I spent years trying to outrun myself.
Racing, panting, hiding.
Taking the back roads,
creating hollow shadows.Grasping at survival.
Moving fast enough
that the ghosts
couldn’t quite catch me.But what I didn’t know
was they were wearing my face.And sooner or later
every road ended
with me.-Mandy Ricks
In a square of sand beneath a watching sky,
two boys kneel while kingdoms cry.
Leo shapes with open hands, low, wide walls that welcome lands.
His gates unlatched, his edges kind—no need to guard what’s shared in mind.
Don cuts hard with heel and fist, a higher throne, a tighter grip.
His towers climb on narrowed ground, each grain a thing to stake and crown.
They do not speak. They do not meet.
Their borders press beneath their feet.
A restless wind that takes no side moves through their work, but passes by.
Leo mends the broken, and smiles as sand heals the fray.
Don strikes at every chance, even if it won’t give way.
And still they build, as children do—one builds for many, one for few.
-Mandy Ricks
The instigators sit in electric climates basking in their righteousness.
Buildings crumble, bodies buried, children cry.
Slop dished out – bullets pierce the hungry.
Lies, heat, hate, fuel the fervid war.
Is peace too much to ask?
Yes, dammit it is.
-Mandy Ricks
Beneath the smile lived the fear.
Uncertainty was his only friend.
Take my hand I invited, I will help.
I will hide and care for you.
Generosity eased his pain and
we all languished in my superiority.
But one day I became enraged,
changed my mind,
and threw him out.
I sneered at his tears and
congratulated myself on the states
I am.
Just call me, America
By roar, summer comes screeching in by drone, spewing heat, anger, and destruction. Sent by cowards sitting in judgment. And the people cower, running for shade, drenched in dirt and tears of starvation. How can this be real? Isn’t there supposed to be a ceasefire? Maybe only for those in the white tower.
-Mandy Ricks
So, here we are, dare I say again, holding each other tight, perhaps in an effort to stop from falling apart.
But things do change, and maybe they will for us too. And then we can hold each other close, out of love instead of love instead of desperation. -Mandy Ricks
Wherever your baby is after passing know that you’re there with them because that’s what they would want. -Betty
Which is worse; building a wall around your heart or having it ripped open, over and over. – Mandy Ricks
Sometimes it’s the briefest of encounters that leave the biggest impression. – Mandy Ricks
Laying awake crying, my heart splintering like broken glass, my spirit aching. How will I possibly heal from losing you.
For Betty
By Mandy Ricks
There’s only one way to get through grief. You have to go through it. Every step, and every stage. No shortcuts available. – Mandy Ricks
Bye my precious Betty I will love you forever.
Mandy Ricks 