Five Poems by Lilija Valis

 

THE DAY 

 

 

On the day of your birth 

you entered time 

and were handed a planet 

 

beauty and danger 

played chess with each other 

they took turns winning 

 

some winged spirit 

was assigned to pull 

you back from precipices 

 

another led you to vistas 

that continue to feed 

your wandering heart 

 

so here’s to time 

the time allotted to us 

the time we allot 

 

to what can’t be taken 

away from us, what remains  

after we leave. 

 

 

NOT MINE 

 

 

I’ve been photoshopped – 

not what you think – 

I no longer recognize me  

in public, but strangers do – 

I’ve been called names  

                           not mine 

my way blocked 

I’ve been pushed off  

into someone else’s past 

to make room for those 

who own the present – 

they claim I’m in debt 

the ones who regulate 

license and circulate images –  

they know what they want -- 

a man pointed a gun at me  

in a city riot – I’ve been 

promised a future  

I’m trying to avoid – 

degreed authorities  

in identity allocation 

have issued me a new bio  

with an extensive history 

                           not mine  

–but there it is --   

my protests only confirm  

the long list of crimes 

I’m accused of, to justify  

whatever – payback time.  

Is there a happiness not built 

on the suffering of others? 

I’m a work of fiction  

                         not mine.

SLOWLY 

 

 

Neither one of us 

asked the other to dance 

 

we just circulated slowly  

the crowded room  

until we were back to back 

 

then turned to each other 

politely, as if to introduce 

ourselves, but said nothing 

 

just took each other 

into our arms 

and started to dance 

 

to some melancholy strings 

and the beat of our hearts 

our feet just above the floor 

 

everyone else withdrew 

into another time zone 

to let some unspoken wish 

 

connect the two of us forever 

for the separation to come.

LEAVING

 

 

I’ve left my life many  

times. “Sorry,” I’ve said, 

“You can have everything. 

I’m starting anew.” 

 

I’ve kissed my favourite 

ideas goodbye. “I wish 

you worked. Can’t  

support you anymore.” 

 

No baggage with me 

when I close the front door – 

sun or storm 

I’m walking into it. 

 

True, at times I’ve been  

evicted     my house  

in flames     it was stay  

and die or leave and live. 

 

I’m learning another language 

changing my fingerprints 

shedding my skin 

whatever it takes. 

 

I say I’m leaving, but 

I could be wrong, maybe 

I’m just coming home 

who knows where I live. 

 

I’ve shaken hands  

with the Past – it is past. 

It opened my eyes. 

I’m grateful for everything 

 

Yes, I’m leaving what was me 

ideas that blinded 

no baggage for me 

as I step into another Day. 

 

 

DIRT 

 

If she were a flower, 

she would close her petals 

against Destiny for leaving 

her in the dirt. 

 

The beauty of her fragrant 

red bloom she would not connect 

with the dark soil feeding 

her everything she needs. 

Lilija Valis has lived on three continents, in some major cities, including Washington, DC, and San Francisco when there was music in the streets and strangers hugged each other, published in book, literary and e-zine magazines, as well as nine international anthologies, and performed in public libraries, parks, old theatres, pubs, among other places.

Web presence: www.lilijavalis.com

http://pursuitofmisery.wordpress.com/