windows.
He is carpenter, framing houses.
Long days in the sun tan his skin,
make him sleep late on weekends.
We play Ambulance anytime I bump my head,
scrape my shin. He lifts me over his shoulders
and mocks sirens rushing hurried to hospitals.
He lays me down like a patient and makes me giggle,
fingertips under the arms, across the belly.
For seconds, I forget.
I am a laughing four-year-old unafraid.
Until I am not. Until the looming frame of him
scrapes ceilings, pulls in the weight of rooftops
down into the darkest room, windows covered thick.
He does not lock his door. I play the secret game
of Find the place he is not. Stay quiet enough
and he won’t see you close the door.
He will not call after you.
Scratches flicker across film spliced memories
as the reel hums, tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.

First appeared in East Jasmine Review.

2015 · Publications

On the Grid Zine Part 5

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

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The 5th poem on the site, On the Grid Zine, is “Smiling at Strangers“. It’s actually one I wrote a few years back. Sometimes you got to push yourself out of your comfort zone to make progress. In some ways, I’ve never looked back.

2015 · Publications

On the Grid Part 4

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

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My 4th poem, “How I Stopped Naming Lost Things“, on the new site, On the Grid Zine. Sometimes life gets you all turned around and you just live with your current state. Take a moment to read some other poems and stories on this lovely site about mental health.

2015 · Publications

On the Grid Part 3

Sarah ThursdayLeave a comment

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3rd poem on the new site, On the Grid Zine, all about mental health! I wrote “Base of My Spine” a few years ago, but the feeling still applies. My body and my mind in tension. Take a moment to read and look at the others!