jami hunt-Williams
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POETRY

Semi-perfect bite-sized morsels

NEW STUFF

1979
Childhood sleeps; duck-fluff hair
Lifting with the rhythm of a window fan –
Peach cheeks, sun-ripened
Timid pout, tree frog lullabies
Kitchen clamor and backdoor chatter
Ice popping under sweet sun tea
The shadow of morning
Whispers “awaken and come”
I am forever bending dancer
Weeping willows, tears of laughter
Dandelion tattoos – warpaint on cheeks
Strung together in crowns of favor
Velvet grass under chubby toes
And sprinkler dances
Summer a bubble in sun
Reflecting back a prism of past
Tell me, Mama,
the mile markers of time…
when a slat-board porch
feels the same under bare feet
at 38
as it did at
38 minus 32?
Gingham check tablecloths,
Antiqued with love -
Linger in the whine of a porch swing.
You told me truths -
Fly-swatter proverbs
Switches from the climbing tree
And hours, head to head on a blanket
Watching the cloud parade
Summers - small eternities -
Perfect in the construct
That softens memory with time
I think of you,
Soapy hands on green stamp plates
I feel your hand
Closing over mine
You live in my summers
Clothesline as scrim
Your shadow behind the dancing sheets
There and gone
​A Million Tiny Truths
Perfection in fingers so tiny I wonder if they even bear a print…
Malleable little human, heavy with the honeyed aroma of Heaven
I am your universe of contentment,
For the time being,
And so I will breathe my bit of knowledge
Onto your blank paper of nerves and neurons.
 
We two, at this moment, are a snow globe in a skillet.
Outside of this hand-hold whirling dervish
Woven with my love and your instinctual need
Masquerading as love with such reverent silence,
There are things you need to know:
 
The world is water clinging to a sphere, refracted;
Land, only fingerprints of a great Creator,
Mind like a timeline, each of us a minute cleft.
Knitting us together, the delicate intricacies
Tatting and pearling a being
Of which pattern there is only one.
 
To know yourself, to recognize the reality of you,
Is the quest, not a question.
Learn this young, wonder at strange things,
Let life dance for you, a firefly with a missing wing,
To be captured by tender hands and eyes wide with joy.
 
There will come a day, a new sun that rises on departure.
And you will pack yourself into compartments of memories
Sealed with misunderstood farewells, and harkening hello’s.
Roads are wondrous, horrible things,
Leading home, leading away -
Capillaries in the anatomy of living.
There is a universe of distinction
Between following a road and traveling a path;
Roads remind that first, there is a choice
And second, that choice is the firefly in your tender hands.
 
Love, a conundrum of a commodity,
Give it freely, accept it with caution
For love is a sinewy stallion, plodding and bucking
Pulling bushels of juice-burdened fruit
Whose seeds, when planted, birth beauty
But when crushed, make poison.
 
Battles, microscopic wars within and without -
Learn to wait for them, a matted-haired shield maiden,
First, the sword, then the shield, then the sword.
Craft that war sword of molten pain, and the shield crest of forgiveness.
Compassion and voracity are born of the same mother.
 
Peace is a four-legged wisp of an animal
Passing through your life, making itself known
Only when you tire of chasing other things
Peace, never knocking or calling out, unbeckoned
Will crawl into your lap and curl up
 
Dip your feet in an ocean or two and understand,
Better to be the rock than to be the ripple.
Dig your toes into the sand, a million tiny truths,
Roughing against one another, against you.
Never be so overcome with the ocean that you forget the sand
Both are just one strike away from becoming glass,
The ocean with cold, the sand with fire,
 
Remember the sand; be like the sand
For life is a dark diamond of an ocean
But no matter how many days it beats against the shore
The sand remains. 

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
​Poem-A-Day (with students)

Ode to April 1 Student Reactions
by Jami Williams

Eye-roll 
Guttural sigh
You want to know 
Why, why, why, why?

Poetry useless
Poetry confusing
I can't see any situation
Where I would be using

This crap that you're teaching
You want me learn it
No, no my child
I want you to earn it

Learn from emotion
Work to discover
Like you would romance
A reluctant lover

Words are your freedom
Words are your out
But you are wrapping yourself
In a blanket of doubt

Write what you love
Write what you know
Write so you're missed
When it's your turn to go.

A POEM A DAY - 7/26-8/26 - 2017

August 26, 2017
The Last One
by Jami Williams

I am not a finisher
I am a starter
I am a "Green" on the Kolbe
And that is what everyone uses
To explain me away

They suck ideas out of me
Like I'm one of those hairless humans from The Matrix
Quick start
But don't trust her to finish
They think it hurts my feelings

It does

But not as much as it would hurt their feelings
If I told them that all their red, yellow and blue
Mixed together
Looks like what we used to shovel on the farm

This is the last one
I am a finisher
And I'm still green
So wake up
And smell what you're shoveling.

August 25, 2017
Beatnik
by Jami Williams

Snap
I want to be a beatnik
Snap
But I have too much stuff
Snap snap
I want to be a beatnick
Snap
But I don't want it enough
Snap snap
Turtlenecks, scratch and make me itchy
Snap
Tight black pants make my thighs twitchy
Snap
I want to be a beatnik
Snap
But I'm not that cool
Snap snap
I want to be a beatnik
Snap
But I can't play the guitar
Snap snap
I want to be a beatnik
Snap
But I own a Mom car
Snap snap
I couldn't slink out at midnight to poet
Snap
The sixties are over and boy, do I know it
Snap
I want to be a beatnik
Snap
But I'm just not cool... anymore
Snaps (the crowd goes wild with mad snaps).

August 24, 2017
Stealing Air
by Jami Williams

I have been left
Too many times to count
Left out, left behind
Left high and dry
Left holding the bag
Left feeling unwanted

Left so much I'll never be right
Left to my own devices
Left to make the choice
Left to take the blame

I expressed these feelings once
And only once
To my mother
A modern-day Minerva
With a spiritual twist

Feel that way now
Then get over it
Float to the top of it, kid
You are responsible for how you feel
Feeling left isn't right
When you consider the fact
That we are all just here on earth
Stealing each other's air

August 23, 2017
Song
by Jami Williams

I was five
Avocado green carpet
Low shag
Windows open
No air conditioning

I had stolen a chair from the dining room table
And in the middle of the living room
I was on stage

I had stolen a spatula from the kitchen
And in the middle of the living room
I was singing a song

My words, just mine
My voice, so loud
My tune, wrapping around those words
I was incredible

My grandmother
Apron around her waist
Hair matted to her forehead
Cleared her throat
From the doorway

I met her gaze
And she crossed the space between us in two steps
Reaching down to my hand
Grabbing the spatula

Everyone knows if you're going to sing your song
A wooden spoon is a better microphone
Than a spatula
Resonates better
More volume


I stood on the chair
Stunned as she went back to the kitchen
I didn't know
That Grandma
Was a singer too

August 22, 2017
A Chilling Reminder
by Jami Williams

I would be awake for this one

Just a small cut... just to make sure
We have an operating room right here


And they brought me a gown
Leave it open in the front
And I thought about all of the times
I had been open in the front

And they led me to a cavernous, white room
And the bed was covered in real sheets
Despite the fact that we knew I was going to bleed

I was open in the front

Your wound is deeper than it is wide
And in order to heal it properly
We are going to make it as wide as it is deep


​I was open in the front 

And the room was cold
My feet were cold
And they laid a warm blanket across me
And shot me full of numbness

The glint of a blade and the long practiced fingers of a surgeon
And a river of red trickled down
What was left of my breast
Onto the perfect white sheet
The perfect white floor

I'm sorry about that
It slipped out before I could stop it
Force of habit

When you are open in the front

And I was, I was really sorry about that
Red, red blood on their beautiful room

They comforted me 
Told me it wasn't my fault
Said they expected me to bleed
That's what happens when you make a cut
That's what happens when you have to heal
That's what happens when you have to be
As wide as you are deep

That's what happens when you are open in the front

August 21, 2017
Rupi Kaur
by Jami Williams

I asked my students
About modern poetry

And they said your name.

They showed me your book
And I read some of it

And thus began the lesson of the day:
How important it is in life to know the right people

August 20, 2017
Mercy
by Jami Williams

I think that mercy is a dying art
Anonymity has smothered it
An absent-minded mother
Who forgets her child can't breathe underwater
Oops... 

And we offer the excuses:
But I...
I just...
Thinking about...
Worried about...

I... I... I... 
You... You... You...
Those are the killers of mercy
We are the hands 
Slowly making it clean
Baptizing it with our cupped palm
Putting our hands on its ribcage
And holding it until it stops kicking
Lungs filled with water
Heart filled with nothing

So many people to mourn it
But no one to resuscitate.

August 19, 2017
My Son
by Jami Williams

I had a miracle baby boy
That brought me overwhelming joy
Years of cuddles, years of tears
Years of years that pile on years

And now that little boy of mine
Spends hours and hours gaming online
And tells that "I don't even KNOW!"
And forces me to drive him where he must go

He eats us out of house and home
Prefers his time spent not alone
But not with people either, see,
He prefers a world of fantasy

A teacher's kid, so he must be smart
But I'm more concerned about his heart
I hear the things the smart kids say
And I don't want my son to act that way

My son is his own person now
My son, but taller than me somehow
And better in character and in heart
I know this because once I was smart.

August 18, 2017
Snide
by Jami Williams

My reputation
It precedes
And procedes
Which I can only assume
That I did succeed

Now I am that one
The one who doesn't comply
Who won't just let it slip over 
Cover us with the ooze of complacency

Looking for a fight
Always making trouble
Did you hear what she did?
If she knew what was good for her
She wouldn't
Never
Ever
Even
THINK
About...

I can't hear them
Through my rage music
In all seriousness
It's just that Yellow Flicker Beat song
And they truly did once shout my name
And now,
It's but a whisper

Turns out the odds
Were ever in my favor...

August 17, 2017
Pain
by Jami Williams

How I long to languish
In your darkness
Bleed for you
And seek out the cure

Suffer for art
The college girl in me screams
As I purchase copious amounts
Of journals
And pens

I am ready, Dark Lord
Course through me,
Suck my soul like a lemon drop

And the pages are blank
The pens do not scratch
This is how I know I am grown
Pain no longer moves me closer to death
It merely reminds me that I live.

August 16, 2017
A Farewell to Breasts
by Jami Williams

You been nothin'
But trouble
Since the day you popped up

Conversations you have had
With thousands
Even though it was my mouth that was moving

And now you are gone
Troublemakers
Because trouble found you

And I ain't scared
I ain't scared of nothin'
Except this elementary-school fear
That you might pop back up

August 15, 2017
As I Lay Living
by Jami Williams

Look through me
Not like a window
Like a book
Leaf through me
Your fingertips soft on my edges
Your eyes hungry

I am dog-earred to you
Old and comfortable 
Predictable and easy to read
I've been shelved and forgotten
Pulled out for use
Or proof
Evidence
Tossed into the luggage of your life
You have creased my cover
And it is torn but intact
I've been thrown across your tables
Left behind, once or twice
Used as a weapon
Stained with the wine of your tears
But none of my ink ran
None of my words blurred

Our pages are numbered
But not in that finite manner
For we are just a glimpse of this arc
And I am still the story
And your are still drinking me
With your eyes
As you author me
With your love

August 14, 2017
Fixed
by Jami Williams

The definition of "fixed"
Depends on who you ask...

Don't ask your dog
That would be sad.

Don't ask your boss
That could get bad.

Don't ask your significant other
That could take up an entire night.

Don't ask the people of America
The people NOT of America
Don't ask the media
Don't ask the clergy
Don't ask the politicians
Don't ask the teachers
Don't ask.
Don't ask.
Don't. Ask.
That is how you "fix" it. 

Because the truth is
No one knows how to fix it
When they don't even know what is broken.

August 13, 2017
Curiosity
by Jami Williams

When you left her
Did guilt roar in your ears
An ocean of your wrongdoing?

When you traded her
Did your skin agree or disagree
With the new acquisition?

When you yell at her, scream at her,
Raise your hand to knock her cheekbone
Shut her rotten mouth, rattle her stupid brain
Did you ever stop to consider
That you were doing her a favor?

You knocked yourself right out of her.
I wonder if you understand what a gift
You gave that woman you hated?

August 12, 2017
The Rubber Band
by Jami Williams

Shuffle in… shuffle
Threadbare carpet

Light reflected off asphalt
Through window
​Into me

Shuffle in… shuffle
There is no dust settling

Scent of sleep
Exhaled
Into me

Shuffle in... shuffle
They hear nothing

Except the beat of the music
That they stick in their ears
To drown out the things
That they need to learn

Except the sound
Of that sunlight
Hitting the dust
That will not settle
Because I am charged
With teaching them
To not settle

In… In
And we begin

The slump forward
The slouch backward
And I am centerstage
Snap, spark, ember, ash
Wind… smooth and silent
To flare that ash…
I refuse to let them go…

I refuse to let you go
You with the dead eyes
And the deep white skin
With the purple hair
And the gray eyes
And the home where no one feeds
And the bed where no one tucks
But you are here
Sunlight
Dust

Moment
Minute
Second
Snap
One end around you
One around me

Pull
I stand
You pull away
I stay
You pull

I stay
I step
We fly
Toward each other
Just missing
But scent
Of sleep
Gone

Brief spark
From snap
Brief spark
We pass
Dust settled
Light blinding
Done

Shuffle out… shuffle

August 11, 2017
Blemish at the Love Feast
by Jami Williams

I am the darkness at the doorstop
Uninvited but so desperately in need
I am fighting to protect my own ignorance
Valuing the commodity of word over deed

I am the hypocrisy you hated
And the very same need you would not recognize
The wolf in sheep's clothing and I'm hungry
For you to see me while I'm gouging out your eyes

I am the blemish at the love feast
False prophet, truly dangerous, unaware
I can't believe a word I say, I win the games the sinner play
Invite me in, but let your heart beware.

August 10, 2017
Murder
by Jami Williams

Mississippi crows are the size of Missouri turkeys!
(Observation from the child just off I-55 at the rest stop)
I could not disagree.

After that, I saw them everywhere
Without looking
Flying into my line of sight
Landing where I was looking
As if my eyes had become
Part of their murder

But feet on ground
Heart in chest
I did not share their sky

But come to me, they did...
Flying by me
Around me
Through me

I understood then
I was not their equal
I was not part of their murder
I was their murder

August 9, 2017
Confirmation
by Jami Williams

Immense, infinite
I see your ocean and I know
Know you now
Power, decision, pride, joy
Every grain of sand 
Bears your brand

So who should come against me?
Who should attack?
Fool.
My Father shall surround me.
The Father of Unformed Glass
All that's missing is the fire.

August 8, 2017
Fibber
by Jami Williams

You have not seen the stars
Liar... fibber...
Until you have seen them
Over the ocean
Dancing with their reflection
Loving their reverse
Obvious in their intent

They love YOU
Like a first love
Hands on hips pulling
Primal, needful and wanton
Not above hypnotizing you 
Seducing you
Lying to you

And they beckon
Silver fire on black
Plying you forward
Forward
Forward

Until

Sand on your back
Legs askew
Hands digging holes in the sand
And their name
Forcing itself from your lips

August 7, 2017
Backseat - Passenger Side
by Jami Williams

The trees plan their attack
Crowded against the roadside
​And for a moment I wonder who might be
Their prey?

It's me...

A daughter returning to the home she can't remember
Maybe some part of a dark heart that crept in as she crossed a border somewhere...
They are MARCHING on me
Determined to pull me back into a fold I don't remember
Into a legacy I can't explain.

I know that I descend from warriors
Tearing meat from bone
Limb from limb
Heart from lover

And in the blur of the car window
Passing the onslaught
I smile and nod, ever so slightly...
So they know I am prepared
To join their ranks

August 6, 2017
Fort Morgan
by Jami Williams

You tried...
It seemed perfectly conceived
Bury yourself in the sand
Arm. Your. Self.

On the edge
Of every ocean
You sat perched
A wall, a dam, a fort
A nice try. Good effort.

But. You. Fell. Anyway.
You. Fell.
Sort of... Your walls stood strong
To this very day.

I get you
I get the effort behind your 30 billion bricks
Designed to protect the soft, vulnerable things
Living, growing, fighting inside you

I stood under your bricks
Still in tact, strong and aged
30 billion bricks
No soft, vulnerable, living, growing things
Just. Walls.

August 5, 2017
Remnant
​by Jami Williams

I woke up to an angry ocean
A 360-degree coven of sky and water
Blue-black vengeance

The sand, the shore, faded
Made itself smaller
And that's when I began to understand

There's a difference between the two
That makes them so similar
And I wonder if the sand,
Just a match-strike away from becoming glass
Understood the strength I witnessed

It stood, proud and unwavering
A million billion grains as one being
Calming itself with readjustment
The water encroached
The sand simply waited

As the storm rolled away 
And the sand began to glisten
I realized the value in the sand.
The storm wore itself down
Beating against the store
But the sand,
Though diminished,
​Still remained.

August 4, 2017
Ton of Bricks
by Jami Williams
​

These have I hated:
Murderers
Liars
Thieves

The same that you have loved
Forgiven
Healed
Cherished
The same that you find
​In the cupboards of my heart.

August 3, 2017
Loblolly
by Jami Williams
​
Southern pines are intellectuals
Roots through dirt
Trunk high and thin
So all of the beauty
Is out of reach

But then again - 
That depends
On your definition
Of beauty

August 2, 2017
Cherry Pit
by Jami Williams

Bite through the skin of life
Let the juice run through you
Down your chin
Into the wrinkles forming on the neck - age is a bitch

The red beckoned
Promised sun-warmed sweetness
The same temperature as your body
Only indication that you have bitten through
Broken the skin
Is the sweetness on your tongue 

The truth is in the pulling back
Juice still on chin
Sweet still on tongue
Eyes dropping slowly

Cherry. Pit.

The hard part of the sweetness
The hope of its tomorrow

Question is:
Use your finger to flick that pit away?
Second-hand sweetness is never as sweet - that too is a bitch.
Or...
Use your tongue
To taste the sweetness
​And bump up against the hard promise of the future? 

August 1, 2017
Immediacy
by Jami Williams

This
Emotion
This huge, gigantic, overwhelming, undercutting
Thing

Burning my throat
Tipping my tongue
Tasting solid tears
Like salt rock

I cry
And laugh at the tears
I wail
And whisper to myself
I thrash
And remain tiny
Not to be seen

This
Emotion
This harsh, comforting, embracing, repulsive
Thing

I'm mad
But I soothe myself
I'm crazy
But talking others down from the edge
I'm over myself
But I'm so self-involved

Lying to my brain
Zipping up my heart
Tasting liquid laughter
Like cold lava.

July 29, 2017
Hypocrite
by Jami Williams
​
Do the prayer
Where the ground opens
And the earth breathes fire
While we all step
Out of your eye
Averting our eyes
Reverting to avoidance

Do the prayer
Where your hands strangle
And the trees become ash
While we all scour the ground
For the fruit
But no one will touch the seed

Do the prayer
Where you make wait
And we catch the word
That you will mount
Like a theatre of battle
While we pray for silence
And your soul...
But not for salvation
But for whatever damnation
That comes accompanied by peace. 

July 27, 2017
Track
by Jami Williams

There's someone dark inside my brain
A wraith conductor of a malicious train
He who derailed me long ago
By saying things I shouldn't know

How he travelled through my dark
And swallowed every lever-brake spark
To catch the coal and set ablaze
The walls of this unkempt maze

He passes by my whistle stops
That levered-break he will not drop
I cannot ever climb aboard
To keep the track with my dark lord

For he delivered me safely here
Yet now I am his greatest fear
He shovels coal to pass me by
And I don't have to wonder why

The conductor, he will never cease
Won't slow, won't wave, won't make his peace
He'll drive that train upon his track
And dream of never coming back

For I am the relic that he sought
Now a precious, cunning afterthought
The dandelion blown by innocence to seed
He, the flower; I am the weed. 

July 30, 2017
Thrill
by Jami Williams

Stilted birds, so awkward
So funny, full of courage
Running at the the ocean
Until the ocean turns back
It's own retribution in mind
And they run just out of its reach

I live that fear
Terrified
Of the thing
That gives you life

July 28, 2017
From A Recovering Romantic Middle-Aged Woman
by Jami Williams

Tread carefully, young lovers,
All that glitters
Is just a reflection of light
From some other source.

Seek not the fire
Lest it be doused by your tears
Look for an ember
That will catch the breeze
Off of your emotions
Slow to ignite 
If stacked right...

Stack it right, dear ones, 
Do not pile desire upon lust
Do not insert need before trust
Do not expect
There is no room
For being in charge
There is only room
For the ember

Look for the ember
Let it float to you
Meandering on the night wind
Wafting gently
It will almost pass you by
Until you realize
That this time what glitters
Is you.


July 26, 2017
​Woman
by Jami Williams

Be delicate, they say,
But when I tried I became
A delicacy - devoured and absent.

Too much of everything, I soon found out,
Was a bad thing
Because I was just that.

Expectation: giant girl
Still chasing lightning bugs
But I was more thunder
Unconcerned with the flowers
Crushed under my feet
Skirt hems muddy
Ethereal > way TOO real

To make yourself small enough
To fit into someone's mind
Is difficult.

To make yourself large enough
To fit into someone's memory
Is simple.

But not always a good thing.

So I wiped the mud off skirt hems
Swiped it onto my face
Boiled the crushed flowers
Made drink
And I became a warrior
Sat at the head of my own table
Sharpened my sword on my own bones

​Now people look and see 
Loud, impatient, unabashed, ridiculous
Shake their heads in sympathy for me
Who traded woman for warrior
But I smile and allow them to pity me
Soon I will sharpen my sword on their bones
And pull up a chair to my table
Invite them to become
Authentic.

DAILY RANDOMNESS 

Paradox
by Jami Williams
I have been evil
And good
In the same breath

Forward and 
Completely backward
In the same step

Answering
Questioning
Same sentence

Loved
Hated 
By the same man

Daughter of no one
Mother of sorrow
Still same man

My contradictions
Make me beautiful
​And horrendous. 

On the Approaching Storm
by Jami Williams

It is already here
You can hear it whine against the ground
Pushback from hell
No one likes to be cold

Sky and sun hold hands
Belying nothing 
And it is hard to remember
That my sky ends somewhere

A warning has been spoken by man
But nature gives up nothing
It holds its secrets 
Like a dead child in feather-down tomb

At the wall of the storm 
They must cling to each other
Sky and sun, Mother Clouds will shred them both
As trees bend to the ground
Reaching for the last bit of heat

I am reminded
That warmth is better than cold
Even if it comes from the fire of hell

Clan
by Jami Williams
for Allison

We dance around the same fire
You, young and brazen
And I, old and wizened
Our heads were plunged into the same river

And they took us into their houses of bone and mud
And they branded us
Low and small where none would see
And mourn the clan

They dressed us in thorns and reeds
Shamed us and set us outside 
To warn 

But we, 
We made wind chimes of their bones
Sun catchers of their eyes
And canopies of their skin

And then we lived
With the dirt of their fingernails
Embedded in our arms
And the threads of their filth
Embedded in our hair

We lived
We lived
This is the song of our clan.

Mukbang
by Jami Williams

​Mukbang, muk-bang or meokbang (/ˈmʌkbæŋ, ˈmʊkbæŋ/; Korean: [mʌk̚.p͈aŋ] ( listen)) is a live online audiovisual broadcast in which a host eats large amounts of foods while interacting with their audience.

Blank eyes
Mouths agape
They stare at me
Disbelief dripping

Mukbang

I am old
Because I do not 
Understand the idea
Behind a 
Mukbang

Sounds dirty but it isn't...
Sounds illegal... isn't
Sounds painful... well

You watch people devour
Plates full of food
On YouTube

Kind of like being social
But with the anti upped

They don't like people
They don't like being out
They don't need friends
They can watch anonymous strangers
Devour plates of hotdog spaghetti
And be more fulfilled at 15 than I am at 47

I shake my head
Splatter confusion on their walls
I am still winning
LIFE is my mukbang


Delete Key
by Jami Williams
I miss pencils
The cedar-like smell
Yellow paint
Tribal pattern 
Wood grain
Graphite

I miss pencils
Sharpen
Lessen
Erase
Smudge
Reminders of work
Of creativity burned down
Of running out of words

I miss pencils
Half tool
Half weapon
Impossible
To impale one's self
On a delete key.

Rooted
by Jami Williams
I hear you baying at the night
Shaking the windows
Jarring the sugar bowl
Beckoning to the parts of me
That have died

I hear her screaming in delight
Shaking my heart
Jarring the barren brain
And I remember my feet on the path
To the roots 
That ground you

My saving grace
Those roots
Imprisoned there
Where first you shed my blood
To fertilize your grow

You bay, they come to you
To uproot 
To own you

I prefer you where you are
Stuck in the ground
Rooted in the blood of my thorns


Fiery Arrows
by Jami Williams
I ponder
The idea 
Of fiery arrows

It seems to be a bit of overkill...
Or is that just me?
To shoot someone with a fiery arrow

I question this portion of history
Heavy with doubt and disbelief
The fire would burn the wood, right?
The arrow is wood, the arrow head is...
What? What burns but does not consume?

Fiery arrows were the conundrum of my life
Until you.
You burn but do not consume
Leaving blisters where you kiss my skin
And holes where you plunge in.

Desire.
​Fiery arrows are made of desire. 

Millisecond
by Jami Williams
I am the dust
Kicked off of boots
On a dirt road
Floating into the air
Like steam on a hot lake
In a cold sunrise

I am the scratch
On a wood floor 
Beautiful only when the light
Hits me and I disappear

I am feedback
As you put your mouth
Treacherous, and terrifying
To the part of me
That amplifies you

I am scar tissue
Under the skin
And radio waves bounce
To warn of my presence

Vaporous and infinite
I beg to be considered
More than a passing thought
A travelling light
Shot from here
There is no there
Anywhere

I am the memory
Tangible and passed on
Once on your fingertips
To your brain
Where I evaporate
Into the smell of your breath.

The Sound of the Frozen
by Jami Williams

Everyone is mistaken:
the
snow
does
not
crunch

It moans,
twisted and pained, I walk

Those are the sounds the frozen

Ghost Tree
by Jami Williams

I saw the Ghost Tree, white and bare
Hiding but rooted 
Going nowhere
The more we try to disappear,
The more that we are here.

Threadbare
by Jami Williams

I put on the coat of many colors

And I follow after my brothers
And scream for you from inside the pit

I am the grand marshal of the blood parade
Watching my own embers fade

And you are there to embrace me when I quit

I holler to the atmosphere
Tell me, tell me why I’m here!
And the silence echoes back with gentle love

And I muddy myself and claw and dig
And I run off the cliff, the evil-grasped pig
Only to find that you still lift me above

How am I, your tapestry
Example of your mastery
Worth so much of the grace that you freely share

You smile and lift my weeping head
And bring to life what once was dead
And remind me that this cross is not mine to bear

The dirty hands are clean in you
The lying lips now speak what’s true
It isn’t just, it isn’t logic and it’s never fair

You tie the knot and pull me in
Forgiving me of my doubt and sin
For there’s still a tie that binds when I’m threadbare.



Auld Lang Syne... 
by Jami Williams
​
Whether I'm healed or whether I'm broken
The silence I kept when I should have spoken
The letting go and the holding on to it
The apprehension instead of the going through it
The laughter that came in and fell out as tears
The seconds more fragile than millions of years
The end's a beginning that will end just same
And I cannot find fault and I cannot place blame
It took what it took and it gave what I let it
I'll forgive the year and I will never forget it

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