“In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.”

 ― Laurie Halse Anderson

The Living Ghost

By Amelia Rose

A living ghost

Haunts me in my dreams

His presence always finds me

In the darkness of the night

As I sleep, restless on my sheets

The living ghost

Is ghoulish

He cares not for my soul

But my heart

Is what he seeks

So he may devour it whole

The living ghost

Wakes me

From my agitated rest

But he does not desert me

I feel his ravenous grip

Pressing down upon my chest

And even in my waking hours

This ghost measures my every breath

And at times I think I will succumb

And lie down unto death

Before him, for there is no ceasing

His relentless hunting of my heart

And despite my weary years increasing

All my hope of him releasing

Me is futile

His grasp is sturdy, stout and strong

And I feel him holding on

I’ve lost all hope he will depart

And leave me 

To my own devices

He will not rest, nor let me rest

For that would surely thwart his vices

There is no hope

There is no future

There is no path toward escape

And so night after night I lie upon my sheets

And hear his grating scrape

The living ghost

He haunts me now

Just as he’s always done

I’ll keep trying to elude him 

For as long as I can

But in the end, he’s already won.

Starving Ravenous Hunger

Starving Ravenous Hunger

By Amelia Rose

Hungry

Starving

My stomach churning in knots

I feel empty

With not a scrap, not a morsel to be found.
I’m starving.

Literally starving.

A day goes by

But there is nothing 

Nothing to sate the hunger I feel

A second day goes by

Still nothing found to ease the hunger pains

That wrack my tortured body

A third day goes by

My last and final day

Before I give up, to lay down and die

But in that last moment I look up

And I find it

I find the crumb of nourishment

That will keep me alive

That will keep my heart beating

For one more hour, one more day.

My whole life it has been like this;

A frantic nomadic search

For the sustenance that will keep me going

Day in and day out

Wandering

Always wandering; Searching 

For the next crumb, the next scrap

That will keep me alive.

But I never can find enough

I never can feel full

I have never felt full

Never in my whole life

Not once.

Actually, maybe once.

Once I found enough sustenance

That carried me though a summer

And I felt full then.

It was glorious

For a time

But even that was fleeting

It didn’t last

After only a single season it was gone

And I was left the way I started

Starving

Yet again.

But this time it was even worse

Because I knew what I was missing

And to feel the hunger back again

Felt worse than any pain I’d ever known.

I had to get used to it again

I had to learn to live with the hunger pains once more

And ever since it’s been the same 

My whole life I’ve been hungry

Always starved

Always on the brink of death

But then in the last moment before I’m gone,

I find that one morsel

That will sustain me for one more day, one more hour, one more week

And I keep going

It’s how I keep going

It’s how my life keeps moving along

But throughout it

I’m always

Starved

Hungry

Famished 

Ravenous

Insatiably Starved;

Starved for your attention.

Little Pieces of Us

Little Pieces of Us

By: Alex Dunlap

Adapted for poetry by Amelia Rose

I walk in the door

And they’re asleep

Their heads on their pillows

In matching sleep positions

Both laying on their sides

One leg draped over and bent at the knee

Their blankets flung off

And in them I see 

You

Because that’s the way

You like to sleep too.

One favors you

In her eyes, her smile, her mind

And one favors me

Active, fun, mischievous

We have to teach her to be kind

Yours follows the rules

Mine bends them until they break

But together we’re all one

And with love we’ll always make

A team. A family.

Our family

Together

You and me and them.

Our love is forever. 

It started out with just we two

And we didn’t know just what to do

We were young and in love

We knew nothing about the world

But we trusted in God

And our path He unfurled

We struggled and fought

Through pain, grief and tears

And it took us forever

(Or at least seven years)

To figure things out

Well, at least some of them

We’re still figuring it out

But there’s one thing we got right

Those little pieces of us

Sleeping soundly tonight.

They’re what make life worth living

It’s cliché but true

And I wouldn’t want to live this life

With anyone but you

And our little pieces of us

They are so precious

Full of light, truth and trust

They are so perfect

Even when they’re not

Because they’re little pieces of us

And we'll give them everything we’ve got.

The fun part is here

Where we get to teach them

And help them to grow

We get to help them learn

How to know

What is truth?

Where is God?

And when the night gets too dark

We get to help them

Learn to light their own spark

We get to teach them

How to do good

To do good and be good

And how to repent and forgive

We get to lead them

Along the paths we once knew

And help them discover

Their own passions too

What a task

What a job!

But it’s glorious too

Because along the way

I get to know you

And grow with you

And love you

Just as much as I love them

Those little pieces of us

Are what make our life together grand

Those little pieces of us

Who hold my heart,

And my hand.

2:22AM 02-22-2022