I sit in my little cottage 

Surrounded by meager possessions 

And you reign in your high castle 

Surrounded by your golden pretties

Many times I feel the hungry mouth 

Devouring me bit by bit

While you gobble up 

The meanest of my wants and needs

You dressed in your whites and

Me digging through the dark 

Searching for a glimmer

Knowing full well that you own the sun

Sometimes a shadow that I chase blindly

Illuminates my way

But you take my shadows

And turn them to profits to sell back to me

My days are numbered by the hours of labor

My body must endure 

While you count the cost of my

Meanest drudge by the returns it brings

Janice Kuykendall

THOMAS HENRY

If I could hold a moment forever 

I’d hold your heart next to mine 

As I cradle you in my arms

Whispering my unending love 

I cry tears of grief so sharp

They take my breath away 

I relive moments lost forever 

Over and over in my mind 

I took for granted 

That time was kind 

But time stops for no one

And I lost you way too soon

I was wrapped up in every day things

Never thinking 

That you would leave so soon

Never guessing that time was my enemy

If I could hold a moment forever

I would give you the love

I so selfishly held back

Thinking there would be another day 

I miss you every day 

And for the rest of my life

I will regret the things

I could and should have done

Dear sweet one, I love you 

You will live on in my heart and memory forever.

Janice Kuykendall

DAYBREAK

The day is just beginning 

All soft and gray

My breath fogs the air 

The ground is hard 

The grass crunches beneath my feet 

The clouds hang low

Pulled like cotton candy 

Across the sky

Then I see it

Pearly pink and orange 

Just tipping the horizon 

Beginning to spread 

A watercolor sky at first 

Then golden shafts 

Spread like honey 

As the sun peeps over the horizon 

Painting the East in glorious hues

Then climbing higher 

It sets the sky ablaze 

In a riot of radiant color 

Janice Kuykendall

SECRETS

 

There is a tree in the park

                                                      It’s old and scarred

But, oh the stories it knows

Of secrets carved

In it’s grey, gnarled trunk

The shade beneath it’s bough 

Is cool and inviting 

The wind whispers softly 

Stop and rest awhile 

My shadow slips away 

As I sit in the sweet grass 

My fingers trace the old wounds 

Initials captured in a heart 

The words of love

The vows we made 

I imagine I hear the old tree sigh

I remember you 

Your secrets I know

Your secrets I keep 

Janice Kuykendall

Memory

Tonight I heard Hank Williams sing

“Cold, Cold Heart” 

and a blip in time

slipped through 

and made me cry

a little girl in a bar

listening to the jukebox 

with her smiling daddy

And it broke my heart 

to remember that daddy 

and that little girl

A memory as thin

as a gossamer curtain

haunts me still

when I hear Hank sing

And my daddy carries me back 

through the years

to that lonely little girl

wishing I could have seen

how it would break my heart 

and forever leave me lonely

Janice Kuykendall  

12/02/18

AT THE TOP

AT THE TOP

It's lonely at the top

The only ones who managed to hang on

rode with spurs dug in

I was too kind for spurs

I took the longer, gentler slope

While others rode straight up

But the uppermost top

was a slippery slope

and only the ones with claws

could hang on

and I was to timid for claws.

Janice Kuykendall

Morning!

Morning

The orange and yellow hues of morning sunrise
The sweet rubs and purring of my ginger cat
The smell of dark, rich coffee brewing
The ticking of the old clock on the wall
The soft whirr of the refrigerator
The strange absence of traffic noise
The scratching of my pencil on paper
The calling caw of a single bird
The morning air, cool and fresh on my cheek
These things start my new day

                             Janice Kuykendall March 2016

Saturday Morning Musings

Saturday Morning Musings

Has it been two years
Almost twenty-four months
Since you left me in tears
My heart aches and wants
to hold and have you near
But I know that I can't
For you need your wings
and I need to grow and let go

J. Kuykendall 02/2016

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

APRIL PAD DAY 28, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a poem about matter or anti-matter.

INCORPOREAL

Moonlight discloses her

Pale and white

she sits astride a unicorn

her long, silver hair glows

with an ethereal light

her lips the color of pomegranates

lush and full 

her gown drapes down

in folds to her waist

a silver coronet, twisted and curved

encircles her head

slippers made of rose petals

peek from beneath her flowing gown

in one hand she holds a gilded cage

on the other sits a white dove 

beside her flows a silver spring

the pale moon floats on it's surface 

white flowers, their petals unfolding

open in the silver moonlight

emerging from soft slumber 

dreams fade away, reality paints the day

her phantom image slips away

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

APRIL PAD DAY 27, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a looking back poem.

REMEMBERING

These old hand were once

soft and smooth 

these old hands were once small

sweaty and dirty

as they held a ladybug

perched on the tip of a little finger

they once hugged a daddy's neck, 

made mud pies for him to taste

they wiped away tears

clapped with glee

held a crayon

then a pencil, then a pen

they trembled as they wrote

their first love note

were glorious with brightly

polished nails and silver rings

they curled and combed willful hair

nervously smoothed a new dress

before a first date

joined another's at the altar

were deft as they sewed a fine seam

these hands cradled babies

changed countless diapers

wiped away tears and hurts

held aging parents 

cradled them close

while memories faded

now these hands are knarled

and twisted with age

younger hands now soothe

this brow and hold me close

while I cling to memories

lest they fade away

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-SIX

APRIL PAD DAY 26, 2015

For today’s prompt, take a word or two invented by William Shakespeare, make it the title of your poem, and write your poem. 

ODE TO BANDIT

A tiny fur-ball

I found him beside the road

didn't think he'd live

but he surprised me 

and grew to be one seventy

pounds that is, weighed more than me

he turned out to be

practically, almost, absolutely, untrainable

named him Bandit

bought him a bed

that's where the cat sleeps

he prefers the couch 

he farts, gets up and leaves the room

he digs holes, big ones

dug one under the fence

took a short vacation over at the dog pound

not even a guilty look on his mug on the ride home

sat in the car seat with his head out the window

ears blowing in the wind, just as pleased as punch

he barks at the neighbors cat,  digs in the trash

tore up my bed pillow, all over the house

ate a whole pizza he stole off the counter

threw it up on the living room rug

but he also warms my feet on cold nights

sleeps beside me when I am sick

never gets angry or calls me names

doesn't hold a grudge, or slam the door

never leaves in the middle of my story

never points out my faults

thinks I am the greatest person on earth

meets me at the door every evening

what more could you ask for in a best friend!

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-FIVE

APRIL PAD DAY 25, 2015

Today's prompt is to write an Across the sea poem.

FALSE LOVE

You went across the sea

wait for my return 

empty promises

you never meant to keep 

scattered across the heavens,

tears like diamonds 

fragile glass stars

shattered 

fell to earth, swallowed

by the hungry ocean

 angry tides 

picked them up 

hurled them upon the lonely beach

our love that you swore was forever

is nothing more than

crystal sand upon the shore

J KUYKENDALL

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-FOUR

APIRL PAD DAY 24, 2015

The prompt today is to write a moment poem.

A MOMENT OF DESPAIR

There is a feeling of despair, 

of hopelessness, of quiet rage,

a growing hostility, 

a silent desperation that screams

for a need to change the twisted,

pervasive, controlling love that grips

our lives and threatens to  separate 

our paths forever.

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-THREE

APRIL PAD DAY 23, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a historic poem.

CIVIL WAR

Brother against brother

Blue against gray

A nation divided

Yankee against Rebel

Confederate or Union

North and south

Lincoln and Davis

The blood of a nation

flowed together

in the trenches of Shiloh,

Antietam and Fredericksburg

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg

They were filled with the blood 

of victory and defeat

Fought in a thousand places

from fields of Pennsylvania

all the way to Louisiana

From New Mexico to Florida

the war between brothers 

stained the battlefields with blood

from Gettysburg to Vicksburg

After five long years 

what started at Fort Sumter

ended at Appomattox 

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLEGE DAY TWENTY-TWO

APRIL PAD 22, 2015

Today's prompt is to write a Nature Poem.

It's not in my nature

to nurture

an unkind word

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY-ONE

April PAD Day 21, 2015

Today's prompt is write a poem of "what your are" or "what you are not."

ASPECTS 

I see her in the mirror

standing on the other side

I think I know her

face the same as mine

eyes stare back at me

lying eyes, that

hide the darkness

of a sad, tormented mind

But she's just a reflection

a two dimensional image

a silvered paradigm

on a painted surface

And when I walk away

she ceases to exist

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY SEVENTEEN

April PAD Day 17, 2015

Sorry for the order, but I somehow skipped day 17, so here it is. The prompt is write a swing poem.

DIFFERENT

She is beautiful

She "swings both ways"

She is courageous

She never shies away

from who she is

no matter what people say

To her family, she's an outcast

made them ashamed

afraid to be tainted 

afraid they'd be blamed

for who she is

no matter how they disclaimed

She's an inspiration

she stands tall and proud

to be different 

to many is not allowed

but who she is

she was by birth endowed

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY

April PAD Day 20, 2015

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “My (blank), the (blank),” replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. 

MY DAD THE COWBOY

Texas born, New Mexico sworn

Tall, thin, hardened and rough

Dad was no greenhorn

the land made him tough

Land of enchantment, dry and arid

it was in his blood

for the need he was girded

for the taste he thirsted

high in the saddle 

leather chaps he wore

his horse was agile

a cowboy's horse and more

the work was hard and mean

long, grueling hours in the sun

made him brown and lean

his life his own, owed to none

he loved the plains and canyons

the sunsets of fire

he hated the cattle barons

with their fences of barbwire

he liked to sleep under the stars

by a campfire he cooked

his body bore the scars

of the many dangers he brooked

A cowboy hard and keen

a life lived in the land he cherished

where the sand and cactus teemed

and the free and wild flourished

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY NINETEEN

April PAD Day 19, 2015

For today's prompt write and Authority poem.

AUTHORITARIAN

He, absolute Sun

My total eclipse

has obscured him.

J Kuykendall

APRIL PAD CHALLENGE DAY EIGHTEEN

April Pad Day 18, 2015

 For today’s prompt, pick 2 vowels and write a poem using words that only contain one or both of those vowels. 

FAILURE

I went warily, fearing 

the coming torment

I knew there were more

horrible tortures

I stopped, panic

seized me

minutes  ticked, ticked

still I stayed, waiting 

fear held me,

imprisoned me

the sweat trickled soaking

the thin shirt, skin sticking

hair plastered

breathing heavily

heart racing

he's sitting,

sitting grinning,

greedily grinning

patting the seat

behind the wheel

drivers test  honey

hope dims

surely failure 

is waiting 

again, then

he will grin 

his slick grin

tell me cheerfully

next time honey

J Kuykendall