ghost

i floated, I wafted through you, i paused...
then carried on my way.
I made my way through others' selves
I never forgot.
those others' selves i never forgot
and how they weren't like you.
they were cloudy, thick exhausting.
wore me down to muddy hues.
I turned black, and black i was.
heavy stained the shadows of my eyes.
I did feel ugly, and i felt sad.
because once i felt something better.
I once compared it to the rest
and then the rest was less than okay.
I fell heavy because I once felt you.
~ Chelsea

discarded

Dusty drawl in southern slander

Quiet strained to understand her

Tired eyes let free her story

Stripped bare of their childhood glory

Heavy eyes, dull grey reflections

Amplified stained imperfections

Hidden between beaten hands

Scrubbed, bleached, scarred and tender hands

Tearful in her struggle, she

Clasps the wisps of cherished strands

and bows          shamelessly

Finally.

To life itself

Breathed into lungs

Revived her health

A tiny fleck of spirited stealth

Behind the scars, beyond the fears

A dusty drawl in southern slander

Dazed I strained to understand her

spoke seven words...

“...it’s like I seen my momma again”

My heart shattered like the life within her

I embraced that child and never left her
~Chelsea

Watermarked

There once was a boy who didn't speak. He didn't cry, and he didn't yell. But he smiled like he knew. He smiled like he understood. He left home one night and many nights to wander and explore. He had no fear, and he had no cares. This was 3046 years ago. I remember still, the vibrations of his eyes like they sang untold words to my heart. He wore a necklace. Only a necklace when he explored. It was his mother and his father dead and gone. It was a necklace left around his neck to mark from where he'd come. He spoke with body and eyes and love to the animals he met. They shared with him the secrets of a world that any and every human could explore. And explore is to search, but explore isn't to find, and explore isn't to understand. Explore isn't to have siblings of the natural beauty around you.

He passed away young, he floated home peacefully in a river as a sunday sun rised above him. they cried. the animals. all of them cried. The humans wouldn't speak his name, but the animals screamed it proudly. They cremated his body that night and the ashes blew away with the wind.

there was one small thing where his throat had been...

a diamond.

So I wear it around my neck today, in search for a life he lived.

Once in a while I become enchanted when I hear the forest stir.

Once in a while...

when the night gets late and the humans are asleep and quiet.
~Chelsea

suspended, stuck.

Mother pleads for her boy not to go.
Man is done with rules and walls.
Bricks of limitations and expectations and
freedom is in the night.
It snakes around black with danger
and stars' cold stare.
Eyes of mothers; many children lost.
Dark whispers in directions and circles
always leading down to hit earth.
Pleasure before pain.
An acidic household corroding and peeling
at edges of skin and nerves
like fire, and a rope holding something special up.
Mother broken, blames the husband.
Man to boy. who rules this kingdom?
Of a flame and a rope and something special.
Tears flow hazy glazes over vision of too many backs turned.
Mother blames eternity and God's wicked humour.
Mother ready to fall at the lick of a flame.
~ Chelsea Papps