Category: Talk From the Clotheline

She Speaks and the World Listens

She speaks and the world listens.
With soothing words on her tongue, she can calm the storm in another’s soul. Her eyes will caress you and hold you. You feel the fire in her soul. Her heart beats to the sound of an unheard drum. Only she can hear that beat and she doesn’t care that others don’t. Her hands create life and restore what was lost. Her touch is gentle yet firm and your heart melts when she embraces you. Her lips tell the truth and if they ever dare to breathe a lie it’s because she learned from Rahab that at times people are more accepting of deception than the truth that would set them free.

She’s been hurt. Her heart crushed to fine powder; almost beyond recognition. But her fortitude lies in the fact that she gave her demolished heart to her God and left it in His hands trusting Him to do what He needed to restore it. But God surprised her completely by giving her a new heart all together. Not because He couldn’t fix the old one. He restored to her a better heart than what she had- taking the good from the one she had and putting it in the new vessel He gave her.

 Sweetness and depth, this is all of woman; this is Heaven.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

This woman walks with her head held high because she knows the worst is over. She has tread in places that would have driven someone else completely insane. She has suffered but never in vain because she always took the good from the bad. She was given a gift to discern even the slightest hint of light in pitch dark places. No matter what she’s been through, she’s been able to find the dynamic in the demonic. She can see greatness in the smallest of things. What others will dismiss as trivial and mundane, she can find the unique and special in. The people society throws away are the ones she’s drawn to because she too knows what it was like to be discarded at an early age.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2013

 

 

MUJER HERMOSA

Beautiful woman that you are
How could it be that you strayed so far
How could it be you never saw
That you are a brightly lit star

Beautiful woman that you are
Why did you walk on
Why didn’t you look in the mirror
Te escondiste en la mar.

Beautiful woman, lovely is your name
You’re all what they say and so much more
Now it’s your time go on and proclaim-
“I’ve changed for the better and I’ll never be the same!”

-Eva Santiago copyright 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EVERYONE WAITS

Everyone waits
Some wait to die
Others wait out their fate
Still others wait until it’s too late

Children hate to wait
Some are born on time
Some are born past their due date
They don’t know we were born to wait

Then there are those who rush in
They hate to wait
So they rush in
And they get there at the wrong date

Everyone waits
She waits for the bus
He waits for his bride
She waits at the altar
As he dies in the war
She waits for the phone call
That will make her heart fall
The baby waits in utero
9 months in seclusion
Life began from day one
A child hopes to see the sun.

A man waits to die
He quit on life
When life got hard
He forsook the truth
And swallowed the lie
He waits to die
He stews in self hate
He thinks it’s too late
Life passes him by
And all he wants to do is die
Then there’s a woman who waits
For her lost love
She waits like she waited
When she was a school girl
For that phone call from him
That would rock her world
But it never came
Because he was too scared
To go after her
Who would rock his world
And the woman grew tired of the wait
And one day he showed up at her door
And then he came a day too late

Everyone waits…

-Eva Santiago copyright 2013

GIVE IT YOUR ALL LEST YOU DIE

Deep breaths
Deep sighs
Deep gazes
Deep touching deep
No one gets why things happen
Why things fall apart
So better things can flourish

So we fight the new
And we get mad ‘cause the old is gone
We cried for more
When more knocks on the door
We run in bewilderment

We say, Hell No!
Then throw the baby out with the bath water.
We reject what we can’t readily grasp
Always willing to settle for the comfort
Of something even if it’s bad
Even if it’s killing us
Even if it’s excruciatingly painful
Even if it’s disdainful
Even if it’s taking us to hell’s very portals
We’ll take, it we convince ourselves
We’ll make do
We’ll be fine
We’ll make this freaking  thing work even if it kills our souls in the process

Oh my!!
We settle for so little
We settle for crumbs
We settle for nothing
Thinking it’s everything
We’d settle for a very turd
As long as it’s wrapped in chocolate
We’ll settle for the mundane
Even if it’s driving us insane
We’ll settle for polluted water
When we’re offered libations from the fountain of life
We’ll settle for faking
‘cause what’s real requires risk taking
We’ll settle for nothing
When we could have it all
We’ll settle for a  fleeting shooting star
When The Almighty says the universe is ours

Oh people wake the hell up!
C’mon now hear this warrior’s heart’s cry
We weren’t made to grovel
Or to be beaten down by the master’s shovel
Fight for what you love
Give it your all lest you die
Believe like that small kid you once were

Honor your dream
Honor your life
Honor your self and quit settling for less
Give it your all lest you die.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2013

 

 

Good-Byes Suck!

Good-byes are awful

No need to say ’em

Say good-bye when love is done

say good-bye when someone’s dying

Otherwise, leave things be

Good-bye is way too final

See ya!

Ciao!

Adios!

Adieu!

Arrivederci!

All sound so much hopeful

All sound like

Catch ya later

Up ahead, down the lone winding road.

Good-bye means just that

No chance of ever meeting up

Good-bye means we closed the door.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2013

 

 

 

 

SMALL IS THE NEW BIG!

Do you ever feel small and that what you do seems insignificant? I sure do from time to time. I started The Henderson Poets, a group that meets on Tuesday evenings at The Coffee House close to my home. We are small in number but that does not matter one iota to me. People from all walks of life show up. Some times 15 or more people show up, other times it’s less. But I keep plugging on and do you know why? Because I believe what I’m doing matters! We live in a society where everyone is always number crunching. We measure success by the number of books we sold or the numbers in our bank account and even our number of friends on Facebook. Did you ever stop to consider that small is the new big? What if me showing up at the Coffee House every Tuesday night is just to touch one other soul?

A few weeks ago I invited a very nice man to join us. He said he writes poetry but he had never shared before.  Last night he came and shared poems he wrote  during what seems to have been a traumatic divorce. He moved all of us because as he read, he wept openly. Dear readers, that is why I LOVE what I do. I believe poetry is meant to be performed live. A dear friend of mine said to me upon our first meeting,” Our words are our life.” How true that is! How amazing it is and an honor to have the chance to give other poets a platform from which they can come and bare their souls to us. We all benefit when a soul reaches out to touch us with their light. 

So next time you think what you do is not important consider that  maybe your presence in some one’s life might be the one thing that is keeping that person alive. The work you do no matter how menial in your eyes, maybe some one else’s miracle and moment of joy. Take your eyes off the numbers and value what you do because really, you’re the only one capable of doing what you do. What you do and who you are is irreplaceable..think on that!

-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012

 

 

EARTH AND AIR

To a beautiful person I know…

Earth and Air
You walked by and did a double take
You stopped
When everyone rushed on through
You said hello
I said who are you
You said I’m looking for a home
I too have been all alone
You said I am here
Iam tempted to run
You said I have no fear
I said nothing is clear
You said let’s plant a seed
I said you are the one I need
You said you, I will not harm
I want to hold on to your arm
You said hold on then
My icy heart grows warm
You are earth
I am air

Eva Santiago copyright 2012

 

NOT SCARY AT ALL

NOT SCARY AT ALL
This world is not as scary as they told us
The time clock ticks
Time marches on
And things go on unabated,
litigated
Emancipated.
There is nothing new under the sun
Days gone by
People are still people
And they keep to their own

The world is not as scary as they said
Tabu things
Belong to the past
Kids grow up fast
Nothing ever lasts

They painted for us a dangerous world
And I defy that
Boy still meets girl
And he tips his hat
Boy meets girl
A perfect match they make
Mom and dad frown
They have to let go
Cuz all their kids are almost grown

Don’t tell the young guns this world is scary
They don’t care
They won’t listen to your outdated fears
Let them eat, drink and be merry
Don’t even think they are clueless
Sometimes let ‘em surprise you
At times you’re the one who needs a clue.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

 

 

Contest!

Who wants to enter a contest? :)

To win all you need to do is be the first person to answer the question and you win a free copy of Salsa! The Taste of Life. To be qualified to enter, like this page in the link below and write your answer on the comments.

Who said this?”Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

CONGRATULATIONS to this blogger: poemsandponderings Please email me for details! 🙂

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eva-Santiago/142258690307

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This contest ends this Friday, November 16 2012 at midnight! CONTEST CLOSED.

Word Picture #2

WORD PICTURES

Who is he anymore? Why doesn’t he give a damn? Knowing that he doesn’t; why does he expect anyone else to care? He sucks the life out of everyone and then wonders why they stay away. He is a bankrupt soul. She won’t let him put her in the red because she won’t give him the power or permission to do so. Their little girl asks, “ Is he ashamed of what he does?” And there is a clear answer to her alarming question: “ No he is not.”

He is a wreck who has tried to demolish other lives and yet there is one life he can’t touch. Oh, he persisted incessantly but he failed. His bitterness oozes out of the volcano that is his heart. The turbid lava oozes out and scorches everything that gets in his way. It is vile what he does, and he sees it not.  Hatred blinds the soul and it does more than that. Animosity pierces his heart and he becomes the scorpion who stings himself to death. He inflicts his poison on himself and when he opens his mouth everyone runs for cover.

He wasn’t always a beast. She remembers when his touch was gentle; when she could lay her weary head on his shoulder and everything in her world was fine. He let her see the good guy in him when their love was new and budding. He gave her hope because she was running on empty. She let down the moat to her isolated heart just this once because back then he was a knight minus the shining amour. This knight was different because his armor was covered with the dents and chinks that come from the many wars he’d fought. He’d lost more battles than he wanted to admit. He still had bits of his heart left. She let him in.

That was then, this is now. The good memories persist in her mind because that is all that she has left of him now. He walks about the place looking to pick on the weaker ones. She dodges his flaming arrows. At night she goes to sleep alone and wondering when the end will come. Her tears drench her pillow as she pleads with her God to bring an end to the suffering. She slips away into her dreams of a better tomorrow where they are both free from each other. Where they both have found peace.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012