The Little Girl and the Bully

 

          

         The little girl knows her letters

          but she pretends she doesn't.

         The bully's charm captivated the teacher's world.

          He knows the numbers when the time is right,

          his smile is precise.

          He emulates his heroes

          and can play all the games that make him giggle.

         The little girl pretends she cannot see,

          the bully is taking chances,

         his boundaries lapse into his private land

         of gunshot images and scuffles.

        All he needs to do is to believe,

       so he is told,

       a fighter can always win.

       The little girl is hiding down somewhere,

        there are no shortcuts to heaven.

 Note: this poem was first published in 2014 by an online journal called Black Mirror Magazine. (This journal does not exist anymore.) This poem is included in the collection "She Opened the Cage". 

Photo by Dave Reed. Source: unsplash.com

Invitation

 

 Invited to our home,

you searched for weapons

and there were none.

Our empty house is not empty.

Light dreams float in the air,

the windows extend into the sky;

we can merge with the silhouettes of the trees,

dance to the rhythm of the seasons, 

craft new stars...

Note: this poem is a metaphor about incompatible friendships. It was included in the poetry collection "She Opened the Cage". 

 The photo by Matthew Smith was obtained from Unsplash.com.

Where are you from?

                                                         Photo by Avery Cocozziello
  

                                        After a bad night's sleep

                                        her accent betrayed her,

                                         a suspicious look thrown at her

                                        along with the dreaded question.

                                      Her identity is a construction

                                               of bits and pieces,

                                      a mosaic of memories and dreams

                                      that perish inside a question mark.

                                      She belongs to an outsider's land

                                          sheltered by her imagination.

Note: this poem was initially published in 2014 in an online journal called Black Mirror Magazine.