The Step Of Reflection (Louis Toliver Jr)

As I climbed towards a light,

On the steps of my life given to me,

Struggle and weariness had compelled me to stop.

Though I was lacking might,

I ignored them and breathed freely.

Only through breathing could I make it to the top.

As I stood on this step before I went onward,

I felt compelled to look back.

The previous steps descended into a dark fiction.

Truth is what I wanted and why I must go forward.

Truth is my ambition to stay on track.

Under my feet, I found this step was named “Reflection.”

What I saw now on this step in myself,

I could not have seen then.

I looked up and the light in front of me made sense.

Fiction, with its struggle and weariness, had poisoned part of my self,

But the antidote of strength and patience always win.

I bring those two with me up the remaining steps as my defense.

As I left the step of Reflection, I knew that it would return.

It is the only step that repeats when you need to learn.

Comments

CALL FOR WRITERS! Please Help Inspire Our Community to Keep Hope!

Louisiana Words (LouisianaWords.com) showcases the positivity of the Louisiana LGBTQIA+ writers community and our allies. Our family of writers are lighting up the state of Louisiana and the rest of the world for the Winter 2025 season starting on Sunday, January 5th, 2025! Louisiana Words is a LGBTQIA+ organization that promotes writers who live and who have lived in Louisiana! We are here to be a creative outlet that helps uplift and inspire each other! Louisiana Words is gearing up for another great year of talent! We are calling for writers! If you live in Louisiana or have lived in Louisiana, you can submit! We accept poetry, fiction, short plays, short screenplays, or memoirs! We love writing from new or seasoned writers! No politically-motivated content will be accepted. LouisianaWords.com is the home for Louisiana's LGBTQIA+ Louisiana writers and our allies! We help market new and seasoned writers for FREE! Just submit your work and we’ll get you into our content rot...

Nobody Said There'd Be a Day Like This (Sam Ray - New Orleans, LA)

I know how this should be: I've seen it, you see, In soap operas, Movies. Your eyes are closed, As if in sleep. Perfect peachy skin Atop a snow white pillow Under flawlessly matched sheets. The heart monitor, Quiet bleeps. The ventilator, A steady hiss. None of that is this. Your eyes Stuck open Seeing without sight Yellow sclera Dumb tears streaming. Tubes, taped to your face Delicate skin torn Where nurses Repositioned them To feed you To heal you You never liked being told What to do. Your whole torso spasms Spastic, Every 40 seconds. A machine Forces your lungs to act. Your hands are warm From hemodialysis But don't respond When we each grab one Give it a kiss. We spend the day Brushing your hair Telling stories Singing songs. Praying prayers. You're not there. Hospital staff Are more lovely If less pretty Than on TV. When the time comes They gently walk us From the room Close the curtai...

Lunatic (Lily Lechler - New Orleans, LA)

“Lunacy” comes from the moon, Who cycles through brilliance and darkness Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed Opposites not so well harnessed Who cycles through brilliance and darkness? The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Opposites. Not so well harnessed As she thought, her brain gives reason the slip The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Her body, depressed, her thoughts manic. As she thought, her brain gave reason the slip And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic. Her body depressed her thoughts. Manic Lunacy comes from the moon And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed

Search This Blog