Poems by Tina Kelly
Exhale

Accelerate

1.

2.

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Exhale

 

You are my cure

I am your whore

excuses fly

in order

to leave my room

and I bring my hands to my head

to relieve pain

from knocking

knocking on my brain

 

The smell of you still

lingering on my fingers

I breathe in

to hold on a little longer

and with an empty kiss

I exhale

and

blow

you

away.

Accelerate

 

Accelerate

beyond

the last stop light

where I leave it all behind.

Memories of a small child

learning to swim

a small memory of me

sunrise awoke her

small smiling eyes

running to the water

to swing her toes close

enough to touch

before she would dare

to risk it all

and spring from the edge

of the splintering wood

she called home.

 

She awakes

12 years later

to the clock radio

screaming

"Get the fuck up."

swollen eyes

pushing through

sticky lids

nothing makes her rush

pulling her toes to the

bathroom

starts the water, with

the same tempature

as the day before

she stares in the mirror

until her face becomes

unable to see

pushing herself to that day

of monotonous tones

hopeless thoughts

thoughts of marriage

thoughts of becoming a success

thoughts of becoming a woman

that once had the

fearlessness
of risking it all.

1.

 

Clouds begging to cover the moon

to hide the ugly

in the dark

winds fly

from the ocean

allowing my hair

to have its way with me

I think of whirl winds

and natural disaster

this place

this town

my latitude

and longitude

where I am

how I was

what I used to be

lonely breezes

cold empty

making love to me

I see blue

then red

 then blue

remembering the death

of the you part of me

mourning for misery

intensity

giving birth to me

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Sooner or later you will no

longer lay beside me in the mornings

of blood shot eyes

and freeway sounds

the open window

brings in lonely breezes

and the stench of exhaust

I lie here and wait

for the day it will be the last

dreams and memories

invading my cloudy head

I listen to you breathe

and your silouhette

traced by my finger

unmoving, still

imagining

you love me

I have you this moment

while the world sleeps

around me

you are silent

words I don't want to hear

are unspoken

and you love me

in my head my love

I become your angel

and this morning

I pray before you

in hopes

that you awake

and see me like you used to

when the world was you and I

when my words were more than noise

and my kiss meant more

than an invitation inside of me

when my mornings weren't imaginations and hopes

and when you awoke

I was your angel

flying through you

now these words

have been filed

in the back cabinet

by number

by statistic

the beautiful

or not so-

# 3,341

Tina Kelly was born in Sanbornton, NH. She attended Plymouth State University, graduating with a BA in art, and then went to Carlsbad, Calif. to become a graduate jeweler gemologist at the Gemological Institute of America. Kelly moved to East Boston in 2003 and lives on Eagle Hill with her husband and daughter.

2.

Maybe Im a little less

pitiful than before

and maybe I'm learning

to finally

give a shit less about you

its about time

that I realize maybe

nothing I said or did

really mattered much

to you

I have moved away

opened the door

and set you free

from me

these lines of poetry

will no longer be

remembering

how or why I loved you

or why you couldn't love me

and I hope I am done

playing sad songs

on the car stereo

and screaming

profanities

at you
it is wasting sound

I have come to ignore

the stories

of how pretty

or nice looking

or lusterous

every other woman is

knowing

that woman will

never

be

me

I know now

what I want

is never you

it is

the image I want you to be

and I know now to let it go

to sail above the insults

the humility

and love myself enough

to walk away

head in the sky

soaring

so far above you

and let what is dead-

die