LINDA M. CRATE

LINDA M. CRATE

May Have Been Worth It

i am striving for more

than mere survival,

i want to do

more than merely exist;

i know i was made

for more than paying bills

and dying—

i know that suffering isn't

my sole purpose

on this earth,

i am full of dreams and ambitions;

and i won't give up on

either—

my serenity is that i am full of light

in a world of darkness,

and i hope and pray that this is enough

to get me where i need to be;

because i know there is a better world

than this one

if i could simply reach out my fingers

and know it were tangible

then all of this suffering

may have been worth it.

-linda m. crate

The Wealth Distribution

in this world is vile

a person should be able to do more

than strive for survival

a person ought to be able to

thrive and dream,

and live their lives how they deem fit;

to travel whereever their heart

desired and acquire the knowledge

of things they never would have

otherwise known—

i want to do more than simply exist,

and i know i wasn't born

to simply pay bills and die in this matrix

where they try to tell us what

is reality and what is fiction

you consantly have to read between

the lines and look for deeper truths—

i want a world better than the

one that i was born into.

-linda m. crate

Heart Full Of Light

striving for survival

i see the weeds

growing through cracks

on the sidewalk

trying to get any sunlight they

can in order to grow,

and i feel like this is

me and mostly everyone

i know trying to get by

on what little they have;

but we've all got dreams

and hopes and aspirations

they may have forgotten their

ambition

i have not—

and i know who i am and how

worth it i am,

so i am going to strive to better myself

in a system that's against

me;

i have a heart full of light

may it burn down every darkness

i face.

-linda m. crate

LINDA M. CRATE

LINDA M. CRATE's works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She's also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018). Recently she has published two full-length poetry collections Vampire Daughter (Dark Gatekeeper Gaming, February 2020) and The Sweetest Blood (Cyberwit, February 2020).