This outer toughness
just conditioning
a baby alligator
that’s me
Raised in a swamp
Eat or be eaten!
family mantra, and
Deal with it!
I know it’s a lot
to take in
see the disbelief
in civilized eyes
Resistance to oppression
begets deeper wounds
Fear taught me well
Survival, they say, of the fittest.
(For Reena’s Xploration challenge: featured image is prompt.)
Life’s mountain
a rough climb
body fails to adjust
focused as we are
on destination
Sights a sepia blur
here approaching summit
scree presents new danger
I vote we pause awhile
appreciate our labour
breathe in colour for once.
(Art mine)
Could talk for lengths
about manifolds,
hydraulics – hands
stained with grease
And when I offered
carefully manicured
heart, spoke words
of togetherness
Silence engulfed him
ducking beneath hood
wrench twisting –
relationship vanished
(Image mine)
Snow drifts in blanketing waves
I’ve forgotten the colour of grass
We plow out paths, add salt
pretend it’s all manageable
Do not speak of risks
how slippery the route ahead
Soon, the thaw will come
temperatures rising, rain
We’ll slosh through the mud
disgruntled and weighed down
Projecting hope in the first sprouts
Spring bearing the promise of renewal.
(Linking up to my weekly challenge: waves. Image my own.)
Spirit disregards containment
should I appear disconnected –
focus lacking substance –
it is just essence flowing
I am whisper on wind’s lips
veil of clouds on tropical shores
sun’s aureole fleeting
I’ll return soon enough…
(Written for Reena’s Xploration challenge: flow
and inspired by the artwork featured on …Bilocalalia… blog.
My image is displayed here)
Calm belies the storm
dis-ease spawning a flurry
fractured ideas
peppered with glints of hope –
with focus, I too sparkle.
(There have been many instances this week that have tested my grit.
I am learning to harness the good moments and hang on.
Linking up to my weekly challenge: I’m learning... Image my own.)
That was me
the 9-year-old girl
sitting on the 3 o’clock bus
staring at the woman
with the scarf around her neck
standing across the street
in front of an oddly shaped building
I’d never noticed before, and
having a profound feeling
of déjà vu.
That was me
the scarf-wearing woman
standing on the sidewalk
in front of the odd shaped building
waiting for the 3 o’clock bus
to move, so that I might cross
suddenly overcome by a sense
of premonition as my eyes
locked with a girl on the bus
who looked uncannily
like a younger version
of me.
(Written for Reena’s Xploration challenge: Components of Time. Art my own)
Remember youth?
Life an adventure
heart full of dreams
Responsibility made us quartz
working machines, focus
on destination – life as goal
In the gloaming, time blurs
nostalgia and regret dance with
perspective – the irony of it all.
(Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)
A band of blue jays
gather around, debase
serenity of this garden
party: chickadees and cardinals
scatter, sense danger
in raucous intrusion –
Bemused, I watch, marvel
birds parodying humans.
(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)
One tree –
a solo sentinel –
beckons
Take comfort,
says she,
beneath my boughs
But I am hungry
balk at simplicity
silence adverse
Till fate arrests me
legs no longer fleeing
the great Walnut my saviour.
(Image my own)
One Woman's Quest 