What If I Told You

What if I told you the truth
No, I don't love you
Once I did, before
You took my heart
Yes, I offered it gladly
For I believed you
Your full, warm lips
Promised me with beautiful lies

What if I told you the truth
You looked through me
Shadows of other women
Danced in my light
Blossomed, wilted
and faded away leaving
only me to drown in
the void of those black eyes
Janice Kuykendall

 THE FUNERAL    
The heat, the smell of the yellow roses
A fly crawled across the back of my hand
Someone shifted uneasily in the front pew
A cough from the back of the room
The minister stood and cleared his throat
I watched his mouth move, his words invisible
I swung my legs and played with pop beads
Till my Aunt reached over and took them away

The heat, the smell of the freshly dug earth
An ant crawled across my shiny new shoe
Someone blew his nose into his white hankie
A stifled sob from the row behind
The minister stood and cleared his throat
His thin hair lifting in the hot breeze
I dug the toe of my shoe in the loose dirt
Till my aunt stopped me with a warning look

The heat, the greasy smell of the fried chicken
Everyone kept shooing and swatting at flies
Someone dabbing at their red, swollen eyes
A murmur of voices from the back yard
The minister stood and cleared his throat
Sweat beaded out on his brow and nose
I sat in a tree reading, swinging my legs
Till my aunt came and made me get down
Janice Kuykendall

TO BE REBORN

Sadness overwhelms me
Despair is not far behind
I  am overcome with need
To go round and round
Until I meet myself again
I will look into my eyes
And perhaps that old refrain
Of all my silly, empty lies
Of who, why and how
Will let me rise and  fly
Away in the light of now
Janice Kuykendall

THE BRIDGE

Steel stretching across the blue
standing with your feet in the water
arms reaching side to side
Janice Kuykendall