She remains there, beneath life, under a heavy world.
Kids, events, age, career, household, her man,
she holds it all, on her shoulders,
in a labored squat.
He looks for the perfect polo, the best cologne,
he drives a shiny car into the sunset of career advancement,
he thinks he has it all, in his future,
because maybe, he doesn’t know squat.
Copyright © 2017 Zachary W Gilbert
Laying scared, clicking magnet coffin
shows, black and white, thick, eerie, claw marks
damaging a brain, a demon within,
scratching electrical storms sparks.
A round white pill, within me embarks
with a purposed journey, storm to kill.
Empty mush brain, sentences try to fill
drifting void, paying the shadowed cost,
loose the Devil Claw, my souls, tortured bill,
safe dulled shell of mind, sacred fire, lost.
Copyright © 2017 Zachary W Gilbert
Gravel roads, softly covered,
dust, like powdered sugar,
Trees, thick and red,
larger than a mighty metal bus,
higher and warmer,
than a tall cold building,
“Have we traveled back in time?” I ask my wife.
The 2004 Prius, rolls quietly,
tires massage the earth,
a gentle slow respect,
I am fearful,
the moment will soon be
lost.
On the Pacific Coast,
a warm summers day,
Jebidiah Smith Redwoods,
natures pure moment
planted in my heart,
without a sound.
Copyright © 2017 Zachary W Gilbert
Dear Wife,
Ahh yes, marriage. We have been trying to figure it out for almost 13 years now. You have held my heart, fixed my nose, fixed my brain, given me three kids, and best of all, warm snugs on cold nights. You have been my confidant, ally, and best friend. I would have given up on me countless times, you have remained steadfast. Every time I try to insult myself, your fortified boldness rings out, “Don’t say that, about my husband!”
I joke with my co-workers that though we are a single income family, I have to ask for an allowance. It is true, I surrender everything I earn, everything I have, and everything I will ever have, to you. I have done nothing to earn your love, yet I get to bask in it every day. How can anyone doubt, that there is a God? Look at the wife I have been blessed with?
I had an expectation of marriage, a pre-written, poorly written script. I did do something right, however, I cast perfect the perfect leading lady. My manifesto, my ledger of expectation, has been shredded, to make way for clean exciting pages that embrace the letters of the years as they fall like summer rain. I look back and read our story, it is wonderful. There have been ups and downs, gains and losses, but I have never felt so alive, and happy. Anything I ask you about, or ask for your help, you deliver beyond my wildest expectations.
I can not live without you. When I am away from you just for a 12 hours day of work my heart aches.
I love you.
I love our kids.
I love my life.
I guess I can love the dog.
I love,
that your my wife.
Happy Valentine’s Day 2017
Copyright © Zachary W Gilbert
Sleeping, as the green and blue happiness of the world,
dies.
Talking, polluting the clean mountian streams of joy, and hope,
dry.
Silent, as the rights and dignity of the weak are devoured, between old yellowed teeth,
mangled.
Seriousness, lost in puffs of hot laughter, from foolish mouths, that speak, while,
sleeping.
Zachary W Gilbert, Author 