water – One Woman's Quest

Of Water

Soul begs for the reassurance of flow –
an enchanted place along the river,
a moment of solace in which to breathe

Heart glows at the sounds of summer –
children’s laughter raised above the splash
of clear blue – refreshing memories.

(Image my own)

Ocean

What is this ocean,
this vastness?

Blue upon blue
tiny crisp white sails
the only demarcation
between sky and water

infinite flow
a lulling swell
and I as witness

Docked
waiting
wondering

What is this ocean
that calls to me?

(Image my own)

(Water: Haiku and Free Verse)

Even the river bleeds
fiery frigid essence
Earth’s watery voice.

It is the river
that calls, waters
flowing through my veins

and I, the banks
steadfast and holding

the razor sharp edges
like liquid steel
erode my earthen postures

challenging…
blessedly challenging…
the hardened places.

(Water: Haiku and Free Verse first appeared here in June of 2018. It is has been edited for this version. Image my own.)

Dreaming Oceans

Ingrained in me
this flight
eye on the future
the periphery
closing in.

Husband urges me
forward, but where
this road leads
I do not know

Connected to self
open, escaping into
the vast expanse
becoming fluid
alive, nurtured

I have been spit out
by life so often,
taught to be taut,
it’s hard to plunge,
let go of the past
and just swim.

(Submitting for my weekly challenge: peripheral. 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)

River’s Draw

Idleness is not a ploy
asserted by the river,
her banks, ever vital,
project confidence –
life’s continuum

Her waters, sturdy,
fluctuating, tame
the deepest emotions

I come to the river
hoping to imbibe,
to be intoxicated
in her presence

I come to the river
to be revived.

As Water Flows

Water flows, and my mind wanders,
relinquishing thoughts and worries.

Water flows, and I surrender
to the blessing of life’s journey.

Water flows, and I acknowledge
the fluidity of emotions, change.

Water flows, and I experience
the continuum of life’s cycles.

(It is Springtime here in SW Ontario, and this is the first morning since we returned that I could get out and photograph one of my favourite places. I wrote the poem some time ago, and revised here to fit the image. That’s my shadow on the water’s surface.)

Water Tales (2)

Lead the children to the waters’ edge,
let spirits that dwell there enchant,
sun glistening on star-filled eyes…..

teach the essence of dolphin breathing,
the presence of manna, how to question
roots and behold miracles of fish that fly

and colours that shimmer below the surface,
and sons that walk on water – there are stories
to be told by tides, whose rhythmic waves

follow a primal chant; the ocean’s whispers
reminders that survival is a game for the living
and that in death all return to its vast depths.

(Water Tales first appeared here in January 2017. I am submitting it here for dVerse’s Open Link Night hosted by Grace. I am also linking up with my weekly challenge: stillness.)

Water (Haiku and Free Verse)

(Inspired by Steve Still Standing‘s “An Exercise in Poetic Styles”)

Even the river bleeds –
fiery frigid essence –
earth’s watery voice.

***

It is the river
that calls, waters flowing
through my veins
and I am the banks
steadfast in my holding

the razor sharp edges
like liquid steel
eroding my earthen
postures, challenging
the hardened places.

Mortality

Death came for me
in that year of awakening
before numbers doubled
and puberty banished
autonomy – it knocked.

Peace accompanied certainty
as I lay, motionless in the water’s
depths, surprised at the absence
of panic, of struggle, a resigned
surrender overtaking me.

Light beckoned and a harmonic
chorus, like the whisper of angels
intoned : Be strong,and
Know you are not alone,
before l lost consciousness,

And when I came to, sopping wet,
dry land beneath me, the softness
of death’s light, and the voice
of Heaven’s choir remained
etched in my soul’s memory.