Reference Points

Understanding comes from translation
Translation comes from a reference point
Without the beginning, or the end,
or even a middle
Information is lost, unusable
If you can't relate, or pull it in
It is because there was no where to begin
To translate that life to yours
Or that word into meaning
There must be a common thread to pull upon
Commonality which breeds understanding
Otherwise a speck of dust floating in a vacuum
Will hang forever in the void

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

It Belongs To The Day

Where does the time go? Away.
Why can't we keep it? It belongs to the day.
Why can't we speed it up or slow it down?
We are not its master.
It belongs to the day.
Forever fleeting, always retreating.
Never ours to keep.
Years go by, days grow short,
Wrinkles get deep.
We watch it fly by when having fun,
Or fade away with the setting sun.
We ache as clocks tick the hours by,
When something dreadful is nearby.
Going to lunch,
Going to work,
Going to spend the day...
Even though it is never mine to pay.

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Gambling

The only reason to gamble
Is a desire to win big
So when we retrace our steps
And try to relive
A gamble made to regain
What we once had in
Feelings, emotions, good times
Once we begin....
We see our gamble losing
Our forces compound
Yet our past rekindled
Cannot be found
A gamble made, lost
A lesson learned
Never eat at a bad place twice
You're bound to get burned

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

An Idea

The idea that poetry should be written by the educated elite
To be read, criticized, understood ONLY by those elite
Is haunting
To demolish this idea is daunting
Because the greatest weapon is an idea, from it's inception
And this idea has become societal deception
So poems written in an uneducated way
Never see the light of day
(Unless set to music and called a song
Then a million people listen all day long)
This idea, impossible to break
Even though these words a poem does make

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

THE Truth

Writing, writing, writing
All the time writing
Writing, writing, writing
Stop
Read
See a truth
Writing, writing, writing
Stop
Read
Is the truth still there, embedded,
Or was it somehow beheaded?
Can all readers find it, so hidden
Or do they have to be bitten?
No, I won't think of that
Writing, writing, writing
Stop
Edit
Repeat
Selling, selling, selling
All the time selling
Selling, selling, selling
Stop
Write, because that is what you do
Writing, writing, writing
Doesn't anyone see any of the truth?


© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Write It Down

Don't apologize
I took it how I take it
Not how you give it
Once you set it out in the world
Let it be
It is no longer yours
You gave it to me

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Missing Traffic

Long drive
Becomes longer still
When the cars stop
You prepare for it
Pack the car full
(such a drain on gas)
Before you start
Then you don't stop
You just keep going
There are no accidents
No mad rush for home
Nothing keeping you from the speed limit
Driving, not stopping
Like you were prepared for

Reset everything now
For the next trip
Not planning for the traffic
No extra sandwiches
Leave the cooler at home
Save the gas
Do not pack for the stopped cars
They don't stop

Or do they?
YES - Longer than ever before
Holiday weekend, both trips

which do I plan for next time?


© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Having Said Nothing

It is called the silent treatment
When nothing is said
But it is clearly known
That anger is being fed
Anger that walked in the door
Unexplained, exploded
No reason why
The world imploded
There is nothing to say
So silence prevails
Until the storm ends
And the ship sails
Yet the storm rages on
Within the silent mess
Because of the silence
So much added stress
Slamming doors
Thrown things
Childish anger
Silence brings


© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Watching, Waiting, Hoping, Wanting

Watching TV, some nonsensicle show
About nothing of importance
Nothing I didn't know
Waiting for intelligence
To somehow appear
Within the context of stupidity
Like that commercial for beer
Hoping I don't find
What it is I seek
Because stupidity breeding brilliance
Means our intelligence has peaked
Wanting nothing more than sleep
After my mind has turned to mush
I didn't think about the caffiene
Still keeping me up
Waiting, watching, hoping, wanting
Trying, but not that hard
For something new to happen
Someone new and smart


© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Feeling Old

I stopped keeping up with the Jones'
Because they weren't interesting anymore
Then I stopped paying attention to the Smiths
Because they weren't hard core
Now I am looking around
Boy how the world has changed
Not liking what I am looking at
Everything seems so strange
There aren't any family values
No sense of dinner at 5
Everyone trying to out do another
To prove they are alive
It makes no sense to me
And now I feel my age
I want to put my blinders on
And wait for another way to gauge
The years I have lived
The knowledge I have gained
The morals I share
With the friends I have made

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Going About It All Wrong

I said, you heard
You hear, I didn't say
Or so I thought
Until today
Apparently, I got it wrong
Trying to hold my tongue
I am trying to remember
But my thoughts jumble together
You say things I said
I don't know whether
I did or not
Was it only a random thought?
Sometimes, I can't get them out
But I think I do
We can't communicate
When neither of us has a clue
I am mad at myself
That you don't see
That I try, but I just don't
When I think I did
I don't say, you don't hear
That is painfully clear
But what I think I say
You don't hear
I'm just going about it all wrong.

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Watching Water Boil

Watching pots to keep them cold
Never works when flames are bold
Burning hot through solid ice
Flames so high as to entice
Gather you in; burn your skin
Roiling boil never to cool
To tame the heat, such as fool
Watching pots to keep them cold
Never works when flames are bold


© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Scratch Test

The pendant, so beautiful, so bright
Wasn't for me
So I took it to someone
Who I thought could see
The beauty that I saw
But couldn't wear
I thought I was doing good
Until I got there
There wasn't a stamp
To show it was gold
Even though it appeared
And I was told
So a scratch test was employed
The beauty was stolen
The pendant destroyed

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Catching Up

I should write something
I really should
But "somethings" boring
Wish I could
Too much happening
Way too fast
So much happening
Need to catch
     My breath

© 2013 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Broken Faucet

Screaming, yelling, fighting mad
At the faucet broken bad
Spending money for the fix
Expenses not in the mix
Hiding cleansers from baby's hands
Ignoring swearing, following demands
(*!@$*!*** water everwhere, get the mop
Wait $*@$ no make the water stop!!!)
It is just a broken faucet after all
Just some plumbing taken a fall
Water floating under the bridge
(Well, actually across the floor, then under the fridge)
It is all good now, fixed up nice
Not bad for a night's work, twice!

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Music Store

Sitting in the music store
Listening to players play
Before they buy
Their instrument today
Wanting to relax
In a room full of sounds
Competing with volume
Music Go Round
Even without the rhymn
To go with with my rhyme
I could sit here all day
If I had the time
But I must leave
Before the want overtakes
And I succumb
To an overpriced mistake
Sitting here listening
To music played
I think my stay here
Is a little overstayed
But I continue to sit
And listen to it all
Even the stories
Ten miles tall

In the Wings

Cloaked in black, in the wings
Watching such wonderous things
Scrims, lights, sounds and flys
You wouldn't believe your eyes
I don't see you, you don't see me
But what you don't see
Let's your imagination soar
Such that your laughter roars
Or tears stream down your cheeks
Feeling the results for weeks
A drama come to brilliant light
Keeping the stage clean and bright
For the next sitting to be sat
In the wings, is where I'm at

Driving Stick

I start, I stall, I start again
Moving forward, lurching
Stalling again
Starting over, better this time
Too much gas
Flooded
Unable to move, stuck
Started again, lurching forward
Whiplash
Stalling out, fewer now
Somehow it clicks
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Now, driving
Just driving, without direction
Afraid to stop
Fearing the hazard
Lurching again
Out of gas

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Failing Miserably

Can't sleep for all the stress
Looking around, everything a mess
Undone things left here and there
Uncalled friends, all too aware
Of how I am and all I do
My intentions, non-actions, follow through
Can't help where I am or how I got
This situation, all I've caught
Now I see and I can't fix
The mess I am now admist
So the deeper in I go
To try to reap what I sow
Keeping in mind, that should I fail
At least I tried before the hammer hit the nail

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Keeping Up...

With the Kardashians
Or the Joneses
Either way, not for me
Too expensive
With way too many trends
I find I'd rather love family
Friends, and even possibly strangers
Much more fun than wasting money
Time, and even space
On things that won't matter
Once we leave this place

User Error

The script
The query
And the logic
Create a mess
Inspiration disappears
Amid frustration
Tables are turned
Taken away
Then given a new birth
Somewhere else far away
Left alone with my devices
I'd falter past failure
Yet my friends find me
Drag me back to the day
Smiling, laughing among errors
Too random to feel real
Too frequent to be fake
Now the truth is seen
User error is underneath

This Unforgiving Space

Once here, always recorded
Never can be erased
Here, a vast open
Unforgiving place
Everyone has a different view
Of what's here
And their opposing views
Cause untoward fear
The surface is only scratched
Depth is never found
So the views have their own
Sacred solid ground
While one can view
Each and every side
They never open themselves up
Nearly as wide
As this vast open unforgiving space.....


© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Lost Time

I took a walk through a war scene
Crawled out of a ravine
To meet someone with images of gore
Reliving the Civil War
Through the passage of time, path upkept
Tears, it seems, are still being wept
Places, times, and paths all marked
And with time, they are all remarked
So that people like me can walk through time
Relive the past, out of the ravine climb
To find ourselves alive and well
Out of the ravine known as hell
Luckier than the 700+ dead
Who took bullets to the head
Believing that their side was right
Wanting to help end the fight
Constantly marching towards their death
Tired, hungry, completely out of breath
I can't believe these men kept moving
When their situation was not improving
I would have stopped in my track
Turned, run, high tailed it back
But the men who died that faithful day
Kept on fighting, come what may
I mourn their deaths and their deeds
And pray that history does not repeat.

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Words....

Words, my little devils
circle in my head
Pick me, pick me
     they all scream
So I pick one
             OBNOXIOUS
only to find it's meaning
     isn't what I thought
"in the way of harm" does not equal "snob"
     the evil doubles
and the circle expands
into the vortex
cyclone
tornado
wrecking devastation a mile wide
though my world with every turn

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Grass

Grass is pretty, green
Which sparkles in sunshine, dew
Until winter breaks

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Adventures

Taking adventures is a great way to go
Doing something new is a great way to grow
Can't let fear drag you down
Can't let sadness make you frown
Get out and enjoy those places
Yet undiscovered as the case is
Have no regrets, live life grand
Grab life by the horns, with more than one hand
Cherish the moments you make
For life is only as great as the chances you take

Butterfly Wings

(Photo inserted from Wikipedia)




They say a butterfly can start a tornado a half world away
But we never think of this as we go about our day
We never think of what affect we have in the world
The things we do are just there, hurled
Out into oblivion, no matter the effect on others
Until the weight of the world starts to smother
What difference in the world do I make
With every breath that I take?
What would have happened had I crashed my car?
Would the people hit still be who they are?
With their path changed, forever that day
Is the world changed in an irrevocable way?
What of the creativity that came of that choice
Did that become a heard voice
Or just some other dribble in a world full of noise
Or will it become a thing full of joys?
We all need to stop and think of what effect we exude
Into the world before it's screwed.

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved
http://www.amazon.com/author/deannaoaks

Poetry On The Move

I almost crashed my car
Driving while writing today
Pen in one hand, paper in the other
Driving with my knee, what can I say?
When inspiration hits that hard
It is hard to not to roll with it
Even when I couldn't stop my trip
(The daycare would have a fit)
My hope is great
That this poem is grand
And soon a check
Will be in hand
So while I made a big mistake
Driving with my knee
It may be worth the while
(But I must wait to see)

Friendship Rekindled

Fear of the anger that was once bestowed
Became an electric fence
Where a zillion amps flowed
The fence now gone, destroyed
As if never there
Making us question why we avoid
Our friendship once so strong
Can be that way again
It won't even take that long

Once we decided, it as if no time had passed
Our friendship just as it was
When we saw each other last

Afterglow

Sitting here listening to "The Truth About Love"
Listening close to the fears
Finding my feelings so closely mirrored
By the music in my ears
Wondering how it has come to be
Trying to find a way
To communicate to that level
Reach everyone in their own way
By the words I type today
Is it that her beat has music
While mine does not
Or are my words kept so well hidden
They can't be found?
Worrying even more, fear the lack of sound
Because I can't add music
No one will hear my pain
A thought then occurs
Do they hear hers, so plain?
She has a great beat masking her hurt
While mine is raw, there, alone
Approach so different, one thing is clear
All we both want is someone to hear
A someone we hold very dear
Someone always near
The one someone we most fear
Losing

Feeling Down

Just as you are feeling at your worst
Someone may make your day
It may come at a time you won't like
But give it a chance, hear what they say
For the message may hold power
Beyond your belief
So a "horrible inconvenience"
Could be quite the relief
Let your fences fall
From the stresses of life
Enjoy those around you
It will help you through strife
Hear the love behind the anger
And laughter beyond tears
Give as much as you take
Float through your years

Profoundity

I want to write something profound
Something that catches on, takes over
Never hits the ground
Doesn't find closure
But how do I know what I write
Will last long enough to achieve
These dreams I dream, fight
Oh, how I want to believe
Yet the realist in me
Won't let me give in
To these dreams, so lovely
Even though, this is where I begin.....

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved

Vertigo

The world is spinning out of control
I want it to stop, or at least to slow
Can't focus on what's in front of me
The spin is too fast for me to see
Anxiety grows, fear fast on its heels
Room spinning faster, as if on wheels
The floor falls out from beneath my feet
Soon, gravity and I are destined to meet
Until then, I spin, trying to hold on
To something real, but it is beyond
Beyond anything within my reach
Oh please stop spinning, to the world I beseech!
© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved

Birthday Surprise

Having lunch with a dear friend
The kind of lunch you don't want to end
When in walks a group of cackly ladies
Loud, happy, little older than babies
These ladies were bubbly about the day
A surprise, a celebration, a little par-tay!
Their cackle took over, but pleasantly so
Because the birthday girl had such a radiant glow
As we ate we couldn't help but awe
At the gathering, a great hurrah
Both looking on, just hoping we could be
Just like these ladies at the age they be

Understanding Prompt

(tweetspeak poetry prompt)

1 - Surely someone, somewhere 
2 - Understands what you're saying
3 - Under your layers of meaning

4 - Past the signs that say "beware"
5 - Along the path you are portraying
6 - With those words intervening

7 - Will start to stop and compare
8 - Their worlds with your conveying
9 - Those very thoughts that go careening

10 - And only then they will dare
11 - Something larger than displaying
12 - Defining a perfect gleaning


(Author's Note: read again in this order: 1,4,7,10 - 2,5,8,11 - 3,6,9,12 for a different poem)

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved

Playing Games

Hiding the hurt from you
Was easy because you were hurt too
You didn't see what I faced
Because your anger was misplaced
While you stood there and accused
Please understand there is no excuse
I hurt too, though you didn't see
(You were the one hurting me)
I kept quiet, silent, and still
Hoping you'd swallow that jagged pill
A pill coated heavily with fear
And resentment you loved so dear
When that didn't happen I walked away
Hoping to return, hurt but okay
My return un-triumphant, lame
Because it ended our little game

Everyday Things

Everyday things, the ones we all face
Can be profound, if given a place,
Translated into a greater meaning
As part of our convening
There just needs to be that one string
That ties it to the whole thing
One idea that solidifies thought
Keeping the string completely taut
Taking that thing we use everyday
Changing it to convey
Deeper meaning than we knew could be
While keeping it relevant to you and me
Helping us learn and look anew
At these things we see and do

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved

Mending Fences

The fence once put in place
Is falling into disrepair
Left to ponder if it should be fixed
Or if it should be moved somewhere
Far removed from you
In order to rekindle friendship
Our lives have changed so much
There is no longer the hardship
That our friendship couldn't endure
In it's place this sadness
Loss of friendship so pure
Wanting to move the fence
Is first step towards more
Are you be willing to help me
Or do you still abhor
The honesty I gave to  you
Which you asked of me that day
Asking if you wanted truth
Or wanted me to say
What you wanted to hear
Then there is the fence
I built to keep you out
It was my best defense
Against the pain I couldn't fix
The pain you were living
I couldn't help, couldn't face
Couldn't be that forgiving
All I wanted was more for you
Than the ache you embrace
You did what you needed to do
I did the same
Wondering now, as I attempt to mend this fence
Do you still hold me to blame?

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved

Defeated

I am so defeated
And feel so cheated
I had such a great deal
One I wish I could repeal
But no, that is covered by warranty
"Isn't it great - totally free!"
Sure, yeah, whatever replace it
Quick before you discontinue it
So I can suffer another full year
For that deal - mine free and clear
Why oh why was I suckered so
And believed the fix - oh no
That is not the way it goes
No batteries left to power the phones
So I pay more money to continue
Down this road anew
Wanting to trade the android crap
For an iPhone with better app

© 2012 Deanna Repose Oaks
All Rights Reserved