Three Poems by Chris Wood

Handed Down

She was trained to be that way
I didn't know
I thought it was choice
Wild yet stoic
Her silence was not a contemplation
She was conditioned and resigned
in the lukewarm shadow
of the fighting feeding hand
Fear has matured into indignation
informs now her resentment
toward all bodies in synonym
The modern enigmatic flower
The bright future and stern face
Breaks from her loose dim chains
to serve a new master
absent of apparent identity
I pray she keep care
in the cast of her arms
lest she force the seed
in the breaking of light



Mare

cascading shimmer
shadowed being
carving history into quiet night
deafening to the touch
hard pressed to solidify
hold me to these silent times
take the mystery away from the living
show me a star
that I might know myself
hang me a new hunger
over the jaws of success
fear not the peace of death
shackled to moonshine
sequestered only from self
crying out for want of true laughter
stuttering starlight starved for the lark
tie me to the beams you envy



Untitled

to sleep
an independent
awake
an alien
self appointed
lone Master
of one and none
harbor of the unseen
molecule
a beacon
for the betrayed

Chris Wood is 35 years old, and lives in Tacoma, WA.  Originally from Dallas, TX, and attending high school in Northern California, he relocated to Pacific Northwest in 2010.  His poetry is inspired by his perception and reflections of both the personal and shared human condition in the modern world.  He holds the freedom of individual expression as well as interpretation in the highest regard.