What is the fallout of oppression –
misinformation ignoring collective needs?
Focus on we, as if we is me, and
they are the reason our attempts fail
Assertiveness has no hold
when obligations are cheapened
And time/ history is ignored
for a feel-good moment now.
How does one decipher the nonsense
weed through the flimsy constructs
And realign with a vision –
powered by love for all?
(Image my own)
Exhaustion
weighty, erosive,
plaguing, torturing, releasing
memories, grief, pain, forgiveness
inspiring, renewing, catapulting
joyful, wondrous
energy
(Image mine)
I’m returning the jewels
loaned to me
Settling
for smaller trinkets…
…a teddy bear
a paper parasol…
I know it’s been a while
but I haven’t forgotten
It’s harder these days
relying on others
Accommodations unnerve
so I stay away…
…a silver ring
a hat for Teddy…
It’s enough really
I haven’t much to spend
but your faith in me
means a lot
and warmed by our connection
I’m willing to invest…
I don’t need diamonds or pearls
just trinkets to remind me…
(Image my own)
Two-tongued –
speaking both heart and mind –
complex languages, whose nuance
I’ve never quite mastered,
yet am conversant in.
It’s a constant learning
to nail enunciation –
linguistics a tiresome topic
The mind,
a guttural language,
leans toward equation and absolutes –
hard consonants and long vowels
While heart-speak rolls
off the tongue in softer,
cooing syllables –
elongated tones and
whimsical passages.
I’d happily demonstrate
the extent of my proficiency
but the two-tongues
are currently contradictory,
the clamour of their discord
drowning out the peace
requisite for translation.
(Tongue Tied first appeared here October 2018. Image my own)
Caring hearts
shine bright
Needs, like moths,
flock to light
Cast shadows
threaten to eclipse
But love’s fight
is eternal.
(Linking up to Reena’s Exploration Challenge after a long hiatus. Image my own)
“Trade you and ‘n’
for a ‘v'”, I said
to the moon
to the sun
to the bird
at my window
All obliged
and now
my lonely day
is lovely,
lovely,
lovely.
(This is a repost. Hope it made you smile as much as it did me. Image my own)
Walking away is the only solution
I’ve ever excelled at, and yet,
absence does not obliterate
that which dwells within
I can pretend that I have nothing
to offer, but life and circumstance
require more: challenge me
to exhume remaining potential
Am I up to the task?
There is flattery in being looked up to,
the feeling that someone needs me –
but that is akin to temptation –
an ego play…
Could it be that wisdom acquired
has merit only when shared,
that we are all here to do our part,
that we are meant to engage?
Will I find a flow, rediscover
a synchronicity, reignite
a passion, and belong again?
Dare I hope?
(I first wrote this poem, two and half years into a debilitating illness that kept me bed bound. This version is edited, and I chose to share it now as a reminder not to give up. The answer to the questions posed is a resounding “Yes!” Image my own)
“Brazen’s a hussy!”
heard herself say,
as bullies circled on
playground that day
“You’re a sissy!”
the sass came back,
launched herself –
a full-on attack
Pinned the biggest
to gritty concrete floor
“You’re weird!” cried the cowards
who bothered her no more.
(Originally written for Twitter. Image my own)
Mother followed all the trends –
Scarsdale and grapefruit diets,
minis and maxis,
platforms and pumps –
reaching for an ideal
my child’s mind
could not comprehend
Father dreamt of a voice makeover
had flown his ancestral roots
in search of…what?
I did not know
I learned that men
were to be pleased,
and compassion
was a woman’s role
and it was folly to hazard
confrontation when alcohol
was in the mix,
Intangible as life was
I deduced that secrets –
the avoidance of scandal –
rendered women ineffective
and by the very circumstance
of my birth, I was tainted,
weighted by shame
destined to endure
pain as love
invested in
my worthlessness
Except life is evolution
and rage emerges
from oppression
and conviction
smashes the impotence
of ideals, embraces
the abstracts
of fluidities,
and merging out of shame
I see that struggle
is opportunity
and that rewriting legacies
is an honourable goal
and I do have power
in any given moment…
only wish
I had known it
sooner.
(Art my own)
One Woman's Quest 