Category: poetry

Blue Sky Moment

It was birdsong
stopped me in my tracks
distracted as I was
by pandemics
and ceaseless worry
I looked up

I looked up
and there was glory
white blossoms
triangulated
against endless
blue sky

Blue sky
like a messenger from afar
lifting my spirits
stirring longing

It was birdsong
stopped me in my tracks
I looked up and understood.

(This poem, inspired by the photo I took on a recent walk, was written for Reena’s Exploration Challenge.  I borrowed the line “messenger from afar”.  Image mine)

 

Heed the Warnings

Legends surface
graze at river’s edge
nuzzle our consciousness

Ancient prophecies
born of primal instincts
Crow’s caw a warning

Spirit speaks
calls us to witness
to record this passage

The predator
at our doorsteps
phantom fierce

Targets indiscriminately
threatens the cherished
sleeps with one eye open

Now is not the time to freeze
neither distraction, nor dismissal
will disable this animal

It circles, begs a host
Please don’t open the door
History knows we need a valid plan.

(Submitted for Eugi’s Causerie Weekly Prompt:  cherish. Image my own.)

 

Adultery

Mistake
Beg forgiveness
Repeat

Appearances sanitize past
Push dirt under the rug
Smother recall

Reason can be fraud
common sense out of order

Suspicions merit
an ear, listen
over din of betrayal.

(For Reena’s Exploration Challenge #135:  quotation.  “Always listen twice.  First what’s being said, then who said it.”  Image my own.)

Forgo the Mask

Discontentment –
that restless inability
to surrender to distraction –
not easily masked

Wired, I am, for intrigue –
a dramatic actor displaying
mystery, baiting an audience

Denial dons noise-cancelling
headphones, blinders –
invested in illusions

Harmony the end-goal –
no point disguising,
discontentment ignored.

(Forgo the Mask originally appeared here Dec, 2018.  I am linking it up to Eugi’s Causerie Weekly Prompt:  harmony.  Image my own.)

Survivor Instinct

Buried alive
by illness’ onset
only hope for escape
tunnel whose guilt-lined
walls oozed mucous
of neglect, sorrow
so raw, shredded
faith – no light
just a dull
pulse
screaming –
I am alive.

(Chronic illness is a game changer.  No amount of ambition can turn the tide.  One is left to face the onslaught of that which has been oppressed or skipped over.  I wrote this poem early in my journey with ME.  Amazingly, no matter what, spirit still clings to life.  Image from personal collection.)

What We Really Need

We purchase boards
imagine roots –
dream bigger
ignore the dawning

The higher the fence,
we tell ourselves,
the better the privacy.
Work hard, earn big.

And the longing grows
it’s the heart that seeks roots
hungers for connection
love like sunshine

Would knock down walls
throw open the doors
bask in the expansiveness
of kindred moments shared.

(For Eugi’s Causerie Weekly prompt:  sunshine.  Image is my own – a common merganser basking in sunshine.)