Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving
You tease and play
always a jester
While the aroma of
Home, long ago,
fills each room
one
by one...

I looked at you
Standing in the kitchen
and I knew
I would always love
Your smile
Your laugh
Your touch...

Thanksgiving
Gratitude runs thick
like cold, raw oil
And I'm most grateful
to have you
in my life.


Angela J. Schleicher © 2008

Religion on Steroids

The phone ring, ring, rings,

and I ignore the incessant tone

of Patriarchy submerged in Zealotry:

Religion on steroids, I muse

Closing my eyes, I imagine ignorance

Feeling its warm embrace

for too brief a moment...

In a flash, its gone with the ring, ring, ring

of technology's death to privacy

Bringing me back again

To the persistant realization

that you are no longer the parents

I once knew.

Angela J. Schleicher © 2008

Bigotry's Great Divide

Standing at the precipice of bigotry's great divide
I watch history unfold before me
Tears drown my eyes

No tears of joy for me this day
No Hollywood sunset to end this play
Do not be fooled by the hoopla
I say

For I have seen the Great Farce of a country swollen with pride
My fellow citizens chant "Liberty and Justice for All"
But the pertinent information
That always gets pushed aside
Is this"All" only applies
If you so happen subscribe
To a particular set of ideas, principals, and lies

Do not be fooled by this color blind election
I say
Because today, as much as yesterday
Hate lives in America
Hate breeds in her belly
His attention having shifted
From the color of our skin
To the choice of our mate
And I say
What worse way to hate
Than to stifle love?

Angela J. Schleicher © 2008

A Citizen Appalled

I watch the world shift and crumble all around me
A treacherous path lay ahead
I tremble
I see the leaders of a once great nation
falter and stumble...
And I wonder, who will heal this crevice, this wound?
I look for a leader with honor, with valor
I find none.
My eyes shift from the wreckage of democracy gone awry
Now focusing upon the subtle strengths of
a woman determined,
a woman focused,
a citizen appalled.

Angela Schleicher © 2008

Winter

As the cold dark winter
of your life crept in
I was left to ponder
all the memories that we've shared
and how I would fare in the days to come.
You nestled your head against my chest
and let out a sigh-
I knew it was not discontent
nor resignation,
Simply relief
to be in the warmth,
the shelter
the company
of one you love,
and who loves you-
And what better place
to spend the final night of your life?

Angela Schleicher © 2/9/2008 for Max

Little Pageant Queens

I saw little girls on the TV last night
all dressed up like whores.
Mommies pimping them shamelessly;
Daddies funding it proudly.
I saw little girls who were overindulged and undereducated
and Mommies who were vicarious onlookers,
Or impudent facilitators
of a crime against girls, women, society.
I saw little girls on the TV last night
wearing more makeup than clothes.
I saw children act like livestock at the local 4-H
And it made me sad.

Angela Schleicher © 2008

To Overcome

I am trying to overcome obstacles,
With nimble fingers and a fractured heart
I persist
With trembeling knees and a wavering voice,
I stand firm and say
"You won't beat me!"

I know heartache for the first time,
with all of it's delusions and lies...
Still I persist.

Remembering to breathe,
Remembering to awake,
Remembering to dress...

One day, I will be ok,
and I will know,
that I can endure,
I can survive,
I can thrive and enjoy
this thing called life.

Copyright ©2002 Angela Jeanette Schleicher

Awaiting Dawn

Today I wrote a poem,
I cried as I wrote and when I finished
I remembered that yesterday
I painted a picture
Bursts of red, orange, and yellow
bringing the sunset out of the sky and right there onto my canvas.
And it too made me cry.
For, I've never seen a sunset boast the beauty of imagination to it's fullest capacity
Maybe one day I will.
But until then
I'll write poems that make me cry for that lost little girl
and paint pictures of beauty that I know nothing of...
And await for the inevitable day,
when the sunset in the sky
and the sunset in my mind
finally make peace on behalf of love.

Copyright ©1996 AngelaSchleicher

My New Wish

I awoke one day beside a love
who had no love for me,
What a tragedy it is, I thought,
To love unrequitedly.
I soon moved on and found myself
enjoying life without that hitch.
Funny how much better the view
When you climb out of the ditch.
And then one day I met a love
Who proved to be my match!
She showed me love with laughter and joy,
How did I deserve such a catch?
Today I awake beside my love,
Who shares much love with me;
The bond we have is precious,
We cherish it unequivocally.
My life, being so fulfilled,
I have but one wish for you:
The type of bliss that my love and I now share,
It is a dream come true.

Copyright ©2008 AngelaSchleicher

Simon Says

Walking along the railroad tracks,

Thinking of life,

expecting death...

I try desperately to acknowledge

What it is the mark that I have left.

Society plays the lead role,

In the questions that I face.

And daily I encounter

Yet another form of the human race.

Equally I look back at them,

With blank and vacant stares,

I turn to walk away from them,

But my questions are still there.

So I make up my own game,

And play my own lead role,

And let the rules of “Simon says “

Take upon them its toll.

Copyright ©1992 AngelaSchleicher

Ambiguous Disparities

Ambiguous Disparities

My friend views the world

through a tiny box of light

And I through the brush strokes

of oil on wood,

or canvas,

or whatever so happens to lend itself to my mission.

We aren't so different, truth be known,

The Photographer and I:

We both simply celebrate the beauty in life.

Kindred spirits you may say?

With similar thoughts on Life's Way?

Oh, but follow each of us past

Our own critical mass,

And one is surely misconstrued less than the other.

Angela Schleicher

Copyright ©2007

Four Year Block

Four Year Block

I no longer paint landscapes,
My brushes are dry, brittle, forgotten.
Paints are caked, cracked
like the desert ground in July.
Poetry no longer flows from my pen;
My fingers, once calloused and limber,
Are now smooth and soft, cramped.
No longer able to navigate the intricate
patterns where line meets loop meets curve
to form the verse my soul aches to sing.
Van Gogh once said painting was
as essential to him as breathing,
my lungs need that air.
I miss the ugly, calloused knots of
flesh upon my knuckles,
The semi-permanent dent, eroded by my nail
has long since recovered.
Leaving no trace, no evidence to indicate
The volumes I once proudly penned.

Copyright ©2005AngelaSchleicher

A Life Lesson

A Life Lesson

I finally made it out on my own;
I crossed the country to find my home.
I found open arms and smiling faces,
NO one telling me I'd fallen from their graces...
Accepting hearts and welcoming homes,
Replace all those spiteful conversations
on the telephone.
I tell myself I’m doing just fine,
Will you ever accept me?
Guess I'll know in time.
We can't choose the people who give us birth,
but we can choose our family while on this earth.
That is the lesson that I've had to learn,
to overcome those painful burns.

Copyright ©2001 Angela Jeanette Schleicher

A lonely Road

A lonely Road

As I walk along a lonely road,
I hear the great demands.
Plenty around to listen,
but no one who understands.
The moon is pleasant,
the night secure,
for there, I am in a dream.
Yet as day comes,
so does the nightmare,
the one that wakes me in a scream...
I see pain in my future,
and I have a grim past,
How long will these feelings last?
My hopes stay down,
they never rise,
and so I look up to the skies.
The time goes by, day by day
and yes, those feelings are here to stay.

Copyright©1988 Angela Jeanette Schleicher

My Wish

My Wish

One day I will know happiness,
And she will wisk me away to play in the
sand, or run in a field,or paint by a stream.
And we'll make new memories, Happiness and I,
And when I tell others of our times together,
Today's grief will be no more than a
fleeting thought,
Distracting me only for a brief moment...

Copyright ©2008 Angela Jeanette Schleicher

To Overcome

To Overcome

I am trying to overcome obstacles,
with nimble fingers and a fractured heart.
But I persist
with trembling knees and a wavering voice;
I stand firm and say,
"You won't beat me!"

I know heartache for the first time,
with all its delusions and lies
still I persist

Remembering to breathe,
remembering to awake,
remembering to dress...

One day, I will be ok,
and I will know,
that I can endure,
I can survive,
I can thrive and enjoy
this thing called life.

Copyright ©2008 Angela Jeanette Schleicher