POEMS BY CHRISTIE LEIGH BABIRAD: Jazz Soul, Jealousy and more

Jazz Soul

Take me downtown to that jazz club you know,
where everyone has a great seat
at the round tables
with the single long-stemmed lush red rose.
This is where spirits like ours take flight,
in the beat,
the saxophone,
the voice scatting away,
going deep
and high
driving us away on a sultry trip,
where everything is more than OK.
Gold-plated and neon-blue,
come as you are in sparkles, bright socks and cool cat hats.
Hearts grooving with eyes closed,
this is natural.
Falling
into the deliciousness of this life.
There are options in this place.
Freedom.
Creativity.
And a soul I never, ever want to leave.

Jealousy

I think it might be a little jealousy taking its toll on me.
I see you swinging your hips as you sing on that brick backdrop stage.
You’re starting out on a dream I’ve been dreaming on,
smiling the I’ve-made-it smile.
I play the video over and over again,
inspired in my hole.
Oh, how I wish I could dig myself out!
Insecurity with a mix of fear,
one lethal combination.
You’re confident and I want to be, too.
At times I know I have it.
Feeling like I’m running out of time.
Not knowing how to take the next step.
I wish you could tell me.
It drives me crazy watching you.
I have to tell you,
you strike me as the kind of girl who never got shattered,
everything always falling into place.
Don’t think I don’t realize that I could be all wrong about you.
I’m starting to think jealousy has its hold on me,
poisonous in every way.
I listen to you again.
I know it’s not as difficult as I’m making it out to be.
Letting my tears of uncertainty wash away,
letting the jealousy go, and any forward move to be made.
I have a fire blazing in my heart,
making me know for sure that this desire is right,
that it’s worth more than my fears.
Bringing myself out of the hole I put myself in,
all soul on that stage,
that’s what I’m going to do.
Very soon I’ll be smiling that I’ve-made-it smile, just like you.
And I can’t help but thank you for being my inspiration.
Thank you for making me so jealous of you.

My Fellow Woman

I saw the story on the news.
You commented—
“Why, oh why, did this lady refuse to speak up sooner?”
Heat filled my face.
My heart was beating like a drum in a parade.
I wanted to clap back.
I wanted to say…
something.
But I knew my voice would be drowned by the masses.
This is the exact answer to “why?”
It’s because of you, partially.
I’d actually give you more than half the credit.
I myself have “spoken up,”
with your kind in reply,
“Oh, that’s just the way he is.”
You’d say this with a gentle chuckle,
a sip of wine on the country club patio.
Or, “It’s just a cultural difference.”
“It’s not anything to make anything of.”
Let me please just say this:
People often speak up when they feel they will be heard,
when they have more power in numbers,
or they express their feelings in poetry and art like me.
People often speak up when they’re at peace,
financially secure,
like most of you who would pose such callous questions.

The Millennials

You call us the “Me-Generation”—
labelling us self-centred and entitled.
You look to the now, mournfully,
and back with such reverence.
But you were the teachers,
and we were the students.
You turned us away,
and taught us to fight.
We started working our way up,
and you rewarded the moment’s novelty.
You preached diversity,
and showed us nepotism.
You said that without a formal education you can’t expect much,
so we shelled out dozens of bills.
You proceed to tell us that with all of the education, we should take what
we can get.
Then you sit us down and look at our resumes with a frown and tell us we
have no related experience.
So, you see—
for the “Me-Generation” to have happened,
it took much encouragement by you.
Through the hypocrisy we witnessed,
and the beating down that was marshalled by you,
we were simply the students—
you were our teachers.

Heavy Heart

Choked up by the smallest triggers.
Books are stored atop suitcases.
Won’t be going anywhere for a while.
The future is a new unknown.
The masked people visibly show the horror movies I always stayed away
from.
So many bright eyes
seem
unfazed by all these changes.
Old lovers continue to hold grudges.
And all I want is to fall in love
to sink deeply into a pool of this absorbing truth,
nothing else penetrating into my soul.
I wish for my heavy heart to melt away,
once
and for all.

Authentically You

When a child needs you,
when an innocent needs you,
all walls come down.
Nothing stops you,
no prejudices,
no slights against you come into play,
You become
the person you were at the beginning of time.
You are
the person God created you to be,
open and Free,
your heart beating once again for all to see.

image: Pixabay