"Crawling on Naked Belly Blues" and "Walking the Walk"
Crawling On Naked Belly Blues
Self-will doesn't run riot
it crawls on naked belly
ignores primal ooze
never bathes and is
always convinced that
love is only a fix away.
I crawl amid constant cravings
lose desire to feel real
accept death in chemical form
still a part of me snubs Thanatos
still a part of me chooses life.
The voices sing in counterpoint
self-will a lilting soprano
spirit a throaty alto
weakness a base response
Body weak Mind weak
"but not soul weak"
a small voice reminds
"never soul weak"
Fevered brain
rallies determination
leads to resolve’s icy brink
then drops me helpless to
fight or ignore reality.
Monkey mind finally quiet
pain-racked body sighs as
Inner Guide scrawls:
"Help
I can't do this alone
show me."
Palm releases clutch as
I offer my will
offer my life
ask for one more chance
one more miracle
Anpu protects unconditionally
reflects strength
honors existence
applauds persistence
whispering softly
"It is not your time to die"
Exhausted
I accept my identity
as junkie
as poet
as healer
as human.
Walking the Walk
I walk my way
(it's cold out here)
Alongside history
Mingling with sociology
(reluctantly)
and rejecting theology.
I walk my way
(crawl? totter? mince?)
Sometimes so alone
that the crazy pain
(fierce)
must be acknowledged.
I walk my way
cloaked in illusion
fed by delusion
seeking a truth
(just one solid truth)
creating non-lies
sponsoring nascent images
Straining to feel my own humanity
Not sure
Never Never Sure
What god would look like
Should he reappear
(or be here already).
Judy Shepps Battle has been writing essays and poems long before retiring from being a psychotherapist and sociology professor. She is a New Jersey resident, addictions specialist, consultant and freelance writer. Her poems have been accepted in a variety of publications including Ascent Aspirations, Barnwood Press, Battered Suitcase, Caper Literary Journal, Epiphany Magazine, Joyful, Message in a Bottle Poetry Magazine, Raleigh Review, Rusty Truck, Short, Fast and Deadly, the Tishman Review, and Wilderness House Literary Press.