Literature

Found Object Poetry

Credit to the brilliant found object artist Michelle Stitzlein

I collect pieces of thoughts
On cocktail napkins
Like old hubcaps
Snippets of words
clipped out in my virtual brain
Make note of the humanity of pain
Scraps of my heart
Found on the sidewalk
And dirty thoughts
Dropped by passers by
Tiny words
That come in the twilight
Between sleep and wake
Loud words that you can’t even say
Picked up along the way
Cobbled together
In dreams and poetry

 

Choice

there are harsh words enough in the world

to break a thousand hearts

enough stones to batter and crush

a million innocent bodies

enough misconceptions and judgments

to lock the door

and stay inside one’s narrow mind.

 

but I will hold my tongue

and breathe in kindness

until I can only speak love

I will seek to heal

the wounds I have inflicted

 

letting go of grudges

I will boldly face my fears
 
and act with intent
 
having left the world a better place
 
because I lived.

––Angela Beloian