Dream of You

I dream of candy apples and sweet potato pie 

The cool mornings we’d walk down the horse trails

The nights we’d stay up talking about our lives 

But then I wake up in the night 

And you’re not here anymore 

I still remember 

The way you’d make your sandwich 

Mayo on top and bottom

One slice of cheese, two of ham 

To me, it was so gross back then 

But now I make it just like you

So I can pretend for  a moment or two 

That you are still somehow around

and not in a coffin in the ground

I dream of candy apples and sweet potato pie 

And the walk we’d take when you were alive 

By Melissa Kelly

Monday Madness

On most weeks it’s how I start the day
the routine, normal, awkward way
A splash of coffee on my blouse
Is how this Monday will  start out
I’ll bang my knees on the table leg
burn my toast and scrambled eggs
I’m late as I start looking for my keys 

I’ll search the floor on bended knees
I might have l left them on the sink,
or maybe in the couch I think

On the table, in plain view 

Is where I find them at 8:02

Behind a big truck now going slow

Hitting every red light, as I go

A frantic way each week to start

Late for work, I pull in to park

Now rushing quickly to get inside

I sit down fast and start to type  

Just another Monday to survive 

Honey Bees

In the holes of maple trees 

Lie empty nests from honey bees 

Flowers in fields one time so plenty 

And buzzing sounds, once so many 

Evaporate into distant dreams 

No longer heard and rarely seen 

Melissa Kelly 2020

Yet Survives

 

Silence.....
does thy heart still pump 

I can not hear it beat
Love in all its glory
Gentle, warm and sweet

I watch, I sit,  I stand and wait
The time, beyond my darkest fate
Aligned together, one aside
It broke apart and yet survIves

Love Protected

Hold it close and keep protected 
For often it can slip away 
Every moment make it clear
With every word you need to say 

A lasting dream, a truest hope 
The beauty few can really capture 
We love with every flaw exposed 
And celebrate with joy and laughter  

Conscience of the Nation

Our country’s flag was torn apart 

Left in rubble on the capitol floor

With bloodstain hands some members hide 

Behind a stance, they could do no more 

Shall a trial at the senate steps, 

with those, that added to the fire 

Heed the warning from the dust 

And weed out every single liar 

His days though past, still haunt our nation 

And killed the bravest men  that fought 

To fight for our country’s salvation 

And in their deaths we morn their loss

The deepest judgments yet to come 

To watch and hope for courage to break 

To separate us from the violent throws 

Their conscience holds our country’s fate 

Summers at Ocean Beach

We’d take the ferry back and forth
Our families then would meet
Off the sandy shores of Fire Island
A white house on Ocean Beach

No TV sets to pass the time
No iPhones back then to take
We leave work and school behind
One month for summer break

A chess board game at the table
We’d play cards and drink iced tea
Walk the boardwalk into town
Or lay out on the beach

Some nights around the fireplace
After dinner making s’mores
We take turns telling ghost stories
Each one scarier than before

A ferry ride away we take
And plan and ride and meet
One month in the summer
On Fire Island in Ocean Beach

By Melissa Kelly 

Published in One Art, A Journal of Poetry Sept, 2020