Shelved hopes

Silent shelved hopes
and bitter tears;
lifeless and disfigured
by mascara smears.

With gloom-wrapped shoulders,
she reaches out a hand,
but the majority pass by her,
and few can understand.

So she sits in stilled anguish,
waiting for a promising sign,
but the world is relentless
and only seeks to undermine.

She realizes she’s a burden,
another rift in society.
And so she sits and languishes
for all she’ll never be.

© 2021 Michelle Cook


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/homeless-beggar-woman-poverty-cry-3584319/

Writing prompt: A bottle of hope sat on the shelf

Puffed pastries and bric-a-brac

Familiar chapters
The lifestyles we all once knew
Alas gone from view

© 2021 Michelle Cook


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/space-room-interior-empty-4231460/

Writing prompt: Puffed pastries and bric-a-brac

Foaming oceans and secret potions

Foamy, translucent blue swells
give birth to an abundance of tiny seashells.

A few find their path and scuttle away,
but many more find themselves lost in the vast array.

The stranded ones lie in crevices hoping they’ll be found
before the savage sea pounds them into the ground.

A few get noticed by curious little hands,
but most get tossed back into the abrasive sand.

The ones that survive are mostly made of pristine perfection
while the others bide their time in a constant state of rejection.

Silently they wish for secret potions that do not exist,
at last being pulled under, lost to the murky mist.

© 2021 Michelle Cook


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/water-surf-nature-sea-wave-ocean-3194377/

Writing prompt: Foaming oceans and secret potions

Something to cling to…

Amid the chaos
of our cluttered world,
sometimes we have only
but a past moment,
something distinctly different
from all the other colorless days.
And that one solitary moment,
the one we treasure
with fondness and love
gives us something to cling to
when we can no longer see
a single thread of light.
Those rare moments exist
to reassure us during the times
when the dark dares
to snuff out our light.
That one blessed memory
is often what unexpectedly
sees us through.

© 2021 Michelle Cook


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/black-and-white-monochrome-people-2590418/

Unacceptable

His words fester beneath the surface,
weary words of disdain and ill repute.
But what can I do,
and how can I be anything more?
For I am just another daughter,
a regret still in the making.
And my existence is a constant reminder
of all he’s ever done wrong.

© 2020 Michelle Cook


Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-mysterious-traveler-journey-5718089/