Maudlin convention
I balk at your constraints
jettison the traditions
that propagate hate
Future is an open road
I do not hesitate –
Yes, there is uncertainty
Yes, I’ll make mistakes
Vulnerability will conquer pride
mind willing, convention I’ll shake
(Art mine)
We decry loss of innocence
whilst downplaying our sins
Not news.
Blame is a tricky game…
Better to practice accountability
than to capture the podium…
Changing the world
inside out.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)
Next door cultivates perfection –
gardens pert with flowery blooms
like vibrant little soldiers heeding
the command of love’s labour,
shimmering with prideful confidence
My garden is overgrown vines,
chaos’ shameful exhibition,
bemoans the futility of planting,
knows there will be no follow through,
betrays the absence of love’s toil.
Life has schooled detachment
lessons in loss counsel defensiveness –
better to guard hope than plant it…
How can next door be so reckless;
do they not know this all for naught?
(This a rewrite of former poem also titled Next Door. Image my own.)
Fierce hunter, osprey
carries his catch
like a prized ruby –
riveting sight
At home, hubby
prepares his pride –
squirt of extra-virgin,
dash of extra spice
I observe them both
bemused by the process,
cooking up this poem.
(Image my own)
In your absence
I paint the ceiling
midnight blue,
await the return
of stars, ride out
the gut wrench
of abandonment
I know your motive
is happiness, and
that I shall emerge
all the wiser,
but for now
I don the spatter
of indigo grief.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)
My essay, A Girl Named Moose, received honorable mention in the Navigating the Change essay contest.
Thank you to K E Garland for the opportunity. Read the essay here.
Everywhere collisions:
Mindless consumerism
tripping up ambitions
defeating progress
Social networking
mutilating communication
disrupting movement
Consciousness obliterated
by blind compliance
intrinsic motivation extinct
Victims splayed,
flayed, bloody,
numb
Values – not possessions – endure
understanding eliminates dominance
integrity ensures power for all.
Mindfulness calms chaos
quenches grasping urgency
restores hope, direction
Purpose harmonized
with communal focus
realizes potential
releases greatness
(Image my own)
He is rhino tough,
destined for greatness,
intimidates foes
She is rabbit cautious,
freezes in his shadow,
a prolific creator
They debate the meaning
of existence, unlace
personas, find harmony.
(Image mine)
A backlog of beacons
light this pitiful path
Am I too morose to respond,
or is this stubborn arrogance?
Resigned to believe
no good will come
Like a broken record, stuck
on that one sad love song.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)
Did you know that life would come to this?
Flattened memories pressed between wax
the essence of our efforts forgotten,
the dreams, so carefully construed, lost.
You leaned toward the conventional,
and I was ever the sentimentalist,
and yet we ended up in the same place –
shadow selves standing at the banks
of our dishevelled lives…
Survivors, nonetheless, tokens
of a a past riddled with so many lies,
so much heartbreak…
We are ghost sisters
haunted, hunting,
unable to step away –
Drawn in,
pulling apart –
all that remains.
(Family Portrait first appeared here February, 2019. Edited here. Image my own)
One Woman's Quest 