Back and Forth (Freeverse by Maddie)

We rocked back and forth
on the rickety old bench swing,
back and forth.

Slim boards
creaked as we swung,
leaves fluttered
from shivering
branches
back and forth.

Delight threaded
our voices
as we were lifted
higher above
adjacent bushes
back and forth.

A dip in the dry dirt
under our blue and green
sandals,
where we pushed off
every afternoon,
and skidded to a halt.

Your gentle sliding
feet, shushing
the ground beneath us,
a harmony
as we met the horizon,
slipped below,
and rose above,
back and forth.

Fathomless (Freeverse by Maddie)

Standing on a red cliff
extended above the sky
peering over steep edges,
boundless above and beneath.

Fixating our eyes
on the horizonless
expanse
clasped fingers
detain
rushing
fears
of falling
onto
slender currents.

Air inhaled
oxygen absorbed
exhale.
Warm breaths
float
and fuse.

In these latitudes
nothing is finite,
Fathomless
like red cliffs
endless skies
clasped fingers,
we are.

Abeyance (Freeverse by Maddie)

Dense moist
soil
layers the groundfloor,
a green vine
twists
into a canopy
enveloping
blue petals
blushing pink
while a soft
current
sways
creating
a hushing lullaby.

 

In this forest
rushing cars
running motors
stale white lights
are held in abeyance
as all things
untouched
thrive.

One More Reminder

I noticed my blog's statistics, and I was amazed!!!  Thank You to everyone who has taken interest in my writing, and I am so thrilled that my website has many visitors!  I just wanted to remind everyone that I have a new main blog that's updated more frequently than this one.  Please visit and follow!

maddiepoetry.wordpress.com/

Faded Promises (Freeverse by Maddie)

Cream white pearls
grafted along
gently spun lace
brush the velvety aisle
as smiling stares
follow
from the wooden pews.

 

Resonating bells
have sounded,
uplifting and streaming
through air.

 

Deep hums of brass chimes
slowly fade
away
in the distance.

 

The white A-line wonder
lies crumpled
and untouched
by love
amongst the dank
air
in a cobwebbed corner.

 

Patterns of lace
still intact,
pure white
glistens,
but the silky
exterior
cold
to the touch.

 

Dainty stories
laughs
and enveloping love
no longer emanate
in rising waves.

 

The intricate bodice
staggeringly breathes
an everlasting
moment and promise
expired.

*Emerge (Freeverse by Maddie) * In memory of 9/11

Emerge

 

I can still hear
ash- filled tears
see the great tremors
as they quake
across delicate souls
leaving their mark
like red maple leaves
brushing wet cement.

 

Maple leaves of melancholy
floating in the currents
drooping
as they bear the weight
of watery tears
without absorbtion.

 

Swaying down
from the once
living tree,
landing
on coarse palms of gratitude
hands of giving.

 

Resting on soles
walking for justice
racing for cures.

Slender fingers, curving around
ink
signing
against prejudice
for equality.

 

Red leaves of absence
slowly
sink
beneath
ashen soil.

 

With light
and passing
seconds
a small green
sprout
begins
to emerge.

 

A fresh
 delicate bud
unfurls as snow
melts to rain.

 

Blossoming
Red
petals
stretch,
twining upwards,
grasping
light.

Under the Sky (Excerpt by Maddie)

I sprint off the chatter- filled school bus, and quickly run up my wooden porch steps, shedding my red backpack as soon as I run through the front door. The jostle of my books hitting the floor echoes, as I skip back outside to the meadow in my backyard. Twirling through the long yellow grasses, I run my fingers along the stalks, laughing with the sun’s rays. I fall into lightly moist grass when dizziness crowds my mind, my dark locks of hair splaying around my head. Still giggling from euphoria, I look up into the fluffy white clouds that glide across the blue globe. Off in the near distance, I hear a soft rustle, and yell out, “I know you’re there Alex.” He appears seconds later through the orange hued foliage, smiling.
“So, how was your day of school Blu?” he asks, as he does every day.
“Boring,” I reply; it’s my automatic reply, but I always go into details right after. “Today, my teacher taught us addition and subtraction with double digit numbers.”
“I learned that yesterday,” he says trying to outdo me. “Now I’m learning addition with three numbers! First grade is really fun, but I feel so old now. My mom said I am becoming more responsible.” He says with pride and looks at the clouds along with me, as we relate our daily school adventures.
“It sure is fun! I know what you mean; we’re not kindergarteners anymore, and in a couple months, we’ll be second graders! I’m so excited. I hope Mrs. Gonzales is my teacher, because my friend Emily said she’s really nice and gives out stickers, and she likes country music, like you and I both do.”
“Do you think we’ll always be friends, Blu?” He asks quietly, as if he’s nervous for my reply.
“Well, why wouldn’t we? I mean, we’ve been friends from the moment I saw you crying at the end of your driveway, your head down, and I asked you to dance in the fresh rain puddles with me.”
Alex smiles at the memory. “You and your red polka-dot rain boots, because red’s your favorite color. I remember you told me that that the previous night’s rain left enough water in the streets, and I didn’t need to create more.”
We’re both grinning at the boldness I had, even back then when I was two and a half years old. “And then I grabbed your hand, and pulled you into the nearest puddle.”
“You know, you never asked me why I was crying, and I liked that. You just splashed me into life.”
I laugh, gazing back into the sky. “You ask if we’ll always be friends, as if we could just stop.” I focus on the cloud to my left. “Hey, Alex, look at that cloud,” I say pointing. “It looks like a duck.”
“A duck? You’re crazy; it’s a lemon tree, like the one in my grandpa’s backyard, the one we climbed last week against all the sharp thorns, just for the sake of picking the lemons off the top. See the branches?” He paints the tree’s branches with his long sun- tanned fingers, and makes circular finger motions for the lemons.
“It’s most definitely a duck,” I say pointing to the short wings, the thin legs, and the pointed beak.
“Sure, sure,” he says laughing beside me. I can feel his laughter vibrating through the grass beneath us, and I can’t help but catch his contagious smiles.
Everything turns quiet then, the birds in the surrounding trees stop their chirping melody, the wind stops whispering, and the crickets silence their ringing chorus. Alex and I lay in a comfortable silence, basking under the duck and lemon tree shaped clouds.

Shadows Underneath (Freeverse by Maddie)

Shadows
Underneath

Moon
plunders
sun's light
casting
a gray
glare
slowly drifting
across solitary
pavements
coursing upon
the lost.
Skittish
as they stumble
away from
the shadows,
spooked
by the
lazy mist
enshrouding the moon.
Twisted
laughter
fills
distant air,
wailing
screams
penetrate
stillness,
dripping
tears
stroke
uneven grounds.
Wind
endeavors
to ensconce
calamity
but mingles
instead
with shadows
underneath.

NEW BLOG

I recently switched to Wordpress, though I will continue to update this blog.  Readers were having difficulties commenting if they didn't have a Google account, and now with Wordpress, commenting is available to everyone.

maddiepoetry.wordpress.com

Untitled (*Found Poem by Maddie)

*A Found Poem is a poem using only words that the writer has found, whether it's in books, articles, billboards, signs, etc.
This is a Found Poem using only the titles of books on my shelf:

Where the perfect sidewalk ends
you crash
into me
and a love, ruined,
haunted me,
haunts you.

Smiles
flipped,
you and me,
reinvented.
Lost in the
delirium
of questions
and a pretty
little kiss.

Eternal love
and a secret world
lost forever
in the mist.

At Sunset (Free-Verse by Maddie)

Relaxing on the edge
of heightened Port Aransas
boardwalks,
your sepia splashed eyes
smile under
bronze shafts of luminosity.

As we admire the unbroken line
surrounding us
with its faded pink mist
set ablaze an orange glow,
soft, affable waves
gently moisten
our feet
that sway at sea level
and our fingers splayed
upon jagged wood,
only an inch apart.

Vapor swims across hemispheres
as narrow spaces
between
sink away,
like the sun gradually slipping
beneath violet entwined
horizons.

Dreaming Amongst the Sun (Free- Verse by Maddie)

Laying upon

the center

of a cold, wooden floor,

lost in random patterns

of light,

I listlessly

stare 

at surrounding gray walls

as shafts of broken radiance

emerge

from sun- stained

glass,

scintillating

across 

white desk,

rebounding

from a water- spotted

mirror.

Flickering light

dances as 

each forgotten 

hour blurs past.

Melting, Melted (*Ekphrastic Poem by Maddie)

*Ekphrasis:  Using one medium of art to describe another form of art.
Ex:  a poem about a painting, a photograph inspired by a film, etc...

Inspired by the art piece, "United Globe", by Vernon Fisher.

Melting, Melted

I see cars running,
the foul exhaust
escaping.
Waves of heat
transferring
from object to object.
Puffs of
gray smoke
rise
from buildings
blending with the sky's
veil of white.
Ice
from solid
to liquid.
The world
melting
around the globe
before our eyes
slipping off in patches,
falling.
From 80
to 120 degrees
Mercury,
Rising and rising.
Pressure buildup.
Red bursts
while
Blue melts.

Dancing Dreams (*Ekphrastic Poem by Maddie)

*Ekphrasis:  Using one medium of art to describe another form of art.  

Ex: a poem about a painting, a photograph inspired by a film, etc...

Inspired by the painting, "Moth Dance" by Maggie Taylor.

Dancing Dreams

When light has ceased, and the crescent glows,

an eight year old girl slips into her square backyard,

wearing her sister’s worn, gray tights

and pink ratty ballet slippers,

a faded, blue, stained blouse

tucked in at the waist of her black shorts

with a brown and yellow striped hem.

Two golden feathers

she discovered while twirling 
along the barricade of trees

sprout from her short brown hair, like rabbit ears.

Wearing her mother’s 
allaying cold eye mask

taken from the freezer,

she stands upon a rusted blue tin

while dancing around with butterflies

only night can see.

Glowing against the starless sky,

she dances,

with her fluttering dreams

of a ballet artist.

Bounding and gliding

through musty air.

Posing against the purple sky,

as airy luminescent wings flit around,

enhancing her woven trance.

Seven Months of Summer (Freeverse by Maddie Carrola)

Seven Months of Summer

Heat lines
rise
off the asphalt,
while parched
brittle trees,
bend, and snap
in the unbending air
and yellowed grass
crunches
when stepped
on.
Withered cacti
shrivel
in this
desert- like bubble.
The sun,
penetrating
the life,
scorching the land.
Fires erupt from
the sun burnt soil.
Red, Orange, Yellow
turn to
Black and Gray
ash,
forming
tears of loss.

Twinkling Stars of Texas (Freeverse by Maddie)

Twinkling Stars of Texas

Laying back against the
red, shingled roof,
gazing upon the darkened backdrop
of the night skies.
My sighs of warm breath escape,
and cloud the crisp air,
for there are
stars,
incandescent orbs of light
sprinkled
upon the heavens.
Their shimmering beauty
as they flash and flicker
in the brisk air of Fall.
Blazing across black nights
with resplendent gleams,
blanketing the cold sphere.

Away (Petrarchan Sonnet by Maddie)

the end imparted, and washed ashore
as the words you spouted were found untrue,
your aura began to smell of mildew,
that reek of old stale water resting beneath a wooden door.
your profane words without a cure
your saccharine eyes, vitreous, I could see through.
leaving us askew,
and falling out of place, away I began to soar

above and beyond the spacious blue, free
warm currents with the ability to lift,
while below you looked astray.
to myself I smiled so simply,
and away you began to fade and drift
into another prosaic shade of gray.

Buildup (Free Verse by Maddie)

Buildup

Beneath the seven layers of skin,
past pumping arteries
lies the heart
in us all,
a rhythmic beat,
pulsing with life
just below the surface.

With every expansion
blood,
released throughout,
streaming through veins
carrying the throbbing end,
along with sprouts of sorrow,
and buried doubt,
resurfaces.

The lingering intensity,
coursing
spreading
emanating
from the left and right atriums
of the heart.

A collision,
creating cascades of emotions,
as the thriving torrent rushes and ripples, and races
side to side
back and forth
from top to bottom.

Searching for the exit,
a need to be heard.
Ready to burst,
emotions,
like vibrant colors of paint
spilling down the sides
dripping off the edges,
filling the mind with thoughts,
transformed into words,
soon, sliding out from the lips,
and into the vast expanse
of open air.