30 / 30 : ecclesiastes 9:11.

last poem of the month.

it's been crazy, crazy crazy.

thank you for reading. ive enjoyed the criticism and encouragement.

start your own. keep writing. and reading.

everyone's a poet.

ecclesiastes 9:11

i woke up this morning 

for the first time in four months

without my mother down the hall

to the sound of an incoming message

to my phone

i lazily rolled over 

in my freshly washed linen

in my freshly cleaned room

to a text from her that

declared

the race goes not to the swift

nor the strong

but he who endureth 

in the end

ecclesiastes 9:11

right now i'm in the race for my life

to make sure my future fits 

securely in my palm and snug

in my pocket 

pressed and panicked

each stroke of the clock would set me

off 

but reading that

from the wisest woman that i know

made me smile and i slowly

relaxed

fell back asleep

14 / 30 : mommy.

today was a good day.

nate marshall: here.

30 30 cypher: here.

mommy

i look pretty much

like my mother

and act like my mother

even though for years

i swear that 

i'd never be want to be

anything like her

but im older now

and if  i ever grew up

to be half the woman

that my mother is

i'd drop to my knees

and thank the Lord

cincin[nasti].

8 hours on greyhound hell
from one city with a funny sounding c name
to another
speeding down the highway, i'm alone.
going home.

homeward bound to the home i've been
denying they ask me
where i'm from and i say that city in
the midwest where we still
riot in the 21st century
there are a thousand recipes for chili
and jerry springer is our native son.

and 7 hours in i wonder
why i am even going home at all
until we turn the bend in
northern kentucky that i've always considered
to be the most beautiful view and
there's my city at night
glistening gleaming
absolutely stunning
sitting silently,
welcoming its prodigal daughter home.

and i hop off the bus and
fall into my mother's arms and
drive the route back home and
get bowled over by my dog's love and
get kissed on the forehead by daddy and
get put in a full nelson by my little brother and
it's then i know
that no matter how hard i try
or how far i will go i can never
truly distance myself
from home.

linden franklin.

my mother always told me that there are
some people that when you meet them,
you'll know. you'll just know.

she never embellished on what i
should know but when i met him
i knew that he was the one
that i knew i should be aware of knowing.
if that makes sense.

that was over a year ago when
he was that transfer student that
answered all the questions in class
and i was the sophomore girl who
attended psci 249 only when i had
a paper due but when we finally met
i knew.

and he is the type of man who'll leave the
sports bar on a sunday
tear himself from his beloved carolina panthers
and listen to me cry
about some other nigga who broke my heart
again
and will sit quietly in my multicolored room
in the chair in the corner and listen patiently.

and during finals time we
depend on each other like ying and yang
like day and night like wrong and right
he's my alarm clock, calling me at
4:00 am
waking me from a semblance of sleep
telling me to get up and finish
our paper that's due at 11 am.

and when i tried to push him away
because i was uncomfortable with the fact that
a man genuinely cared about me
and didn't want anything in return he still
held on and i held on to his body
wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders
sobbing.

i pray for him every night
and i thank God for
transfer students