Sharkey Speaks

(They ask me how is my husband) [a micropoem]

Wrapped up in a type of permanence No alloy band or stamped certificate Could ever every convey, We made camp in one another But, accidentally, called it “home.”

Throwback [poem] for back to school

As I rediscover my talents and rebellion against completing tasks I feel carry little meaning, I reflect on the work I’m about to reenter and what it means. Education and teaching (and learning) in all its forms have always meant a very great deal to me, but the meaning is more than an abstract belief…

until the next time [a poem]

my love like wine made us drunk. stumbling over skipped heart beats and broken guards we carried each other over the threshold of fear squinting unconsciously against the blinding vulnerability of lovers that let go of yesterday and tomorrow crashing into one another like turning 21 ignoring the consequences like foresight was a made-up curfew…

we met in the rain [poem]

We met in the rain. I shivered and you offered me your coat, opening your arms so I could walk in your warmth. I embraced you. Huddled close under my meek umbrella you lifted for us, I held your hand to help steady it against the winds, and we tiptoed and slipped from puddled shore…

Yesterday was Father’s day [excerpt of a poem]

Though the high, impatient whine Of the eager aluminum beast Drowns out the sense of voices around me A few youthful pitches pierce the cloud Nestled about my head. She recalls it like a fisherman’s tale: He was standing on a deck They faced the perfect storm When he turned and walked away This was…

(I don’t sleep with the lights on) [a micro poem]

i carved out your heart and stamped it into flames still you looked at me and called me by my beauty as though it were my name

There is no love like you dream [a postulation]

The following are fallacies: that there exists a love willing to give as selflessly in return as your heart can give; that love trumps all; that love is real when it doesn’t hurt. Love, as we feel it, is only real when it hurts because you find you can give so much of yourself, perhaps…

Shitting in the Dark [a poem]

The lights are out again And no one’s home to strike the match Roused from a half state of sleep I drag my feet through the dark halls with tepid steps, a traditional Sort of homage to the ritual – This path is too familiar for me to stumble upon. The borborygmus that woke me…

A Poem a Day (Pt. III)

So, it’s the eighth and this is part three – I’ll get caught up in some way. I’m still busy in Haiti and offer no apologies for that – I’m living! I came across a flash drive I used from 2005-2010 recently and quite by accident. This micropoem from sometime early in 2005 is today’s…

A Poem a Day, Pt. II

This throwback Thursday tosses backwards a little over two weeks to thank Unfold for publishing another one of my micropoems, (broken). If you haven’t much time but still an appetite for poetry, I, again, recommend checking them out for your dose of prose. In the meantime, the poem as published with them is featured below….

Happy National Poetry Month! (and a micropoem)

I simply had to find a way to pull myself from my Haitian paradise (of course I came back) in order to honour this month of poetry – particularly as I missed most of March and February’s honours (women and blacks, respectively). For today, a micropoem – and it is not for the foolish of…

worship [a poem]

Take your sins to the foot of my temple, Prepare an altar in darkness and Command your soul to pray well. Open your heart to the sermon of honesty; Bow your head before the eternal flame, The light of a spirit with insatiable yearning for truth and pain. Worship as humble king destined to the…