Straitjackets Magazine Spring 2012: Poetry of Kathy Shattuck

Featured Poet:

Hold My Hand

I see you in the morning, with your tired eyes trying to hide what is necessary to shield me from you. I see you struggle through the day, the step in your walk, the slowing down, the halting pace, the shuffle, and the little stumble as you fall against me.

I loved you once
I will love you again
And again

Life doesn’t announce the next step, it doesn’t announce a warning, it doesn’t predict, it doesn’t solicit, it’s simply there, and there alone we pick the pace, the step, the forward motion that leads us to a hand, a hand that holds the promise of keeping us safe, keeping us secure in a love that has no conditions, no boundaries, no expectations.

We hold a hand and simply know
I will love you
Always

In The Shadow

The shadow stretched the length of the room, in reply to my voice.
No matter what I do, no matter where I am, no matter who I am, I think of you when I write my words...there is no answer to my question, why, there never has been, and there never will be. A hidden place that stays away, away from prying eyes, and only you and I can see that place, but, only you can release me from my self.
I search for landscapes, true revelations of verdant green within the barrenness of desert rock, showing me the clear, coolness at water’s edge, waiting for me to sip of streams that may never exist.
I tremble in the wake of dawn, and exhale in the evening breeze. I nod to the day’s awakening spirit, the day of reckoning, the day of possibilities that I may see into your soul.
The dark shadow twisted and turned. A yawn engulfs the corners of the room, satiated by stillness; it moves closer, to be seen in a glimmer, and then a quiet hush exudes a knowing confidence.

Away from the lies that were concealed
Listen and hear the harsh realties
Now soon to be truths revealed
life’s destined casualties

Winter Dreams

Close your eyes my nightingale
Visions in sleep will soon entail
Solstice scenes
Within your dreams

Close your eyes to landscapes untold
Hold them near as they unfold
By the fire on cold winter nights
Wishing dreams of beautiful sights

A crackling fire sings of past glories
Floating, drifting, to lullaby stories
Soft and warm, and near to my heart
You lie beside me, and feel the spark

Encircled, entangled, in ecstasy
Our bodies glow in the firelight
Smoldering, burning, tumultuously

Our hearts catch on fire, as the blanket on the floor
Grab the fire extinguisher
my love
and head for the door!

I Believed

Do you see the flag quiver in the breeze, next to the pole; do you see the frayed threads gently brushing along its side?

I wait
I watch
I anticipate

I peek between the curtains of my window. I see nothing that would alarm me, no branches bending, no fronds careening across the street, no tumbleweeds caught beneath the undercarriage of a car. I stand and watch the flag move up and down, back and forth, assuming my world was secure, nothing to worry me. I was out of harm's way.

Yes, I wanted to believe, but then
I was taken by surprise, again.

A leaf flutters to the ground, and then rises up, higher and higher, it is a sense of what may come; it’s taken away, this leaf, and calm changes to chaos; the earth begins to vibrate, and a long, slow rumbling descends from the sky.

I’m vigilant, but more than surprised
How fast you intensified

The air and rain batter my window pane with unseen force, attempting to drive my world apart and did I not tell you, never come back, you hold my pose, you mock me with the wave of a flag.

Haunting
Taunting

I cannot stand here and watch, but I cannot walk or run away for fear of being hurled, taking me again and again, away from my world.

You deceived me
I believed in you
Am I never to be free?

Kathy Shattuck is a poet and writer. During her career, she found time during coffee breaks and lunches composing poetry and writing her first novel. Now retired, she makes her home in Southern California. See more of Cathy's work at http://prosetryinmotion.blogspot.com/ and http://kathys-aliceinwonderland.blogspot.com/