The Antique Shop

By Valerie Miles Washington-Johnson

Her poem The Antique Shop has been on the web for over five years. This poem was written after going to her hometown on vacation many years ago. She entered one of the local antique shops and was inspired to write a poem that brought back vivid memories of yesterday. In March 2004, Valerie competed in the International Society of Poets Convention and Symposium in Orlando, Florida, where she won a prize for The Antique Shop. There she met poets from around the worldAfrica, Canada, South America, London, India. Since then, her passion has grown deeper for poetry and celebrating other poets. This first book of poetry is preciously titled The Antique Shop, and many more poems are inside, just waiting to be entered and read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514426739

Book preview

MY ASPIRATIONS!

…T o create words of beauty

With strokes of mind and pen

To captivate an audience

Beyond the realms of friends

To imprint each page with poetry

To enchant both mind and soul

To touch one’s heart with imagery

To inspire both young and old

To inscribe my memoirs of poetry

To mail every manuscript

In hopes of publication

To apprehend the poetic press

My aspirations!!

To hear the applause

To feel the sensation

To be renowned poetically

To imprint each page with poetry…

SCATTERED PAGES

O ften times, we tuck our dreams away

On closet shelves in disarray

Inside raveled travel bags

Beneath stained love affairs.

Living the dreams of another!

Living the dreams of another!

Often times, our dreams are scattered pages

Among the Living section pages

Of newspaper articles

Of celebrated family and friends

In manila folders; slept

Under dreamy pillows; kept.

Often times, our dreams are set aside

By mortgages and titles.

Our dreams are interrupted by graduations;

Commencement programs of fathers and sons…

Often times, our dreams are capsized;

By tubs of interrupted tears

Drifting over the weatherbound years.

Tossed and crumbled by worry and despair;

Tossed and crumbled, trapped in the air!

Wading, test after test,

Wading, day after day

’Til this diving miracle comes your way!

Your journeys of life unfold

As you gather those scattered pages

Of your dreams, behold!

Decipher them, one by one.

Analyze them, page by page.

Again, your God-given-talents flow.

Your soul reborn!

Bringing solace to your fragility

Displaying such pride and dignity.

Your dreams transform!

Your once heavy heart, filled with much delight!

Your dreams take wondrous flight!

Transporting you off to faraway places

Celebrating your good graces!

Literally binding the scattered pages

Of your dreams,

Your dreams, I behold!

Bound to share with others!

Bound to inspire others!

Time after time, page after page…

VALIDATE ME!

I am beauty; b lack.