Deep Breaths
Deep
Breaths
Deep
Breaths
Leo Shelton
A Tugson Press Project
Deep Breaths – Poetry
All Rights Reserved 2009 by United States Copyright Office—Library of Congress
No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher. Inquires should be addressed to Permissions, Tugson Press, Attn: Leo Shelton, P.O. Box 429, Temple Hills, MD 20757
Published by:
Tugson Press
P.O. Box 429
Temple Hills, MD 20757
Shelton,
Leo.
Deep Breaths – Poetry / Leo Shelton.
ISBN: 0-9791786-4-9
1. Poetry, American. 2. Afro-Americans – Poetry. I. Title.
Printed in the United States of America
1ST Printing
Cover Design by Aaron Shelton
Don’t just breathe ….breathe deeply!
The Author
Contents
Breaths
I Wonder You…………………………………… 1
Cry Country…………………………………….. 3
Infected…………………………………………. 5
Kiss of Addiction……………………………….. 6
Random…………………………………………. 7
Today……………………………………………. 8
My Sonic………………………………………… 9
Untitled………………………………………….. 10
Voice dance…………………………………….. 11
Summer Love…………………………………… 12
Deep Breaths
Untitled…………………………………………… 13
Not Today………………………………………. 14
I Believe in Love………………………………… 16
Could you, Would you................................................ 17
Two Towers……………………………………… 19
Hidden Beaches………………………………… 21
Like me..................................................................... 23
INCREDIBLE……………………………………. 25
My kindred…............................................................... 27
Write me a love song…………………………… 28
Whispers
Poet’s Pen………………………………………. 29
What’s a brutha to do………………………….. 31
Dream America…………………………………. 33
Who am I………………………………………… 35
Undeserved Fame……………………………… 36
Roots…………………………………………….. 37
Dad……………………………………………….. 38
Summer Rain……………………………………. 40
Brown Knight…………………………………….. 41
Cyclic……………………………………………… 42
Murmurs
Miss Envy………………………………………… 44
Bridge…………………………………………….. 45
Mirror……………………………………………… 46
Words…………………………………………….. 47
Faith……………………………………………….. 49
Birth of Soul……………………………………….. 50
Rain……………………………………………… 51
Right…………………………………………….. 52
War……………………………………………… 53
Crescent Center ………………………………. 54
Screams
AM ………………………………………………. 55
Player …………………………………………… 57
Wrong …………………………………………… 58
Cruise …………………………………………… 59
Reliance ………………………………………… 60
Her Blues ……………………………………….. 61
Jaded …………………………………………… 63
Hate ……………………………………………… 64
Ewing …………………………………………….. 65
Speckling ………………………………………… 66
Exhales
Breaths …………………………………………… 67
Words …………………………………………….. 68
Indulge ……………………………………………. 70
And it’s about …………………………………….. 71
Wright …………………………………………….. 72
Aged ………………………………………………. 73
Surface ……………………………………………. 74
What death ……………………………………….. 75
Quest ……………………………………………… 76
Craven …………………………………………….. 77
I wonder You
I wonder YOU
What you say
What you do
Today
To get through
‘Til tomorrow is due
I wonder why
You bite your lips
And do that thing
With your eyes
And hide feelings so true
I wonder me
Thinking of YOU
Holding you tight
When you’re out of my sight
But feel so close
And when I wish
And want
And touch
Myself
I wonder YOU
Wanting me,
Wanting You
Wanting Me
Then having YOU
I wonder when
My heart filled
So heavy with pride
And my soul moved your way
And why the music
You bring
Doesn’t go away
And if it will?
I wonder YOU,
And I wonder how
These feelings so deep
And uncontrollable urges seep
Into all that I am
And sometimes I wonder
Outside myself
And into you,
Sometimes I do…
I wonder YOU
Cry Country!
Black as the night
Fallen in life
Hard
And bittered
Like the taste of pepper
And the smell
Of hatred
In hooded confines
Of hopeless cycles
Joined in misery
With others
Who have fallen in life?
And are black as the night
And bittered and hardened
And lack hope
Darkened minds
Where dreams
Of “blings”
Mask realities
Of empty stairs
And stairways
Leading to even darker
And more hopeless
Existence
Magnified by
Libations
And temptations
And depressive
Addictions
Started by
And resulting from
Minds darkened by dreams
Unrealized
And detoured paths
Leading to nowhere
Until the sun
Of a dark history
And a brighter future
Shadowed light
And knowledge
And truth
Magnified
Love
And faith
In people
In a world
Of darkness
Laying the bricks
Of a foundation
Of a new path
To new stairways
Leading to clarity
And out of despair
Crying country
Overcome!
Crying country
Overcome!
Infected
A meaningless action
Hidden in passion
Incomplete in deed
Mistakenly called love
Full of contradiction
And removed from proper context
More concerned with satisfaction
And interaction
And who’s better?
What’s next?
Long on a rope
Short on depth
Moments in time
Hanging on words
Lifetimes behind
Moments of foolish lust
Cashed in
On a bitter wind
Of chance and pleasure
That changes the face
And place
Of YOU in this world
Forever!
Infect knowledge
Share truth
Love others
As self
And spread this word!
Kiss of Addiction
Fanatically addicted
To muscles, masculinity and all that madness
Lifestyle dreams
Don’t mean a thing to me
Just give me the sensations of love
With sweat dripping
And kisses, til my lips are parched
And chapstick runs the other way
Where I’m passing the day
In some arms and loins and hugs and kisses
Daytime wishes
Of those nighttime kisses
The ones that smooth
And break rules
Where skillz are like tools
And defy belief
And underneath
Sweat meat
Are big feet
And warm, warm kisses
Naked embraces
Sucking faces
And other places
Fanatically addicted
To the kisses
RANDOM
But Life is not random
Nor defined
It doesn’t flow
Like the big blue open sea
But its beauty is just as clear
And sometimes it roars like the wild
And soars like eagles
Blissful, yet sometimes vile
But never unworthy of another’s
Look or stare
Adventure or dare
Or dream or wish or challenged goal
Or the chance to turn new things old
And to touch
To feel
To love and hold
Then kiss again
Or tap earth and wind
Or fire within
For the mere existence of life
Before winter, spring and summer ends
And begins, and begins, and begins
Yet again
Is life in its sweetness defined?
And experienced, and cherished
And breathed, and lived
Forever….randomly.
Today
Today, I found my way
Back in the times
Back in the day
Where I could almost touch
A past that waited on
The calendar to turn
It burned
A place in my heart
Of a day
Like yesterday
When I smelt your hair
Like you were there
And felt a love
Like Grammy’s hug
And saw your smile
And for a little while
Saw the sun’s rays
And clouds dancing
Like back in time
When you were mine
Before that day
You went away
And my tomorrow’s stopped
And became…
Yesterdays….
Just like today
Tomorrow?
My sonic
Is 40 years minus 1 lifetime?
Hanging on with both hearts
With a hand full of happiness
And one almost full of despair
To songs once sung
And melodies that wait for artists to articulate their heartbeats
Background noise
To life’s dance
And blue notes
And diamond droplets
Mimicking stars
And tears of joy
Hidden in choices
And mistakes
Made again
When the pitch or the beat
Calls for new buds and flocks
To blossom again
Until new suns rise
And new surprises ride
Into the heart and the day
Of new dreams
No thoughtless thing
In my summer springs
Or autumn’s clock
Tick
No drink of wine
Or kiss in time
Was ever quite as sweet
And no waking morn
Have I ever slept?
Without ‘least your heart-touch
By my side
Not in dreams lived
Or hope cherished
Or even relished pasts
Not ever has “forever”
Had a face
And a name
And a touch
So much
Voice dance
Breathing in your heartbeats
Like smooth jazz
Sprinkled with trance rhythms
Merged with tribal beats
Overlaid with rap
Shafted with reggae
Transfixed on your tongue dance
With your lips and your mouth
As my ears kept beat
And my body fell limp
And my clothes unbound
Themselves
My spirit connected
And my heart fluttered and danced
To the rhythms and beat of your murmurs
Lifting my libido
And my curiosity
For what it was that you actually said
What was it that you actually said?
Summer Love
My Summer Love
Blazing through,
Well, like the sun
Into the darkest corners of morning
Rising and reeking havoc
At 6:69…
That’s 7 AM plus that 10 minute snooze
Almost
Raising the dead from miserable sleeps
And steep, and deep dreamlands
That duck
And hide from, well…life
Dancing through like stars
Twinkling twice as bright
Orbiting earthlings
Targeting me
Racing, then slowing
Scorching and hot but calming
Joy bringing…
And got me singing
About seasons that never change
And that’s why Summer Loves last forever
For reasons
Unknown
Then they leave
Or come back
And repeat
Ain’t never much cared
For long roads,
They remind me of places
I’ll never go and things
I’ll never see
Ain’t never cared much for short songs
That teases the heart
But leave you even more
Lonely
Ain’t never much cared