throwaway… by Toni Cross

This is another photo challenge from Charles Martin.

i huddle in the refuse

part of excess and castoffs
and i blend into my corner perfectly

i am helpless and bare and somewhat ugly
pathetically needing your help

if i was cute
i bet you’d scoop me up and love me
i bet if I was darling, you’d maybe even feed me

but i’m awkward, dirty and wobbly
you don’t want to touch me

so all i get are kicks from hard shiny shoes
uneasy pitying glances
or rocks thrown by taller creatures

nothing to keep me safe
or fill my poor lil tummy

i’m not good enough for that
the world deems that i don’t deserve
anything at all

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desert child: a multimedia experience

Please visit the poetry blog of Charles Martin, the reader of this poem at: www.slpmartin.wordpress.com

desert child
written by Toni L.A. Cross and read by Charles Martin
 
i’m just one
of a crowd
of
tourists
on a hot
and stuffy
bus
filing out
piling out
to buy trinkets
from
bedouin traders
 
amidst the sounds
of haggling prices
and dust
stirred up
by nike sneakers
and sandaled feet
 
a girl
not more than ten
ragged
oversized
clothes
but
luminous
brown eyes
 
she looks
no
stares
no
peers
deeply
into
the
depths
of my quivering soul
 
how can eyes
baby eyes
young eyes
bear the weight
of a thousand wrongs?
 
how can a face
so new
look
so very old
so horribly worn
so weary and tattered?
 
a sweaty mass
of designer jeans
and pricey cameras
lumped back
together
on the bus
 
chitter-chatter
look at this doo-dad
isn’t this
the darnedest thing?
little suzy
will love this
toy camel
aren’t their accents
just too quaint?
 
only i
am still haunted
into silence
by the gaze
of a child
and sobered
to my toes

Just Talkin’… A Poetry Reading

‘This auditory version of my poem “Just Talkin” was recorded by a fellow poet, Charles Martin. Please head over and check out his blog at: http://slpmartin.wordpress.com/