Dogs

A Poem

Do the dogs know pain
Time just passes
without want
but for the moment

How I want to laze —
Run like them
Free

From waiting
for the car to show up
To pull into the driveway

Like it’s nothing

And everything
to hug your daughter

And remark on the pride
of seeing her grow and rise
to eminence
before your very eyes

Waiting for the showing up
is different from chasing

With chasing there is something
to go for

Even if it is imagined

How I long
to chase free
and have the dogs
tell me what to do

so I can walk away
from the bay window
of my childhood

Give me a reason to stop
watching the hill

Thank you for reading. Here are links to more writing:Paper Dolls
A Short Storypsiloveyou.xyz This Canyon (2)
Courage looks deep into that canyon
and says — I see you
and I am coming down to feel
the pain
and what blossoms in…medium.com

Driving My Grandfather Home

A Poetry Memoir in Free Verse (for Poetry Sunday)

My father drives his father home
Too weak to fly to the other side

It happens
Again

We’ll leave his condo as it is
For now

The braced grins of my sister and me
Glued to the fridge

Children and grandchildren and great grandchildren
Frozen in time on the humid porch

Crabgrass and palm trees
Neighbors who knew him

And watched him
Perhaps his puzzles half finished

Still spinning
The music he could whistle flawlessly

To his wife
Her memory still staring from her chair

Beautiful knowing as time passes
We do what we can

My father arranges his one
Bedroom apartment

Then brings his father
Home

Thank you for reading. You may also enjoy:The Silver Briefcase: How, as an Adult Child, I Learn to Let Go Over and Over
I held my dad’s hand — thumbs like mine, familiar as if I had been holding it for 38 years.medium.com My Grandfather this Morning
My grandfather this morning,medium.com

Rewind

A Rubaiyat Poem

I watch the world crumble to its core
As media shouts our latest gore
After hearts and bones are left behind
Shattered, no longer live like days before

And who decides life isn’t worth
The beauty humanity shares at birth
But truth will see lies are entwined
With how we spend our time on earth.

Oh massacred, you never had the chance
To wander through life’s great romance
Or find yourself lost in all the choices
For your swollen voice to take a stance

Shields, if only for our children, provide
For ghosts of shame dare you not to hide
Leave only those who demand to dream
That soon a day will turn the tide

Poetic Form Challenge

Where Will My Child Be Safe?

A Poem in Response to Prompt: Maps

We all sleep, and breathe and dream in this city —

But do not go east at night, dear child.

I have mapped these crimes,
These grand indictments.
These crossed lines
Extend past daybreak too
I’ve heard these tales, and steer clear
Of the latitudes and longitudes.

And south of here, right by school
Where you want to just look at Lego sets
Even though we have groceries to get —
This parking lot becomes territory
To lost souls who are not here
For Starbucks or weekly shopping peace.

And yes, all 12 voted, first degree
Behind your soccer practice fields
Mark on your map, a felony.
Don’t be alone for crossfire then —
Please hold my hand,
Just hold my hand.

And north of course,
Where you were born
Suspicious vehicle left to emergency
A man, left to bleed,
a kid, really —
Only 16.

Does his mother weep?
Her sweet son lost in the same driveway
Where first we both drove home,
Nursed our newborn boys
To sleep.
Mark the north spot. Ink it, deep.

Well west, you said,
Mama look how the sun sets —
It’s so beautiful, Mama.
Please look away my child.
I learned that predators are out on bail,
And I have no more ways for us to sail.

Originally Published Here.

When Words Are Lost

Calling you, change maker,
In your maker space
Come out, come out
Wherever you are,
And compose a breath
For all to take,
A dream for all
To finally awaken.

You can argue,
Not me, look away
And pretend this violence
Lives too far from home.

Compliance to the
Company that you keep,
Who pays someone else
To sweep your shame
Away, forgotten
Like the illusion of
Safety.

Again, wake up, you grieving child.
You were made to run.

It is, has been and will always be
Your discourse that we need.
Your voice for the future,
Stolen.

What word now, you speech weaver,
You diamond digger
You soul hider,
What happened after you promised
To lead?

And now to fight the bleed
The anger stuns,
And fear you eat
After which too full,
You drift back to sleep.

Calling you, the wisest one,
Removing your gag,
We’re listening.

You were never supposed to
Silence your song.

Translate it quickly,
Melting weapons
Back to metals,
Where they belong.

Samantha Lazar 2019

Originally Published Here