Genie Unleashed

Artistic sensibility
hungering for the exquisite
craves expression

The critic guffaws
decries creativity
starves the impulse

Who unleashed
such nonsense,
such magical thinking?

To think beauty
once espied
can be replicated

and by such an amateur –
the unskilled hand
an unworthy representative

But the artist, unleashed
knows only magic –
the genie will not be rebottled.

(This is an edited version of a previous post. Art my own.)

Open To Healing

Open to healing –
delve into the subconscious
create a space for inspiration

Ignore limited capabilities –
value every offering –
enter with pure intentions

Embrace new starts
have faith in ability
be spurred into action

The Self holds the answers;
creative expression is the key.
No expertise required.

(Art is my own)

Slanted Orange

Essence is essence
and flat as I might feel
shadow reveals otherwise;
such is the mystery of life

Orange is my essence –
the promise of sunshine
and creativity, and… I envy
blue its expansiveness

Constrained as I am
by conformity –
this silver-framed
existence a settling

But shadows don’t settle
they stretch and bend
and exclaim rebellion
savagely defending essence.

(Slanted Orange was written in 2022 as a collaborative effort with a local photographer. The efforts of our poetry group are published in a book called the Minimalist Eye. Click here to see the whole collection as well as the photographs that inspired each poem. I’ve used my own art for this post.)

We Are Form Emerging

Creativity partners more with chaos than clarity
It craves colour, light, darkness
movement not supported by 2 dimensions

I delude myself into thinking that words,
cleverly positioned, can decipher the compulsion
fail to understand that soul, unchained, has no words

It is the free-flowing expression of music, dance
It follows the murmuration of birds, and
crawls along the earth, serpent-like

I seek the intimacy of knowing other –
raw and unblemished – but how can this be?
We are form emerging from mystery

That I should find you, Love,
there amid the noise of awakening
then I am more than blessed

Your mind reaches for the definable
while I drowsily bask in sensations
our coming together never akin to wholeness

Yet explosive in its imperfection
Oh, if we could see the artistry
 arising from two souls seeking unity

Comprehend that we are the instrument
the vessel through which creativity speaks
a magnificent tribute to Life’s source.

(Art is a combination of my own effort and AI.)

Mastery

Happenstance welcome,
dreamer that I am

Loyal to memories
and committed to progress

Professional ambitions unrequited,
I seek new avenues…

Failure a nag
provokes hesitation

Let me be!
I am independent!

This path is unique
and while I dwell
in contemplation of what ifs

I recognize my challenges,
the unreliability of illness,
expect no encores

Easier to focus
on what I can master
today.

(Watercolour mine)