2023 · Poems · poetry

“Writing Distraction”

“Flake” ©️C.P. Hickey 2023

“Writing Distraction”

Environment skews focus

Elusive ideas remain away

Cannot quite grasp it

Looming large but ineffable

Which is a word I learned in high school

From a young woman named Megan

Which I cannot remember if she spelled her name with or without an “h”

Old dial tone phones with Boa Constrictor cords

Kept us tethered in the wonder of an inconsequential connection

Each of us pushed towards an idea of what we were supposed to be

In spite, of the discomforts of not knowing how

I do not know that we ever kissed or held hands

But—I am certain the seeds of my later courting elegance were sown during these largely small distractions

Flailing at life

Learning to dance

Whispering into the molded plastic receiver of an avocado colored phone

Hoping against hope that my deepest secrets and desires were heard

2023 · Poems

“Radio Static”

“Radio Static”

Indigenous Light Forms ©️C.P. Hickey 2023

percolating crackle

amplitude frequency

word soup white noise

dial left or right

neither correct

more crackling

static fizz a bushy business

a puffing storm cloud

potentially kinetic

ozone whiffs waft

waves winderly windy wind

air conducts

a symphony of forms

ideas conveyed and received

broadcasted boldly brave

looking for certain

sentient life

a dark star cosmos

avoiding unavoidable gravity cones

spinning ceaselessly

expanding horizons

eventually

no true exit

only entering the once

transformed universally

so all can listen at the receiver

here to hear

 

2023 · Poems · poetry

“Outstanding”

“Keeping Watch” ©️C.P. Hickey 2023

“Outstanding”

Sometimes it’s hard to stand out

Standing up for others that can’t

Backing down bullies’ braggadocio

There are people out to hurt others

Afraid to help others

And ignore their suffering

Enjoying the struggle

Yet—

Some still stand out against that

Hands outstretched

Elevating others

Those are the ones…

That stand out

For me, for you, for all

Standing for righteousness

Standing on

Standing up

Standing out

2023 · Poems · poetry

“Alone From Me”

“Open Air” ©️C.P. Hickey 2023

“Alone From Me”

I don’t know how to be

In a place—alone from me

Sustaining sanity

A misleading reverie

Impatience patiently

In a place—alone from me

Existential parity

Haunts this lucid waking dream

A calm collective calamity

In a place—alone from me

Isolation bursting seams

Old companions take their leave

A desert mirage fleetingly

In a place—alone from me

Unsightly vision still unseen

Alone…alone…alone from me

2023 · Poems · poetry

“Resolution Infinitive”

“Daisy” © C.P. Hickey 2022

“Resolution Infinitive”

When you can’t run…

All you want to do is run.

So, run when you can,

Because you never know when you will be unable to run.

 

Three hundred sixty-five days ahead with which…

To live, to write, to laugh, to think, to reflect, to act, to try, to experience, to fail, to succeed, to mend, to discover, to assist, to uphold, to care, to help, to learn, to mourn, to discipline, to develop, to grow, to understand, to listen, to empathize, to give, to invite, to allow, to celebrate, to cuddle, to create, to read, to human, to celebrate, to guide, to teach, to hope, to weep, to hug, to hold, to grab more from the universe than you were allowed

To grab more from the universe than you were allowed