The Desert



We wander side by side

Trudging through the sand

There are no monsters to slay out here.

There is no treasure to find.

The only food and water we have is what carry on our backs.

There was a time before the desert

When our quest was exciting and new

When we slept under green trees and bright stars

When we fought small battles and won.

Now it seems as if that time never existed.

All there is is sand and sun.

Our horses ran away a long time ago.

All we do is step, step, and step forward.

Every step is a step closer to the end of our desert.

Sometimes I forget just what it is we are questing for.

My legs ache.

My eyes are gritty with sand and tears.

I cannot help but think about what home used to be.

Sometimes we talk.

Mostly, we just trudge.

When we leave the desert,

There will be more monsters to fight.

There will be new aches and pains

But nothing will be as difficult as getting through this damn desert.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 18, 2010 at 7:04 AM

    Excellent, I don't know how much crit. comment you would like, maybe none at all. Hugs...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandra Rose HughesNovember 19, 2010 at 11:42 AM

    Dear Carole Ann,

    Thanks for stopping by. I suppose I want a little of both criticism and commentary. My main goal for writing poetry tends be simply to help other people feel what I feel. It would be nice to have some more technical training, so I am always willing to hear constructive feedback.

    About the poem above: I don't usually use profanity in my poetry...but for the life of me, I couldn't think of the poem ending in any other way. It says what I want it to. I'm not entirely comfortable with it, but I can't change it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 19, 2010 at 8:52 PM

    Dear Sandy, I am sorry it is so hard. You have done a great job of expressing what life is like sometimes. I recall a time when you were babies saying "Lord you have nothing to say to me. You never had twins. My exhaustion was so intense that I envisioned your dad would come home and find me dead on the floor with you both climbing over me and crying . Then I picked up the bible more in anger than anything and read" come unto me all ye who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest." It was just so great to know I wasn't alone and God did see. Love Mamasita

    ReplyDelete
  4. RyanNovember 21, 2010 at 6:31 PM

    Very powerful and I imagine extremely heartfelt, thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Proudly Rejected by Calyx Journal.

Image
Two rejections in one week? Sigh. CALYX (A journal of Art and Literature by Women) sent me a very polite form letter today rejecting four of my poems. They wrote, "We appreciate the opportunity to review your submission and consider it for publication. At least two editors have read your work and found that we are unable to use your submission in the Journal. We apologize for replying with a form letter, but the volume of submissions no longer allows us the luxury of a personal reponse." I thought it was worded particularly well, and the editor actually wrote my first name on the top in real pen and signed the bottom. That's unique. I've never recieved a rejection letter where they signed it with real pen. So, Calyx Journal- I rate you FOUR STARS for class. Here is one of the poems they rejected. Maybe it's not subtle enough. I'm not very good at subtlety yet. Chrysalis A butterfly can’t return to her chrysalis No matter how fast the outside winds blow, No ma...
Read more

"Back to School" Proudly published by the Kern Valley Sun

Image
This week I had four different students tell me that they thought I was a "cool," "popular" teacher. Obviously, I have never shown them the above picture of myself. As you can see, I am one classy lady. I am a complete geek. Unfortunately, it's not in that, "I'm a geek, and I started my own multi-million dollar computer company" way that's really popular right now. I also wasn't a geek in the "I have poor hygiene, and other students throw their lunches at me" sort of way, thank goodness. I was the kind of geek who didn't watch R-Rated movies, looked a lot like Velma from Scooby Doo (I still do, in fact), really liked hanging out with their parents, was shocked by cussing, read 19th century novels for fun, spoke like a walking dictionary, and who teachers always really liked. Ergo, I became an English teacher. When I got to college, I learned that all of the above traits were actually strengths, which was a relief. Do the kids ...
Read more

Sure I'm trailer-trash- Do you have a problem with that?

Image
One of the hardest questions that has plagued my writing has simply been, "What do I write about?" I have often heard the advice, "Write about what you know." Well, when I started writing and really putting my mind to it, I was only twenty-one. Basically, all I knew was high school, college, and a few European countries I'd visited during college. I didn't have very much to say for myself. I made myself write anyway with some good results, but nothing really stellar. Starting this blog last year gave me an excellent lab to bounce my ideas off of readers. By far my most popular peices have been about the wacky situations I manage to get myself into. I'm not a stupid person, but sometimes....I do some very silly things. Anyway, I'm twenty-seven now and the past six years have helped me come up with some new ideas that I think will be very successful. My husband and I have been building our own home and living in a 30 foot trailer in my in-law's fr...
Read more