Valene Kelly

I see her in a picture

It seems like forever ago

Who was she?

This girl with the curious complexion, the innocent eyes and

Interested expression.

I see her in a mirror

A reflection of the present
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Can this be me?

This girl with the resentful complexion, ambitious eyes and

Inquisitive expression.

I see her then

And me now

The both of us one

Past and present intertwined

By the Way I’m Not Rubber

STUCK on a shelf,

Time passes slowly

patiently I wait a turn.

Balls bounce before me

and the cars speed below me, I think that is a plan up above!

Is it my bright orange beak

or my webbed extremities?

Could be my mated feathers

or limp wing?

Why is it the boy won’t have me

“Johnny it’s bath time!” sings a voice.

I feel a tight cold grip

“Watch out Johnny I might slip!”

What is he doing?

Is this water in front of me?

This can’t be right! I’m stuffed.

Not made of rubber.

You see.

Empty Hope

The air was crisp, the autumn cool

The trees swayed softly in the breeze.

The sun shined down, the earth was warm

When something tiny caught my eye.

It was an egg, bright and blue

with a hole and nobody inside.

I scrambled around

trying to find the little bird that it once held.

But to my dismay all I saw

was a disheveled nest and a few stray feathers.

My heart dropped.

Then I heard a “chirp, chirp”

When I lifted my eyes, there was the blue bird.

Content and scurrying about.