Serenity every day,
I pray from the frayed edges
chaos rattling, pains howling
Laundry waits in piles
of incompletion – like my life –
demands eroding worth
Hush! I scold the voices
of discontent, the discord
exhausting – I am trying!
Serenity! I pray,
my hands are burdened,
my psyche losing ground
I stop and close my eyes
follow breath in and out
will myself to calm
Serenity steps in –
a moment of respite
available every day.
(Image my own)
Once, with confidence,
stated my name –
clarity claiming
wisdom as mine
Today, sun burns,
accusing-bright,
I avoid conversation
question what is sane
This paradoxical state
of fluctuation, is it right,
and who among us is steady
enough to know for certain?
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson
Image my own)
Disability corners me
twixt two directions –
the hurried rush
of ambition’s call
and the gentle nudge
of wisdom settling
Confined to four rooms
I am distanced from –
invisible to –
the weekend warriors
whose self-satisfied grimaces
race by my window
I remember that push –
not enough hours to the day
not enough money to succeed
never thin enough, fit enough
always grasping for more…
Legless and exhausted,
I am disqualified
from competing,
immersed in retrospection,
luxuriating in perspective –
I’ve always had, indeed,
continue to have
everything I need:
a home I can navigate,
the endless beauty of nature
and the care of loved ones.
Abundance, I’ve discovered, is attitude:
recognition and acceptance
that life is sufficiency
(I’ve derived this poem from a post by the same name, dated October 2014.
At the time, I was five months into the losses that were Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Image my own)
Trade you an ‘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.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson
Art my own.)
Potted pleasures hail
Autumn’s arrival – gracious
welcoming party.
(Image my own. Haiku borrowed from One Woman’s Quest II)
Choose to rise above
believe in the certainty
of limitless skies
(Image my own)
Tectonic, the force
required to move
this wall of shame
Erasable, the missives
I write to defend my worth –
pencil strokes that only mock
Unsustainable, the hope
that life should ever receive
my efforts as more than folly.
(Art my own)
Absolutes are not to be believed
conditions multifarious, fluctuating
consider the messenger
weigh the message
Have faith in outcomes
unknowable, in resources
within, follow progression
not digression
Wisdom knows the way.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)
Tell my woes to River
she listens graciously
an empathic mirror
Not so the Jackdaw
whose arrogant clattering
derides self-pity
Slaps me conscious
for I am victim, yes, and
if not careful, abuser.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknuton.
Image my own)
Self-deprecation
that louse that foils
recognition
What if I sacrificed
this invasive habit –
allowed vulnerability
Entertained possibility
of self-acceptance,
treasured what is?
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)
One Woman's Quest 