Basement

Concrete is cold, imposing
does nothing for aesthetics

At least we’re protected,
I tell the littles, ignoring

Snot dripping, slime
oozing from unsealed
windowsills, cobwebs
and bits of shedding pink

It’s the best I can do:
four walls and a roof.

Except the ceiling
is bulging, mold and rot
certain to rain down on us

While upstairs, the man
ignores the leaks, luxuriates
in his abundance…Momma

Said marry a rich man,
you’ll be set for life,
but it’s dawning on me
there’s more to it than that.

(For Eugi’s Weekly prompt: dawning. Image mine)

Dialoguing With Other

I offer Rage a chair
invite a conversation

She rants about childhood
and neglect, powerlessness
in the face of abuse

And I nod and remember,
suggest she’s also feeling grief

And she talks about crying
alone, no one caring, and how
I don’t let her cry anymore

I put up walls, I agree,
and ask how I can help

Stop leaving me out, she says
touting her values, and learn
to be more assertive

She says she feels abandoned
to which I reply that feelings
and reality are not the same

The conversation tires me
we’ve been around and around
the subject before…

And then I realize, I do need her
and venture to ask for forgiveness
I’ve screwed so many things up

Admitting you’re not perfect,
she smiles, definitely helps
besides…together we make ‘me’.

(Written for VJ’s Weekly Challenge: the other side. Image my own.)

Sustenance Rekindled

It wasn’t the knowledge of stability –
chaos had the upper hand back then.
It wasn’t even that love was expressed –
unconditional an unheard of concept

It was an unspoken presence
the reassurance of rocks
the irrepressible allure
of a freshwater stream

How a child’s heart
found encouragement
in the whispering wind
solace in arbored shelter

Naturally the din of home life
overpowered this self-assured
passage, disrupted kinship
and shattered childish faith

But all that is behind now
and when I clear cluttering
thoughts, disperse static
emotions, still the heart

The rhythms are still there –
presence offering sustenance…


(Image my own)


Neglect

Oil glistens
contaminates
drinking water
250 evacuated

25 years of
boil-water advisory
an elder recites
and now this

We’re not animals,
adolescents rally
but ears turn away
government wheels rust

Neskantaga First Nation
want to go home
to live with dignity
know their human rights

Do they know
a .05% increase
in corporate taxes
would suffice

For the 73%
of First Nations
also lacking
this basic need

Acknowledge
prioritize
address
It’s all they ask.

(Written for Reena’s Exploration Challenge #168. Image and information sourced from :
ctvnews.ca
and Government of Canada: https://canadians.org/fn-water)

Soul Pulls

“What in your life is calling you, when all the noise is silenced,
the meetings adjourned…the lists laid aside,
and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest…
what still pulls on your soul? “
– Rumi

I dwell in silence
meetings adjourned
list groceries

Former self faded
sorrowful shadow
definition slipped

I am the wild iris
pushing forward
in darkness, unseen

In contemplation
future doors heavy
snowy the path

If I follow light
I find promise
a verdant valley

I am guided
no destination
only presence

Physical constraints
merely distraction
I am the message

Light, shepherd
dreamer, woman
warrior, goddess

My soul pulls
invites passage
I am ready.

(Written in response to my weekly challenge – opening quotation. After meditating on Rumi’s words the image emerged and later this poem.)