Thanks so much to those who sent in poem titles for the recent 24 hour poetry challenge. Here’s the poems.

Alex asked for ‘Choice’

CHOICE by Donna Williams 2008

Another day with confetti brain
should I get a bowl or clean that stain?
Should I choose a tea or mop this floor?
Is that running water by the door?

Should I choose some clothes
or just freeze to death?
Should I brush my teeth
or have stinky breath?
Should I take my pills
or go round the bend?
Should I answer bullies
or phone a friend?

Oh blessed with choice
yet OCD
is firmly in charge
of the choices in me.
And PTSD stares down into a hole
and severs the feedback I’d get from my soul.
Social phobia is master of the freeing front door
and freedom may well not exist any more.
As thoughts fly at random and ricochet in my mind
the idea of choice is a world left behind.

Kay asked for: “Beauty Within”

BEAUTY WITHIN, by Donna Williams January 2008

He hid his face
a melting thing
slumps down one side
like candle wax
as he looked around the candle shop
at beauty.

His soul was simple,
his touch, gentle and respectful
as he handled each candle
as an artwork.

They’re beautiful, he said
under his breath
head barely lifting
words lost in the fog of shame.

Not like me,
he continued,
small, muttered afterthoughts
not worth the breath that carried them.

But I heard them
sharp and clear
as a cry from a heart
1000 feet down.

Not true, I replied,
I see your beauty too.

Kathleen asked for “Faces”

FACES by Donna Williams 2008

Hair sprung, silken against blue sky
red and shiny, catching light.
she squealed, whizzing,
reached to touch it.

Time froze,
a hand of steel clutching freedom.
The bridge of flesh
made a pathway upwards.

No castle rose,
no gates of heaven.
An eye, a nostril,
lips moving,
sound, empty of meaning,
spilled out onto stale air.

Her teeth were clean and shiny,
Her skin smelled
with compliments
to the local pharmacy.

Her earring dangled
catching light.
I smiled
As she watched my face,
and her annoyance
turned to pity.

Marisol asked for “Keyboard Fingers”

KEYBOARD FINGERS by Donna Williams 2008

Keyboard fingers were his voice
the quiet tap tap
letters lined up neatly across the screen
and with a button, a voice
and a place in the world.

Keyboard fingers were his soul
the music of his beingness
expressed externally in sound
which touched the hearts and minds
of others through their ears
without a single word.

Lisa asked for one about her daughter Sydney (who I’d met in the US):

SYDNEY by Donna Williams 2008

Sydney is a silent song
one hears in the heart

She sits, hiding in her body
so expressively,

A soul too big
for the urge to hide

to stand a chance.

Then Sydney asked for one titled ‘God’

GOD, by Donna Williams 2008

God to the Christian,
God to the Jew
God to the Muslim,
Buddhist, and Hindu
God, as to me
And God, as to you.
God’s probably laughing
at this strange human zoo.

Deborah asked for ‘Dandelion’

DANDELION by Donna Williams 2008

She signed her name with * & )
A dandelion, I’m told.
Her symbol of resillience
in an often cutting world.

She’d been cut down,
trampled, shredded up,
but she’d just grow back again.

She used her pain as fertiliser
and grew a garden full of friends.

Devlyn asked for ‘Lost’

LOST by Donna Williams 2008

I lost my hat
And there,
my head was bare
my face, exposed,
one magic lost
another found
I know not where.

and finally, Ivan asked me to do a poem for his 7 year old granddaughter Sydni.

SYDNI by Donna Williams 2008

The sparkles dance on water
The sun makes flowers bloom
Butterflies dance and birdsong
fills the air with happy tunes.

But there’s a girl who brings such magic
to the darkest winters day
A curly headed sparkly soul
And Sydni is her name.

thanks so much to those who sent in poetry challenges and those who enjoyed reading them as they went out to the mailing list.

Warmly,

Donna Williams *)
author of the poetry book
“Not Just Anything”
published by Jessica Kingsley Publisher.
http://www.donnawilliams.net