KELLE GRACE GADDIS

 

Modern Freedom Fighter

 

My heart’s song, a desperate plea,

to restore my mind, to set it free.

to speak without first a nervous glance,

to joke without risk of wrath.

 

I long for the wild days of my youth,

Unobserved, wild and uncouth.

Now a dissident in the culture war,

A keyboard warrior on every shore.

 

I hope someday to again be free

from all forms of leftist tyranny.

“Unplug, and go outside” some say,

but I live to type another day.

 

The Distress Of A Civilized Romantic

In The Modern World

 

I want to tell young people stories

of heroes and princes,

of fairy godmother’s and wishes

come true.

I want life to be beautiful again,

as it was before heterosexuality

was “basic,” and, “normal” a slur

or offense.

I want all to know they’re worthy

of love, and, for education to stop

making the young unbearably dense.

Oh, to end Tender, Bumble and all

else shriveling the human heart.

A plea to put down your phones,

to stop swiping left and right.

I pray people remember that humans

were once more than beasts.

We’ve evolved too far to return to the sea.

 

Single Seed

 

No person does it alone,

A child is not a potato

caught in dark soil.

Our seeds are sown by family.

 

If in one’s youth the vine is broken

humanity is less.

As is the individual

and all other fruit left behind.

 

Less is the ungrateful child

Who like a branch fallen in a river

becomes bogged down the further

it is swept away.

 

Any child lost is cause for sorrow,

because all of our roots entwine.

Cast not oneself as a single seed.

If anything grows in you at all,

 

it will be the rot of loneliness,

anger and greed. Bend instead

towards the sunlight and don’t

fall far from your family tree.

 

Advice To My Younger Self

From My Higher Self

 

Ambition is the alchemy of gold

Bad habits make gold hard to hold.

Make determination your magic,

gambling and other vice

will leave you tragic.

Misplaced passions can decimate

personal gains.

However, with work prosperity rains.

Be steady, brave, fair and true. And,

know, dear one, I’m here for you.

 

Aging

 

One never imagines oneself old

until time rests upon one’s face

reducing youth’s natural grace.

 

How glorious it was to have youthful appeal!

To lose it slowly seems unreal. Yet, I have

known the sorrow of society’s reduced zeal.

 

Even with a half century and more,

I cannot grasp my final days. Instead,

I proceed in denial’s gentle haze.

 

KELLE GRACE GADDIS

 

KELLE GRACE GADDIS is the author of My Myths published (Yellow Chair Review) and When I’m Not Myself (Cyberwit). Her work has appeared in BlazeVOX, Rhetoric Askew, Dispatches Editions and elsewhere. She is a 4Culture "Poetry on the Buses" winner, a National Fiction War winner, and three-time NYC Midnight top ten finalist 2022-2023.