Liberty, by Nicole Nicholson

i still dream of shadows
gray guards, corded necks, black walking
the stars die in their hair

there is a time when blood
folds into itself, sits and cries
subspace Prophet prayers

enterprising escape
i see whistling lights alive, sky
bruised, streaked star eyes in warp

with a throat made of tin
fold my shadows like broken hands
sing my shadows to sleep

little campground darkling
inside the belly of a ship
dreams still eat you alive

Written 6/28/10
© 2010 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.
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This poem was written for two prompts: We Write Poems #8: English Haiku, and Poetry on Wednesday #9 (write a poem about a famous person, mythical character, historical person, etc. without telling who it is in the poem). This is a chain of English haiku about a fictional character. See if you can guess who.

-Nicole
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Stumble It!

This was written off of a prompt on Scott Woods’ live journal – write a poem using the words “piecemeal”, “gallery”, “submission”, and “belt”. Enjoy.

-Nicole
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The young orphaned boy grew into a man
forever in submission to sorrow and a
bright burning anger. His servitude was
a piecemeal development over time,
it growing as he grew into a man.
Soon, he built himself, in muscle and mind,
into an avenger, a quick witted
night soldier who could cleave the average
criminal asunder with machete
sharp precision. In time, a gallery
of gadgets served the Dark Knight, as well as
a customized creation of a car,
his second skin of a suit, and, always
around his waist, his utility belt.
Yet, still underneath this dark armor lies
a pure heart, broken from the loss long
ago of his parents, killed by a thief,
common and heartless. He is always in
the shadows of the city – every night
Bruce Wayne dies, and Batman emerges
in his place like a winged, black, cold Phoenix.

Written 6/22/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

This poem was written off of this week’s Three Word Wednesday prompt – write a poem with the words “open”, “frequent”, and “someday”. Note: The poem is based off of events in the musical “Rent”. Angel and all other characters mentioned in the poem are from that musical and are the creations of Jonathan Larson (1960 -1996).

-Nicole
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I frequent the Life Support group.
I am there whenever those doors are open,
and the people there are open to
me,
you,
and anybody else who walks through those doors.

Though I am positive,
they help me to be positive:
for I will not lay down and die
while I still have breath in this body.
I will not close my doors and hold blackness
within myself
and swim in its murky, self-piteous, depressive sea;
I try my best to vanish the blackness into thin air
when I drum
when I sing
when I give myself away
and I give things and money away
because they will be of no use
at my final destination
and I want to see the smiles on
your faces.

But sometimes, I cannot vanish this blackness
alone
so I come to release it gently into thin air,
to let it join the inner blackness of everyone else
and we all collectively let it escape –
Collins, me, Gordon, Ali, Pam –
as a soft sable cloud that should live else
but in our hearts.

I wish Roger would come
so that he could release his blackness, his sorrow,
and let it escape in a smoke’s whistle
instead of cooking inside him, pressured
until it hardens his heart to a diamond –
beautiful, yet useless, and useless
to someone speeding towards death on an
HIV train.
But I know he will be here with us –
someday –
as long as we don’t give up on him,
as long as we keep telling him the most important thing
that somebody in our state can hold on to:

no day but today.

Written 6/18/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

This is another poem for Writer’s Island – I decided to take their other two prompts of transformation and alter ego and write one poem for both of them. Enjoy.

-Nicole
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He can never know. He can never know
the face behind this mask I wear; I’ve made
my choice and with it I must now live. I
can never give away that I was once
his idol, his Superman, the same who
walked out of our house in shame as Pops yelled
after me, telling me never to dare
darken home’s door again. I can only
hover as a distant friend to save him
from impetuous peril – his temper
is not unlike mine. I find that this mask,
this suit, and this car all give me behind
mystery a license to still be his
older brother, for he can never know.
So let them all see this other self, this
“Racer X” as they call me, into which
I transform before every race – for
as far as it concerns them, Rex Racer
is forever dead. Speed must never know;
I trust that you will keep my secret.

Written 6/16/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.


Stumble It!

This was written for the new Read Write Poem Prompt this week – to write a poem using “when I watch you”, the first line of Lucille Clifton’s poem, “miss rosie”. I shut my eyes as the prompt instructed…and I ended up getting inside the head of Graham Dalton from the film “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”. Enjoy.

-Nicole

when I watch you
I see my failures
speaking to me
you are one of many
in a chain of women laid end to end
captured on videotape
I carry these ghosts with me
though alive in flesh they all
remind me of a love that died
because I lied
and I’ve crucified
myself ever since

you are nothing like your sister

you glow from my t.v. monitor
the light casts blue-white color onto my feet
as I watch you spill your sexual secrets
in private playback
they remind me of
what I can never have again
because I lied

so I wear my video camera as a mask
because I am not brave
and I am afraid I never will be

but you are brave

cynthia bishop

Written 6/4/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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