Kenna Kay Payne Riverside, California

I have been writing poetry since I was twelve years old. Presently I am in graduate school at UCLA. I am studying for a Masters in Library and Information Science and would like to some day work with children. I truly admire the poetry of Maya Angelou. I would like to someday publish my works as a collection. To many, poetry is just a jumble of words with little or no meaning. For me, it is not only a means of expression but of communication. Those who understand where I coming from with my works allow me the hope that no matter our differences we can always share something if we try.

SPARE TIME Can you play Can you listen Can you spare the time Tomorrow Later Just a moment Stretches into a lifetime Spare time becomes no time Children become adults Yet one more job One more day Got a second Not today Can you see the signs Can you find the Time?

BEDTIME I dream of sleep like a lover lost at war Weariness tugs at my heart My very being seems infested by it Yet rest is not enough I crave peace, solace, time To enjoy life and friends To follow dreams and Conquer fears But the mundane is a constant enemy the ordinary an incessant foe never giving me a chance to remember, to enjoy to dream, bedtime dreams

THE DEBATE WITHIN Complex words complex ideas Weave around me like a spider's web I struggle to comprehend and see all sides But I can only understand what I have lived And only see through what surrounds me So I continue on in the fear of the label 'ignorant' And the limitations of my imagination the years roll past the choices become more difficult And the web grows tighter

All poems Copyright © 1997 Kenna Kay Payne. All rights reserved.