Paddle to the edge –
life has falling off points, and
I am curious –
Defy fear and leap, or freeze?
Faith armours brave, takes a chance.
(Image mine)
Category: life
The Way It Is (tanka)
At every turn
a challenge – prefer scenic
forays, encounter
rocky climes – ironic twists,
stretching this reluctant soul
(Image my own)
Sheltered
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” – William Blake
Weathered the would that frames this perception,
once painted with optimism, long worn.
How bright the ideals of youth, now blurred,
colours stripped, raw intention bared –
Life mocks these aged perspectives
old structures fail, light dims with neglect
Still the heart beats solid, hope like putty
sticking to the sills, solidifying half-truths.
How deluded am I, trapped within walls
defined by out of focus panes, separated
From a reality that would behold me
fragmented or whole, and who will ever know
Have not the wherewithal to strip back
old mindsets, repaint the trimmings
Am content to dwell behind screens
of my own making, distorted but secure.
(Image my own)
Winter’s Invite
Magical Thinking
Once believed
that thought
held magic
that God decides –
worth and merit
in limbo
Such folly –
intent and sweat
beget progress –
Dreams manifest
when step by step
goals take charge
and God,
on the sidelines
applauds.
(Image my own)
Teach Me
Teach me reverence;
I am losing ground
Children adulting,
mothering in a void
Teach me acceptance
disability’s waters flood
I am in the margins,
an afterthought…
I concede life changes
release control…
Passion begs an outlet;
I am worn…
And I am open…
Teach me.
(Teach Me first appeared here January 2020. Edited for this edition. Art my own)
Master Player
Not a team player,
Change likes to spike the ball –
first to the net, a master
derailing strategy
I sit on the sidelines –
age having dulled reflexes –
amused that I ever thought
I could beat such an opponent.
(Image my own)
Burrs
How many winter walks
ended with burrs matted
in curly Wheaton hair?
How you wriggled
to escape the grooming;
how we laughed at
jokester antics?
Your spirit still fills
the empty spaces
I hear the jingle
of your collar, catch
a whiff of terrier fluff
Pull on an invisible leash
whenever I encounter burrs.
(For our former, cherished companion, whose memory still lingers. Image mine)
No Adjectives Necessary
Robin is absent
Winter’s silence
inviting retreat
Children embrace adventure
while I, behind panes,
watch fluctuations
await harbinger’s return.
(This poem was written for a challenge from my poetry circle: to write a poem without adjectives. Image my own).
Pondering Abstracts
The certainty of yesterday
has slipped our grasp
light deflecting truth
tosses us into the abstract
I ponder process
and outcomes,
will my mind to carry me
gliding between thermals
dissolving into vapours
Some realities
too hard to bear –
dislodged
we tread the indeterminate.
(Poem originally appeared on One Woman’s Quest II, December ’19. Image my own)
One Woman's Quest 