empty walls

empty walls
posters taken down
so boring
desolate
testing takes priority
over teaching kids


©2015-Art Belliveau

End of the School Year Shadorma

another year's
coming to an end
patience frays
spirit flags
i need a reset button--
that's what summer's for


©2014-Art Belliveau

shadorma

sitting here
well after midnight
needing sleep
fighting it
when there is no reason to
but i can't give up

©2014-Art Belliveau

shadorma 4/20/13

April showers
wind lashing the rain
vertic'ly
'neath awnings
soaking running students through
as they scream to class

©2013-Art Belliveau

shadorma

This one is a little over a year old.

you are gone
you’ve vanished like smoke
i wonder
where you are
what it is you are doing
why torture myself?

©2013-Art Belliveau

saturday classroom

quiet hall
empty this morning
weekend day
no students
tomorrow this will all change--
it will teem with life

©2013-Art Belliveau

shadorma 11/16/11

hunker down
books over your heads
so useless
so silly
pray that there's no tornado
if it hits--we're dead

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 10/20/11

you are gone
you’ve vanished like smoke
i wonder
where you are
what it is you are doing
why torture myself?


©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 10/12/11

i feel sick
a soul malady’s
eating me
fading me
making me less than i was--
is this my life now?


©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 09/23/11

my anger
has its own life now
growing strong
growing cold
freezing my heart in my chest
as i cage it there

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 08/03/11

empty house
but it’s not lonely
who’d’ve known?
the quiet
serenity enfolds me
but please come back soon


©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/30/11

expressive
sad, brown puppy eyes
look at me
seem to say,
"pet me, daddy, please pet me!"
what else can i do?

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/25/11

i love books
they take me away
keep me safe
teach me life
but i never found in them
the love that you give

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/21/11

if only
mending a marriage
could be done
easily
like glueing broken crok'ry
we'd have had a chance

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/19/11

your sweet voice
speaking or singing
warms my heart
makes me smile
but i love it best when you
whisper in my ear


©2011-Art Belliveau

steak shadorma 06/13/11

grilling steak
aroma wafting
mouth waters
flip it over
add another layer of sauce
soon it will be gone

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/11/11

the door's closed
i just feel relief
no more grief
nor anger
just a desire to move on--
see what life offers

©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/02/11

emptiness
suddenly strikes me
hammer hard
from nowhere
realization
this is how my life will be
but that is a lie


©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 06/01/11

the end of
anticipation
awaits me
from now on
i'll know you are real
life will never be the same
now that you are here


©2011-Art Belliveau

shadorma 05/31/11

silent flash
distant lightning strikes
clouds illume
then go black
the afterimage lingers
melds with the next burst


©2011-Art Belliveau