2 poems in one

When you’re over there
and I’m over here
the space between us
a wide open desert
nauseatingly
hot
and full of thorns
that space so vast
though a mere few feet
a whisper
could travel across
with ease.
Upon my lips
the breath carries out the words
olive juice
cause they form the same shape
as three other words
but what does it matter;
i say those words
across that searing
wasteland?
cause my heart
feels like a huge iron plate
has been hoisted upon it.
huge and heavy
like a manhole covering
it’s a feeling i get when things seem
overwhelming
when everything is just too much
and even respiratory function
seems futile
there once was a woman
who staggered about
with two cast iron plates
strapped together
and hanging from her shoulders
and she lamented
her poor
aching back
and the soreness that appeared
to bore down to her
very soul
and her plaints were heard
by many
and most simply shook their heads
and some prayed for her in pity...
...until one day a kind
and sympathetic
young child asked of her
but why you carry these plates
pretty lady?
“cast them off!”
The wise
child
said.
at this the woman dropped
down right there
on the ground
and wept uncontrollably
and laughed hysterically
and wept some more
until she was sobbing mournfully
because this never occurred to her.
cast them off.

3 July, 09-cherry house