hope – I Write Her

We Owe Them

Published on May 6, 2023May 1, 2023 by Susi Bocks23 Comments

Looking at the world around me, I see a tremendous amount of beauty, but woven into the fabric of living is much that is distressing. The sadness and cruelty that falls upon the young ones, the vulnerable, and the innocent ones is heartbreaking, and worse some of us humans don’t even care that it happens. What is wrong with our world?

Children didn’t ask to be born. They are entitled to have parents who are loving, nurturing, kind, and not dysfunctional. Many days and nights, even doing the best that I could be as a parent, have left me with guilt-induced sadness. I know that I didn’t live up to what I thought should be great parenting; I made many mistakes.

As adults, we have a responsibility to provide the next generation hope their lives will bear fruit in a world that is notoriously treacherous to navigate to begin with. They deserve only the best. If all babies were born wanted, loved, and raised appropriately, future generations would thrive. Maybe. I hope.

Reblogs – Anonymously Hal & Penny Wilson

Published on January 18, 2023January 14, 2023 by Susi Bocks1 Comment

I realize that our struggles will affect us differently, but perhaps we keep in the back of our minds to not let the darkness color our hope. Of course, we can’t always control our biology by instinct alone. Do whatever it takes to find your peace.

Viridian by Anonymously Hal

I never settled on gray…

I settled on viridian.

I settled on a
romanticized intensity
seeped in tender
sophistication,
in hopes to cloak
the darkness and
cravings for desolation…

H.O.P.E. by Penny Wilson

H.O.P.E. = Hold On. Pain Ends.

The Painter

Published on January 5, 2023 by Susi Bocks25 Comments

***RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist – Unsplash***

Inspired by Reena’s Exploration Challenge #262 – Random Dreams & Image &
Moonwashed Weekly Prompt #124 – New Dawnings

dig deep into your bucket
and splash accordingly
to realize your aspirations

they say colorful hope
is the promise of a bright future
may the new dawnings
fulfill your random and specific dreams

Hopeful

Published on November 19, 2022November 15, 2022 by Susi Bocks7 Comments

having faith is guessing with attitude
but outcomes are always unknown
given a million and one odds
the endless possibilities the variables produce
hearts will break banking on false promises
or lives change for good on a dime
and feel everything in between

life is unpredictable
and indiscriminate
hold on for the wild ride

I Became

Published on October 11, 2022October 9, 2022 by Susi Bocks15 Comments

Redux

That gaze lightened my heaviness.
Those eyes told me I was safe.

Tender forcefulness reached in
and unearthed me from
the hardened layers of
self-imposed eradication.

You found out who I was
and loved me anyway.

Years of destruction erased.
You easily removed all the layers of my shame.
I felt unafraid in your embrace.

My hard callouses protected me,
you smoothed them out with your touch.
My bleeding open wounds
stitched up by your love.

I was healing.
I recovered.
I became sane.

Originally posted 7/31/2018 on I Write Her.

When Disappointed

Published on July 23, 2022July 19, 2022 by Susi Bocks11 Comments

our expectations
wrapped up in the guise of hope
and propped up to resemble serenity
almost guarantees
a recipe for disaster

they’ll make us unravel
when longings become ire

strive instead for acceptance of reality

Perhaps

Published on February 19, 2022February 16, 2022 by Susi Bocks23 Comments

painting of brown tree — ***Jr Korpa – Unsplash***

the darkness in this room
matches my own
as i pull the covers tighter
wrapping up in this cocoon, my shield
i sink into black

time stands still
for more than the RDA
the bed, a safe space
insulates me with warmth not felt
for eons

through the haze of awakening
flickers of the past emerge in my dreams
dead friends come to life again
fun family vacation scenes from long ago
friendships once broken, repaired

a kaleidoscope vision of possibility
tugs at the seam of my current dimmed perspective
perhaps loosening the hold of the darkness
perhaps hopelessness will find the path to depart
perhaps dreams will become reality

NOTE: I am not experiencing these feelings at this time. And RDA is short for Recommended Daily Allowance. 🙂

Candice Louisa Daquin

Published on January 7, 2022January 6, 2022 by Susi Bocks24 Comments

blue and white clouds during daytime — ***Valentin Ciccarone – Unsplash***

Exulted Flay

Here the sound of water being circled in machine, washing clean, our plates scraped raw in delight
Here the rustle
of forms, out of focus, lying together with fright
How in
intimacies stitch they need speak no words to convey
A joy as deep
in lasting satiate turning on exulted flay
Here our
mortal coil resolves its eternal ache to meet
A place of
sanctuary for those who wander, must also find their sleep
It’s only
pain daughter
Okay let’s
bring in the shame, have a good look, make it your friend, blaze and fall loose
on dancing hooks
We can’t bear
the suffering so watch the flames die down, to slender remembrances all in a
row, we are golden and then we are dull

Relinquished habits

Deep below the earth
I might have found you
Climbing from stalagmites
Brushed in clay
There’s a cost for
Relinquished habits
Bowing in bad weather

Will

In the storm
they said goodbye
as car alarms
faltered, testily bleating resentment for torrent
she said; I cannot control anything
her palms up in supplication
as willow
trees, burdened with rain, lowered
growing more sorrowful
white leaves
bleached by last week’s sun
run like
blind mice down street edges heading for
oblivion

it wasn’t far
from how they felt
saying goodbye
in storm
windows
obscured
wipers
furiously battling
elements
beyond
anyone’s will

Entirety 1

How many
turns of moon, shifts of sea, change of seasons, will pass in glassy dance,
before my empty arms, and untouched skin, shall feel again your weight, your
breath, your familiar smell and warmth, coming into me like returning electricity

shaken loose and firing, starburst over naked souls

How long
before I forget to notice I am waiting, my arms wilted in devout, my breasts
hollow with doubt, there is only time, ticking down in unwilling reminder, you
are gone, you are not here, this body will grow old before it ceases waiting,

the longing remaining like poisoned quill stuck in jugular

Entirety 2

You own me in obsession, I am your slave, I do not exist but when you cast your net wide enough to absorb me into you, this place of belonging, so unwilling and natural, we tumble, we pinch and curl, like hungry spirits, biting life from each other in starving steam of longing, casting fire into water

If you never
come back, I will be like those burnt silhouettes of humans, fallen back
against stick, crushed into waiting stance, faceless, without motion, without
life, a straw effigy of a person who is no more, running after you in her young

lean chase, she knows if she does not catch, her entirety will erase

Safety

Never had a
Minister
Never had a
Baptism
Never took an
Oath
Never walked
the Stage
Though I
graduated
I kept promises
Bon coeur ne peut mentir

Sometimes we don’t
rinse clean through
conventional means
We who are
unbaptized, undocumented
We who skirt
parameters, still paying attention
Hold out
unconventional hands
without
Bible, without Watchtower, without Torah
in swag of
secret climb, unable to reveal how
we get high
enough to save from drowning

Phantasma

But moon

You remind me

Ghosts are
not alive

And pain

Will fade in
time

You are whole

Then a sliver

Vanishing
almost

Blind in
darkness

To return

Bright And
full

Perhaps

Moon

I will

Eventually

Be like

You

~~~

Candice Louisa Daquin is a Psychotherapist. She also edits and writes. Daquin was editor of SMITTEN: This Is What Love Looks Like, an anthology of queer female poetry. Inclusiveness and kindness are her mantras. www.thefeatheredsleep.com You can find much of the work she has been involved with or written herself HERE. Also, her poetry has been reblogged on I Write Her many times HERE. I’m a fan! ❤ This is her first debut on The Short of It.