"Accolades For Valor" by Matthew Johnson (1993): "She goes through life, gliding, a benevolent seer/ Stopping constantly to aid those in need, those not even dear/ I, an individual, swept up in the storm/ Of a woman, who, in search of herself, defies the norm/ As I, an outcast, fighting myself, yet daring to believe/ That if I ask her aid and succor (and possibly love) she won’t leave/ Giving her heart, mind and soul to every known cause/ Causing me to look about my selfish malestrom, and in introspection give pause/ For all her words, she won’t write about me, does she fail to perceive/ What the object knows to be true and what make believe—/ Words rarely present, presence much more of one/ Is to wish for more as good as wishing for the sun?/ Energy is precious, as I know well to be true/ And I am curious to know, Lorraine, what I can ask of you/ Names are important, they make us who we are/ Much more important than people give credit, by far/ The masses may cry “Lori!” and let them do so!/ For the numbers who call that cannot understand/ They will never know the Lorraine inside, the one crying to live/ Will be forever frustrated by those whose minds are like a sieve/ There may be those who rob her of her world, let them scratch the skin/ They are as pinpricks to the steel within/ These accolades are not exaggeration, not pretentious/ I Just want you to know that there is at least one who is conscious/ That the world is a better place for the life of a woman named Lorraine."

Friday, November 18, 1994

Tricks Of Father Time










My life has started to go too fast.

I'm spinning; spinning,
and I'm about to fly away.

Oh!
The speed
is so intense!

I want off!

Everytime I think I'm catching up,
I'm turning back,
screaming,
"Wait!"

It's hard enough to keep up with tomorrow.
I'm stumbling over now.

My body; my soul;
dangles from the minute hand.
Our balance;
eradicated by the second.

I'm spinning; spinning.

Whoop!

Grasp lost...

November 18, 1994

posted by Lorraine Courigan at 1:24 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 12, 1994

Right Track, Wrong Train

I'm suddenly going nowhere;
boarding a train that could eventually fly,
but risking everything;
traveling standby.

Sitting at the station,
you open a seat for me;
and then a crucial choice...

So, I sit for a while,
and you make me smile,
but you are from one world,
and I another,

and I think
'No Way!'

I'm still going to board--

Until someone dims the light,
and I realize how much
I could see
if I open my eyes
as I stare into yours,

and my brain screams, "No!"
but my heart melts,

and I clench my ticket,
and realize my entire life's course
rides with the toot of that horn.

Do I let it pass?

November 12, 1994

posted by Lorraine Courigan at 1:21 PM 0 comments