White Rose's Garden

Untitled

2013-06-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

It's hard to know when it began
a sharp right where truth met
sharpened nails

The silver flashes of talking heads
their words bear
the sickening sweet smell
of corruption

A murder of crows
have gathered at our House
their dark maws ever devouring

Wake us from this complacency
shake us into a million pieces of light
the world is waiting

by Sherry Obsheatz

The Art of Writing

2013-04-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

Writing is messy. Words slithering into sleep, jabbed hazily onto napkins ringed with wine stains.
Beauty out of chaos.

Her Name was Jyoti

2013-01-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

Her name was Jyoti
and her life changed
in a moment, in moments
stitched together in violence

I want to take those moments
and scrub
set them to dry
in sunshine and love
bright and clean and full of promise

Her name was Jyoti
Her words, her story
salted with tears
fall from eyes that bear witness

Let her story fill oceans
Let her story fill our hearts
Let her story change the world

Her name was Jyoti
her name could have been you
her name could have been me

by sherry Obsheatz

In memory of Jyoti Singh Pandey

Adrift

2011-10-08T17:03:00.006-05:00

Drift
play another life

Indifferent
home again

Eyes, speaking ties
Worked skulls-for skull

Me
someone by gears

Notes
Feathers, find hide

Dawn aflame
out of sleep

Drifting suicide

Life

2011-09-26T04:21:00.003-05:00

We are born dying.
Would we cherish
this existence more
if we knew this from
the beginning?

Confronting Hamlet

2011-09-23T15:40:00.005-05:00

The stars dip with a promise of a wish
and brave Ophelia slips into the dark
water, her bright hair spread around her
like vibrating strings, a soft sweet melody
passing away into the night.

I want to confront him, this Hamlet, who
flicked her away like an annoying fly.
Did you see in her eyes the wit and
humor that you lacked? I want to whisper
slyly in his ear the details of the morning
he will wake sticky with regret.

Building a Wall

2011-08-07T00:50:00.005-05:00

I feel the first beads
of perspiration
sliding down my back

The room swirls
and makes a sucking
sound as if a balloon
is being deflated

Quick, fling open
a window, this fear
is hungry and I can't
breathe

It lies there crouching
waiting, I read once
that Churchill built
walls to keep it at bay

I lay the first brick
I will not let it
overtake me

a splat of mortar
and another brick
I will not let it
overtake me

BarFly

2011-07-21T00:46:00.006-05:00

Buildings stretch
upward into the night
lit windows like
unblinking eyes waiting
for a promise to be kept.

A smattering of music
pulls me to familiar haunts
and from the mouths of the
desperate spills laughter

brittle and forced
one last coupling
before their bit of
blue sky is lost.

"The gods favor drunks"
hangs above the bar
a bright talisman smudged
with the finger tips of
the superstitious.

I run my hands over
the dark wood tracing
the whittled messages
of souls slipped between

the cracks and in the
hazy glow of my first
drink I scratch out
a pledge

Tomorrow will be different

Untitled

2011-07-06T16:45:00.005-05:00

And the Earth still spins
A blue jewel of life
Charming the stars with possibilities

Sunchaser

2011-06-28T20:51:00.003-05:00

Newt the sunchaser

We wait for the moon

as the wind stirs blue skies to black

Newt, wearing paths along the wooden fence -

chases the lingering sun from our backyard.

Door

2011-06-11T17:54:00.001-05:00

I answer a knock at the door.

Have you heard the good news?
Jesus loves you!

I bare my teeth into a
semblance of a smile.

Dogma seeps

She hands me a magazine
that reminds me of Jimi Hendrix.
I hum softly, "All along the
watchtower"

I try to imagine what it was
like, hearing him for the first time.
I understand why they called it:

The Experience

that changed my life
is that first pain
that nestled and
nagged the life from me
a little every day.

I quietly close the door.

Perception

2011-06-11T16:38:00.004-05:00

photo by deviant art

The fan softly clicks as it makes
another arc across the room. There's
a nest of fur on the blanket where the
cats nap. I want to curl up and sleep.

A diagonal crack on the wall
reaches from the corner of the couch.
It makes me think of a Doctor Who episode.
I peer inside, in search of another world,
one with more than just fleeting moments
of perfection.

My fingers are smudged with words. I try
to make them clear, but the laptop tells
me I'm out of time. A red eye blinking
low battery.

Muster

2011-06-11T09:44:00.002-05:00

Hiding their unease
This cadre of fresh recruits
photograph of smiles

The First Love Story

2011-06-06T03:04:00.005-05:00

photo by deviant art

So you want this man to love you?

Yes, yes I do, said the woman.

Well, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Try that apple next to you. He may like it.

Thank you, smiled the woman.

Of course, I'm always here if you need me.
We snakes like to feel useful too.

Nonsensical Dream

2011-06-04T14:18:00.012-05:00

photo by deviant art

And the stars came and tipped their hats
Sprinkling light among the teacups.
And the ladies sipped, glimmering
beneath their colorful gowns.

Sparkling with approval, the stars
extended their hand and they danced
within the night pushing away
its dark dark tendrils.

For Mom

2011-05-06T18:44:00.003-05:00

My Mom was brown as a berry. She was happier in the summer.
The sun, the water, she had movement in the water. I think
it gave her freedom from the pain for awhile.

I'd like to say I was compassionate and I understood. I wasn't.
I resented her, why couldn't she do what the other kids mothers did?
As her body betrayed her, she collapsed inside and became more
withdrawn. If only I could have understood what she was going
through. The frustration she must have felt and no way to vent
it.

I'm sad knowing, that I was not the daughter that I should have
been. I wish I could have made her life a little easier.
I understand now Mom and I wish I could tell you in person.

My Mom had RA when there were not a lot of treatment options and she suffered terribly.

For Our Joxer Boxer

2011-04-16T01:22:00.006-05:00

Gently smiling
listening to the soft whuff whuff
as you trot beside us

We're not ready
as you look up at us expectantly

but that pasture is calling
with its moon tangled in the wisteria
and its silky shroud of stars

We give you one last hug
as you dart into the night
leaping and bounding to a new sunrise

Hum

2011-03-25T16:20:00.001-05:00

Watch the flickering images collide
as we circumvent the hum of humanity
taut to the breaking point.

And slipping along rusted rails
we wave goodbye to the American Dream

the world collapsing at our front door.

With shaky hands I turn off the TV
I'm a child in need of reassurance
tight-lipped and grieving.

Waking

2011-03-20T17:00:00.001-05:00

is seeing man dying
a child passed from hand to hand

Rooftop heroes

Shouts of joy pushed through
grim lines of grim faces

Searching

Windows you rather not look through

Among the whimpering of dogs
And crying of cats

Suburbia and Random Thoughts...

2011-02-20T21:20:00.004-06:00

I awaken to the neighbor's mower.
I'm flattened by the weight of it - the routine.
The manicured lawns and shiny SUV's.
Endless rows of identical houses.
Perfect families with their 2.5 children.

They claim to believe in Heaven,
mansions and streets of gold.
The American dream carried even after death.

I dreamed of firelight,
of being Irish. A storyteller.
My words ghosted to only a few
and passed down through generations.

Have I told you that I love windy days?
Gusts caught in sleeves and hair.
It suddenly makes all things seem possible.

First Light

2010-09-21T05:22:00.003-05:00

You live your life
under an umbrella
of your worst day

Your tears
numbed by loneliness
dark and glinting
like a rich red wine

pain sliding over tongues
savored
swallowed
and forgotten

We will roll back
the suns of lovely days
and let them warm you
one by one

Coma

2010-01-29T00:27:00.000-06:00

The swish of doors,
gurneys sliding along
floors polished
with blood and pain.

Searching room
by room down
this cold corridor.
Nurses draped

in bright colors
fluttering over the
beds of the helpless,
their chairs filled

with the specters
of the bereft.
Dad says she's
in a coma

be prepared.
We find her, not
in the dignified
sleep of the movies.

She's gesturing wildly,
her eyes hanging on the
precipice of speech,
crying, I'm here,

I'm here, with lips
waxed shut with
with the dull flame
of stupor.

Starched white coats
tell us this road
may only go
one way.

I don't know how
to process this
information.
In the hospital

gift shop,
I buy a
squeezable
heart.

copyright sherry obsheatz

A Man of Humble Beginnings

2010-01-20T23:04:00.002-06:00

You frighten them
this brightness
of your truth

you burn like a Saint
yet they call you a fanatic
you speak

and women weep with joy
The skies
darken with angels

Some see you as
the Dove of Peace
others a sword of flame

Which is the truth?
or perhaps in discarding
that wedge of flesh

you have forgotten
the crush of hunger
centuries of lives

calling your name
only to fall
on deaf ears

copyright Sherry Obsheatz

Just Call Me Alice

2010-01-16T14:34:00.005-06:00

I haven't been on here in quite some time. My life has been turned upside down. I was diagnosed with Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. The dreaded Rhupus, the pain has become so debilitating that I have applied for disability, because I can no longer work. So I haven't been writing much. I've decided to get back on here and force myself to start writing again. Maybe it will give me some sense of purpose and give me back some of my sanity.

The chronic pain, depression, zoned out feeling from the drugs, people not understanding, it's all there.

Porcelain cups,
Frilly things placed
Under the afternoon sun

I wonder if I’m mad as the Hatter

Sentences blown like soft kisses
Never meet their mark
Words whisked away
On a breeze

What were you saying dear?
It doesn’t matter
Maybe is does matter. Maybe it does…

Stretching joints
Groaning, protesting
Like an old rusted machine
Whose use has long been forgotten

But you look fine, my dear
Maybe it’s all in your head

Head, head, head
Crashing blackness
Jagged tears that never heal

Oh dear, oh dear
You’re crying again
Here, drink your tea
It’s getting cold.

copyright Sherry Obsheatz

The Cracking

2009-03-06T07:13:00.004-06:00

This solitary woman

with her two-fisted

words smooth as ice

plunged among the brittle

trunks of prattling trees.

Their silence sent skittering

under a twang of gray sky

full of thoughts and nerves.

Thanks for staying with me everyone. I promise I'll visit soon.

White Rose's Garden

Untitled

The Art of Writing

Her Name was Jyoti

Adrift

Life

Confronting Hamlet

Building a Wall

BarFly

Untitled

And the Earth still spinsA blue jewel of lifeCharming the stars with possibilities

Sunchaser

Door

Perception

Muster

The First Love Story

Nonsensical Dream

For Mom

For Our Joxer Boxer

Hum

Waking

Suburbia and Random Thoughts...

First Light

Coma

A Man of Humble Beginnings

Just Call Me Alice

The Cracking

And the Earth still spins
A blue jewel of life
Charming the stars with possibilities