Poetry Wednesday's: The Box by Shanna Sandmoen

This is a weekly series that I posted on my Enlightened by Books blog. Every week I would feature a new poem/poet. This month, I am participating in a 30 Day Poem a Day Challenge, so I thought I'd share a poem that came from that challenge. 

The Box 

by Shanna Sandmoen

I pulled out the box, encased in dust and lost memories, 

memories that will remain locked in mystery forever.

Beautiful photos; adventures never revealed.

My Grandma, holding a rifle, laughing, 

pictures of her dancing in the garden,

so free, gracious, beautiful, 

and her smile; I wish I had seen it personally.

She never shared her stories, not until

those final days in the nursing home.

Then she told me of a farm house, 

parents and great aunts and uncles I never knew.

Oh how I wish we could speak now!

The box teasing me with it's untold stories.

To my future generations I promise you this:

I will not take all my secrets to the grave. 

My First Night In ICU

Buried beneath my Darth Vader mask

I call out "is it time?"

"Am I ready to let go?"

Warmth envelopes me, releasing my fear, 

pulling me into a deep, peaceful sleep.

As the sun rises I know,

I still have much to do.

I am healing every day

My body, weak, will regenerate.

It's what it's born to do. 

The Versatile Blogger Award

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Well first, WOW!!! Thank you to The Perks of Having Cancer for my nomination. What a beautiful gesture!

Lovely Blogs
1. All the Live Long Day
2. Austenesque Reviews
3. Yes and Yes
4. Almost Vegan
5. The Caffeinated Cupcake 
6. Green Beans and Yam
7. Kind Over Matter
8. Laura's Reviews
9. Life is a Canvas
10. Nourish Thyself
11.The Grateful Life
12.The Wellness Warrior
13.Walkstrong
14.The Purple Carrot
15.Chick Lit Plus

Seven Things About ME!

My first word was doggie

I detest mushrooms

My girl crush is Clea Duvall, ever since But I'm a Cheerleader. If I were to ever have a lesbian experience, she's my gal. ;) 

I've never chewed a piece of gum

I was a competitive pianist

I had a couple poems published in literary magazines in my early 20's

I'm addicted to Trader Joe's red licorice; it's not TJ brand, just something spectacular they carry 

Love Ending

Another poem I found while cleaning out files...

Love Ending

We embrace

the chasm between us runs deep

our kisses, chalky

taste of love ending

I reach for your hand

you flinch as a lock of my hair

brushes against your cheek

scarcity in lovemaking

sighs love ending

~Shanna Sandmoen

Untitled Cancer Poem

I found this poem I wrote about three years ago while clearing out some files. I've come a long way. 

Untitled Cancer Poem

I close my eyes, block out sounds, twittering,

creaking around my ear drum

Progression, spreading, tumors, cancer

I envision myself in a lavender dress, kitten heels,

The necklace from my lover

resting gently on my collarbone,

My 10 year high school reunion.

Cancer, spreading, time running out,

A smile dances on my face, my furry mutt

In his graduation cap, photo imprinted on my mind

Kleenex after Kleenex

I wonder if they compost?

How long will it take for my body to break down,

Faster than the Kleenex?

I’m dying and all I can think about is my

Dad hasn’t fixed the gate on my fence, or

The humidifier on my piano

Cancer, neck, chest, lungs, liver,

Pressing against my spine

Crawling down my hip bone

I wonder who will fly in for the reunion

Who got married, had kids, became a

Doctor, lawyer, architect, musician,

Who died…

I need to get that gate fixed. 

~Shanna Sandmoen

Love Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. 

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, 

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep. 

~Pablo Neruda

somewhere i have never traveled...

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and

my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,

as wehn the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility:whosetexture

compels me with the colour of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens;only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

e e cummings

since feeling is first

since feeling is first

who pays any attention 

to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool

while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,

and kisses are a better fate

than wisdom

lady i swear by all flowers.  Don't cry

--the best gesture of my brain is less than 

your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other:then

laugh,leaning back in my arms

for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

~e e cummings